242 | Tracy and Eric Eastman | Summer of Love #1

Join us for the first episode of our Summer of Love series on the On the Runs podcast! In this episode, we celebrate love and endurance with our special guests, Tracy and Eric Eastman. Discover their epic love story and how they navigate life together while staying active.

Brought to you by Back In Action Chiro NH. 

Click HERE for their Pain Free Running Guide

Thank you to My Race Tatts, OOfos and Back in Action for bringing us our summer series 

Key takeaways:

• Meet Tracy and Eric Eastman, our first couple featured in the Summer of Love series.
• Hear about their journey and how they support each other in their running adventures.
• Learn tips on maintaining a healthy relationship while pursuing fitness goals.
• The importance of community and support in relationships

Chapters

00:50 Summer of Love Series
03:29 Tracy and Eric Eastman
10:06 First Meeting and Community Support
13:08 Personal Running Journeys
19:08 Joining the Running Club
25:54 Building Community Through Running
34:49 The Evolution of a Relationship
43:23 The Joy of Supporting Others
01:03:54 Upcoming Adventures and Races
01:07:09 The Importance of Variety in Relationships
01:12:26 Love Songs and Emotional Connections
01:21:01 Reflections on Past Guests and Future Episodes

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Email us at OnTheRunsPod@gmail.com

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

Transcript

Eric & Tracy (00:35)
And he's like, Yeah, I thought you guys were a couple too, but you guys are just like them. And I was like, Well, we are actually a couple. And he was like, What? my god, you guys are a couple?

Erika (00:41)
Yeah.

Eric (00:50)
What's up, everybody? And welcome to our first episode of the Summer of Love series on the On the Runs podcast brought to you by Back in Action Cairo NH. I hope all you had a great 4th of July weekend and made it through that heat wave. Right now, Six Star Erica is ramping up for 72 hours with the horseflies again at Notchview. And we have an amazing first two guests to premiere our Summer of Love series. But first.

I must say hello to my kickass rock star for co-host, six star Erica. What's up?

Erika (01:25)
What's going on, buddy? It's so funny you mentioned the horse flies. They're gonna be no match for my electric fly swatter that I bought. This thing is gonna be so much fun. I will get content because these things will pop when they hit this. It's hysterical. Bam. Mm-hmm.

Eric (01:38)
that's good. You know, at the camper camping,

massive. the the Will Michael from Will Run 4 knows this. The mosquitoes are like the king of mosquitoes, they're massive. And Ashley bought like this this thing that zaps them that you just hang, right? You hang outside. Well, the kids left the door to the camper open. So, of course, all the bugs get in there. So I took that thing in the camper, turned it on when we slept. It was like little nightlight, and you kept hearing the

Erika (01:52)
huh. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. It's so satisfying

though. I love it.

Eric (02:08)
You should have seen

it the next morning. It was like a massacre. It was a slaughterfest. And none of us got bitten by bugs all night. It was great. But Erica. Yes. But six-star, we have an amazing two guests to premiere our Summer of Love series. Tell everyone who's coming on the podcast.

Erika (02:14)
Ha ha.

Well

That is the moral to the story.

We could not think of two better people to feature as our first couple on the Summer of Love. We are so excited to have Tracy and Eric Eastman on the pod today. So you guys may remember we had Tracy on for just a couple of minutes when we were doing our live show at the Manchester City Marathon. And we just knew that we had to get her back along with her husband Eric and just hear about their epic love story. So we're just so excited to have them on the pod today.

Eric (02:58)
I can't wait. And he spells his name the right way. But before we get to Tracy and Eric, I just want to thank our partners who jumped on board for the series. Absolutely incredible. My race tatch is sticking around. They're the amazing. They've been with us for over a year if you count like the fundraising for last year's marathons. Ufo's just jumping back on again. Last year they donated gift cards for that raffle. This year they are our product sponsor, giving each guest a free pair of UFOs.

Erika (03:00)
He does.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (03:26)
How incredible is that? That's 16 pairs of UFOs, Erica. Unreal. And then our premier guest featured sponsor for this episode is Dr. Frank from Back in Action, New Hampshire. And you remember, we had him on in our live show a couple months ago in Keene, and his place is in Concord, New Hampshire. It's amazing. I checked it out. I'm gonna fill you guys in more on that later throughout this series.

Erika (03:29)
So epic. It is gonna help everyone recover in style.

Eric (03:54)
You're gonna love this place. Go check it out. So support them and Erica. What should they do in the show notes?

Erika (03:59)
Please go check out the show notes. We have the link to go to Back in Action Cairo. and if you can, please fill out the form for their pain-free running guide. It's gonna help you guys out so much. And if you live in the area, give Dr. Frank a call. Just stay pain free and keep the engine running all the time.

Eric (04:15)
Guys, sponsors, partners, thank you so much. This is so cool. But enough of us. Six star, take us to our amazing guest.

Erika (04:19)
Thanks, Doctor Frank.

Without further ado, we have Tracy and Eric Eastman on the On the Runs podcast.

Eric (04:32)
Our next guests on the pod are two New Hampshire's finists who have been supporting us since day one. There's almost no running event locally where you won't see them out there running. And if they're not running, they're out there supporting everyone else. Needless to say, we are wicked excited to welcome Eric and Tracy to the On the Runs podcast. Finally, guys,

how you doing? What's up?

Eric & Tracy (04:52)
Thank you for having us.

Woo!

We're excited to be here. Yay.

Erika (04:55)
I'm so glad to see you. Yay.

Actually seeing you like twice in what? Like a four day span? Like that's that's pretty pretty awesome. How's everything going? yeah.

Eric & Tracy (05:02)
Right. Right. Yeah.

Eric (05:05)
Let's talk about that actually. You were at

just the other day the Hollis Fast 5K, and I think it was kind of a battle between who went there and who went to the Happy Hour Also. And you guys picked the better looking one of the pod fam, six star Erica.

Eric & Tracy (05:15)
That's right.

That's right. That's right. That's right.

Yep. We heard the better of you two were going to the Hollis Fast five K, so that's for the direction we opted for.

Erika (05:29)
Ha ha ha.

Eric (05:30)
Yeah, yeah. It

was also downhill, I think that was that was one of them where the Londonderry five K had a big hill in it and I did not know that hill was coming. I thought it was all rail trail.

Eric & Tracy (05:33)
Exactly.

Erika (05:40)
Downhill,

big hill, downhill, big hill.

Eric & Tracy (05:42)
Yeah. We picked the right one,

it sounds like.

Eric (05:45)
Yes, yes, yes. How was the five K? Like was it fast? Was it hot? How how was your day?

Erika (05:45)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (05:51)
So it was really hot, but that's historically hot race. I think any time we've ever run it is hot. it was really fast. It was really it started like it was a great race. Now you do hit some spots where it feels like it's uphill. even though it's not necessarily, but it feels it. And so you go a little slower, but even so you just get a great PR every time. At least I do. So it was good.

Erika (06:16)
Mm-hmm. I have a fun fact

about this year's race. So I've been running it since 2018, I think, because Strava like pops it all in one thing. Like you did this, like this is your matched runs. And I clicked them and I was looking through all of the the like heat data and stuff like that. This past one was the hottest one that I have done by like several degrees. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So this one was tough. So I commend you for for still getting out there and running it. And

Eric & Tracy (06:27)
Wow.

It was kidding. Wow.

Yeah.

Erika (06:46)
Eric was out there on his bike and yeah.

Eric & Tracy (06:48)
Yeah, I

Eric (06:48)
I was

gonna say that.

Eric & Tracy (06:49)
I had a bib, but I coincidentally I got out of the car and my legs just weren't feeling it and I had just gotten a bike from my father that was still in the car. And I went, Would you be upset if I bike supported instead? She's like, Of course not. so I rode my bike to the start and then I supported on the way down. Yeah. It was still fun.

Eric (07:10)
And wheels going

downhill is like effortless.

Eric & Tracy (07:13)
It yeah, it w I only gave myself credit for three miles even though I biked six. You had to get up the hill.

Eric (07:19)
So so wait,

so was it a PR for both you, Erica and Tracy?

Eric & Tracy (07:23)
It was not a PR for me because back in probably eighteen or nineteen, I ran that one in just under twenty eight minutes. I was in really good shape. I was probably 30 pounds lighter. I was running a lot faster than this last couple years after I had my knee injury. I'm running slower. I've gained some weight. but I ran faster this time than I've run in probably a couple years. So Yeah, you you looked awesome. Mm-hmm.

Eric (07:49)
That's awesome. You know what? That deserves one of these though.

Erika (07:49)
Still getting out there though.

Mm-hmm. Yep. And I missed mine by like two minutes and I blew up in the first like mile. So rookie mistake, am I right?

Eric & Tracy (08:00)
Just that

heat really got you. It felt like you were just burning from the inside and you ha I had to stop and just drink water and and stop. And had I not done that, I would have PR'd probably. Lots of kids spraying water along the way, which was kind of cute and fun. Yeah.

Erika (08:08)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (08:13)
Isn't that the best? It's the best.

We we were just talking before, like we all jumped on together, but does it feel like the heat has come quicker this year? You it's usually not this hot. And I know this is a few weeks ahead of when it comes out, but it feels like it got hot really fast. Like overnight, it just all of a sudden hit the heat, the humidity. It's like stay in your room with the AC on now.

Eric & Tracy (08:23)
Yes.

Erika (08:25)
This soon.

Eric & Tracy (08:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, we just had six inches of snow in the yard the other day and now it's a heat wave. That's New England. That's New England. That's where we live.

Eric (08:43)
Right, right. We just had a snowstorm

on Mount Washington too for legit. But but anyways, guys, I'm so excited. You're episode one of our new summer series. We're still trying to figure out the name, but Erica and I were thinking like Summer of Love or something. We'll put we'll we'll put out an Instagram poll for names later, but you are our first guest. Thank you for being a part of this series. And my first question in my notes here is do you remember the first time when the four of us all met?

Eric & Tracy (08:47)
Yeah.

Erika (08:47)
Yep.

Eric & Tracy (09:03)
Yay.

I sure do. Do you? She'd have to tell me. No, Tracy. Tracy, tell me when we the four of us first met. So it's St. Patrick's Day, half marathon, correct? and right, you were new to the pond. Yes, and Mike and Sarah introduced us to you guys. We're at the Thirsty Moose.

Eric (09:25)
That's right. We we were like ten episodes in on this podcast and

Erika (09:29)
This was right after

Sarah's episode dropped, right?

Eric (09:32)
Yes.

Eric & Tracy (09:37)
And I started listening to you guys faithfully s starting then. Now over

Eric (09:42)
And you've been a

Erika (09:42)
You're too sweet.

Eric (09:42)
supporter ever since. One of the best.

Erika (09:46)
The OGs.

Eric & Tracy (09:45)
Over the last few months I haven't been as caught

up on the pod, but

Erika (09:49)
You don't have to say that. You're fine. Still our top still our top fan.

