On The Runs 175 // Justin Deflumeri // David French Goffstown Gallop

This episode Eric and Erika start off at the Goffstown Gallop with David French and Rick Wilhelmi. They explores the rich history and community spirit of the Goffstown Gallop, a local race that has evolved over the years. The hosts celebrate the event's significance and share personal stories. 

Then they welcome Justin Deflumeri for their guest segment. Justin, who recently set a Fastest Known Time (FKT) for running the length of New Hampshire joins the podcast less than a week after his accomplishment to recap it all. The discussion emphasizes the importance of community involvement, charity, and the personal growth that comes from overcoming challenges in the world of running. In this conversation, Justin shares his incredible journey that started with headaches years ago to this running journey he's been on while raising funds for the Heather Abbott Foundation. He discusses the challenges faced during the run, the emotional connections made with his crew and supporters, and the personal growth experienced throughout the process. The conversation highlights the importance of teamwork, resilience, and the impact of community support in achieving personal goals.

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Heather Abbot Foundation

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Celebration of Community
03:14 The History of the Goffstown Gallup Race
06:04 Course Consistency and Personal Experiences
09:00 Race Planning and Modernization
12:07 Community Impact and Personal Connections
15:00 Guest Introduction: Justin DeFlamary's FKT Adventure
33:25 Eric's Journey: From Athlete to Advocate
39:25 The Medical Crisis: A Life-Altering Experience
45:21 Finding Hope: Support and Recovery
51:58 The Road to Running: Rediscovering Passion
56:04 The FKT Challenge: Running the Length of New Hampshire
01:07:02 The Journey Begins: Setting the Stage
01:10:54 Day One: Challenges and Triumphs
01:15:04 Day Two: Overcoming Obstacles and Finding Inspiration
01:23:23 Day Three: The Turning Point
01:36:16 Day Four: Pushing Through the Heat
01:40:54 The Journey Begins: Day Four Reflections
01:47:05 The Emotional Finish: Crossing the Line
01:51:51 The Impact of Community and Family Support
01:56:04 Music, Memories, and Future Plans
02:00:51 Fundraising Success and Future Endeavors

My Race Tatts Affiliate Page - 15% of your purchase goes towards our TEAM FORCE Fundraising efforts for the NYC Marathon

Wrightsock Affiliate Page - 15% of your purchase goes towards our TEAM FORCE Fundraising efforts for the NYC Marathon

Eric's NYC Marathon Fundraiser - Team FORCE, a dynamic organization that supports the hereditary cancer community

Erika's Chicago Marathon Fundraiser - for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in memory of her brother, Nick

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Transcript

Eric (00:00.046)
This is like fun with other, you know, running friends. So I'm like, I'm gonna do it. Cause I knew it would put me in a good mood. You are my BRF. What's happening here? They're for your victory lap. Yeah. Whoa. I just said, how did you do that? And all of sudden I go to zip it up and I'm like.

Why is the zipper in the front right now? Zero out of 10 on the recommendation scale. I am literally crying from laughter and from so much like love. my God. And he just smashed Arnie like that and said, you stay out of this Arnie. I said, I don't run to stay sober. I get to run because I am. And there she was and halo over her No, it's not freaking true. And he steps to the side.

and just gestures. Here's the tinkle part. I don't need to tinkle.

Eric (00:55.022)
What's up everybody! Welcome to episode 175! A very special birthday edition of the On the Runs podcast. We are coming to you live from the Gostown Gallup inside the Gostown Rec Gymnasium. The weather was perfect today for running. The temperature dropped from 105 to 65 like a Lambo down the highway when the way Zap tells you, cops ahead. We have an amazing guest today who just ran the entire length up to New Hampshire and we have some very special guests in person.

But before any of that, I have to say hello to my kick-ass Rockstar ever co-host the birthday girl herself six star Erica What's up? This has been the best day I've had in forever So thank you everybody who has come to this goth style gallop today. Wish me a happy birthday yesterday I've just been having a wonderful time. So thank you for making me feel so loved

We have a really cool, we have a co-host, have a really cool guest today, but we have another co-host too. We need to say hello to Lindsay. What's going on? What's crapping in everyone. I am going to let Erica do the honors of introducing our next two guests here on the podcast. It really is an honor. I am so excited to have the current race director of the Goff's Down Gallup and the namesake of the Goff's Down Gallup, David French here. So we have Rick Wilhelmi, the-

race director and David French. So why don't you guys say hello? Hi, how you doing? Great day today. It's fun to see everybody. Hello, everybody. It was a wonderful day. The rain held off. It's great to see everybody's having fun and enjoying the race. And thank you very much for having us here. When you woke up this morning, what time was it first off and what was the weather doing at that moment? Well, historically, the night before the race,

Even though I've been retired for 15 years, I don't sleep. I just don't. I'm always excited and ready to go. So it was a 430 a.m. start for me. And it took my dog for a walk at 5 a.m. and it started raining at 5.05. And I really, I mean, it was pouring. So I was a little discouraged and I kept being on my computer looking at the weather. And I got a little bit more encouraged as time went on.

Eric (03:14.606)
It held off. was a beautiful day. It was perfect for running, especially if you're trying to set a PR. We'll get to that in the outro because this is all about David and the Goffstown Gallup. And let's let's start off David. Forty seven years of the Goffstown. 46. Oh, because next year is the 47. I see. I'm already thinking about next year. Tell us about before year one. How did this start? Well, as to be quite honest with you, I

I was a runner. I had run the Boston Marathon in 1979. And I really felt that there was a time and a place to start an event like this in town. I wanted people to have to bring their families. Our first race, had 76 people. Our prizes were one trophy for the first place male, one trophy for the first place female, and 25 t-shirts. That was it.

That's all we had money for. We were doing it on a string budget. And from there, it just kind of evolved. It kept going and going. Rick will tell you that when he got here, he modernized it. Because when I was here, as anybody knows, I used to use tongue depressors. That's how we got placements. So you had tongue depressors, and you handed them out as the runners came in.

My first year that I came in and I'm using tongue depressors was the biggest pain in the butt. my goodness, I couldn't believe that. I'm like, this is so old school, we gotta figure something out here. And to be quite honest with you, Tom Raffio was one of our big runners and he came up at that time and he says, we gotta change this. And I thank Tom for venturing out for that.

And ever since then, we're doing timing, lifetimeing. I have a very fond memory of, I think it was the 250th anniversary of the town of Goffstown. And we took home a little tongue depressor that had that printed on it, like happy 250th anniversary. And I still have that to this day. It's hanging with all of my medals and it's just to commemorate where the race has been and where it's going. And it was just a nice little memento.

Eric (05:35.568)
Well, and today is kind of deja vu because the first seven years of this race, it rained every single year, every single year it rained. Do you think it had a streak like we've been having? I think we had 13 out of 15. 15 out of 16. That's what it is. The Saturdays of rain. No, when you you talk about those tongue depressors, I remember Arlan, do you remember Arlan Chafee? Arlan Chafee.

He donated. He donated a bunch of those tongue depressors. For the fourth. Because he goes, we got to bring that back. And it was kind of fun. You know what I mean? And he made up all these tongue depressors and all that. we were handing them out. And people were what the heck is this? And it's like, well, nostalgic-wise, if you've ran the race, you knew what it was about. But everybody else was like, what the heck is this? But yeah. In fact, when we would compute the race results,

I had a team of ladies that sat in my office and there were four of them and they did all the results and put them on paper and got them out to us. They were outstanding people. were just, they were amazing, amazing folks and they did it every year. They did it every year. Let's talk about the course. Is this the same course for all 46 years? And I know Lindsay wants to thank you for that hill right in the middle. Love that hill.

So I'm going to tell you, yes, it is. I decided when I started this thing was I wanted to have one course period. wasn't going to just, I've had in years past people say, well, why can't you change it somewhere else? I said, no, this is the way it is. And yes, the hill. Yes, it is. It's quite a hill. It is quite a hill. And Rick will, he'll tell you this.

In 2011, the year after I retired, and he decided to computerize everything, I decided I was going to run. 2012, I had to suck it up for a year. No, I ran in 2011. Oh, that's right. I got here in 10. You got here in 10. I ran in 2011. I had figured that I had goaded enough people to run in this race that it was time for me to do it. The problem was I had an artificial hip.

Eric (08:00.911)
I'm not really supposed to be running and I decided I'm going to anyways. I did a little bit of training. The day of the race, I showed up. It was a day just like this. And I did run the race. Rick was kind enough to be standing on the ladder and pointing down to me and wishing me good luck and hoping that I would make it. I think I said something about leave the lights on or something. And

And I ran the race. It came in way, way in the back. You and Barbara. You and Barbara. Didn't Barbara run the year? that was another year. following year. The following year. Yeah. So I couldn't run after that. But anyways, the way the story goes is two parts of the story. After Rick said that, a friend of mine who was running the race and a young lady next to him hit him in the elbow and said, I thought he was dead.

because it was the day French got us down there. We thought it was the memorial. We thought he was dead. Do know how many times I get asked that question myself to this day? Is Dave dead? No, he's not. It's right there. So then I finished the race. And what I didn't know was that the union leader was here. And they did a nice story on the race and the fact that I had run it. And the headline was something about Gallup organizer

you know, finishes the race with a hip replacement. The problem was that my surgeon saw the article the following day. I got a little... I got busted because I'm not supposed to be running. you know, so that's that. So you've run this race once. Once. Once. Forty-six years, one time. But you put on, you started this whole event so long ago, you picked out the course, it's the same course, it's very unique because it's 5.2 miles.

On those hot days you finish, you just keep running into the lake. On days like today it's perfect, you can set PRs. So you've had quite the history. What was your position here in the town to create this race? Like you keep talking about you retired in 2011. 2010. 2010. What were you doing? Were you working I was the Parks and Recreation Director for 32 years before I retired. then Rick came on in 2010.

Eric (10:26.033)
And Rick's done a wonderful job. He's modernized the race. He's kept it going. It's, you know, it's been through COVID. It's been through all kinds of stuff, you know. But it's gotten, it's starting to, the numbers are starting to pick back up again. And, you know, it's great to have this. It's a great event for the community. So. Before we talk to Rick about what he's done to change this race, Erica, tell us a little bit about your history with this race. This race holds a very special

place in my heart because this was my very first road race ever in 2009. So that was still the year of the popsicle popsicle sticks. Um, and I just remember I w it fell on my birthday that year. And I, I was like, this is motivation. I'm going to get out there. I'm going to start running. And I trained all through the spring and the summer. And then the big day came and I felt so good.

just being able to complete a race that it kind of sparked my whole running career. And ever since 2009, I have been here every single year, even the COVID year, I did it virtually. And I'm going to keep coming back as long as I can. So this is a very, very special race for me. Yes.

next year's race falls on Erica's birthday again, just like her first race. So it is going to be a very, special race next year, especially because next year will be my 40th birthday. It's going to be, it's going to be nuts. So hopefully we'll get a huge turnout. Age is only a number. Oh yes. Age is only a number. I'm going to hopefully still be running, knock on some wood somewhere. This is plastic, but if you're listening to this right now.

Next year, you better be here. Save the date. June 27th. here next year. 2026, let's go. Real fans of the pod would fly here. Check that price line out. 27th, 2026. Let's go. Let's do it. It's always the fourth Saturday in June. There is some history to that, though. Oh, how you chose the date? Yeah. We originally had, it was always the first Saturday in June. But we were always competing with the road race in Portsmouth.

Eric (12:37.496)
Oh, and after about three or four years when I kept getting comments from people saying, you know, and back then, there weren't as many road races as they are today. I changed it. And we used to start the race at 10 o'clock in the morning. Oh, can you imagine how toasty that would be most? yeah, most days today still probably would have been OK. I woke up at six. Well, you won't hear me complaining if I don't have to wake up early. So that's that's Erica time right there. So then.

Then just like that, it was starting to get a little too warm. And so I dropped it down to nine a.m. Well, that didn't suit everybody either. So then I said, well, we'll try eight thirty. And people said, hey, thirty is OK. Good enough. It's still warm enough so that when it's a warm day, you can head into the lake after the race. That's the best. And that's the only I mean, I think, Rick, I mean, that's still a tradition. It absolutely is a tradition. So.

We did that one year and it was a lot of fun because it was a score. was a scorcher that year. So let's talk to Rick for a little bit here about the hit, about what you have done since taken over in 2010, 2011, because a lot of things before that were old school. Erica got to experience that for one or two years, but you've really you've done a lot to help this race evolve in the last decade plus. You know, when you when you say that, it's not I don't think we've done a big change in all honesty. It's timing.

And that, I think, is just the biggest piece of what we did, because that just keeps everything efficient. We've also gotten more technical with the staff out on the road. We're using our CERT people, and they have a whole network of people that are ham operator type of folks. So they keep you abreast of what's going on out there, where people are, if there's any...

any issues or anything. And that as a race director is a great peace of mind thing because you know what's going on and you know, okay, we're okay. For years and years and years, our police department has been unbelievable. It takes a village to make this thing work. And the policing is absolutely huge. This is a major roadway that this event is on.

Eric (15:00.407)
And going back to what David is saying, 10 o'clock start, that would be insane because everybody's out and driving around. I mean, you could probably almost start this race at eight o'clock in the morning, 7.30 in the morning, and then you're going to have less traffic. anyhow. But no, as far as any big changes, I would say it's just timing. You know what I mean? I've been living in town now myself, my wife and

adult son is out of the house, but 28 years. And I think I've ran the Gallup two times in that 28 years before I became the director. I was a very big runner myself. The Clough Triathlon, I used to work at the Y. We started that program over there. It's just great being around a bunch of people that have similar interests and putting this kind of stuff on. And I think this event

You guys just said it. It's you look at these people that come here, it's the same people, you know, and they're happy. They just love this. And this is, think, carrying on what what what Dave created and wanted to to fulfill. And we're still doing that side of it. And I think it's pretty good. mean, you think of the number of races that are out there right now. You know, we're small potato. You know, we're small fries.

