RunRunLive

A life Well Lived (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/ buddy-Eulogy.output.mp3] Link buddy-Eulogy.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.   

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-400 – Matt makes it stick (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4401.mp3] Link epi4401.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/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 Become a member … Section one – 2018 Groton Marathon- http://runrunlive.com/the-groton-marathon-2018 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.   https://www.facebook.com/fatguytotriguy/ https://www.facebook.com/matt.schorer.71/about https://www.facebook.com/dailyfitbook/ 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 - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books Rachel -> http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/contact-appointment/ Coach Jeff -> https://dailyfitbook.com/

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-400 – David Crosses the Jordan (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4400.mp3] Link epi4400.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/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 Become a member … 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 https://www.wilcoxandbarton.com/news-resources/Suffering-Is-Optional-entry-34 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. https://www.spreaker.com/user/8342740 Section two – Fear – You can handle it - http://runrunlive.com/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 - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books Rachel -> http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/contact-appointment/ Coach Jeff -> https://dailyfitbook.com/

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-399 – The Mindful Runner (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4399.mp3] Link epi4399.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/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 Become a member … 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- http://runrunlive.com/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 - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books Rachel -> http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/contact-appointment/ Coach Jeff -> https://dailyfitbook.com/

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-398 – Kat Comes Back   (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4398.mp3] Link epi4398.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-398.  I was on Facebook Messenger this week and realized there were unread messages in there.  Some several years old.  I’m not sure if this was an artifact of some server upgrade or from when they pulled Messenger out into a separate app, but If you sent me a Facebook message and didn’t’ hear back, I apologize.  I usually respond to everything.  I like interacting. Hope I didn’t cause anyone to give up.  Today we talk with Katrin who’s story I found in my Boston Marathon Training group.  Some interesting stories in there.  I wanted to talk to her because she was able to accomplish something I have never been able to.  She was able to race herself into the hospital.  I don’t know about you, but I tend to give up way before I collapse on the course.  Don’t worry, it has a happy ending.  In section one I’m going to explore the concept of mastery.  In section two I’m going to talk about happiness and purpose.  I’ve been working on myself over the last couple weeks.  Not just physically but overall.  I’m working with Rachel on my nutrition, I’m doing some personal improvement work and I’ve got my morning routine going.  I go through cycles and I was ready for a reboot.  One of the things that popped up is I have another book in my mind that is begging to get out.  How blessed am I that these things just stand up and shout every now and then? I’ve just started but the topic is going to be Startup Sales.  It’s going to be for the entrepreneur who has a  started a company, with a great idea and great promise but has to learn how to sell that idea and promise.  This is my 3rd trip through the startup cycle and I think I could help a lot of people.  Not just the tactical ‘how to’ but the emotional wrapper that comes with navigating the choppy seas of a startup.  Much like I combined the tactical practice of speedwork with the ability to mentally survive the dark places of an intense training campaign in MarathonBQ.  I’m still in formulation mode, but if you have any good ideas or want to introduce me to a publisher or want to ride along as an editor or muse, let me know. … As you listen through today think about how you can focus on mastery and not just competence or getting by.  Listen to how Katrin was able to navigate the extreme learning of her two marathons.  Think about what you love doing, what your purpose is and why you are here.  And I’m glad you’re here.  Brilliant! 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 Become a member … Section one – Mastery- http://runrunlive.com/mastery   Voices of reason – the conversation Katrin Maesse My third marathon, two words: Boston Qualification!!!💙💛 The official finishing time was 3:28:50h, so much better than I thought it would be! Not sure if this will be really enough for Boston but for now I take it - happy and proud! 🎉 As usual, I went out too fast, so I took it easier after the first 17 miles. However, it was amazing from the start to the finish. I met super cool people to chat with, could motivate two guys not to walk but to stay with me for some miles, celebrated with the cheering crowed and loved to see my cheerleaders Christophand Donna along the course 😍26.2 miles of smiling!  