238 | Boston Run To Remember Expo Day Part 2 | Millennium Running

Part Two of our recording from the Millennium Running Boston Run To Remember Expo Day covers all the guest we talked to before and after our live stream recording.

 summary

This episode features a diverse group of runners, organizers, and enthusiasts sharing their journeys, race experiences, and insights into the vibrant running community around Boston. From first-time half marathoners to seasoned marathoners, discover tips, stories, and the camaraderie that makes running a universal sport. This episode features inspiring stories from runners, advocates, and community leaders, highlighting the importance of perseverance, community support, and accessibility in running. Discover tips for race day, insights into adaptive sports, and how to get involved in local and international races.

00:00 Boston Run To Remember Open
08:27 Annie and Jess
21:21 Stride for Stride
32:43 Nathan and Faith
44:06 Cressandra
56:06 Nyelli
01:06:52 Greater Lowell Running Club | Amy and Erin
01:15:18 Tom Raffio | Delta Dental
01:32:54 Jermin
01:42:30 Michaela | Outro

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Email us at OnTheRunsPod@gmail.com

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

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:05)
What's up everybody and welcome to a very special edition of the On the Runs podcast. We are coming to you from the Boston Seaport Hotel in the Seaport area, Boston. It is expo day for the Boston Run to remember, brought to you by our good friends at Millennium Running. I am here with my amazing kick butt rock star for co-host six star Erica. What's up?

speaker-1 (00:27)
Censored Eric is in the building today everybody. How is it going? What an expo. I think this is probably one of the best expos I have been to. There's so much going on right now.

speaker-0 (00:39)
We've gone to a few expos in our time and this one's super cool. One we're working at it. We never

speaker-1 (00:45)
Yeah I mean.

speaker-0 (00:46)
This

so th the way this is gonna break down is for those of you listening at home because what we do when we do these live shows is everyone ⁓ who listens to the podcast on a normal weekly basis gets to hear it. We're gonna break this up into like two parts. And this is obviously the part about a week or so after where you're gonna get to hear from some of the runners, some of the people coming through, and then we're gonna do a live stream for about 45 minutes, a straight up live stream, continuous talk about the race. But let's just talk about our day a little bit then since this is what the listeners love to hear the most. Yep. You and I

met you drove way out of your way to avoid driving into the city because I was up north coming from the opposite direction of normal. Yep. We met in Hampton and I picked you up. Yep.

speaker-1 (01:26)
Yep, Eric w is camping this weekend. It's Memorial Day weekend, so he's got his camper and they are just doing the doing the awesome thing. Where are you actually camping, by the way?

speaker-0 (01:35)
Awesome.

So the family's doing something with another family that that you know was a planned out thing very recently after this was all planned out and like I'll go tow camper, do all those fun things for you. I'm gonna be gone Saturday because I wanna be here.

speaker-1 (01:48)
We've been planning this for a long time, so I'm glad you were able to to get somebody to watch your kids and you got

speaker-0 (01:54)
I know Ashley's watching the kids. I didn't have to get a babysitter this time. We drove down here though, it was fun. We got Rockstar Parking. Right right I just said, hey look, Millennium Truck, Millennium Truck Millennium Truck space in between. All that I need, John, is a millennium running decal to put on my truck next time.

speaker-1 (01:57)
I mean that's still somebody watching your kids, so

Staff

race staff.

speaker-0 (02:13)
So we had Rockstar Parking, Dare DJ Darren Roy's here, he's checking out. It's like is my music too loud? So a lot of the normal regular staff you see at Millennium Races are here, but one big difference is the amount of volunteers. This race has got to be one of the biggest millennium races, over 10,000 runners.

speaker-1 (02:31)
Well there are I think close to eight thousand runners, but on race day there's gonna be somewhere close to ten thousand people out there between the spectators and

speaker-0 (02:39)
Well

actually the ten thousand number I'm getting now is they're expecting over ten thousand people in and out of the expo today. ⁓ that was where the ten came from because you got eight thousand runners, they're all bringing friends. Friends, family. I wouldn't be surprised if it's much higher than that number. Who goes to these? Well, okay.

speaker-1 (02:46)
wow.

speaker-0 (02:56)
If you're running with a bunch of friends, you're probably going with your friends. And you're all running. So you might not bring your mom or your dad or your partner or somebody. But if you're just coming from out of town and stuff and you probably bring in someone else, like your your partner, your your boyfriend, girlfriend, your mom

speaker-1 (03:13)
I even

saw a dog. That was probably a high Golden Retriever.

speaker-0 (03:16)
Dog friendly. The

cool part is everybody's walking in through what we thought was the exit. But if you're so we got a camera here, but we also got the camera there and that camera will get everyone coming in. Yeah, I bet you they'll be

speaker-1 (03:30)
Camera's

getting my good side by the way. Back of my head.

speaker-0 (03:33)
I bet you there'll be over twelve thousand people here, which is amazing. And this right, this is for eight hours, we're here for three. Like, don't get crazy, Erica, yet think we're gonna do this for you. You got the three sixty ⁓ f photo thing over there. Well when they walk in, we're gonna pretend they're walking in from the other side, which we think is the correct side, because this is the way they want

speaker-1 (03:38)
We are front and center.

speaker-0 (03:56)
It's a flow and they end with us. But over there is where you get your you got questions, customer service, hey, where do I go? They direct you. And then they got bib numbers zero to nine thousand all along the back wall that we're facing. In the middle of the this is a ballroom, by the way. Okay. So a little it I I don't know if it's on par with that new one they're building in DC. I don't know. I don't know. But we got don't get me started. We got the store, shoes, good o'ers, t-shirts, everything you need, ⁓ nutrition.

gummies, goo, every it basically they took the Millennium store in Bedford, brought it up. Out of here. Right. There's nothing but Millennium trucks outside. And that's so cool to see that they're able to bring it beyond ⁓ just local New Hampshire.

speaker-1 (04:40)
And

then if you look well you can't look live stream to ⁓ to our right, we've got the Stephan Repeat. They they really do put us in the perfect spot. So we have all of the runners taking pictures with their bibs. You guys are looking wonder

speaker-0 (04:53)
She's gonna come on after and grab a mic, right? Yeah, she is. The way they want it to flow is where I said again, you go in through that custom service questions, you see the store to your right, and all your bibs are to the left, and then you do, like you said, the step and repeat. We got people right here. let me see if I can turn the one of the cameras and and then as they walk out, they file out the exit that they're supposed to walk out. ⁓

speaker-1 (05:12)
Give him a shove.

I actually

thought there was a sign over here that said not next it. So I think they're going in the right way. maybe you're really put us in the

speaker-0 (05:25)
I might have read that was care that was tricky. That was tricky, that chairman. he had the water. We all right, let's t code brown. We had a small code brown.

speaker-1 (05:34)
Yep, first thing we get all set up and then Eric goes to move his his big soundboard and a cup of water just goes everywhere.

speaker-0 (05:42)
I wanted more space. Yep. And the recorder was right here guys. If you're looking on the recorder was right here. I wanted to move it right there on the side of the table. And 'cause I don't need it here. No. I'm not hitting the all the time. You could

I wanted the c computer. I'm working on the whole space thing because we wanna start live streaming these things. We're not live streaming right now, but we're gonna try in a little bit. We wanna start doing that where we can go when we have Wi Fi like right now. Yeah. And not have to w work off my hotspot.

speaker-1 (06:12)
Also, can I just say how nice it is to not have to deal with wind today? We're inside a nice wonderful b

speaker-0 (06:18)
You

weren't there for cheap.

speaker-1 (06:21)
Well, I was running cheap, so I know I know it was like. I actually was there for that. Okay. Yeah, we were we were cleaning up when the wind just wasn't taking stuff. Yeah. But this is really nice. Like I I think we were actually wrong about some of the weather this weekend. We g we gave our predictions. We're like the weather was gonna be rainy. But today's actually a very nice day. It's gonna be a mid-sixties, no rain today. Right. And I mean this would have been an okay day to be inside. But we we got this nice box.

speaker-0 (06:24)
It almost came down.

We'll look at race day weather right here as I as I pull up

speaker-1 (06:50)
I don't think it's

speaker-0 (06:54)
Well

this is after. I mean everyone's gonna know what already happened. Well true. So yeah, I mean it is nice today. Windows were down. Yeah. ⁓ we're we're in again the seaport area, Boston. Right. My phone's not updating quick enough. It thinks I'm in Manchester right now. So it's ⁓ okay, here we go. Boston. Yeah, tomorrow yeah guys. Yeah guys, sorry.

speaker-1 (07:04)
I've even wearing some shorts.

It's

just a little rain, you guys will be fine, everything is good.

speaker-0 (07:20)
How you

doing? ⁓ the rain? Yep. ⁓ boy.

speaker-1 (07:26)
Just run fast and y and you guys won't ⁓ have to deal with Rain on me, one of your favorite

speaker-0 (07:29)
The song right now, do you hear the song? Lady

Gaga. Just embrace it. Embrace it. So this is gonna be a lot of fun. We're gonna bring some people over, we're gonna do that, we're gonna have a lot of fun. ⁓ you guys listening are gonna get to hear from hopefully some new people. We did see friends, we saw Patty and Bill. Patty and Bill. Right. Obviously we saw Miguel and we saw our Merlin friends. Bridget's here doing the sale. Mel's here. Right, Mel.

Yeah. So we have fun. All right. Well guys, we'll see you in a few moments with our first guest.

Eric (08:02)
Alright, we're back with our first two guests of the day from the Seaport Hotel, Boston's Run to Remember. We're with Annie. Annie and her friend Jess. Jess, Annie and Jess. Where are you two from? I live in Brighton. Brighton, so Massachusetts people. Cool. We're not from New Hampshire. We came all the way from New Hampshire. Born and raised Massachusetts? Yep, Quincy. Quincy, okay. Beverly. Beverly. Beverly. What was it like growing up in Mass? We're just up the road over the border in New Hampshire.

Was it like growing up here in Mass, what did you do? ⁓

Lots of outdoor time going to Boston, lots of walking around with family and friends. We went to the beach all the time. Beach, yeah. Which beach? Beverly has a whole bunch, like Lynch Park or you can go up to Gloucester. ⁓ my dad's from Gloucester. And we'll take the boat so we'll take the boat out of Newberry Port and and go all the way to Gloucester. But our beach is like Hampton Beach. Your beach beaches must be so much nicer. I went to growing up I went to Nantaskett, so South Shore. Yeah. Yeah, so Hull. Yeah. Much nicer than our beach. I think so, yeah.

Usually if it's me going to the beach, I go to Maine. But yeah. New Hampshire has like just 13 miles of coastline and I feel like I've run it all. Most New Hampshire people don't go to New Hampshire beaches, they go to lakes or they go to Maine because a lot of other people go to New Hampshire beaches that we don't hang out with. So runners, I'm assuming you're here for the Boston Run to remember. You guys were taking pictures in front of the step and repeat. So which races are you guys doing? The half. Yeah. The marathon. Have you guys done a half before?

Yes, this is actually number eight for me. Excellent. Yeah, this is my first. Whoa! Congratulations. Let's talk to Jess about her first and then we can talk to Annie about what Jess should do for her first half marathon. Why did you choose to run a half marathon now? ⁓

Because Annie said this one is super awesome, and I I trust what Annie says. Listen to your friends, everybody. Sage advice. So kind of a weird story, but when the Boston Marathon went virtual in 2021, I got the email and I signed up immediately because I said this might be my only chance ever to do the Boston Marathon. Okay. So I didn't do the actual course, but I made my own course down on the Esplanade and I did a whole marathon by myself. Like I just parked my car with all my stuff and supplies.

But I have never gotten like a race atmosphere of a half or a marathon. I was like, I really want that. Like, I wanted to get back into running. So I basically like asked all my friends, like, hey, let me know of like some good races to do. And Annie was like, run to remember is amazing. I've done it for I think this is number four. Yeah, very nice. So came highly recommended. So what was the transition period though from COVID when there was the virtual Boston to today? Was it just like 5Ks or just like I did that?

And then at some point you wanted to do it again. Pretty much. That's exactly how it went. Like Yeah. At least you're no stranger to the distance, but this is gonna be your very like your first real foray into the half marathon world. Yes. I I know that there's gonna be so much crowd support out there, so this is gonna be the perfect one. The best part really is getting to mile eight or nine where those first responders are cheering you on and you get to high five them, that's probably like the best part of the race. I love that.

