222 | Trenni Casey | Boston Marathoner and NBC Sports host

Welcome to the PodFam Trenni!

Join us as we chat with NBC Olympics and sports broadcaster Trenni Casey about her journey from Running Marathons  to Olympic coverage for NBC Sports. Trenni shares her incredible running journey, fundraising efforts for MS, and memorable Boston Marathon experiences that range from landing herself in the hospital to getting engaged. 

During the Intro / Outro Eric and Erika catch up on weekend plans for the Boston Marathon. They do a little show and tell and an unboxing. Plus the give their opinions on the Paris Marathon Water debacle.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
09:43 Excitement for the Boston Marathon
13:38 Trenni Casey
17:01 The Olympics Experience
22:49 The Journey into Sports Reporting
28:52 Running Journey Begins
43:06 First Boston Marathon Experience
55:57 Running for a Cause: MS Run the US
01:09:22 Finding Joy in the Journey
01:19:47 Memorable Moments in the Boston Marathon
01:32:18 Hot Takes and Personal Opinions
01:41:26 Outro

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Email us at OnTheRunsPod@gmail.com

Don't Fear The Code Brown and Don't Forget To Stretch!

Transcript

Eric (00:54)
What's up, everybody? And welcome to episode 222 of the On the Runs podcast. And we're only four sleeps away from the 130th running of the Boss Marathon and two sleeps away from our first of two live shows this weekend. From the Fan Fest, we got a lot to catch up on. Plus, we have an incredible guest on today's episode. But before we get to any of that, I must say hello to my kick-ass Rockstar of our co-host, six-star Erica. What's up?

Erika (01:24)
What's going on, buddy? ⁓ Are you trying to save some of your energy for this weekend? Because that seemed a little lackluster. I don't know. Is it just me? I mean, it's.

Eric (01:32)
I'm sorry. don't know. Sometimes I feel like I do

way too much and then sometimes I'm like I need to be a little more respectful in the house and just not be so loud. Yeah, yeah. It's late. It's late. We're trying to get the kids all to settle down. and then when I came in here and I was waiting for you to come in the studio, I logged on Facebook. And you know what the first thing that pops up is?

Erika (01:37)
I'm y- I must be used to it?

That makes sense. It is late in the evening, so I understand. I'll let it slide this once.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (01:58)
The Newcastle 10K is sold out.

Erika (02:01)
⁓ no, that's the one you wanted to do.

Eric (02:04)
I just said the other day, think we're going to do it. Who knew millennium races were so popular that they would sell out?

Erika (02:06)
⁓ no.

There's got to be a way you can get on a wait list or something.

Eric (02:13)
There is the wait list option. I saw that. I was like, ⁓ I just said this. And I was like, it's fresh my mind. Fresh my mind. You know what? Yeah. It's the week after Boston. I was like, let's do it. Cause I've been running and I'm feeling good. Three runs in five days. Going to go again tomorrow. Go up the hill again. Do the mountain talks. I won't do a mountain talk every time, but once a week. And maybe you'll do a rail trail talk or something. Maybe once a week. Yeah. You can do that. You did good today when I popped up and saw that. So.

Erika (02:16)
Okay. What a bummer. When is that? Two weeks?

Gotcha.

Yeah!

Awesome.

That's fair.

I can do that.

you

Eric (02:44)
⁓ cool story that happened today. Development, weird, interesting, like fun, but also I get a text like three o'clock from Ashley. We have a problem. Now, when I get those texts, I know it's not really a problem. It's like she's being a little dramatic or this isn't like something like you almost burn the house down when I almost burn the house down. Right. This is like, ⁓ there's, there's.

Erika (02:46)
Mm-hmm.

What? What, what, what, what?

Okay.

Okay.

It seems very dramatic and I'm like nervous for you. I'm like, what's going on?

I forgot about

that.

Eric (03:11)
There's

an issue that's an inconvenience maybe.

Erika (03:15)
Okay, so what are we talking?

Eric (03:17)
She sent me a couple of pictures of bird eggs.

Erika (03:21)
Oh, do you have baby birds like in a wreath or something on your door? How is that a problem? That just happened to Kimmy and Lucas. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Eric (03:25)
Yes, exactly that, a reef on the door.

because you can't move it, you can't relocate it, it's against the law.

And they say like, try not to use the door. It's like, that's hard. But it's actually not hard. This is our front door that we don't use a lot. We use it to get in the yard. That's the only thing we use it for. And it's nice out. So we're going in the yard all the time. But we start opening the door. And yes, the reef's still there. Like we've been inside all winter or skiing.

Erika (03:39)
⁓ well, mean.

Yes.

Well that's good then.

Eric (04:00)
And so we have him put the reef away. Lately you see this bird like every time we open the door or walking around the front door this bird flies off. And I don't know what made her look in there but she looked in there and there's bird eggs.

Erika (04:00)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's fair.

that's adorable. Well, if it's anything like my sister and Lucas, they had the same thing and they were only there for a couple of weeks between when they hatched and flew away. So it won't be a quote unquote problem for long. Yeah, that's fun though.

Eric (04:23)
Yeah.

They say it's like a three to four week process. Yeah, they say it's like a three to four week process. And, you know, once

the birds are able to leave the nest, you can relocate the nest. So, but yeah, there's like a rule. I Googled it. maybe there's an expert that comes and takes the nest and relocates it somewhere in your yard. There's like a law that says you can't do that.

Erika (04:37)
Yeah.

⁓ interesting. Yeah, I had no idea, but I would leave it. You should show your kids that that's really fun.

Eric (04:48)
So you can't, well, you can't relocate a bird's

nest that is like harvesting birds. Is that the right term? Harvesting birds? Don't know. You can't move a pregnant bird nest. How about that?

Erika (04:57)
Mm-hmm. I don't think so, but I don't know what word I want. Incubating? No. I don't know. Sure,

sure. We know what you mean.

Eric (05:11)
Hey, I'm excited because of the show and I got a few things to show you on the pod. All right.

Erika (05:16)
All right.

Ooh, is that a My Race Tats little package? Awesome. Fun.

Eric (05:19)
I got a My Race Tats package. Let's do an unpackaging. We got two

unboxings today. So this is a package and we have a box. So this is going to be part of like one of your goals for the weekend in Boston. All right. Let's open this up. Don from My Race Tats, which Don, if we forgot to say My Race Tats for a Tuesday's guest, I apologize. I thought of it today. Did we say it? I know we talked about it during the final two questions. But did we say our awesome guest was brought to you by My Race Tats?

Erika (05:32)
Okay.

feel like we didn't,

and now we have to do it extra for today. Thank you, Don, for my race hats.

Eric (05:51)
Well that's...

Yeah, that's one of your jobs. You gotta remind me that stuff. But... As I'm trying to open this!

Erika (05:55)
I stare at it too. I've,

this is a fresh unboxing you guys. There's no editing here.

Eric (06:03)
So, ⁓ okay. We have a bunch of these cards. They say wearable reminders for confidence, focus and determination. Okay, cool. ⁓ so these are a bunch of 20 % off my race tats coupon codes. So you're going to be handing those out all at Boston on Saturday and Monday. And then we have a bunch of Boston, my race tats.

Erika (06:11)
Mm-hmm.

Excellent.

yes, you got it.

Eric (06:29)
So we're going to hand these out on Saturday to people who want them and they'll run with these race tats. You're going to make a video of you doing it for Don. That's awesome. We have a ton of Sparkles, Boston Strong and my race tats stickers. So thanks Don. That's our first unboxing. Yes, that's one you could conquer I hope. You and Tara, Tara, Tara, All you. All right, but are you ready for the big one?

Erika (06:29)
Amazing!

Sure, I can do that. That's so much fun.

Yes, I am on it. That is a fun project.

Absolutely. We got this. We got this. Teamwork.

I don't know. ⁓

Eric (06:59)
We

have a live show in Boston from the Fan Fest on Saturday night and then on Monday because of contracts and stuff and you gotta like follow these rules. We have to wear Adidas. Not a problem for you. You have Adidas sneakers. I do not.

Erika (07:02)
Yes.

Mm-hmm. We have address code.

I ran

Boston one time and came home with more gear than I know what to do with. So I am set for Adidas gear.

Eric (07:28)
so I have to shout out our friend Beard, the bearded runner, some of you might know him as Forrest Gump, he hooked me up with the friends and family discount. And I got apparently the last pair in the warehouse in my size.

Erika (07:31)
Mm-hmm.

It's a beautiful thing.

Dude, we are going to match so well because my Adidas pair are those colors. I feel like I need to go get them so I can show you.

Eric (07:44)
Whoa.

I gotta pull out the other one. Inside the soul.

Erika (07:58)
my God.

Yep.

The unicorn. Beautiful.

Eric (08:03)
Boston Marathon. I don't think

I can ever wear these running. These are so perfect. And I hope we do more of these shows and that I need them so I don't want to run on them and ruin them.

Erika (08:08)
Right? So...

Exactly. So the pair that I bought is a running pair, but I only break them out during Boston Marathon weekend. They are only just for fun pair of shoes. Can I go get them? I want to show you my shoes. We will be so matchy matchy. It's great. All right, give me one.

Eric (08:27)
Go get them. Go do it.

you

Erika (08:34)
Okay, I'm back. I love that we're doing show and tell right now. This is so much fun for me. So this is my pair and I can't even tell you what kind they are. ⁓ Is the light picking it up?

Eric (08:44)
I didn't even tell you

what mine were. ⁓ look, mine even saved the Boston Marathon right there, I just noticed. We are gonna match, so good. I'm gonna go to the expo really just to buy a shirt that matches. Wow, look at that unicorn.

Erika (08:48)
We really are. Because look at it.

Boston

Marathon, yep. So they're the exact same blue and yellow.

Eric (09:01)
So mine are

Zero Boston 13, if that's how you say it.

Erika (09:07)
feel like I

have the Adizero like twos. These are from 2018. So I have no idea. They even on the inside it has like Ashland, Hopkinson. No, nope. These are just my, oh, you can run in them. They are like running shoes, but these are.

Eric (09:11)
Ha

Did you run in those?

I was gonna say, anything

you wore in that marathon 2018 is probably destroyed.

Erika (09:27)
what did I wear? I think I had like Brooks that year. Those I wore the one like for the one marathon and they were, they were absolutely destroyed. So a lot of my clothes, ⁓ well, the clothes would were fine, but the shoes were just over saturated.

Eric (09:37)
Mm-hmm.

Awesome. Well, we have an incredible guest today brought to you by MyRaceTats, but first we need to talk about little logistics for the weekend. On Friday, if anyone's in Boston, I'll be in Boston for a good part of Friday. I'm going to get our media creds, hopefully meet some people, shake some hands. I'm going to go to the FanFest and scope out the zone so I know what we're doing on Saturday. But then on Saturday, we're going and we have a couple plans.

Erika (09:49)
Yes.

Yes, yes.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (10:10)
We don't know the times, but afternoon we're gonna go to the expo to see our good friend.

Erika (10:16)
Ashley Paulson, she is going for a world record attempt of running 100 miles on a treadmill. So she's, I think she's aiming for, is it 14 hours, 12 hours, but she's starting at 4 a.m. I think. Was it earlier than that? She's starting ass crack at dawn. Yeah. She wants to do it faster, yes. So we're gonna go check her out and support her any way we can. I just think that's absolutely like the coolest thing. And then...

Eric (10:27)
feel like faster.

Well, no, starting at 4 a.m., but I feel like she wanted to do it faster than that.

Erika (10:44)
She's running on Monday too, this lady.

Eric (10:46)
I don't think she is because

I've been talking to her and she might come to the podcast stage to talk about her world record after with us. And she said, let's do it on, she said, let's do it on Saturday because she's flying out Monday morning.

Erika (10:51)
⁓

I thought that was on Saturday.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ well, she's still registered because I added her to my tracker. So we'll see what happens, but.

Eric (11:11)
well. I mean, maybe, maybe she's

getting her days mixed up or maybe she met Monday after the marathon, like right after. And I'm like, if you could walk, come to the stage, bring Maddie with you. I want him on stage with you. And she was like enthusiastically yes on the, in the email chain. So hopefully she's there. We're going to have other friends visiting us to come on the show on Saturday. That's going to be a lot of fun. And then Monday

Erika (11:17)
Gotcha, gotcha.

Absolutely. Just wear some Adidas.

my gosh, she's so awesome. Rooting for her.

Yes.

Eric (11:37)
mile 19.2 from the Johnny Kelly statue, if you're running the marathon, we will be on your left. If you are not running the marathon, you are welcome to come and cheer with us because this has just turned into an epic cheer station. Erica, you bring all the goodies everybody.

Erika (11:54)
Yup, I have to go shopping, but this year I'm going to keep it more to the bare minimum. I'm going to have waters, some cokes, and probably some candy to give out.

Eric (12:02)
You got

to bring Ashley snack though for Saturday. Bring the cheese puffs for Saturday. When she comes on stage, we like, Hey, have some cheese puffs. Yeah, exactly. You earn them. That's going to be a lot of fun. Uh, then around three o'clock, three 30, we're going to leave, head into the city. Maybe we go to the finish line with our media creds. I don't know. Maybe, but we are doing the post race podcast from the

Erika (12:05)
Yeah, but that's different. ⁓ Okay, I will go shopping on Friday. I'll be like, you earn these, girl.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (12:31)
Boston Marathon Sam Adams, mile 27, post-race party. We record for one hour from six to seven. It's going to be phenomenal. We're going to pull people from the party, bring them on stage. We have friends who are running who are going to come on stage, talk about the marathon. What a cool thing we get to do here. Have you seen the Boston Marathon posting our name in their post and collabing with us and commenting and pinning the comments and just, it's so cool to see those posts. I want to get them printed and put on the wall behind me.

Erika (13:02)
This really is the coolest thing and it kind of makes it a little bit better because otherwise I'd have total FOMO as per usual. just, I love everything Boston and it's so cool to just be able to be a part of it.

Eric (13:14)
Yeah, it's, it's man, so cool to see our name on all their posts and everyone's sending it to us and we're just like so excited. So I'm excited. Come see the show. Come say hi. Come to mile 19.2 and thank you so much for everyone's support. And I think it's the perfect time to get to our incredible guest today because a lot of the people here probably know who our guest is.