Right before mile 24 and again before mile 26 I had bad cramps and needed to stop to stretch my calves..I finished on cramping legs but I finished! I cried many happy tears, started smiling again and gave high fives to every single Marine I met on the way to my medal!  Happy and proud of todays achievement! Like Adrianne would say: I can do hard things! ❤️ Section two – Happiness and Purpose- http://runrunlive.com/the-pursuit-of-happiness-and-its-relationship-to-purpose Outro Thank you my friends for joining me for Episode 4-398 of the RunRunLive Podcast – were you able to collapse, recover and keep going?  I’m still taking it relatively easy now.  I’m working with my nutrition coach Rachel to get healthy over the next few months (and of course lighter) so I can put a good training cycle in for the spring.  I go through cycles of good nutrition and those typically last with some point adjustments for a couple years and then I need to get help again for a few months.  I’m definitely in the conscious competence Phase where I know what I’m supposed to do but have trouble executing.  If anyone wants to work with Rachel, I’ll put her links in the show notes, or you can shoot me an email at cyktrussell at gmail dot com.  http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/contact-appointment/ Next up for me is a Thanksgiving Day race that I run every year with my younger daughter.  I’m not expecting much but I’ll go give it a whirl, see my friends, have some fun.  I’m a big consumer of podcasts.  Partly it’s my personality type where I just hate to waste time, so if I’m in my car or on the run I listen to podcasts.  I have smattering of business and pleasure and have gotten good at cycling on to new ones when I feel like it and ignoring old ones, otherwise the list of un-listened to podcasts will pile up and make you feel guilty.  It’s ok.  It’s ok.  Listen to what you like and dump what you don’t. You’re under no obligation.  I don’t’ listen to those running podcasts where people just get on and talk while they run.  It’s just not interesting to me.  And I don’t feel like I get a lot out of the ‘how to’ running podcasts either.  Here are a few episodes or podcasts that have stood out in the last few months.  I’ll try to link them in the notes. First is a new podcast called Ultra running history by Davey Crockett.  Davey does a great job of producing a show.  It is well recorded with good audio and lots of sound effects and sound bites.  The history of ultra events is super interesting.  http://ultrarunninghistory.com/ Another show I have on my feed, like millions of other folks is Tim Ferris.  I would never say that a person as successful as Tim impresses me as a narcissistic ass most of the time, I would never say that, and I dislike the self-indulgent super long format, so I pick and choose based on the guest.  A recent episode #343 featured Seth Godin.  Seth is a wonderfully centered and mindful person.  That is a great listen.  https://tim.blog/2018/11/01/seth-godin-this-is-marketing/  https://tim.blog/2016/05/04/mike-rowe/ Since I’m a New England boy I have been listening to ‘Gladiator’ – by the Boston Globe which is a 6 part series on the rise and fall of Aaron Hernandez.  It’s super dark, but if you remember the murder trial and suicide of Hernandez you’ll be fascinated.   http://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/gladiator/ Our friend Zen Runner is doing a new project called ‘Zen 2 Zion – Road to Ultra’ where he is training to run an ultra with his daughter.  It’s charming.  And Adam has always been a good podcaster.  http://adamtinkoff.com/ A good, short listen is ‘The Way Heard it’ by Mike Row of Dirty Jobs fame.  He’s a great story teller and these are good little bits of joyful story telling.  (by the way, Tim Ferris’ interview of Mike Rowe was really good too) http://mikerowe.com/podcast/ Lastly, before I move you to the exit, one of the shows I have on my feed is On Being by Krista Tippet.  I believe this is a public radio show as well.  She talks to authors, poets, philosophers and others about super deep woo woo stuff.  I don’t listen to all of them.  I choose a couple here and there that interest me.  She recently did a show with Sally Kohn and Erik Erickson – called ‘Relationship Across Rupture’ which was really good.  I try to avoid politics, especially in the current political climate, I find it a waste of energy, but I found this almost a antidote for our current political emotions.  She hold a forum with Sally Kohn who was the Lesbian liberal foil on Fox News for many years and Erik Erickson who is a conservative pundit and radio personality from Georgia.  Instead of setting it up as your typical cable news cage match they explore all the things we have in common.  And at the end of the day you realize that we have 85% in common and only these few things that separate.  That’s the great realization.  No matter who you are. When you look across the way at your supposed adversaries, they are not bad people.  They want what’s best of their family and their country, just like you do.  If you had dinned with them you would like each other, as people, not positions.  The things that separate are small things that have been whipped into big things by people with agendas. We are better than that.  I found it like a giant relief.  Almost life-affirming.  So master a bit of listening and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books Rachel -> http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/contact-appointment/ Coach Jeff -> https://dailyfitbook.com/