RunRunLive 5.0 - Running Podcast

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-407 – Enoch Builds a Life of Running (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4407.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-407 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  The first paragraph comes to you from Chicago where I am sipping coffee at in an airBNB getting ready to go work a convention all week.  It’s not perfect, having to stand around on my feet and act like an adult all week, but at least it gives me something to do to take my mind off where I’ll be in 7 days – and that would be driving to Hopkinton Massachusetts to join 30,000 other friends to run the 2019 Boston Marathon.  Bear with me. There will be some time jumps in the narrative this episode as I work through the week in the snippets of time available to me.  I’ll try to give the updates as they pass through my big, dense brain.  It may cause us to time shift a bit as we progress but should eventually coalesce into some sort of thematic narrative.  As for today, I feel good.  I’m very happy with my fitness.  The only thing left to do is execute a good, conservative race plan.  Which sounds easy enough, but has always been a challenge for me, especially at Boston.  I’m known as that guy who trains well and then has a bad race.  When you see that pattern consistently in an athlete it’s usually mental.  Today we chat with Enoch who is also running Boston and we have a good conversations around coaching, training and running that I think you’ll get some value out of.  I don’t know what section one is going to be, but you can bet it will be some sort of rumination on the upcoming race or the just-ended training cycle.  … I capped off my training since the last time we talked with a 23ish mile long run.  My buddies joined me for the first 2 hours and we ran a fair bit of it at a tempo pace.  When I dropped them I slowed it down.  I didn’t want to practice going out too fast and crashing.  I don’t need any more practice on that front! I finished up the distance fine.  I was pretty tired for a few days as I recovered from it.  I managed to tweak something in my left foot on that run but nothing that will keep me from racing.  I finished off the first week of taper, cutting way back on the volume.  My last tune up was 10 miles with the middle 7 at faster than race pace – no problem.  I’m fit and I have good pop.  I went into this week of travel under 170 pounds, which is 15-20 pounds lighter than I usually race at.  I stopped thinking about dieting this week at the conference and have probably put 5 pounds back but I’ll eat clean this weekend to cap it all off,  I’ll line up light enough and I’ve stopped focusing on it.  … It looks like the weather is going to be good old Boston Marathon weather again this year.  Some sort of rain and wind.  I don’t really care.  I’ve got enough fitness to overcome most anything and I’ll take cold and rainy over hot any day.  We’ll see how it plays out but it can’t be a s bad as last year.  Even if it is I’ll be ready both mentally and physically to adapt to it.  I’ve run Boston 20 times.  This will be my 21st.  It still motivates me but it doesn’t hold the dread or make me crazy like it used to.  We are two old soldiers grappling our friendly match over a shared past that resonates with gratefulness for the opportunity.  I am blessed.    On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Prelude – Boston 2019 - Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Enoch Thanks for having me on Chris, I really enjoyed it! My Journey to the Olympic Trials: goo.gl/x8V527 Istagram: Team_FTC See you in Boston, Over the past 15 years, Coach Enoch (pronounced e-knock) has worked with countless runners of all ages and abilities. He enjoys sharing his passion and knowledge of the sport with all of his runners. Enoch loves helping runners achieve their goals and dreams. Coach Enoch first found his love for running in the 9th grade at Keystone Heights High School. As a member of the cross country and track team, Enoch took it upon himself to learn all that he could about running. He would go on to coach himself to multiple top five state championship finishes, and under his guidance, help his cross country team finish with its highest place in school history at the state meet. Upon graduation, Enoch was awarded a cross country/track scholarship to the University of Florida. During Enoch's freshman year at UF, he coached local High School Senior, Jeremy Criscione. Under Enoch's coaching Jeremy won the Cross Country state championship and set a State Record for the 5K and a 2-mile State Track championship. At UF, Enoch was a multiple All-SEC Conference and South Region Honoree. He was the captain of his Cross Country team and won numerous invitationals around the southeast. Enoch still holds top 10 time records at UF in the 8k and Steeple Chase. During Enoch's time at UF, he worked closely with the coaches and gained much of his running knowledge from some of the top minds in the sport. After College, Enoch stepped away from running to pursue other passions but he knew he would return back to his first love one day. In 2012, Enoch moved to Dallas and began coaching himself again. From 2012 to 2014, Enoch coached himself and qualified for 2016 Olympic Trials in the Marathon event. He trained 85 - 100miles a week and competed in both national and local track meets and road races. Enoch also took it upon himself to coach numerous local athletes in the area and helped elevate the local Dallas running scene to a new level. In 2014, Enoch and his wife Angela took a travel sabbatical living abroad for 15 months. They traveled 5 continents before returning home to Florida to settle down and be closer to friends and family in November 2015. Upon moving home, Enoch began volunteering with the local non-profit, Youth Combine and competed on the Youth Combine's record breaking relay team at the Five Points of Life Marathon. In August 2016, Enoch began coaching with the Florida Track Club and fell in love with the team coaching aspect. Soon after, Enoch and the Florida Track Club formed a partnership, and thus, Team Florida Track Club was born! TeamFTC offers runners an exciting team atmosphere, organized group runs, customized training plans and one on one training sessions. Enoch continues to race often and can be seen fighting for the win with other local elite athletes. Enoch debuted in the Marathon in 2017 running 2:18:17 to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials. Look for Coach Enoch and his Team Florida Track Club at your next local race or join today and become part of the team! Enoch's Personal Records: Distance Time 1 Mile 4:08 2 Mile 8:45 5k 14:05 8k XC 23:46 10k (split in 1/2 Marathon) 30:02 15k (split in 1/2 Marathon)  45:01 10 Mile (split in 1/2 Marathon) 48:20 Half Marathon  1:03:54 Marathon 2:18:17 Section two – Now and the Body - Outro Well, my friends you probably have trained hard and are ready to race after listening to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-407, now you just have to execute.   Here we are on Saturday morning.  I’m pretty tired after a week of hard business travel.  Got up early to get to the airport Friday morning, quarter of 5 Chicago time.  My flight got into Boston around noon and I navigated the public transport, dragging my bags, over to the Hynes to get my bib.  Walked the expo.  It was packed but smaller than previous years.  Lots of useless crap.  I wish they’d let more races in.  Who needs more crap?  I’m particularly disappointed with the official gear.  Seems like the Adidas folks are designing for a different audience – not me.  I don’t need shorts with an abstract picture and the unicorn on the ass.  Who wants to look at my ass?  Get off my lawn! I bought a Boston Strong hat at the Marathon Sports booth.  Took me forever to get home.  By the time I got out of the expo it was rush hour do I couldn’t get on any of the inbound Green Line trains at the Pru.  I had to drag my bags down to Park street, about a mile walk and then jump on the Red Line.  Lots and lots of time on my feet and walking this week.  I need get the heck off them! I am avoiding getting on the scale!  Too late now anyhow! Checked the weather this morning.  Understanding that it changes every day and there is no guarantee that the weather predicted today will have any resemblance to the weather on race day.  Earlier in the week they were saying it was going to be like last year.  The BAA sent out an email saying they would smoosh wave 4 into the back of wave 3 to get folks out of Hopkinton sooner.  But as of this morning it looks, actually, like great racing weather.  Yes, it will be raining and windy.  But the key difference from last year is that it will be 20 degrees warmer and there will be a stiff tail wind for most of it.  So, my friends it looks like we will be buffeted, but we will set the sails, rig the flying jib and point our small but rugged craft downwind.  And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-406 – Dave McGilvary - How to Run Across the Country (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4406.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my endurance compatriots, companions and comrades and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-405.  Had a bit of a scare or a potential set back in my training after the last episode.  You could hear it in my voice that I was had a little something going on and sure enough I woke up that Sunday sick as heck! I was really looking forward to my long run that day.  It was just a plane Jane 3-hour and 15 minute surge run that would get me 21-22 miles.  Nothing complicated.  And I woke up with a fever headache.  After a few seconds of indecision, (you know me), I said ‘you’ll hate yourself if you don’t go try’.  I met my buddy Tim who was only doing 2 hours and we got out.  I could tell I was hurting so I called it at 2 hours.  Got a solid 13miles in.  Went home.  Took a shower and laid in bed the rest of the day.  I was concerned because I had a busy week with a 2-day road trip.  I figured I’d be out on the road, sick in airplane - you get the visual.  It turned out better than I thought.  Coach had me scheduled for a recovery week anyhow.  There weren’t any monster workouts to add to being sick and traveling.  