You know, you've got your millenniums are running how many how many races a week, a weekend or whatever. You know what I mean? And here this here's this Gallup, Goffstown Gallup is still here and we're going to make it to 56 years, another 10 years. But. That's it's unique. And hopefully we can maintain that. So let's dive a little bit into here's one of my favorite questions I ask race directors and really anyone who puts on events.

the planning process. So when we talk to Dave McGilvery, they start planning for the next year's Boss Marathon 14 months in advance. Sometimes people are like, we just do something within the first, in about 90 days to go. When do you start planning for next year's race? Well, I have something that hangs on my wall in my office. My wife made it for me. It's a little mini little quilt. And it says, if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.

Eric (17:27.345)
Sounds like how I live my life. So college, if I didn't know it by the time David Letterman was on, I didn't know it. I'll go take the exam. That, mean, you know, it probably, we start looking at probably around February, January, February, start, you know, securing some sponsors, that kind of stuff. Other than that, it just becomes part of what

of our operation. It's probably a three month thing. Nice, nice. And that involves? I think the other thing too, you modernizing this registration process too, that's different. Okay? Doing an online registration, I think, yeah, there's a user fee and all that stuff. get it. But I tell you, from my point, from a director point of view, race director, that's phenomenal. I don't have to worry about that. It's all organized.

They give you everything and you just press buttons and it calculates and switches people around and you assign bibs. It's beautiful. You know what I mean? It takes the whole Manuel out of everything. And so that was another piece. And if I can enter, you know, when Rick says that, I think to myself, how many places I used to come with pieces of paper for race applications. mean, Indian Head Athletics was our main sponsor for years and years and years.

And Don York, I he would push it for me. I I can't tell you, I, I drove to Portsmouth. I went to Concord. I went, I dropped off race applications. Every YMCA in the southern part of the state, they saw my face. You know, I was dropping stuff off that that's how you had to do it back then. know? Yeah. Let's talk about two people. One, we met here a couple of years ago, Mike Beeman. And I know you have a big history with Mike Beeman, but the other one I never knew of, you mentioned him today. You had his family here. Tell us about Mike and tell us about Gordon.

Well, Michael and I go way back. I knew Michael back when he was involved with the store Total Sports with Ray Currier. And when I started this race, the first person that won the race was a guy by the name of Jeff Robinson, who was a big runner back in the late 70s and early 80s. The next person that ran was Ray Currier that won the race. And I think if anybody lives in the Manchester area and is a running person.

Eric (19:52.684)
They know the name Ray Currier. But then came Mike, and Mike ran in this race many, many times, one and a couple times, and we just became friends. We began a relationship of friendship. We would contact each other. He was involved at Total Sports. I did some business down there with him from the Rec Department. And actually, he's a person that, if you know Mike,

He's inspirational. He really is. And I had him speak an event that I was hosting up in Concord one year. And he just inspired so many kids that day. It was unbelievable what he said and how he said it and how he presented himself. So and ironic, he's come back twice now in the last few years. Yeah. And I think to myself, he lives in Georgia and he comes up to

the coast that he visits all his friends and he does all kinds of things. And he's a phenomenal person that if you know Mike and you know the Boston Marathon and you know who Mike Beeman is, he's run I think 47 of them. think 48. 48. 48 is the year it just happened. So we got two more for the 50. Was it 48? Yeah, he's awesome. two years ahead of you, I think. Yeah. So he saw that that's that's our relationship and he was here today. Yeah. And he's a wonderful guy.

So cool. We got to meet him. He was our 21st episode. Eric, Eric had cracked a beer on that episode. It was so cool. And then just been following him. We have some people who found him on social media this last year. He's been blowing up on Tik Tok. Oh, he is so popular. And so we have a friend, Ali G. And she's at the Boston Marathon on Saturday before. And she goes, I need to find this guy's name is Mike Beeman. Have you ever heard of him? I'm like, I got his phone number.

You want me to call him? I'll find out where he is. walk over to him right now. He is the man. And it was so cool because when you stand up on that ladder and you got your bell, you usually call it a few people. And you called him out. And I looked. And the funny thing was he brought some friends from Georgia. And I walked in here to register that day. they had I had a check because you guys are taking cash and check. And they thought they could like Venmo.

Eric (22:15.851)
or something and I wrote, luckily I didn't have the money written on the check yet. So I paid for Mike's friends to run in the race that day and they venmoed me back and then you mentioned Mike when you're standing on the ladder and I looked to my left right there, he's right there and I'm like, I need to talk to you. You sound amazing and I was so happy because you helped me make that connection not even knowing it, you made that for me and then we keep running into him, he's been on the pod, see him in Boston, we see him here because he's been here I think three, the last.

four years that I've been coming. So I love that. And then you guys have a friend Gordon who you talked about today too. So Rick, before we get into Gordon, is he the same Barnard from Barnard Park down the street? Oh, different. Okay. But still a staple of the Goff's home community. Good. No, good. Um, oh my gosh, I don't know how long. I mean, obviously you heard his kids. I mean, they're the class of what 70 something or 77, 76, 77. Yeah. I mean, so

But no, he's a long time resident. I was in the Y many years ago at the Allard Center up in Concord and we started a triathlon at Clough, beat tough, tried Clough triathlon and we ran that many years and Gordon was always part of that. He was always part of that. And then I know he was definitely part of, from my tenure here, he was at every single race.

And all the time, all the time. And he's he's just he's a great gentleman and a gentleman is a good word. And he absolutely, absolutely loved to be in these kind of activities. And I think his daughter said it right. mean, he just enjoyed physical exercise. He was a was a lion. He was part of the Lions Club, very active in the Lions Club. He is a community guy.

You know what I mean? And that's all good stuff. mean, that's what we love to see. Yeah, you know, so I mean, there's a number of people that have been coming to this event, you know? And it's just amazing to me. mean, Jim Clark, he's another guy. You know, he's another longtime resident. He passed away quite a few years ago. That guy would run from his house up on...

Eric (24:36.409)
Whatever that road was 13 route 13 come all the way down. He'd run from there run down here run the gal and then run home My kind of people, know, and he he actually did the track and field. That's right And we used to have this Hershey track and field. Yeah, we started the Hershey track and field and was involved with he started that so There's a there's a ton of community people but but these two guys Gordon and Jim

They're kind of like a special part of the Gallup, I think. Very nice. That's awesome. Well, this is a great event. I love coming every year because of the small town feel. Glad I got everybody into it. Right. And next year is going to be huge. Hopefully. Big time. And you guys are all going to be there. Be nice in the comments. Be there. Erica's birthday. We had cupcakes today. Lindsay made cupcakes. Oh, they embarrassed the crap out me gave you this thing and the necklaces and a birthday a I have a stash that says birthday queen. I have a giant.

Party hat, the balloon. I have to interject one thing though with Erica. She's going to know this. Who taught you tennis? Yeah, Dave was my tennis instructor. Let's get the history here real quick between the two of you. Well, the backhand was a little weak, but the forehand was really good. In my defense, I was not trying to actually use with my left hand. I am left handed. So that was my struggle. And I wasn't just.

I don't know. You told me to do it with my right hand. I'm going to try with my right hand. But funny story, I am actually ambidextrous. And I can use my right hand now. So that was more of a learning experience. But my family was big into the parks and rec, like the summer programs. And was it Allard Park is the other one in Pennardville? No, Park. Roy Park. Roy Park. So we used to go to that one because we used to live down on Morgan Estates. Where was that? Danus Park Road. Yep. So we were down there.

And we just, loved the swimming lessons and we were, we were there all the time. So we, we were big into the, the rec program. That's a funny little story. am not good at tennis anymore, but I don't think I ever. I loved that. And did you know Rick before too? And before all this, I did not actually know Rick, but it's good to know you now. Yes. And I love what you guys do. You guys put on a.

Eric (26:54.425)
Great event. love, like I said, the small town feel. Erica got me to do this four or five years ago. I've been every year, but one last year, frickin the Olympics screwed up NASCAR. We do that every year. And I felt like I really missed out and I'll be here next year for your birthday. He he gets the FOMO when he can't make it. I do. then I say, I want her to get content. And then the night comes by, I go, did you get anything? Send it to me. sorry.

who just wants to be in the moment. I want to say hello. And a lot of times it's everybody else who takes the picture. if anybody took any from today, send them to Eric, please. And I'll say one other thing before we get to our guests today. like, we don't spend a lot of money. You just ask for a little bit. But we give you a little bit to put our logo on a shirt. And I think that's the coolest thing, to see our logo on the shirt. I mean, you could probably ask for a lot more money. But you're really amazing.

And we're super happy to provide a little bit. even if you doubled it, we would keep doing it, but it's so cool to see. And it will forever be. No, however long this podcast goes, however big or small it is there, there'll always be these firsts. Like we need to shout out our partners, my race tats and right socks for being our first ever real partners who are sponsored the pod. And you will forever be our first like.

Event that we sponsor and send money to in our logo goes on a shirt and we'll save those shirts and it's just so cool to see that in the coolest part it's right in the middle on the back like Everybody sees it. They're not gonna be so happy to have these on the shirts because I still have the whole collection of t-shirts, too Yeah, so that's super I love what you guys do any final remarks you want to say before we get to our awesome guest today? The only thing I would want to interject is I don't know if you saw the quilt. Yes

it was there. It's not there anymore. But I did see it. I need to acknowledge because she's going to listen to this. my wife who put that thing together. So just let you know. Barb, I gave you your plus. All right. She did a wonderful job. Yeah, it's a beautiful quilt, too. And it has all the colors. I do know Erica has a request. I think you're only missing. I'm missing four. The first four. Yeah. First four years. well, I mean, could we make.

Eric (29:11.355)
Could we make the originals? Could we go back and do a remake or something? I'll say one thing here. Every year, Erica's like, I really hope they have this color or that color. And next year is her birthday. And I don't know if there's any way I can say a color like. No pressure, bud. No pressure. I will not do that. What's the color you're looking for?

I don't even know at this point because usually we try to guess what the color is going to be based on like every year. It's something fun and funky and bright. And last, last year I think I nailed it. was like, it's going to be pink this year, but it's like the, orangey pink, like just bright, awesome. And it's one of my favorites, but I couldn't, I couldn't even get like.

have a request. I don't want a request. know. I thought you wanted pink like that satchel you got on. That's basically what the color is. Yeah. with the gold writing. I if I had to have my way, purple is my favorite color. But no pressure. Purple's my favorite color. Is it really? There we go. Maybe I have a. We had a purple one year. I must have it then, unless it was way before. We'll see. should go through my collection.

Well, if you ever need to remember what that color was she wanted, just shoot me an email and we'll figure something out. But this is great. I'm so happy that we're able to support it, even though it's probably not like as much as some of the bigger brands like. some bananas. We bought the banana. Yeah, we bought some bananas. Let us know what else you need next year. We're so happy to support it. This is great. Thank you very much. This is awesome.

I've never done this before. It's kind of cool. That's awesome. you so much. Thank you for always putting on an amazing race for us. We appreciate it. We'll be there for you. Awesome. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was amazing. Two amazing New Hampshire people who put on an awesome race for you and for everybody here in Goffstown in New Hampshire. And speaking of New Hampshire, we have an incredible guest today.

Eric (31:10.801)
that this just happened on a whim. shot him a DM 24 hours later. We had one of the best recordings ever. And this dude just ran the entire length of New Hampshire. Something Mike Beeman has done twice. Right. And he went for the record. Yep. So Justin Deflamary, he decided he wanted to go for the FKT, the fastest known time of running the entire length of New Hampshire.

And yeah, he nailed it. He definitely nailed it. So you'll get to hear his entire experience and you'll get to hear a little bit about how I got a chance to meet Justin before his whole adventure as well. So you guys are going to absolutely love this, this guest appearance. We love to have him on and it was so much fun getting to chat with him. guys enjoy Justin D. Flamary on the on the runs podcast and we'll see you on the other side.

Our next guest on the pod just ran the entire length of New Hampshire, setting a new FKT world record, completing the run in four days, four hours and 56 minutes. Not to mention he did an Ironman the week before, and he'll also teach you how to kick some ass in a self-defense class with moves to protect yourself if you ever need it. We're wicked excited to dive into all this and hear all about it. Justin DeFlamary, welcome to the On the Runs podcast. What's up, dude? Thank you for having me. Oh, I love it. I feel honored to be here. Thank you so much. Yes.

Man, he's even dropping more info than I know about you. did an Iron Man right before this huge like excursion that you did. That's insane. So we are so happy to have you here to dive into your whole story, figure out why you wanted to break this FKT and all the little things in between. So welcome, Justin. It's so good to see you again. Yeah, great to see you, Erica. Here's the cool thing is, and we'll get to this journey of running the length of New Hampshire soon, but.

You started this and I had at least four people send me messages. I'm thinking one off the bat. Jennifer Ouellette's like, I know Justin, do you want me to connect him with you? And then she shares the story. So I'm learning about this run. And then Erica goes, I know him. He teaches me how to kick ass. Hey, great title to have, right? Definitely. Yeah, Tara had found your story too and sent it along because she was the one who took that class with me.