Eric & Tracy (09:50)
You can cut that out.

Eric (09:53)
I

I remember that day very well. I remember like the post race very well. One, I was feeling incredible, like I was in great shape then too. Some time has passed and and I've gained weight too. And and we've all like flows, right? But I remember that, and I just remember you're in this group of people of your friends. Sarah and Mike were part of that. And just you and your friends were so welcoming right then in that moment. And ever since that day,

Eric & Tracy (10:06)
Right.

Eric (10:19)
Whenever I run into one of you, whether you're together or not, whether like Eric's on the bike or something, I hear him just yell, Go, Eric. Or whether you're out there, you're yelling for us and you see us like that's been one of my favorite parts was just how welcoming you are. And then it it goes beyond that to all your support for other runners, because my daughter warmed you up for your your support run at the hamster wheel. So I just, yeah, I she was.

Eric & Tracy (10:42)
She sure did. She was a tough cookie. She cracked the whip on me. That I remember.

Eric (10:49)
Yeah.

Erika (10:50)
has never bent in that direction. Like she just does her like power kick. I'm like

Eric & Tracy (10:54)
You're not doing it right. I'm like, I'm

old. I can't do it like you can.

Erika (10:58)
I never could do that. That's way outside of my wheelhouse.

Eric & Tracy (11:00)
Yeah.

She was fun.

Eric (11:02)
But yeah, that

was that was a big moment. That was our first time ever walking around, handing out stickers, saying this is us, this is who we are. That's the first time I also met Terra Teradactyl. A lot of you, because for me, Erica was very into the running scene, like signing up for races, doing races, knowing the people. I was the one running and doing everything by myself, and just Erica and I connected because we were friends for 20 years. And it's like, let's do long runs together, but I don't do many.

Eric & Tracy (11:09)
Yeah.

Right.

Erika (11:20)
I would do all the races, yeah.

Eric & Tracy (11:29)
Right.

Eric (11:32)
local races. The way you welcomed me was like, I'm in. I want to be a part of this. So that was that was it for me. And I wanted to share that. And that was when we met. So yeah. It was awesome. It was awesome. But

Eric & Tracy (11:41)
I appreciate you sharing that. That means a lot. That's awesome. We get as much

out of it as people tell us. I I I love cheering for people. It it fills me up and people are so receptive and I hear things afterwards, you know, thanks for cheering, thanks for cheering. So no, I I love doing it. Speaking of which, it's one of the reasons I'm actually with Eric because he was one of my first cheerleaders.

And just building me up and I wasn't even a runner back then. I didn't consider myself a runner. And you know, you're doing great. And I'm like, I don't I'm not even a real runner, you know. And so his cheering was like part of the reason I loved the run club is like, wow, these these people at the dome are so welcoming and I felt the same way. And it was Mr. Eastman over here. When you joined the running club in Milford? Yes. Yeah. That that wounded up being a running club in Manchester. Yeah.

Erika (12:33)
And that was a running club that you Uhhuh.

I remember hearing that story. I'm glad you s beautiful thing. I'm glad you did.

Eric & Tracy (12:38)
We fixed that. I just made her move to Manchester.

Eric (12:44)
Well, let's hear. I know we said ladies first, but Tracy did jump on our live podcast back last November at the Manchester Marathon. So we heard that story a little bit and we can touch up on it. But where you joined and thought it was Manchester, it was Milford, that was the Millennium Running Club. But Eric, let's hear a little bit about your story. Give us a little bit, catch us up to speed here on who you were before those days when you met Tracy in the bubble.

Eric & Tracy (13:09)
I ran track and field in high school. I I I started in middle school. wasn't actually very good in middle school. And then Lendendary High School started their middle school when I was in seventh grade. So I went to seventh and eighth grade in Lendendary Middle School. And the only reason I bring that up is they had a brand new track program. So in eighth grade,

I broke the 400-meter school record that a classmate of I had the year before. So it gave me just a hint of confidence to maybe continue running a little bit. And then enter college, and a buddy of mine, another Eric, I saw pole vaulting. So I started pole vaulting. So I pole vaulted all through high school and college. I was a decathlete. and then

Erika (13:46)
hell yeah.

Eric & Tracy (14:01)
Once I got into being an adult and had kids, I got away from it. I think it's a very similar story to a lot of people. You get away from it and then one day you just say to yourself, Wow, I I need to do something. And I started running again. did the Shamrock Shuffle in 2011, kind of bumped into John Mortimer. I remember John from Blenderry High School, and shortly thereafter, I think in 2012 I joined the club.

Erika (14:13)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (14:28)
And just have been part of the club ever since. Did my first marathon in two thousand seventeen. My only marathon in two thousand seventeen. About super, super, super proud moment getting that under my belt. So and the the Manchester City.

Eric (14:41)
So, real quick, what marathon was that? Okay, you picked a good one. And then

back to high school. Did you go to high school with John?

Eric & Tracy (14:50)
I'm slightly older than him, like six or seven or eight years older than him, but I was coaching the pole vault when he was running in high school. so I and and he's, you know, famous to everybody. So, you know, he he would he would make jokes about becoming a pole vaulter because he's like a bean pole and could never do it. But he used to love running by and making comments to all the pole vaulters when we were practicing.

Eric (14:54)
Okay.

no way.

Well he was like footlocker athlete of the year or something.

Erika (15:11)
Yeah.

Eric (15:15)
That's cool.

Erika (15:16)
man.

I am so intrigued about about athletes who who do like pole vaulting and discus. Like how do you actually get into that? Like say, hmm, like I think I want to jump over this big ass bar, like up in the air. Like, how do they even teach you?

Eric & Tracy (15:17)
Yeah.

It it's literally a

kind of a competitor friend of mine was doing it and and I I don't know how he started and I I literally was just like if he's gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. And I was always like parkouring everything my whole life. So that's just another version of parkour in in my mind. So I Yeah parkour

Erika (15:34)
Mm-hmm.

Alright, I'm fascinated.

That's so cool. Parkour.

Eric (15:47)
You you were the founder.

Erika (15:52)
I'm just getting like Michael Scott vibes like parkour.

Eric & Tracy (15:57)
All the time. I was gonna say it's pretty much what he does all the time. But no, I I absolutely loved it. I I I would still do it today if my body could handle it. But yeah.

Erika (16:01)
Yeah.

Eric (16:07)
Well, you could still

Erika (16:07)
That's

so cool.

Eric (16:08)
coach. I was thinking, like, you know, how does somebody actually get into that? Erica asked that question. I would imagine, like, if there's a high school track and field coach, they might be able to kind of pick out of the crowd what athletes would be a good pole vulter or a high jumper or a discus thrower. Like it's probably a lot of it has to do with the coach. Like nobody like

I decided to start playing ice hockey when I saw a Boston Bruins game on TV. That's something like that, right? Nobody like watches TV and sees a a discus throw and it's like, I wanna do the discus. It probably takes somebody to to to to pick you out of the crowd.

Erika (16:38)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (16:41)
Right.

Erika (16:42)
Javelin. I don't know.

Eric & Tracy (16:45)
That that's interesting. I I I do think that you gravitate towards things that you kind of feel. you know, I I felt it and tried it. I I do think your your football players pick up a shot put. Now because they have a shot put, they naturally throw a discus. Maybe they do a javelin, but usually some leaner people do a javelin 'cause there's some speed involved. you know, people that

Erika (17:04)
Okay.

Eric & Tracy (17:12)
aren't quite fast enough for the hundred meter well maybe they can run the hundred meter hurdles. Like there's I don't know, you just kind of find your way in. I mean you're just finding track at all in the first place. Usually the they they say the geeky dorky kids that can't play football run track. But anyway.

Erika (17:23)
Mm-hmm.

But that

Eric (17:29)
I

Erika (17:29)
kind

Eric (17:29)
just thought

Erika (17:29)
of makes it more ex more inclusive, right? Like if if if you may not have had luck doing another sport, try this. Like give it a shot.

Eric & Tracy (17:36)
Absolutely. And to your point

about the cheering and feeling welcomed, at least the clubs that I've been part of with with Millennium, it it you can be, you know, the fastest runner that you've ever seen and you can be you know, sixteen minute, seventeen minute miles and everybody welcomes everybody. I I I absolutely love, love, love that. Exactly.

Erika (17:44)
Mm-hmm.

A mile is a mile and you're still moving forward.

Eric (18:00)
So y Eric, you were in the Millennium Running Club long before you met Tracy, or just say little before. And do you recall like the first time you met Tracy?

Eric & Tracy (18:13)
Yeah. A hundred percent. Can I tell you when I fell in love with her? Okay. so she kinda mentioned me welcoming her at the at the dome and and I didn't really single her out, no offense. I didn't single you out. But I I cheered for everybody in between laps or whatever.

Eric (18:17)
You could give me the whole story, spare no details.

Erika (18:17)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (18:33)
And then after I think it was the Fat Tuesday 5K, if you guys remember the Fat Tuesday 5K, it was the nighttime run they had in downtown Manchester. And we were all at the moose, coincidentally, where the four of us met. Yeah. And I invited them over because we had, you know, been chums enough to hang out. Hey, come over to our table. And we just started chit-chatting. And I mentioned tough mutter to Tracy. And Tracy goes, I'm in. And I went,

Erika (18:40)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (19:02)
I'm in love with this woman. I I'm I'm going to marry this. I didn't really think quite that, but I I literally fell in love with her at that moment. Now it was years later before we officially dated. We you know, we're in different parts of our lives at the time. But yeah, it it that like that's her. Like he goes Trace, do you wanna blah blah do you know anything about it? Yes, I'm in. Tough mutter at all? I'm like, no. He goes, Do you wanna try it? I'm like, Yeah, sure, I'm in. And that's who I am. Okay. Yep.

Erika (19:08)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

She's a free spirit. She's up for

Eric (19:31)
You said yes

Erika (19:32)
anything, adventurous.

Eric (19:32)
before you learned about the el getting electrocuted, right? Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (19:34)
Yeah. Yes. To this day, we we

have videos back and forth where I was training for Tough Mutter. She sends me a video, she's sitting at a kitchen table popping Doritos in her mouth, going Tough Mutter training. And it was the funniest thing ever. And it was like weeks before Tough Mutter, and that was her version of training, I guess, to kind of pick on me.

Erika (19:50)
Yeah.

And that's why I love Tracy, 'cause that's my kind of training. Absolutely.

Eric (20:02)
Awesome.

Eric & Tracy (20:06)
Thank you.

Eric (20:09)
Tracy, bring us up to

Erika (20:09)
my gosh.

Eric (20:10)
speed a little bit. Remind everyone who may have missed or or you know it was months ago, but bring us a little bit up to speed on what got you to join that running club that you thought was in Manchester but turned out to be in Milford.

Eric & Tracy (20:23)
It it was in in Milford and I it was actually Manchester. So in the winter time. Yeah. So I lived in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, and Milford's about half an hour. and I was going through my divorce. my brother was a runner. He had like a little running club and I would go to it and walk sometimes. and then

Eric (20:29)
That's right. You were in Milford.