I was able to drug myself up and made the travel and meetings look easy.  And, most importantly it didn’t turn into something awful.  You always run into some blips in your training cycle.  My training cycle has been going so well that I was due.  A couple more big weeks would be good for my confidence, but for the most part ‘the hay is in the barn’.   Today I called up our old friend Dave McGilvary, head of DMSE sports and race director for the Boston Marathon.  I had a simple question to pick his brain about.  “What does it take to run across the country?”  We also chat a little about that other race… Section one – the hay is in the barn… What to do when you have late-cycle training issues. Section two – continuing homilies on being … Speaking of the Boston Marathon, they released the bib number assignments.  If you want to track me I’m 18,543.  Think about that.  As hard as I train, with my finishing time around a 3:30 I’m nowhere near the mid-pack of this race.  There’s 30,000 runners in the race but only around 25,000 are qualified.  That means close to ¾ of the pack is in front of me.  You’d have to run my old Boston PR of 3:06 just to make it into the first wave.  When they changed the standards by 10 minutes people wondered if the runners could keep up.  There’s your answer.  They certainly can.  The entire curve just shifted by 10 minutes and the race is still over-subscribed.  Amazing.  This will be my 21st running of the race and I pulled out all the stops for this one.  I think I’m going to have a good race.  Regardless of what happens it is and has been an honor to be part of this thing, this slice of local history.  On April 15th this year, Patriot’s Day in Boston, my buddies and I have done the work and earned the right to play – and play we will! On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – The Hay is in the Barn! - Voices of reason – the conversation Dave McGillivray, Founder DMSE RACE DIRECTOR, PHILANTHROPIST,  MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER,  ACCOMPLISHED ATHLETE. DAVE MCGILLIVRAY IS A PROFESSIONAL WITH A PURPOSE. From his extraordinary 1978 run across the U.S. to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to serving as technical director then race director of the BAA Boston Marathon since the 1980s, McGillivray has helped organize more than 900 mass participatory events since founding DMSE Sports in 1981, while raising millions for worthy causes close to his heart. Here are a few of his many career highlights: In 1978 and over the course of 80 consecutive days, McGillivray ran across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon, to his hometown of Medford, Massachusetts, covering a total distance of 3,452 miles. He finished to a standing ovation of 32,000 fans in Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. His effort raised thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund, a charity that supports research toward eliminating cancer in children. The 1980 East Coast Run to benefit the Jimmy Fund consisted of 1,520 miles from Winter Haven, Florida, to Boston, Massachusetts. McGillivray was joined by Bob Hall, one of the pioneers of wheelchair marathoning, and raised thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund. He also met with then-President Jimmy Carter at the White House during the trek through Washington, D.C. In 1980, McGillivray competed in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, the premier individual endurance event in the world. He finished 14th overall and was only the 30th person to have ever competed in an Ironman. The Ironman consists of three back-to-back distance events: a 2.4 mile rough, open ocean water swim, followed by a 112-mile bike race, and finally finishing up with a 26.2-mile marathon run. He completed the event again in 1983-1989 and 2014, for a total of nine times. The Wrentham State School 24-Hour Run was designated as the "Run for Our Dreams Marathon." In 1980, this run traversed 120 miles in 24 hours throughout 31 cities within southeastern Massachusetts, ending in Foxboro Stadium during half-time of a New England Patriots football game. Held to benefit the Wrentham State School for the Mentally Retarded, this particular run raised more than $10,000 for the handicapped. 1981 brought an invitation to participate in the Empire State Building Run-Up. The course consists of 86 stories, 1,575 steps, 1050 feet in elevation, 40" stair height. Finished 10th place overall in a time of 13 minutes, 27 seconds. His 1981 New England Run was a triathlon (running, cycling, and swimming) of 1,522 miles throughout the six New England states. He raised $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund. Unusual segments included running up and down Mount Washington and swimming two miles across Lake Winneapesaukee, both in New Hampshire. In addition, highlights included swimming one mile from Woods Hole toward Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and running three miles with inmates inside Walpole State Prison. Officially completed his New England Run by swimming more than seven miles from Martha’s Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts, again raising more money for the Jimmy Fund. McGillivray was greeted by thousands on shore including some of the world’s greatest runners, including Alberto Salazar. In 1982, McGillivray ran the Boston Marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded and escorted by two guides to raise more than $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts.. He traded his running shoes for swimming shorts in 1983 for the Jimmy Fund 24-Hour Swim. He swam for 24 consecutive hours in the Olympic-size Medford High School pool, swimming a total of 1,884 lengths and covering 26.2 miles (distance of Boston Marathon), again raising funds for the Jimmy Fund. Over the course of 14 days in 1983, he bicycled more than 1,000 miles throughout six New England states to raise money for a scholarship fund for McGillivray's alma mater, Merrimack College. In 1986, he formed the first sanctioned running club inside a maximum security institution at Walpole State Prison. He also conducted and ran in numerous distance races inside the prison yard, including completing and winning a full 26.2 mile marathon against inmates. Also in 1986, he biked for 24 consecutive hours around a five-mile loop course in Medford while simultaneously directing the annual Bay State Triathlon, which was being held on the same course at the same time. He covered a total of 385 miles, again raising money for the Jimmy Fund. Since 1988, he has been the Technical and Race Director of the Boston Marathon. He manages and oversees all technical and operational aspects of the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world. McGillivray’s many endurance events for charity are legendary, including running 120 miles in 24 hours thru 31 Massachusetts cities; an 86-story, 1,575-step run up Empire State Building in 13 minutes and 27 seconds; and running, cycling and swimming 1,522 miles thru six New England states while raising $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund. In 2000, he was chosen as Race Director of the Year by Road Race Management/Running Times Magazine. That same year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by Competitor Magazine for more than 30 years of service to the sport of road racing and triathlons. In 2003, McGillivray created the DMSE Children’s Fitness Foundation to support non-profit organizations that use running to promote physical fitness in children and help solve the epidemic of childhood obesity. In 2004, McGillivray and a team of veteran marathon runners journeyed across the country following the same path he took in 1978. Trek USA raised more than $300,000 for five charities benefiting children. The race director of the Boston Marathon as well as an accomplished runner, McGillivray has run the marathon each year since 1973. For 16 years he ran it with all the other runners and since he began working with the race in 1988 he has run the course afterwards. His 2006 book, The Last Pick, which he co-wrote with Linda Glass Fechter, chronicles his childhood and career as the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, motivating readers to never underestimate their own ability to set and achieve goals. Order here on Amazon. In 2009 he was awarded the prestigious “Jimmy Award” from the Jimmy Fund of Boston for his 30-year association and his work with helping to raise money to fund cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. A skilled motivational speaker, McGillivray has displayed his signature ability to engage and inspire listeners to more than 1,600 audiences from corporate executives to high school students. McGillivray has received numerous awards –  valedictorian at both his high school and college, 2005 Running USA Hall of Champions, 2007 Runner’s World Heroes of Running Award, the 2010 Fleet Feet Lifetime Commitment to Running Award, 2010 Ron Burton Community Service Award, the 2011 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center's 2011 100 list, inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame in 2011 and also received the prestigious "Jimmy Award" by the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for 30 years of contributing time and expertise to help raise millions for cancer research and treatment. In 2015, he received the MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award, and was named One of the 50 Most Influential People in Running by Runner's World - tied for 6th place. In 2017 he was inducted into the Road Runners Club of America Long Distance Running Hall of Fame, joined by Ryan Hall, Desiree Linden, and George Hirsch. In 2018, he completed the World Marathon Challenge: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. McGillivray has logged more than 150,000 miles, most for charity, raising millions for worthy causes.  