So you've done a few of these before. Yep. You've done eight halves. This is your fourth boss run to remember. Right, let's talk about you a little bit, Annie, and running because it seems like you're getting Jessica into it. Yeah. What was you what's your background?

I don't know. Well, I think back in 2020 is when I started running because you know COVID and like I needed to get out of my house, and that's when I started running. I actually then tore my tendon in my foot after overuse of it and had to get surgery. Six months later, got surgery again because I retore it. ⁓ And I was like, ⁓ maybe I'll never be able to do a half. And then PT and the working up to all those miles got me to my

First and then here we are eight eight later. Eight later. Is this your longest distance? Yes. So even though it's her first half, Jess has done a full.

But my fault was alone. This is gonna be with like 10 or 12,000 people. This is so much cooler. The city is gonna turn out for both of you. You're gonna have an amazing time. Let's go back to Jess here. Outside of that virtual, have you done 5K's like organized races though? Yeah, I do a turkey trot every single year. That was like the first race I ever tried. And you know, love a good 5K. I've done some tens. So yeah, I just felt ready for something new, exciting.

For the challenge. For a challenge. Yes, yes. Now your virtual full. Yeah. How did it go? It was hard. I was able to run the first half and then after that it was kind of like, okay, like this is a lot harder than I thought. Yeah. So, you know, there was a lot of walking, but I finished and they had like an official app and like it like cheers for you at the end. Yeah, it's like it was pretty cool. Did you get the jacket and everything? Yeah, and the metal, everything, yeah.

The medal's the best part. The metal is the best part. So you run for the medals? There's nothing. There's nothing wrong with running for the medals, okay? Gotta get the glory, you know. Do you hang the metal? Do you like show it off or does it sit like mine's in my truck right now from New York City last year? Are you serious, dude? With the ribbon wrapped around it. no, I have two metal hanging ⁓

things where you put all the medals on. One says she believed she could she did and then one says like I I can do hard things or something like that and I just hang all of them up. Sounds like a familiar couple ⁓ mantras we know. We're not wrong, yeah. No, yeah. ⁓ goal for tomorrow. Fun party race, going for a time. What's the goals? Running together, holding hands. Nothing wrong with that either.

Annie has more experience, so I'm gonna let her do her thing. You know, if we end up running together, that'd be super fun. But you know, I I need to like play it cool at the beginning because for me it's just gonna be kind of a long run. but yeah, just have fun. Like that's that's why we're doing it. Definitely. Yeah, just soak up the atmosphere, especially since it's your first. There nothing can replace your first, right? I know. So, and if anything goes wrong, we want to know about it. And knowing that Annie's done eight, I want to ask.

Like, so this is Stooley. He's a little mask off. I'm so obsessed with him. We have something called the Code Brown. We just experienced a Code Brown about 20 minutes ago. We spilt water on the table. no. Right. That's a code brown, right? All these microphones and cables. Seven now, eight tomorrow, half marathons. Have you ever had like, give me your best day and your worst day. So because of my previous injury, I stopped running for time because I really wanted to focus on breathing.

and ⁓ kind of sticking to a good pace and so I'm not ever really going for pace but my best day was probably in November last November when I did Cambridge half and also one of my favorites next month in November calendar and

PR'd without trying and didn't train as much as I would have or did for this one. So like it was just a big win. I don't know, my biggest ⁓ my what is it what do you call it? You ever have a day when just like things didn't go the way you hoped? Maybe you had a little too many goos or gels or honestly, I feel like your your injury was a big code round too. I mean, and I think towards like eight or nine miles, like that's when my knees will start to hurt or like my calves and like I'm

I'm like, come on, I didn't come this far to stop now, you know? And right when you're a mile away, it's more of just like, okay, I don't want to speed up too much because I want to yak when I cross the finish line, but I do want to really push it to like make that finish. So yeah, I think just the soreness of getting close to the end is is tough. Right, right. And sometimes it's the soreness the next game. yeah. Yeah, that's your feeling of accomplishment. You really did the Yeah, you be fine. ⁓

Stretch. That's my my catchphrase at the end of every episode that we do. I I remind people to stretch even though I'm not the best at it. It'll help in the long run. I'm one of her trainers and I know how strong she is. Are you a smoker or are you just doing the fun? Yeah, I'm a trainer at Burn Boo Camp. Nice. Yeah, so that's how we know each other, and I know what she's capable of, so I'm excited to see what she can do. Well it's gonna be fun to see what you can do after this too. Like you just keep building on it and growing it, and then this will be like you said, 10,000 runners, the atmosphere will be incredible.

So

good. And then you're gonna do a turkey trot and you'll be like, okay. That'll be like small potatoes after that. One day though, you'll end up running like the Boston Marathon. That's a goal. Hopefully, that would be super cool. Yeah, run on. Especially because your hometown. Yeah, I know so. And that's just like you can almost when you're watching the Boston Marathon, you almost just like get like, ⁓ my gosh, like emotional, just like watching all of them be so incredible in Boston, and it's like, so that's what I want. You can't help but be inspired by it.

Yes, exactly. Do you watch every year? ⁓ almost every year, yeah. Because you're pretty close. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then ⁓ right now, college, school, like just grinding every day. Just work, yeah, no more school. Do you do the bur boo burn camp? Yeah, but so I train twice a week and then I'm a full-time teacher. that's awesome. Yeah, I'm a high school teacher. Fair enough. Both brave. Yeah. She's brave doing ⁓ high school. I can't I do elementary and I think that's

That's hard enough. Well, I have kids, little ones in elementary, I feel bad, and I'll feel bad when they get to the high school level. That's kind of yeah, yeah. It comes with its perks. That's why we need to run because it gets the stress out. Exactly. Yes. After a hard day or before a hard day. The best way to decompress. Yeah, if you know you can go on a long, hard run, you know you can handle anything in the classroom. You have a point, yeah. Well, you're gonna have an amazing day tomorrow. Thank you. Don't worry about the weather. No. Don't fear the code.

Brown. The code brown might be the the rain's. But you know, if you listen to music, turn on Lady Gaga, what's the song? Rain on me. Rain on me. Right? Yep. Just start with that song. Remember your body glide. That's gonna say that's gonna save you too. Yep. My my one piece of advice for you, or for really anybody running, but especially a first, is if it's not going as planned, just start to have fun. Yeah. Just do party pace and don't let

Let the the pain make it suck. Just be like now high five everybody, have five all the kids, pet all the dogs, take in the crowd, and don't worry about your pace or or your time. I love that. I totally agree. This course is awesome too. There's so much to look at. Like I've got a list here. It takes you on a historic tour of downtown Boston. You get to the Seaport distant ⁓ district, the State House, the Government Center, Faniu Hall, Boston Common, then the Memorial Drive is just my gosh. Yes. And so you're gonna

Be out there with like first responders in uniform carrying the flags. Like you have the the row of all the memorials for the first responders. This is this is the race to do. Will you have friends and family cheering you on? definitely. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, good luck tomorrow. Thank so much. Have a lot of fun. And ⁓ we'll be looking to see how you do. We got so we got just just this is actually more for record keeping. Jess is 2603. No pressure. 30 in a 35. Well, this is

⁓ This is when I edit later and everyone's listening after the race, and then they can look up your numbers and see how much fun you had. How much fun? Off the charts on the fun meter. Anywhere we can follow you, anywhere anyone listening can follow you. You do Instagram? Yeah, actually, and I have a YouTube, so I'll have a vlog up. It's just my name Jess Kaplan. Jess Kaplan on YouTube. Although if it rains too hard, it's gonna mess up the vlogging. So you'll fall on your phone?

Yeah, I just do it with my phone, it's really okay. But

Yeah, it should be fun. Yeah. Jess Kaplan with a K. I'm gonna check that out. I saw you take a video too. Yeah, yeah. We're on the vlog. Yeah. The next Casey Neistat, everybody. There we Jessica. So how about you, Annie? Where can where can everybody find you? ⁓ I'm just Annie Nicole97. So that's you know. Well you got a couple new followers on us, so we hope so super well for you. And you just enjoy yourself. Thank you so much for Have so much fun, guys. High vibe. Good luck. Get out there. Yeah. Guys, Jessica and Annie on the On the Runs podcast. We'll be back with a few.

more after this. Bye guys!

Eric (21:03)
We are back at the Boston Run Tremor with our next two guests. Who do we have right now? Who what's your name? Jessica. Jessica and Kate. Jessica and Kate, where are you both from? I'm from Guatemala. Guatemala? Guatemala. And you? I'm from Honduras. my goodness. Okay, and you came here just for this race, right? Correct.

Really? We're here well we're born in Boston but we're here just for the race for for today and tomorrow. So you li you live here now, you're local to the Boston area. Are you are you big runners? Is this your big first raise? How have you this is not no, she's like no, I've done a lot of these. We got a pro here. Yeah.

⁓ you're talking my language. I love the marathons, I love the ultras. Yeah, ooh, there are a lot of good stories, I'm sure, with with marathons and ultras. So if there's any we call them code browns if you guys have any good stories you want to share with us. Well let's start with you. You're the marathon runner. Have you name some marathons you've done? Boston, New York, local, have you Guatemala? I did local first. This is my first time.

⁓ long time ago like 20 years ago and then I'm starting with this one okay and I remember my daughter she do the little ones when she was ⁓ really that's so cute so and then we start I start to do marathons yeah so my best is like half and full and then I'm not stuck running ⁓

⁓ and this one I love the the city, I love the people, I love the energy I feel. And then I have my friend Katin. She's really good on the races too. So ⁓ Do you run together a lot? Not right now, but in the past we do, yeah. How did you two meet? To meet we actually met at church. yeah, so ⁓

And you're both like you're at you're at church, you meet you go a couple times, then at some point you find out you both run. You like ultras, you like marathons, and you're like, let's just start running together and do these So when you run tomorrow at the Boston Run for remember, are you running together? Are you running for time, like for yourselves? What's the game plan tomorrow? Well for me

an injury so I'm coming to have fun. There's a big group of friends. We always start together. We always get together the striker stride team. And it is about 20 of us. So we're gonna start together but then you know after everyone take their pace and I'm doing the five mile tomorrow. I think you're doing the half ride. I do the half. Yeah so you mentioned being on a team is that your stride for stride?

Tell us a little bit about the team. Okay, this is the organization for la for immigrants. And I remember we know someone who r do they have a charity for the Boss Marathon? Is it Raina? Raina. Raina Raina. Do you know who Raina is? Yes. We've had Raina on the podcast. Reina. Yeah, Raina. She's that's right. It's

The Strife for Sri will facilitate VIPs for the Bipod community. Yeah. So ⁓ we're part of it. There's a lot of us. But Reina is it's we run together. So six. So she did the six stars. So talk a little bit more about Stride for Stride in in your group though. Okay. our ⁓ organizer is Tom and he started to

This for immigrants because it's the low income. And then also we don't have so many runners in the past. So when he started this organization, I remember also inviting Karen because she is more interested in running. And I say to Karen, I don't have girls in the team. We have just five.

And then I'm the only one I

remember that to to run. So she started with me and it was it was a good moment. And then Sry always support okay to ask Tom for beats and then we continue and then he grows and grows and grows and he's he's never stopped now. So we love to see that momentum. This is for such a good cause. Right. It it is it is a very ⁓ family oriented ⁓ team

I

think there's a lot of of ⁓ us who live here and don't have as much interaction with family that are back home. So it's try for a strike we have come to not only support and and be ⁓ you know see more virality in races but also to help with some of the runners that have gone through mental health situations and running has been the the the outlet. Yes. But the biggest biggest thing is that Tom was needed

needed a kidney transplant. my god. So he you know he was in a list. It was towards the end one where he needed to do ⁓ well basically he was he didn't have anyone to match him and then in the team there were a few people who wanted to donate. ⁓ my god. And one of them was a match and so they you know he our friend ⁓

Jorge donated his kidney to him and now they run together and Tom has done three marathons since then. Not a big deal. Yeah, so we it's it's it's a a really it's a team that really inspired. We inspire each other, we help each other and we love to do it as running and be happy and cheering and all of that. my gosh. Awesome. That's so incredible to hear about Tom. So he's done three marathons since the kidney transplant.