Eric (33:24.67)
at Fleet Feet back in March, I think it was. So she's probably bummed that she's not here talking to you too, but I know she says hello. So let's get to know you a little bit because I don't know much. Usually I do a ton of research, but let's be honest, I DM'd you last night. I said, we have to do this now. We're going on break for July. And then I worked all day. So tell me a little bit about who you are, where you're from. Were you a runner your entire life? Were you a hockey player? What'd do? Yeah, awesome. No, so great.

I just started running, but I grew up in Methuen, Massachusetts for like 20 years. And then when I got accepted to Keene State, I went to Keene State College. And then after Keene State College is when I met my daughter's mother and we moved in together in Nashua and was together for 10 years. And then we decided to part ways and we moved to Merrimack, New Hampshire. We actually live right near each other so we could co-parent. And basically I grew up playing baseball and football.

I was a big baseball guy, got recruited to Keene and many colleges for baseball. And when I was there, right, I played college baseball and I just realized like, Hey, there's no real future there. So I kind of focused on occupational health and safety, which got me into consulting. And I started my own consulting firm in occupational health and safety. So no one knows what that is. So I always say we're OSHA, but we're not OSHA. We're the good guys. We'll keep you safe and out of trouble. And then.

I really was into martial arts, so I boxed in 2013 until 2017. I was ranked second in Central New England in the Golden Gloves, got the silver medal. Jiu-Jitsu, I won a championship in Boston. So I really followed the martial arts avenue of Jiu-Jitsu, boxing and kickboxing, competing in all three of those. And basically what happened was I was getting headaches after I won the Open Martial Arts Championship.

It's basically like, this is in 2017. So now they have like kickboxing fights, but this is when like you wore head gear, you had two or three fights in one day. It was one round. And if you won, you advanced. So we actually won the New York Open martial arts championship. And I was getting ready to defend my title. And I started getting these headaches and you know, they were getting worse and worse. And I noticed it when I started like lifting and working out.

Eric (35:45.865)
So like if you have a headache for a week, that's kind of concerning, especially if you get hit in head, right? So basically, know, I went to go get checked out. I told them like what I did and they were very concerned. They were like, my God, you know, we want to rule out a a brain bleed or an aneurysm. So, you know, at the time I was like, all right, yeah, let's rule that out. Not really knowing anything about like what these procedures are, right?

So they did a CAT scan and came back negative. And I remember like it was yesterday, she came in with a needle like this big, like, and she's like, we got to do a lumbar puncture. And I was like, what is that? And she's like, we're to put this needle in your spine. And I was like, my God, that thing is, I like, this is all like, I was like, that's huge. And come to find out like now after research and talking to the best doctors in the world for this, like it shouldn't be done by just an ER doctor. It really should be done under like either CT guidance by a neurologist or

in fact, a neurologist, even if they don't have CT guidance. So she had me lean forward in a chair, not lay flat. And I remember she couldn't get it in. Then she's like, hey, I'm gonna move it. Then she's like, boom. And like, just, I remember everything, right? She just stabbed it in. And I remember like, man, like what is going on? So basically what happened was- That's traumatizing.

Yeah, and it hurt. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt. I don't that down it. Well, you're conditioned to fighting and it's like, all right, I'm not gonna show you that it hurts, right? Because you're getting punched in the face in front of your family, your wife, your kids, whoever. And you're like, I can't show them that it hurt. And I'm like, So again, knowing what I know now after the procedure, you're supposed to lay flat for two hours and not really move.

you know, there was no restrictions given to me. They were like, oh yeah, you can get up. You know, I had to use the restroom. And then she's like, oh, you're fine. You can go home. And again, I was moving at home and stuff. So the next day I woke up and I could not stand up. Like my vision was blurry. I felt like icy hot. Like, and now we know it was serenal spinal fluid leaking on my nerves, but it felt like someone dipped my feet in icy hot. Like it was burning constantly. had the, like the headache that I was getting was like,

Eric (38:03.902)
on steroids, was like times 10. So I like quickly Google search and they're like, oh, spinal like lumbar puncture, like this is what I'm doing after and it said serenal spinal fluid leak, which is extra. have to think this is 2017. So it was now it's like coming up, but it was extremely rare. Like doctors and neurologists thought that like the Dura just closed on its own, which we now know is that's not true.

So like I drove my, I didn't want to tell my wife what was going on. We just got married like three weeks prior. So I realized that it said, Hey, if you lay flat, the symptoms go away. So I tried it and I was like, it does help. So I drove myself to the hospital with my chair reclined, like driving up. again, I didn't want to ask for help or anything. And like I remember the ER doctor, I went back to the same hospital that did it. And the ER doctor there was like, something's wrong. So he admitted me right away.

And again, they didn't know, they thought like, you know, was, was just part of the original reason why I went in there. And I do think like some of that in my own theory is like, Hey, they didn't kind of want to say that they contribute to me becoming worse. Yep. So I they call it practicing medicine. Yes. Correct. So I, I laid flat, I was admitted for seven days.

And I wanna say shame on me too, but they finally were gonna do an epidural blood patch day six, because there was no improvements of the symptoms. And I said my headache got a little better and I worded it like that. And they're like, oh, we don't need to do it. Like, we'll send you home. And I remember asking the doctor, I was like, because like it's my body, everything was a 10. I couldn't even lift my head up without like the worst pain of your life. And I knew like, was like, well, I'm not gonna be ready tomorrow or a week. She's like, I'll give it two weeks.

So I laid flat. So I want you to like vision this. I couldn't even put my head on a pillow because the neck pain was so bad. And anyone with a spinal leak knows like the pain we're talking about, it feels like your head really is going to detach. And I had to lay flat like that for three months. So over 90 days, right? That's how my life was. I can only get up quickly to eat real quick. And I was trying to self heal because we were making all these appointments.

Eric (40:23.453)
And the doctors that we would go to would just say, hey, know, the Dura is closed on its own. These are just symptoms that are residual. You know, the leak is gone. You know, it'll take a little bit to get back to normal. So I wasn't blinded. bit. my God. mean, living it, like I was, you I've kind of felt helpless because to be honest, like we went to 40 something appointments. This is documented. And like, again, all around here and like, you know, people were just like,

I could tell within like five minutes, again, I, you know, doing safety and security, you read them body language, if it was going to be a successful appointment or it wasn't going to be a successful. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So, you know, finally, I joined a support group online. It was called CSF leakers and I started researching. mean, all I, my thumbs could still work. Right. So like, I was like, and for workouts, I was doing like,

the finger rock climbing things, like where you push the buttons and then just squeezing those forearm weights. Cause I was like, you know, all you could do is just lay there. Right? So, I mean, if I told anybody right now, they have to lay in bed for a week and not do anything. Some people might think that's cool, but then when you start doing it, you're like, my God, you're going nuts. Right? So I actually credit fighting the mental aspect of like getting me through that because that could be detrimental to someone's mental health.

Absolutely. Oh my gosh. So you had to lay flat on your back. You couldn't even like turn over onto your side or anything. Cause I can just imagine how your lower half would just kind of fall asleep and like just with all those other symptoms you were dealing with. Oh my, oh my God. are, you are. I. It's a wild story. I don't even know how to put that in words. I had, you know, I did, I did read something about a spinal tap, you know, something went wrong with the spinal tap that you had.

I didn't know it was this recent. And it's kind of funny, Erica, because we just watched The Pit. Have you ever seen The Pit? No. Brand new show on HBO Max. There's this scene in the very last episode with this crazy mom who refers to Google for everything. And she's telling the doctors, do not do a spinal tap on my son. It was in the ER. And what you're telling me is you shouldn't get a spinal tap in the ER. And you did. Yeah, my own opinion, I would not.

Eric (42:39.595)
Trust an ER doctor to do it. needs to be under a CT guidance of a neurologist or somebody trained. Absolutely. That's wild. Yeah. Just the timing of all that, Unreal. Unreal. Yeah. So yeah, to Erica, to answer your question, no, you couldn't turn over. So finally, I got to give my daughter's mother credit. She was tremendous through this. It was rough, right? I had to have special like, you know.

The elderly use it, but to put my socks on, had the rope thing where you had to like put that on. had to like, I had the grabbers and if I drop stuff, only use like slip on shoes cause I couldn't bend down the tie. so it was pretty rough coming from being ranked number two, winning a jujitsu championship, the good fight, Boston, the central new England golden gloves and an open martial arts tournament to now.

I'm using slip-on shoes and I'm using an adult grabber and a special toilet seat so I don't have to bend down, like squat down, right? So it's like, mentally I was like, what is going on? This fucking sucks, right? So I was like, holy shit. So finally, like out of the support group, I realized that there's two hospitals that actually specialize in spinal leaks. And one was Cedars-Sinai.

and he actually invented the procedures. His name was Dr. Chavink and then Duke University who kind of like, so he's one guy, but they expanded a whole department and they, in my opinion, they're the best in the world because they have a whole department and all this, they're researching this and like, they have like 15 people on their team instead of one guy. So I wrote to both of them, told them all my stories and they both called me within a week. And listen, that was like,

finally like you're in the cave and you're like, my God, I see some light. Because like, again, you go to these doctors and again, doctors like, you know, not all of them are great. Not all of them are bad, right? It depends just like any occupation. like, we're talking 40 wrote you off, right? it's impossible that you could still be leaking. And then the best people in the world, both of them didn't know we were consulting with each other. Said you have spinal leak.

Eric (44:53.309)
Like it's pretty obvious. And they were like, no, it doesn't close on its own. People thought that, but they put out the research and was like, no, if you puncture the DERA, you need help depending on the person. Some do close, some don't. So, you know, I was like crying tears of joy just to hear that, right? Cause it was like, Hey, I knew it. I knew it. What can I know? Somebody listened to you. You aggravated for yourself and somebody listened.

And, you know, it was funny cause like I look back and I'm still friends with like, I'd say seven or eight people in the spinal league group today. I removed myself from the group because like hearing all that, like the PTSD of like, you know, when people reach out, we do try to help them. But, it was just like, you know, so I decided to go to Duke because there were only a two hour plane ride as opposed to six and a half. And they, they did an epidural blood patch. had to stay a week.

When you do an epidural blood patch, you don't snap your fingers and you're like 100%. So you have to lay flat again and you get kind of like what they called rebound high pressure where you get the same symptoms as a spinal tap again. So I was reliving going through it again, even though I was getting a little better and I was like, oh my God. But then we just started getting better and better and then finally I was like, all right, I'm gonna try and hit the treadmill at 2.0 and then 2.0 went to 2.5. And I was in physical therapy for two and a half years.

And, you know, my physical therapist, Amanda was just so wonderful, still friends with her. She just seen a lot on that table, a lot of emotions, a lot of growth, a lot of setbacks, right? So, you know, we were on the mend. And then they found out that because I lost so much fluid in my brain that my ear canal popped. So they had to cut a hole in my skull going down and tap my eardrum. So I had to wear this like weird thing on my ear for like, it was all messed up. But once very soon.

I'm giving you the clip notes too. No, no. Oh, spare no details. Wow. had no idea that you have gone through so much shit. This insane. It's crazy. Look at you. Oh my gosh. So then after that. Yes. Yeah. So it was funny because like, you know, you're on the mend to health, finally physical therapy was cut off. You know, I would say 2000. So this was 2017.

Eric (47:19.619)
I would say 2021. So we're talking like four years of symptoms. So like two years was like really into it. Like you heard the 19, I had to get my head cut open, cap my ear drum, still in physical therapy. 2000, like I still had some symptoms. 2021, I said, hey, I'm really gonna push my body and try it, right? And that's when I'd say it was like really coming back. So my buddy, George Flanders, who's my daughter's godfather,

He was always into running and he did all the 5Ks trail series. when I was fighting, he used to be like, come run. And I was like, running sucks. Like, I don't want to run. Like, you know? And so it's so funny how that worked out. So then I was like, all right, dude, I'll do a 5K. I didn't even know what a 5K was. I had to look it up. And then I went to, this was the Turkey Trot in 2022 at Nashua, the high school that they host every year. And I remember Byer.

Yes, the great Goughlin, that's who it was. Erica, I think we were there with Lindsay. Was that the year? Oh, wow. I think so. So, hey, we were there and we had no idea that you were there as well, but that would have been a cool. You know, was an honor to have you guys at my first race. Yeah. It was our pleasure. So I had my daughter, I always get her the day before Thanksgiving into Thanksgiving. And I thought it would be cool to do a race with her.

And again, I went to Walmart and bought Fubu shoes because like I didn't know anything about running shoes. I was like, I need something. so we took off and you know, again, I was like, the news always shows it. I just got out of bed. So I was like 250 pounds. And I told them, was like, stop showing that picture. so like I was like, could barely move. And I just ran the whole 5K with my daughter. Didn't stop. And my time was 33 minutes and change. That's great. Yeah, I thought it was pretty good.

Right? Never running more than a mile. That race is on trail too. And that's not easy to do, especially if you're new to running. mean, it's not easy. to trail anyway. Me either. Yeah. So I just remember George embracing me and he was like, Hey, I'm so proud of you. ran the whole thing. And when I went through like during that 33 minutes, I was like, wow, like this, cause when you fight, you get a high. That's why you see a lot of these fighters stay past their prime because like,

Eric (49:41.976)
In all seriousness, I can sum it up to this. If I told either one of you, you had to go fight in the parking lot, you know, in 10 minutes, your heart pounds, you go through so many emotions, like, my God, am I gonna be embarrassed? Am I gonna kick ass? No, I'm gonna kick ass. And like, you go through all this and when you walk out of that tunnel, it is the best feeling in the world. Like, I still remember, and I get goosebumps, hearing the crowd at the Golden Gloves, like, my family's there. And like, just the waiting game in the back mentally is like where you could win or lose the fight in all seriousness.