He’s completed 155 marathons, which include 46 consecutive Boston Marathons (with 31 run at night after his race director duties are fulfilled). In 2018 he published his first children's book, Dream Big: A True Story of Courage and Determination, co-authored with Nancy Feehrer. The illustrated book is based on his 2006 autobiography, The Last Pick. Dream Big may be ordered here on Amazon. His personal bests? Marathon: 2:29:58 and for the Ironman: 10:36:42. Each year he runs his birthday age in miles, starting when he was 12, and has not missed one yet. He was born on August 22, 1954 – you can do the math. McGillivray, DMSE Sports and his DMSE Children’s Foundation have raised more than $50 million for various charities, including: The Jimmy Fund, Carroll Center for the Blind, Cystic Fibrosis, Lazarus House, Massachusetts Dietetic Association, Massachusetts Special Olympics, Moth- ers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Muscular Dystrophy Association, Sports Museum of New England, Wrentham State School.   Section two – Future, Past and Now - Outro Well, my friends you probably have not run 3000+ miles across the country to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-406, but maybe you will some day.   One thing I would encourage you to do is to look at Dave’s resume.  He has accomplished so much in his life.  But, that’s not what’s special about Dave. What’s special is that most of his accomplishments are focused on helping others, he lives his life in service to the greater good.  And even with all he’s done he’s extremely approachable and humble. A good role model for us.    I’ve had a great couple weeks since we last spoke.  I did get that quick fever/flu/cold whatever it was but I got through it in a week.  I had a bit of a anxiety spot when I bailed on that long run.  As you may remember I did most of my long runs on the treadmill in February and early March.  I was hitting my paces but in the back of my mind I was always cognizant of the fact that the treadmill is not the road.  Until I road tested some of those paces I was going to be tentative.  Last week was a rest week but coach gave me a nice long tempo run for Saturday.  And of course, the weather didn’t cooperate.  We had 20 MPH gusting, swirling winds and I was almost ready to drive into work and knock it out on the treadmill again, especially coming off that cold.  But, I stuck my head outside and it wasn’t too bad so I suited up and hit the workout.  The workout was to warm up for 20 minutes then run 50 minutes at faster than race pace. The out and back I run these on starts out as a rolling downhill.  This means that when you make the turn-around, the second half of the run is a rolling uphill.  Which, in theory is a great workout, but in practice sucks as you climb those hills at the end of the tempo session.  It turned out that the wind was a tail wind on the way out and a head wind on the way back.  I don’t really look at real-time splits as I’m doing these workouts.  I try to run them by feel.  When I hit that tempo I try to ease into what I think feels like, in this case a 7:50 mile.  I get feedback on my pace every mile.  I was a bit horrified when the first mile split was a 7:30.  Too fast.  I tried to ease off a bit and the second split came in at 7:30 again.  Going into the turn around I really tried to ease up and managed a 7:45. The challenge here is now I was turning back into the wind and up the hill.  In previous training cycles this is where my legs would have gone on me.  But I was able to hold the pace at a 7:39 a 7:49 and a 7:58 up the hill into a stiff headwind without my legs failing at all.  And when I made the turn to be running with the wind for the last half mile I averaged a 7:25. A number of positives.  I was able to go out too fast and recover without failing.  I was able to do the hard work up hill and into the wind and my legs felt great.  I was able to close it hard.  All good signs.  And I followed up this week on Tuesday with a similar step up run, on the same route without the wind, with 30 minutes at 7:50’s and closing with 30 minutes at 7:30’s.  Last night I knocked out a set of 200-meter hill repeats at sub-7 pace and it felt easy.  How is this possible?  Am I just lucky or gifted to be able to pull this kind of speed out of my butt at the ripe old age of 56 going on 57?  No, I mean, yeah of course there is some underlying DNA involved, but this is the result of 20 years of consistent effort over the long run and 6 months of focused effort on this cycle. What have I done differently this cycle to get such great results?  Near as I can figure it comes down to the following: Consistency – I do the work with consistent focus and effort over time. This isn’t different from previous cycles, but it’s the baseline.  Nutrition – I have dropped close to 20 pounds over the last 6 months. I usually shed 10 pounds in a marathon cycle. The last few cycles I haven’t really focused on going the extra 10 pounds.  The combination of less weight and cleaner eating early in the cycle allowed me to have higher quality training and faster paces. Stretching and core – Another difference in this cycle is an early focus on daily flexibility stretches. This allowed me to train harder and probably kept the injuries at bay.  Finally – good sleep – I haven’t been traveling as much and my commute isn’t bad. I’ve been getting that full 8-9 hours of sleep every night and I’m sure that contributes to my ability to execute. Turns out the secrets to success are no secrets.  You just have to do it! Which is the hardest thing, right? It’s easy to say these things, it’s another to actually do them. But, if you do, I guarantee you’ll see the results. Next time we talk will be the weekend before the Boston Marathon.  I’ve got one more long run and I’m into my taper.  Remember, my number is 18543, If you want to steal it you need to be able to run a sub-3:30 marathon.  Your etymology for the week is the word “compass”.  This is a combination of two Latin words.  ‘Com’ meaning with and ‘passus’, which means pace or steps.  So following your compass means bringing together your paces. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-405 – Julia and the Path Taken (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4405.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-405.  Today we are going to talk to Julia.  Here’s the funny story.  About a year ago my friend introduced me to Julia and I interviewed her here in episode 4-368.  Then recently he introduced us again and I interviewed her again for this show.  But here’s the thing.  None of us remembered the fact that we had already done it less than a year ago! It’s ok – she’s got a great story.  This stands alone.   And what I want you to take away from this is how she chose a special path for her life.  It involved a lot of marathons and twists and turns but it also involves a lot of love and fulfillment.  We all make choices and those choices determine our paths.  Don’t assume you can’t choose a different path.  Don’t be afraid to try.  So we’ve got the interview with Julia.  Also, in this episode I’m going to talk about one of my favorite topics, speed work.   Then I’m going to preach a bit about a new work I’m digesting by Eckhart Tolle. My training is going great.  I’m super lean.  I’m strong.  I have no injuries.  I’ve got a couple more big weeks left before I taper in to Boston.  I knocked out a 20 miler with 18 of those at race pace on the treadmill last weekend.  I’ve been hitting all my workouts well.  I’ve got a 20+ outing tomorrow.  The thing that really has me optimistic is that I feel a good ‘pop’ in my legs.  That feeling of strength and energy that I haven’t felt in a long time.  That last few cycles for Boston I’ve just been grinding through, hoping for a marathon miracle when I get to the race.  But this cycle feels different.  I’ve got pop.  ... And Spring is here in New England! I had my shorts on yesterday.  You can feel the Earth awakening.  You can hear the birds and smell the fecundity in the ground.  And as the snow melts, let me share with you my favorite old-English word of the week.  Because it has to do with snow.  At some point I’ll tell the whole story of why English is such a greatly diverse language, but for now, the original Old-English brought over by the Anglo Saxons was a Germanic variety.  In the old Germanic languages, they had ‘strong’ verbs.  About 300 of those strong verbs came into English and about 70 of them survived into modern English.  A strong verb is when the vowel sound changes to indicate the tense of the verb.  For example, a surviving strong verb is Sing, Sang, Sung.   So instead of adding an -ed or -s ending like ‘walked’ or ‘walks’ we change the vowel sound to indicate tense.  With me so far?  Here’s the punchline.  The verb ‘to snow’ was originally a strong verb.  So my favorite Old-English word of the week is the strong verb past tense of snow.  Snew.  Isn’t that great?  Instead of ‘it snowed’ you can say ‘it snew’.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – My current nutrition - http://runrunlive.com/my-current-diet-and-meal-planning Voices of reason – the conversation Colin – Run Romsdal Run Romsdal is a guided trail and mountain running company set up by Colin Thornton & Hélène Hubert. Through our love of running in wild, remote and spectacular places we discovered the Romsdal region in Norway and decided we could not think of a better place to bring like minded people to come and enjoy the outstanding beauty of the place in the safe hands of people who know it the best. Instagram -  Twitter -  Facebook - runromsdal I have attached a few photos as I can never decide what to use!  Section two – Feel the Fear (and do it anyway) - http://runrunlive.com/a-short-review-of-a-short-book-on-fear Outro Well, my friends you have chosen a path through this world even though it may have rained and snew along the way, you’re still going to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-405.  Things are getting busy for me now for a few weeks.  I have some travel and some more big weeks in the lead up to Boston.  But I’m already looking beyond Boston.  I’ve signed up to pace Eric at Leadville late in the summer so it looks like another trail-running ultra summer for me.  I’m ok with that.  Very peaceful.  I’ll probably look to work in a 100K race somewhere because it’s a distance I haven’t run.  Or maybe a 24 hour race or some other event that gets gives me a point on the horizon to point my coracle towards and steadies my hand on the tiller. I’ve found a few new podcasts that I can recommend to you.  By the way, have you seen all the venture capital that is being poured into podcast content?  Hundreds of millions of dollars.  Maybe my ship is coming in after a dozen years of doing this?  