Erika (13:20)
So come support us, come support us.

You guys are in for a treat this week for our final Boston Weeks episode. This week we have Trenni Casey, and you probably know her from NBC all over your TV, especially if you watch the Olympics this year. She was absolutely amazing, and she taught us a thing or two about some lesser known sports, at least in my book. But she has some

Excellent stories to share, especially a couple of Code Brown. So you guys are going to want to stay tuned and check her out.

Eric (14:05)
That's right. Thank you to my race, Tatch, for bringing us to this episode. And by the way, it's not the last Boston Weeks episode. We have more after the marathon. We'll talk about that on the other side. That's right. But enjoy Trenni Casey on the Island of the Runs podcast and we'll see you on the other side.

Erika (14:14)
The last guest of Boston Week.

Eric (14:25)
Our next guest on the pond was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band, originally a cheesehead

now an adopted Bostonian. You may have seen or heard her on your Boston sports TV covering the city of champions, but she's a big time runner, recently ran across the state of Wisconsin and has run multiple Boston marathons. Her husband might be a Habs fan, but we'll let that slide right now because we're wicked excited to welcome her to our pod fam. Trenni Casey, welcome to the honor one's podcast. What's up?

Trenni (14:45)
You

Hi guys, thanks for having me on.

Erika (14:53)
Trenni it's such an honor to have you on the podcast because we have been seeing you all over our TV, especially during the Winter Olympics this past year. So it's super cool that you're here getting to talk to us and we're just so happy to have you. Welcome.

Trenni (15:07)
Thanks, thanks for having me. I can give you some curling tips too, not just running.

Eric (15:11)
I went curling last year. It's hard.

Erika (15:13)
Will that translate

Trenni (15:13)
Did you like it?

Erika (15:14)
to me cleaning my floors better?

Trenni (15:15)
It's really hard. I mean, maybe you could sweep, we could yell at you hard, hard. Yeah.

Eric (15:17)
I never knew?

Erika (15:21)
I think I need some work, yeah.

Eric (15:22)
Right?

You

gotta get the shoe though, one slides, one doesn't. And I like busted my knee a couple times. I was in Sweden for work and they took us curling. was, dude, it was hard.

Trenni (15:28)
Yes.

People have no

idea how hard it is and like the amount of flexibility and core strength you need because like you basically slide down the ice in pigeon pose if you're like a yoga person. So you slide down the ice in pigeon pose and then you have to, you can't just like chuck the stone down.

Eric (15:44)
Yes.

Erika (15:46)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (15:54)
the ice, you have to have touch, because like, do you want it in the front of the house? Are you placing a guard? Are you trying to get it? Like, are you trying to take out rocks? You're just like throwing it really hard. I mean, it's all like, it's also like geometry and physics, like which way should it go? And do you curl it in or do you curl it out? Like, it's strategy of like, exactly. It is like, it is a thinking person's game, despite the fact that if you do it at like a curling club, you can totally drink beer while you're doing it.

Erika (16:02)
you

Mind-blowing.

Strategy too, right?

Eric (16:23)
Yeah. Yeah. And now

Erika (16:24)
The best

Eric (16:24)
you

Erika (16:24)
of both worlds.

Eric (16:24)
got like, and now you got like what, what, what was the gate called with the Patriots? You got the camera on the Canada guy pushing it a tiny bit. Yes. That must've been fun. Yeah. Just a little boop.

Trenni (16:31)
⁓ boop gate? Boop gate. Because then he like booped. He like booped.

Erika (16:33)
Boopkate

obsessed.

Trenni (16:40)
Just little boop on the stone.

Erika (16:42)
I love this. Boob gate.

Eric (16:43)
That was fun to watch. You know, the Olympics are a lot of fun

and I think it's maybe maybe you might think differently, but I think it's more fun that it only happens every four years or every two because you got winter and summer. But if this happened every year at that amount of like a workload and a hype, I don't know if the hype would be there like it is for four years.

Trenni (17:01)
Absolutely

not. Because also like part of I think like the story and why people are so behind the athletes for any Olympic Games is that they know they went through, mean athletes will call it the quad. They go through the quad where you go through this build of three plus years to get to this point and you know that if you don't reach your goal, if you, I don't want to call it fail because is it ever a failure if you make the Olympics?

Erika (17:29)
You

Trenni (17:30)
The great people, one person wins and two other people get on the podium. So you're the best, you could finish seventh and you're still like the seventh best in the world at something, which is insane. Kind of a big deal. I'd like to be seventh best at anything. And so to me, that's like such an easy way. And honestly, we kind of have, I guess, the Olympics every year because there's still world championships for everything everywhere. There's national championships.

Erika (17:39)
right?

Eric (17:39)
Not a

big deal.

Right.

Erika (17:55)
True.

Trenni (17:57)
We don't get behind it in the same way, because it's not all in one place. There's not like the pop and the circumstance. So I am kind of happy it only happens. Also, I have to like go live in Connecticut for three weeks. So, which isn't terrible. We stay at really nice hotels and it's super fun. And the wardrobe is awesome. And I get a whole glam team. So I love doing it. But now that I'm in studio, I don't actually travel to the place anymore.

Um, and also then I'm go, I'm like gone away from like my husband and my dogs and stuff for three weeks. So it's hard. It's not, it's not like any, it's, it's it's a hard, and you were like working. work, everyone's like, Oh, what do you do on the weekends? I'm like, I work. Like you work seven days a week for three plus weeks when you're at the Olympics. It's not like I get like, it's not a vacation. It's not a vacation, but it's awesome. I wouldn't trade. I bike when I started it in BC, I was like, I hope they asked me to do one Olympics. It'd be so cool to do an Olympics. And I've done.

Erika (18:31)
Mm-hmm. That's a lot.

You

Yep, it's not a vacation.

Trenni (18:55)
I think Milan Cortina was my sixth.

Eric (19:00)
Wow. I can't believe that's so cool. Like I've been following you for God. I was telling you earlier before we recorded, like apps, when apps became a thing and I was listening to you on the radio and then I'm seeing you on TV because just being a Boston sports fan and you're, you're doing all the Boston sports and then you're doing the Olympics. It's actually been awesome to watch you progress over that time. And now I would call the Olympics like one of the top.

Erika (19:00)
Wow.

Trenni (19:06)
Now I'm counting.

Oh yeah. It's, I mean, it's unbelievable. And like, I, within the Olympics, when I first started, um, I was the curling reporter, um, and I would do tennis in the summer Olympics. I, I went to Tokyo and I did tennis there and then I was supposed to go to Beijing and be the curling reporter in Beijing, but she's fine. was

my mom's fine, but she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so she was going through chemo and I didn't know like it was COVID time still and it was Beijing and they were really strict. And I was like, what if God forbid something happened to her while she was in treatment? And I, and I was so afraid that if I didn't go that NBC would be like, okay, you didn't go. guess we're just done with your little Olympics and we'll find someone else, but they were wonderful. And they brought me back and for Paris. then when they did Paris, said, we'd like to try you in studio as a studio host, which

Erika (19:56)
Mmm.

⁓

Trenni (20:18)
Obviously people look at it and go, but you don't get to go to Paris. You don't get to go to, you don't get to go to Milan. And I'm like, yeah, but I'm, I'm a studio host for the Olympics. Like I get to cover all of the sports. And again, I get like this whole glam team and it's like this whole different level of, um, like of a challenge and like being a venue reporter is very, very hard, but like, I'm sure when you watch the Olympics, like how often do you see the.

the venue reporters, right? Like not that often, but you see the hosts all the time because they're getting you in and out of things and they're doing intermission reports. Like we did hockey on our air this year for the, and a lot of curling. And so it's just like a different challenge. And it was pretty cool that like they saw something in me that they didn't, but it wasn't like, okay, well this is what you've done. So this was, you're always going to do, but then an opportunity to kind of even do like a little step up like within the Olympics is pretty awesome.

Erika (21:08)
Gotcha. Before you became a studio host, did you get to decide which sport you covered or did they kind of just stick you in? And how do you prepare for something like that?

Eric (21:09)
Yeah.

Trenni (21:16)
no.

I definitely don't get to choose. ⁓ Not that I wouldn't have chosen curling because it's an awesome sport, not that I know a lot about it, but I didn't know anything about it. ⁓ So it's kind of interesting. So the reason I got to first was like into the Olympic world in 2014, someone was supposed to cover short track speed skating and then they decided they didn't feel comfortable at the time.

there were some geopolitical issues and some concerns about terrorism attacks in Russia. I must call it the Soviet Union, because I'm 100 years old. This USSR. ⁓ In Russia. And so someone didn't feel comfortable going. And so they asked out of short track speed skating. So they moved Steve Sands, who's a golf channel reporter, and now does play-by-play and hosting for a golf channel.

Eric (21:58)
The USSR.

Trenni (22:15)
They moved him to short track from curling and then someone I knew in like NBC, the talent office was like, I know someone who I think can handle like getting thrown into something at the last minute. She's done a ton of reporting. She's an experienced like per, you know, television person. And so they recommended me to the person who hires for the Olympics. And she was like, do you think he can handle curling? I was like, sure. I did a feature once. I can do it.

Erika (22:40)
Handle curling. I got this. ⁓

Trenni (22:42)
She sent me,

this is how long ago it was, it was 2014, she sent me DVDs of Curling. So I'd watch DVDs at home and then like, kinda like try to learn the game, like learn a little bit about the game. But it was really kind of trial by fire. And I just like leaned heavily on the people around me who had covered it before. And at that point, Team USA wasn't great.

Erika (22:48)
I love that throwback.

Trenni (23:07)
So it kind of allowed me, like, it wasn't like they were a big storyline and curling wasn't what it is now. Like when they won gold in 2018, the men's team did, then like curling, think, like took off even to like another level. the show I hosted during the Winter Olympics was all curling. And CNBC is basically known as like the curling channel. Now on the weekends, we also had other live events.

Erika (23:17)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (23:32)
But like it's become so big that it's like, it is the most watched winter sport. Now part of that is because it's on all the time. So let's be fair. ⁓ But people do love it and become like really obsessed with it. And so that's how I got that. And then tennis, I think they just were like, we need a tennis reporter. If she can do curling, can probably do tennis. Like how hard can it be? ⁓ So yeah, I mean, you just kind of like do a lot of homework and you have a research department, you have a producer that you work with and.

Eric (23:39)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (23:40)
That helps.

Easy transition, right?

Eric (23:53)
you

Trenni (24:01)
For me, like being a reporter, a lot of it is always listening to whoever the expert is. So like listening to the analyst and if the analyst is really harping on something or the analyst thinks something is a big storyline and they're talking about it in the broadcast of the game, that's obviously something important to pay attention to as a reporter. So I always just, I guess I'm just not afraid, especially at this point in my career in life, like I'm not afraid to ask questions if I don't know the answer to something. So I asked a lot of questions.

Erika (24:17)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

There we go.

Trenni (24:29)
so that

I don't ask dumb questions to the athletes. Although sometimes I probably still did ask dumb questions and they were just nice enough to not say anything.

Erika (24:35)
There's no such thing as a dumb question. Eric knows that pretty well.

Trenni (24:37)
That's

actually not true. I know we say that, but there are some real, there are some real dumb questions sometimes.

Eric (24:43)
Do you have an example? Do you have a code brown story about

Erika (24:43)
you

Eric (24:47)
asking a dumb question?

Trenni (24:50)
⁓ I'm trying to get like the dumbest question I've ever asked. I mean, I sure, I'm sure I have, but I've just mentally blocked it out. ⁓ but like today, and this is just such a recent example of this today, we were watching, ⁓ the playback of the Robert Kraft availability and like, you get like seven minutes with the owner of the Patriots and we think we know who the reporter was. We're not going to throw that person under the bus, but the person asked,

Erika (24:54)
You

You

Trenni (25:18)
about the new training facility for the Patriots players. And we're like, who the bleep cares about the training facility? Like you haven't signed Christian Gonzalez, you have Drake May, like you need to like draft well. Like you went to the Superbowl, what are your expectations? Like the owner's 85 years old, now his son is here. there are a million storylines that you could possibly talk about. And you're like, so how about that new weight room? Like, no, no one cares about the new weight room.

Erika (25:24)
Yeah.

You

There are priorities.

Trenni (25:49)
My other big, my now, my now that I'm old and Dan Sean as he complains about this all the time. ⁓ And it is one of my biggest, also my biggest like reporter pet peeves. And my husband knows this, cause when we're like watching sports at homes, us, a silent reporter will often ask, like, how excited were you about that play? One, that's not a real question. Two, that's an assumption that the person was excited about the play. Like they probably were.

but let them tell you they were excited about the play. Like, wow, like what were you thinking or what were you feeling when that shot went through the net? What, you know, what does this mean to accomplish this? Not like how excited are you to win a title? Like no shit, they're excited to win a title. You morons. Like that, ⁓ my God, draw it out. it just, it just drives, it just just drives me bananas that we've like, talk me through that play. Not a question.

Erika (26:38)
You want to draw it out instead of just getting like a yes, I was.

Trenni (26:48)
Not a question. Talk me through that play is like, what happens when your brain freezes and you can't think of anything else? And it happens, in fairness, it happens. It happens to everybody. But like, when it's like your fallback question for every time you're talking to an athlete, like, I don't know, maybe you should just think about another profession.

Eric (26:50)
You

Erika (26:55)
I've been there. Yep. I don't do reporting, but...

Fair enough.

Eric (27:09)
I, I love this

one story. I'm a big, big NASCAR guy. I worked in NASCAR for a while, a long time ago. There's this guy on the radio. I'll call him out by name. His name is Dave Moody. And he asked Tony Stewart a question before a race at Indy goes, I assume you're going to take your best car this weekend. And Tony goes, no, Dave, I'm actually going to take my fourth best car this weekend. We decided to leave the best car at home.

Trenni (27:14)
No.

See, and I love, I kind of like, and people get sometimes mad when like an athlete gets little snarky with a bad question. And I'm like, no, no, I am actually glad that you're sort of calling that person out on like not being prepared. And although in, again, in fairness, sometimes when things are happening fast or someone's in your ear and so you get thrown off, like then all of a sudden you're like, ⁓ crap, talk me through that play.

Eric (27:44)
Yeah.

Erika (27:56)
Mmm.

