The Hobby Jogger Podcast
Welcome to The Hobby Jogger Podcast, where elite athletes and ham-and-eggers lace up their stories. We explore the common ground that running creates from the world-class runner to the hobbyist hitting the pavement, trail or treadmill. Expect a blend of inspiration, laughter and the shared joy that makes every step count. Join us on this journey, where every run is a story worth sharing.
The Hobby Jogger Podcast
The Breezy Trailhead: Ultra Running Through Injury and Recovery
Ultra runner John Calabrese (The Breezy Trailhead) shares his journey through injury, recovery, and the unique culture of ultra running while reflecting on his experiences at races like Burning River and the Barkley Fall Classic.
• Coming back from injury and DNF at Burning River 100 where challenging weather led to many dropouts
• Struggling with cross-training through swimming after hip issues impacted training
• The importance of PT exercises despite difficulty fitting them into an already packed schedule
• Experience at underground races like the Wild Oak Trail 100 and Barkley Fall Classic
• Differences between trail and road race cultures - how ultra running "keeps it weird"
• Balancing family life as a single dad with ambitious ultra running goals
• Volunteering with Ainsley's Angels to push disabled athletes in races
• Finding joy in running at a comfortable pace rather than constantly chasing PRs
• Experimenting with unusual footwear including Amazon shoes on technical trails
You can find John on Instagram @BreezyTrailhead, where he shares his running adventures, shoe reviews, and occasional mustache updates.
Thank you for joining this episode of the Hobby Jogger. I am the host, Casey Koza. I am once again joined by my co-host, Mr Rob Myers. Rob, how are you doing this evening?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well. Excited to talk to the Breezy Trailhead Very cool Instagram handle there.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you. The Breezy Trailhead is our guest today, Mr John Calabrese. He is a dance dad shoe guy. Want to be competitive eater, Don't we all? And part time adventure per his Instagram account. John, thanks for joining us on the hobby jogger it is a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, you're. You're quite the experienced ultra runner. Looking through your ultra sign-up page here, some races I've just never heard of that look pretty cool and a lot of experience running races. And we talked a little bit beforehand, but you're just coming off of the Burning River 100, which is in my backyard. Had a little bit of a tough go at that race, unfortunately Tougher race than I think a lot of people give it credit for, but you finished it before correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, this year was rough man. Lots of DNFs, the weather was kind of evil. But I don't regret it. It was a good time. I got 50 done. I've had a lot of injury this year, a lot of craziness, so you know, ultimately it's going to help me down the road.
Speaker 1:I'm committed to getting some 100s done this year. So it was a good stepping 50, it's either. I didn't think it was going to be this hot, because it's always hot. It's always a rainy, then hot, which makes it super humid, super high dew point. We don't know what that means on this show, but we know it's miserable, it's evil, it's evil. And and also where it's at in Ohio, along the Cuyahoga Valley, beautiful park, beautiful national park here, but it's not flat, right, john? Yeah, it's not mountainy, but it's not flat. It's not like a flat 100.
Speaker 3:It's interesting so I just did a. So it's funny that I think the weekend after Burning River I did a 30 miler here in Virginia called Jarman's Invitational Marathon. It has like as much elevation as Burning River.
Speaker 3:It's like I'm okay with vert and stuff like that. I just think what got me was just not having that many miles this year. You know the heat all the above the chain. I mean you're gonna, when you do burning river, you're gonna be chafing very badly every year. It doesn't matter, there's gonna be bad heat. But I think just the main thing that got me is, um, like if you look at my straw but you'll tell like I haven't been able to run as much because I've had some hip problems.
Speaker 3:I've had to swim a lot this year instead of running for cross training. Uh, and that's the worst, man, if you're training for 100 milers and just or any ultra and you can't get in the miles you need to complete races, that's just kind of tough, you know. And I don't like swimming. I'm a terrible swimmer. People make fun of me, john, I don't swim. Yeah, I look like a kid in there. Yeah, just like people like you're injured, dude, you're from a different sport, you're injured, right and like yeah I do not swim, I don't I float and I drink beer.
Speaker 3:Rob, that's what I do yeah, I don't like being injured but I think I'm getting better. I mean, like I'm good, I'm good to like the 50 mile mark. I gotta get some more training in to get past that. But I'm committed to getting a couple hundreds, a couple hundred milers done this year. But I gotta I think I gotta work on it more get the mileage up and john real quick.