And I remember when I did that 5K, I finally had that feeling back where it's like, my God, I'm only battling myself mentally. I want to quit. like three and a half, 3.1, whatever it is, like after like not doing anything was like a battle for me. And, you know, and I was just like, this is all the emotions I've been chasing for fighting. found something. So that's how I found running. Right. my gosh. That's a, that is a long road that you had to go through.

And so to this day, did they ever figure out like what the headaches were from? I know that. Yeah, good question. So I had a rare inner ear condition, which is funny because like I ended up capping my eardrum. So I had a rare ear condition called, I'm going to mispronounce this, but semi-circular canal dehincency or whatever. And it's basically when, you know, the eardrum like

closes and then opens. I'm explaining that really wrong, but they found it after the fact. can't fact check you. Yeah. But so, you know, the gentleman who found it actually did the ear surgery, like as part of the cap anyways. But you know, it it causes headaches and that's what they think was, was causing those headaches. Because when you work out, it expands the ear drum. And again, I'm going way off on this. I don't know this, like I know the spinal leak stuff and you know, it causes headaches.

That is just so much that you had to go through with, with, with the headaches, with the spinal leak. mean, and all the PT that you had to go through afterwards. mean, that five K was so triumphant. We are so proud of you. was the first step and I'm so glad that it sparked a love of running for you. Yeah.

Eric (51:58.823)
Yeah, and you guys were there. You guys saw it firsthand. just didn't know it. You know what? I have to go on a tangent. I have like a list that I keep and I really want to see if I was there. So you said 2022? We were. Yeah. We were. 22 we were there because 23 we were in of J and last year 24 we didn't do one because I think you went to your parents. We were. We were. So it's called semi-circular canal. Yeah, there it is. Something syndrome.

Yes. I just Googled it. They call it SSCD superior. It's a rare inner ear condition where there is a thinning or absence of bone in one of the semicircular canals. This goes on and on. You had something that it's saying is so rare, dude. And it has all that. I should play the lottery. Wow. Yeah, yeah, you should have. But man, what a story.

I knew none of that coming into this. What a story. Amazing. I didn't know any of that. That's how you picked up running. One question, not to cause PTSD, but I want to know just because I've been through the whole thing. Yeah. What was the insurance process like? my God. It was a first off, I sued and I lost everyone thought like I would win this case because it's like a normal result of the procedure. And again, every lawyer wanted it, but then like once like, you know,

All jokes aside, think like it's not like you fall in a store and you're trying to sue. Like you guys hear what I went through and I had to front all the money. like everything I had to fly myself to Duke. I had to go to all these copays for doctor's appointments. Insurance wanted to like give me a case manager. And when I do for a living, I know what a case manager does. They want to kind of just turn and burn. You know, some, some do have the best interest of the patient in heart, but some of the ones I worked with in my field don't.

So I rejected the case manager. mean, I was out there on my own. Seriously, like I had no advocates. Like, yes, my daughter's mother was a tremendous help, but like I was doing all my research, like, writing to these doctors and going to the appointments and stuff like that. Like, yeah, I had people drive me, but like the insurance parts sucked. again, and I paid for everything. So I sued and lost. So not only you paid for the medical stuff, but you paid to fight them in court and you just kept losing.

Eric (54:13.776)
That's awful. companies are not in there for us, man. I'll tell you that. know, the lawyers are going to do their job, right? But in there for a big hospital. it was, you know, my win was two things. One, if you look at, and I'm not going to say the doctor's name, but when I, you know, if you look at their reviews, they're awful. Everyone's a one star. I'm shocked that she still has a position. And then two, the lawyer looked at me and said,

After we lost, she goes, listen, I know you've been through a lot and I really feel bad for you. And that was kind of like my saving grace is like, hey, she's just doing her job. And you know, I'm a big lawyer. was this? Hold on, your lawyer or the hospital's lawyer? The hospital's lawyer. really? She said that. Yeah. So I, you know, I'm a big fan of the Godfather. So it's not business. It's not personal. It's just business. That's how I felt right there. Like, hey, she knows like.

She saw the medical record. She knows what we've been through. You know, that was in 2020. I was still kind of moving like, like I used to have to turn like a Frankenstein, right? So it was just, so like, that was kind of my like, hey, you you won, right? They know that, but yeah, it was pretty rough. It's probably like, I hate that I have to do this. Yeah. And I mean, it's sucked too, because like, I feel like that was all jokes aside, that was the hardest part is when they were fighting it because like, it's like,

diminished everything that I went through mentally and like, you know, like talking about it, you could get emotional, right? But like, it was just really rough, man, like to live like that, you know? That's not, I wasn't- I can't imagine. Yeah. just, wasn't living life. it would take to get through. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's something else, man. And you went in two and a half years from running your first 5K after all that to running the length of New Hampshire, not only just running it,

but set in the world record. I'm calling it the world record, the FKT world record running the length of New Hampshire. How was that two and a half year process? You did the 5K, what were you like? Did you get the bug? Did you have a runner's high? Or did your buddy keep encouraging you to do more races? What was that next two and a half years like leading up to this run you just went on? Yeah, it's funny because we switched. went, like we all trained Jiu-Jitsu together, but he's more Jiu-Jitsu now and hates running. And I'm like, let's run and let's skip Jiu-Jitsu.

Eric (56:34.248)
Uh, so like, uh, it's funny. Um, so that was my first race, 2022 November, right? 23 came around and gate city striders do the freeze your buns. Yes, yes. Right around mine falls just like the other rates, right? Yeah. So like, I remember I was finally like, could work out. So I was losing some of the weight that you couldn't move for two years. And, uh, and then like I did again, I thought it would be cool to do all these races with my daughter because she loved it. I.

The first like 30, they actually did a story about it, the union leader, the first like 50 races I've done were just with her in a stroller. So it was pretty cool. I remember going with her and again, my time was 33 and change like the gobbler. went around the school for the freezer buns. If you're watching this, you know, I think you have to go around the school two or three times, like one big loop and then two small. And I remember doing it. I forget what they said. And I was like, I came in at 24 and I was like,

I did all my loops, is that the right time? And they were like, yes. And I was like, 24? I was like, oh my God, that's pretty good, right? And I was like, And so I just kept doing the freeze your bun series and then like 5Ks was like, I did my six 5K and I got like under 20 and I guess that was really good. And I didn't know that because I didn't know anything about running. I was just chasing the mental aspect. love like, you know, and so they were like, oh, that's good.

and then they were like, a triathlon. So I did a triathlon and it was a small one. It was a sprint. There was only 42 people in Portsmouth. Still counts. And well, I came in sixth overall and I was like, I love triathlon. then like, so then they were like, do another one. And I just kept doing like these big crazy races. And then like, I was like, I want to do a race in every state now. So like, I was like, you know, it just expanded and blew up until like 5Ks turned into sprints, sprints turned to full Ironmans and then like ultras came in.

And like I did Ghost Train after just a year of running and I didn't do anything more than a half marathon in the week. And in 24 hours, I did 60 miles, which I think is good for not running anything more than a half marathon. I Ghost Train to pick up my daughter. my God. I am so blown away by this. You literally went zero to 60.

Eric (58:51.944)
but in the best possible way. Because you're just like, yes, I can do this. Let's go bigger. What's next? Yeah, so it was pretty fun. Man, I can't believe you just decided to do ghost training. We're like, yeah, let's just keep going. From a half marathon to 60 miles, that's awesome. So I want to know what planted the seed in your head to do something like this FKT of running the length of New Hampshire.

Like what gave you the idea in the first place? So I had the, I want to make sure we understand it was we, not me. Like my crew was amazing for this Phil, Suzanne and Brandon. just, they're all ultra runners. They're, you know, they're all amazing. one's in the Merrimack Run Club, two are Gate City Striders. I'm in both like shout out to them. but so Brandon texted me one night. We were actually talking about it tonight at the Run Club.

And, cause I figured this would be a question. And I was like, dude, how did this come about? And he was like, well, goes, went exactly, goes, you had to go zero to a hundred. He goes, I texted you that we should run like either the AP trail in New Hampshire and to Maine or through hike, or like, and just go as far as we should, or we could run like around New Hampshire or the length of New Hampshire. And then I get a text message two weeks later, June 18th, you're doing it. And I was like, so that's pretty much how it came about. Brandon said we should do it.

I thought I could motivate him if I put the date out there and like he was like, you know, he's he has a stepdaughter now and like a girlfriend. he was like, I'm not doing it right now. And I was like, man, that would have been cool to do with them. So I was like, I'm going to do it. So I put it on Facebook. said, does anyone know any great trails of running the whole length of New Hampshire? And I knew nothing about FKT. Like I knew it existed, but like, sure. So

the president of the gate city stride is actually commented on the post and he said, Hey, we have a member that actually ran the length from the Canadian border to the mass border because that, you know, that, that version is the length. And I said, cause you could also go from the highest point to lowest point and depel him to, you know, around there's so many things you could do. Right. And so I reached out to that gentleman and I said, Hey, you know, did you do this? And he said, yes. And at the time he thought it was only him and another guy that did it.

Eric (01:01:07.47)
And so I met him at Dunkin' Donuts in Nashua and I said, hey, you know, let me see, had this whole book, the whole route, everything planned out with pictures and everything. So he said, as far as he knew, it was only him and the guy before him. And they did a marathon a day for eight days. Do you know who the guy before him was? I don't. I do know he was pushing his kid in a stroller that did it.

Yes, it has to be Mike Erika. It's Mike Beeman. Mike Beeman, we think. Yes, that's who it was. It was Mike Beeman. Yes. Oh my god, a legend. Yes. So I guess he did it twice pushing the stroller. He did it twice for Make a Wish. Yeah. Yeah. It was Mike Beeman. So Dave Salves is the one that told me it was just him and Mike. So then I did my own research because you want to be factual. And there was a guy, a 17-year-old kid in 2020.

in 2012 that said he was gonna do 215 in a weekend. And, you know, I knew some of the best ultra runners in the world that like that's very hard. Maybe biking. So we researched that and it ended up being 40 miles a day that he was doing. then we, again, we couldn't find, there was no FKT, there was no finishing or news coverage on it. Just said, hey, he ended up doing 40 miles, you know, so.

Then there was another guy in 2024 that did it for a soup kitchen or something, but he did a marathon a day too. So I was like, all right, well, I didn't want it to be just about me. know, I, Lee, you know, we have people that work for me at work and I always tell them like, never say I never make it about you. Like I wanted to attach something to it. And you know, the Heather Abbott foundation in my opinion, is one of the best charities out there, especially for the Boston marathon, because one.

similar story, they give, I know where all the money goes for them. Like they flew in amputees, I got to see it firsthand when I ran for them in 2024. And their emotions, like they called the amputees up to tell their stories. And just like you guys heard my story, like everyone has a story, right? Their stories like made me just tear up because like we had, and I still talk to him, he was like an 18 year old kid, his family was so proud to see him speak, he was so nervous, but he wanted to thank us for all the money raised because like.

Eric (01:03:20.735)
he was able to get a blade and like that was just so heart wrenching. And I like stayed in touch with them. Like I just reached out to him a couple of months ago, like we stay in touch. And like, I was like, that's the charity I want to attach to this. So I wrote to Heather, said, and she was like, absolutely. She goes, it's usually the slow season for us, you know, when, when out the marathon. And I'm happy to say that we,

Final numbers are coming in, but talking to them, sounds like we raised the most money in an off season for them. that was pretty, that was best. One of the best things that came out of this. so we re you know, we attached her to it. And then I said, Hey, I definitely know I can beat the marathon a day. Again, there was nothing else on the kid that was trying to run two 15 in one day or two days. There wasn't any follow up. It was just, it was out there and that was it. And then to get an FKT, you have to have witness statements from every town that you went in.

pictures, start points and end points on your Strava, photo evidence of where you picked up and left off with the timestamps. So we did all that. And my buddy was a filmmaker and he documented the whole entire run behind me to make a film for Film Fest. So we had all this and I was like, yeah, I was like, all right, we're going. So that's how it all came about. And that is like the behind the scenes of how this whole run came together.

And shame on me for picking the hottest week. you really did. You really did. So, so do I have this right? You decided you were going to do this. You gave yourself two weeks and then you it was like two months. It was like two okay. Okay. Cause I'm like, that does not seem like a lot of time to prep and make sure that you're doing everything right for, for like documenting it with, with the FKT website and whatnot. But okay.

When I bumped into you back in March in the, what did we do? We did the 20 miler. And so was that in your mind at that point or was that early? it was kind of in my mind. we knew, so I guess, you know, we never had a date or anything. We were like, Hey, we should really like run New Hampshire. And you know, it was said then they were making like, they were taking photographs and stuff. It was funny. Cause you go, I have a podcast. And I was like, I didn't even know that. And like now here we are.

Eric (01:05:38.797)
So it was kind of in my head because again, like Brandon who texted me was like, you know, we should do the Appalachian Trail and we should do this and that. And again, finally, like when I was texting him and I was like, we should just do it. Let's do it. And he was like, I was going back and forth. That's where the two months came. said, well, I'm setting a date. And this is like, boom, we're going. So he's been so helpful with FKT. was tagging them during the whole event and they were sharing our post.