Trenni (28:01)
Like it does happen. It does happen. To me it's when it's like a pattern of how that person does interviews where it's like, no, I know you're better than that. I know you can do better.

Erika (28:01)
you

Eric (28:02)
Right.

That's fun.

No one listening right now knows that this is a running podcast, by the way. This has been a lot of fun. I will say this. Yeah. I will say this. When I told Erica that I, you know, was emailing you and got, you know, we scheduled something, she, she's into hockey right now and she's into the heated rivalry and she goes, I wonder if she knows TJ Oshie. And I go.

Erika (28:12)
I love these behind the scenes things.

Trenni (28:16)
Yeah, I know. We're at a running podcast right now, everyone, not a curling podcast.

Erika (28:31)
That's a little embarrassing.

Trenni (28:31)
⁓

Eric (28:35)
You know who to TJ Ose, she had no clue about the shootout thing. She just knows him from TV and that he's a hockey player now and he's got big thighs.

Trenni (28:35)
So.

Erika (28:41)
He name dropped it.

Trenni (28:41)
Wait a second.

So wait,

so I've not seen heated rivalry. TJ Oshie's not in heated rivalry right now, okay.

Erika (28:49)
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Eric (28:49)
No, no, no,

Erika (28:50)
no. I was just all about the boy aquarium.

Eric (28:50)
but he was on NBC during the Olympics for the hockey games. Yes.

Trenni (28:52)
He was, I know, he was on, I have

pictures with him. ⁓ He's very nice. He's a lovely married father of four, I'm sorry. ⁓ He is very nice. He's like a super nice Minnesota guy and he was super easy to work with. And yeah, he had like one of the greatest appearances in Olympic history in a shootout in the Pyeongchang, right? 2018? Or Sochi, I knew it, yeah.

Erika (29:02)
Ha

Eric (29:18)
No, was Shoshi. Against the

USSR.

Trenni (29:24)
Was it, no, it Russia then. Yeah, yeah. I was like, wait, not Russia. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric (29:24)
Against Russia. Yeah, I know. I'm just being funny by calling.

Erika (29:28)
See, I talk

about my fictional hockey players and then Eric's like, but there are real ones out there who do awesome things and then he'll fill me in on all the good stuff. So that's what Eric is here for.

Trenni (29:36)
There are real ones. I

still need to watch Shaded Rivalry. I have heard it's great. Yeah.

Erika (29:42)
Pretty good. It's pretty good.

Eric (29:43)
I have not

seen it yet. So, but, but I do watch the Boston fleet and I love them running podcast, Wisconsin, you're a cheese head. think you're even a Packers fan and I know we're talking about the bot, but you've run Boston marathon a couple of times, but let's, let's go to the beginning. Like I know ever since I've been listening to you that you are a runner, but when did running start for you?

Trenni (29:46)
Anyway, running podcast.

Erika (29:47)
Yes, see, we digress.

Trenni (29:55)
I am.

So I started running. I mean, did I start running like when all people do in college when you started drinking too much and got fat after high school? Because that's why I started. I went home ⁓ for Thanksgiving my freshman year. ⁓ I did not, I hated running in high school. Like I didn't want to run around a track or anything. I was a pom-pom girl.

Erika (30:14)
did that after, that's why I started.

Trenni (30:28)
But I was very tiny. was just like, could eat a whole pizza and like drink regular Coke and not drink water. And I still barely weighed a hundred pounds. And then I went to college and I came home at Thanksgiving and my grandmother literally looked at my plate of food. She's like, do you really need all that food? And I was like, oh, maybe I don't. And my dad's like, so you're gonna eat the beer, huh? And I was like, oh, I should probably start exercising again.

Erika (30:47)
Aww, grandma.

Freshman 15 happens. It happens to everyone. Oh, Trenni.

Trenni (30:58)
⁓ might have been more than 15, Erica. was kind

of a lot. This was like, ⁓ I guess if I'm not dancing for three hours after school every day, I put weight on. Okay, great. And so I was like, well, maybe I can start, I don't know, maybe there was like a guy I liked that run. I don't know, but I just started running. And so I was like, I kind of like this. And I kind of like the feeling I get from running. And then I would start running and I would start doing like races.

Erika (31:18)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (31:28)
And in my early twenties, I was like, oh, I can like run a race and like not be the last person. And I've never really been good at sports. And then the more I ran, I just, the more I liked it. Um, and then I got into distance running when I moved to Pittsburgh. Um, I had like worked out at a gym and one of the trainers there was like, Hey, I'm thinking about running this half marathon. You want to run a half marathon? I was like, sure. It's kind of sounds fun, I guess. And then I did it and I certainly wasn't fast. couldn't even tell you what my time was. Um,

Erika (31:39)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (31:57)
I certainly didn't eat anything. I don't even know if I drank anything over the 13.1 miles. I mean, now I eat like a gel every 30 minutes. And I just liked it. And then I was like, oh, well, I guess maybe I'll run a marathon. And then I ran my first marathon. think it was 2003 or 2004 in Chicago. And I ran and I ran like a decent time for a first marathon. think my first marathon was a 412.

Erika (32:18)
Mm-hmm.

That's great, yeah.

Trenni (32:25)
But I remember finishing and it was like a beautiful day and my family was there because they had all come down from Milwaukee and I was still living in Pittsburgh. And I was like not sore, not limping. And this woman looked at me and she's like, how do you feel? I actually feel really good. She goes, well, obviously you didn't run fast enough. And I was like, wait, what? And she was like, well, if you feel fine, like you should.

feel kind of crummy after running a marathon if you gave it your all. And I was like, but I thought I did. But it was, I'm glad she said something. Cause I was like, huh, I wonder if we can run faster. I had no idea about qualifying. This is like so long ago. Like it wasn't like it is now where there's so much social media and there's so much pressure to be fast. I was like, all right, I guess I'll try to like train train next time. And so then I was like, I wonder if I could qualify for Boston. Like who runs a 412? I was like, I wonder if I could qualify for Boston. So I ran the rock.

Erika (32:58)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (33:22)
the rock and roll, do those even still exist? The rock and roll marathon in Phoenix. I'd actually ran a 345. So I took a ton of time And I started, I did, hurt and it was hard. And it was like, there were people on the course, but not a ton. And so there wasn't like lot of like support like there was in Chicago. So was a mentally really difficult race.

Erika (33:25)
I think they do, somewhere.

Wow.

Eric (33:31)
Whoa.

Did you hurt?

Trenni (33:48)
⁓ But I don't know, guess I just liked, I liked the structure, I liked the pain, I liked having a goal to work towards. I liked that I could do something and not be good at first, but then work towards getting better. And so then my third marathon was 2008 in Milwaukee. I ran my hometown Milwaukee marathon. I trained, I had a real, I never.

worked with a coach early on, which is like my one thing that I was like, darn it, I wish I would have known that like amateur runners can work with a coach. So I wonder how fast I could have been. But then I ran a 337 and that was enough to get me into Boston. But Boston back then guys was so like, it was obviously the pinnacle of all races, but like you needed as a female under 35, so 18 to 34, which I was at the time, I was 31.

Erika (34:19)
Yeah.

Hell yes!

Trenni (34:40)
You could run a 340.59. You could get you all you had to do was finish with 340 being your first part of your time and you got in and then it got a little competitive that year. They actually like. I think some people didn't get in like 59. They had to get like 57 or something and so they dropped it the next time. Do you had to get in under you to be in by 340 exactly or less, but there was no cutoff time.

Erika (34:44)
You

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (35:10)
And there weren't,

and it was 340 for a long time. So every time I had qualified through my fast, but then they started dropping and then I kept getting older, but my time never got that slower. So every time I would age up, I would keep qualifying, but I would have to keep qualifying into 340 no matter how old I was. So my standing PR, I've qualified for five Boston's. I've run in five, but one I didn't finish because.

Erika (35:22)
I

Gotcha.

Trenni (35:37)
You know, this is the on the runs podcast. can talk about that. My PR was not in Boston, but my PR was a 326 something like 326 19 maybe.

Erika (35:41)
Yup.

That's incredible. Yeah.

Eric (35:54)
pretty fast.

Trenni (35:57)
I mean, yes, but now I look at what so many women are running and I'm like, ⁓ well, I have been a 320 runner? Could I have been a 315 runner? Like if I would have known about like eating.

Eric (36:08)
They're in carbon plated shoes now and we know all the science behind the gels and everything like we didn't have that in 2008 when you yeah.

Erika (36:08)
That's really good though on your own. That too.

Trenni (36:11)
Yeah, I know.

We did not.

Well, I mean, so my PR was 2015. No, 2014. So I guess, yeah, it was a long time ago. Like I ate gels, but I ate maybe like three gels in that thing. I think I ate one like one every like five or ten, like seven miles. Who does that? Like that's not enough. That's not enough food.

Erika (36:39)
You

Trenni (36:42)
Like no wonder I was always like, I was always like, how do I, all I have to do is run a little and I lose so much weight. It's like, no, cause you're not eating enough, you psychopath. Now I know, now, now I know that you need fuel. You need to like have fuel in your body to run fast. But there is this a part of me that's like, gosh darn it. What could I have accomplished?

Erika (36:48)
you

Eric (36:52)
True. Yeah.

Erika (36:57)
Mm-hmm.

think you did smashingly just doing it on your own, especially with not having the fueling strategy that you would these days and not having a coach. I think you knocked it out of the park. That's an incredible time and yeah, you owned it.

Trenni (37:14)
Thanks, guys.

Well, I had to run that race in Sugarloaf because I wasn't able to finish the Boston Marathon.

Eric (37:26)
Sugarloaf main.

Trenni (37:27)
I did Sugarloaf pain. I've done it twice. I've two BQs. I think it's one of the best races. So it is Hilly. I have three sub 30 times. I have a three 28 from Philly, which is my first sub 330.

Erika (37:32)
Isn't that a really hard course? Like we're talking hills on hills on hills.

Trenni (37:53)
I know now people are like, I don't know, Sub 3. Like back in the day, was like cool to run a Sub 330. Back in my day, that's a hilly course. I ran a 329 in Milwaukee, which is kind of a rolling, but it's kind of like you descend down towards the lake. And Sugarloaf is hilly, but it's the first 10 miles can be pretty brutal and there's just really long uphill.

Erika (38:09)
Gotcha.

Trenni (38:19)
⁓ but then you kind of come down, like you lose around eight, like it's not quite as much like that. You lose it like a rebel racing course where it's like designed to be really fast down. Cause there is still some rolling that takes it away, but you do sort of descend down the mountain. So it's for, and for me running on a super flat course just like, doesn't change my muscle use enough.

Erika (38:46)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (38:46)
Yeah.

Trenni (38:47)
So

I've actually always just done better on like some sort of rolling course. yeah, so I ran a 326, that was my PR, and then in 2019, when I was 42, I ran a three, I think I ran a 335 and changed there.

which was enough at the time to get me into the 2020 Boston. It was not enough to get me into the 2021, but thank you BAA for helping a sister out. Throwing a sister a bone.

Erika (39:10)
That's awesome.

There you go. my gosh.

Eric (39:22)
You mentioned the flat course versus a hilly. I'm with you. I love the hilly. I'd done a couple ironmans and then I've crewed ⁓ many ironmans. And I remember my buddy Scott did Cozumel and he had to ride and pedal the entire time on this flat Island for 112 miles where I did. Right. Where I did Mount Tremblant. It's hilly, but I got, you know, climb up the hill, relax on the downhill and it kept changing.

Trenni (39:31)
Yeah.

No, I would want to do that.

Erika (39:46)
relief.

Eric (39:49)
and I got to use different muscles and the same is for running.

Trenni (39:51)
Well,

so I've done a half Ironman. did the half Ironman in Wisconsin. I mean, do we want hilly for the bike or do we want rolling? I would prefer rolling because hilly is like this. The hills at Wisconsin were relentless and the climbs were long and they're like they weren't a knot like to me, but I would like I like rolling like just enough.

Eric (40:01)
Rolling. Yes.

Yeah, is Motre Blanc's very

rolling, but they have one hill where, yeah, at mile 105, I was going so slow, my watch paused.

Trenni (40:25)
Ugh.

Oh my God, stop. Ended up by 105, that's awful.

Eric (40:30)
Yeah. And I

thought like I was going to go under 13 hours, but I finished in like 12 hours, 15, 90 minutes, like four seconds. But really my watch said no, or no, my official time. Cause my watch pause was like 13 hours and two seconds. Yeah. But you know, I can laugh about it now.

Trenni (40:46)
No, that is such a gut punch.

Erika (40:46)
Ha ha ha.

Trenni (40:52)
Well, I may,

I would still maybe like to do a full Ironman. That's still maybe, I don't know. Yeah, but that's hard. Lake Placid is hard. I don't know, which one's gonna be, the, nothing with an ocean. I'm not swimming in an ocean.

Eric (40:58)
Yeah. I hear your Lake Placid is awesome. Madison has a good one, I know, but...

Erika (41:04)
Which one would you have in mind if you had to do a full one?

Eric (41:12)
I

hear Chaganuga is great because it's a downhill river swim. Right? And it's rolling hills. I've heard that one's good. Yeah. I'll crew for you.

Erika (41:14)
the last one to ask.

Trenni (41:20)
So that's what I'm talking like where you get the current that pushes you.

Okay, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Okay, all right, I would be down. I don't know when I'm gonna

do this. I don't know when I would try to do this. I said I had a panic attack before my half Ironman. Well, maybe Erica, you don't decide you're gonna do triathlons and then jump right into a half Ironman. I don't know, when you're high anxiety.

Erika (41:42)
Oh no. Oh no.

I would,

I would need a baby step in there somewhere.

Trenni (41:53)
Like maybe you

don't do one sprint and then be like, oh, I can totally do half hour, how hard could this be? And then like be super panicked about everything. Cause you don't really, like even though you train really hard and you did everything you were supposed to do, you had pooped the whole night before because you were so nervous. And then you were like highly dehydrated when you started. Maybe that's like the best plan. Yeah. think I need to get a little more comfortable with the rhythm of triathlons before I try another distance triathlons.

Erika (42:01)
man.

⁓

no.

That's fair.

There you go. Especially the big show that is a ridiculous amount of miles. What is it? 140.2? 466.

Trenni (42:27)
Yeah.