Tom started the Stride for Stride and helped that group go. Now, is Stride for Stride just local here to like Massachusetts or it's much beyond? Big. Big, it's big. That's incredible. Where where's Tom from? He's from here. Okay. Well, yeah. He's he's from here. I know he has family like in in Virginia, New York, New York. But but ⁓

He's graduate from Boston College and ⁓ he stayed here. in but but but they do we have other friends in Miami. There's a big team of Strifer Stride Miami. There's a big team of Strip first ride in New York and even Colombia in the UK as well. That's awesome. That's incredible. Let's talk about you a little bit. You are the ultra runner. So tell us Erica is my ultra runner here. Tell us a little bit about what you do with

In ultras, have you run hundreds? Have you just done fifty Ks? Do you run ultras around here? Have you gone anywhere cool like Coca-Cona two fifty? That's that's my goal. Yeah. So I am a a very new ultra runner, but I I once you do an ultra, you'll learn ultra runner. Yes. ⁓ so I ⁓ I did my first forty miles ⁓ last year and prior to that yeah, so forty miles and then I did fifty miles, so I ran the

the the pr this race that is called the Speed Project, which is from Las Vegas, from LA to Las Vegas. So we did a team and and I end up running fifty miles on that one. ⁓

And so now I am preparing to to run 150 miles next March. my god. To support my son who's gonna do the three hundred and forty miles ⁓ by himself from LA to Las Vegas. Wow Doing a solo speed project. Yeah. It's impressive. So we got you pacing. I'll be the pacer, yeah. So I am happy and I love ultras. I did one that is a backyard from a Colombian

you know ⁓ i i it they do it in Colombia but they do it everywhere like if you want to sign up and I did it on Jamaica Pond. I don't know if you know Jamaica Pond, but I did it on Jamaica Pond. I did ⁓ thirty five miles. That's ⁓ or like just around the pond. So that's Eric is into the loops too. I I do love me a looped race. There's there's a few I have not done a ⁓ backyard yet 'cause that's every hour on the hour you do a lap. ⁓ I just do like a twenty four hour race. Like I I

Take the time, Bray.

And then we just run as much as we can in that time. So but loop on loop on loop, I I get it. It gets a little dizzy, but it still counts and it's still fun. It's hard. It is hard, yeah. Stopping, it's popping, and like starting again after you've done 26 miles is hard. That's where they get you too, especially if you if you keep going by like where your stuff is or a chair. They say beware the chair. Yeah, yeah. That is that is true. Well tomorrow's gonna be incredible for the two of you. Amazing story about stride for stride, about Tom.

And

about just the group it seems you're involved in, how the two of you met. I love that. Like Yeah, you you have a team of 20, right? 20 people, that's the end of time. wow. And you're all starting together, but then you're gonna go do your own thing because you're running the five and you're doing the half. Yeah, that's gonna be incredible. You're gonna have a great day. Don't fear the code brown. It's not gonna rain that bad. And if it does, just play some good raining music and just enjoy it. Party pace is the way I like to run. Yeah. If you're running for time, go out there and get it. Still have fun. That's the most important part is to have fun.

But

that why bother keep coming back? Yeah. Yeah. Especially like like Jessica mentioned, I love this race. This is the first race that I registered when I started running the first half. But it was it was it it was closed because of COVID. So and then I had to wait a whole year to do it to do it. wow. And I every everyone that asked me for half marathon I said Boston Rental Remember is the best one because you just run through the streets of Boston.

And it's just beautiful and people come cheer. I I love I love it. It's awesome. So motivating. Where can people follow you? Like do you have a presence on Instagram where they can follow you guys or what you're doing with stride for stride? they can f Instagram and

So I have an Instagram. My Instagram is Karen K A R N that runs. R O N S. ⁓ and then ⁓ Strike First Stride has their Instagram and Facebook. So if you find Strike First Ride. Awesome, because I want to follow your journey. Same. Speed project and your son's ⁓ raise too and the one you got coming up in the ⁓ next March you said. So thank you so much for coming on. Have a great day tomorrow. I can't wait

to follow along your journey and see it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Have an awesome day guys. You too.

Eric (32:32)
Okay, we are back. We are with some they might have traveled far. We'll find out. See a Colorado teacher. Yeah, we're with Nathan and Faith. Faith. Nathan and Faith. Nathan and Fate. A couple, an item, right? Yes. Running couple. Like how okay, let's let's get to it right away. Let's get to the romance story. Where are you from? How'd you meet? Was it run club? Was it school? Who what's what's the scoop here? Our dads met on a ski trip in South America. I love this already in Chile, probably in the summertime. See,

I'm a big skier. If you gave me the choice running or skiing, I'd choose skiing every day. Is that the Andes down there? They have the Okay, okay. Wow. Your dad's met on a ski trip and they're like, hey, I have a son, I have a daughter. No, it took years. Yeah, it took a few years, but the dads met, the moms met, and then the kids met. I think I met Faith in 22, something like that. But I think what really brought us together was running. And that's how we really bonded and then eventually got together. And skiing. And skiing too. So you're skiers. We're talking his alley right there.

Where

are you from? I grew up in California. went to school over in Boulder, Colorado. lived a year over in Denver, and I live in Chicago. So also a big running city. All over the place. It's been fantastic. And then gotta say Chicago's my favorite. It's so fun. Yeah, so fun. I'm from Park City, Utah. right. But I live here now. You live here? Yeah. So wait, long distance? Yes. Alright. We're doing in the summertime. In the summertime, we're doing a series on just couples. Okay. Alright. We'll talk we'll save those two.

Stories

for the summer. Maybe you can come back on the podcast. We do it virtually. We'll save that for the summer because what I want to know is you live in Chicago now. I do. And you live here now, and you decided to fly over here for a race. How did you decide to do that? You're big runners, of course, right? So every race I've ever done has been with him. My very first half marathon, my very first full marathon, another half, and then now this half. And I was like getting the itch to do another.

race and I was like come to Boston let's do this wonderful the perfect one for you last race was the Long Beach marathon back in October so it's been quite a bit. wow was that your first full that you did the Long Beach very nice very nice congratulations thank you that's awesome so big runners big skiers what have you done faith for running in the past?

I stick with the Hal Higdon training route as like my go-to. ⁓ here I actually love running through Seaport and down into Southie and the beach and stuff. Doing my long runs on the weekends and then I'm in PA school so trying to get the runs in before my classes run. She gets after it, she's up at five and five A going on like I need to know your secret. I think PA school is it. Yes. It forces you. Exactly. And then being being far apart.

Are you training together? Like are you working off each other, bouncing training plans, back and forth, hey how'd your run go, how'd this go, you know, trying to like help each other get better here. We're each other's biggest Strava, kudos. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Me and my three followers too. But always commenting, always get that hype up. And I don't know, it's kind of the best too of a job is to push each other. We're hoping to do that in the race as well. So we're gonna do really well. Yeah. Hoping to PR. How long have you been in Boston? Just since January. Okay, so you haven't experienced anything like this before.

Maybe the Boston Marathon, maybe you watched. I did. I watched, I went to the end. Yeah. On Boilstone. Very nice. That was just been incredible. That was insane. So inspiring. So do you have goals like beyond this? I definitely want to run the Boston Marathon at some point. ⁓ he signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October. I will be there. That's my favorite. That's my big time doing it. I'm gonna go and spectate and cheer him on, but I I'm like I can do the half marathon training during school, but it's too time consuming. I get that.

I can only imagine what PA school is having you do, and the schedule must be out of control. That's crazy. Stick it to what you can handle. That's definitely a good idea. Yes. Now you got a lot of family here. Yes. I think I see mom over there. And sorry if the speaker's not loud enough, but it was given way too much feedback. Is it grant grandpa, I'm assuming? That's my ⁓ my uncle. Uncle? Yes. And then ⁓ your skiing dads. Are they here? They are not. They couldn't make it out. They're on a ski trip somewhere. When are they not? We got Bob representing.

Present

here. Have you been a boss before Nate then? Yeah, so well my first time over on the East Coast in general is back in January when we were moving Faith then ⁓ to Tots. So I'd never really had any experience out here. I didn't really know what to expect, but I mean I've come out here at basically every month since January and it's been so much fun. I have so many questions. ⁓ Well here, I'll go here. Faith. Park City, Utah. Yes. Why do you come to Boston? ⁓ my dream since I started college.

has been to go to PA school in Boston. So like just leading up my whole like undergraduate career was like leading to this moment. Alright. And I just I love the city of Boston. I'm actually originally from DC. So I wanted to get back to the East Coast and it's just such a medical hub, such a school hub here. It's like it was the dream. So it just happened. It's probably the best place to go for anything medical wise. Okay. I mean even us being in New Hampshire

Hampshire,

like if if you have a real medical emergency, you come here. Yes. The race tomorrow, weather looks perfect. This drops after, so we're just gonna assume you had a great day. It's gonna be fine. You guys are making you're gonna be great. What is your game plan? Are you running together? Are you doing your own race, going for time, gonna party pace? What are you gonna do? She said she pe she wants to PR, she go for it. We're we're definitely PR, but running's always better in duos, I think. ⁓ I w definitely wanna run it with Faith. we're gonna push a bit. I we're shooting for around like a ten thirty or ten.

Yeah, we can probably do faster than that too. Yeah. ⁓ I've been training at 9 45, so I'm my other ones have been 10 30, so as I'll keep for a We're gonna push some low and we'll do well. So definitely is a duo. Now, Faith, if you're having a good day, you're feeling it, but he's struggling. Are you dropping him or are you gonna stay? Well, he runs way faster than me usually. He's he's like 8 30 base, so he he's always good about staying with me. But if I'm

I'm

feeling good. He'll he'll kick it up on sounds like it's gonna be motivation. It's gonna be super fun. We're excited. And then being here in New Hampshire, I just want to shout out Millennium Run. New England, New England. Like as you continue to run, like check out some of these races they put on. A lot of them are New Hampshire based, but they're growing down here and they're taking these over. And they're just phenomenal. They do a great one in Newberry Park. Yeah. Coming up this fall. This fall. Yeah. And then the New England half is another one.

Nut downhill, right? Yes. Yes. That's a little tricky, but I mean those hills you you have an uphill, but then you get a really nice downhill. So and I know it's not DC, but the finish line that one is at New Hampshire State Capitol. wow, beautiful. Did we sell it? Did we sell it? We could use smart doctors there. We need to. There's one right here. Yes, yeah. What are you doing, Nate, for school? Are you in school? Are you so I graduated in 23, and so I moved over to Chicago. I worked

Remotely

from there. ⁓ we're in medical storage, so I'm a Bayern forecaster. ⁓ we're based out of California that is all true. That's where I grew up. So I'll go back there, work out the office for one to two weeks at a time, then return over to Chicago. So yeah, Chicago is like my first urban experience, I guess. I lived in Denver for a year, ⁓ and then I saw what a real city was when I got to Chicago. and yeah, I've been there for two years now, ⁓ working and it's been a great time. So I'm with a few college friends out there and it's been great.

Have you been to visit him yet? Yes. Yeah, it's awesome. I love Chicago too. This comes out in June too. Let's talk skiing real quick. Yes. All right. I know you're from Utah and you're from Colorado. Did you ski it all this winter here? We had an incredible winter. I know.

Just the the worst of it. That was my we started in January for school. So I was like in the thick of it trying to figure out PA school and I did not make it out, which was such a bummer. But next winter for sure, I think I might try to get Epic because I hear that's like the East Coast. You don't have that pass, too. No, no. I I I go to a local mountain with I think my best friend has that because you can go all over the place. Yeah. You were like, Epic and you got indie. Indy's a great pass. What kind of skiing are you into? Are you in are you into glades like the powder and getting the

Trees?

Yes. Alright, we gotta take you to JP. Okay, JP. You come too awesome. No, I'd love to. I need to ski the east. I've always been so interested in Vermont, like Sugarloaf, Killington. Sugarloaf is my favorite. That's way up in Maine. And but it's in Maine. Sugarloaf's way you're thinking Sugar Bush. Sugar Bush. That's Vermont. Sugarloaf is the greatest mountain in the Okay, I mean I've heard so many good things about it. I really can't contribute to buttons. But if you want to do some really cool skiing, we're going to J Peak. That's on the Canadian border of Vermont. And so I ski there a few times a year.

They just closed last Saturday. Wow. The West Coast had such a brutal year. I mean, not West Coast, also like Utah and Colorado. So it was horrible. I think the East Coast was pretty good, if I'm correct. We get one good year every ten. Yeah. I'd love to check it out. All I can say is if you guys need a good buddy in the in the ski lodge afterwards, that's speaking my language. I'll pray it up. I can't do anything else. That's one of the best parts. Give me a hottit in a fireplace. Yes, please. I'm good.