The first podcast is called by ABC News.  It’s an investigative journalism piece about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.  This was big news for awhile.  She was a 19 year old Stanford dropout that had a billion-dollar startup, but turns out there wasn’t an actual product that worked and the whole thing was a bit of Ponzi scheme. It’s a great window on, and indictment of, the whole Silicon Valley zeitgeist and how it can go horribly wrong.  It’s only 6 episodes and you can power right through the narrative in a week.  The second is and NPR podcast called “” that explores historical events that you may not have known about.  Like how Sam Adams was the original conspiracy theorist, the almost impeachment of Andrew Johnson after the civil war and how we engineered the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1955.  Good stuff.  Fun, but also food for thought.  Finally, another NPR show called “” that “explores the unseen forces that shape how we act and who we are”.   Very interesting.  I listened to a show last night titled “how to be Batman” about how the way we treat blind people prevents them from ‘seeing’.  They talk to a man who uses echolocation to see.  He can ride a bike and hike in the mountains.  He believes that it is because no one ever told him he couldn’t.  When they tested his brain to see what was going on, sure enough the same place that sighted people use lights up the same way when he echolocates.   The images he sees are the same images I see. The input mechanism is just a little different. The links for all of these are in the post and in the show notes. What are your beliefs keeping you from seeing?  Maybe your thinker is too busy thinking for you to be able to see?  Maybe there is another path? When you find it… And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-404 – Fjords and Mountains – Run Romsdal (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4404.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  This is the point where I frantically try to remember all those great stories, amusing anecdotes and funny things that I had ready to go when I was running but now retreat into the fog of my memory like scared children confronted by the full, blank whiteness of the empty page and blinking cursor. Bam! Right out of the gate a 54-word sentence!  Yeah! Homeric in its epicness.  I am a prose god! (Editor’s note: Word wants to change ‘epicness’ to epicenes, which is an entirely different thing. That is a Greek word meaning containing both sexes – so androgynous or hermaphroditic and if I wanted to use either of those words I would!  So, get out of my hair Bill Gates!)  Now I am picturing the poor, confused new listener who though they were tuning into a running podcast and instead are getting a crazed etymology tantrum.  Welcome to the inside of the RunRunLive hive mind my friends – sometimes it’s a bit fractal in here. But yes, we do talk about endurance sports.  I have been easing myself back into Twitter after a couple years off and there is a group called #RunChat that is nice.  That’s where I found today’s guest.  I like cool places to run and explore and these folks have gone off to the edge of the map in Scandinavia to set up a running adventure company in the Fjords and mountains.  The photos are spectacular.  Real Viking land stuff. Which causes me to remember one of those amusing anecdotes.  Have you ever heard of Ragnar Lodbrok?  The infamous Viking chieftain who plundered around Frankia and Anglo-Saxon Britain in the late 700’s?  Lodbrok is a compound of two Germanic words.  And literally translated means “Hairy Breaches” or “Hairy Pants”.  You can kind of see some English words in there think ‘Locks” as in ‘flowing locks of hair’ and ‘Breach’ – so Lod-Brok.  Because Old English and Old Norse both came from a common Indo-European root language.  In section one I’ll talk about what my nutrition and diet looks like this cycle that is getting me lean and in section two I’ll talk about a little book I read about fear.  And yes, as we speak I’m about 6 weeks away from the Boston marathon, which in runner-speak means 4 weeks of big miles and 2 weeks of taper.  My training is going really well.  I’m still quite lean and have been sticking to my diet plan for the most part.  I am battling the weather though.  Every time I have a hard workout it seems like it’s snowing or raining or in a deep freeze.  I’ve been spending a ton of time on the treadmill.  Which is good and bad.  It’s good because I can cleanly set the paces I want and hold them.  It’s bad because the treadmill does not translate 100% to road training.  For instance, I knocked off 18 miles on the treadmill last Sunday with the middle 14 at target race pace minus 7.  If I did that outside in the freezing rain storm we were having my pace would be all over the place and I’m not sure I’d get the benefits of the workout.  I need the confidence of knowing I can hold those paces.  Now over the next 4 weeks we’ll throw in some 20 milers and some race specific stuff.  But, all else being equal I feel great.  Light, fast, strong and healthy.  …. One of my habit changes that has been successful in this nutrition cycle is how I’m making my suppers now.  In an ideal world I would eat anything late in the evening, but when I get home from work I’m starving.  What I’ve been doing is using my cast-iron skillet to sauté up some vegetables when I come through the door.  This gives me something to do and takes maybe 20-30 minutes to prepare.  The resulting dinners are healthy and fill me up.  They are nutrition dense and calorie reasonable. Take your big cast iron skillet.  Put it over medium heat.  Pour a glug of olive oil in.  Dice up a garlic clove or two.  Dice up a small onion.  Dice up a teaspoon-sized chunk of ginger.  Put all this into the pan and stir it around in the oil until the onions are clear.  2-3 minutes. While that’s cooking cut up your veg.  It can be mushrooms, cabbage, squash, broccoli – whatever you have.  Fill up the skillet because the veg shrinks as it cooks.  Sauté that while mixing it so it doesn’t burn. Maybe another 5 minutes.  Pour in a half a cup of stock to get the steaming going.  You can cover it and it will cook faster but will get soggy.  Alternately you have to keep mixing it so it cooks evenly.  Serve over rice or anything else you have.  The key ingredient is the ginger.  The ginger makes it taste like restaurant food.  That will fill you up and while you’re waiting for it to cook you can clean the kitchen up a bit and kill two birds with one stone.  Actually, PETA doesn’t want us to use those animal threatening phrases anymore.  They want us to modify our speech to be animal friendly. So – instead I’ll say – you can feed two birds with one scone. Birds like scones. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – My current nutrition - http://runrunlive.com/my-current-diet-and-meal-planning Voices of reason – the conversation Colin – Run Romsdal Run Romsdal is a guided trail and mountain running company set up by Colin Thornton & Hélène Hubert. Through our love of running in wild, remote and spectacular places we discovered the Romsdal region in Norway and decided we could not think of a better place to bring like minded people to come and enjoy the outstanding beauty of the place in the safe hands of people who know it the best. Instagram -  Twitter -  Facebook - runromsdal I have attached a few photos as I can never decide what to use!  Section two – Feel the Fear (and do it anyway) - http://runrunlive.com/a-short-review-of-a-short-book-on-fear Outro Well, my friends you have traversed the dangerous, naked spine of a rocky mountain to the Fjord at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  Careful you don’t twist an ankle. Next time we are going to talk with Julia who has a great story and a passion for telling it.  I hope you noticed I’m trying to re-energize the podcast.  Baby steps!  I am working on a lot of projects and life gets weird sometimes, but it’s all good.  I’m thankful for your company and the opportunity for us to connect. So – Thank you. My training is hard, but boringly predictable.  I’m getting in 50ish miles on 5 days of hard work on my big weeks.  I’m typically doing 3 hard workouts a week.  I have been doing more speed work this cycle which I really feel like I needed.  I have knocked off 10 Yasso 800’s at my target race time which supposedly is a positive predictor! I had a great workout on Tuesday this week.  On the treadmill again (because the weather was awful) It was a 1 hour step up run, which is actually an ‘easy’ tempo session for me because this is a step back week.  On a build week that would be a 1:30 step up run or even more. For an hour step up you warm up for 20 minutes.  Run at tempo pace for 30 minutes then cool down for 10.  At first I was struggling a little, breathing hard, battling the workout.  But at 20 minutes into the tempo (40 minutes into the workout) it was like a switch flipped and I felt great.  I dropped the pace to 30 seconds per mile faster than my goal marathon pace and held that for the last 10 minutes of the step.  I somehow got into flow state and was just flying and feeling great.  It was effortless.  It was great.  That’s why we do it right?  Every once in a while, it feels effortless and that’s a beautiful thing. … I’m going to leave you with more word play from my current fascination with the history of English.  My favorite Old English word so far is ‘Gongawiver’ which translates to “Going Weaver”, Gongawiver.  That’s the old English word for spider.  Isn’t’ that great? You can use it in a sentence… Like, “The epicene server at Starbucks was frightened by a scary gongawiver. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-403 – Marnie’s Art Adventures (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4403.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-403.  How is everyone doing?  Reinvigorated for this new year?  No?  Feeling the cold winter doldrums?  Well snap out of it!  Put on your big pants! Suck it up Buttercup!  There are roads to be run, there are adventures to be had, there are people to see, people like Marnie, who we talk to today, who did what we all want to do – she took two of her passions – running and art and mixed them together with community to form a little tribe, a little business.  