Eric & Tracy (20:46)
There was a guy on the parents group in my school and he was a runner and he said, Yeah, I'm I'm I'm gonna join this run club in in with they go to the dome in Milford and I was that sounds interesting. Maybe I'll join. It'll be something for me to get out of the house, you know, good stress reliever. So I joined this run club in Milford. Once a week I go, my my parents' babies sit for my kids because they're young. and I meet all these people, amazing people, great running friends.

I meet Eric, but a bunch of our running friends that we have still to this day. and so that session ends in March. So I they said, okay, the next, you know, session in the spring is gonna be at blah blah blah in Manchester. And I said, so I I think I might might have asked Jen Mortimer, where

when do you guys come back to Milford? And they were like, next winter. And I was like, I just joined a running club an hour away from my house and I like all these people. So I I then was committed and then I drove an hour every week on Tuesday night to go to the run club. And my parents and my sister in law and all of my family helped me out so I could go start my my running career. So it was great. I was like, Well, there I am. I joined this run club. Met

Erika (21:47)
Damn it.

Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (22:06)
this guy it was worth it.

Erika (22:06)
Well, they're definitely worth it, all of you. Cause yeah, you guys are still part of the Millennium Run Club. And this was is the the first year that I've joined. I actually haven't been able to make it to half of that stuff, but I just love you guys so much. Like you said, everyone is welcoming and cheers everyone on. And it's the kind of club that I want to be a part of because everybody just has so much love for everybody else.

Eric & Tracy (22:12)
Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. And it was just so welcoming back then and and nobody seemed to care that I was like, you know, a twelve minute mile and like struggling at that and everybody was cheering you on and you're like, Whoa, I I I'm embarrassed because I don't even know how to run in front of people and I I don't think I'm a runner. And it just brought me such great stress relief, you know, going through divorces hard and it was one of those things that I could do for myself and it was

emotionally made me happy. I was like, wow, this is so great. so it just was that's how I got into running, is it was a stress relief. It mentally made me feel better. Then I meet all these amazing people and, you know, we do all these miles together. They would sometimes come to you know, my neck of the woods to meet me for a run sometimes, which was great. a lot of runs in like Peterborough area. So they would come and meet me. So

Eric (23:16)
That's nice.

Erika (23:21)
Excellent.

Eric (23:22)
Talk about

like I it's a podcast, no one can see us, but everyone knows what we look like. By no means are any of the four of us fast. Where, you know, maybe on a on a an average run, we're running at best 930s. If we really want to train hard for something, we could push it. But by no means are we fast. We're not like those tall, skinny, aerodynamic runners. But it seems like well.

Eric & Tracy (23:31)
Right.

Erika (23:47)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (23:48)
There

it is.

Erika (23:52)
I wish. Have you seen my ass? I don't think so.

Eric (23:51)
Six star is different. But

But what I'm trying to get to here is how welcoming people are because it can be maybe intimidating signing up for a run club, signing up for something like this, not knowing anybody and thinking, Well, I like to run, but I'm not fast, so why would I join a run club? Like that talk about just the people in the run club really quick, especially early on.

Eric & Tracy (24:06)
Yes.

Great.

Yeah, for me that was a big deal. I was one of the slowest in the pack at the time. and I met these two guys, Rick Freeman. I don't know if anybody knows him, but

and then there was another guy and I can't remember his name right now. and I was running with these two guys. Tony, but at the time at the dome. and it was they were slower like me and like starting to get back into running over the years and you know it was great because I clicked with them because we were on the same pace and all that stuff. And then, you know, it Rick became my running husband because like that's who I could run with. and he had a baby on the way, so we get out there and talk about our family.

and our kids and it it was super supportive of each other and you know two newer runners and so that that was a really great support and to have that and everybody just cheering for you even though you're the one of the last peew few people coming in at the end and everybody's standing there with clapping and it just builds your morale and it like you meet these great friends and

it just so supportive and makes you feel good. So and I I don't even think it's all that s sort of complex. Like I I'll give you an example. Mark Leprod is one of the fasties, right? And when I first met him and Michelle, they they just look at you in the eye and say, Hi, I I'm Mark, I'm Michelle, you know, what's your name? How are you? Like that simple, simple stuff that you then reciprocate to other people, I think go

Erika (25:27)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (25:54)
goes

a really, really long way. Yeah, they were keeping rather than we're in our little bubble because we run X and we don't know where you're at yet. Do you belong in our bubble or not? Like this it just doesn't go. Now when we run, we run in our little bubbles, but we also pass each other and you know, great job. Yeah, great job back and forth, whether you're running six minutes or sixteen minutes. Yeah. just just the the friendliness. And I think because Yeah.

Eric (26:01)
Right.

Erika (26:01)
Mm-hmm.

mm-hmm. Good, good.

Eric (26:20)
Yeah, nobody there's no clicks. Nobody cares if you're fast or slow. You're just

Erika (26:21)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (26:23)
part of the group. You're part of the community. You all get together on Tuesday nights at I it's Livingston Right in the summer and then the bubble in the winter. Yeah. You get together and it's a huge crew and you see everybody who fast and slow. You know, people of all kinds together and it's so cool.

Eric & Tracy (26:24)
I think.

That's one of the places. Yep.

And when I joined it was

much smaller. So I don't know, there would be forty people there, let's say.

and so like I was even more intimidated because it was such a like a close-knit crowd that I was like, God, this is embarrassing. How am I gonna do this? But then immediately you just felt like everybody was a family. and they just pat you on the back and nobody leaves till everybody's done, kind of thing. And because you're at the dome, you don't quite get the speed difference. I mean, they pass you three times, but everybody's cheering along the way that you just feel like you're part of that group. And that was huge for me.

Erika (26:56)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yep. I I have to give credit to the run clubs because something I've noticed in my as I'm getting older, it's it's hard to make new friends when you're like outside of like school. Like how how else are you supposed to make friends? And the run club is the perfect way to do it. Like you said, you could connect over over families or or paces or whatever, but like everybody is friendly with everybody. So it's just such a nice way to

Eric & Tracy (27:14)
So

Right. Yeah.

Erika (27:40)
broaden your friend group and meet new people and I I that's what I'm here for.

Eric & Tracy (27:43)
Yeah.

The other thing that we've noticed too is like the age differences.

Like some of our closest friends are, you know, still having babies and like they're much younger than us. But it doesn't even feel like there's an age difference because we're all just part of this group together. And so like I we love the fact that it doesn't matter how old, how young, how fast it's you know, it doesn't matter any of that. We're all just there together and we have a good time. So, you know Yeah, that's that's a really good point that I wasn't thinking. 'cause we just talked about that the other day with friends that are twenty years younger than us and

Erika (27:54)
Mm-hmm.

Isn't it great?

Eric & Tracy (28:20)
We're like I I don't even think of you as young enough to be my kid. You're just a friend. Right. and it's it's awesome.

Erika (28:24)
We're peers. We're all peers.

Eric (28:31)
And then we really got to know each other a couple of years ago. Cause on Wednesday nights, I used to have every Wednesday free. So I signed up the two of us, Erica and I both signed up for run, run, try to say it really fast, run walk brew. And that's really, yeah, that's really when we got to got to get to know each other. And it wasn't the run that was my favorite part. It was after for the brew. And we would hang out wherever the spot it was that Chris set up.

Erika (28:45)
Which I have to get back to too.

Eric & Tracy (28:47)
Right.

Erika (28:54)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (28:54)
Yeah. Exactly.

Eric (28:58)
But we would hang out, have some drinks. That's where I really got to know Eric. And if he wasn't running, he was out there riding his bike, cheering everyone on. That's one of my favorite parts about you that we'll get to soon. But it's just so much fun getting to know you and all your friends. And then yeah, my life got a little busier with kids, so my Wednesdays got tied up, but I still see everything you do and I'm envious. I'm jealous. I love it all.

Eric & Tracy (29:18)
And you'll get there someday. So my Tuesday nights that is Millennium Run Club, I can't go to anymore. It's my son's only night off from work, and that's the only time I can really see him is Tuesday night. So I can't go. So then we find Run Walk Brew and it's Wednesday nights, which is perfect. My kids are both working. I'm you know able to just go to the run club. So you'll get back to that spot that spot someday, maybe in just a few more years where you're able to get back out there.

Erika (29:41)
Yeah.

Eric (29:43)
it might be sooner than you think actually, which might be nice now that schedules are getting a little more in in line, so might be might be sooner than later.

Eric & Tracy (29:46)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

And just like anything else, you ebbs and flows where sometimes it works out and you have to change your night and figure out what run club you're gonna go to or what activity you're gonna do because your life changed a little bit for a few years. And then you go back to whichever one you wanna do and it just it it works out every time.

Erika (30:09)
I just love that there's options and that a lot of the same people cross over no matter what the run club is. People just want to get out and be active and hang out with their friends. So it's best of both worlds.

Eric & Tracy (30:11)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. At first I thought I was cheating on

Millennium a little bit. but after a while I I feel equally part of both clubs. They have different tones and tempos, like the Renwalk brew is a little bit more laid back, definitely less structured, more chummy to your point, Eric. You know, the the drink after, you know, part of the the the whole experience and millennium's gotten a lot bigger. but I mean the

Erika (30:29)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Eric & Tracy (30:47)
We show up on a Tuesday and there's, you know, fifty people out of a hundred and fifty that you'd consider close friends. Yeah. And I love that. We always say we're gonna go run with, you know, about a hundred of our closest friends and it's because we really do have all these people that we love genuinely and we have had great times over the years with and that matters, you know.

Erika (30:59)
You're not lying.

Yeah.

Eric (31:08)
Yeah,

they're awesome people. And the cool part is for someone like me who's not a a member currently of any of these these clubs, I know when Erica goes to one on Tuesday that I can join her and kind of like just pay. I don't know what it is. And I know I can go to a run walk brew on a random Wednesday and like just do like I don't know what they call it if it's a day pass or a one time where I just pay for my own beer, but I know like I'm yeah, I know I'm welcome to every event, even if I'm not a member, I should just sign up. But, you know, I digress.

Erika (31:29)
It's twenty bucks to just be the do the year, so just just do it. Mm-hmm. Yeah shut.

Eric & Tracy (31:34)
Right.

Eric (31:38)
I might put you on the spot here, but typically I like to ask someone, what was your big marathon? What was your first marathon or your first big race? But I want to spin it a little bit with you together. What was one of your first races? And it can be individual or together, but were you.

You train together where maybe one of you was training, the other one was supporting or cheering or along the journey, or maybe you both train together for that tough mutter for the Manchester City marathon. Is there a race that comes to mind after the two of you met where say someone's like, I want to do this marathon and the other person's like, Let's do it. I'll help you get there.