It was really cool. yeah, so it was kind of in the, but we didn't have a set date or anything like that. I really wish I could fall. It's so funny though. You picked, you picked not by any chance of your own, but we have had a very mild summer so far. It's been like 60 degrees when I wished it was 80 degrees. And then all of sudden you go and do this and it's like, haha, a hundred degrees for you. Yeah. Well, you guys heard my luck, right?

between the canal, the heat wave, and the spinal wing. My luck has been tremendous. All right, real quick, and we're going to get into the whole run in a second, but you mentioned the Heather Abbott Foundation. Unless you said it when I was Googling it, guys, the Heather Abbott Foundation helps provide customized prosthetics for those who suffered limb loss through traumatic circumstances. That's awesome because I've done a lot of adaptive sports, hikes and stuff, and skiing with adaptive sports, and I think that is amazing. So kudos to you.

for raising money for them, the most they've ever raised during an off season. I'm assuming the season is Boston Marathon fundraising time. So that is awesome. I'm so glad you did that. Let's get into this whole journey. Let's talk about Spare No Details. Tell us from like leaving your house, going up to the Northern border, how was that experience? Who is your team? Give us the full details on the way South. Awesome. All right. So yeah, this is the fun part. Finally, all the drama is gone. This is okay.

So I had two people that went up with me and then we had a third that met us day two. People got to work. Listen, that's why I thank my team. Like you got to think about it. Everyone had a wife and children or a significant other and like they took work off. Like I couldn't believe it because we had to go up Tuesday night to start Wednesday morning. So I planned it around my custody schedule.

Eric (01:07:57.472)
And I'm proud to say that I did not, I have 50-50 custody. I did not miss any custody days with my daughter. That was the motivation to get it done so fast. There you go. Yeah. So it was pretty cool. so Tuesday night we went up to Pittsburgh and it's funny cause I got to say folks, we think we live in New Hampshire and the Nashua, Bedford, Merrimack. This is not New Hampshire. go up this your first time up there? Yes. And it was so beautiful. Yes is. It's amazing.

People were nice. I've been that far. Oh, it is big. Like four hours. This might not be true, but I've heard it is the biggest town land wise in the continental United States. Oh, that I did not hear. Well, got to Google it. Yeah, Google it. It was so beautiful. And so, yeah, so we went up there. Now, listen, it's not like hotels. So we got like this. I wouldn't even say hotel. It was like.

two bedrooms with four beds and like all in one room and then everyone who was at the hotel shared a living room. It was very unique. And so, yeah, it was like a hostel. And basically what happened was, so again, I could not sleep. I was, now it's the real deal. Like again, WMUR covered it because I had a face, you know, like they were so supportive.

The union leader covered it, the telegraph covered it. And I'm like, my God, like freaking Brandon, why did he text me to do this? Like, yeah. you know, we woke up, we wanted to get an early start. So I had an ultra running coach and his name was Brian and he was tremendous through this. you know, again, he was so supportive of this. He was calling every day. and basically, you know, what happened was he had came up with the bright idea. He goes, it's going to be hot.

start early, end early. So we woke up at five, we got the cars ready, and then we packed up and went to the Canadian border. It was like a 20 minute drive, a 30 minute drive. Again, I had like 20 minutes of sleep, so I wasn't driving. And so we had three people with us. We had the filmmaker, we had Brandon Barnaby, who was like in charge of the crew chief. Then we had Phil Petchek, who was there.

Eric (01:10:22.088)
every single second. He was the only teammate that was there every second. like, and again, I can't fault the other teammates. have lies, but like that just meant the world to me to have that support. And so we had some drama the first day though. So you told me to spare no detail. So I'm not going to say, let's just say I didn't have my passport and we, Phil actually is a great talker and, and they call him the commissioner and we got to go into Canada. So, you know, we did get to go into Canada and have a

So that was cool to officially step foot in Canada. Now, we started so early that like, you know, Phil was going to go and clear out all our bags for the hotel and get the trail car ready. And we were supposed to meet at mile 10. So and that was the first aid, right? I had the bladder, I had some, you all know, right? You'd have the snacks on your pack. So the thing is, the signal up there, and Eric, it sounds like you've been up there, is not great.

So my watch kept saying off-route. And I'm like, what the hell? So I ran three miles and then I ran back the same three miles because my second trail card, they were trying to figure out this kid brought a bike and like who was doing the film and he wasn't an ultra runner and ended up being more harm than good because like I get that, you he wanted documentary and it was nice, right? But at the same time, like,

I didn't care about the documentary. I wanted to raise money. I wanted to try and set my own personal goal of under eight days. And like, so I had no one with me for 45 minutes. And I'm like, dude, I'm keep saying off route. Am I going the right way? I'm calling people, right? It's 5 a.m. There's no service. So I did, I went back and forth, back and forth. Finally, Phil picked up. He's like, you know, he goes, hold on, wait right here at the side of the road, right? We're gonna get you to the trail car.

So finally people met up with me and like I was like, guys, you know, we had a coaching moment we call it, right team, right? And I'm telling the crew, hey, this is our one day one, we gotta get our shit together. And then like that was the only hiccup the crew had. They were perfect the rest of the time, like on point. so, you know, day one was out there. It was perfect weather. The terrain was okay, right? We saw porcupine, we saw some bears.

Eric (01:12:42.412)
And you know, we're just running. Any moose? No moose. I was bummed. And basically, you know, we finished, it started getting hot and we finished with 40.86 on day one. That's respectable. So was this on trail or was this on road or was it a mixture? What are we looking at? It's pretty much a mixture. So Brian, the ultra running coach, planned the route. We used some of Dave's, right?

But the thing is back then when Dave did it, was so old school, 20 years ago when he did it, like they had MapQuest, remember that? So it was like, it was impossible to piece the loop together because it was just like little slip bits. And it was like, so like we wanted to make sure that we did it right. So we stepped foot in Canada and then some of it was like on a bike path. And then most of it was pretty much for the most part, route three the whole way. Gotcha.

with some little turns. But yeah, so that was day one. Day two, know, Phil had a good idea. It was gonna be hotter. And Phil was like, hey, if you can't sleep, let's not waste your energy. Like, cause I, you know, I told them I was up and I didn't get any sleep and we waited till six. He goes, just wake us up and let's go. So I think they might've regretted that. So again, I'm with two ultra runners, but the gentleman who was filming, like he's never been an ultra around it. So I pounded on the door.

at two in the morning and I go, guys, I wanna start. And we got a hotel like legit right where, what we do is we put an orange marker where we left off like the snow clouds use, or we take a photo evidence, drop a pin, and then make sure that we went back or a mile marker to know that we were exactly at the same location where we stopped, okay? And then, so our hotel was actually like so close to where we stopped, which was just a coincidence. So we had to go back and I was like, guys, let's go.

And like the one kid was like, you could tell he wasn't happy. He got like no sleep. But the other guys were like, hell yeah, let's go. Like Phil's like, I'm up and Phil's 64 and the other kids I'm with, in their 30s. So it was just funny to see. And Phil's like, I got you, man. And I was like, oh shit. So we started at 2.30. That was pretty scary because I'm on day two with no sleep, right? And like day two was the White Mollins and Eric and Erica, it was.

Eric (01:15:04.272)
fucking brutal, like the terrain there, the elevation was just awful. Like the whole thing, like you can see some of the pictures on my Facebook, but like you could see some of those roads and like we were running up them because like, you know, your day two, your adrenaline's going, but like then you're power hiking with the poles, but like it was just awful. The weather was so, at this point it was so hot. It was the hottest day of the year until the next day. And I remember we had like people come out,

and support, like people through the towns were like, I want to tell you my medical story. And then one guy told us how he beat brain cancer. One lady told us how she had mental health issues and this was so inspiring to her. like, this was my favorite part of the run. wasn't about the record or the money raised. It was actually, I didn't see this component and we had people from almost every town wait following, like one girl, I was running with my friend Suzanne, who's in my run club. She's like, I've trying to find you for an hour.

got out of the car, started crying. She's like, can I take a picture? This reminds me of my health journey. And she started crying. And I go, you're going to make me cry. And I started bawling. And I was like, I just didn't see this component happening that this would be inspiring to others. I still think I'm like, I didn't do anything inspiring. And everyone that came out in the towns, those small towns were waiting for us. It was really cool because again, I didn't see that avenue of that coming. So day two was pretty cool.

It was really rough, the hardest day, terrain, like Franconia notch bike path was the worst thing ever. that's when I had my first breakdown. I was, I ran 50k straight. much sleep were you on at this point? Was it the path or was it just like the point of the run for you? So it was just everything. like, Erica, to answer your question, like an hour and a half of two days and then you push in.

You know, we had a former state trooper come out and he worked for Eversource now and they were very supportive. They wanted to, you know, help guide. So they got us a police escort and like to cross the road and like he was running a little bit. Everyone was like running with us. And so it was kind of, it really was like Forrest Gump. It was so funny. then, so like they were spraying me down. had towels on my neck. It was so hot. And then like, you know, my feet were so bruised.

Eric (01:17:24.561)
you know, cause I'm a bigger guy, right? So like, you know, they had to put ice packs and tape them at the bottom of my feet. And, uh, that's why my crew was so good. So I remember Eric, to answer your question, it was just like, it was so much elevation. I thought it was going to be done. I was at mile 32 and then like, I was like, my goal is 40 a day. And I was like, fuck, we've got eight more miles of this and there's no, like, it was just straight up. And I was like, Oh my God.

So like, I know that could be so soul crushing when you see something like that, when you're so exhausted, your body just wants to give up. You're like physically like just so tired. It just, it looks like it might as well just be a wall. It was awful. And like, so I had a kid with me on the bike and like, again, like it was unique for me to kind of like break down the way I did. So his face was like, holy shit.

And I was just like, another thing he doesn't know about ultra running that crying happens. Yes. He's a awakening for him. Just like, fuck, we fucking pushed so hard. So we got out of that path. was like an eight mile path. And I remember this is a, so the crew went to go get real food because like, when you do this, you can't survive on goose and stuff. And to be honest, Eric and Erica, that was like, the hardest part when you're in these small towns, getting real food. And like, when you start early, like this, not like.

here where there's a Dunkin or a Preston every corner. Like it was hard to get real food when you're up in like Stratton and Pittsburgh and stuff like that. So I don't think I would have realized that really unless you had like you have to bring the majority, but then you still have coolers and you got to stock it with ice and you still, you still need the convenience stores and not everything would be open. So that is a struggle. Yeah. So, so that was hard. So they went to go to Dunkin.

And I remember I had the kid on the bike and I am, it was so hot. So I was doing leg drains. found a big rock and I was just in the woods in the shade, like hiding. this is ants and bugs like were crawling all over me. I remember looking at my watch and it was said 39.88. And I said, I said, dude, and I was talking to the kid that was with me. was like, we worked so hard and we're not even at the goal yet. And I was like, this sucks. We woke up at 2.30.

Eric (01:19:43.182)
It's like, was like, my God. And our pace was good. Like our pace was like a 13 minute pace, but that elevation and over almost 40 miles at that point was like, impressed. And so I was like, I was like, my God. So again, the tears came and I said, I'm just going to go do it, dude. And I was like, I'm going to get to 40 and, and he was like, I'll go with you. So he's got on the bike. And again, we hit up route three, took a left out of there.

and I just started going. And I don't know what happened, if it was second wind or what, but like 40 came to 41, 41 came to 42. And that's when the rain came and it was like, yes. And that's the group, you know, the new show to picture. We met these bikers, they were under the bridge because there was pouring. So I was like, they're like, what are you guys doing running in this? And we told them, like, we want a picture. So we took a picture with them. So there were, and there were our witnesses for FKT. So like, it was cool. We got their email and then, and then 43 came and then.

My buddy Brandon who like couldn't run, he was supposed to pace me through two days, but at one of the races that was before this, he actually rolled his ankle. So he goes, if I get my hiking poles and we power hike, cause you know, ultra run is called power hiking, not walking. Right? Right. Love it. like, you might do two more to get to 40, 45. And at this point, like, was like, dude, I just did a nine minute pace at 43. I was really proud. And I was like, let's get to 45.

So I was riding the momentum, right? I was power hiking with the poles at 44. And then he's like, all right, I'm going to push you to 45. Let's go. And then that's when my body, I had to drag. I couldn't even lift my arms up with the poles. I had to drag them to my pace. It's so funny. It was 19 now. And it was like, just couldn't do anymore. And I was swaying like this. And they wanted to get me to 50. And Brandon's like,

No, like he's swaying. We're not taking him to 50. So we got to 45, cut it, took the picture right at the firehouse. And we went back, got some sleep, and then we were back at it for day three the next day. Did you actually get sleep this time? Did your body let you sleep? I got two hours, which felt like 50. You're killing me. So that was good.

Eric (01:22:03.026)
I'm going to share some pictures here. All right. I'm on your Instagram right now. I'm going to share some pictures to break this up a little bit. You're sitting in a lawn chair. You got the massage gun on your leg and you got a guy with what looks like, you know, the kind of sprayer you would fertilize your yard with just spraying water right in your face while you a trail nap. Yep. That was I did end up sleeping there for like 30 seconds. That's 100 % true. Wow. Nice.

We got some other ones. We got some here with your team. So you got the guy on the bike here. He's on a three wheel bike. He has one hell of a beard. Here's your entire team here, you know, helping crew you. had, you had quite the crew you had there, man. You are kicking ass. And then he had that sweet hat with the, uh, on the back covering your neck because I got to imagine, I saw some other pictures you ran by New Hampshire motor speedway and you're just baking and son.