And that was a 56-word long sentence! Vladmir Nabokov would be proud.  Who needs grammar?  It just slows the creative flow.  The first written languages had no grammar.  They were just strings of words. That’s why you need priests to read them and interpret them.  I suppose not unlike our current internet… Anyhow – back to our story.  And what a story it is! I am neck deep and two months out from my 21st Boston Marathon.  My training is going as well as can be expected.  I’m getting all the workouts in.  I’m light and strong.  Weighed in at 172.8 pounds this morning with 9.9% body fat.  Those are random numbers without some context.   What’s the baseline here?  When I raced my PR’s Decades ago the lightest I ever got was the low 180’s.  But as you get old you lose muscle mass.  Just looking at my body composition now at 173 versus then at 185 – they are close to equivalent.  Meaning I’ve lost about 10 pounds of body mass over 20 years.  Some is muscle mass, some is fat storage, some is the shrinking of my brain.  Because we all know that people start losing their minds as they get older, right?  Kurt Vonnegut referred to the 6 pounds of brain in the human skull dismissively as nothing more than “A dog’s Breakfast”.  As for body fat %, a healthy male is not going to get much leaner than 3-6%.  5% is often quoted as the apex of physical, lean, fitness, - the gold standard - for men.  6-10% is considered ‘athletic’ for men.  Women are designed differently and normally (key word there ladies) ‘normally’ are 7-9% higher in fat percentage across the board on all these numbers. In section one I will talk about listening to your bodies.  And in section two I’ll talk about a book I read called “The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*CK”  … What I love about Marnie’s story is that she took a personal adventure, running around her neighborhood, and turned it into a ‘thing’.  You don’t have to get on an aeroplane or cross an ocean to have a fulfilling adventure.  Adventures are all around you.  You just have to reach out and grab them.  You might even say; the adventure is inside you.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Listening to your body - http://runrunlive.com/listening-to-your-body Voices of reason – the conversation Marnie Thank you so much for the interview! I am excited about this. To answer your questions:   A short bio for the notes: Marnie Kunz is a running coach, , and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Art Runs, which fuse running and street art to bring people together to learn about art in their communities while getting in a fun workout.   a good picture for the episode art - Please see attached. Photo by . Any links you want to include. Sure!   Marnie's writing on and on   Let me know if you need anything else. Thank you!!   Cheers,   Marnie Section two – Life sucks, then you die… - Outro Well, my friends you have taken a small adventure to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-403.  It’s a rough stretch for me.  I’ve got Valentines Day, my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary all in the same 3 week period.  It is a dark time where the alpha male must stick to the shadows and hunt carefully. A time fraught with peril.  Like I said we are 2 months out from Boston.  I’ve been doing some daily blogging of my workouts and other tidbits on my website runrunlive.com if anyone is interested.  The challenge I have is that I’m usually writing those posts at night, after my workout, when I’m half asleep and brain dead.  I do a lot of monosyllabic grunting – and that doesn’t translate into prose well.  I’ve been challenged to keep up with the podcast for a few reasons.  Primarily I don’t have a good place to record.  I used to work from home on Fridays and that was  good, but my wife has decided to take Fridays off – so she’s podcast-blocking all of you.  I’m actually in a conference room right now in the building I work at.  The space that the company has is designed into an old manufacturing space.  I don’t have a real office with a door and the acoustics are terrible.  So, we’ll test this out and see how it works.  I may have to build a studio somewhere.  Another podcast prohibitor is that coach has been scheduling big workouts for me on Fridays.  I came in early this morning to hit the treadmill. He gave me a 7 by 7 minutes at 5K pace. Which is not an easy workout.  With the warm up and cool down and shower you are at over an hour and a half, close to two hours.  Having these long, hard workouts hanging over my head on a Friday screws up my schedule and my head.  I had a video shoot in the office today so I had to get cleaned up.  Of course, no matter how much time you spend wandering around the house preparing stuff for work and the gym you always forget something.  This morning was a belt, which was a problem because I’m so lean my pants are falling off me.  I had to have my wife run a belt over.  Good thing it was her day off!  With Sunday’s 2:30 long run this will give me another 50ish mile week.  So far, so good.  … You may have thought the message of the don’t give a F book was a bit depressing.  But the power of that message is a reset to reality and critical thinking.  When you are forced to confront the fact that life is suffering, you’re not all that special and none of it is going to matter in 100 years anyway it frees you.  It frees you to not take yourself so damn seriously.  It frees you to choose what makes you happy. It frees you to execute with detachment and that enables you to get stuff done, important stuff, that will, at the end of the day make a difference and ease your own and other peoples’ suffering.  So – detaching, helps you to find and to own your own journey.  At least that’s what my dog’s breakfast is telling me.  I’ll see you out there, MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-402 – A Narcissistic Interviewee (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4402.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  First of all let me apologize for causing so much mid-workout vision issues last week for many of you.  I got multiple letters that many of you had some dust in your eyes when I talked about the passing of my friend Buddy.  Or as my sister put it, “Thanks for making me ugly-cry in the gym!” Twas no my intention.  I just wrote what came to me in that moment on that day when I knew we were going to have to make that last trip to the vet and my old friend would need to bring some change to pay the ferryman.  Let’s not be all sack cloth and ashes here, rolling in the mud, tearing at our hair and wailing.  Let’s celebrate today, this moment and the friends we have to share it with.  If a dog teaches you anything it is how to live in and enjoy the moment.  The sun came up today.  The reaper hasn’t caught us yet and we, you and I, are going to fight that asshole all the way down.  We are not going to sit around and wait to be caught. We are going to get out there and live and love and have adventures and make that sonnabitch work hard to catch us.  Right? Sorry for the shows being a bit less predictable in cadence recently.  Life happens.  Even to me! Today we interview some narcissistic knucklehead about pretty much nothing.  In section one I’ll talk about committing, really committing to this marathon cycle.  And in section two I’ll give you the draft introduction to a new book I’m writing on startup sales.  I’ll give you a couple useful tips for the season.  First, this time of year we end up having to hit the gym a lot.  One of the things I do during my warm up, because whether you’re running or lifting or whatever you should do a little 5 minute warm up, what I do is get on the treadmill in my socks for 5 minutes.  I set it at a slow pace, (for me), like 12-15 min miles and just let my feet relax and spread out a bit.  Really helps get everything warm and relaxed.  Second tip is about consistency.  One of the things I’ve been challenged with over the last couple cycles, especially since the 100 miler, is my legs are super tight.  What I’ve done is to work a simple 5-6 minute stretching routine into every day regardless of what my workout is.  It’s not the stretching per se but the consistency of doing it every day that makes a difference. It has really helped my running this cycle.  Small things done consistently have a huge impact. I’ve got a new podcast for you.   If you love words and language like me, you will find this fascinating.  This is for all you closet Philologists and Lexicologists.  If you don’t like these things it’s going to be like a freshman English lecture.  For example, I learned that there is a root language known as Indo-European that influenced Latin, Greek and Germanic.  Those languages borrowed from each other, but were all decedents of the Indo European.  And, today I learned that the original Indo-European word for ‘host’ had a dual meaning of both the host and the guest.  Same word.  This root word gives us both ‘host’ and ‘guest’ as well as house, hospital, hospitality, etc.  It also means that the word Ghost is literally a guest in your house. … Ok.  Get your hankies out. One last Buddy story from last week.  I stayed home with him Thursday and even though we had a rough night he rallied during the day and was up tottering around the house.  At some point in the afternoon my wife came home so I took the opportunity to jump out the door for a run in the woods.  As I’m standing in the open doorway in my running kit talking to me wife the old dog stumbles over and sticks his head between me and the door.  The dog can barely stand but he’s decided he’s ready to head out into the woods with me on a run.  A gamer and a wonder dog to the very end. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – A new training cycle- http://runrunlive.com/hitting-the-training-again Voices of reason – the conversation Chris Russell Chris is the product of suburban entitlement and over-education.  I promise I’ll find real guests in the future.  😊 Section two – Startup Sales - http://runrunlive.com/startup-sales Outro Well, my friends you have looked at your reflection and fallen in love through to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  Wake up.  We’ve got work to do.  And miles to go before we sleep.  My training is going very well.  My strategy of losing weight and eating clean is paying off with some great workouts.  