Eric (42:32)
140.6 total like if you add everything up. Yeah. Yeah. But.

Trenni (42:34)
140.6. Yeah. Yeah, because it's

Erika (42:35)
knew it's

Trenni (42:38)
70.3

and 140.6. Yeah.

Eric (42:41)
If you do one in Canada though, you don't even think about it because everything's in kilometers and you try to just stop doing math at one point.

Erika (42:44)
kilometers.

Trenni (42:48)
Yeah, I would be screwed. I would be screwed.

Eric (42:49)
Yeah.

Erika (42:50)
Hey.

Eric (42:51)
So you mentioned you five Boston's finished four. One thing I love to always hear is someone's first marathon story, but for Boston weeks, I want to hear about your first Boston marathon experience. Like, were you still in Pittsburgh at the time? I don't think you were working here yet. What was that whole first experience like? Like, were you even familiar with the city or with the vibe of everything going on?

Trenni (43:06)
I wasn't.

No, so my first Boston was 2010. And again, it's so crazy. Like it's so different. So I qualified with that 2008 and it was a October marathon. it was too late. Well, actually it wouldn't have been too late to do it in 2009 because back then you could, you didn't have to sign up on September on your day because in 2009 when I went to sign up for my 2010 Boston,

Erika (43:25)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (43:42)
I was like, I will never forget this. was in a press box covering the Phillies in their World Series lead up. So it was like a playoff ⁓ series. And I was like, ⁓ crap, I forgot to sign up for Boston. And so I went and signed up and I got in. Like there was no cutoff. Those were the days. It was like October something and I was like, ⁓ shoot, I gotta sign up for this race, I guess.

Erika (43:58)
⁓ wow. Those were the days. Yeah.

Hehehehehe ⁓

Trenni (44:09)
and I was fine and I got in, so

I ran 2010. It was so chill, I used to have to qualify, but it was like so chill. ⁓ And I came out and I was living.

Erika (44:16)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (44:16)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (44:23)
know if I was living, I was still working for MLB network. So I either living, I think I was either living still in New York at that time, or was like, I was splitting time, think between Milwaukee and New York by that point. Cause I was like on the road so much for work. And so my mom, my dad and my friend Lisa, my college roommate ⁓ came out to ⁓ watch.

And I trained a lot in New York and at the time I was volunteering with Achilles Track Club. It was like a way for me to like find a community in New York City, which is like so big and overwhelming. And I was training with a guy by the name of Suleiman, who was blind and they needed somebody, the group that could steadily and easily run an eight minute pace. And I was like, I can do that. Like I can run with them.

Erika (45:00)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (45:15)
And so I would run tethered to him and he was so awesome. He goes, was amazing to run with someone who can't see because we'd be running through central park and he'd be like, Hey, I'm thirsty. There's going to be a, a water fountain up on the left. And I'm like, what, what he knew by the smells and the topography of like where like the hills were and like downhills and uphills. He knew exactly where things were. So there's a reason I'm telling you this story. So I go and I train for Boston.

Erika (45:29)
How do you know that? That's cool.

Wow, that's incredible. Yeah.

Trenni (45:43)
And I think it was like kind of a warm-ish day, not like super warm, but like one of those days that like is like maybe the high, like in the low 60s, a little warmer than you want it to be. And I feel great. I got a great training cycle. like, you know, eating my two gels, drinking my water, no Gatorade. So why would I have Gatorade? And I, like a little over halfway, I see Suleiman.

Erika (45:58)
Yup.

Trenni (46:10)
And I come up behind him and I'm like, Suleiman, and he recognized my voice. And he's like, Trent, hey, how are you? And I'm like, I'm great. I'm like, how you feeling? He's like, I'm good. I'm like, I'm feeling good too. And he goes, you're going a little fast, kid. You might want to slow down. I don't want you to bonk at the end. I was like, Suleiman, I feel great. And then I bonked. He knew.

Erika (46:31)
He knows, he just knows.

Eric (46:32)
You know.

Trenni (46:33)
He knew he had like, just was, he was so into it. I mean, in fairness, he was a little, he was probably 10 years old with me. So was probably in his early forties. So it'd be like, you you learn a lot in that time and running. So that was my first. I don't even remember what my finished time was, but it just was awesome. It was so, and we ate it. I remember I asked, cause I was working not to like name drop, but I was like working in baseball a lot. And I saw him, we'd see Peter Gammons all the time.

Peter's like, you have to eat at, what is the steak place? It's like, ⁓ it's not grill 23, cause that I remember as we go to it, that's one of our favorites. It's like, ⁓ it's not ⁓ Davios?

Erika (47:16)
The only ones I can think of is like capital grill.

I don't know.

Trenni (47:21)
Is Davio's a steakhouse, Sean? Yes. I think it was Davio's. And he told me, and there's a couple of them, and Peter's like, you have to eat at Davio's. Like, I took my mom and my dad and my friend out to Davio's. Like, I'm gonna, you guys came to, you know, working at MLB, now we're pay for everybody's dinner. And it was awesome. And I just, I wore my medal out and it was so cool. And then I was like, not hungry, because I just ran a marathon. like, why did I come to like the nicest restaurant in Boston and I can't even like stomach my steak and my foie gras? ⁓

Erika (47:27)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (47:48)
been there.

Trenni (47:50)
So that was my first Boston and it was awesome. And my second Boston was the year it was 87 degrees.

Erika (47:56)
wow, what a swing. That is like a complete different story.

Trenni (47:58)
So, and I had trained

all, and at that point I was living in Milwaukee, I hadn't moved here yet. would end up, I didn't even know I was gonna audition here. I ended up auditioning here like a month after Boston and moved here in September of 2012. But I ran in April of 2012 and it was like freezing all winter in Wisconsin and then all of a sudden in March it got super hot. And that was, it was such a cold, but it was such a fun race.

because like two miles in, my training partner and I, my friend Stephanie, who I'm still friends with, we were like, we are not gonna be able to run, we wanna run, it's just too warm. And so we ate like popsicles and ran through sprinklers and talked to people and high-fived kids and like, I think we both ran. She ended up with standing the heat a little bit better than me. I think she finished in like 402 and I think I ran like a 404 or something.

Erika (48:36)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (48:54)
So for us at the time, it wasn't fast at all, like in 87 degree heat, like now I can run like a six hour marathon in 87 degree heat. but it was such a fun, cause there were so many people out and everybody was just drunk and having fun and it was warm and like Boston college was crazier than usual or be like, yeah, yeah. BC and be like, ⁓ everything was crazier than usual. ⁓ and it was like super fun. It was really awesome.

Erika (49:00)
you

man, that totally is the way you're like, we like to say Boston's supposed to be the victory lap. I know Eric loves to say that too, but you guys had fun during it. You did it safe. You did it the safe way instead of just trying to, we're going to still run this and then totally like pass out from heat stroke. Like, yeah, you don't want to do that. So you guys, you made the most of it with the popsicles and the sprinklers, like given the high fives. That's, that's how we like to see Boston done.

Trenni (49:41)
and up in a med tent. Yeah.

Yeah,

definitely one of my most fun bossons.

Erika (49:55)
Excellent.

Eric (49:55)
feel

like the crowds are even more like amped up when the weather is that nice.

Erika (49:59)
⁓ the hotter the day,

they get unruly.

Trenni (50:01)
Oh yeah.

I mean, listen, as a spectator and I see that temperature climb up to like 68, I'm like, yeah. But then I'm like, I feel so bad because, I like, it cracks me up when people look at the forecast, like people who don't run endurance races and they're like, oh my God, it's a high 65. That's like perfect running weather. And I was like, no, it's not. That's like the worst. I'm like, anything over 52 is horrible.

Eric (50:09)
Yeah!

Yeah, I hear you. I ran New York this past year and I feel like it was over 60. I remember running across the bridge and I don't use sunscreen often. need to, but I loved it. I know, I know, I know I'm going to start, I'm going to start taking care of my beautiful head of hair. know, but it was, it was this perfect day and it was just maybe a tad too warm for some people, but I was like, it's, it's right in the middle and

Trenni (50:34)
Yes!

You should, Eric, you have to use sunscreen. You have no hair, there's nothing, there's...

Erika (50:42)
Especially on his noggin.

Eric (50:55)
That weather, when it gets warm in Boston for us spectating at Mount 19.2, we have the most fun time. But then there's times, Erica has the poster behind her. She ran in 2018. That was the terrible, and an ongoing story for her. no way.

Trenni (51:02)
So fun.

Erika (51:07)
⁓ yeah, The worst.

Trenni (51:09)
Oh no. I worked that race.

Erika (51:14)
Did you?

So you were just standing around today. I hope you were at least covered by something, but my gosh, it was rough for the runners. Yup.

Trenni (51:21)
I mean, that's the year Dez won. And I was working,

I was the sideline reporter for NBC, because NBC still had it. And so I got to interview her. She crossed the finish line. But you can barely see my face because I have a hat on and I have a windbreaker pulled up over my head. And I'm like in like rain pants. And Dez, just, I've, you know, she's so tiny. And she was even tinier back then, cause she was running so much. Like she just looks like she's like shaking cold. But she did.

Erika (51:30)
I love that.

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (51:50)
I wonder, she was so great, so gracious. it was like, again, it's like top five of like things that are recovered. Yeah, it's a very cool moment.

Erika (51:55)
What a moment. my gosh.

Yep. She was like the inspiration that helped me finish that stupid race. It was so, so hard that year.

Eric (52:00)
must have been fun.

Trenni (52:05)
God, that race was stupid.

That was so stupid.

Eric (52:08)
Erica has this,

Erica has this ongoing like, want redemption. I want one more because she didn't get those crowds in that, that, that year because everyone's like, it was the, they still say today it was the one of the worst weathers ever for the boss marathon.

Erika (52:16)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (52:16)
Yeah, I can see why you'd want to do it again.

Erika (52:19)
Yep.

It was rough. And we were talking earlier about how you've had to fundraise before and how much of a toll that takes. That was my year. So I fundraised over $10,000 to run that. So I did everything I could to just push through and finish, but it just wasn't the same as a 68 degree day when people are out in full force.

Trenni (52:40)
now.

Even

a 55 and sunny day, like even where it's like cool, like last year was kind of, I feel like last year's weather was, could be sneaky warm because it was sunny, but there were still people who had really good days because it wasn't humid, there wasn't like a terrible wind. And it was like, I think the high only was about 55, 57. So if you were in one of the earlier waves, like you were Like a day like that, people still come out because it's not uncomfortable.

Erika (52:48)
yeah.

Yes.

Eric (53:00)
Right.

Erika (53:05)
Yup.

Trenni (53:12)
But like, and I get it, nobody wants, like, who wants to stand out and watch people run by when it's freezing cold, unless you've been there and you know how important it is to have people out there. And then it's, you know, then you try to be there rain or shine.

Erika (53:12)
Exactly.

you

miserable.

Eric (53:21)
Yeah.

Erika (53:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eric (53:25)
You know

what makes it hard is that for the runners when you have that warm day, you've been training all winter. Like you've been training inside or in the table. There's no warm days until about two, three weeks before the race. Where in New York for me, it was a little warm, but I've been training all summer in the heat. So I'm a little more like this is nice. Boston, that's hard. And it's even harder, I think, on the runners when you got a warm day.

Trenni (53:32)
I know.

Erika (53:33)
Yeah, nobody's ready for it.

Trenni (53:42)
all summer.

But the difference is it's like when you balance like what you're giving up to train, like for me, I never mind training in the winter. There's not a lot going on anyway. I'm not missing out on a lot in the winter. And I don't mind. So last last would try to train for this, this MS run across Wisconsin. And like, it wasn't that terrible of a winter. So I, while I had to run outside a lot and I would run outside when other people would go inside, it was never.

Erika (54:00)
True.

Trenni (54:17)
we never got like two feet of snow. It was never really like so bad that whereas I, and I'd rather like train through that than train through like 100 degree weather all summer long and have to get up like so early in the morning to beat the heat. it's like, and in the summer when you train all summer long for a fall marathon,

Erika (54:28)
Mm-hmm.

you.

Trenni (54:41)
Like we live in the Northern hemisphere and in the Northeast. So everything that people do that's fun happens between like April or May and October. And that's like your whole training window. it's like, I hate just get, it's kind of gets to one. like, well, how much do I want to give up? I'd rather give it up in the winter.

Erika (54:53)
Yeah.

Eric (54:54)
Mm-hmm.

I hear you.

Erika (55:03)
You have a point.

Eric (55:06)
you. We're, we were just talking, you, got to do a little cross talk with Chris and Elena from the BAA. And I was saying, I don't, I want to run Boston one day, not yet. I'm a big skier. I ski all winter long. I'll run all summer. I like do that to avoid the burnout where a lot of runners like yourself, you know, enjoy that beach time or the summertime up here. Cause it's nice if you're not like doing what I'm doing, I see that I see both sides. That's, a valid point.

Erika (55:06)
That's very fair.

Trenni (55:19)
Yeah.

Eric (55:32)
You also mentioned you ran across the state of Wisconsin for MS last summer. was following along on this journey. It was a lot of fun. We'll get back to Boston later, but tell us a little bit about this. This wasn't a one day thing. This was like something you trained. You built your miles up every week from like 20 to 30 to 70 to a hundred miles a week training to run, I think seven straight days across the state of Wisconsin.

Trenni (55:59)
I ran 161 miles over six days. So there's a ⁓ foundation called MS Run the US. And so it actually started, they're on segment two right now. So it is a relay run, not a race, a relay run across America to benefit MS and MS charities. And so each segment, there are 21 segments, each segment is anywhere between, I think the shortest segment is a

135 miles and the longest is 220. That one is a beast. Because you're basically running through the desert. And the reason it's so long is because there's no natural stopping point. It's so desolate on the run. ⁓ To have a place where you could have someone fly in or drive in to basically grab the baton, it's logistically a nightmare. ⁓

Erika (56:33)
Wow.

I see.

Trenni (56:56)
My aunt was diagnosed with MS when I was little. I was probably four or five years old. ⁓ And she passed away when I was a freshman in college. It a really aggressive form of MS. Like she was very quickly, know, like physically and mentally affected by it. And I'd always wanted to do something to honor her, but I just didn't really know what or when or how. ⁓ And then I became friends when I was living in Milwaukee in the early 2000s ⁓ after college.