Something nice and warm. ⁓ I do not like to be cold. Real quick, you had a friend. Was it your sister? My roommate. Your roommate. Is she running too? She is. This is her very first race ever. my gosh, how exciting. We gotta pull her over, and when we look for her, let's let's find out where can we follow you? Where can people who are listening follow you? Instagram. Yeah. Yeah. I have Instagram, it's just my name, Faith Froelick. Same as me, Nathan Lane with an underscore at the end. Kind of like the actor, if you guys can remember it by that. Yeah, do you do a lot of running content?

She's a sweet marathon post. I don't have any posts. Yeah, she's a great marathon post down at Long Beach. I'm not yet a running influencer. Maybe after this. Running in a doctor one. We're big into ⁓ PA's doctor stuff, right? ⁓ Similar, different physician assistant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was a big ER guy, and so the the PA in ER, I can't think of her name, but she was the one who had AIDS and was like a big advocate.

For still doing your real nice job. We watched the pit. Yeah, but we're really into the pit right now. So that's our that's our new one now. And love that show. So it's gonna be great. Let's find your roommate, let's get her on. Let's hear how the first race is gonna be. And good luck to you, Nate. That's awesome. You guys so much. Great job, guys. Nate, Nate and Fate. Nate and Fate on the Underguns podcast. Go Buts! That's awesome. Go Buts. That was a lot of fun. Thank you guys.

Eric (43:40)
All right, we're back with a new friend in Nielli from Lowell, Massachusetts. We're at the Boston Runs Remember Expo Day here at the Seaport Plaza Hotel ballroom. The ballroom. We're in your heart. Yeah, first time on a podcast, first time doing all this thing. Yeah. ⁓ how are you doing today? I'm doing good, how are you? Not bad. Are you excited for tomorrow? I'm a little nervous, I'm not gonna lie. Is this your first half? First half, yeah. I've done ten milers, I've done ⁓

Like little races and stuff, but this is my first actual half marathon. I think you picked a great one. I from what I understand, you're gonna get a great tour of the city. I mean you're from Bass anyways, but you're gonna get a great tour. Lots of motivation along the course with with people in uniform. You're gonna get like the the engine salutes, like emergency vehicle display. It's gonna be so much fun and yeah. Do you have a goal for tomorrow or you're just gonna have fun? I wanna see what I can get, honestly. That's fair, that's a good answer. I've mostly been training like for high rock.

Excellent. I feel like high rocks is so much harder, so I think this should be I I won't say cake because no running is easy, but it's gonna be fun. Has this been a build-up? Like you said you did a couple 10Ks, 10 milers. Have you been building up for this? No, I I honestly saw an advertising for it. I was trying to just stick to more like local races because I know that I've seen a lot of ⁓ like run clubs around bosses and stuff. So I really wanted to put myself into like more like into the bossing community and running. Very nice.

That's awesome. We know a lot of those people. We know the Boston Bulldogs. Yep. We know ⁓ Stride for Stride has one that we just talked to them. I don't know that and I've been flying out to different races and I'm like Flying out? Yeah. I did the Space Force Ten Mile, Armor Ten Miler, and the guy flew out to Vegas to do the race for hot high rocks. So I'm just like I just want to stay local and no get to know more. Well there we go. You you picked a great one to do, at least to for your first half. I hope it doesn't

not disappoint. Low Lowell, I think Lowell has the Striders. Greater Roll running club. Greater Low Rolls, yes, and the Striders is Nashua just north of the City Striders, yeah. I'm trying to think of what else there is. You got the Millennium Running Club just up in New Hampshire. You're in Lowell. I work in Bill Rick actually so I drive through so when you run in Lowell, do you ever run on that the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail? No. I I run around

⁓ So you know where Tavern in the Square is. Yes, I do. Right. that trail goes up to Transfer? That's the very beginning of the trail, but it goes up like twenty miles. really? And I would say even like the first four miles you cross a couple of streets after that it's like endless trail, like little tiny street crossings, no big ones. And it's perfect. I love I love be a good rail trail, so I'm paying attention to trying to get some new places, you know.

That's the beginning of it, but if you look at it on Google Maps, and I'll show you later. But if you look at it, it goes far out. Yeah. And you got some beautiful lakes and stuff that you can go take a dip in. I know I through Transfer. I've seen Yeah, it goes all the way like I want to say through air. Air. really? That's the end of the Nashua River. Okay, I got the wrong town. I got the wrong town. It goes far. I'll show you on map. But so this running journey and you do high rock. So are you in a a part of a gym? I am. I I do go to a gym. What gym you go? I go to all else flick club and at the win. ⁓

Yeah. Yeah, he does have the owner does run run clubs. I haven't done one yet. I've just been getting more into the local community really. How long have you been doing high rocks for? I done it for a year. I did only the two, the one in Boston and then two. That's that's two more than I've done. So just it's kinda hard to get on now. I try to get on Boston again, but it's like buying like like sneakers, I swear, when they first come out. ⁓ my god. Like you have to stare at your computer. And they rose up the prices went up and everything. You like refresh, refresh, refresh. You know

You're in the waiting queue. Yeah. I know some people do in the high rocks coming up this fall in Boston too. And they like did the signups already happen for that one? Yeah, it already happens. Yeah, because they're they're in, I'm pretty sure. Well, and the thing is I feel bad for Caitlin, one of them, she's her like knee's bugging her now, and she's like, I got high rocks coming up, and and Quinn's gonna be her partner. And it and Caitlin's just like, ⁓ no, my leg don't need surgery. So tomorrow, I think you got a great goal. You want to see what you can do. Beyond tomorrow.

Do you have goals in running? Like more half marathons because you've done that progression. Do you want to try a marathon? Maybe the boss marathon. You've traveled to a few others. The DC has the Marines marathon. Yeah, Marine Corps, yeah. Because you did the Army ten miler in DC. Yeah, that was fun. I'm doing it again, yes. I'll be there again. Excellent. ⁓ I actually

I'm the type person I just do things. So the I I'm actually in the Army National Guard and they actually offered like about like fifty soldiers to walk the marathon. So I did walk the Boston Marathon. This year. Not this year, last year. Okay. I I I managed it this year, but last year I I I actually walked it. It was it was cool. We you walked by us then. Probably. We're always at mile nineteen point two. Okay. But yeah, I probably definitely I don't blame You probably high-fived us. I can't believe you didn't remember my head of hair, but you know, besides that.

Tell us about that day then. Like how early did that day start for you? You walked in uniform, correct? Yep. And did you have like anything on, like weighted down or no, no, no, just just the uniform. So I actually I like I said, I live like in Lowell area. And I woke up at like two thirty in the morning that day. We had to be in frame in the location we were meeting, ⁓ at like five to be at the start line by six to start at six. Well, five thirty, start at six. And then I believe it took me like like five and a half, six hours to walk the whole thing.

That's

actually really good for walking in. Holy holy crowd. Yeah, and then ⁓ it was amazing. That that left on ⁓ on on Beacon, not Beacon. Boylston. Left on Boylston, I'm sorry. Right on Hereford, left on Boyleston. That left on Boylston is something I feel like everybody should experience in their life. my god. I cried. Yeah. I'm an emotional cry. The way Boston works that I I've actually never experienced from Boylston, never ran it, but never even seen the finish line during race day. The crowd just builds up from the from the

From

the very beginning of the race all the way to the end, it it's a constant build and it gets louder and louder and louder, and you must have just like, at that point, like the pros already passed you. Yeah, so I watched the pros. I remember alert, it was right before the hills, yeah, break hills, that I saw the pros go and seeing somebody stride the way like professional runners stride is is insane. It's insane. Just the skill they have. I am I am in awe watching them too. It's it's incredible. So when you're on Boylston by that point, you're in the thick of everything.

The

crowds that's biggest at that point. It just must have been insane. It was it was amazing. Like I said, I feel like everybody should experience it at least once. Even if you're just watching it. Like the energy is is unmatched. And then this year you managed it, you said right? So what what did you do? Just taking accountability of the soldiers, making sure people could finish and people that didn't finish making sure they had a way to get home and all that. So it was a really long, long day, even though I didn't run it, but ⁓ just making sure that you know our soldiers were safe was my top priority. That's awesome throughout the whole thing. Giving back. Yeah, for sure.

get to do it and you give back and yeah I love that it's it's the way of volunteering sometimes and they can see it from all sides. Tomorrow's gonna be awesome for you. You're in the National Guard you said? How long have you been doing the National Guard? I've been in for seven about to be seven years next week. Very nice. Thank you for your service. Yeah I appreciate you so much absolutely has it taken you anywhere cool have you got to go and do some neat things with the National Guard? Yes I've done a lot ⁓ I've been I've been overseas I've I've done missions like Secret Service I'm also currently I work

as

a recruiter for the National Guard so they flew me for ⁓ they flew me to Puerto Rico to Tennessee and Florida. Alright. Like to to sh to share best practices with like within recruiting and those have been like my great experiences so far like this year specifically. Very nice. So that's awesome. long term goals National Guard or working ⁓ beyond that? Long term goal. I know five year ten year plan. Yeah. Like like you've done it for seven coming up on seven years. Do you have a goal

of

like ten or beyond or just see w see where where the wind takes you. I wanna see I definitely see where the wind takes me. ⁓ you know, I like what I do, I like helping people, people who want to serve and you know, making sure that they that they achieve their goals while they're in, you know, isn't just recruiting, it's making sure people get what they need while they're in in the support and I just I just wanna keep helping people honestly. As long as I can be in that position, I'll be fine. Yeah, I love your path so far. Everything is like just progression, like with running and then it seems with work and National Guard. Like

Now you're giving back. Yes. And you're helping recruit more. And I love that. So I know you've traveled with the National Guard, you've traveled for races, and I know you said you wanted to stay kinda close to home for a little bit. But is there a dream location that you would want to run someday?

I wouldn't I don't know if this is a dream, but I did see recently the Nike after dark in like Tokyo and stuff. I really want to do something overseas like that. Yeah. After dark, especially doing in the dark. I don't I don't know. It sounds fun. That's amazing. I like that answer because it was different. Yes. Not something we we're expecting to be like New York, Chicago, Tokyo. That's a good one. Yeah. No, that's I've done like I said, I've done race races like around the states and stuff like that. Like I want to see beyond beyond here for sure. Yeah. Well, we got an amazing running community here in New England.

So I think you're gonna find one that you really love. There's lots of options, yeah. Lowell, Nashua, Manchester, I know that's north, but Boston's got a ton. Yeah. And you're gonna find one and you're gonna love it. Everyone here is amazing. So keep coming and doing these races. These are a lot of fun. We're after. You might even see us at some of these races. And when you do the Boston Marathon, find us. Like if you if you run it, run it. Okay. Find us. We want to That's why I don't tell people, I did the marathon, like Boston Marathon, 'cause it's like there's it I I

I need to give more respect to people that actually train to run it. You know what I mean? But you still get my respect because you have to wear the full uniform in those boots too, right? So that's no. And we get there early because we get there in time just to see the handicap run the guys on the bikes. Yep. And then we see the pros. And then we typically throughout that whole time we're seeing anyone in a in a uniform. ⁓

come by yeah that's that's incredible because at least at that point for us

They're getting everyone's attention. Yes. Versus when they're a little like now more in the thick of the crowd and all the other runners, it's kind of spread out. And that's just a lot of fun because we we see hundreds of you in that first couple hours in soccer. And you guys all high five us, and that's all we want. It's a high five. It makes it worth it for us. I mean, it is so inspiring to watch somebody just complete a marathon. No matter how they do it, it is just such an inspiration. We cheer everybody on for however they want to do it. You're gonna have a great day together.

Tomorrow. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Where can people follow you? ⁓ on Instagram. what's your Instagram handle? I'm gonna to spell it out. right. It's perfect. Naeli Mercedes P. No, N-A-Y-E L-I Mercedes M-E-R-C-E-D-E-S-P.

That's Instagram. Instagram I use most, yeah. Awesome. We're on there too. We'll find you. We'll follow you. Can't wait to see where you go with this. Appreciate it. Yeah. Appreciate you taking the picture for me. Get in high rocks. yeah, that's how this works. She goes, Can you take a picture? I go, Can you go on a podcast? Boom! I think that was a fair choice. We got it. It was good conversation. Awesome. This is a lot of fun. Nayeli, it was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. And thank you, mom, for hanging out this whole time. Thank you. That was wicked awesome, guys.