I feel lean and strong.  At least this week.  I’ve been holding steady at around 173 pounds, which is somewhere around 10 pounds lighter than I normally would be at this point.  The first 10 are easy.  I want to see if I can get down to 165ish and go into Boston at 170ish.  My paces ae better and my staying power in my legs is better.  We’ll see how it goes.  I don’t have any races planned for the spring besides Boston.  This is good and bad.  It’s good because I won’t waste energy and risk over-training by racing too hard.  It’s bad because I like to use those races as practice runs to give me confidence.  So much of racing well is confidence. I’m in the midst of thinking thorough what I want to do with the podcast going forward.  I think this current format has run its course.  I like the format but I want to bring the quality up and be more consistent on the cadence and the themes. … Went out into the trails today.  It was Sunny and just below the freezing mark.  We had a deep freeze, followed by a heavy rain, followed by another freeze.  The trails are nice and firm but there is a lot of ice.  It’s slow going.  Buddy would not have liked it.  He didn’t like the ice.  I ran into a guy ‘walking’ some sort of cattle dog cross that was wildly exuberant, running in circles and giving me friendly full-body hip checks.  Fun times.  Nice to see the people using those trails.  Buddy and I made those trails.  It’s good for the soul.  Getting out in the woods.  Wending your way through the ice and snow.  Splitting the horizon where winter sun meets frozen ground.  That’s life. I’ll see you out there, MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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A life Well Lived (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/ buddy-Eulogy.output.mp3] Link buddy-.output.mp3 A life well lived. I’m standing in the front yard in my pajamas.  It’s 18 degrees and everything is frozen hard with that late January freeze that penetrates deep into the earth.  I’m holding Buddy’s emaciated body up to see if maybe he wants to pee.  He’s warm as he leans against me.  He hangs his head and collapses on weak legs.  I pick him up.  So light now.  Just a warm bag of bones.  Nothing left of that strong dog that would sprint laps in this yard or launch himself 10 feet in the air to grab a frisbee in this yard or steal the soccer ball off my foot in our yard.  His yard.  I have a photograph that I gifted to my wife one year, many years ago.  It’s an aerial photograph of the yard some outfit was peddling in our neighborhood.  The photo is late summer.  There in the green of the grass sits Buddy, ever watchful, surveying the land from his perch on the hill.  Always at the ready. I stayed home with him yesterday.  I slept in the chair next to his bed the night before.  It was a long night.  I was woken every hour or so by the grinding of his teeth and the spasming of his body from long, violent seizures.  I put my hands on him and tell him it’s ok as he rides them out.  Oddly it was a comfort to me.  To be able to spend this time close with him.  I stayed home from work and built a fire in the fireplace.  I sat on the couch and read while he stumbled around or slept.  It brought back memories of a parallel time when my oldest daughter Katie was born.  I was in transition between jobs and took a couple weeks off to stay home with the newborn.  I quickly discovered that all I could do was hold that warm infant on my chest and read.  And we spent that time together.  And I was grateful for it.  After this long night I thought this was the day, but he perked up.  He was stumbling around the house.  He was eating some treats.  I figured I’d give him another night.  He earned it.  But today is that day.  He was doing fine a month ago on his 16th birthday, but something happened.  Some sort of system failure.  He lost 15 pounds in less than a month.  The seizures.  This morning he could not stand.  It happens quickly.  He’s exhausted.  It’s a difficult puzzle to unravel with a pet.  How much of this is me trying to avoid my own pain and how much of it for them?  How do you make that decision or more importantly, when do you make that decision?  We can’t fathom their thoughts and emotions. As close as they are to us, they are still an alien mind.  Most of the narrative our own egomaniacal anthropomorphizing. It’s a weighty thing to have to decide the time of death for a friend.  These last couple days he hasn’t been eating his food, but he has been more than willing to eat our food.  As sick and weak as he is, even when we have to hold him up, he’ll inhale that hamburger and chicken and chees with a pepperoni chaser.  Good for him.  Getting the last laugh. Most people have many pets in their lives, but there is always that one.  The one that grew up with your kids.  That one that was your best friend.  Buddy was that pet for us.  He was not without neuroses.  He was irrationally afraid of thunder and fireworks.  He was hard-wired to chase anything that moved, no matter what your opinion on the appropriateness of that chasing was. But he was the best dog I have ever known.  He was my running partner.  He shared thousands of miles of road a trail at my side, stride for stride.  He was incredibly smart, incredibly athletic and the kindest, gentlest guileless soul to his pack.  How many spiritual moments did we share in the trails?  Hundreds.  Thousands.  Uncountable.  Truly shared, because he an I had this resonance in the woods, this shared joy of the joyous bounty of nature beneath our feet and around us.  We celebrated together.  We were a pack of two, brothers, and single-minded on the hunt.  As men and dogs have been for eons.  Filled and vibrating with the perfectness of the forest.  Permeated with that primeval joy.  I’ll miss that.  But, I’ll also celebrate it.  Because how lucky am I to have intersected with this soul in this time and place?  How much fuller am I?  He gave me more than I can ever give.  He was an example of kindness and joy.  He was my friend and his passing will leave a big hole in all our lives.  It was a life well lived.

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-400 – Matt makes it stick (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4401.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-401.  Nice to be back in the saddle from the holidays.  I feel like I’ve had a good couple months.  I took an extra week on my cadence for this one because It was the holidays and, frankly, I had a lot going on.  Plus I was sick.  I got whatever cold is going around.  Not the flu.  Not pneumonia. Just a cough that hung around for the better part of 2 weeks.  I managed to hold the line on my diet through the holidays.  I did not lose a bunch of weight, but I did eat relatively cleanly and avoided most of the sweets and adult beverages of the season.  This was my plan, so well done me.  This puts me in a healthy spot to hit my Boston training hard and lose 10-15 pounds. Because I think that’s what I’m going to need to do to have any shot of requalifying.  People think ‘Hey, Boston is in the spring! You’ve got plenty of time!” But that’s not really true.  When you turn the corner to a new year on January 1st you are only 3 and ½ months away, which in broad strokes means 14 weeks.  A typical hard training cycle for me is 12 weeks with a 2 week taper, so it’s game on.  I’m not starting from scratch and I’m healthy and I’m mentally enthusiastic.  The dark times will come, but as of now I’m in a good spot.  Today we chat with Matt who is a team mate of mine.  He’s got a great story.  And it’s a timely story as we ease into the ‘resolution season’.  Listen to what it took for Matt to find the courage to switch the momentum and begin his transformation.  In section 1 I’ll give you a wrap up on the Groton Marathon, which, against the odds we managed to pull off successfully last Sunday.  Thinking about it, if I include that in my week, I’m over 50 miles for week one of my training!  Feel pretty good for that. In section 2 I’ll perambulate about goals and stuff, because, hey, it’s that time of year. … When I was out running the Groton Marathon with my buddies I told them I had two topics that I wanted to discuss.  The first was the ending of the movie Road House and the second was the Boston Marathon of Sex.   Now, this being a family friendly show I’ll reserve the latter explanation for my members feed. I’m writing that as we speak and I crack myself up. But, I was watching, or more to the point being forced to watch the movie Road House with Patrick Swazey, may he rest in piece, and like so many of the movies from that era, the ending didn’t make any sense.  So he rips the one bad guy’s throat out.  Then he goes after the big bad guy.  Kills 4 of his henchmen and then has the final fight with the big bad guy.  In the end he decides not to rip that guy’s throat out but the friendly villagers kill the bad guy with shotguns.  Shortly after the police show up.  Now we have been told that the police are in the back pocket of the bad guy.  The police ask, ‘What happened?’ and everyone says “We didn’t see anything…”  And that’s it.  Cut to the final seen of Swazey skinny dipping with the love interest.  So, let me get this straight… There’s 6 dead bodies, one of which has Patrick Swazey’s knife sticking out of his chest, and the police just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Well, I guess since no one saw anything…it’s all good… nothin to see here…”? I’ve seen enough episodes of Law and Order to know they’re not getting off that easy! It’s ok, I ripped his throat out in self-defense… Plus, they shot this guy with old shotguns.  He probably wouldn’t be dead yet when the police come in.  If it was bird shot he’d just be uncomfortable.   Maybe he had a heart attack from the shock.  But think about all the movies you’ve seen where the end is a big pile of dead guys and it’s ok.  That will give you something to talk about on your next long run. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – 2018 Groton Marathon- Voices of reason – the conversation Matt Schorer Matt is father, husband and triathlete from upstate NY who recently made the successful move to reclaim his health.  He trains with Jeff Kline at DailyFitBook.net Matt is currently training for the Lake Placid IronMan in Late June of this year.   