Eric & Tracy (32:17)
That's a good question. So for me, Tough Mutter was it because I was genuinely scared about obstacles and how far and the distance up a mountain. And this is a big endeavor that I just said yes to and I know nothing about. So right up until the moment of the race, I was scared. Like, my God, I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous. but we trained together. We did a lot of hiking, biking. He walked me through it.

you know, it it was just one of those he helped me not be afraid. and so that was my first. Now at the time we were friends and he just helped write out a plan for me and

got me there and it was not even as a couple, it was just as a a friend who's helping train and that was huge. That was my first real like eye-opening event that was a big event for me because it was my first time doing something big. that he helped me plan, train for, do the right things. and it just was that support that the Millennium did anyway. You know, everybody supported you but he was like helping me plan it out. so that was for me the

Erika (33:23)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (33:24)
first big one.

Eric (33:28)
two of you

were even though you're we're not together, you're both single, just like in the run club friends. could you tie the knot then for me and tell me how the two of you became an item?

Eric & Tracy (33:31)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So more of the same. So over, you know, the next six, nine months or whatever, he was going through his divorce. I was, you know, sp trying to finalize my divorce. and we just showed up every Tuesday night or Thursday night run and it was just your social time with friends. And over time we kept training together.

and us and other people and you know if if we were going to do something it was the a group of us and eventually I wanna say one time we went and did something together, just the two of us and it was like it it kind of fell into place, I would say. And it was never like

Erika (34:17)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (34:21)
It just happened. Yeah, it w it wasn't like a specific moment. Yeah. It was more, you know, over time we got closer, we put ourselves in an environment where, this could be something. And at first we were just gonna date forever because neither one of us were ever gonna get married again. we've had more marriages than I want to admit to between the two of us and I have twice as many as her. but

Erika (34:23)
So what

Yeah.

Eric (34:49)
You kinda just let it happen though, it seems. And and eventually you go out and you do one or two things together with just the two of you. And and and Erica jump here at any point, but I kinda wanna know also the reaction of everybody else in these run clubs you're a part of.

Eric & Tracy (34:50)
Yep. We did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (35:05)
Yeah, like could anybody

see it happening at like even your closest friends?

Eric & Tracy (35:07)
So that is

that is a fun story. So it it was at one point we were at a race and you know the after party and it's a big to-do and and Greg Audet said to me he goes, he said, Yeah, I always thought you and Eric were a couple. kind of like another couple that they he thought was a couple, but they weren't and they were just running friends.

Erika (35:11)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (35:33)
And he's like, Yeah, I thought you guys were a couple too, but you guys are just like them. And I was like, Well, we are actually a couple. And he was like, What? my god, you guys are a couple? So a lot of people said to us, we saw it happening and you guys definitely we knew it was it was going on. So there was a lot of comments that people were like, it's it really is happening. So yeah, it was fun.

Erika (35:38)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

So you had a lot of people who were like, It's about time, like we we wanted this to happen for you. We were shipping you guys together.

Eric & Tracy (36:02)
Yes. I think Yeah, a a a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw you playing Footsies under that table kind of thing. That's right.

Eric (36:07)
That's incredible. You guys can't fool us.

Erika (36:10)
Aw, stop it.

Eric & Tracy (36:14)
Yeah.

Eric (36:15)
So that was that was well before we met since I've met you that night at the Shamrock Half, if I ever go to a millennium race or just really almost any race, hamster wheel, I see you. If you're not running, you're supporting. Maybe, maybe Tracy's running and Eric's on his bike supporting. Maybe Tracy's out there supporting someone else, and Eric is out there supporting Tracy, supporting somebody else.

Like you two are everywhere. So, like, do you have a calendar and do you track everyone's races? Do you for instance, do you have friends out there who have races coming up in the future and you're like, somebody asked us to go to dinner on this day, but no, we have to go because Becky has a race and we need to be there for Becky.

Erika (36:39)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (36:57)
100%. as a matter of fact, Ghost Train is coming up. And you know, our great friend badass Sheila, she might be doing Ghost Train and she might need some support. but what what did we sign up for the New England Half Marathon? And I'm like, well, maybe I'd be doing the New England half marathon virtually so I can go support Sheila. So

Erika (37:07)
Mm.

Eric (37:08)
Yes.

Erika (37:14)
Which is the next day, the next morning, uhhuh.

Eric & Tracy (37:23)
I have her event on my calendar and I have to make that decision if I'm doing a virtual half marathon so that I can be there to support Sheila. So we do this all the time. What's our calendar look like? And we'll put things on our calendar that are races for other people and sometimes forget who they're for. Why did I put that race on my calendar and and I didn't write a name next to it, but I know I'm not running it, and then it'll come out who's running it and we show up. like the cheap marathon.

Erika (37:50)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (37:51)
We we were like, is anybody running that? Where we happen to be free and like, you know, Dan and Kathy happen to be running it and and Sheila and like these people we didn't even know were there because they didn't really tell us. And so we end up showing up and there's our some of our favorite friends. And so we, you know, go and cheer them on. But if we know about it, we put it on our calendar. So Dan, Kathy, and Sheila have a big one coming up at the end of July. and then Ghost Rain, Hamster Wheel if they're doing it.

Erika (37:58)
Hey.

Eric & Tracy (38:20)
we add those to the calendar and just to be good support.

Erika (38:24)
so you guys are gonna go cheer him on for the ragged, the ragged seventy-five, aren't you? you guys are wonderful. Cause that was one I wanted to no, no, not quite. But I was supposed to go the other day, lit like just this past weekend, I was like, Sheila, I'll totally go for a like a hike with you. And I I was like, What what are you looking for? Thinking she was just gonna tell me like, maybe like an eight mile hike, something like that. And she's like, I think it's like 30 something miles.

Eric & Tracy (38:28)
Yeah. Yeah. Can't can't necessarily bike support up and down ragged. Different bike, but

Eric (38:35)
Аміні, кури.

Erika (38:53)
I have a marathon next weekend. So this is this'll like drop way in the future. But but I was like, I don't know if I can do that. But I'm hoping to like squeeze in some time to help her train a little bit. And like if I can be there for her for that, I would love to to do that as well. And Dan and Kathy too, because I think they are just absolutely amazing. And yeah, just I love that you step up for your friends like that. And

Eric & Tracy (39:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

And and sometimes like for instance,

Melissa Cummings and Jill and Eric's mother have been talking and they're gonna potentially do the women's marathon in New Orleans. So yes, so Vera, his mother, has signed up for that and she's trying to get me to sign up. Well, there's no way I'm doing a marathon in February or March, that just not doing it. But we might go down we may go support and go do our cheer thing down in New Orleans.

Erika (39:21)
Yes, mm-hmm.

No way!

Yeah.

Eric (39:43)
I mean it's a trip to

New Orleans. Bring some beads down while you're there. Is that Mardi Gras time?

Eric & Tracy (39:44)
Right. Yeah. And what great people. Yeah.

Erika (39:44)
That's amazing. Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (39:49)
It's not February. is Mardi Gras. Yeah. So I think it's his mom just told me yesterday it's not Mardi Gras time. And I said, Well, a trip to New Orleans will still be fun. so right, yeah.

Eric (39:59)
I mean, it might be more fun because it won't be crazy. And you

Erika (40:02)
Probably

Eric (40:02)
get to

Erika (40:02)
worth it.

Eric (40:02)
go down there, cheer on people. You know, Eric, figure out a way to get your bike down there. Which is something right. Which is something I want to talk about because half the time I see you, you're on two wheels. If you're not running the race again, you're pulling up and saying, Hey, on two wheels. Like I think I was running the Manchester City Marathon a couple years ago, and you pulled up to me around mile like six or seven and said, Hey, and then I saw you somewhere else on the bike.

Eric & Tracy (40:07)
Right. Or redbone. Or red bone. Yeah. No, I'll I'll figure it out. Yeah. I'll figure it out.

Erika (40:09)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (40:16)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eric (40:28)
The Delta Dental Elliott 5K, you were on the bike, 4,000 runners, but you're there on the bike supporting everybody. So do you go there with the different like when you have friends out there running and you're not? Like what are you doing for those friends besides cheering? Like Eric Eric, I think you had a backpack full of everybody's water bottle and fuel, right?

Eric & Tracy (40:46)
every

time. So f first of all, I I I don't want it to sound like like I schedule cheering for everybody. It's it's not that formal. It's it's more honestly that the races for millennia have been so ingrained in me. I I

Erika (40:48)
Love it.

He

Eric & Tracy (41:02)
I either sign up for them or I plan to attend and then I get close to it and I decide, I'm just I my knees are shot and I'm trying not to say knees too many times during this podcast because I'll it all I do is complain about my knees, but it's real life and I'll go and instead of run, I'll just ride the bike. the same thing with training. Like if I go to the track tomorrow or I don't know where we are tomorrow.

Erika (41:19)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (41:30)
You know, I I may or may not run, but I will definitely go and I'll definitely, you know, support whoever's there. back to your question was Do you often bring a backpack? So when I do, I I have a giant backpack, it's like this wide, that I empty and I throw it on my back and I will tell people, you know, if you have anything you want to get rid of, feel free to overdress for the start, because people hate

Erika (41:38)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (41:57)
wearing like something that they have to ditch. And I say, I'll I'll gladly take it and I'll make it a point to go past everybody I recognize and ask, Do you have anything you want to ditch? And I'll get it back to you later. That's So he'll do during a half marathon, easily thirty plus miles because he goes back and forth so many times and he'll be like, Okay, now I gotta go check on so and so. This is a you know a big race for them. They're trying to PR and he'll go up and stay with them for a while and take their belongings and then come back to me and then maybe go back a little further to a few people that are

Eric (41:58)
That's right.

Eric & Tracy (42:27)
slower than me and then go do the whole rounds again and make sure everybody's okay and take all their stuff. Yes. It's fun.

Erika (42:32)
That is a huge workout in itself. Like I hope you are giving yourself

enough credit for that. Like, yes, it's fun, but that is so much work and we appreciate it. We all do. I mean, yeah.

Eric & Tracy (42:41)
It I and I hear you. I I can't

Eric (42:42)
It's more fun sometimes than racing.

Eric & Tracy (42:45)
stress enough how rewarding it is for me. Like I I am not doing it because you can't run if he's if his knees are hurting and he every time he'll run, his knees end up hurting for a few days. And the doctor has told him at one point you'll need a knee replacement if you keep going.

Erika (42:49)
I love that you feel that way. I really do. It's amazing.

Eric & Tracy (43:01)
So he to so biking is an activity that doesn't put all the pressure on the knees and is good. So it's actually a workout for him that he can do in supporting people. So yeah. Which is awesome. Yeah.

Erika (43:03)
So you're doing the smart thing, but also helping people. It's great.

And you enjoy it. Best of both worlds.

Eric (43:18)
Sometimes

Eric, I feel the same way, and it's maybe just because we have the same name, we spell it correctly, and our name's awesome, and it just makes us awesome. But

Eric & Tracy (43:23)
Definitely correctly. We would not be

Erika (43:23)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (43:24)
on this podcast right now if you spelled your name wrong.