Eric (55:40)
Alright, we are back at the Boston Run to remember Eric and I just finished up our live stream. We just went over an hour, and now we have another amazing guest today. We have Cressandra. Cassandra. Cassandra. How are you? I'm great. How's everyone? Thanks for having me on. It's our pleasure. Where are you from? I am from the north end of Boston. North End. Is that like so North End? I know when I go to the garden, like North End has all those really nice Italian. That's where all the deliciousness is. Yes, the food.

Is

that like North End? I'm thinking that North End, also where the Golden Goose Market is, and you could find your delicious cream cheese brownies. ⁓ she's selling it. Yeah. It's it's it's you hear about it all the time. A lot of the Boston Bruins players live in the North End, I think. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. Do you ever run into any of them? ⁓ no, I would hope to one day, just to say hi. Now I got a question. Yeah. Your eyeglasses has a light. Are these

These the meta glasses? Yes. ⁓ I use them to capture amazing moments like this. Yes. And just like I did at the the curiosity desk at GBH in Brighton when I was brought in as a guest speaker because I'm a disability advocate. And I am also a an athlete with a dis you know disability. And I advocate to make sure the infrastructure of Boston is conducive to

Those on foot. my god. Ratters, runners, strollers, seniors, children. We need more people like you. We need more people like you, Cassandra, advocating for people who may not be able to use their voice. Thank you. So they're glad to glad to This is a podcast, so a lot of people are just listening. They're not not everyone's necessarily watching, but talk a little bit about your disability. I was born with a combination of blindness and hearing loss from birth, and so this is my my way of

life and I can be a bit fearless. Like I literally this morning I was sailing at the Charles River with an adaptive sailing group. Were you? my god. And I was cruising through the water. yeah, and it was amazing. What a morning. What ⁓ so have you been involved in this community for a while running? I've literally only been running for nine months. Okay. And I'm sizing up a a half marathon soon. Yes. I'm looking at it up and down.

I'm like, yeah, I'm coming after you. Are you running tomorrow? Absolutely. I'm here to do the five-miler to get my feet wet. Plenty of time to work up to half marathon. yeah. Talk about the last nine months then. Like what was your start? What was the kick start? And then what kept you coming back for more? My first ⁓ experience with running, like actually running, was, you know, ⁓ running on a track field in Charlestown with my guide runner.

Emily, she's amazing. and so are the rest of the guides from Achilles too. and I ran in 95 degree weather. ⁓ wow a half mile and I was like my gosh it's hot but I enjoyed it. that's where it began and then I had my first run in 5k two weeks later. Wow So you're mov you really are moving right up, yep. yes no limits.

That's incredible. Let's talk a little bit about the build-up then. Like when did you find this race? When did you decide to sign up for this race? And what was your draw to it? I signed up for it a couple of weeks ago and I said, yeah, I want a five mile, I want to get out of the 5k.

Because I'm also training for a 10K with the BAA. wow, excellent. That's happening next month, and I cannot wait to get that beefy, juicy metal. They do have some of the best metals I've ever seen. yeah, I can't wait. It's glorious. Now, tomorrow will you have a guide with you? Always. How is that process? When you register for a race, this is something we have no clue. So spare no details on the process. When you sign up for a race, how do you get them? How do you tell them, hi, this is who I'm

I am, this is my disability, this is what I need. I have a guide runner with me. How do you go about that process? ⁓ I sign up through the adaptive running community and I would get paired with a guide from the coach and I say great, I appreciate it, thank you so much. I meet my guide.

And you know, I just met my guide Noah a couple of minutes ago. ⁓ wow. And he gave me my bib so I can be ready tomorrow. I'm literally gonna walk out of my house with it attached to me already. That's a great idea. You don't wanna you don't wanna forget it. That's always a runner's worst nightmare. now typically do you meet your guide like have you always had a different guide every race? Have you been able to work okay, how is it gonna work tomorrow then? You just met Noah a few minutes ago. I will put

Put

my trust in Noah like I do all the other guides that I've met for the very first time. They are certified and trained guides, and I trust that he's gonna make sure I'm safe and you know, and we're gonna power through this together. Right on. Now you're doing some things you said earlier, you're an advocate, or you go you went to ⁓ WGBH, I think you said earlier. Yes. You're kind of a big advocate to help provide or to make resources.

resources

available for other disabled athletes, correct? Yes. What do you do in that area? I speak up

For you know, with the disability community, I don't speak for anyone, I speak up with people. With people. Because I'm not one person's voice. I I'm all I'm alongside all the other voices that are advocating. So, you know, if I came forward and I started speaking, other people would say, hey, who was that person you were speaking to? Connect me to them. Absolutely. I'm not gatekeeping anything. Yeah. Share the resource.

That's incredible. Do you have any any way for us to to help spread the word about ⁓ the work you're doing? Like is there a an organization you can point us to? ⁓ you could check out Boston Center for Independent Living. And yeah, Boston Center for Independent Living. I'm on their executive board. Okay. And we love breaking barriers. Now it can't it is it just running or like I'm from New Hampshire, I used to do ⁓ It sounds like so much more than this.

I used to do a lot with ⁓ it was called Northeast Adaptive Sports Partners up in Franconia, Notchard, New Hampshire. And I even got to do some skiing where I was work skiing with a disabled athlete, a blind athlete, maybe someone who can't walk, so they're in a ski, a sit ski. Yeah. Does this center in Boston you you are on the board for do more than just running? no, they don't do running, but they do advocating for people to have like social rights. You know, like advocating for Medicare cover.

and personal care assistance. ⁓ but the running community that I'm in is called Achilles International. Alright. Definitely have heard of them before. They are who I'm with and yeah they're, you know, the guides and the athletes are all awesome and you know they're worth meeting or, you know, running alongside. And you know, you could become a guide after speaking to the coach. And yeah. That's actually that would be

That

would be amazing to be a guide. We've talked, well we met a we met a full Alexi. ⁓ huh. Alexi's a guide. So let's talk about tomorrow one more time. Five miles. Yeah. Have you done this boss? No, you haven't. You've only been running for nine months. So this is actually probably gonna be your biggest race event wise. The amount of runners, the amount of spectators. Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you anxious for it? What what is a little bit of everything? I can't wait. It's almost like that day before your birthday. You're like

What am I going my gosh You have the anticipation that's with that the race you know it you know I just go 'twas the night before the race. Yeah. I have my bib laid out, I have my running pants out, and I have everything attached, not a squeak of a shoe on the on the tiles. That is a beautiful pic picture, Cassandra. Are you going to do like a flat we we call it a flat lay. So you put your your ⁓ your kit together so you have your your pretty

Shoes and your bib and your your outfit tomorrow and you take a picture and you put it on Instagram. Are you gonna do something like that? Yeah. I usually just put it on and I'm like, I'm ready to go. It used to be like layer layer new clothes out before you go running, you start peeking around, like, ⁓ my god, I'm time sighting! I'm so excited for you. This is really cool because I I we just wrapped up with the people before. I saw you come in. I had to get water, it was losing my voice. And then you walked by and I came around the corner you were sitting down.

You

already met Erica, and I was like, this is great. I love that you're an advocate for disabled athletes. I think that's incredible. And you're you're leading, you're a leader. Yes. You're absolutely a leader. So outside of this, you want to continue this? Like you got the bug, right? Yes. You got the bug. I have the running bug, and I hope it lasts me for at least three marathons. ⁓ yes. Yes. Big goal. I hope one of those is Boston. I know, that's my goal. Yes. Are you gonna fundraise for Team Achilles? I would like.

Yeah.

⁓ I would do my best. Here we go. Come on, Achilles. Yes, I would do my best to fundraise for Achilles and just run, run, run. Yeah. Yes. Where if if anyone wants to follow your journey, are you posting this on Instagram, social media? Do you do anything? I'm on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook. I'm pretty much everywhere. Where can they find you on Instagram? You can find me on Instagram at Cassandra C A S A N D R A, period.

Xavier,

X like X-Ray. Yeah. A. V like Victor. I E R. Awesome. I can't wait to follow your journey. Absolutely. I really can't. This is gonna be this is gonna be great. Nine months in of running, and you got the bug. You absolutely got the bug. This is great. Cassandra, thank you so much. Thank you. I hope you and Noah. Noah's your your your guide tomorrow, correct? I hope the two of you have a wonderful time. I hope he does you right with ⁓ the guiding, and I hope it goes well. I believe him. Yes, I believe all.

All the guides. I and man, you're very trustworthy because you just met him. And best of luck when you run the 10K in ⁓ in June of the year. BAA. Well, have a wonderful day tomorrow. It's gonna be wicked awesome and keep getting out there. Thank you so much. That was a lot of fun guys. Cassandra on the Underruns podcast. That was wicked awesome. Yeah.

Eric (1:06:45)
Okay, we got our next two guests on the pod. I'm wicking excited. I went and found Amy earlier. I said, gotta come over, and then she brought Erin with her, and you two are friends. Real quick, let's get to know you. Your name is Erin. Where are you from? Yeah, I'm Aaron Dendron. I'm from Lowell. Very nice. We got a Lowell. Lowell native. And then Amy, I think, is from Lowell as well. I live in Drake it. Drake! But yes. Drake wanted. The shirt said Lowell. Greater Lowell. So we have brought us from the whole area. And you have a booth set up here. Yes, we do.

Wow, so that's how Eric found you. What are you guys doing at your booth today? So we're promoting our marathon, the Base State Marathon. It is October 18th. It's a great boss and qualifying run, but as I like to say, even for the slow skis, it's whole lot of fun. So it's not just about boss and qualifying. It is a fast one. It's two loops, right, around Lowell. And so it's very popular because you got the half and you got the full marathon. And we have a half relay as well. So if you can get a body and do six and a half, and then you can all celebrate afterwards. So what is your part of your role?

role with the Greater Low Runners, Roadrunners. I am president of the Greater Lowell Roadrunners. Not a big deal. Very nice. Yeah, lucky me. I was on the board for a few years and you know every every two years we have elections. So it was time to step up and and I'm enjoying it. How long have you been in the community, like part of the Greater Royal Roadrunners? I joined back in 2014. I know that's tough for me to say. Sorry. Well everyone makes fun of the way I speak or pronounce some words. Yeah how long have you been involved? So I joined back in like

2014, 2015? ⁓ so why would it be a lot of good amount of time? Little bits at a time. I did a little bit more and a little bit more, and you know, now I'm just involved and show up all the time. They can't get rid of me. Why would they want to, Amy? What was the hook then for you to to in running? Have you been a runner your whole life and then you like relocate to Drake It, join the club? Were you always in Drake It and then eventually just got in? Like, what was your hook to running? So I wasn't a runner. I I would try to run and would be like, you know, gasping for air. And then after my son was

was born, I have two kids, I was like, this is it, I need to get in shape, and I just like made myself. As I joke, like one minute on the treadmill. Okay, now one song on the treadmill. And then I saw the great little roadrunners around. I would see them at races and they just have a lot of fun together. So I think the social aspect hooks me hooks me with the great little roadrunners. Honestly that's that's why I keep running. Yep. The people keep you coming back. It gets me off the couch. It gets me moving. Exactly. Aaron, are you part of the ⁓ Greater Lull Road Runners as I try to say that?

Yes. So my husband is too. Okay. He's here. He works for Socony, so he's ⁓ Socony sales rep. He's doing that at the expo. ⁓ but we actually we met running, so yes, you you and your husband. Yeah. That's he's he's been big state quite a few times, yeah. ⁓ technical difficulties. She'll figure it out. How did you and Amy meet? we actually we met through greater races, yeah. Yep, yeah. We had a local Tuesday night race for a while, and you do it enough times and then

and hang out afterwards and so Greater Lowell puts this on kind of like a summer series or something every Tuesday night. Yeah we ⁓ so back in the day there was a different a different company put it on but now Greater Lowell puts on the Angry Chicken Race Series. The Angry Chicken that would catch me that would that would that would reel me right in. Our symbol is a road runner the bird and we at one point someone said they look like an angry chicken and so that so caught on. So Tuesday nights in Lowell we run around the river and then a lot of us just go hang out afterwards so I love that.

The great thing about the Bay State Marathon though is that it's all run by volunteers. So our club puts it on and then it's run all by volunteers. So it's a good time. That's incredible. How that that's a big marathon. It is. Not a little one. How many runners typically run? I believe the marathon is about eighteen hundred. ⁓ and we we have to cap it. We actually expect it to sell out sometime at the end of the summer. Wow. yeah, last year there was there was a mad run. People were asking, you know, are there any more of my front channels?