Section two – Your Best Self - http://runrunlive.com/your-best-self Outro Well, my friends kicked off your new year with a thorough listening to of  the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-401.  Check that off your list.   Next up for me is a whole lot of training.  I’m going deep.  I can’t control the weather but I can control whether or not I show up and whether or not I consistently do the work.   I’ve got a good jump start on this cycle.  I’ve been working on my core a stretching daily.  I skipped the Hangover Classic this year. I was still fighting a cold and didn’t think jumping in the Atlantic Ocean was such a good idea.  I did finally start working on the startup sales book.  I pushed the introduction out to LinkedIn.  If anyone is interested in being a proof reader or a friendly critical eye I welcome the help.  One of the things I’m trying to do better is to ask for help.  I tend to want to do everything myself and that has a built in ceiling to it. … I see the people in my community starting to complain about all the people showing up at the gym this week.  My experience is that they tend to peter out after 10 days or so.  I’ve got a couple suggestions for this first of the year gym bottleneck.  First, if it really bugs you go early or late.  I don’t care what time of year it is, you’ll have plenty of elbow room at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning.  Second, as we heard from Matt today, some of those out of breath people ARE going to stick it out.  Let’s try to lean in and encourage them.  Be that person that is the tipping point in that emerging healthy person’s life.  Take this as an opportunity to spread the good news and set a good example.  This is a good way for you to practice abundance in the new year. And, if you see Patrick Swazey, run because he’s been dead for a decade so the zombie apocalypse will be under way.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-400 – David Crosses the Jordan (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4400.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-400.  Yeah, that’s right, 400th numbered episode.  That’s something.  I still get the occasional letter form someone who has found inspiration or comfort in what you and I, my friends, do here on the RunRunLive Podcast.  And by George, if we’re still helping people or adding value, we’ll keep going! A couple notes about last week’s show.  I said Buddy was 14, which was technically correct, but he turned 15 this week.  The old dog.  He doesn’t like getting up in the morning now, especially when he has to troop outside in the freezing cold.  The other thing I forgot to add was that I got so flustered by the karmic peeing - pooping incident at the pet store that I forgot to use the coupon that I went home to get originally that started the whole thing. Ce’st la vie. I’m making some progress with my nutrition.  I’m going on over 30 days of pretty clean eating and starting to see some results.  My strategy was to start early and not wait until after the holiday.  This way even if I could only battle to a tie, I won’t be starting my spring training cycle in a hole.  If I look at data from previous years, I typically lose it big time in December and it costs me 5-10 pounds. If I have any chance of re-qualifying this year with the new standards, I’m going to have to be 10 pounds lighter going into the race. My legs and pacing continue to give me trouble.  Coach says it’s a hangover from the 100 miler.  I just can’t seem to find my easy zone 2 pace on the roads.  I’m working it.  Trying to be patient.  On today’s show we have our friend David Foss who took an adventure to the Dead Sea to run a trail marathon.  In section one I’ll probably give you a brief recap of my Mill Cities race. In section 2 I’ll talk about a book I’ve been reading.  I read a lot of books.  Reading is my go-to vehicle for absorbing content.  I have to be careful because I can be influenced by books as well.  I’ll read the latest book on XYZ and find myself all of a sudden trying to put XYZ into full blown practice.  My filter is not the best sometimes.  … This time of year is hard for a lot of people.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s the holidays force you to deal with family stuff.  Maybe it’s the cold and dark.  Maybe it’s something seasonal with our species.  I was reading an emotional outpouring from a woman on the social media site where she was really struggling.  She had abusive relationships, she was injured and she couldn’t shake the feelings of desperation and depression.  The walls closing in.  I suppose that’s one positive thing about social media is that people can use it to reach out to the community for help.  Sure enough there were a long trail of positive responses.  People trying to help.  It was a positive response to a cry for help.  111 responses as of last viewing.  I happened to notice a post that our friend who is in a related profession shared.  So I copied it and reposted it.  “Did you know that if you text "Home" to 741741 when you are feeling depressed, sad, or going through any kind of emotional crisis, a crisis worker will text you back immediately and continue to text with you? Many people, especially younger ones, prefer text to talking on the phone. It's a free service to anyone-- teens, adults, etc.-- who lives in the US. Depression is real, you are not alone.” 741741 I have not tried it, but I trust Greg – it’s in the show notes if you need it. I also responded that “We are all basket cases. Some of us just hide it better. And to Keep running.” Because on social media people only share their perfect worlds with their perfect relationships and perfect children and perfect race times!  Life’s not like FaceBook.  Life is rusty and lumpy.  Don’t get caught comparing yourself to someone else’s best day ever.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Mill Cities Relay- http://runrunlive.com/mill-cities-relay-2018 Voices of reason – the conversation David Foss During the business day, David is a professional geologist and Massachusetts Licensed Site Professional, focusing on Brownfields redevelopment and the productive reuse of regulated hazardous waste sites.  After hours, David is an endurance athlete making time to test his limits and expand his horizons.  In 2012 he joined some friends for a New Years’ 5K and came to the realization that something was missing from his life.  He was a busy environmental professional, husband, and father of two, but what was missing was the time to clear his head, think, and get back to nature.  Endurance sports (road cycling, kayaking, and running) helped round out David’s world view.  Since that first 5K race, he has found distance running to be a path to happiness and mindfulness.  He has run 4 road marathons (one DNF), 2 trail marathons, 4 trail 50K’s, a 50-Mile race, and a 12-hour race.   After running 57-miles in 12 hours in the rain and dark, David shared the following blog post:  Suffering is Optional In 2015 David Followed the “Marathon BQ” training plan and grabbed that golden ring, running a 3:19 to qualify for Boston.  Running the Boston Marathon was an amazing, magical experience.  In contrast, this interview is a discussion of the Eilat Desert Marathon in the Negev Desert in southern Israel.  The Desert Marathon was an amazing experience - - and as different from Boston as can be imagined.  David is a regular contributor to “The Extra Mile Podcast” and shares his thoughts on running and life in the Spreaker podcast:  “Running Virtually” by Just-Plain-Dave. Section two – Fear – You can handle it - Outro Well, my friends you have spurred your camel through the eye pf the needle that is the the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-400.  I’m sure it was a biblical, real old testament, experience. Next up for me is the Groton Marathon.  It’s a made up race in the town I grew up in.  I’ve got a handful of people coming out to run with me.  Hopefully the weather won’t be so dreadful this year.  There’s construction at the place we start and finish so I’m going to have to figure out how to put in another couple hundred feet somewhere! Or just cut the course short.  I mean who really cares, right? If you want to swing by Groton Massachusetts, we have all sorts of distances, not just the marathon.  I usually get 15 -20 knuckleheads from my running club to show.  I think David Foss is going to come up.  The dates work out well this year in that the marathon will be on the 30th so I get a day to recover for the Hangover Classic on the 1st.  Then I jump into some serious training for Boston.  January and February are the big months.  I’m going to talk to coach and see if we can’t load it up and get some good miles in.  I’d like to be over-confident going in.  Because, as we all know by now, you never know what the weather is going to be.  If you want to follow my training I use the Daily FitBook platform.  My Garmin data also updates Garmin Connect, Strava and Myfitness Pal – as far as I know.  … I love adventures.  I’ve been traveling most of my career and I always enjoy the spaciousness and freedom of business travel.  I haven’t been getting out as much as I like to in my last couple roles.  Which gives me less fodder for storytelling.  Thanks to David for sharing his travel adventure with us.  I felt like I was there.  I could feel the dry heat and smell the dust.  The dust of centuries.  The dust of civilizations. The dust of history. The first crusade went through where he was.  It was the only recorded time the Europeans used knights in full armor on heavy horse for a frontal charge.  It worked well the first time.  You can imagine how surprising it would have been to have these characters show up in your back yard.   A couple hundred of these guys in heavy armor charging down on you.  As far as historians know it was only used that once in the beginning of the first crusade. Turns out riding a giant horse around the desert in a full metal jacket wasn’t the most effective or flexible means of desert warfare.  I understand.  I get uncomfortable in phoenix riding around in a full suit of clothing.  Last week I was in the glorious Holiday Inn at the Cincinnati airport.  I was out at dinner with the client and say myself next to their marketing person who I will be working with.  Come to find out she’s running her first 50K that weekend!  