Speaker 1:You also have another very interesting race which I'm gonna pronounce wrong, but I know I've seen it talked about three chin.
Speaker 3:No chin moi that's right, uh, so I did the 24 hourhour race Last year was rough. So if you look at my ultra sign-up, you can see where I started to have some issues, mainly right on that race, maybe a little bit before, but I started having knee problems. Yeah, I was doing okay on that race and then I just started having knee problems. I had to stop and yeah, that was kind of the start of the decline right there. But you know, I'm getting better now. It took a little bit to get, uh, get back on the saddle, but I'm getting there. But yeah, that that was tough, that was a really hard race is that race, the race that goes for like months.
Speaker 3:So it's the same people that put on the other one. But yeah, that this is just the one. I did the 24-hour race. I was so I was feeling invincible at the time. One, but yeah, that this is just the one I did is a 24 hour race. I was so I was feeling invincible at the time. I was like, yeah, I'm feeling good. I wanted to kind of like, you know, do good on that one to see if, like, maybe I could get into that long one. But uh, yeah, I had such a poor showing there. I was like, oh, I'm going to put a pin in that.
Speaker 1:Let's see what. Let gotcha. Okay, so it's not the self-transcendence. No 3100. I thought maybe it was like, because I saw you did the the hour portion of.
Speaker 3:I thought maybe it was like a sub race off of. This is a 24-hour race, but, um, it's the same people and you know it's in new york, it's right outside new york city. That's a really good race too, that 24-hour one. Uh, you know it's cool going to new york. I hung out with some friends while I was there from the Navy. Yeah, it was pretty cool experience, but it just sucked though, cause like after that, I just had knee problems the rest of 2024. And then, you know, it popped. You know I didn't like clear it all coming into this year, and then the cross training and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Injuries yeah, terrible You're. You know, you and me. We're a little bit older, so injuries creep up on us pretty quick. Kos, even quicker, it seems. You know, I went from how my back hurts to oh I can't walk within a day, and you know that that's rough. What kind of injuries have you been dealing with?
Speaker 3:So last year it was knee, this year it was so messed up so like I got pneumonia in December and I was all messed up for a while, like I had just my body just didn't want to work Right. And then, uh, I started feeling better, like you know, uh, like around March. I started running pretty good in March and then in April I would just went on a just a random recovery run six mile easy recovery run and uh, when I was coming back, like at the end of it, something like buckled and I couldn't walk, like I uh I had to just like limp around for like like a month Like I could, I couldn't, I, I, I think, I, I don't think I ran for like a month. After that All I could do was swim, I lift weights. Uh, I went to a PT and they were like you need to do all this stuff, like stuff I've completely neglected for years.
Speaker 1:You know like oh, I know, yeah, I, yeah, I'm the same way, Rob. Rob, you're doing everything the PT has told you to do, right?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, signed up for yoga, stretching every day. Promise Every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're the same John, it's just, you know, you get what you can get in, right?
Speaker 3:Well, that's the thing too. So if you do all that stuff, it's like an hour at least. You're like that's the time I could be running, or something like that. Or if you go to the gym at least for me it's kind of out of the way and then lifting weights, swimming, that stuff takes a long time. So it's hard to fit all that stuff in when you have a kid job and you're trying to do other stuff too, and then once you feel better enough to run, you know you still need to do that also. So I can see why people just put it off, like myself and others, you know, cause you know you're strapped for time. It's hard to make time for all the other stuff too. So it's easy to just say you know, screw it, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 1:That's one thing that I've definitely made a change in this past year is I make time at least once or twice a week to go to the gym, where I will sacrifice oh yep, can't run at this time. I'm going to go to the gym instead, and I do think it's made a difference. But I'd much rather just be out running Like I just. It's what I enjoy doing. I like getting out there every day. It makes me feel better mentally, physically, whatever else, emotionally, I guess, and obviously why we have the podcast, the Hobby Jogger. But yeah, it's a big part of your life, so I get it. It's tough to well, I'm not going to run, I'm going to go to the gym. That's tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we all need to get better at wall sit right, Just go on the wall for like a minute, watch your legs start shaking. You know it's a good use of time.