Can I get her back? Can I transfer? Can I ⁓ so we we've we've got a nice system down. Glenn Stewart is a race director currently. Glenn Ask. Yep. and he had a good system with our tech people on how to do transfers and how to because the demand is there. People want the BQ marathons. Yes. Yeah, and you got a couple really good ones around here. Something I kind of realized as you walked over, you said you're here not just for grid or low, but to promote the base date marathon. We are at a millennium.

I can't talk, John. I'm looking at the camera like we're at a millennium running event. Yes. But all these other running clubs, like you, in a way, you're a competitor, but in a way you're also working together. Yep. Like they have so many run clubs at their expos here, and you do the same thing kind of. So everyone kind of collaborates and works together to help promote just running in New England in this community. Absolutely. So I think we got involved with them for the Water Stop tomorrow. So our club.

We're actually doing two water stops at MIT, the five. I'll get it all run. But basically it's back to back so we can staff both at the same time. wow. And this is, I believe, our third year doing that. So because of that, I'm sure, they said, you know, come to our expo. And then they also make a donation to our club. So they give back. Yes. They're all giving and it's incredible. Well, I mean, everybody's working together. If you guys are volunteering your time, I it it it seems like it's only right to let you guys kind of try to endorse yourselves and get more.

And I mean it's all for the the same good. Absolutely. And especially like when you know, because Millennium goes far, they travel, right? They're in Boston, they're from Bedford, everywhere, they go to New Rayport, the Seacoast. They go to Florida. But you know, we're not that far from Lowell, and there's gonna be a lot of people walking in and out of here today from this area, maybe just north, and maybe New Hampshire's a little far, but maybe they come and they see you at your booth, and they're like, ⁓ that's my neck of the woods. I wanna be part of a running club. Anyone who joins the greater

Low roadrunners. Like, what do they experience being part of that club outside of your Tuesday night runs? So we have Saturday morning runs from our clubhouse in Drake It. We have the Tuesday night runs. If you're also a USATF member, our club pays for the New England USATF road races. Wow. So that's an amazing that pays for your membership right there. Yeah. We also have monthly meetings. The last Monday of every month we meet. You get a drink ticket, so your soda, your beer, whatever is covered. We have speakers.

⁓ Often you know PT or ⁓ nutritionists or things that support runners, they'll come in and give us advice and you know do stretches with us. ⁓ And then the stretch traffic. we have track, excellent. Yep. We have spring track, which is 10 weeks of track, and then we start off again in August, and that'll lead right up to base state or the fall you know marathon series. Perfect training for the bait for your BQ. Yeah, yeah. If you're in low. Yeah. And it's great because if someone tells you to do 12 200s, which

You do it on your own? Probably not. But I'll do it with your It's not the easiest thing to do, right? Aaron, you're running tomorrow? I am. I'm doing the five miler. Super excited. Yeah. Have you done this race before? I haven't. I'm so excited for it. I've heard just the crowds are going to be incredible. It's one of the bigger ones here. Probably the biggest Boston race outside of the BAA races. Absolutely. Yeah, it's got to be incredible. So I'm so pumped for you too. I'm so pumped for what you do in the community. It's great. We have a friend who's originally from Lowell. I think ⁓ Steve. ⁓ huh. What's your

What's his last name? Jufri. Yeah, Steve Juffrey. 305, no more. Yes. I think he's still in the club. Yes. So he's a great guy. He does a lot to get back to because he does the healthy kids running series that my kids run in. nice. So yeah, it's awesome. Thank you for coming by. I know you're doing amazing things at the booth, and I I love to go and talk to some vendors and get them over to tell us what's going on. That was incredible. And Aaron, good luck tomorrow. Thank you. What was your last name again? Dendron. I do you have I I told her earlier, like I'd recognize her. Do you have a sister who

Plymouth State. No. He's trying so hard to make this connection. I'm gonna pull this person up later and be like, are you related? Because that's the same last alright. That's funny. I'm like, I swear to God. But alright, have a great day. Have a great run tomorrow. Stay dry. It's gonna be fun. And on another note, go sign up for base date. Let's help this thing sell out. Help the greater Lowell Roadrunners. Did I nail it that time? Okay, good. Excellent. I'm gonna leave her to saying the hard things. Guys, we have Erin and Amy from Lowell. That was wicked awesome. Enjoy.

Thank you.

Eric (1:15:18)
We are back at the Seaport Hotel for the Boston Run to remember. Thank you to Millennium Running for this amazing day. We've been here in the ballroom all day, and we have a favorite here. And I love that I saw you earlier, we were live streaming walked by, you said hi, but we have Tom Rafio from Delta Dental doing another. I'm not surprised, but also it's like Tom's here all the way, because where are you from originally, Tom? Are you in New Hampshire? I've lived in New Hampshire for most of my life, but I did actually grow up in the Boston area. So this is like and I went to Harvard, so this is like old time.

And it's great to see the seaport so vibrant and clean and it's just really cool. Very nice. I heard the C the C port has changed a lot. It has. When I was growing up, it was really not necessarily the place you wanted to be, but it is wonderful. And have run this the last few years, and you know, it's a big deal for Millennium, obviously. You know, whatever it is, 11,000 runners, the biggest race of the year. So I saw John out there and he's pretty excited. And of course, you can see ⁓ the spirit in the audience, right? Absolutely. The vibes are

are very high today, especially I know some people are worried about the weather, but it's gonna be fine tomorrow. It's gonna be just and it is still part of the Delta Dental Points Chase series. Is it? So I would never so I've not missed a points chase race in like the past four years. So definitely weren't gonna miss this, you know. I saw you were you at the happy hour hustle too? Of course I saw you there. Of course. I never I I'm I'm so slow now, so the only thing I can control is not missing races. There we go. And you know participation

Is half the game, and someone once said, you know, showing up is a 90% of success in life. So right now, that's my current racing model. Okay. So let's I want to backtrack a little bit in your life though, because you said you're originally from here. You've come on a couple times at these shows. We talk a lot about the event, the race, your relationship with Millennium and John. I want to talk a little bit about you, because I don't feel like we've gotten to know Tom personally enough. You're originally from Boston, and I also want to know, like, what was Tom like growing up? Were you a rock?

Were you into sports? What were you doing growing up? Yeah, so sports in my life, but in those days you pretty much played the traditional sports, you know, football, basketball, and baseball. So I played baseball through college, through Harvard, played football in in high school, ⁓ baseball. That's actually my primary sport. Okay. Of course, as you get older, you can still do basketball leagues and you know, over 40 and over 50 baseball leagues, but at some point you don't want to get injured anymore,

Right, right. So then in about 1999 turned to running when I got a call from Bob Teshik, who is a big ⁓ racing ⁓ person in New Hampshire, but this was before John, and he said, you know, Signet has just pulled out of the Mount Washington Road race. Would you like Delta Dental to sponsor? So I didn't know much about the racing scene, so I said sure. So I went to the Mount Washington Road race, saw the running crowd, and then the next race we sponsored.

Was the Beludi race, and then I figure, you know, if I'm gonna sponsor all these races, I'm gonna run in all these races. So really been running the last 30 years as an adult. But prior to that, I was a sort of a traditional athlete. And I love running, I'm not that good at it, but it's the camaraderie. So what I like to say before every race that we sponsor is you know, there's a lot of noise in the world, but running friends are the family that you select, and like everybody is so happy. So we've we put on pop-up races on Easter, we're gonna do a race.

on Monday, Memorial Day in Conquer, just because people want to get together and it and it shields you or at least for a moment anyway from the noise that's in the world. I love that. And and to to your point, I love that running is a sport you don't have to be good at. Anybody can do it. Exactly. I always say to my friends, you know, you can't go on the right field at Fenway Park, but you can put on your shorts and line up against Joan Bunch Samuelson or Joe Gray when it comes to a mountain race.

You're you're lining up next to them and it's terrific. And these are some these are the same level athletes, just it's it's it's in racing. Yes. And everybody can do it. And the other thing I like about the sport is you are what your time is. So you can't say, well, the ref made a bad call or this or that. It's like that, Eric. No, it's an individual sport. I I know what she's getting at, but he has a great point because I remember ⁓ another parent saying how he encouraged his daughter to be a runner, like be join the traffic.

team because the coach can't put you on you know the third line of the hockey team just because he doesn't like you if you're running faster than everybody else you're the star runner right you are what your number is and everybody can do it and it it is it is totally an equitable sport because you are what your number is and everybody can do it everybody can put on a pair of shorts it's not like technology is gonna make you a minute a minute faster or things like that so so that's why I've really loved it and and of course in terms of Delta Dental and my company more

More and more of our employees are running and it's a mobility thing and we have a lot of walkers and runners. And I really want the next generation of Delta Dental employees to get as engaged as I am because twenty years from now, ten years from now, when I'm not responsible for the company, I still want us to do the Delta Dental Points Chase and sponsor all of these races. So the more institutionalized I can make it, ⁓

better and of course the other part of running is generally speaking all of these races are connected to a great charity so you're doing great for population health but you're also supporting a local charity. So my board of directors they're amazed at how much you know we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on road race sponsorships but oftentimes it's connected to a great charity so getting back to the Mount Washington road race because of our sponsorship of that race there is now a dental center at Coes County Family Health Center in the

North Country because all that's incredible. Most of our sponsorship money ⁓ as well as the runners' registration fees went to the Cow West County Family Health Center. Uh-huh. Real quick, what's the name on that? Melissa's name is Melissa. Melissa, Melissa and Matt. Melissa and Matt. And this by the way is my lovely wife, Ellen. Hi, it's a Hi Emily. I thought she was just being a nice person. That's Ellen. Yeah.

I yeah, somebody came by Matt and Melissa and she probably hasn't realized she left it here yet. I bet you somebody Yeah, exactly, yeah. Awesome. So so and then Ellen and I connected at a road race ⁓ and so we

⁓ people the biggest criticism that my board of directors gives me is not spending money on a road. It's like you never take a vacation, but I remind them my weekends with Ellen running road races, that's my vacation. That's how I get rejuvenated. So I'm fortunate that I have a wife that likes to do it. And also she's putting on a lot of local races like the one coming up on Monday. I love that. That's awesome. You love we both talked about it and we can't go this year because it's her 40th birthday. But Melt Washington, you talked a little bit

About how you got that deal. I think you said Cigna left Mount Washington. Correct. And tell me a little more of that story about how you got involved and then a little bit of everything that goes into that race, because that's one of the more unique races we have in New England. Sure, so it's pretty much what I said earlier around the year 2000, Bob Teshik called me knowing that Del Padento was into the community, and he said, you know, we just lost our major sponsorship for the iconic Mount Washington Road race where Delphin.

And I wanted to start getting involved with a community. I'd moved moved up to New Hampshire in 1995, so I said, let's do it. And then, of course, once I experienced it, it's like, my god, I want to get involved. So I've run it, I've run it 10 times. Wow. I've gotten to know people like Joseph Gray, one of only six human beings or seven that have run it under an hour. Whoa. We actually pick them up every year from the airport and take care of them.

of him and all that and it's just I've gotten to know all these elite runners. But the it's it is a unique race because it's it's it's only quote unquote 7.6 miles and one hill but it's straight up the auto road. It's one hill Erica. Only one hill Erica and Eric. It's a doozy. It's a d and there's no gift to it. There's one section about mile six where it looks like it's flattening out a bit but it is still actually going up. And of course the last couple hundred yards it's at a twenty two percent grade. my gosh. And ⁓

I used to do it around two hours, an hour and fifty, whatever. I actually ran it one year with John Mortimore who carried my water literally and we did it at the one hour and fifty minutes. Wow. So anything under two is good for the I I've heard that you're supposed to kind of factor in whatever your half marathon time is. That's pretty much the equivalent. Exactly, exactly. And that's basically what I've done. But ⁓ one year so as I've gotten slower as I've gotten older, they I was getting close to like three hours.

And I was had like a couple hundred yards to go. I said, my God, like if I don't if I don't get this done in the next thirty seconds, I'm not gonna be registered. no. So I it was it was tough because the last ⁓ hundred years. Twenty-two percent. ⁓ but I finished just over three hours. It turns out that the time was like three hours and five minutes, so I got registered. But I learned something. I'm always learning because there were about fifty people behind me ⁓ who weren't didn't get request.