Erika (57:07)
Mm.

Trenni (57:24)
I became friends with this girl Ashley. Her name's Ashley Schneider now, she's married. And at the time her name was Ashley Cumlin and her mom had MS and she decided one day that she was going to run across America on her own to benefit MS. And so she ran across America, 3,260 miles by herself living in an RV with her...

Erika (57:42)
wow.

Trenni (57:53)
Well, he was her fiance. He ended up not being her fiance after running 3,260 miles across US. That test of relationship did not survive. actually wrote a book about it called The Long Run Home. It's a fabulous running book. Fabulous. I did not think I was going to pitch this book on here, but it's a fabulous running book. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. And...

Erika (57:58)
That tests the relationship, yeah. ⁓ boy.

I love books and running books and yeah, this is right up my alley.

Eric (58:12)
Erica's writing it down now.

Trenni (58:20)
She just, wanted to raise $500,000, but she was like 23 years old at the time. And when you're 23 years old and you're running across the country and you're also, you're like trying to run these miles and there's like social media wasn't really a thing back then. And you're trying to let, and you have no experience with media or marketing or anything else. I think she ended up raising like 50 or $60,000.

Erika (58:36)
Yeah.

Trenni (58:47)
but she felt like she had failed. But along the way, she met people who were like, oh, I would do this, but I couldn't take a whole summer off and run, but I would run a segment. And so while she was running, she came up with the idea to make it into a relay run. each person, each 21 people, you have to raise a minimum of $10,000, and then you train and run your miles. And then you're kind of part of this like team. I and I knew Ashley.

and Ashley knew me, so I knew I was gonna get accepted. ⁓ And so I got the in. ⁓ And so last year, it was the 30th anniversary, ⁓ 2025 was, of my aunt passing away. And so I, and I asked her to run Wisconsin so that I could ⁓ run back to her where she was, ⁓ you know, where she was born and raised. And we ended up like finishing like not far from where like my mom and my aunt Cindy and aunt Sandy grew up. And my mom was there and my...

Erika (59:15)
Excellent. You got the end.

Trenni (59:39)
and Cindy and my ⁓ sister and my brother and like my whole family and my husband was with me for most of the most of the time. even ran he ran some miles with me and it just was awesome. It was just a great experience. It was hard. I it's really it's I was running six days a week last year from basically I started training like I did like a 10 week build up. So I started with like four days a week running.

Erika (59:47)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:00:04)
and I went up to five days a week. And so by the time I got into like the brunt of the training, which was basically like training for a marathon, I think they had us doing it over like 16 or 18 weeks of like the hardest part of the running. mean, I was already at closing in on 40 miles a week, which for me is like a lot of mileage. Like I've never been a super high mileage runner, I incorporated in it. I figured out pretty early

Erika (1:00:14)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:00:27)
especially after talking to a woman who ran the same segment last year, and she's like a physio, and she was saying she did a run-walk method. And she's like, the reason I did that is because it helps with the lactic acid buildup. And she's like, I wouldn't really get, she's like, I kind of ran faster every day, and I wasn't super sore when I woke up in the morning. And I was like, okay, we'll see if that really works, but I'll try. And she was right.

Erika (1:00:36)
Okay.

Yep.

Trenni (1:00:53)
So I did a run on all my longest runs. There were some days where I finally had like seven miles or 10 miles or something, I would just run the whole time. But on all of my long runs, I would run 0.3 miles and then walk 0.1, run 0.3, walk 0.1. And I did that for the whole six days and I ran. And then every day, this was the other tip she gave me that was unbelievable. Every day I would end my day with a one mile walk. So one, I was getting one extra mile.

Erika (1:01:22)
Yup.

Trenni (1:01:22)
But

I was flushing that lactic acid out through my legs. So total mileage I did 31, 31, let see, 31, 31, 28, 28.

30, 28, 28, 12. That's how that was the breakdown of it. Sorry. I like think about that. I was supposed to do 31, 31, 30, 30, 28, 27, 12 or something in there. But we had like a rainstorm one morning that I had to start late. So I ended up getting 28 miles in. that's how I did the breakdown and I did it all. And I got faster. Like my first day was my slowest. Like my first day in the first two days, I was like, Oh, you ran across Wisconsin, it's the Midwest and so flat. No, it was, gained,

Erika (1:01:41)
Yeah.

Yep.

No.

Trenni (1:02:06)
3,700 feet of elevation over two days. It was not flat at all and it was, everything was open, blazing hot sun. So I, the first day was really slow. Like I took, I, you know, I just took my time and I pooped in the woods because I really had to go and there was nowhere else to I just.

Eric (1:02:08)
say the video didn't look flat.

Erika (1:02:27)
You are an

Eric (1:02:28)
happens.

Erika (1:02:28)
ultra runner. All of this just screams ultra runner to me. Pooping in the woods, you're doing the distance and you're doing the run walk method. That is like straight up how we ultra runners do it.

Trenni (1:02:30)
Shit happens. I know, I know when I...

Eric (1:02:40)
And also what a great tip to just walk a mile after a run. I never thought of that.

Trenni (1:02:40)
I'm

Erika (1:02:44)
Great recovery.

Trenni (1:02:45)
And

honestly, every, so the first night I was so sore and I went to bed. so I worked with, do you know what Emily Saul, have you ever talked to Emily Saul? She's a, so you know who she is.

Erika (1:02:56)
Mm-mm.

Eric (1:02:57)
Not yet.

Not well enough, but I'm gonna learn.

Trenni (1:03:02)
⁓

Erika (1:03:02)
you

Trenni (1:03:04)
So Emily Saul is a sports psychologist and she works primarily, she's a runner, she works with a lot of runners, a lot of high level runners and regular runners like me. And so my coach at the time worked with her and after my panic attack ⁓ at the half Ironman, I was like, I can't have this happen again. ⁓ And so I worked with her and we worked through some...

coping mechanisms and whatnot and tools. And so, night one I went to bed and my legs hurt so badly and I was like, how am I supposed to do this again tomorrow? And I'm laying in bed and I went to bed early and I woke up like in a straight panic at like 9.15 PM, because I went to bed at like seven. And my stomach started acting up and I was panicking and then I just did the like...

Erika (1:03:30)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:03:54)
used the tools she gave me, the visualization, the counting, the body scanning, and I fell back asleep and I woke up the next morning and I wasn't sore at all. And I like went out and I had a better run than I did the day before. And then the next day I went out and ran faster than I did the day before that. By the time I got to my last 12 miles on my last day, my last mile and a half, I was averaging about an 830 and I had run 160. Like it was unbelievable. So the run walk method, like

I tell people all the time, mean, even when I was running a 326, I always walked through my water stops, always. I never run through a water stop. Because you can't consume it. You cannot actually drink the fluid if you don't stop and allow yourself to drink the fluid or eat the gel. And people are always so worried about like those couple of seconds, but not realizing that that tiny, tiny little break gives your body just enough of, as long as you don't stop, keep walking.

Eric (1:04:32)
Right.

Yes.

Trenni (1:04:48)
but the movement itself keeps you going forward and then it allows like your body just to reset a little bit, at least for me it always did and keep going.

Erika (1:04:56)
You're speaking truths. You

really are. Because it just lets your muscles relax for a minute, and then you can pick right back up again. And sometimes you just go faster. Like it's such a great... Plus it also breaks up a race. So it makes you look forward to it. And you're like, oh, I only have a mile. And so it kind of mentally helps you out there too.

Trenni (1:05:02)
Yeah, faster.

Yes.

broke up the way I started looking at the 30 plus, the 30 mile days, I was like, okay, it's 30 miles, I have 10, five Ks. The first day I didn't think of it that way, then I was like, how do I break this up? This is hard, this is long. Yeah, so I broke up, I was like, okay, I've got 10, five Ks. I could do 10, five Ks. just, whatever, it was just a mind game, right?

Erika (1:05:21)
Mm-hmm.

gotta be some chapters in there.

It

Eric (1:05:39)
Yeah.

Erika (1:05:40)
sounds so much better than 31 miles. 31 is such a big number.

Trenni (1:05:43)
Right, it does sound way but big

number. Yeah, exactly. But if you're like, I'm just gonna run three miles 10 times. didn't mean I can do that. Yeah.

Erika (1:05:50)
Yep, however you can trick your brain, it helps.

Eric (1:05:53)
You know, before the end of this, I'm going to ask you for a hot take, but my favorite hot take so far this year, not to play favorites was Kayla, who said real runners walk. And I thought that was so true. And we're talking about it right now. And it just, it works for everyone. The Galloway method for one of them. Right. And then you with the tip there walk a mile after the run. And it was, I'm going to do that now. I'm going to be like Erica, we're extending our loop. We're going to go a little longer. So we walk.

Erika (1:06:05)
Yep.

Yeah.

Trenni (1:06:11)
Yeah?

Erika (1:06:19)
I always do, man. I

always do.

Eric (1:06:23)
Now this run

across Wisconsin, you had a team, they followed you around in a car. like Sean was there. You had others there, crew who ran with you. Talk a little bit about what happened behind the scenes with the team. They're like feeding you, helping you, encouraging you. Like what was that whole part like outside of your run?

Trenni (1:06:42)
Yeah, it was great. they have Shannon was our, she was kind of like our ⁓ resident runner, nutritionist, PT type person. And she was the main person that I worked with and she would drive the car most days and like, she was so brilliant. Like I could start coming up to the car and she'd look at me and she'd like, look at my hands. be like, you need potassium, you need salt, you need this.

I want you to eat a bobo. I want you to eat fruit. And it's funny, because when I was training, ate a lot of, I worked with Featherstone nutrition, Megan Featherstone, who I worked with as a nutritionist. She's awesome. She's helped me so much learning just about how important it is to fuel your body through these endurance races. But we were training with, okay, what's easy? What's easy to have? What's easy to eat? What's easily digestible? And was a lot of carbs and candy.

Erika (1:07:21)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:07:21)
Yes.

Trenni (1:07:40)
⁓ exactly. couldn't carry like raspberries with me running, like they'd smush in my pocket. But when I actually got to the run, it was so hot that I mostly, ate fruit. I ate a ton of watermelon and strawberries and blueberries and raspberries, oranges. ⁓ and then like usually in the morning, Shannon, like, but the best, that was the other nice thing about this, like all I had to carry on me, all I would carry with was I, I used a Salomon

Erika (1:07:44)
Right.

Ugh.

Trenni (1:08:09)
running vest and I would put in both little wouldn't even have a big bladder in because the bladder would like weigh so much. So I just would have that and then like my snacks I didn't really have to carry with me. I would get to the car and I would eat like if I wanted something salty I'd have some like I was funny because like when I was eating I was like eating like pop tarts when I was running like if people would be looking at me on the Charles River like what is this girl

Erika (1:08:10)
Mm-hmm.

you

Trenni (1:08:33)
doing. She's running

like an 11 minute pace eating a pop tart. I felt like she was wearing a sign that was like, I'm training for an ultra marabond. I need to be able to eat a pop tart. I need to be able to eat a pop tart and sun chips while I'm running.

Erika (1:08:43)
It sounds like a good time to me.

Trenni (1:08:50)
so then I would eat something bigger in middle of the day, and then towards the end, it just was nice to not have to think about it, to have somebody else who was there. And then we had a photographer, David.

Eric (1:08:58)
Yeah.

Trenni (1:09:00)
And he would do, but he would also sometimes like man the car with Sean, but there was always somebody there like, and that it was so nice for them to handle. And I loaded the map into my watch, into my Garmin. So like there were a couple of times where I was running and I was like, I'd looked down, was like, oh shit, I totally should have turned left there. So backtrack a little this way. it was great. It's just like, it's a great support system. you know, you're, I don't know.

Erika (1:09:09)
Mm-hmm.

no. Yep.

Trenni (1:09:24)
I kind of liked running sometimes. Like my favorite time to be running really early in the morning before the sun was like fully up and it was kind of cool and I was by myself because I was in Wisconsin. I had a lot of people join me for the runs. I had lots of company, which was also awesome and super helpful, especially when they met me like two hours into the run. Cause then for the last three or four hours I'd have somebody with me. But I kind of liked those early morning like quiet Mallee.

Erika (1:09:43)
Right.

Trenni (1:09:50)
you know, listen to a book or I would listen to some music or I would listen to nothing and just like take it in. And there was only like one or two times where somebody would come like speeding down the highway and I was like, hi, I'm here. ⁓ And like, I'd kind of hold my ground and they'd be like, okay, don't be stupid, like moving out of the shoulder a little bit. But no, was an awesome, it was an awesome experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a distance runner and you can do it. Like the mileage seems really overwhelming, but it's totally doable.

Erika (1:09:50)
Yeah.

⁓

Eric (1:10:02)
Yeah.

Erika (1:10:19)
Well, think you trained the right way and you definitely fueled yourself right. How often would your van meet you? How far ahead would it leapfrog you?

Trenni (1:10:30)
So

like usually I would have a meet me every three miles. like Feathers and I sort of worked out that like every, yeah, like basically every, and sometimes they'd meet me a little earlier, a little bit later, but I tried to do it like every 30 minutes. So every like 2.8 to 3.2 miles, like somewhere in there. And that way I just knew that like one, again, I could break up the run. And two, I would make sure to be eating.

Erika (1:10:33)
that's great. So there's your, your 10 Ks basically or five Ks, five Ks.

Yeah.

Trenni (1:10:55)
And like, cause otherwise sometimes when you run by yourself, like you just get in the zone, like, I'm not hungry. It's fine. And then the thing you know, you're like, brr. Yeah, it's so easy to bonk. ⁓ Yeah. I just, I also didn't know that sometimes you can have too much salt and that you'll go to the bathroom too much when you have too much salt. Did you know that?

Erika (1:11:00)
Mm-hmm. It's so easy to bonk.

no, no.

Eric (1:11:14)
It's true.

Yeah. Yep. Experienced it.

Trenni (1:11:20)
And one day we caught it early, which is great, because it can be like really be a problem. We were like over, oh, like, like you need like a little bit more water and maybe like a little less like super salty hydration. Where you're like having to go too much. And I was like, oh, well that's something I'm new and exciting I discovered. But no, I didn't get sick on it. I didn't, I know. I was real proud of myself when I pooped in the woods. I was just held on to a tree one way back. Let it rip.