Eric (43:27)
Exactly. But sometimes just

seeing other people succeed and supporting others gives you more thrill and enjoyment than sometimes going out there and working hard for your own goals. Not that we don't want to do that, but just you get some type of joy out of that and and being part of someone else's journey. And that's kind of why we wanted to do this series because you know, every every couple, every married couple, or anyone in any kind of partnership, you know, they have this journey together.

Eric & Tracy (43:32)
Yes.

Eric (43:56)
I love the whole story about how you're connecting and how you supported each other and the marathon and the training and the biking, but you know what? It doesn't always go right. Do you have any of those stories? A code brown, you know, doesn't have to be Yeah. Doesn't have to be actual crap, but it could be. Do you have any Code Brown stories for us?

Erika (44:10)
you're not getting out of this easy. You got you gotta have some stories for us.

Eric & Tracy (44:14)
Right.

So I actually have one that's just me, but we actually have a supporting story couple story that I'll let Tracy tell. So mine's not complicated, it's just disgusting. I was literally running trail running, where I lived in Merrimack at the time, and I I'm about a mile and a half in and had to do something. So the shirt came off.

I went behind a rock. The shirt did not come back onto the run with me. I I ran home and it's it was horrible.

Erika (44:57)
Yes, Eric is quite familiar.

Eric (44:57)
I had that in high school. Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (44:58)
I don't know if there's a good way to tell these stories, but

Eric (44:59)
I yeah. I I had that I had that in high school and I never went back for the shirt. And I felt bad that I didn't do it. So now now what's funny is I always try to, if I know it's coming, plan it. And it that's very hard to plan, right? But I then I tried to put the shirt somewhere where I can go back and and take it back. And if it's salvageable.

Erika (45:09)
He littered. No.

Eric (45:26)
It's usually not. But I could salvage it. And if not, probably dispose of it. And this this has happened like three times. And the one time was high school where I did it. And the other two times I'm like, okay, I'm gonna put it behind this rock. Like 30 feet off the trail, by the way, too. Not like right on the trail. Yeah. Cause you have to go. You just feel that way, right? You have to. Yeah, you can take a number two on the side of the trail, but your cleanup job, you don't want it to be within sight of anything. So it was actually my birthday. I think it was my thirty-ninth birthday.

Eric & Tracy (45:39)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

Eric (45:56)
And I went for a run. I'm on the Rockingham Rail Trail near Candia. And I had a code brown. And so I went again what I thought was far enough away. And I took care of everything. And I thought I could carry the shirt out with me. And I had that awkward moment when I was walking up the embankment of the trail with a shirt covered in crap in my hand.

Erika (46:22)
Okay.

Eric (46:23)
And this girl walks by walking her dog. And I was like, so embarrassed. Why was I in sight? Why do I have this shirt? Why'd I try to save it? I should have gone back later. It's my 39th birthday or something like that. I've had that. I don't even know if I shared that. Yeah. I'll keep it.

Erika (46:28)
Mm.

Eric & Tracy (46:29)
Yeah.

my God.

Erika (46:37)
Yeah.

I I don't

remember those details. I I remember something o like I thought you'd said you had one on that Yeah, but that was Nope, you didn't mention that. What's going on? gross. no.

Eric (46:49)
Code Brown, my birthday, but like the story about running into the lady with her dog and the dog obviously was like wanting to be like you know, sniffing. Like, no, don't you don't

Eric & Tracy (46:56)
Yeah.

So my

Eric (47:00)
want you don't want to come near me.

Eric & Tracy (47:00)
so my story, I we go to the West Side Arena and we're gonna run ten miles. So I decided to go to the Fisher Cat Stadium, come back, get some water, and then go back out the opposite way. And my stomach just wasn't feeling. I was r running extra slow that day. And we got, you know, back to the car, had some water, got out to the rail trail, and all of a sudden it hit me. Now he's on his bike.

Erika (47:02)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (47:26)
I didn't bring anything. I had no tissues. We didn't have a backpack. We didn't have any stuff. And all of a sudden I was like, and we have a friend that lives on the rail trail, and I'm like, We're not far from her house, but I just don't know if I can make it. And so he's like, Well, we could go out to the market basket or whatever the store was out there. And I'm like, Okay, okay, I yeah, let's do that. Well, I get to a point, there's no going anywhere. I'm like

It's gonna happen right here. And it was like, there's houses, there's like a road right there. If a car had come by. Anybody could have seen me, but there was no way I could have stopped and and gotten somewhere. So I go in the woods and I'm like near tears crying, like I can't believe this is happening. I run to the woods and I'm literally in sight. He takes his shirt off and gives it to me. And I did leave his shirt behind, I did bury it.

Erika (47:58)
No.

Eric & Tracy (48:26)
but it's right off the trail. There wasn't not very far in. So hopefully nobody ever found that shirt, but it was under a pile of leaves. It's growing a bunch of different shirts now because she buried it. So I had a code brown, but he saved me and he went home shirtless. True enough.

Eric (48:32)
But he gave you his shirt. That's incredible. Yes. Yes.

Erika (48:44)
True love. Honestly.

Eric (48:46)
that's great. That

you sa I hope you know what? We would give you our favorite shirt if we had to. That's what we would do. Right.

Eric & Tracy (48:53)
That's nice. Every minute of every day. Yep.

It was worth it.

Eric (48:59)
Tracy, there's actually, I think, a code brown story of Erica's. Now, again, we know the definition of a code brown. It's just crap moments. And one of my favorite moments that I've ever seen Erica was at the hamster wheel Ultra. And she's trying to get a hundred miler and I show up to support her and she's not in the mood to see me. But you were out there supporting her. I even think you were crewing for Sheila and you bailed on Sheila for good reason. Sheila was fine.

Eric & Tracy (49:07)
Yes.

Erika (49:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (49:28)
You had a big crew, everybody was there, and you joined Erica. Tell me about that day. Like When did you realize that Erica needed you?

Eric & Tracy (49:28)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (49:34)
You can give them all the details.

Eric & Tracy (49:38)
So this was good. So

We get there in the middle of the night and or you know, the night before we do some miles and we go home and we sleep. And Sheila always says the hardest part is, you know, between, you know, three and seven in the morning because it's really dark. You're by yourself out there, you're exhausted. So we go back at like three or four in the morning. we in crewing for our friends ended up I I think I did twenty-four miles that day. so Sheila's getting closer and closer.

Erica's getting closer and closer, and we're supporting Sheila, and we're talking and trying to keep Sheila going. And Erica goes by and Sheila goes, How are you? And she's like, not good. And she starts crying. And Sheila goes, You go with her right now. So so I go with Erica. And it was your not your quite your last lap, but it maybe it was.

Erika (50:31)
I think

I might have had maybe two or three after that because once once you brought me in, I picked up a couple of other people who were like, You need help and I was like, I need help. Yeah. So mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (50:40)
Yes. So I brought you back and then we went back out for Sheila, who then,

by the way, was in even worse shape than I think you were at that moment. So we got to her. Yes. Yeah.

Erika (50:50)
She was in physical pain. I was just emotionally drained

and like I couldn't control my face, like basically. Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (50:56)
Anything. But the reason I

knew that that was a thing is Sheila

talked us through what happens in an ultra and this is what's gonna happen and you go through these mental breakdowns and you don't think you can keep going, that's when I need the most help. And of course I recognize that. And okay, how do you get through that? Just keep talking. Because Sheila will even say, I can't talk and and I need just to keep going. Tracy can keep talking. I don't know if you know me. I can keep talking. So

Erika (51:08)
Mm-hmm.

You did everything

right. Once I pick like I picked you up, you did absolutely everything. You got me to laugh a little bit. You got me to you so you even so what my problem was is I thought I was running out of time and I was so close. But you're like, you have plenty of time. And that's all I needed. Somebody to tell me that I could do it, that I had the time. And it kind of picked me up a little bit, but you said again.

Eric & Tracy (51:41)
Yes.

That's awesome. And you did have the

Erika (51:51)
exactly the right things and it got me in s a better headspace. And so every minute that I was with you helped me exponentially.

Eric & Tracy (51:57)
Aw

yay, that snap.

Eric (51:59)
Was that why you

weren't in a good mood, Erica, or was it just your hour twenty eight of a hundred miler?

Erika (52:07)
All all of the above. But like I it was a mental thing. I just really thought I wasn't gonna do it and I was this was my third attempt at it and I was gonna be so bummed if I came if I had ninety six miles or something like running out of time, I would have been so pissed. So it it really was just a mental game.

Eric & Tracy (52:08)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and you get to and like I said, Sheila talked us through that. You if you lack of sleep, you know, not well hydrated, all that good stuff. And it's the middle of the night hours that are hard. Cold and yeah. So I mean this was during the day. I think you were getting close to your end, but it was like you were at that breaking point. And Sheila had pointed it out that that happened. So it's really good. Yeah.

Erika (52:38)
it was so cold that night. I remember. It was freezing.

yeah.

Yep. So you're good people, she's good people. Just I'm

I'm so glad that she's she told you to like, hey, go with her. I needed you, but I wasn't gonna ask for you. Like I'm not that kind of person, but

Eric & Tracy (52:57)
Yeah. Yeah. Right. And then she she

had, like Eric said, a lot of pain after that. And so we ended up getting her in too. But like that's an important idea. Yeah. Yeah. They both did. Yep. Yes. no. She did go strain. She did go strain before that. so it just is nice to know. And so that's why the ghost train thing this year.

Erika (53:05)
Yeah.

Eric (53:08)
She got a hundred milers and Erica got a hundred milers on the same day, right? And that was Sheila's first hundred miler.

Erika (53:16)
Wait, she had ghost train, I think, before that, right?

Eric (53:19)
Okay.

Eric & Tracy (53:26)
I think I wanna be there in that morning and maybe not do my own half marathon so I can be there. I will.

Eric (53:30)
Well you'll do your own. It'll

just be the virgin and you could do it there.

Erika (53:33)
you will if you go out there and

do you could do fifteen miles with her. There you go.

Eric & Tracy (53:35)
Gonna do my 13 miles. Yeah.

So it might be a little slow. I'll walk them, but that's okay. I'm still gonna do it.

Eric (53:42)
I always remember that race because I showed up, I think, three different times in the beginning, the middle, and the end. And when I showed up at the end and with the boys, I go down on the trail. And I don't think it was you, Tracy, because I think you were doing your final lap, Eric, with these two guys. And she walks by me. And if Erica's ever been rude to me in her life, it was in that moment right then and there. And I'm with my boys and I'm taking out the camera and she's like, I'm not in the mood, dude. I'm not in the mood. And then

Erika (54:03)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (54:09)
I was there for that. I remember that.

Eric (54:12)
And then she comes back around the finish, because that was on the trail. She comes around the finish and she says something like Her mood got a little better on camera, but she goes, I gotta take a shit.