They all made a beeline for me and said, you know what, Tom, we've got to extend the hours ⁓ because we just did a three and a three and a half hour run and we're not registered. So I've gotten the ⁓ the auto road who really owns the race to ⁓ move it to three hours and thirty-five minutes. So if you can get it done in three hours and thirty-five minutes, you'll be recorded. It's not the type of thing you should do on a bar bet, by the way. That's probably how well actually I have some good on good authority that I would.

be able to do it like in it. It's peer pressure that's gonna get to like make it happen. I did so I I have gone up and down that auto road about a dozen times. Only once in the race two years ago and now I'm trying to get hurt but it's fallen like we said on our birthday. But I did the adaptive sports hike up there where we do it in August everyone we pull an adaptive athlete. So I've been up and down that road. I know it like the back of my hand and it's just so much fun. And that race when I did it it was the most beautiful day.

You don't always get a great day at Mount Washington. That day was incredible. And then just like the crowd, the people, the vibes. This year, the crowd's cut down to 500, right? 500. Is that a one-off or what do we what do we know for the future? I'll give you the backstory. So the last few years when we've run it, there's been a lot of weather issues. So people at the top go into the Sherman Adams building, which is also being used for the other side of the mountain, the Cog Railway, people go up.

And so it got overcrowded. So the state, which actually owns the Sherman Adams Bill and said, you know what, we've got it we've got to cut it back. So we worked with them and quite candidly I wanted to make sure the race occurred. They actually wanted to s postpone the race in 2026 and sort of regroup in 2027. I said, no, let's do it. Let's, you know, we'll we'll follow the lower parameters of 500 and then we'll prove to you that runners can stay out of there. Because when it's bad weather, you when you get to the top

of Mount Washington. I mean you it can be warm at the bottom you're freezing cold at top so people go want to go to the Sherman Adams building. So we just have to control that a little better. But I think it's gonna I think they're going to increase it again next year. But this year it is it is 500. But we ha but people that have done what we call the streakers that have done it for twenty five, thirty, thirty five years they've they've gotten in and what we call the Mountain Goat series people have gotten in. So the people that are sort of iconic about the race have gotten in.

I love that. But it is much harder to get to get in. But I'm going to be working with the state. So I just want to people listening to this podcast, like it's Mount Washington Road Race isn't going to go away. And we did our best to make sure it's it's happened. And I think if we make sure we don't overburden the Sher Sherman Adams building, I think the state will allow us to increase the numbers next year. All right. And at your rate right now as an ultrarunner, where you like to walk.

Can eat snacks. That's probably right. Well, I will tell you one thing. I will do it at least once.

Let me let me form my my opinion. She's scared of hill. I'm not Just one hill. It's just one hill area. Now here's the deal. The the one thing about and and is you have to be prepared mentally and then let me say what I mean by that. Because I when I when I was a faster runner, I would do really well and actually beat people that normally are faster than me because because and here's why, because when you get to the second half of the course and you've done it, there's that that hairpin turn when you're looking

Up and they're you all you see is people's feet. So and eventually, unless you're Joe Gray and a few others, at some point you are speedwalking just by necessity. For a lot of people, that psychologically is they can't accept it and they sort of blow up. So I always say to people, whatever floats your boat to get you up there. So I the way I used to do it is I would keep a jogging motion and keep my head down and not look up. Because if you look up, it's pretty. That's when the hill psyches you out. Correct.

Yep. So you've got to run your own race. I know that's a trivial expression, but whatever works for you. And for years, even though I would do it like in an hour and fifty, there would be people speedwalking past me because they had they had sort of gotten a rhythm in terms of in terms of how to get it done. So you have to you have to run your own race in terms of what works. Now here's one funny story. So ⁓ Jackie Garot, who is the only woman who has ever won Boston Marathon in the Mount Washington.

Road race. She's in Canada, Montreal. We've become good friends. She won the year Rosie Ruiz cheated. I looked her up after we did the show in Keene. Yeah. And she's still up in Quebec. Quebec, yeah. Yeah, she's still around. And so she comes down occasionally to to Mount Washington and and she was impressed that I knew the story that she won the year that Rosie Ruiz cheated and they didn't give her her award until like a week later. Can you imagine nowadays you could never with all the cameras and everything? This could never

Never happened now, but in those days, you know, you know, Rosie Ruiz, you know, jumped into the race with like a mile to go, whatever. And and I think she didn't realize that she got in. In other words, if she had gotten in a little bit later, no one would have if she came in seventh place, no would have no one would have said anything. So anyway, so she What a fun story. What was her name again? The lady who did win. Jackie Garrow. Jackie Garrow. So we connect.

And she said, Tom, you're like, the way to run up Mount Washington, and Ellen can tell you this is she goes, it's to tippy toe up, but not realizing that she's 4'10 and 80 pounds, is what that's her size. So even when I was in great shape, I was a lot bigger than that, right? So I tried to tippy toe up, and of course, within the first mile, my calves seized up because I hadn't trained that So the whole point, those of you that are listening, when you're doing Mount Washington, whatever you've trained with, stick with that method, and it'll work.

Something new because nothing new on race day, there we go. We were doing a show in Keene, New Hampshire a couple weeks ago, and one of our guests was like, nobody ever knows her story of talking about Jackie. And she's like, wouldn't it be great to hear Jackie's story? And initially I Googled, like, who was it? And is she still alive? And I'm yes, she lives in Quebec. I'm like, so I I want to get Jackie on actually. This is a development of like two weeks ago. ⁓ no, I can connect you. Yeah. We emailed back and forth, and the book that Ellen and I wrote, Stories from the Starting Line.

And Jackie has a prominent chapter in that. That's incredible. Well, thank you so much for stopping by every time. I love seeing it at these races. Keep it going. The running community is wonderful, so and we'd love to support it. Last thing, anything Delta Dental is going on, you got the series right now. I know you got the hockey rank and stuff, but anything Delta Dental has going on to look forward to outside about Washington this summer. Well, I think with Ellen's coordination, we have a summer series, and of course we have the race on Memorial Day.

In addition to Delta Dental Stadium, we have the Sea Dog Stadium now, Delta Dental Park, and we have the Lake Monster in Vermont. So we're trying to get all the sports formulas together because what I found is people that go to sports events, they like to be connected with companies that are good for the community, and also it allows us to get the oral health message out there. So thanks for what all you you do, and I'll see you at the next race. See you at the starting round. Remember, Delta Dental L.

Elliot race, August 6th. We'll be there. Alright. Take care. Bye guys. Thank you so much. Tom Raffrio from Delta Dental on the On the Runs podcast.

Eric (1:32:44)
are back. That was a fun conversation with Tom. And now we have Herman with the J on the On The Runs podcast coming to you from the Boston, I almost said Boston Run Show. You are going there. So Boston's Run to Remember. Yeah, from the Boston's Run to Remember. Expo day here at the Seaport Hotel. Herman, how are you? I'm really good, really good. Are you okay? You seem really excited too. He has good reason to be excited. We got to chat a little bit before you sat down. Why are you so excited? It's my first one. First one, not a big deal.

yeah. How how long have you been running for? January. Just started. Yeah. All right. When did you sign up for this race then? Literally last month. Okay. So this whole progression over the last four months has been pretty cool. What have you done in that four or five month span? Just simple like you know running. ⁓ so I've been stretching more too during this project. So that's been helping a lot. Excellent. ⁓ doing like five miles, six miles, seven. Have you been like

What got you to do this? Was it a New Year's resolution? Was it a challenge? Did somebody dare you? Did somebody talk this race up to to be like, hey, this is one you should do? I think it's it was just a challenge. ⁓ I'm more of a a man of faith in God. So like I had a feeling like, you know, God wanted me to like try something difficult. Especially running, this is like no joke. It takes a lot of preparation ⁓ preparing, you know, having certain equipments, like having the right shoe as well. Absolutely. So like it's just it's the the the mentality of like

Doing something that's you know, who who really wants to do this? It's not fun, but having that, you know, it seems like you have the dedication. yeah, yeah. You're gonna have fun though. You're gonna learn so in a couple months, like what have you done for races? You've probably done have you done anything this big? Not not distance-wise, I'm talking like we're this expo. This is a big one. The pre-race, the post, everything you're gonna experience tomorrow, like that is what is the hook for a lot of these people. Right? 'Cause it and then it becomes fun. The the running is sometimes just the hard part and then but everyone comes

back for the rest and the run. Like I think it's fun. It's a black.

I think would you say the same? I do think it's fun. I I am in it for the community. I enjoy the people I see while I'm out here and it is a sense of accomplishment once you do something big like this. So I think you're gonna experience so much it's only been a couple months, you're gonna experience so much that you're gonna see tomorrow and then another race you do, you're gonna be like, I wanna hear the afterthoughts. Just g just coming in here. Yeah. I felt excited. I literally yeah, you feel an adrenaline and it's like wow, these people are here for the same cause. I mean did you do like look to your left did you

Did

you do the sip and repeat? I did. Right, everyone does the photos and they get the t shirt, you go to the store and get stuff. You everyone's doing the 360 photo spinny thing there and then they come on and do this podcast, not a big deal. it's the whole hook, the whole experience. So half marathon, first half marathon tomorrow. What was your longest training run?

The most honestly it was probably ten miles. Okay. So we're getting there. So this is gonna be are you ready? Like what's your game plan tomorrow? Do you have nutrition dialed in? What what are you thinking? What's your game plan? So yeah, in the morning probably just get you know simple bagel with eggs, bacon. Get them carbs. Yeah, a hundred percent. a lot of water, bring some water, some ⁓ gels as well during the run. So mostly that just it's all about pacing for me. Right. You know, I don't wanna gas myself out. It's just what are you going for? Like do you have a goal set in mind?

I do I want to have like a 10 minute pace, 10 30. Yeah, but I feel like you know like the adrenaline during like maybe eight, nine, I can try to push it. We'll we'll see how it goes. Yeah, yeah. I think that's awesome going in. Just gotta play it by ear, see what the day brings you. Hopefully the weather's gonna be great. Right, and what I've told other people before is like if your goal is not happening, don't just go into like suck mode, this is gonna be awful. Just go into party mode, party pace. Have fun with the crowds, have fun with the people. Yeah, it's incredible. Like I ran in New York last night.

Last

year, my slowest marathon ever, my most fun. Really? Yeah, it was incredible. It was so incredible. Do you know anybody running the race with you, or is it just you? Do you have anybody supporting you on the course? ⁓ just my friend Alan. Yeah, we met Alan. Yeah, Alan. My brother is supposed to do it, but he's having a kid literally today. Actually, yeah, yeah. that's not tomorrow. Yeah, I know, I know. ⁓ my god. He he has an outfit. That's incredible. He's having a kid, by the way. I never heard I'm kiss kidding. No, congratulations to your brother actually.

I hope for the best with a happy, healthy day. Congratulations to you. ⁓ the running community, have you experienced it? Have you met anyone in running clubs? Have you joined anything yet? Or is this all still new? Everything like you said is so new. And like I'm, you know, I want to get more involved 100%. I just like this is my first one, and it's just like, you know, it feels great of and having people support you. Is this your first race? When you say, okay, so you this is a good one. This is a good one to pick. No 5K, no. Just you running for the last couple months.

and you signed up for this race. What was that draw to this race then? So my brother invited me. He he works for a police officer. He's a he's a yeah he works so Alliston Holliston Police Department. So I'm like, you know, I want to you know show show support. Yeah. And his first responder so he was like you know, I know you wanna get him more involved in running so why aren't we? I was about to give him crap because he's not here, but I cannot give him any crap. I will not. He's having a baby. Well he's having a baby, he's a first responder, that's pretty huge. So

Yeah. And then this is obviously Memorial Day weekend, and we always like to say thanks because we get to do these things because of everyone who sacrificed, not just the military, like police officers. Yeah, first responders. Absolutely. They're incredible. So thank you to your brother for doing all that. ⁓ I really think though you found something. Do you think so? Like like this running thing. I I feel like it's just like yeah, like you said, like maybe one day if God will only do a marathon. You know, I never thought of I would I would You're halfway there after tomorrow. Exactly. So that kind of mentality.

Of like, you know, why not just try to drive through it? I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Yes. But there's things bigger than marathons too. Hey, hey, let me just say this. It is okay if you never make it to the marathon mark. That does not mean you're less of a runner. It just means you're doing what you love. Nobody is making you do these hard distances. Just do what's going to bring you joy and don't pressure yourself. But I'm looking at Herman and I'm like, you know what I see in this guy's teacher? Coca Donna.

my god. I see Ultra Herman. Ultra Marathon. It's so funny you said I'm I was watching like David Goggins, you know? Those guys and they're like w it's so fascinating in their in inspiration that they give to people. I'm like it just brings another part of someone, you know? So I

Who really knows? Something to maybe work up to someday, maybe. I've got to say maybe a thousand more times. Yes, yes. Do not pressure yourself. Out outside of Alan and your brother who won't be here. Do have anyone else coming tomorrow? What's the game plan? Are you staying in the city? Are you ⁓ going home tonight and getting here early in the morning? That's one plan. Probably go back home. I live in Everett, so go in Everett and then come back. ⁓ just them two. Other people were gonna come, but it was kind of like a last minute thing. They didn't really you know, they have things going on, so just them yeah.

