Today I have one of my most favorite people ever, Jacob Conway, on the show. We sit down in his Manhattan apartment to discuss his plant based milk start up, veganism, NYC city living as a CA raised boy, and coming out as a gay man to his parents. All the normal topics. There is a lot of laughing, so I hope you at least enjoy this conversation amongst two friends who are sitting on pillows on the floor discussing everything and nothing at the same time. Thanks for listening!

This episode was honestly supposed to come out in the spring but since we are in Atlanta for the Olympic Trials and made our predictions, we figured the entire thing should just be released today. It's a catch up between two friends. Honestly nothing more to it other than to let you know that we will be back in April! It will be quite something.

Not sure why or how, but I caved to the immense social media pressure to allow my friends Eric and Britto to take over as guest hosts on the newest episode of Wisconsin Notes. This interview is with Mike Burstein and Dave Spandorfer, the co-founders of Janji, a running apparel company founded in 2012 and headquartered in Boston. The company is notable as socially conscious with a percentage of sales funding global clean water initiatives and they also design apparel that features themes from the countries they partner with. Just a warning that after listening to this interview you may feel inspired to both go for a run and save the world.

When we gathered in San Francisco to tell short stories, we told the story tellers that the theme is "fear." To have such a vague topic is hilarious because you can always place your story in the category with a certain level of justification. In this episode of WI Notes, we have Billy and Nicolas. Billy starts us off with his story about how an unusual grocery item saved his bike ride (and his under parts) from ruin. Then Nicolas closes it out with a completely different tone and direction, speaking of the fear of the future and the trajectory of life. As always, thank you to the guests for sharing their stories.

Claire Wood and Keith Kelly both wear a lot of hats. Claire is the SBU Manager at New Balance, overseeing the product creation for global running footwear, is a talented runner, and hilarious storyteller. Keith is also an employee of New Balance in Boston, was an incredible runner back in the day, winning the 2000 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championship, and has since moved on to Cat 1 cycling which is no small feat. These two have been friends for more than a decade and have a unique, insider perspective of the running industry. Today's chat covers running shoe poetry, Elaine Kennedy's flannel pajamas, and Claire's dog Violet. All of it random, all of it entertaining.

A couple weeks ago a large group of November Project leaders gathered in San Francisco for the endurance challenge series put on by the north face. Unfortunately, due to the Camp Fire and poor air quality, all of the races were cancelled. So here we were in San Francisco, staying in a large victorian rental home unable to venture outside with nothing to do. We played a lot of hide and seek, chugged a bunch of beers, and then recorded a series of short stories for this little podcast here. Up in the attic a dozen people sat on the floor with the story teller sitting at the mic facing the crowd. There was no theme or direction for these stories, just good ole story telling. To start this series off, here is November Project co founder and Serbian supreme, Bojan Mandaric.

On November 8th, the Camp Fire in northern California grew rapidly and burned through 10,000 acres in under 90 minutes. The rate at which the fire spread was unprecedented which is tragically why the death toll is the highest in history. It destroyed more structures than the previously worst 6 wildfires combined. That's more than 17,000 structures with over 12,000 of those being people’s homes. Those who survived the evacuation in the town of Paradise and beyond lost everything and are now starting the unimaginable process of rebuilding. But in the darkness of the tragedy has risen a call to action from the nearby communities and around the world. Countless donations have been made for the victims, and the volunteer efforts to sort through these donations has been unbelievable. For people who cannot help in person, monetary funds have been established, including one called the Donner Party 50k which was set up by my guest today, Jon Levitt, along with friends. When the 50k he trained for was cancelled due to the poor air quality in San Francisco, a group gathered at Donner Lake, near Lake Tahoe, to use their training and running community to raise money for the victims of the Camp Fire. So without further adieu, here is Jon with how that all came together

Bringing it back this week to our friend and professional trail runner, Clare Gallagher. We first posted this episode almost a year ago the night before a fun little endurance challenge race in Utah. I had almost 2 hours of audio to edit through and still this is a shuffled mess. But hey! It makes me really happy. Enjoy this manic walk down memory lane with Clare.

Soooooo, I had a baby. A real life human. His name is Jack and he's the man. While having a newborn at home is incredible, joyous, and amazing, the labor and delivery was something completely different. On this episode of Wisconsin Notes, Brogan Graham hosts and we get real. Very real. I hope you enjoy the banter, ridiculous conversation, and learn a thing or two about the terrors of childbirth!

George Woodward is a father, husband, marathoner, and a vital part of the November Project Boston tribe. This self-proclaimed cranky, old man embodies so much of the Boston road running scene with the perfect balance of a welcoming nature mixed with wit and sarcasm. Today we hear George's story with my co-host, Emily Saul.