The Penguin

Hal Higdon has written over 34 books, most notably Marathon the Ultimate Training Guide (https://amzn.to/3pCU1Si) and created several training programs, that can be found on his site – Run with Hal https://www.halhigdon.com/. Hal competed 8 times in the Olympic Trials, his best performance came in 1960, when he finished 5th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He has run over 110 marathons, his best clocking his best performance in the 1964 Boston Marathon, where Hal placed 5th overall, after leading through the first 19 miles and crying at the finish line – tears of heartache and joy. Heartache from not winning and joy from setting his best time.  In 1975 Hal set a World Masters Championship M40 record of 9:18.6 in the steeplechase, which holds as the longest standing American Masters record. Hal has been running competitively for 75 years and shares with us what he has learned about training and nutrition.

When Cal Ripken set his unbelievable streak of 2,632 games played, he had the mindset of “No days off”.  Dane Rauschenberg had the same mindset in 2006, when he set out to run 52 different marathons on 52 weekends, throughout the year. He made the decision that there would be no make-up dates, no do-overs, but instead a full marathon every weekend. In the process, Dane raised over $43,000 for the L’Arche Organization (https://www.larcheusa.org/) and effectively ran negative splits throughout the year, by clocking his fastest races at the end of the year. As if that wasn’t enough, he did this while working full time and only missed four days of work during the year.  Dane talks to us about training, “you don’t need to win the workout, save it for race day”, and how to run a sub three-hour marathon. Also an author, Dane has written Run This Place: 52 Must Run Races in North America (https://amzn.to/2Y59PRK) a summation of the best 52 races, out of the 400 races that Dane has competed in.

This race smells like up dawg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6kXrSE8GoQ) What’s up dawg??  In the year of a pandemic, when live races were canceled, Keira D’Amato created her own race – The Updawg 10 Miler. With the help of Phil Stewart and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom, Keira put together a closed course 10 mile race, won the race, and set a new American 10 Mile record. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “there is no second act in American lives.” Keira proves Mr. Fitzgerald wrong, after taking a “long halftime show”, starting back into running for fun, and now the “Running Realtor” has a 10 Mile American Record and placed 15th in the Olympic Marathon Trials. Keira was a high school standout, an All-American in College, then after an injury, running “broke up with her”, this wicked smart lady has found a way to balance elite running, and a career in real estate, all while raising a family.

Have you ever wanted to conduct a business meeting, while on a 30K run around London? Marcus talks to us about how to juggle a busy life of the business world and training for ultra marathons. Marcus was a professional rugby player from the age of 18, until he retired in 2010. He is now an extreme athlete, coach, and entrepreneur. Marcus has competed in 30 marathons in 30 days, a 250K self-supported race across the Sahara Desert and 230K self -supported race through Kenya. Marcus finds a fulfilled life with his main hobbies that includes running across the desert, or walking on the beach at sunrise. Marcus has a strong belief that everyone can develop mental strength through physical challenges and stop being scared of hard work. Marcus explains that big goals, require big processes. Everyone should find the process that helps them climb their “Everest”. You can connect with Marcus and read his blog here http://www.mjdsmith.com/#home

Every writing teacher will tell you to “write what you know”. Jim Knoedel did exactly that, by writing about two fictional track athletes. Jim started his journey as high school track athlete, in Iowa City, Iowa. He then became a walk-on runner on the University of Iowa track team. During his time under legendary coach Francis Cretzmeyer, aka Cretz, Jim heard stories of Jesse Owens and watched Steve Prefontaine at the Drake Relays (almost high fiving him). It was in these days that Jim created the plot of his novel, where two athletes, from different eras compete against each other. Jim’s writing skills have been well honed by writing countless recruiting letters, during his years as a track coach at Northwestern, Loyola and UIC. Recruiting letters written so well, that athletes would keep them and refer to them later in their careers. If you’ve ever wondered, who was better, Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis? Michael Jordan or Lebron James? In A Golden Era – A Tale of Two Runners https://amzn.to/36xU0bs you have an opportunity to imagine those scenarios existing.

Is ketchup a vegetable? How do you bring together two passions in life - sports and nutrition, and make them a career? Andrew answers both of these questions  for us on this podcast episode. Andrew is a writer that blogs about living well, habits for happiness, productivity and success. He has done countless hours of research on the Blue Zones (regions of the World where people live beyond 100 years old), with the goal of living the longest, healthiest and most productive life he can live. Lucky for all of us, Andrew is willing to share his research. He routinely writes on his blog http://www.andrewmerle.com/blogon topics such as; Living to be 100 https://bit.ly/3mpzYV0The Eating Habits of the Best Athletes in the World https://bit.ly/3oVqfHE Why You Should be a Morning Person https://bit.ly/34g0LNz and many more health and lifestyle habits.

For most of us, our decisions don't carry the weight of one that faced Deena. In 2006 she had to make a difficult decision – Win the Boston Marathon or run the London Marathon and push the marathon record out of reach. She talks to us about how her dog helped her make this decision and how she trained to break the American Marathon Record at the 2006 London Marathon. The American Record is one of many accolades for Deena - an 8-time National Cross Country Champion, 8-time collegiate All-American, 4-time SEC Champion, two silver medals in World Cross Country Championships, Women’s Road 10 mile record, Women’s 15K record, Women’s 8K record. Additionally, Deena is an author, of Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory https://amzn.to/3gDITRC and is currently working on writing a cookbook.

Dr. Ratey was seeing patients for ADD in the early 80's, when he accidently discovered the connection between physical activity and brain function.  John and a former student of John's, were able to self-diagnose their own ADD and realized that they were able to function by self-medicating, through physical activity. This connection of physical activity and brain function led John to a groundbreaking research on aggression, autism and ADD.  John talks to us about "Miracle Gro" for the brain and how to develop your brain, with activity, during all stages of life, as well as how to overcome the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), that so many people deal with during the long winter months.  John has written 11 books, most notably; Go Wild: Free Your Body and Mind From the Afflictions of Civilization https://amzn.to/2L1JHUF and Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain https://amzn.to/2JAalDk.

Seven weeks after a clear mammogram, Fitz found a lump on her breast. She is clear in telling us what her next steps where, she didn’t look at WebMD, she didn’t call her friend, she called the DAMN Doctor and made an immediate appointment. Fitz bravely whooped up on breast cancer, all the while continuing her schedule of race announcing. She chronicles it all in her book My Noisy Cancer Comeback: Running at the Mouth, While Running for My Life https://rb.gy/84nx9h Fitz calls her book a love letter written to the entire Running Industry for keeping her going through the challenges of breast cancer. As a race announcer, Fitz is there for the speedsters, as well as, the back of pack runners. She is the energy that sends you off at the start line and cheers you on as you make your way to the finish.