Yeah,

well one thing we've always mentioned before, before you came on, we've talked about this in the past, is sometimes just you do a race and then you might have, what do you call it, Erica, like a a down, a low, ⁓ you kinda get like the the after race blues, like the p like you need another goal to keep you motivated, but all I'm saying is after this race, after you have a lot of fun, when you get a minute, go on the computer, find your next one. Sign up, train for it, you're gonna have a lot of fun doing it. It's funny 'cause I was

Looking at Chicago. ⁓ maybe she'll be there. That's my favorite. It's just like you know, you gotta do ⁓ charity, and this is it's pretty kind of hard to get into, so I just do more research on it. Well, locally, we got some great ones. We just had Amy from Bay State, that's in Lowell. Manchester, New Hampshire's got a great one. We got some good ones this fall, too. So yeah, there's some great, and then you don't have to travel to Chicago, which airline tickets right now are crazy. Millennium Running does some great marathons. They got the cheap marathon every every spring, and they got the Manchester one every

Every

fall so half marathons, you got Concord New Hampshire. Newburyport. Newburyport has a great marathon. Yeah. You got a lot this New England running community is pretty epic. Awesome. And also we got a little race here called the Boss Marathon too. Just a small one there. Yeah, right, yeah. Well this was awesome. Thank you so much for coming on, man. This was great. I got ⁓ thank Alan. Alan came over and grabbed me on the way to the bathroom. He goes, What are you doing? I go, I go pee. He goes, My I think my friend really wants to go on. Okay, I can hold.

No,

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. This was a blast. Javier, or not Javier. Herman. Yes. See, now I'm doing the J. It's okay. It's okay. It's unustable. Herman with the Herman with a J. Yes. I was gonna say maybe the Javelina hundred is gonna be random Sally with the J's, the Javelina Junders. That's it. You're gonna that one's yeah, look up some ultras. I'm I'm definitely gonna look into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got plenty of time. Yes. Erica's like, stop pushing him for the No, do it. No, I appreciate it. No, I love that. I love it.

Many new runners this weekend, and I just want to make sure they know there's no pressure. You are a runner if you run and you don't have to do any special distance, just enjoy yourself. So that's that's the hill I will die on. Don't don't hear the code Brown just go for it. Right. Yeah. I agree with that. This was awesome, man. Thank you so much. It was so great to meet you. It was a lot of fun. Good luck tomorrow. Thank so much.

Eric (1:42:25)
Alright. what a day. We did it. That three hours went by so fast. Three and a half hours. Three and a half. Well, it's been a long day. It's been a long day. We had some really cool people come by. We live streamed for an hour. So this will be out in like two episodes. The people who are listening now probably already heard the live stream. So we don't need to go into those details. So you see the dog right there? Dog's having a blast. I don't know if this is making me so happy that we're inside and there's dogs everywhere. Yeah, there's been a couple. There was like a big

What's the what's the like a bulldog? There was a bulldog and somebody brought it on like onto the platform with the spinning camera. I was like, that is awesome. His name was Griffin. I saw it on his collar. Okay. So, like, this is this is making me so happy. No, they don't need you. Jump on. Okay, right there, go to that one. Grab that. We're just We're doing our little wrap-up. Yeah, we're wrapping up, but no, jump on actually and wrap up with us. What's your name? Michaela. Michaela. Wait. We get your email.

What's your last name? Jimmy's. You're the Michaela Niemales. Yeah! No, no, no, no, no. ⁓ Not the not Michaela and I don't know how to pronounce your last name. You work for Millennium or are you volunteering? I volunteer. I'm DJ Darren's girlfriend. YOOOO!

So you're the Michaela who sent me the really wonderful messages after I ran Chicago last year. Yes. Yes I am. Let's talk let's talk about DJ Darren Roy. All right. How did you meet Darren? ⁓ we met in a cornhole league, actually.

That makes me so happy and I can't really explain why. That is awesome. That there's a cornhole league to begin with. I played in a cornhole league in North Carolina. Wait, actually the story is really funny. He's probably gonna hate me for I don't care. It's it's a great meet cue. So we met in a cornhole league because we were playing against each other and he was talking shit 'cause I'm not actually am I allowed to say that. Yes, yes, yes. We talk about shit all the time. ⁓ he was talking shit 'cause I'm not good at cornhole and he

Is better at Cornell. I won't say he's great. Look at you. You still were out there doing it. So I give you credit. And ⁓ and then you know we were talking, going back and forth, and eventually he he gave me his number. Okay. He's like, yeah, we'll get on we'll go on a date, whatever. And he left and ⁓ I started texting him from the summer and someone was texting me back. And then did he give you the wrong number? He gave me the wrong number. So a few days later.

A mutual friend, he's like, come out to the bars with us, Darren's here. And I get there and I'm like, hey, why didn't you invite me? Why did this guy invite me? He's like, I gave you the wrong number. I was gonna tell you when I saw you at Cornell this week, and I'm like, well, then who's been texting? How'd he know he gave you the wrong number? I I think he just switched two numbers in his head and like he realized it like right after. no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I you'll So wait, wait. Who's this guy you were texting? I and they went with it? They went with it, and then this is so funny.

I yeah, I even messaged them afterward. I'm like, hey, I found out you're not who I thought you were. So who are you? And they just never replied. They ghosted you after that. Come on. I'm like, wow, we were having a great conversation. What if you were the person I was supposed to do? So funny. That's gotta be one of the best, like, get like you said, me cute stories I've heard in a lot of people. That's hilarious. That's great. Darren, I love I I'm so happy that ⁓ she shared that story. So thank you. ⁓ don't be mad. ⁓ we're gonna get more juicy details about you on another episode of the

On the podcast, so be scared. No, when I babysit your kids. Yes. Yeah, she said she'd babysit my kids so I could run more races too. There we go. What are you doing today? You are volunteering. What is one of your volunteer jobs? I am volunteering. So I was just at the booth for the pre-purchase merchandise, giving out hoodies and hats. Now I'm going to be doing some bib handouts. ⁓ maybe helping Darren set up down there if he needs it. He doesn't need it. He gave you the wrong number.

I feel like I'm going to drink. Going to drink with all the other cool people. you you were at the happy hour hustle. We met there. You ran that day. So were you a runner before you met Darren or because Darren just picked this up last summer. Are you two both on this journey together? ⁓ yes and no. Like I I did run in college and I my company does the corporate race, so that's when I started to discover Millennium. Okay. I didn't I wouldn't say that I became like a huge runner until I met Darren because he's like, come do these races.

That I'm a DJ for, and like that got me really involved in Millennium. ⁓ but he did not start running until I, me and all the other Millennium workers, pressured him a little bit to start running. The pressure is a real thing. I did the Millennium Mile with him in 2025, and that was his first race ever. And I ran with beside him and encouraged him, and now he runs 5Ks every week. Look at that. And she whooped his butt at the Happy Ara Hustle the other week. I did.

Adam. Adam. I love that you are involved in doing these things with him. I love that. I think that's great. And you're here. I wish I put I just met you though, so I But I wish I put that together when he came over. Michaela I was like, yes, I know. Darren should have said something when he came by. Shame on him. do you have any running goals?

I'm actually training for my first marathon, Labor Day weekend. my god! ⁓ Sackett's Harbor, New York. So I don't know if you guys have interviewed Colette, you know, Colette that runs all the millennials. my god, she's so fast! She wins all. She's adorable. She's actually won the Sackett's Harbor Marathon the last two years. And so we're friends and she kind of convinced a group of us to go out there and run it with her. Is she going for a three-peat this year? I think so. She actually got the she beat the course record last year. So I think she's hoping to crack.

⁓ man. So she's friends with Mary. Yes. Okay. Yeah. They're both very fast. Very fast. ⁓ Mary Clenny, as I was corrected by Terra Pterodactyl. I think I was saying it wrong because you were saying it wrong. Clenny, not Klein. Okay. ⁓ well that's on how's training going? Like it has to have started by now or just around now? We're at the end of week three. Okay. So I did a long run this morning, I'm even though I'm probably running this the tomorrow.

⁓ so it'll be an easier run tomorrow. But it's going good so far. I think I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would, and a lot better than I was doing last year. ⁓ but I guess that's my goal is just finish my half in the fall. Eventually get faster. Like I'm starting to get faster. Like the happy hour I met you at was actually a a PR. Congratulations! That's big. Not a big deal! But ⁓ my

cheap half and my half marathon case which was or also a PR with the same as Colette's marathon finish and that's her like marathon PR and I'm like this is crazy that I'm friends with people that are double literally at like double the speed of the well it's because these people are awesome people. We all are well that's the letting everyone community is amazing. Yeah. Well we're wrapping up you want to wrap up with us? Yeah how do we wrap up? We're gonna one thing they just kinda wing it so you're welcome to wing it with us. Well one we're gonna thank

Millennium for having us here. For all the volunteers, for the staff who set everything up, to John for believing in us. You're wonderful. I know. it's incredible. This is the third time I said it, probably more actually. They put us in such a good spot. Like everybody's walking in and just talking to Tom. We're just talking to Tom after, like after we recorded with him. And we're telling him how when we met him that last year at the New Hampshire Ten Milo, that was our first ever time doing this. He's like, wow, really? And I'm like, now we

We love it. Like we thought this would be years away. Because he heard we did the one at the Boss Marathon, and he's like, that's awesome for you guys, not realizing how short this has been. And it's all because of the Millennium staff. So we want to thank Millennium for making us look good while we try to talk well on the radio, which I can't do. But this whole booth and these signs and yeah, the belief. Also, again, it's Memorial Day week, and I know this a few days after, but thank you to everyone who served. We get to do this because of the sacrifices.

They've made. We're even talking earlier to Herman, whose brother is a police officer in First Reswander. So it's not just the ones who have served, it's the ones currently serving. Well, I guess actually, it's Memorial Day weekend. Yep. So it's you're honoring the ones who have served. I think. Veterans Day is to actually thank a veteran. You have Memorial Day and you have Veterans Day. Yes. Memorial Day is to honor those who have passed. Yes, yes. You're right. Is there one for active?

Like that's still Veterans Day, right? Veterans Day is still it's current and so Veterans Day is current and I think so. Yeah. But no, thank you to everyone who has, you know, made the ultimate sacrifice. And have a gr I hope everyone listening now on Thursday is like, yeah, that boss and run to remember was wicked awesome. What a day we had. And hopefully we're running it next year. And hopefully we're back here at the expo next year. Yeah. Right at the same spot. It's perfect. It's a good spot. We gotta add cameras.

We need three cameras. Well, we need two more. And we need a camera switcher. That's a goal for next year. All it is is a little switcher, and I got a camera with a number one, two, three, and when you're talking, Michaela, I hit number three. When I'm talking, I hit number one. Erica's number two, and maybe I'm number two. I watch all those video podcasts, they're great. Yeah. And I just need a little switcher. I could use someone in the back behind the scenes doing it for me so I don't have to think about it.

Maybe I hire Darren's girlfriend. Michaela, if you're not volunteering, come on over. Well, hey, I love seeing what you and Darren are doing. I'm so happy you introduced me the other day to you. So that was really cool. Thank you for volunteering. Well, I think it's a volunteer job, but thank you for being here. I am volunteering. And have fun at the race tomorrow. Thank you. We ⁓ gotta go back. But we didn't plan this right. Maybe next year. We'll plan it better. We're getting better at this. Organization skills are among

We're getting there. Erica! Before I say take us home. Sure. I'm gonna tell you, Michaela, little be what we do here is I say a thing, Erica says a thing, hers is like, don't forget to stretch. You gotta come up with something. A little catchphrase to A little catchphrase. So you'll say it after he says his little thing. Right? Alright, you got a couple seconds. So Erica. Erica! Take us home!

Thank you guys so much for watching on YouTube, for following us on Instagram, and for listening to this. You know we love you. Maybe that camera. I don't know which one. We don't either. We don't either. As a backup. Guys, thank you so much. Don't fear the code brown. Don't forget to stay hydrated. And don't forget to stretch.

Good one. I like the don't don't don't. ⁓ we did a whole lot of don'ts. That was like awesome.