Erika (1:11:24)
⁓ no.

Mm-hmm.

The joys of ultra running.

Eric (1:11:50)
Training's fun because you can test things and you can kind of figure out what you know is too much and what's not enough. And my longest training run this year, 20 miler, I was crushing it. And then I was like, do I have one more water or one more of these salt sticks? Right? I did the salt stick and I was lucky on the London area rail trail. There's the park and ride with the, with the bathroom there. Cause it was a nice bathroom.

Trenni (1:12:07)
yeah.

Erika (1:12:10)
Hmm?

⁓ that's

Trenni (1:12:15)
⁓ no.

Erika (1:12:16)
right.

Trenni (1:12:16)
So.

Erika (1:12:16)
You chronicled it in our group chat.

Eric (1:12:18)
I did.

Yes, I chronicled the whole thing.

Trenni (1:12:19)
So Element,

is Element a sponsor of yours?

Eric (1:12:23)
No, it just happens to be on my desk right now. I got a sample pack.

Trenni (1:12:25)
Okay, but I wanted

to be careful though when I said, so element, I ⁓ actually use scratch high salts and mortal high salts. Scratch and mortal don't, there's something about, and I love the element when I'm like a hot, sunny, summer run. I love the sparkling waters that they do, like after to kind of replenish myself. But when I take them when I run there or cycle.

Erika (1:12:33)
Yes, I love scratch.

Eric (1:12:42)
Yes.

Trenni (1:12:54)
I noticed it first when I went cycling and when I switched to mortal salty instead, they really upset my stomach. Yeah, which is a bummer because yeah. And so the first day of the day that I had to poop in the woods on the MS run, I, she didn't have my scratch. She couldn't find my mortals or my scratch. And so I had an element and I was like, well, here we go. Middle of nowhere. It's all part of the ride.

Erika (1:13:00)
no. But at least you figured it out. Not going to surprise you.

Eric (1:13:01)
Well, that one did me.

Erika (1:13:12)
⁓

Mm-hmm. It's all part of the ride.

Eric (1:13:21)
Yeah.

Trenni (1:13:23)
I told my niece that I did that and she was like, that's gross, Auntie T. And I was like, ⁓ or it's awesome.

Erika (1:13:27)
you

We all have those stories. Seriously. usually Eric pooping in the woods, though.

Eric (1:13:31)
That's how this podcast was born. ⁓ it's always me pooping in the woods.

Trenni (1:13:38)
I mean,

Eric (1:13:39)
And that's why I, that's why I got the butt wipes now. They're behind me somewhere. Not a sponsor, but we love them.

Trenni (1:13:40)
it happens.

Erika (1:13:41)
It does. Yep.

Trenni (1:13:44)
It happens.

I mean, it doesn't happen often, I mean, going back, if we circle back to Boston, I mean, the reason I qualified for five, but only run four is because I was sick in 2014 and I didn't like, I kind of felt like I had something coming on.

I didn't feel great over the weekend. was just loading up on electrolytes and trying to like keep my body as healthy as I could. And then on the morning of November 2014, it was the year after the bombing. And so everybody was super obvious. like into it, everyone wanted to be out there and it was warm. And that was the one year that I didn't, that I hadn't qualified the year before I qualified for 2013, but couldn't run because my ham, I had hurt my hamstring.

Erika (1:14:14)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:14:33)
and I couldn't carry it over. So I ran for charity, I for Horizons for homeless children in 2014. So I was with the charity runners and it was so warm. And I went out for a run and like my stomach kind of wasn't great in the morning and I kind of went to the bathroom more than the usual, but I was like, ⁓ I'm just nervous. I trained really hard for this. Like I did this thing with runners world where they were like chronicling me running. And I was like, okay, it's gonna be fine.

Erika (1:14:52)
Yeah.

Trenni (1:15:03)
go to the bathroom again before the race. I must have gone like four times before the race even started. And so then I started running and I'm like, yeah, I don't feel great, but it'll be fine. It's gonna be fine. I get to Wellesley guys and I'm coming down through the Wellesley Scream tunnel and I am like, I'm gonna shit my pants. I'm like, I know it. I'm not gonna be able to make it. I'm not gonna make it. I was like, I don't know. And I'm gonna be like, I have been working here for one year, not even, and I'm gonna poop my pants in Wellesley. It is the nicest town on this route.

Erika (1:15:04)
Thank

Mm-hmm.

no.

no.

Trenni (1:15:33)
And it's the one,

Erika (1:15:33)
no.

Trenni (1:15:35)
like, not somewhere where there's trees, where I can hide. Nope, I'm in like right in downtown Wellesley where there's all these nice wealthy people lunching. I am just gonna explode. But I found a bathroom. It was the grossest bathroom I've ever been in and I went and then I was like, okay, stupid me is like, crap, I just exploded in the bathroom. I'll be fine. Let's keep going everybody. So I'm running and all of sudden I'm running by the Newton Wellesley Hospital and I hear this dad go.

Erika (1:15:40)
you

Uh-huh.

Yup

Trenni (1:16:03)
Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay? You're kind of swerving. I feel like I was so dehydrated and so sick that I was like swerving and weaving and like I kind of couldn't see. And so this little girl runs out of the water. goes, my dad thinks maybe you should sit down and have a water. It's like, I think maybe your dad's right. So I sit down crying. I'm sobbing, crying. Like I, so many friends were on the course and

Erika (1:16:10)
⁓ no.

my God.

Trenni (1:16:33)
And so a medic came over and a medic's like, let's go over to the tent. You're not gonna be able to run what you wanted, but we'll be able to probably give you some fluids and get you back out there, but we have to take your vitals. And I was like, okay, great. So they take my vitals and they go, I'm sorry, Trenni, tell you this. You need to go to the hospital immediately. You are severely dehydrated. And I always forget, I think it's that my blood pressure was super high and my heart rate was super low or vice versa. Whatever is the signal of dehydration, I obviously do not work in medicine despite watching the pit.

Eric (1:16:41)
Okay.

Erika (1:16:56)
Ooh.

Trenni (1:17:03)
⁓ cause I don't know what it was. Great show.

Eric (1:17:03)
Great show. We're

deep into it right now.

Erika (1:17:08)
you

Trenni (1:17:09)
It's

so good. just finished, I just started season two. so they had, so I can see, you guys, can see Newton Wellesley Hospital. And I'm like, okay, I'll just walk myself there. like, I'm sorry, we have to you in the ambulance. So I had to go two blocks in an ambulance to the hospital. $10,000, I don't even know what it cost. I think I had pretty good insurance. I think it actually didn't like bankrupt me.

Erika (1:17:22)
Oh, they had to take you. Oh no.

Eric (1:17:24)
No.

$10,000 ambulance ride probably.

Erika (1:17:36)
Okay, though.

Trenni (1:17:37)
And then I had

to be hooked up to like, I had to get two bags of fluids and IVs and the woman's like, I'm sorry, there's like a norovirus going around. And I don't think it was, now that I've had norovirus, I don't think it was norovirus, because then I would have been like violently vomiting also. And that wasn't an issue. I think I just had like a stomach bug. And then like the heat and the exhaustion and the flu like symptoms, it all just compounded and came together. But moral of the story is,

Eric (1:17:45)
No.

Okay.

Erika (1:17:52)
Okay.

Eric (1:17:56)
Right.

Erika (1:18:00)
It all just compounds.

Trenni (1:18:06)
Six weeks later, I went to Sugarloaf and ran a 326. So even if your first race doesn't work out, maybe the next one, but don't run the whole thing. If you don't feel good, just bail out at like 17 or 18 like I did and then go run another one six weeks later. Don't run a whole one and then try to go run a whole another one six weeks later. Like that's just stupid. I know so many people would do that. And I'm like, why, why, what a waste.

Erika (1:18:12)
There you go.

Mm-hmm.

⁓

What a tough day though, especially when you put in all that work to raise money and... ⁓

Trenni (1:18:32)
I was devastated.

Eric (1:18:35)
So

I remember this so well, and now I love that I know the rest of the story, but I would spend all day long listening to sports talk radio and you would sub in a lot. And that was your first year in the city working in Boston sports I remember hearing you talk about it, whether you're subbing in for the morning show or the evening show. And you're like, yeah, training's going well. And then the race is going on and I'm trying to follow and hear what they're saying on the radio. They're not saying much.

Now I kind of know what happened and you, mentioned, my God, it's my first year in the city. I don't need people seeing me shitting my pants. Like that had to be crossing your mind. Like all this buildup, runner's world. You're one year in, you're the new girl and now you're the new girl who shit her pants. That was going through your head and you're like, I can't be that.

Trenni (1:19:20)
Yeah. I did go untouch

her and rich the next morning though, and tell that entire story. I think I endeared myself to a whole bunch of people. And then I decided that the title of my autobiography will be at least I didn't shit my pants in Wellesley.

Eric (1:19:26)
⁓ man.

Yes.

Erika (1:19:37)
read that book too.

Trenni (1:19:37)
I if there's something,

you know, if I got that, I got that going for me. Yeah.

Eric (1:19:41)
That's great. I'm

glad you shared the story the day after. That's awesome.

Erika (1:19:45)
And if there's another place, here's the correct place.

Eric (1:19:47)
Yeah. Yeah.

Trenni (1:19:49)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric (1:19:49)
Absolutely. Well, that wasn't the end of everything. You'd not only PR it a couple of weeks later, but you ran the Boston Marathon just a few years ago. And I love your post because it wasn't your fastest, but it was your favorite. And I think it had to do with kind of what you talked about earlier, the weather and everything. Now in a couple of days and less than a week from when everyone hears this.

There's going to be people out there running the Boston Marathon. And I would love for you to share that story of your favorite day in the Boston Marathon.

Trenni (1:20:21)
So, I mean, in fairness, probably isn't gonna happen to everyone. So I met my husband during COVID and I had, was, obviously that race was canceled and I really wanted to run in 2021. So we met in July of 2020 something happened, I don't know, during COVID, but all of a sudden I just like stopped. Like I just wasn't able to hit the times I was able to hit. I don't know if it was like the stress at the time, what happened.

Erika (1:20:49)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:20:50)
But

like all of a sudden this sport that had been so easy for me stopped being easy. And I was like having to really push through training runs and my then boyfriend knew how much I had been like struggling with like running and stuff. And we had been talking about getting married. Like we were older. I met Sean when I was 43. He was 44, so a little bit later in life.

And so the Friday before the marathon, my two best friends from college were flying in to watch, my two best friends from home that Saturday. And on that Friday, husband, my, was my boyfriend at the time, is my husband now. We decided to go for pizza to our favorite place. And it was like, we were sitting outside, because I didn't, you could sit inside at this point, but I didn't want to get, I didn't want to get sick. As we were outside and it was.

Erika (1:21:39)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:21:40)
You don't want to have a repeat.

Trenni (1:21:41)
I did not want to repeat and it was kind of cold and I was like, Hey, do you want me to run home and like get you a sweatshirt? Like you look kind of cold. He's like, no, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. It's fine. You don't need to go home. Well, that's because at home there was an engagement ring sitting a box sitting on our table for me. So we walked in after dinner. I saw this big box and he had said that he was going to get me carbon plated shoes. And I was like, did you get me the carbon plated shoes I wanted?

And then I went over and I saw that it was like a jeweler. was like, no, ⁓ we're doing this. We're getting, my God, we're gonna get engaged. And I was so happy. And he's like, well, I wanted to do it because your friends were coming in town. He's like, I also knew that like this hadn't been the training cycle that you wanted it to be. He's like, I wanted this to be a good weekend for you and I want you to have fun at the race. And so I just spent the whole race. Like I knew I wasn't gonna be able to run a time that like I would be psyched about. So I just went out and I had fun. Like I talked to people and I hugged people and

Erika (1:22:35)
The best

way.

Trenni (1:22:36)
But it was, but it was the best way to run Boston. Like

there's this great picture of me ⁓ in Washington square. We usually watch the race of like hugging my friend, Sarah, and she's smiling and I'm smiling. And it was just great to be out there. And it was like, I couldn't even tell you what my time was. I don't even know. It was like, it doesn't even matter. ⁓ but I also, I also do empathize with people who train really hard to hit a goal time and you don't hit it. Like that's a real, it's hard.

Erika (1:22:54)
It doesn't even matter.

Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:23:06)
It's really

hard when you put everything into something and it doesn't go the way that you want it to. I would never discount that. I knew going in I was not gonna have a day that I was gonna be bragging about. But instead I got to be like, hey everybody, look at my big shiny diamond. You all thought I was too old and now I'm getting married. ⁓

Eric (1:23:24)
You had so much

fun and I was prepared for this. Yup. Yup. I was, I knew this was coming and then there's you just having fun. Yup. And we got the team there. There's Sean. I know somewhere in here, you're showing the ring somewhere like you're on TV too. And you just had an absolute blast. Here it is.

Trenni (1:23:28)
Yeah, that's the picture. That is that's the picture. That's me and Sarah. That's it. That is me and my friend, Mary. Yeah. There's my husband. Yeah, there's Sean and my there's Tara.

Erika (1:23:30)
Oh, I love it.

They brought the heads on stage.

Trenni (1:23:51)
That's my friend, Shemosh.

Eric (1:23:54)
There it is. Yeah. had, yeah, you had a great day. what a day you had. I love this story when I read this and I'm like, yep. Boom engaged. So cool. So cool. Sean did good for a Habs fan.

Trenni (1:23:55)
Yep, there it is. That's Sean, that's his back right there. Yeah.

Erika (1:23:55)
hey.

you

Trenni (1:24:10)
Yeah, it was great. did Sean did great. Like you can

see on my watch guys, because I'm such a slave to numbers and I really am. Look at my watch. I have a bandaid over it because I didn't want to look at it.

Eric (1:24:18)
yeah.

Erika (1:24:22)
wow. You know what, sometimes you just gotta disconnect.