My god that day was date that was day four. was awful Yeah, it's the worst. So here's the here's the Wagoneer. So we'll call that the cruise car. They're following you around your journey That's pretty cool, man Smart wearing all white. Yeah. yeah, I teach heat stress. I was like, my god So, all right continue your journey from where you left off those are cool. The pictures are great, man Yeah, thank you. So day three was my favorite day

and it ended up being crazy. Like you talk story wise podcasts, like day three was like, holy shit, so much happened in day three that I'm so glad we got this whole journey on video. the guy on the bike was videoing the whole time. So day three started off, I was feeling so good. Like it was super easy terrain comparing to what we just did in the White Mountains. The hottest part was over. We started at like, I have to look at the official time, but around five, 5.30.

And we were just like all on point. Day three, people figured it out. Like Brandon's roll was to go five. I wanted to stop now every five to six miles instead of 10. So he would get the table ready, get the real food ready. Phil's roll was right behind me the whole time. He'd give me like water refills or like aloe or like anything I needed like quick. So like everyone had their rolls. Brandon was scouting. So it was perfect. And the guy on the bike was videoing the whole thing.

Eric (01:24:22.096)
So, know, so what happened was, you know, we were cooking and I was just like, yo, I'm not taking the aid. I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. And like, I didn't take aid until a marathon in. like 21 miles, almost a marathon. was like 21 and change. So they were like happy, but also they were like, yo, he's feeling good. Like if you don't know ultras, you depend on the person's mood and you kind of gauge it, right? And they were like, yo, he's laughing, he's joking. Like.

His mood's great. was like day one better than day one day two. My mood sucked after 30. And you know, so he was like, let's keep them going. But the problem is I wasn't eating real food. was just eating goose and stuff. And like, finally they sat me down and they're like, Hey, we need to eat. So this is when like Brandon, there's a video of it. He's taping my feet. I can barely sit down in the chair. So like they actually had to help guide me down. And they also had to like help me up because I couldn't like

get up. It was so painful. I can imagine. Here's where like the drama comes. This is the only drama we had on the whole trip. So we were in a parking lot that said like, I forget the name and I wish they knew. But it was like, I forget where we were. But it was ended up being like a hotel. But on the side of the parking lot we were on was a youth detention center. So people came out and they were like, what's your business here? And like, dude, I'm taped up.

I have my shoes off, there's blood on my white socks. They're feeding me like chicken, like they're feeding me. And they're like, we, and they were like, well, guy's like, we don't care. Like, he's like, get out of here. He goes, we've had people set up traps. And like I do safety and security. So was like, I actually kind of get it. But he's like, we have people set up traps and distractions to like break people out. And I'm like.

And my buddy Brandon's like, dude, the kid can't even walk. Like have some human remorse. That one epic like distraction. Yeah. That was really the case. Yeah, we're going to run from the border to here to distract you. Yeah. So it was like, I'm so glad we got all on camera. So like, it was like, and I'm trying to keep them cool. Like I was more concerned about my crew than myself. Like I'm like, yo, are you good? Are you good? Are you good? Finally, they were really mad. They're like, stop worrying about us, dude. But like, I didn't want it to make sure they were good. But I was like, Brandon.

Eric (01:26:41.904)
like chill, was like, it's good, we'll just move. He's like, no, you sit there and you eat. And I'm like, what do I do, right? This is positive. Now these people are like, so the cop was right next door. I think we're in Plymouth, actually. Yeah, we in Plymouth. So like they came, they were like, we saw you on the news, we love what you're doing. They're like, yeah, just go down the road. So again, I didn't get to eat anything. I had a couple of bites of chicken. And then that's when I said like, hey, we ended up stopping at.

26 miles, my friend Suzanne joined us. She came right at that time. So like I'm giving her hug and this guy's like, get out of here. And I'm like, Suzanne, you picked the perfect spot to come join this run. So she was just like my rock through that day because like we were cooking. So finally at 26, we got real food. It was the first time I ended up having pizza, which is like my like Mario mushroom. Like I was like, yeah, I'm ready to go now.

Yes. And so it was just like, all right. So Suzanne did 27 miles with me that day. She came in around like, like I said, 20. And, and like, this is where it gets interesting. So it was extremely hot. And at mile 40, 42.36, something weird. We took a wrong turn and we were like,

and they called us, the trail car, and they're like, dude, you guys weren't right. You needed to go straight to stay on route three. And we're like, fuck. And like, we don't want to go in the car because that could jeopardize the whole FKT thing. But we had to walk all the way back up the fucking hill that we just ran down. And I was like, and now the day three, this was the hottest day of the year so far besides the last two days here. So at this point in time, 2025 hottest day of the year. And I was like fucking roasting. So like they had to sponge bath me.

every like, we switched eight to every three miles and they were spraying me with that fertilizer thing you were saying out the car window. And like, I was like, my God. Now I, I wasn't drinking coffee. So I was taking caffeine pills and like something weird was going like I I've done over 200 races and I was like, yo, something weird is going on. But I didn't want to tell them because I knew they'd take me off the course. And I was like, yeah,

Eric (01:28:59.474)
getting into a high number today. Like we didn't start so early and crush it like this and not get our highest number today. So like, I was like, they're like, how you doing? And I'm like, fine. It reminded me of boxing. I'm like, I'm good. I'm good. And I'm like, I'm like, I am fucked. I am not good. So this is like the, favorite part of the trip. So finally, he's like, Suzanne's walking with me. That was the picture you showed where I'm in the orange shirt with the blue towel on my hat.

Yeah. They had to soak it and give it to me every so often. And I'm just power hiking and we're running a little bit. We'll walk, run, walk, run. And then finally, like, I'm like at mile 45, I'm like, fuck it. So I take the poles, I throw them and I just bolt it. And it's on my Strava and mile 44 was an 840. And then I'm going so yeah, 46, excuse me. Mile 46 was an 840. Now, Suzanne.

God love her, she kept me alive in all seriousness. She went and got the sprayer. She was running behind me in every 15 seconds because the center of town was only two miles of Tilton. So that's why we were gauging. was like, fuck it, we're banging out. We're at 45. So 840 on mile 46. And we're trying to get to the center of town, right? So the cops are like, what? So we passed the Tilton PD and they're obviously now hear about it.

And the guy's giving us thumbs up and I remember his face. just sees Suzanne spraying me in like the back of the neck, the legs and everything. Just fucking imagine this lady just spraying this bigger guy running down the street with a car chasing him. It must have been so fucking funny. But like I credit her because she was doing that every 15 seconds for the last two miles, trying to keep up with me. And she even said herself, she's like, I don't know where you got the energy. I couldn't keep up with you the last two miles. But we got to the center of town.

The cop was so cheerful and he was like, a lot of people had questions, right? So he was like, oh, what's going on? And I knew something was off finally. We hit our goal, 47. Again, the crew was like, can you hit 50? I'm like, I think I can hit 50, but I need a second. And again, the cop's like, hey, do you mind if I get you checked out? So Tilton, he called an ambulance. Tilton ambulance came over. We were right across from the lot in Walgreens there near J. Jill.

Eric (01:31:17.553)
And they came over and they're like, your blood pressure is extremely high. I think it was like 187. And I didn't even know what that meant. And I was like, well in my head I'm like, obviously it's fucking high, it's hot. I just ran fucking 47 miles and like, whatever it was on it, know. So like, was like, And then I was like, well, I don't feel like my normal self. So they were like, well, the urgent care, first choice or best choice is right across. You can go get evaluated there.

So I had a sign that I refused care, went over there. They were so cool. I'm still friends with all of them. Shout out, Rachel. Shout out, Doc. Right? They were so cool. I'm friends with them all on Facebook. were the stuff. Their personalities matched with my personality. And like, we just all clicked. And they were like, they did a glucose test where they pricked my finger. And they were like, yo, you're wicked low on that. They're like, you're obviously low on electrone. Now I was shivering like this. Like they had to wrap me in a blanket.

They had to change my clothes. That's why WMUR showed me with the IV I had a hood on. I just could not keep warm, right? So I got the IVs, I got two bags, I drank some drink, changed my clothes. They got me real food at Applebee's. And finally, they're like, all right, you can go. And I was like, well, we're at 47. I was like, you think we could push it to 50 tonight? And the lady's like.

don't you do that. And she used some other words, So I was like, right. so I was like, you know, I felt like a new man with those electrolytes. And then so we went, got our room, right. Ended up going back to the course at like five the next day to obviously the exact same spot we left off. And then day four was actually ended up. So again, you see the pattern how they keep being the hottest day of the year.

Day four was actually the hottest day of the year. And to be honest, my toughest day for me out on the course. Well, I mean, you endured three days of straight up hot ass soup, basically. my gosh. All right. Quick question for you before we move on to your day four. Your crewmate, Suzanne, it's not Suzanne Yee, is it? Yeah. Is it really? I love Suzanne

Eric (01:33:36.539)
Okay, so I see why your crew is top notch because he is just wonderful and everybody else sounds amazing as well. that is that is a real one to just chase down with the sprayer. So Suzanne, look, it was my favorite. Like, I told her it was my because like at that point, it was just so badass. Like she's spraying me like I'm booking it like we're just all exhausted. mean,

I joke with her, I go, you can break the record. I was like, you ran two days with me. You pretty much ran half the state. And she's like, but, so like, you know, it's just, that was like the pinnacle point of like, you know, she knew when to push, when to give me encouragement. she would, they, too, like Phil was out there the whole time. Like he was just funny. He told me I sucked every mile. He's like, you suck, keep going. Right? Yeah. So he was just, but, you know, they were just all great.

Yeah, they were just all like great people, great time to be around, no drama. I never had like, again, I like to take care of people and like, it was weird having people take care of me, but like, they generally were just like, I looked at their faces and I was analyzing, they just wanted us to all do it. And that's why I say like, I always try to give them credit. I, it breaks my heart when I see a lot of like these ultra guys, especially famous people like not give their crew credit.

It's like it was we were here because of them. Like if they weren't there, I wouldn't be on the show right now. Absolutely. I'm a big I'm a big no, not proponent. I don't know what the word is, but like I am a big believer to give credit where credit is due because a lot of times like you're not going to know to take care of yourself as much as somebody else who's seeing it from the outside. So definitely kudos to your whole crew. But you know, this day.

Go ahead. Well, just to elaborate on that, you said earlier in the episode, you're not a me person or an I or like you. It's and I like to say it's not me. It's we. Yeah. It's always it's not me. Just flip the around and it's we. Yeah. And that's 100 percent, 100 percent. And like, you know, again, like I was more worried about them and they're like yelling at me to stop.

Eric (01:35:48.43)
But like, again, I just want to make sure they're okay. Like they're away from their families, they're away from their wives, husbands, like kids. And like, they just wanted to all be a part of the journey. And like, it was such an honor to have them there. Like, seriously, it was just truly amazing. But yeah, day four sucked. It was my worst day. You know, coming out of the ER, you know, I wanted to have my David Goggins moment where I the IV out and I got three more. They wouldn't let me. The crew told me no. Everyone's telling me no. I'm like, come on. So.

You know, day four came and again, Phil, he never left my side. Like he literally was in the trail car. Imagine that, like I didn't even think about this, but like he told me after, he didn't want to tell me during, like he was riding neutral and stopping, riding neutral, stopping. Think about that for four days and a half days straight. He's like, my legs were killing me. I'm like, on the Wagoneer too, that's good. But yeah, so like, you know, I didn't even think of that, but.

So me and him went out and then the other guys met us later and then Suzanne met us later so she came back. And again, she was running a little bit with me and she's like, Justin, my body is so burnt. I was like, I know. was like, because I'm all tatted up black, right? So like, it felt like my skin was on fire. Like, and it's funny because like I look at her and I felt bad because she looked like exhausted and she's like, I am. And I'm like, and she's like, but don't worry about me. I only did two days. She's like, look at you. And I'm like,

it's hot one. So there was one point where like, was, I was like, guys, I'm not going to do like nines or tens or 11s or 12s. I'm just going to kind of flow with it today. Like, you know, and they came up with a great idea. They said today's going to be again, the pattern that I told you now it's going to be the hottest day again of the year. It was a heat wave. So I think, and I don't want to exaggerate, I think it was going to be 86 or 87 around one or two, if you can go back and look. And I think it was 86. So

Phil came up with a good idea. Let's start five, get your 50K in, relax and go back out at night. And I was like, you know what? Why didn't we do that the whole time? So like, yeah, why didn't we do that the whole time? But in all seriousness, you couldn't because in those small towns, with restaurants and hotels and stuff, like you really couldn't, in my opinion, do it like that if you wanted to hit the 45, like we went over 40 every single day. So that's just my theory on that.

Eric (01:38:11.546)
But so again, we So we were pushing the pace we were Slower pace this time. I finally had good pizza at the Loudon right near the the gas station near the Loudon they were like So funny, so the lady comes out lantern Yes, yes, and they promised us free pizza in Hudson, how did you know that I know?

So the lady, forget her name, she gave us her name because she's gonna be our witness. I didn't even know this was happening. I finally like, we could not get good pizza in those, where we were. And like, you know, I'm a big pizza guy. And like, so like, I was like, oh my God. So I went in, I had to use the restroom and I had two slices. I was like, who made this pizza? And the lady who was managing it was like me. I was like, this is the best pizza I've had in this whole trip. And she didn't know what we were doing or anything.

So she goes, I'm going to the bathroom. I'm pronounced to me. She goes out. goes, are you guys with the guy with the tattoos and eating the pizza? And they're like, yes. And they were like, he just came in and said that he loves the pizza and he went in the bathroom. He liked it so much he didn't even put it down. I was like, they ended up telling her like.

what the cause was and that's when the Rusty Landard and Hudson, I didn't even know they had one, it was like, when you're done, there's a free pizza waiting for you there. So I was like, all right. But you know, it was good. We got our 50K in, we ended at like something odd, like 30, actually 32 point whatever. And then we went, we all went to relax. I did an ice bath, leg drains. And then at like seven, we went back out. It was just me, Suzanne and Phil. I wanted to give Brandon time with his family. So.