You can bet she regretted broaching the topic of endurance running with me! You see, our tribe is everywhere, wandering over in deserts of Negev and over deserts in Hebron KY.  Groan all you want.  I own the Dad jokes. and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-399 – The Mindful Runner (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4399.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-399.  This is Chris your host and today we are going get a bit emotional.  We are going to the dogs.  Our themes are Buddy the Wonder Dog and courage.  One of our longtime friends Janet inquired how Buddy the old wonder dog is doing so today we are going to tell some Buddy stories.  In the interview I invited Gary back on to talk about his new book on running.  I thought the timing was good with the holidays to give you another gift option!  What can you buy for runners that they won’t hate?  A book.  Lots of books on running.  Gary has a dream job of writing about running for a living.  I would have to become independently wealthy to do that.  As it turns out words are cheap, in my experience. I’m doing fine.  I haven’t made much weight loss progress but I’m eating healthier.  The weight will come off as I start building up miles in my spring campaign. I’m working with Rachel to lose some weight and get my nutrition right.  It’s hard through the holidays but I’m giving myself a long runway into the spring so even with setbacks I can ease my way into a good race weight for Boston.  And I’m working with Coach to build some strength.  My core is not as strong as I’d like.  My legs fatigue way faster than I think they should.  My aerobic fitness is good, but my legs can’t get near that aerobic barrier and hold it like they used to.  I went to the PT to get his opinion and there’s nothing wrong with me per se I’m just getting old.  I’m healthy and not injured.  With the shorter days I’ve been pushing my runs out into the evening.  I find this is a dead time for me anyhow.  I’m too mentally tired to do anything creative.  I find it nice and head-clearing to get out on the road in the cold and dark with my lights.  It’s peaceful.  Sometimes the stars are out, or the moon and it’s quite pretty.  … Like I said, we are going to spend some time talking about my old running partner Buddy the Wonder Dog today.  He’s doing OK.  He’s here with me now, sleeping.  The old saying is that you can’t teach and old dog new tricks. I beg to differ.  You can teach an old dog bad habits rather easily.  Buddy has never been given human food.  We never fed him from the table or scraps. I never gave him anything I was eating and as a result he never learned how to beg.  You could eat, he wouldn’t bother you.  As he’s gotten older I started to toss him a peanut now and then.  We let him have the morsels that fell on the floor and what have you.  I figured, hey, how long has he got left?  Let him live a little.  What’s the harm?  Of course, now it doesn’t’ matter what I’m eating.  A soon as I sit on the couch his nose is 3 inches from my food staring intently.  And any time we’re in the kitchen he’s underfoot on scrap patrol.  So, yes, you can teach an old dog bad habits.  The same is probably true for humans. On with the show.   … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Buddy in old age- http://runrunlive.com/buddy-in-old-age Voices of reason – the conversation Gary Dudney GARY DUDNEY has been publishing articles on running, trail running, and ultrarunning for the past 20 years. His work has appeared in all the major running magazines, such as Runner’s World, Running Times, Trailrunner, and Marathon & Beyond. For Ultrarunning magazine, considered the “voice of the sport” of ultra long distance running, he’s served as a regular columnist since 2008, and he has additionally supplied the magazine with dozens of uniquely quirky race reports.  Ideas for The Tao of Running were shaped by the 60 one hundred mile races he’s participated in and the almost two hundred other long distance races he’s completed. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Kansas in English Literature and his fiction credentials include stories in Boy’s Life magazine and in numerous literary magazines and one published novel, Cries-at-Moon of the Kitchi-Kit. His second book on the mental side of running, The Mindful Runner: Finding Your Inner Focus, was just released on November 1 of 2018. Section two – Courage- Outro Alright, I appreciate you sticking with me through the emotional journey of  Episode 4-3989of the RunRunLive Podcast I’m sure it took great courage on your part.     I ran the Thanksgiving 5K with my daughter and a bunch of people from my running club.  I had a good time.  It’s always great to see friends and its always great to spend time with my kids.  I also decided to stop stressing out about pace and time.  This is just about the only 5K I run each year so it bothers me if I don’t’ race well.  When we woke up before the race it was 9 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very cold for this early in the winter.  There was a nice little breeze too.  So itf you’re one of those softies who believe in windchill it would have felt about zero.  There was no warming up.  I didn’t even bother.  I just went out at what felt like a good hard pace and tried to hold it.  I think I ended up with7:20’s, but who cares, right? I’ve been trying to follow a good morning routine with stretching, meditation, reading and writing and it helps.  I haven’t made much progress on my new book about startup sales, ironically because the startup I’m in is keeping me uber stressed out and busy.  Thanks for playing along.  Next episode will be our 400th official episode. I’ll have to think hard about what I want to do next.  … I decided to write that quick update on Buddy because I got an email from long time friend Janet inquiring for his health and wellbeing.  Let me tell you my Buddy story of the week.  Monday night I was getting ready to leave work.  It was after 6:30.  I had a need to pick up a bag of dog food, because we were almost at the bottom of the barrel.  This is ok, because the dog food store is on my way home.  Then I realized I have forgotten to bring the 10% off coupon for said dog food that I received in the mail and was quite excited about.  I believe the coupon algorithm in the great coupon generating AI computer typically only sends coupons when you don’t need something.  So, the universe has made an error in my favor and I aim to take advantage of it. I decide to go home first.  Which is not on my way.  But I can pick up the dog and take him to the pet store with me as an outing.  It’s one of the few places they allow dogs.  As I leave work it is sluicing rain.  Again.  Rainiest month in history.  (Like a normal week in Seattle or London.)  I get home and go to let Buddy out.  He’s been in the house all day.  He looks outside at the weather and digs in his heels.  “Like, it’s only been 8 hours, I can hold it.  I’m not going from warm bed to cold rain!” I push him out onto the wet front steps.  I do some quick things around the house.  I grab the coupon off the fridge and retrieve him for the trip to the store.  It’s still pouring rain.  I’m not dressed for it having just come from work.  He digs in his heels as I try to load him into the truck.  Armful of wet dog into the seat.  We drive off to the pet store to get the food.  It’s late.  No one is in the parking lot and the store is empty.  I unload the dog and lead him on the leash to the store.  He wants to wander around the parking lot and sniff everything.  It’s pouring rain, still.  We enter the empty store and I lead him back to the section where his food bags are stacked.  Leaving a trail of wet footprints.  I have to keep pulling him away from all the interesting things to sniff on the way.  I know to keep an eye on him because the pet store is full of pet smells.  There have been hundreds of other dogs in there getting groomed and trained and just wandering around.  I know if I don’t watch him, he may try to mark something.  It’s not that he has that bad habit, it’s just that his reptilian brain gets overwhelmed by the scent of other dogs.  For a dog nose that place must be the equivalent of technicolor.  I find the food and sure enough as I’m hoisting a 30-pound bag up onto my shoulder one handed with the leash in the other hand, he starts peeing on the floor.  Dammit! I yank him away and go to check out.  Now I have a moral decision to make.  A decision that requires courage.  Pretend it didn’t happen or confess to the young lady at the register.  And as I’m practicing doing things that scare me this month, I decide to come clean, so to speak.  She says they have “Sanitary Stations” just for this and asks if I want her to clean it up or would I like to do it myself – with the clear emphasis on ‘do it yourself’.  I grab a handful of paper towels from the sanitary station and the bottle of organic squirty stuff.  I mop up my friend the dog’s unfortunate leavings.  I have to make another trip to get more towels.  He was serious about his duties.  When all is as clean as it’s going to get we wander back to the register to retrieve the big bag of food.  I ask her if most people just ignore it and leave.  She says that mostly happens with poop.  Que the ominous foreshadowing. We exit the building.  It is, impossibly, raining even harder and colder.  Me in my dress pants and shirt with a big bag of food balanced on my shoulder like a suburban lumberjack and the leash in the other hand.  I decide to pause to let him sniff the pots outside the door.  I feel bad that I had to practice urinatus-interuptus on him in the store.  But he has other plans and begins to poop on the sidewalk in front of the store.  I say ‘no’ and try to pull him away but he manages to leave a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak across the parking lot.  Eventually I wrangle him and the bag of food into the truck.  Now I’m stuck in another moral conundrum, but since I’ve already got momentum, I grab a plastic bag (that I keep in the truck for these types of outings) and stoop amid the puddles to undo the poo.  And that is my old Buddy story from this week.  There is no moral to it, but I think I earned some karma.  and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

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