Trenni (1:24:24)
Cause I knew, I knew if,

yeah, well I knew that if I had, if I could see what I was running, I would maybe feel bad about it. Because I had always like prided, like I was never good at sports. The only thing I was ever even remotely sort of okay at was running. And to not be able to do what my body once was able to was really, really hard for me. ⁓

Erika (1:24:34)
Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:24:51)
Again, it's not like I was winning gold medals or like winning races or anything like that, but it was something that was important to me. And so I just didn't want like, I didn't want anything to mess with my vibe that day. And like, I would say to somebody, if you're not having a great training cycle and you're, know, you're not like, you're throwing your goals out your window, like throw the wash out the window, put it in your, I don't know, put it somewhere that you don't look at it, put a band, like I did a jangy bandaid over it. Like it was kind of.

Erika (1:24:55)
still. Yeah.

Eric (1:25:19)
Have a

victory lap.

Trenni (1:25:20)
Rose. Ava Victor. Yes. Yes. Does not

Erika (1:25:20)
Your run will still count even though you're not recording it. It doesn't have to be on Strava.

Trenni (1:25:26)
have to be on Strava. It is funny now that I'm not running as much. I just kind of started like running two days a week again, because I've been really learning how to golf. ⁓ It's been like, I go on Strava and it's like stressful for me. Like it's become like, it just becomes so hyper competitive, I think. And running and like, I guess what the

Erika (1:25:34)
Mm-hmm.

Ooh.

Trenni (1:25:50)
best part about when I started running, you know, back when, ⁓ like Jesus was around, it was like people just ran to run because they enjoyed it and it was something social and it's become so competitive. Like even among people who like, guess what guys, you're not within Boston, like most likely you're not Emma Bates. So, like, and that's,

Erika (1:26:07)
Mm-hmm.

Nope.

Eric (1:26:15)
Badass.

We're all badasses though.

Trenni (1:26:18)
Yeah, everybody's a badass. Like just getting out there and doing it is awesome. And even I have to remind myself of that, that like, like I say, like, I don't know I want to run Boston again, cause I don't want to run if I can't qualify or blah, blah, blah, you know, what if I never qualify again? What if I'm not fast? Like that's dumb. Like I just like running. Like it's been really nice to just do it, just to do it. You don't even have to do races. Guess what? You're still a runner. If you don't race, that still makes you a runner. You don't.

Erika (1:26:42)
Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Yep. If it brings you joy,

Eric (1:26:47)
That's a good hot take.

Erika (1:26:48)
just do what makes you happy.

Trenni (1:26:48)
If it brings you joy, just do it.

Eric (1:26:51)
That's why I love

Trenni (1:26:51)
Yeah.

Eric (1:26:52)
it. I've never been fast. I've never been, I made varsity cross country once in high school. My goal was just don't finish last. Like I was never the fast guy. I just loved it. And I loved more running with people. And that's how Erica and I have known each other for 25 years. Like we're old too. And we just started running together.

Erika (1:27:09)
God, 25?

Trenni (1:27:11)
She's

only gonna be like, she's not even 40 old.

Erika (1:27:14)
20,

20, no, 22, 22, we were like 18. Like wait.

Eric (1:27:16)
20 years. We met in college like as freshmen back in 2004. So.

Trenni (1:27:21)
Okay. Oh my god,

neither of you, wait, neither of you guys are even 40 yet?

Eric (1:27:25)
No, I am 40.

Erika (1:27:26)
He's 40.

I will be in June. Get in there.

Eric (1:27:29)
I know my hair makes me look younger.

Trenni (1:27:32)
It does. You

Erika (1:27:33)
I got a nice

gray streak. Yeah, I love this thing. I'm never dying my hair. I'm not going to.

Trenni (1:27:33)
have a great head. Oh, that is the hard thing about, don't ever dye your hair actually. I mean, I have to do it because of stupid work, but I don't get Botox. I get no Botox. I use frownies. I'm all natural. I use frownies. use tape. I cast my head at night like once, like for one week a month.

Erika (1:27:44)
All natural,

That's kind of smart.

I never think of that.

Eric (1:27:54)
Well, I love that story. I saw that like, as I said earlier, actually, I loved how we opened up into all the sports talk and I could talk Boston sports forever. And I have a hab story for Sean one day if I ever meet him, but, I love that story. I love the message. Just running's fun. Run with people have a good time. I ran the New York city marathon last November with my sister. She lives in New York. was her first ever marathon and.

Trenni (1:27:57)
Eric, can we just talk about writing for God's sakes?

Eric (1:28:22)
I told her after I go, that was my slowest marathon, but that was the most fun marathon because we partied. We had a good time. We took it all in. was very fast for her. And, and she's now like working like you, when you were starting out, how do I get faster? I'm going to hire a coach. I'm to do this. But I'm like, we did it right because we had such a fun time and you did it right there. I wasn't really in the loop with the engagement of when it happened, if it happened during the race or, but.

Trenni (1:28:30)
Yeah.

Eric (1:28:52)
That was incredible. You had an amazing day and I just hope everyone in a couple days has an amazing day.

Trenni (1:28:59)
Yeah, I mean, that's the most important thing. I mean, it's just like, it is supposed to be fun. And that doesn't mean it's not hard or there's not hard moments, but like, there's a reason people do it over and over and over again. There's a draw, there's a reason that even when I'm like, yeah, I think I'm gonna take a break from running, I've never really fully taken it, because I enjoy it. Like, I like just going out, you know?

Eric (1:29:10)
Right. Yeah.

Erika (1:29:19)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:29:21)
And what

you're doing is smart too. Like you're picking up golf. Like you don't have to just run all the time like Erica, but you can do many things and golfing is one of them. in order of me, it's skiing, right? It's like you do a little bit, you stay active. Yeah.

Trenni (1:29:27)
Ow.

Yeah, I love to weight lift, you know,

Erika (1:29:37)
There

we go.

Trenni (1:29:37)
just do things that like make your body happy.

Erika (1:29:40)
Yeah, and we have to make sure that we

celebrate all like the 20 minute miles, the 14 minute miles, the 10 minute miles, the six minute miles. We've got to celebrate it all because you're still getting out there and putting in the work and it should just bring you joy.

Trenni (1:29:53)
⁓

And like, listen, the people who can run like six minute miles, like my friend Megan, who just got her first, she just worked really hard and got an OTQ. I know it's amazing. Like she looks like someone who could run a 557 pace over 26.2 miles. Like she's like five foot nine and all legs and like a six pack, right? And she had a baby like a year ago. Like that's.

Erika (1:30:02)
amazing.

you

Trenni (1:30:19)
That's a totally different genetic makeup than like the average person. Like there are still so few people who even finish marathons. Like the fact that you even put in the work and you do it and you get out there, like that's an accomplishment. You do not need to be the first, even if you're the last person, like who cares if you're the last person?

Erika (1:30:22)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:30:24)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:30:36)
Yes.

DFL is an honor. Like that should be celebrated even more because you're on dead fucking last.

Trenni (1:30:43)
Wait, what's a DF did not? ⁓

Eric (1:30:45)
Dead fucking last.

Trenni (1:30:47)
I was like, I was like, is this like an official term I've never heard of?

Erika (1:30:50)
I mean, yes, but no. mean,

but it should be celebrated. You're out there for the longest. You're still getting it done. Like, no quitting.

Trenni (1:30:59)
I

mean, honestly, I say this all the time. To me, the most impressive runners aren't the ones that are in wave one at the Boston Marathon because you know what? Having been, I've never a wave one person, but I was a wave two person. When you're in waves one and two, I want to say running's kind of easy for you. When I could go out and run, when I was running three 26s, three 30s, three 35s, it never felt hard.

Erika (1:31:08)
Yeah.

Trenni (1:31:27)
because I just was having like a genetic makeup that made that easier for me. But when you are like in wave five and six and seven, and I know there's some people there who are fast and just like, you know, how to use a charity bib that year, like, when it takes you six hours to run a marathon, like that takes fricking grit and determination, way more than it takes for someone who's running a 230, way more.

Erika (1:31:32)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

It does.

Trenni (1:31:54)
Because someone who runs a 230 expects to do it and it's almost like clockwork for them. Being out there for that long is so hard on your body and it's an unbelievable accomplishment. I think that that's way more impressive than somebody who can run a 230.

Erika (1:32:08)
Absolutely.

Eric (1:32:12)
Agreed. I'm with you.

Trenni (1:32:15)
Cause that person's just a freaking nature, so.

Erika (1:32:15)
Same. ⁓

Eric (1:32:17)
Yeah,

and time on your feet is no joke.

Trenni (1:32:21)
No joke. Having done it, having done that pace for six days, like it is no joke. It takes a lot out of you.

Erika (1:32:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yup.

Eric (1:32:31)
We've done some pretty incredible stuff. I love that I've been able to fall and I love that you came on, but we're not done. We have two final questions brought to you. mentioned sponsor earlier. We do have one and they sponsor the final two questions. My race tats. Thank you for bringing us these final two questions. I'm going to go first. And we kind of already talked about it this year. I'm trying to collect hot takes from everybody. Give me a good, fun, hot takes, serious or silly. I don't care. Does pineapple belong on pizza? The answer is no runners.

Trenni (1:32:38)
Great. I love a sponsor.

Mm-mm.

Eric (1:33:00)
Real runners walk. Do you have a fun hot take?

Trenni (1:33:05)
I was thinking about this because you kindly gave me these questions before. I mean, I have lots of hot takes. ⁓ Some are appropriate. Some are not. ⁓

Eric (1:33:15)
⁓ we'll take

them all. We'll take the inappropriate if you want. We have no limits on this podcast.

Erika (1:33:17)
Whatever you want to give us. ⁓

Trenni (1:33:22)
⁓ my hot take is that one of my hottest takes is that reality TV sucks. Like, I don't know why you sit at home and watch the real housewives of any county or any state or any city. Like they're not real. First of all, second of all, isn't it stressful to watch people, people with fake faces scream at each other? Like I tried to watch.

Eric (1:33:29)
Yes.

Erika (1:33:31)
This is why we watch heated rivalry, because it's not reality.

Eric (1:33:43)
Yeah.

Fake faces and fake lives.

Trenni (1:33:51)
the real lives of Mormon wives, but like they're weird, contorted, like I get all these injectables into my face, faces, screaming at each other. Like I don't find that, like how is that entertaining? That's my hot take. It's not entertaining. It's not my cup of tea. It's not great. None of it's a great look. I don't get it. You can take your Bravo Con and you can have it, because I want nothing to do with it.

Erika (1:33:59)
you

It's not my cup of tea either. No.

And that's why I stick to fictional hockey player.

Eric (1:34:15)
Yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I guess

Erika (1:34:18)
Hmm.

Eric (1:34:18)
some

girl a day before her, the Bachelorette, day before it was about to drop, all that news came out. Yeah. I, I never heard about her in my life, but that obviously went viral. Right. And so I took a deep dive into it I'm like, who watches this? It apparently it's huge.

Erika (1:34:22)
Alright. ⁓

Trenni (1:34:23)
yes, yes, she was from the real, like the real lives of Mormon wives or some crap, yes.

Erika (1:34:28)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Trenni (1:34:38)
Some of

my smartest friends, honest to God, some of the people I like the most, and they will just take me, like they'll start talking about it then they'll move it to a different group text. I'm like, want nothing to do with this. These people have no talent.

Erika (1:34:41)
you

Eric (1:34:49)
You know what they need to watch?

You know what they need to watch? They need to watch their local sports programming. Especially around the playoffs. Coming up, hopefully right now we're in a deep playoff run for both the Bruins and the Celtics. The Red Sox are kicking off. You got to see Trenni on TV. I love what you guys do on TV and on the radio. It's a great stuff. And I love even more.

Trenni (1:34:54)
huge rivalry.

Erika (1:34:59)
Mm-hmm.

Hell yeah.

Trenni (1:35:09)
Thank you.

Then got some hot Red Sox

Eric (1:35:16)
And I love even more that you're a runner, but Erica has one more question for you too.

Erika (1:35:20)
Yes. So, Trenni, we have a Spotify playlist and we like to invite our guests to add a song to it. So is there anything that gets you generally pumped up, ready to do whatever you got to do that day? Just getting out there.

Trenni (1:35:34)
Okay, so I'm gonna throw out two just in case either one of these is already on the Spotify playlist. I love my shot from the Hamilton soundtrack. I think it is such a jam and it is so great if you're getting pumped up before a race because it's like, I'm not gonna throw away my shot. My other one, I love Taylor. I love Taylor Swift. And who's afraid of little old me is like.

Erika (1:35:37)
You got it. You got it.

Eric (1:35:43)
yeah.

Erika (1:35:44)
Hmm

Ooh, all right.

Ooh.

Trenni (1:36:00)
My Taylor, also Out of the Woods, but that's probably on there. I'm sure Out of the Woods is already on your Spotify playlist if anybody like, yeah, yeah, like that's a thing. Like that's a more, that like, that's a pretty, it's like, think that's a classic, but who's afraid of little old me is like, yeah, you wanna mess with me? You're not. Yeah.

Erika (1:36:06)
I feel like Kelly Roberts might've picked that one. Somebody picked it. One of those.

I love this. That's exactly the vibe we're going for.

Eric (1:36:21)
That was awesome.

That was awesome. Final, final thought here. I used to work in NASCAR. I had a guy on my team. We were on the pit crew. His name was Ethan Marquette. He's from Wisconsin. He always said Marquette University is my college. I own it. And you went to Marquette. I thought that was cool, but you're from Wisconsin and now you live in Boston. Let's talk a little bit about the accents here. Have you picked up the Boston? Have you say a little wicked or do you still talk a little Wisconsin?

Trenni (1:36:50)
So I

must do a little bit of both because sometimes I will slip into a Wisconsin accent on the air, but I did something last week on the air and I don't remember if it was Phil Perry and Mark Bertrand or if it was Phil Perry and Adam Jones, which is funny because Bertrand and Jones go against each other. They're on rival stations at the same time. they were both like, you just dropped your R. And I was like, what?

Eric (1:37:10)
Yeah.

Yep.

Trenni (1:37:22)
Which is kind of weird because nobody drops their R's anymore. It's like a dying dialect. ⁓ But I definitely still have a little bit, especially if you get a cocktail or two in me, the Scotty accent will come out. yeah, mm-hmm, yeah.

Erika (1:37:28)
you

Eric (1:37:29)
Yeah.

That's great.

Erika (1:37:41)
Usually a

couple of drinks, that's when I drop my Rs. So it happens. And I'm not even technically from Boston. It happens.

Trenni (1:37:44)
Yeah, yeah, so.