Erika (54:21)
Telling you, Tracy.

But that was

one of my problems too. I was like, I couldn't poop all day long. Like the the whole race up to that point. And I was so feeling sick and gross. And then I could finally poop and I was like, yeah, let's get this done. So all those all those combos helped.

Eric & Tracy (54:30)
Right.

Yeah.

Yes. That'll change your attitude. Yeah. After my moment

on that rail trail, I ended up running back and I did less miles than I was supposed to that day. But he goes, Wow, you're really running well now. And I'm Yeah, I just needed to lose some stuff. It happens.

Eric (54:54)
That was a

fun day. That was that was a fun like whole race week and it's one of my favorites, except for the fact that I brought my well, yeah. But I mean just being there, I love going and being more like Eric here, watching, supporting, brewing. I'll one day do one. It'll probably be hamster wheel, but it was a lot of fun to go and see, and that's when Tracy, you are stretching with Adeline and the boys kind of can roam. The only bad memory I have of that is

Erika (54:59)
I don't know if I'd say it was fun, but I felt accomplished.

Eric & Tracy (54:59)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (55:23)
I brought the camper for Erica and she never touched it.

Eric & Tracy (55:26)
Somebody else did though. Didn't somebody else go in it? It was well used. Yeah. It was cold.

Erika (55:28)
Yeah. I told ya. It was freezing.

Eric (55:30)
It was cold, right? That was a cold night,

yeah.

Erika (55:33)
If I had if I personally had gone in there, I wouldn't have come back out. Like it was it was that bad out. But people did use it. It just wasn't me. My race would have been kaput.

Eric & Tracy (55:41)
Right. Yeah. Good

intentions, good intentions, but yeah.

Erika (55:47)
Thanks, Eric.

Eric (55:50)
Well, when I do it, I think I know now. Don't bring a camper 'cause I'll probably stop running too. No, I'll probably stop running. I'm go my goal is to beat you.

Eric & Tracy (55:49)
Yeah.

Erika (55:55)
Well it depends what your goal is. If y Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (55:55)
No. Right. The biggest thing is

you have to bring It's been laid down. You gotta bring the heaters for the middle of the night.

Erika (56:02)
I see. I see how it knows. You guys

had the best heater. It was literally just an open flame that like with a propane tank, but it was wonderful.

Eric & Tracy (56:10)
Yes. The propane heater. Yeah.

So that's the big thing. We you gotta bring the right supplies, Eric. Yes, I do get asked to to bring the heat and to support for that one. That is true. I forgot about that. Hmm. I as I'm saying it, I'm like, this is gonna sound wrong.

Eric (56:17)
Yeah.

Eric gets asked to bring the heat all the time.

Erika (56:27)
The heat is on. Well, we know

Eric (56:31)
I'll tell

Erika (56:32)
what you mean.

Eric (56:32)
you when I when I do hamster wheel, Erica's not gonna know. I'm gonna sign up as an alias and she'll probably be running it. And then I'll be like, I'll have the Adidas pants with the buttons that you rip off and be like, Hey, I couldn't support you in the beginning unless I signed up, so rip the pants off. Let's go.

Eric & Tracy (56:45)
Yeah.

Erika (56:51)
You know what? I want this to happen

Eric & Tracy (56:50)
We're prepared to consider a stone.

Erika (56:53)
so badly. So if this if you're gonna do it, let's let's go. I'm signed up this year. But then your ultra sign up page is gonna have a weird name on it.

Eric (56:57)
Ga I gotta come up with an alias name though.

Eric & Tracy (56:57)
We'll we'll be the we'll be the support crew, so you'll have to let us know. Okay.

Eric (57:03)
Yeah, yeah. You you will know.

I'll

talk to the R D or something. I'll figure it out. I just can't have my name show up. I did look the other day to see which one Erica signed up for. It was the thirty. I was like, I don't know if I could pull the thirty off. I could do the six or twelve. Yeah.

Erika (57:10)
I'm I'm

Well, you don't have to.

I mean, you sign up for the thirty, it's like basically the same price as the other one and you just run whatever you want. You can take longer breaks and I try to encourage people to do the big stuff.

Eric (57:25)
I could you know what I could do, Tracy? I could sign up for the

30, get there for the start, run a few, and then go handle kids things at home if I have to, then show up back in the middle of the night and finish. I got 30 hours, and I could still beat Erica.

Erika (57:33)
You go home, come back. Telling ya. Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (57:33)
Right. Yes. They come back. Exactly. People do that. You that's right. Good luck, good

luck.

Erika (57:44)
Sure, Eric. Whatever you say.

Eric (57:47)
Well, this has been a lot

of fun. We're not done yet, but we have two final questions brought to you by our amazing sponsor, My Race Tats. All right, my question is.

Eric (57:55)
And I want to ask you this question. I'm going to ask every couple on this series this question. This is my big question. I'm taking away the hot take just for the summer. All right. But this is brought to you by My Race Taz. Here is my big question for the series. What advice would you give any other new running couple? It doesn't even need to be a new running couple, but you guys run together, you support each other, you cheer each other on, you help each other get your goals.

I wanna hear what advice you would give to another running couple when you met them or if someone asked you for the advice actually. If Eric, great example. If a guy said to you, Hey, my girlfriend's training for a race, I really want to support her. What do you think I should do? What advice would you give him?

Eric & Tracy (58:38)
So that's a very specific question. When you first started asking it, I was thinking more broadly. but I I I would I I mean I do it support. if if you're running also run together, if

Your partner is a slower person. it can be difficult to run with them because you can make them feel like you're pulling them along or pushing them. Also, and and this is Tracy, and I think a lot of couples where she'll feel bad that I'm waiting for her. and I never want that. So being on something like a bike and and biking next to your your partner just to keep them company, it totally eliminates that pressure because you're you're on a different medium.

Erika (59:04)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (59:25)
And you she's not worried that I'm getting a workout or not. and we can just chit chat.

And and and work out and I will I will add to that, when we have run together, because he's way faster than I am, when we were both running at the same time and training for something, we would sometimes go out to do the same distance. and he would modify his and go up and down little cul-de-sacs to and and run really fast and do his thing and then catch up to me, stay with me for a minute, we chat for a second, how's it going? How do you feel? And then we keep

going and then he does the same thing all over again, goes through another cul-de-sac and comes back and meets me. And then I don't feel that pressure of gosh, I gotta keep up with him. I gotta keep up with him. And then I'm not holding him back from his pace and making it so that he he can't get a workout in because that's not fair either. So supporting each other with their own pace so that you're not holding somebody back or pushing somebody too much. I feel like is a huge key. And then we've experienced injury

Erika (1:00:11)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (1:00:30)
opposite of each other. So that brought in the bicycle where he could bike next to me when he was injured, vice versa. When I had an injury, I could bike next to him. And it just was nice how it flowed and we didn't hold each other back ever. So yeah.

Erika (1:00:43)
Mm-hmm. That is good. Yeah. That's

that's kind of a good way. Like if you're both training but different speeds, it's it's a good way to be, I guess, alone together. Does that make sense? It's like you're you're still supporting each other, checking in on each other, making sure like everything's okay, but then you're you're still making sure you're getting the quality workout that you need. And just, yeah, I I I like that you have that compromise with each other. Takes out the guilt.

Eric & Tracy (1:00:53)
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Eric (1:01:10)
and that's sometimes hard to hard to figure out, right? Like especially for me and Eric. You know, a guy sometimes in in our cases, or in Eric's case here, he's faster. And you kind of have to learn that, and you two have to communicate that too, I'm sure, over time. Did you communicate that or did you kind of realize that Eric and you kind of developed that plan to to make Tracy feel

Erika (1:01:13)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:01:33)
Well, I'm

Eric & Tracy (1:01:40)
We're hyper

super communicators. So you mentioned like we're not talking about relationship type.

things, we're talking about running things, but like we we communicate about everything. Like w we're never not talking to one another and expressing what the person needs or wants. and if she wants to go out and run by herself, or go out walking with Maggie and not me, like that that's that's okay too. so I mean communication that that's paramount to just about any any part of life. And yeah, and it just kinda happened like

Erika (1:01:55)
That's a very important skill to have as a couple.

Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (1:02:17)
where we have done this bike support thing for each other again with the injuries and stuff like that. And then also during COVID, it became really difficult because you couldn't have big groups of running people, right? So you were trying to stay in a really small group. Well, this small group that we're part of was way faster. So it's out there, right? So we picked a few people that we core run with, but they weren't my core people, they were his core people. So I was running by myself a lot.

Eric (1:02:36)
Is not small.

Erika (1:02:45)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (1:02:47)
was where we had to communicate and say this sucks. I might have cried a few times. And then we and then we figured it out. Like, okay, how can we be there for each other and not hold somebody back and also be supportive?

Erika (1:02:53)
Being honest. Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (1:03:02)
so that was a little bit of a learning curve, I think, because of COVID. Good point. and we we kinda had to have that conversation together, like how can we do this? I'm by myself every day. You have this group of running people and I don't, you know, because we were trying to stay smaller groups. but we figured it all out and we talked about it and figured out how to make these bigger. I tried to get to quit running, she wouldn't listen. You did not. No. You never did.

Erika (1:03:18)
Mm-hmm.

That's not an easy thing to do.

Eric (1:03:26)
Yeah.

Erika (1:03:31)
man.

So you guys had mentioned being there for friends and and ghost train is coming up in October. But I want to know what else you guys have on on deck for either the two of you to do together. Are you going on a vacation somewhere? Do you have time like that you're gonna spend just the two of you? Or are you already planning more friend excursions? Like what what is the rest of the summer slash fall look for like for you?

Eric & Tracy (1:03:54)
So it's mostly so we have Ragnar, Vermont. Have you ever done that one? Is it? Yes. Yeah, Shiella, Kathy, Dan, the big badass crew. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We're glamping.

Erika (1:03:59)
I have. That one is a blast. Are you doing it with Sheila? Sheila and Kathy and everybody. Love it.

Eric (1:04:06)
That's the one where you have a base camp, right? You're not in a car driving round y it's a base camp, yeah.

Erika (1:04:09)
My favorite kind of thing.

Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:04:12)
Yes.

Eric & Tracy (1:04:12)
Yeah, so we're excited about that because it's new. And this year we're trying

to do new things, hence going back to the Halls Fast 5K that's not new, but we hadn't done it in a while. Trying to do other things and Millennium. so we have Ragnar Vermont coming up, which is a big deal.

Erika (1:04:20)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:04:30)
you know, supporting their ragged seventy-five. we have we're gonna go support. We won't probably do a ton. and then New Hampshire Ten Miler is obviously always a big one that we try to do. It's our favorite. It's gonna be different, and I've heard it's hard. but it was hard before. So and then we have Reach the Beach. Reach the Beach, this will probably be our last year on Reach the Beach. it

Erika (1:04:41)
Yes. New stuff.

Eric (1:04:41)
And that's gonna be a fun one, new course this year.