You know, again, this is why I said they push perfect. Phil actually got to run with me this time and it was one of my favorites because he has the same energy and personality as me. And Suzanne was the trail car. And so what happened was we ended in Pembroke, right? And we went back at night and night running was so much fun because like it was so cool, like physically, like meaning like the temperature. was like, oh my God, this is awesome. I'm not on fire.

Eric (01:40:28.508)
And so Suzanne was our trail car and we ran from Pittsburgh to Bedford in a couple hours. We were cooking and I just looked at Suzanne and she could barely form a sentence. It was like 2.30 in the morning. Phil was all ready to go. Phil was like, I don't know where he got his energy from. I never had to worry about him. so I was like, all right.

You know, cause you feel bad, like they're exhausted for you. So like, I'm like, I don't want her to be like, you know, sad or not. She was never sad, but like, I don't want her to be, you know, that exhausted for me. And like same with Phil. So finally, like we got our miles and we ended at Bedford, a little pass, like right near like Preston the target. And we put our mile marker down. We took the picture and you know, that was day four. We ended at 2.30. Now, Eric and Erica.

I have to say, one thing we didn't realize, and I'm sorry to say, but this is true and factual, was going through downtown Manchester at 1.30 in the morning was kind of scary for the shit that we were seeing. I believe that. And listen, every there was that rail trail in Manchester that goes behind the Home Depot and stuff. Were you on Route 3 or No, we're on Route 3. But it was still interesting. Yeah, I'd always-

I wouldn't be out there if I weren't doing something like that. I would not be out there at that time. And also like you see guys in like the light up colored vest, you know, people, first off, the whole state of New Hampshire was so motivational honks, stopping, like again, people were getting out of their cars, taking like, that gives you the motivation when you're sleep deprived, you're extremely hot, you're obviously depleted on fuel, you know, like glucose, whatever the electrolytes, right? But I will say this is the only time I was like, shit. like,

You know, I'm a former fighter. still train now, but I was like, something goes down. I'm just giving him my wallet. Like I cannot even walk. don't have the energy. that was day four. And it was nice because we finally, you know, I got to take a shower. I didn't want to, you know, really stay in my place of residence. like outside of my residence, there's like these outdoor couches. So I slept on there for a little bit.

Eric (01:42:51.238)
Cause I was just in the mindset of like, I don't want to go back home. I want to like finish this. And so I stayed there for a little, I did end up going back home to shower. I wanted to sleep on a real like thing for an hour and then Phil, I love Phil. He went to bed at like 4 30 was at my house at five to bring us back to the mile marker that we left off, left in Bedford. And then boom, we were cooking and like it started pouring. It was raining pretty heavily. So was this Saturday? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah, that was heavy rain. Yeah. So I was so glad because I was like, at this point in time in the trip, right? Like, again, I didn't want to take any supplies from home or anything. I only had one shirt. And listen, I didn't think I was cool. was like, feels like, hey, if you only have one shirt left, like you have to run shirtless because like you did the chafing. was like, all right. So I was just running through my home, you know, Merrimack where I'm from. I had the bladder on and like he was trailing me. And like this is when it got really cool because like

All my friends and family now are in the vault, right? They're not so like, I had people at every corner in Merrimack and we just started a run club in Merrimack. So we have people from the run club come in and come out. I mean, it was real life for scum. Like at one point we had like 15 people running with me and I just looked and I said, wow, this got really big, really quick. I mean, we're only out there four and a half days at this point, not even at this point, right? It's four and whatever.

Again, I got my second win. Day four was the absolute worst mileage, like pace wise, moving wise and just like, but like day five was like awesome. So like I had 17 and 0.28 or whatever was left. And so I was like, all right, we're going to bang this out. And they were like, wow, you're moving good. So like, you know, was at one point, you know, one mile was nine something, but then it was like, you know, it was all catching up. My quad was on fire, but we had a consistent pace.

And like again, friends and family, people meet us at King Cone, which is the best ice cream, shout out to them, I wish they were open. When we drove by or when we stopped, we got our A-Ping. So I was like, oh, why? And then once we got to Nashville, running downtown Nashville, and there was a picture that The Telegraph put out, and I don't know if you can find it, but it was The Telegraph, if you put it up, it was like the sun stopped.

Eric (01:45:11.006)
We were like, it's parted through and like, was just, I was in all white and like, it was just magical. It seemed like the clouds moved and like, I remember getting goosebumps because it reminded me of when you turn left onto Boylston at the Boston Marathon and the finish line, like, you know it's close. I was like, this is it. Light at the end of the tunnel, six more to go. Like, and then running the last six, I had the Gate City Striders, like a lot of the team, like,

every quarter mile, like you could spray me with water, like giving me water, running with me, like, and then finally, like, taking that turn onto the- and like, this was true, I didn't know, because I never entered the mall through Mass, and we're running to the Mass border, so like, I didn't know how many entrances to the mall there were, so I'm like, is this it? They're like, no, I'm like, is this it? They're like, no, I go, when the fuck is it? Like, I want to be done! So, finally we get to like, the last entrance, and

And you know, I'm running down, I see my daughter, she has this medal, like a blow her a kiss. And you know, they had a little finish line for me. I had like 20 to 30 something people, all different people. Like I coach five year olds baseball in Merrimack, they came. I had like family there, my daughter, they're all my friends and their kids. It's like 30 something people. And the thing is, there was actually more, because we said we were going to finish at the casino. So there was people in the casino waiting, but we didn't know that there was drama at the line. like,

they didn't want filming from M.U.R. on their property. it was like, you know, we couldn't go all the way over there. So we made sure we finished at the mass border, AKA part of the Faisal Le Mans. But just coming down and then embracing like Brandon and like Phil and Suzanne, I made sure like, again, we were holding hands and that they crossed at the same time as me because like they got me there. And this goes to show the mutual respect we had for all one another.

They were like, no, you go ahead at the final 10 seconds. And, you know, it was just awesome, you know, sitting down, realizing like, hey, we did that, you know, we smashed the record. We raised a ton of money. Cause I emailed Heather. We had all these people come out to share their health journey. mean, the whole thing was just so positive. It was, it was remarkable. Amazing. Is this the photo? Yes, that is it. That like, was, see how it was raining. You could see it on the bottom and then like,

Eric (01:47:34.618)
Once I hit to Nashville, again, I'm trying to describe it for the viewers what downtown Nashville looks like, but it looked like there was no traffic. You can see the trail car behind me. Suzanne actually took this picture, but like the rain stopped and like the clouds just parted and it was just the sun was shining. And like, I was obviously sleep deprived, but I was like, this is a sign, you know, that it's almost done. But this was like one of my favorite photos through the whole adventure because like,

Again, I just remember getting the chills, seeing like, you know, even now, that was my favorite, one of my favorite memories of the trip. That's amazing. What a story, Sorry. Sounds like a movie, right? Yeah, it really does. one day, maybe. How are you feeling emotionally when you were crossing this line? Like four, four and four days, five hours for four days, four hours and 56 minutes worth of

trials and tribulations and what was going through your head when you saw that finish line? I just wanted my daughter there because before there, and I'm not trying to be a typical parent like that, like, I want my kids there. I've been through a lot. There was a point in time where I remember at my wedding speech, my sister-in-law at the time, she was like, we all can't wait to see Justin be a dad. I wanted a girl. We weren't finding out what we were having. I want to do all the cool girl dad stuff.

like dress up, tea parties, paint the nails. And she helped me pack for this race. She was excited to like label the bags. And you know, she was, I turned to her, was like, hey, I'm kind of nervous, right? And she's like, dad, you've done this so many times. And like just seeing her there, like she was so excited, like, cause she's at the age now where like she understands. And like I could see how proud she was of like.

the accomplishment and she was sending me voice messages at night when we were trying to sleep. like, know, that was just like, I'm like, could get emotional now thinking about him trying to hold it back. But the, you know, it's just, again, I didn't think I'd have a daughter. So like, really want, or a child, because of the condition I was in. So like, that was awesome. But then to see the impact that you had, like, I only been running for two years at whatever it is, like two and a half or whatever. And, you know, it was cool that like,

Eric (01:49:57.664)
the Striders were there, friends that I made just in life, family was there. There was 30 something people just waiting for me on a Sunday when they could have been doing anything else. And then not only that, but you looked at the Facebook, my Facebook in a good way blew up. I had 200 something likes, comments. This is the best part. We were getting messages from people with spinal leaks that saw the story. Again, their own health issues. I was trying to answer everyone because

I've been there and I'm not gonna let this journey think like, hey, like, you know, we're above, or, you know, that was the whole mission that again, we didn't see coming out of it where, and I shared some of the messages on my social, I don't know if you saw them, but like three or four people with spinal leaks reached out and I put them on Facebook to say, hey, this is the journey that like we didn't even know. And I shared that with Mike at WMUR too, because like, I think they played a role in covering it the way they did where now we're leading people to get help. So like to answer your question, it was so emotional, I was crying.

I had so much pizza. Yeah, it was awesome. I cried a lot. I haven't cried this much ever. was freaking crying. This is so amazing. You hit me there with the story about your daughter. How old is she? She's five now. Five, that's amazing. The coolest thing ever. I'm so happy I was a girl dad first. My daughter is nine now, but it's the best. I got my boys there. I got twin boys who are four. So I'm right there with you with the four and five-year-olds, but man, being a girl dad is the coolest thing ever.

For sure, man. That's awesome. What was your favorite age? I would say six. Four or five, six. Probably more near the six because they're still in the age where they believe everything, but they can talk to you. And we took her to Disney World when she was six, and that was amazing. And if I took her today at nine, it would be a blast and she would be all about the rides. But it was really cool.

that she's six and she still believes and she still wanted the pictures with the mascots. I remember- the magic. We went to the Magic Kingdom, just me and her, on the last day, not to make this about me, but I remember holding her when we leaving at midnight. Yeah. And she's waving bye to Mickey and Minnie and all the characters, because they wait for you at the end. And I was like, I always wanted to take her to Disney. And that was my moment at six, because I knew in a year, I think she would have been past that stage of like, into all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. That's a great story, man.

Eric (01:52:21.315)
So it's the best being a girl dad and now I think I know the answer to my next question But we have two big questions. We always ask every guest at the end of the podcast I'll go first But on the runs is hosting this huge epic pasta dinner at the end of the year and all our guests from 2025 are welcome to come and they get a plus one They can take anyone alive or dead. Who are you taking? alive or dead

that's so good. my God. Mylon Brando. Ooh, there you go. I just want to learn about the Godfather and the real filming. that's right. I was like, wait a second, who? Yes. Cause you said you're a huge Godfather fan. Yeah. I love that I add the library dead because people are like, okay, yeah, I'm going to take my mom or my dad or my wife. wait, I can take someone who's not around anymore. Yeah.

That's a good one. That's a great question. And yeah, if you ask the Live or Dead, can't like, can't give the typical, you know, family. You gotta give somebody cool. I feel like we need to make this a pizza party now and not a pasta dinner. Well, maybe in the next time. Maybe we'll do, we'll have pizza there too. Yeah. I love pizza as well Justin. What's your favorite? All right. Let me ask you guys. You guys asked me a lot of questions, right? Eric and Erica, favorite pizza place that you, around here.

and your favorite topping. So mine's buffalo chicken and Mickey's, shout out Mickey's. What is yours? Honestly, today I had a really delicious pizza for lunch. I love Sal's pizza because they have the real doughy crust and I'm a big fan of the dough crust. I had a sweet chili chicken. So it's either that or I like the hot honey with pepperoni and I like barbecue chicken. I'm a big barbecue chicken fan. So I don't think I can narrow it down, but.

I'm a chicken person, but also pepperoni. And you got sals, Eric? I love sals, yeah. So fun fact that you don't know about me yet, but I have a dairy allergy and I can't eat cheese, but I love pizza. And the best part is I always get my own large pizza for me. And I don't have to share it with anyone because everyone's like, that's no cheese. I like to load it with meat. So mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage. Now.

Eric (01:54:43.618)
I live in Manchester now and we get the pizza market, it's pretty good. Domino's is underrated for their medium thick crushed pizza for 6.99. You can't beat it. And it was two miles down the road and I have so many Domino's points where I get a free pizza like almost every month. However, if you're really putting me on the spot to pick one, I'm going back to college at Plymouth State University to P-hop.

And many nights after leaving the bar, which I worked at, and ordering a pizza, and we always got buffalo chicken. And the cool part was we got a buff chick calzone, and my friend, Matt Gantz, who's the door guy with me at the Lucky Dog, he knew I couldn't have cheese. So he'd be like, well, let's get one because a buff calzone's like two pizzas. So we'd get buff chick without cheese, but the sauce inside.

and Matt would get the cheese on the outside, he would dip it. He goes, you know what? I don't even notice a difference. It's still fucking delicious. Yeah, that sounds good, dude. God, I miss Plymouth's Well, don't go get a pizza sometime. We don't get to go to Domino's. Anytime, man. I'm in. We'll go to Sal's and we'll get a pizza or something. Yeah, hell yeah. Erica, you had a question? All right, now, I do. This is not my only question, but we're getting our two big ones out of the way. But this brings me to

a greater question. Did you listen to any music while you were running or did you just kind of raw dog it? No, no. So I was listening to an audio book the first day, then like my phone, I want to make sure I could always call my daughter at night. So like, my, and like we did have battery packs and stuff, but again, this was like the kind of drama with the big bike. saw how big it was. It was three wheels. like the gentleman thought that he would

be able to bike or like the battery would go the whole time. But unfortunately, like you're out there that long and didn't. we lost a lot of the stuff in the crew car. So to answer your question, I had no music. I had an audio book and then I would raw dog it. I did not listen to music at all. I was either in between the raw dog or the audio book. And it was mostly raw dog. And because like I was out there with Suzanne two days or like we met a gentleman, became friends with him.