It happens.

It happens.

Eric (1:37:50)
It happens.

Well, Hey, this was incredible. ⁓ in a couple of weeks, when, when we finished the pit, actually are going to do a whole episode just about it. Just like last year, we all, couple of us. Yeah. So if you watch the whole thing in binge it like we do, like it want to jump on and give us your take about. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I did text. did, I did warn.

Erika (1:37:58)
We did it before, yeah, for season one. It was fun.

Trenni (1:38:08)
Don't get guessed. I'm only in the seven,

I'm only in the seven, eight. Yeah.

Erika (1:38:11)
I'm only like four episodes in. I

got a ways to go too.

Eric (1:38:13)
Yeah,

there's, ⁓ there's some stuff. There's some, there's some things, you know, my favorite TV show of all time is ER. I had the box sets and I love Noah Wiley and I love, know, Anthony Edwards and Clooney and all those guys in it. And I felt like watching on Thursday nights was a big thing. Now it's funny. He's doing the same thing. It drops on Thursday nights.

Trenni (1:38:17)
Ooh, there's some stuff. can't wait. I love stuff.

Eric (1:38:38)
I can't get that into it so I've saved some episodes and every three weeks I'll watch like three episodes. I'll binge the whole thing again. But ER was so good. But the stuff they do in the pit, you could never do on like cable TV.

Trenni (1:38:45)
It is.

Erika (1:38:51)
Well, there was that one scene.

Absolutely. You can't show that on TV.

Trenni (1:38:58)
from

this season there's one a scene like that.

Eric (1:38:59)
Just from the pit in general,

the first season, the birth scene. Like that would never, that would never be on ER, even in the 90s.

Erika (1:39:03)
⁓ was pretty, pretty intense.

Trenni (1:39:04)
Yeah, that's gross.

Okay, all

right, well now I'll have to binge so I can be a part of this.

Erika (1:39:10)
It's like episode two,

there's a scene in episode two. Is that the one, Eric? think you're thinking. You'll know when you see it. You'll know.

Trenni (1:39:15)
So I've only seen episode one, that's where I'm at. I... Okay,

great. Can't wait to tell you guys about it.

Eric (1:39:23)
I was not ready for it.

Trenni (1:39:25)
Okay? Okay.

Erika (1:39:27)
It was

funny. So we were talking about it with like, it's three girls and Eric. And so he's saying, my God, this was the worst thing. And we're like, is it this scene? Is it this scene? And then we see what he was talking about. We're like, is that what you mean? Like, like it does not hit us as much as it hit him. ⁓ You, I guarantee you'll be able to figure it out. Yes.

Trenni (1:39:43)
Oh, okay, interesting. Okay, okay. I don't know. Okay, great. Can't wait to circle back on this.

Eric (1:39:44)
Yeah, yeah, I was not ready. Yeah, I wasn't comf- I was

not comfortable. I was more comfortable with the birth scene, which I've seen a couple of births and I don't know, I was like, that was the coolest thing in the world! But-

Trenni (1:39:57)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:39:59)
We had to Google if that was real

or not, because we weren't sure. It was great. Anyhow.

Eric (1:40:05)
Well, this was incredible. Thank

Trenni (1:40:07)
Thanks guys, thanks for having me on.

Eric (1:40:07)
you so much. ⁓ I hope you enjoy. Yeah. I hope you enjoy the marathon and the whole festivities. We get to enjoy it. I love that Sean is a hockey guy. I'm a huge hockey guy. And I saw you went to the Habs game. I thought that was cool. I've been to a game up there. I actually saw until Sean, this the Hartford whalers play in Montreal.

Erika (1:40:09)
It was such a pleasure.

Eric (1:40:31)
Like I've been up there a couple of times. that's like, I've just, if I'm traveling for work, I always look up who's playing hockey in this area. Minor league, NHL, I don't care. go. So I love that you went there and got to experience that. I thought that was cool. I love what you do on TV and radio and I love following all your running and stuff. It's awesome. Thank you so much for coming on this podcast. Erica, any final words for Trenni?

Trenni (1:40:31)
Wow.

Erika (1:40:53)
just want to reiterate that I think you're awesome for doing all that fundraising that you have been doing, especially your run for MS. I think that's just a wonderful way to remember your aunt. So congratulations. That was such an amazing feat. And yeah, we're going to keep tabs on you and see what you're up to next.

Trenni (1:41:12)
Sounds good, guys. Thanks for having me on.

Erika (1:41:14)
Thank you.

Eric (1:41:14)
Now, Trenni,

All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed that because that was wicked awesome. Trenni Casey on the On the Runs Podcast.

Erika (1:41:26)
Trenni, you are incredible. We had so much fun talking to you, and your stories were amazing, both code Brown-wise and just heartfelt running for your aunt. ⁓ We felt it the whole time, and I just think you're incredible. So next time you're in our area, let us know. I'd love to get a run with you. And if not, I hope you enjoy cheering on the sidelines at the Boston Marathon. She's got a comfy seat.

Eric (1:41:52)
Yes.

What was really cool and something we didn't talk about was she jumped on right after the Lotz bombs and there was some cross talk that wasn't recorded for like 20 minutes. And it was a lot of fun. So Trenni in the past, when NBC sports had the boss marathon, she interviewed the winners and her and Chris were talking like, they're like, we never met face to face, but we've emailed many times before. It was kind of cool. We brought them together face to face. It was fun.

Erika (1:42:00)
Yes, yes.

How fun is that?

Mm-hmm. Have fun.

I love that. I love that.

Eric (1:42:20)
⁓ That was a

blast. We've been you know, like I said, I've been following her for a while She was already following the podcast and she delivered she absolutely delivered that story about like yeah the one story about the DNF where she's like I just started working in this city less than a year and I'm gonna shit all over myself and Wellesley Yeah explode

Erika (1:42:29)
Incredible storyteller.

She's gonna defile Wellesley. ⁓ Trenni, ⁓

we felt for you. We really did. ⁓

Eric (1:42:46)
She was great.

Thank you. Like we talked to her for an hour and a half and much before and after, and it was well past all our bedtimes. That was a ton of fun. if you see her on TV, or you see her running on your pod fam, just like her now, say, Hey, say you loved it. That was incredible. Trenni was awesome. Thank you so and thank you to Dawn for my race tats. That was awesome.

Erika (1:42:52)
Mm-hmm. Worth it. So worth it.

Yes, yes.

Eric (1:43:09)
Final few things to touch up on before Boston this weekend, guys. Don't forget, Saturday live show, Boston City Hall Plaza from the FanFest, Saturday at 6.30 to 8. And we're gonna go to the Sam Adams Tap House after. Is it the Tap House or the Brew House?

Erika (1:43:25)
have no idea, but it's like right next door, so you can't miss it.

Eric (1:43:27)
Right. We're going to go celebrate.

And then on Monday, mile 19.2, just in your Google calendar or in your Google maps, put the Johnny Kelly statue. You might want to park at the high school near the baseball fields. That's we'll be parking. If you want to meet us, shoot us a DM. Shoot Erica a DM actually, because she'll have more time to send you the pin.

Erika (1:43:49)
did actually send a pin today. Kat Brown and her husband Carter are going to join us, she thinks. So this is her. Yes. I'm so pumped. Rachel's coming this year. ⁓ my God. I love this. Yes. ⁓ party. Of course. Yeah.

Eric (1:43:54)
Yeah, Candice is going to be there. Steve's going to be there. Jen, Liz Boyd, Ian, think. Yes, it's going to be a blast. So of course, Tara, Tara, Daxo, and Lindsey. Our goal is don't let

Lindsey go, what do you call it, bandit the last seven miles with a friend. ⁓ Patrick Lieber says he's not coming, but I don't believe him. So we'll see him there.

Erika (1:44:12)
She can't, she can't know. Oh man.

Well, he hasn't booked

my spare bedroom, so I don't know. That's right. And he also hasn't booked my spare bedroom.

Eric (1:44:23)
Well, Wyatt is gonna be in town too.

And he

might, he might come on the podcast Saturday, guys. He might. Talking about it.

Erika (1:44:34)
that's amazing. Well,

we've got so many pod fam down there. How are we going to choose who we talk to? That's a good problem to have.

Eric (1:44:41)
I know. I know.

Hey, did you see this Paris water bottle, no water bottle, reusable cup debate? I don't know if it's a debate, like clown show.

Erika (1:44:51)
You know

what I did? So I really like that races are starting to go cupless. mean, ultras have been doing that for a long time now, but the way that Paris did it was a little different. They had literally zero cups on course and only hoses. So that is definitely a different way to do things. And I could see how that would be a little bit of a shit show.

Eric (1:45:12)
Yeah.

I love like the idea of doing this at an ultra. Maybe some smaller races.

Erika (1:45:26)
Mm-hmm. Well,

it's easier to do them at the smaller races, of course. Yeah.

Eric (1:45:30)
I'll tell you what.

You can't do this at a marathon that has over 10,000 runners. You can't do this at a 5k in New Hampshire that has over 5,000 runners. You just can't. Like I just pictured people stumbling over each other, waiting in line, like, and then some people deciding not to wait because they're a time and then they don't get water. I also feel like, I know, I also feel like more water was wasted that was sprayed from the hoses.

Erika (1:45:40)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. That could be dangerous.

Eric (1:45:59)
into these cups and it just registrates out of the cup.

Erika (1:45:59)
Mm-hmm.

because it sprays so forcefully. So I can see how it would be very frustrating for the runners just not being able to get the hydration you need. But I can also see how much fun it would be to be a volunteer. Just be like, all right, who wants some? Just spraying down the mass.

Eric (1:46:05)
Yes!

I could see that too. And I could see back of the packers having a blast like spray me, but I can just see people who are competitive and want to have a good time be like, mean at these big races, just do a whole recycling incentive, like paper cups and you recycle them all.

Erika (1:46:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's, it's rough if you want to perform.

Mm-hmm. Yep. So it's either

that or I know Berlin has done like the plastic cups and those can get recycled as well. there's, there's different ways to do it. I just, I think that pair has dropped the ball a little bit. They need work.

Eric (1:46:49)
Yeah, well I saw some

videos and it just looked like a clown show. messy. Messy is the good word. Ultra is perfect. Carry your own water bottle. Carry your own cup for an ultra. Perfect. Something slow where you don't need to worry about your pit crew time NASCAR style.

Erika (1:46:58)
Messy, so messy. Mm-hmm.

Yes. Yeah.

actually have one of these reusable cups handy because my ultra stuff is behind me. they're nice like squeezy, so you can fit them in a pocket if you need to. And they have a loop. So I keep a carabiner on it so I can clip it to somewhere if I don't want to put it in a pocket or don't want to lose it. So there are really easy ways to do it, but not everybody has one of these. I mean, a lot of people don't run with a handheld hydration vessel.

So it's an adjustment for everybody, really.

Eric (1:47:45)
It's perfect for an ultra, not a big marathon. Yeah.

Erika (1:47:48)
Yes. Soda. Soda

goes great out of these things.

Eric (1:47:53)
⁓ I'm excited. I want to do more of those debates. That was a quick one. But the one from the other day about, yeah, not as fun when we're on the same page.

Erika (1:47:58)
Yeah, I think we're on the same page on this one. It was not well executed. You just

like to... Yeah, yeah, you're a shitster. Well, yeah, come on.

Eric (1:48:07)
Stir the pot. the pot. Erica's cheap.

Give me more. She's like, give me more, give me more. What's that song? Anyways, I had to regress. Oh yeah, Britney, did you see, I'm not even a Justin Bieber fan, but this made me happy. Did you see him at Coachella last night? Wednesday night? Yeah.

Erika (1:48:21)
Britney. Britney. Britney.

Coachella, yeah,

he was just literally like YouTubing himself and singing with his... That's actually cute.

Eric (1:48:38)
But at one point,

at one point he like had a real genuine smile and it was almost like he went from sad to happy just like this one point. It was, it was good.

Erika (1:48:45)
⁓ yeah, I didn't

see his whole set, but that's that is adorable. Like I heard some of it and I was like, ⁓ he's singing with himself. Yeah. I know he's been going through a whole bunch of like health issues. I don't I don't know the details of that, but I'm glad he's like happy. I like his music band. I will admit that all day long.

Eric (1:48:49)
Yeah.

First time in like four years. Yeah.

There you go. Well,

we'll be playing some music on Monday. We'll be having a good time all weekend. I can't wait. I think, though, it's time to send us home, Six Star.

Erika (1:49:17)
Yes.

well, if we're if we're going out, we're going out with a bang. And by that, I just mean, thank you, my race tats. We really appreciate you. And we're sorry that we forgot to say it last week. But thank you to everybody. ⁓ my God. I don't know what day it is. My weeks are blending. Boston Weeks. So exciting. But thank you all for listening. You know, we love you.

Eric (1:49:32)
Not last week, Tuesday.

Don't fear the code brown and see you in Boston this week guys.

Erika (1:49:47)
And most importantly, don't forget to stretch.

Trenni (1:50:39)
⁓ my dog's gonna yell that because Sean wants to take her out for a walk and she's like ignoring it and she's side eyeing him.

Erika (1:50:44)
⁓

no.

Trenni (1:50:47)
Having dogs pretty much is just like having children. It is like having children. We have two golden retrievers, Winnie is the girl and Wally is the boy. ⁓ Winnie Cooper and Wally Cleaver.

Erika (1:50:51)
Okay. ⁓

Eric (1:50:52)
it is, in fact. Yeah.

Erika (1:51:00)
⁓ I love it.

Eric (1:51:01)
Now,

okay, I was gonna guess Lake Winnipegsocky.

Trenni (1:51:05)
Yeah, I

Everybody thinks that, no, no. And now everybody thinks that all the time, there's ⁓ like, Winnie Cooper from Wonder Years. And then we had Wally, we were like, well, we have to Wally a middle name. Who doesn't love? That's so great.

Erika (1:51:08)
And Wally from the Red Sox.

Eric (1:51:10)
Yeah.

Erika (1:51:13)
Can't help it.

Eric (1:51:18)
I love Winnie Cooper. my God, you just brought me back.

Erika (1:51:20)
We were just talking about that the other day.

Eric (1:51:24)
No, I hit the wrong button. ⁓

Erika (1:51:27)
You gotta leave it now.