Erika (1:04:48)
It was very hard before. Excellent.

Eric & Tracy (1:04:55)
We want to try new things. So we want to try to do like maybe travel and go do a different Ragnar or different like half marathon somewhere. and then in the fall we really don't have much. I signed up for the New England half. again, I have to decide if I'm gonna do that virtually now. and then the rest of the little races we kind of just decide as we go. and so no big things this year. The next big thing we have for travel is we're going to Sicily next year.

Erika (1:05:12)
Hehehehehe

Eric & Tracy (1:05:25)
My oldest daughter's getting married in Sicily.

Eric (1:05:25)
Ooh, not a big deal.

Wait, say that again?

Eric & Tracy (1:05:29)
My oldest daughter is getting married in Sicily. Yeah. In twenty seven. Yeah. So that's our next big trip. and nothing really big on the agenda coming up for as far as running things or anything big for us. Yeah.

Erika (1:05:32)
wow.

You guys are still going on adventures. You got the

the trail Ragnar. I mean, reach the beach in itself is always an adventure. But I are you see getting out. I love that. I love that.

Eric & Tracy (1:05:47)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. We kayak every second we can. Yeah. We're out on our kayaks every minute. Yeah.

Eric (1:05:55)
Where do you like

to kayak?

Eric & Tracy (1:05:57)
we have a f What's in Raymond?

Eric (1:06:02)
Tuck away.

Eric & Tracy (1:06:02)
Potukaway.

Potukaway is one of our favorites. we have friends that live at Hampton Beach and we've gone kayaking at the the ocean bay there a few times and it's been wonderful. and then we just go to the Merrimack River a lot and bow. boat launch. It's a boat launch and we go up the river to the sandbars two miles and we putz around and throw the frisbee and and then coming back downstream is yeah, it's wonderful to come back downstream because it's easier. So it's really great.

Erika (1:06:03)
Uh-huh.

Mm.

Sounds like the perfect day.

Eric (1:06:27)
You guys are so

cool.

Erika (1:06:31)
Mm-hmm.

Eric & Tracy (1:06:32)
We we we try to pick something new you know, every time we go, we're like, what can we do that's new? and we'll pick somewhere random. So kayaking, hiking.

Erika (1:06:40)
You guys are honestly getting out and

doing different more different things than a lot of people. Like I I am a creature of habit. I tend to do the same thing in the same place. So you guys are goals.

Eric & Tracy (1:06:43)
Yeah. Yeah.

We did for a long time. We're

we're breaking out. We've done a lot more hiking because of Dan and Sheila and Kathy. You know, we're we're trying to support them and in that we've done some bigger hikes. we recently did a overnight backpacking trip to Mount Cardigan, which is why we have these shirts. Mount Cardigan.

Erika (1:06:56)
Mm-hmm.

See they're matching. I I commented on that in the beginning. I'm like, you

guys really understood the assignment here. On brand. Perfect.

Eric & Tracy (1:07:14)
We we s we stayed at the

cabin on top of Mount Cardigan for two nights and that was super fun, like a new experience for us. We've done that twice now. so we're just trying to break out and do new things and on top of our running and still keep our running friends. So like we just

Erika (1:07:28)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:07:32)
It's good

to be like to do all that. Like I'm all into the ski. I need a break sometimes. So I love to ski in the winter. I honestly I can't wait till my boys are old enough to start mountain biking. And I'll probably mount mountain bike a lot more than I run. And then I got three kayaks back at home in two canoes. And I can't wait until they're old enough to do it. Cause I grew up, I've done twenty two socko trips in a kayak with camping gear. Right. And then just go go into other lakes and stuff and exploring.

Eric & Tracy (1:07:45)
Yeah.

wow. That is awesome.

Erika (1:07:55)
Well

Eric (1:08:00)
On the kayak is so fun. So when my kids can really you should have seen my daughter yesterday, by the way. We're in like Erica, what was the state park I was in? Clough I was in Clough State Park and she's trying to do the paddle board, but sit in like a kayak and she's going in circles. I'm like, We're gonna get there soon and you're gonna go on kayaking adventures with me. Maybe not upriver, because I think it would just push her down, but we'll start with lakes. So

Eric & Tracy (1:08:02)
It's so fun.

Erika (1:08:08)
Clef, Clef State Park and Where?

Eric & Tracy (1:08:16)
that's fun. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. Right.

Erika (1:08:25)
She needs to build the arm strength first.

Eric (1:08:26)
You do a lot of the cool stuff I love to

do and you mix it up, which I think is key even to not just an individual, but in a relationship.

Eric & Tracy (1:08:28)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's what we love about each other and that's why we're together is like no matter what we're doing, somebody's injured and okay, you can't run right now. Let's go for a bike ride. Let's go hop in the kayaks. you want to hike this time? What can we do? And it's always fun. It's always an adventure. and you know, we're both just agreeable. yeah, sure, we'll do that. Okay, cool. and it's always

Erika (1:08:44)
Mm-hmm. What can you do? L let's figure it out.

Eric (1:08:56)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:08:57)
Fun. Like we always just have a blast no matter what activity it is. And you know, sometimes you have to have a a couch day where you have marathon TV instead of a real marathon. Wow, look at you. That was good. Mm-hmm. Marathon TV watching instead of training. It's good. So well that doesn't happen often. That's rare. but

Erika (1:09:06)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:09:11)
Love it. What are you watching right now? What are you guys

watching right now? Is there anything you watch together like binge watching? Are you like diving into the pit? Or are you more like Erica who likes to go back for the classics Boy Meets World?

Eric & Tracy (1:09:25)
we're always watching some sort of reality. Right now we're watching Outlast. It's where they're a team out in the woods and they have to like survive and outlast the other teams. so it's a little reality show. We're big Survivor fans. Survivor is our favorite show.

Eric (1:09:39)
Yeah.

Wasn't there a girl from New Hampshire on Survivor recently? She won! That's right.

Erika (1:09:40)
I would not make it very far.

Eric & Tracy (1:09:42)
She just won. Yeah.

Erika (1:09:45)
no shit.

Eric & Tracy (1:09:45)
She was Yeah, she's from she's from Hampton. I forgot about that. Yeah. I didn't really remember her name, but I remember she's from Yep. Not a big deal. Just a million dollars. Whatever. Two million dollars. So who's the who's the big YouTube guy? The the like the number one YouTube er. He does like contests and stuff.

Erika (1:09:50)
That's awesome.

Eric (1:09:53)
Yeah, not a big deal. Little state. Yeah.

Erika (1:09:55)
Very impressed. they opt it for inflation?

Mr

Eric (1:10:11)
Mr. Beast.

Erika (1:10:11)
Beast.

Eric & Tracy (1:10:12)
Yes.

Mr. Beast. They had him on and they literally had a coin flip to double the money, or the guy that flipped the coin was out and he said, I'll flip the coin. He got two million bucks for the winner and got to stay in the game. And he was gonna get voted out if he didn't do it. I'm turning this into a big Survivor thing. But anyway, yeah, he he jacked it up to two million bucks. So she won two million bucks. Yeah. So that's our jam. We kind of watch we watch a lot of things, but right now we're into the you know

Erika (1:10:26)
Wow.

Eric (1:10:30)
Love it.

Erika (1:10:31)
Kind of fun.

I am impressed.

Eric & Tracy (1:10:41)
reality outlast to outdoors things. Fun.

Erika (1:10:44)
Mm.

Well, outdoors is a huge part of of you two, so might as well stick with it.

Eric & Tracy (1:10:48)
Right. Yes. Yes.

We could never outlast or survive it, but we've watched enough of the series that we think we might be able to do. Yeah. I can probably gotta most

Eric (1:10:51)
Yeah.

Erika (1:10:59)
would tap out immediately. You if I had to eat. So

I actually started watching what just came back? Fear factor? I would not have lasted a second. Uh-uh. I would have been tapped out. I don't think so. So that's not my cup of tea.

Eric & Tracy (1:11:06)
No. Yeah, I know.

That wouldn't be for me either. No. No,

no.

Eric (1:11:15)
Well,

I I can only imagine getting right back. We didn't even talk about the wedding or anything, but I could just imagine how fun that wedding probably was with the whole entire running community. D real quick. it wasn't. So wait, what was the reaction then? Well, then what was the reaction when you showed up and just like the first time when one guy's like, I always thought you were a couple. You're well, we are a couple. And he's like, What?

Eric & Tracy (1:11:25)
We eloped. We eloped. It was let's just say it was the two of us and leave it at that. We'll we'll tell you off camera about our reading. Yeah.

Erika (1:11:26)
He's giggling.

Eric (1:11:44)
What was the reaction when you eloped in everyone's first time reaction?

Eric & Tracy (1:11:47)
Well, I I think everyone knew we would we were gonna get married married. that wasn't a a real big thing. Right. And every we did talk about having a big party at some point and now it's been a couple of years and we probably won't ever do it. We didn't quite get there. But we party all the time. Yeah. So Yeah. So

Eric (1:12:05)
But we're gonna find

a date right now, guys. Everyone in the comments, tell us when you're available. already went ahead and asked my big question as I'm gonna call it because it wasn't the last. But I'm gonna give Erica an opportunity to ask hers again, these final two big questions brought to you by My Race Tats. Erica, ask them your same question you ask everybody else.

Eric & Tracy (1:12:10)
In

Erika (1:12:08)
Put it in your calendar.

So I changed it up a little bit. I changed it up a little bit. So typically we do have our Spotify playlist where I will invite you guys to add a song, but I want to know what song embodies the two of you. Like do you have a song? Like something you you dance to or something you connected to? Like I want I want your love song. Mm-hmm. What is your song?

Eric & Tracy (1:12:27)
What is it, Erica? I'm so curious what this is gonna be.

okay.

We we do have our song. Okay.

Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Yeah. That's our song. So we'd like to add that to your playlist. I know it's not a running song, but it always makes me emotional. Yeah.

Erika (1:12:58)
See, I love this.

Eric (1:12:59)
yeah.

Erika (1:13:04)
I didn't ask for a running song. nope, nope.

Eric (1:13:05)
there's a lot of non running songs on there already. Why

that song though?

Eric & Tracy (1:13:10)
I'd give up forever just to touch you. I mean that that those lyrics are just perfect for you and I. For her and I. Yeah.

Eric (1:13:13)
Yeah.

Erika (1:13:16)
Gonna go cry now. I'll be back. Wait, I'm like a widescreen, so I can't get out of my own frame. But, anyways, that's adorable.

I just I love that the two of you found each other through the run club, that you've connected. You're clearly the best friends. You communicate. Like this is everything that relationships should be built on. And you guys are just living proof. So I love you guys.

Eric (1:13:25)
Well

Eric & Tracy (1:13:40)
We appreciate that.

And we feel that too. I was gonna say we work hard at it, but we don't We don't have to work hard at it. It's just who we are. Yeah. So

Eric (1:13:42)
Recently we had

Erika (1:13:46)
You don't have to, it's natural. The

Eric (1:13:49)
Recently

Erika (1:13:49)
best kind.