Eric (01:57:00.612)
His name's Eric. Shout out him. He'll watch it because we became friends on Facebook. Phil told him what we were doing. He ran like six miles with me. He was up there for Bike Week. Good runner, like sub three marathon guy. like we ran with him. was cool. People were joining. So I didn't even have to like think about it. That's awesome. But so my question revolves around our Spotify playlist and we like to invite our guests to add a song to it. So even though you didn't listen to much on your run.

Would you like to add something to our list? Something that would pump people up or just motivate people? Oh, yeah. I don't know if it'll pump them up, but it was my go-to song out there to put myself in a funny mood. Yeah. It was Backstreet's Back, all right. Amazing. I'm 100 % all over that. Harry, because the team in sync, but yeah. I will not discriminate against Backstreet's You're getting one so good.

I've told this to one of our friends, Ali G. She's got her own podcast and it's running in music based. She's a big Backstreet fan and I'm a big N'Sync girl, but Backstreet Boys was one of my very first CDs that I ever bought. I bought their debut album and Big Willie Style from Will Smith. Those are my two first CDs. My NW is it.

Well, I don't know if you can tell, but I have a little friend who joined us and that I think is my call off sign. But I, I need to give you guys the answer to our little trivia question. Do you want to know about the town of Pittsburgh, New Hampshire? Yes. Yes. So you have to distinguish the difference between a town and a city. And if it's a township,

The state of, not the state, the town of Pittsburgh, New Hampshire is the largest township in the continental United States. it is, you're right. City though, the largest city is Jacksonville, Florida. what is the largest city in New Hampshire though?

Eric (01:59:02.95)
It's Manchester because it's City. And the Queen City is in a state, it's a Queen City if it's the largest city, but not the capital. Yeah. Okay. Well, you were right. You were right. Yeah. But I had to look that up. So it's almost, it's like 300 square miles where Jacksonville is 840. And for reference, the state of Rhode Island is only a thousand square miles. So Pittsburgh, New Hampshire's landmass is 30 % of the state of Rhode Island.

Yeah, I told the news that I wish we picked Rhode Island instead. That would have been easier. But Justin, before Eric leaves, I do have one quick question. So the Heather Abbott Foundation, which you raised money for, how much did you actually raise through your fundraising efforts? And are you still accepting donations? We are. we have. So they're going to give me a final countdown.

We have renewal by Anderson. So shout out them. They're a big client of mine for the business that I own. They're mailing in two checks. I did not want to ask them how much. So Heather and her foundation are going to be sending me a report after once they receive those. And we still are. So how we were accepting donations, we just put their website and donation link. So if you go to the head of Abbott Foundation and you can just click the donate button and then put it right in there. So that's what the link we were sharing their website. So yeah, thank you for that.

We will get all those links too. They'll be in the show notes. Justin, this was amazing, dude. We need to have you back sometime because there's so much more. You said in the last two and a half years, you've done over 200 races. You do the whole self-defense class. We didn't even get into that. We're 90 minutes into this recording right now. So we need to have you back. I also know some of our friends, Tara and Lindsay, would love to have you on a podcast we call The Recrap.

We want to hear all about it. Maybe we do it in person at a self-defense class later this year. Or we could go to his run club. We could do the run club. You have a run club now that you just started. Like we can do something later this year. Absolutely. But thank you so much for saying yes in the last 24 hours. We got this in before our July break. We take every year off in July. This was awesome. Thank you so much. What an incredible journey for an incredible cause.

Eric (02:01:20.493)
Love the story about your daughter. I love this whole thing. This won't be the last time you guys are hearing from Justin. This is great. It was an honor to be here for real to think of me. I appreciate you guys in the platform for real. We think you're awesome, Justin. And just keep going out there doing awesome things and keep, keep it up with your crew too. They, they are amazing and we need more people like that. me. We not me. Thank you guys. You're the man guys. I hope you guys enjoyed that.

Justin deflamary on the on the runs podcast. That was wicked awesome

Eric (02:01:58.373)
Holy shit, Justin, you are amazing. Those stories were incredible. And we are so proud of your accomplishment. You did some epic, epic shit. Blew it out of the water with that story about the whole headache situation and the doctors, the hospital, the lawyers, insurance. Unreal. What a cool story. What an epic New Hampshire episode today. What a way to kick off the summer for us with an epic local episode for everyone here. Absolutely.

Hey, that was so cool. This is one of the first times, not the first, but this is like a part of the dream. We're at a table inside a place talking to people in person. have another recording like this coming up in August. Hopefully soon we'll have video cameras at these. We tried to vlog today, which was really cool. That's why if you guys are all going to give me shit about not having content as much. did it on a different camera, not his phone. And we're going, you know, landscape style.

During July, I'm going to try to put a little four or five minute YouTube video up of today. Cool. It will be awesome. And some of our amazing partners can be part of that too. yeah, we have to thank My Race Tats and Right Socks for everything that they've been doing for us. You guys are amazing. So go support our partners, because we love them, and they love you, and everybody loves each other. We have one more special guest, though, on the pod today. I think we need to say hello to the woman who birthed you.

39 years ago, we got Mama Hamill on the On the Runs podcast. Hello, folks. How are you? How was your trip up north? It was great. It's great. I've been really enjoying my time with my girls and with my best friend. And it's been wonderful. And today was extra special. it? Well, you saw a lot of her old friends, too, from college. I Now, last night was Erica's actual birthday. Yes. Did take her out?

We did. Where'd you go? We went to the Puritan back room. Was Adam Sandler there? No. You didn't see him if he was. Famous people go there, it seems. I heard the cast of Jersey Shore. Oh, is that your favorite show? No. But I heard they were there just recently. they were doing some event. So Manchester is like the chicken tender. Capital of the world. I think they were there for that event, which is kind of cool.

Eric (02:04:21.32)
We got some notoriety up here. Right. Chicken Tender Capital World. Didn't the baseball team, the Fish and Cats one day where they changed the name to the Chicken Tenders? Oh, I have no They had the jerseys and everything. That's hilarious. Right. That's pretty cool. One of those places I have to visit each and every time I come up Well, you don't get to come up here super often. don't. So it's a nice treat while you're here. And then one day, Erica's probably going to move down south closer to you, and you'll probably come up less. you know, the more we can have here. I know about that.

How is life down south? A couple years ago, you sold the house in Goffstown, you moved to Myrtle Beach. You're right near one of our pod fam friends, Holly. How's life down there? I absolutely love it. I couldn't be happier. No more stress in my life. We've met some wonderful friends and we've got the beach and we've got golf and it's just great.

They're straight up livin' it up my gosh, I think we party way more than Erica does. absolutely do. And their friends are just amazing. They're so welcoming and my gosh, And I can see why you love it so much because you have amazing people around you. I do. And I'm so lucky in that sense that I do have some amazing people around me.

Well, that's awesome. I'm so happy that you're a big fan of the pod. You're wearing the shirt today. am. And I'm not representing as usual. And I love that other people give you crap about that. Not me. I her. She told me that. Yeah, she told me. Yeah. This morning I see her with the shirt on and I go, what do you want to bet people are going to be like? Yeah. And Eric is not even representing her own brand. I it just so that I could wear it today. Mom's got it. I love it. And I hear at home that you and Dawn like to watch

podcast, not we do watch we do. Well, I will do a better job in July. We're going to have massive YouTube drop of a lot of our last episodes in the last two months. We're sticking just with the guest segments. They'll be there. So while we're gone on our summer break, everyone's going to can go to that YouTube channel, hit subscribe, follow, do all the cool things. And you can watch all those amazing episodes and guests from pretty much after Boston. I'll have those all up soon. Don't forget August.

Eric (02:06:31.48)
Second is the huge raffle night. Erica won't be there. I'll be in your joys. I'll be with Ali G. That's right. But big we have like about 80 raffle gifts. Yoga night is July 11th. And also I think August 9th. We're going to record at yoga night July 11th. You won't be there but I will be recording with the team.

We're going to have a couple episodes dropping of the re crap two of them. know the guest who they're going to be. It'll be a surprise, but one of them I am very excited about. I'm excited about both, but Eric, I'm just giving you a toilet. excited about one because if you have listened to our previous episodes, you know who is a resounding favorite for me. And there's going to be a little probably a competition of who can burp the most. God, it's going to be so It's going to get out of control. I'm really sad that I'm going to miss that one.

Well, you can always do it. I told Erica that I wanted to have a burping contest with pterodactyl. no way. Well, hey, we can make that happen. I think have to at some point. We kind of said in the parking lot that.

I think you need to be here next year because it's on a big day. I do think so too. Well, also, Tara is going to come down with me in January to stay with my parents because her and I are going to do an ultra down in Myrtle Beach. looking forward to that. We'll have plenty of time for a burping contest then. we will. Well, I don't want to end this on a sad note, but Erica can save this after. But Erica, I have a sad note.

What's a sad note? have a sad note. If I could cue some sad music right now. He's got that on his pad. Well, I got this one, but I'm saying if I could actually cue real sad music right now, listen, Tuesday's trash day and my hands were really full with everything and I'm trying to get the last few items into the recycling and I'm trying to get out the door and I get out the door. go and I kind of like lift the trash lid and then drop everything in there before the lid will

Eric (02:08:31.562)
will fall down, you know what I mean? Yes. And then I walk to my truck, I turn the truck on, I leave and I get to work and I'm like, all right, let me grab my bag, let me grab my stuff. What did you throw in the trash? Where's my water? I can't find my water. I thought maybe it fell, maybe it's on the side of the driveway. that how you treat gifts from me? Oh my God, I've had, you know what?

And so I'm looking for it at home and everything. Has anyone seen this? We have 30 fucking water bottles in our house. I have one. I don't know why everybody else needs five per day. Like they can't refill it. I have one and I'm the only now I can't.

drink out of any of theirs because half of them are missing the tops or something here and there. And I love the one you got me because of the cap and I can put it in. Yeah. And it's amazing. And I'm so sad this week because I have been like, it's been a struggle to stay hydrated because I don't have the right bottle. And Erica got me this on the runs bottle. I think you have the same one. Same color. But they had, it was personalized. So mine has my name. Yours had yours.

And so you know how it has like this here. I had it hooked on my right. I think when I threw everything in, I wasn't paying much attention. I think it flipped off my pinky. Bummer, dude. Unless for some reason, like it shows up down to the street. Like I'm thinking maybe it fell and I didn't notice. And it's like down the street, like, like a rolled some right, you know, but. Well, hey, I ordered it, so maybe it will be not so difficult to reorder it.

And I have a birthday coming up. You do a big one too. Forty. That's right. So we're taking some time off. I actually think this will be the longest July break that you will you will actually get. We are recording one episode in the middle of July because of a bunch of scheduling rescheduling on both sides. Yes. On both sides. So that would be fun because that's like a collab with another cool group podcast. And so that would be fun because it actually involves.

Eric (02:10:46.41)
Running. On the run. It's going to be a lot. So we'll see each other in a couple of weeks. we won't be back on the pod until, I think, August 5th.

No way. Holy shit. Well, we're going to have a lot to catch up on. We should probably just do a me and you episode at one point. Maybe. OK. Maybe we do a me and you episode the week before that will drop on Thursday, the 31st of July. OK. So that'll be a little less time that that no promises. No promises. But hey, guys, you're awesome. hundred and seventy five episodes. Linda, can you believe that? Can't when when you were like, Erica's doing this little podcast and Don was like, Erica, thanks for telling me about your

podcast. A couple years ago in her kitchen and I screwed up the recording. We had to redo it like when she told you I want to know this actually when she told you I'm doing a podcast with Newt. What was your reaction like what's a podcast or you like what's a newt or were you like no I know what a podcast is I know what a newt is. I just I didn't know how far it was going to go and I'm really proud of you both.

You did a great job. is fantastic. She always believed in us. Absolutely. like, hey, you're going to have fun with it. Whatever you want. Yeah. It's been cool. It's been cool. And I feel like my parents have kind of said, and my sister listens all the time, too. It's almost like they get to, you know, kind of like figure out what's going on in my life, because I think we share more on this than you would typically share when a friend calls and says, what's up? not much. I'm doing pretty good. You know?

Kind of, yeah. We get into it here. yeah, we do. But this was a blast, guys. Thank you so much for supporting us. Please go and support if you want on Patreon. Go support the partners that support us. We have My Race Tats. We have Right Socks. Oofos. Oofos. Firefly. They all donated to this raffle night coming up on August 2nd. So I'll be posting about that. We'll talk about it. I will be back, hopefully, for a yoga episode. You'll miss it.

Eric (02:12:52.286)
But enjoy July, enjoy the fourth of the holiday. Don't play with fireworks. Bad idea. Yeah. And stay cool because it's been hot. Absolutely. Erica, this was a blast. Take us home. Thank you guys so much for listening. Have a wonderful summer break. We know we love you. Don't fear the code brown. And don't forget to stretch.

Eric (02:14:04.564)
Thank you guys as always for listening. Enjoy the summer break. We'll see you soon. What do I usually say? Don't forget to stretch. No, know that part. OK, there we go. I'll start over.