Eric (1:13:49)
we had the lots bombs on Chris and Elena from the BAA. This was around Boston Week's last April. And I said at the end of that episode, you need to find someone like Elena who looks at you like the way she looks at Chris. But this whole time, every time Tracy's talking, it's Eric looking at Tracy the way Elena looked at Chris. And it was great. And he kind of maybe would be back a little bit. So you know he wasn't in your view and just this smile and everything. I love it.

And I love the two of you, and I'm so happy you're kicking off this series for us because of the support from episode not episode one, but the day we first met. And that was like Erica and I think we went back, it was either 10 or 12. We went back to the car. Do you remember this, Erica? And we were recording in the car. The landscaping guy was around us. So we had to move. And we were talking about how we just met you and Tara and a few others. We went out for beers and it was so much fun. And I was just so excited to like hand out stickers.

Eric & Tracy (1:14:25)
Right. Yeah.

Erika (1:14:32)
Yes, I do.

Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:14:43)
Yeah.

And I had those stickers forever. and when I moved I lost them, but I have the magnet still.

Erika (1:14:51)
give more stickers next time I see you. I'll I usually have them somewhere. So I'll g I'll give you some. Five hundred. Slap everywhere. I'll give you some magnets too.

Eric (1:14:53)
Yeah. We We'll actually order a ton and have them delivered to you. But one thing I

Eric & Tracy (1:14:53)
Yeah. Yeah.

I need the magnets.

Eric (1:15:04)
but one thing I remember from that day actually was we just had Sarah Halleck on the podcast and we all know and love Sarah a lot. And I think you just listened to it before that. And as much as as new as we were as a podcast, I took so much like

Eric & Tracy (1:15:10)
Yeah.

Eric (1:15:19)
pride in in editing and having it sound really good. And that was one of the first things you said to me. This is episode 10. Don't go back and listen. It sounds horrible. But Trace, you were like, you guys sound legit. Like it's edited. It's it's it's flowing. There's no like the mics are the right way.

Eric & Tracy (1:15:34)
You guys keep it flowing.

That's a big deal.

Erika (1:15:39)
That's because he edits it out.

Eric (1:15:39)
Which you'll you'll you Yeah.

And you gave me that that compliment and I was like, Yes, somebody noticed the work I put in. And now you get to see some of the behind the scenes, like when it was like, Hold on, let me say that over again. Let's editing's a beautiful thing. But you two have been so supportive. So I'm so thrilled that you kicked this off for us. This is perfect for the series. Episode one of eight. I wanna shout out just back in action, Ufos and my raced hats for sponsoring this entire series, Erica and Tracy.

Eric & Tracy (1:15:48)
That's awesome.

Yeah.

Eric (1:16:05)
You're awesome. Erica, any final words for our incredible guest?

Eric & Tracy (1:16:07)
Thank you.

Erika (1:16:10)
Want to say thank you guys for joining us. This has been so nice to get to know you guys better because we do see you all over the place, and I want to keep seeing you all over the place because you're always there for your friends, myself included. Like Tracy has seen me at my lowest, pretty much. So just thank you for supporting your friends. Like, I that was that was hamster wheel a few years ago, and like just she knew how to how to lift me up, and she wasn't even my pacer, like.

Eric & Tracy (1:16:18)
We'll be there.

I have, but you did great.

Eric (1:16:28)
That was hamster wheel.

Erika (1:16:36)
I I stole her from Sheila. So thank you, Sheila. Thank you, Tracy. Like Eric, you guys, you but you guys are so wonderful to just be there for your friends. And I hope that we can be there for you because you are just always so wonderful to see, so smiley and energetic. And you're you're our wonderful friends. So thank you.

Eric & Tracy (1:16:37)
Right. There's no stealing. There's enough of us to go around. That's right.

Eric (1:16:43)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:16:52)
You guys are exactly the same. That's how we feel about you. Well I think I think I might be sort

supporting you. Well maybe not supporting you because you're faster than me, but coming up there might be a big race, I don't know, the end of June, somebody's birthday, Erica's birthday. It's a big one.

Erika (1:17:11)
I'm party pacing that. I'm gonna like I am

I wanna have a frickin' parade down in Golftown. So we're gonna we're gonna have a blast. I love you guys.

Eric & Tracy (1:17:17)
We'll be there. I don't know. Did you sign

Eric (1:17:19)
It's gonna be fun.

Eric & Tracy (1:17:20)
up

for a race that day? Okay. I I'll be there.

Erika (1:17:23)
They do race day sign ups if fallouts fail. So

Eric (1:17:26)
I I I have not

Erika (1:17:26)
it's gonna be fun.

Eric (1:17:27)
signed up yet, but I will be there in one way or the other. So it's a good one. You know, it's always fun to go after a race drinking in a high school parking lot, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm hoping, and I know this race was last week, but I'm hoping that it's one of those hot days where we all cross the finish line and run another hundred yards down the boat ramp right into the lake.

Eric & Tracy (1:17:30)
Yeah. I can't wait. That's one of my favorites too. I really like that one. I've done it a few years in a row now.

Erika (1:17:33)
Yay.

Eric & Tracy (1:17:38)
That's right. So true. Yeah. Yeah, we can't actually do that.

Erika (1:17:38)
Don't don't tell don't tell certain people that we do that. It's very against the law.

Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:17:55)
And

I've never I've never actually done that, but everybody does. So this year I'll be prepared for it so that I have the right things. Last year was cold and rainy, so

Eric (1:17:55)
That's what I'm hoping.

Erika (1:18:02)
Perfect. I did it one year. Yeah,

Eric (1:18:02)
Yes.

Erika (1:18:05)
I did it one year and it was so much fun. Like it was like me, Eric, Lindsay, a couple other people, like she Sheila was there. Like it yes, I am on board with all of that. All right. I'm so excited to see you guys soon. This is great.

Eric (1:18:09)
Sheila. Sheila was there.

Eric & Tracy (1:18:10)
Sheila did. Yep. Yeah. So I'll we'll be there. We'll jump in the lake.

Eric (1:18:19)
Well, this

was a lot of fun. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for jumping on board. My favorite reaction was when I sent Tracy the message. I got a yes in all caps. And then it says, This is Eric, by the way. I'm like, awesome, my kind of guy.

Eric & Tracy (1:18:30)
He took my phone.

Erika (1:18:32)
Beautiful.

Eric (1:18:35)
Guys,

I hope you enjoyed this, these perfect summer series, the summer of love on the On the Runs podcast. When you see Eric and Tracy out there, because I know you're going to say hi. If you got something, give it to Eric. He'll throw it in his bag. These two are some of the best out there supporting everyone, supporting us since the day we met. From the very beginning, Tracy and Eric on the On the Runs podcast. That was Wicked Awesome.

Eric & Tracy (1:18:38)
So great.

Erika (1:18:48)
Yeah.

Eric & Tracy (1:18:48)
Hundred percent.

That's right.

Thank

you.

Erika (1:19:05)
Tracy and Eric, thank you so much for being our first couple for the Summer of Love series. We were so excited to talk to you more. We just love anytime we get to see you is a great time for us. So thank you for for spending time with us and and it was nice to get to learn about your love story.

Eric (1:19:21)
That was wicked awesome. That was so much fun. I posted the tomorrow on the pod post earlier, and a few of the comments were like, Everyone loves these. They can't wait. They love these two people. They're incredible. Pterotterodactyl. I know I always bring her up, but pterodactyl said something. I go, fun fact, we met Tracy and Eric the same day we met Terra pterodactyl. And she was like, I didn't even know them then. So we've known Tracy and Eric longer than Terra pterodactyl did. But that was like such a fun day.

Erika (1:19:26)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I love it.

Eric (1:19:51)
Episode twelve or around episode twelve that was. And then we're at like two forty two today. This this does count as a real number, by the way. Even though we're calling it like the first of the series, it's two forty two, baby. But that was incredible. Thank you so much for I hope you guys are enjoying this. Let us know. Let us know if you're enjoying the way we're doing our sponsors, ad reads. Let us know if you like the series, cause I'm sure you don't miss the old classics or the best dubs. Like that was

Erika (1:19:59)
huh.

Absolutely.

Eric (1:20:19)
This is more fun, we get to talk to more people.

Erika (1:20:22)
Honestly, it is more fun, especially for us, because we get to revisit some people that we've spoken to in the past, but we also get to see some new faces. You guys should should be having fun with this, I hope. Fingers crossed.

Eric (1:20:33)
And

speaking of people we spoke to in the past, next week's guests are two amazing lovebirds who we met a few months ago in Boston at the Post Race show. You guys are gonna love their episode next week, but we gotta go because this is the deal. We're doing these in a giving six-star a little bit of a break. So, guys, follow her 72 hours with the horseflies and the dragonflies and the giant.

Erika (1:20:39)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (1:21:01)
Giant, giant, giant mosquitoes. Good luck in your ultra. Don't die.

Erika (1:21:06)
I just put the bug

zapper down. I should be fine and I should be getting content. At least something. And if all else fails, Caroline is my backup. Love you, girl. So you guys, I hope you have an incredible week. We will be back next week with another awesome summer of love episode.

Eric (1:21:12)
Yeah.

Haha.

And one last time, thank you to our amazing partners back in action, New Hampshire. My race tats and OOfos Please check out the links in the show notes. Do the pain-free guide. You just type in your name and your email, and then you get the guide sent to you. Get your check engine light checked, like I should have done with my truck, because my truck broke down during my camping trip. We'll talk about that. Yeah. Well.

Erika (1:21:43)
Yeah.

we didn't even get to talk about

Eric (1:21:50)
We're doing a troz only episode at the end of July and we'll catch up on a lot. My truck is fine, we think. Knock on wood, like I think we're out of the woods. We'll see. We'll see. Or am I getting a new truck? We'll see. We'll see. I don't want to. I wanna hit five hundred thousand miles. Gotta hit five hundred thousand. But Erica, six star, take us home.

Erika (1:21:53)
We got a lot we have a lot to talk about.

All right.

The suspense is killing me.

Yeah.

Thank you once again to our sponsors. Thank you everyone for listening. We hope you're having a wonderful summer. You know we love you.

Eric (1:22:17)
Don't fear the code brown.

Erika (1:22:19)
And don't forget to stretch.

Eric (1:22:21)
Ha ha ha!

Eric (1:23:44)
podcast brought to you by Back in Action Cryo and H. Do am I saying cryo right? Cairo, Kai, Cairo. Okay. to you by Back in Action Cryo and H.

Erika (1:23:49)
It's Cairo, not Cairo.

Eric (1:23:57)
I hope all you had a great fourth of July. I know I screwed it up.

Erika (1:24:00)
You said

cry cryo Kairo Cairo.

Eric (1:24:03)
How do I say it?

Kai like

K I R O I'm doing. Kai R. Well.

Erika (1:24:10)
Yes. Yes, Cairo.