Speaker 1:Because, yeah, there's times. I mean I, you know, I have my kettlebell staring at me right now. It's very dusty.
Speaker 2:Kettlebells can be fun, casey, come on, kettlebells are fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I get up in between, you know, if I have calls or something at work, and I do some swings and it makes me feel better. That's what we're all about here is just at least, at least feeling better yeah, I've been doing a lot of push-ups and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:It's I don't know. I'm trying planks, push-ups, curl shops, what's that. I know I know um pt told me to do it. Um, yeah, all kinds of stretching I've. It's been an adjustment, but I mean hopefully I mean I think it's paying off I feel a lot more stronger. Um, I mean, like again, I haven't been able to finish 100 this year, but it will all be worth it if I can finish 100. I think like that's like I really want to get back to, you know, finishing one. Dude, I haven't finished 100 since april last year. Yeah, I mean I've, I was lucky to get a couple. I think I have like four alters done this year, maybe more, something like that. But yeah, I'm going to try to finish out the rest of the year strong, but hopefully all this PT is paying off.
Speaker 1:We'll see, I think it does. I don't know, it could be in my mind. That's what I always think, everything could just be in my mind. So that's what I always think, everything could just be in my mind. So, yeah, I see you're at least signed up for a few more 100 miles. So you got a couple cracks at it here, at least three cracks at it. You're signed up for. We talked about a little bit, but brand new Export PA, the Export 100 Trail Run. How did you find out about that race? Because it doesn't look like anything that I've ever seen before.
Speaker 3:So this is funny. I'm that type of guy that if there's a race that just fits the time for me on ultra signup, I'll just sign up. The funny thing too this community is so small. I know a guy that I've done multiple races with that's doing it. Yeah, and he lives in PA, I believe. No, no, he lives in New York. Yeah, I did Manitou's Revenge with him, eastern States and C&O Canal, 100 miler. So I've done three races with this guy. So I'm just going to try to stick with him the whole race.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not many people are signed up. So if you need a race, sign up for Export. You'll get thrown with me. We need more people to run it, but if not, that's cool too. I mean, I like small races and I was supposed to do a race in pittsburgh this year but I wasn't able to. Which one? I was gonna run the marathon I, you know. I know it's a marathon, but I like pittsburgh a lot and it's a cool place to hang out, but I wasn't able to do it, unfortunately. This will be a cool way to get up there and run an ultra, you know which.
Speaker 1:I like doing more anyway, so this will be fun for me yeah, I mean I hate to turn this like into like a a race review episode, but holy shit, john, you've been yeah, you've been a lot of races that I've never heard of, which is awesome that those are the ones that I really like the like. Ran it with janet 50k, that's awesome it's a minute.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's where I grew up in manassas. Uh, that was a cool race. It was, uh, it was for charity. Uh, I forget the exact organization, I think it was casa or something like that but um, it was to help put kids in homes. Yeah, I don't think that they do that one anymore. That's the crazy thing, if you like on you. Uh, if you look at my race history, races in general a lot of them are gone now. A lot of them didn't survive covid, or just you know, even after covid, it's kind of sad man. Uh, a lot of good races went away for sure we did.
Speaker 1:We did lose quite a few races. Uh, I don't think people realize how many we did, because I know there's been some that go through my little park down here that that are no longer races and that's did you ever do, uh, conquer the castle at squires, squires castle no, no, I haven't done that one, that's I did that one.
Speaker 3:I only did the 50k, but that was I. That was my first, I think. Um, that was my first venture to do a Ohio race. I believe I've never experienced the point-to-point burning river. I've only the year that I signed up, my first burning river. It was supposed to be the point-to-point, but they changed it and I remember a lot of people got pissed off about that and they didn't give any refunds and I was like, oh man, but then, like, I did it and I loved it, like I had a great time in 2019, but, um, I remember a lot of people were angry about that, but that just speaks to the race itself. Also, like, people don't even like the the out and back, but they still do it in uh large numbers because it's such a good community there. But, uh, what's have you done? The point to point or have you, like you know, have knowledge of that? The?
Speaker 1:only thing I've ever run at Burning River is the relay, so Rob has run. Last year, rob, you ran the marathon, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the marathon.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, newly, newly added distance. This year you did DNF the marathon. Then I picked you up and took you to the bar.
Speaker 2:So yes, first half of the race sucked.
Speaker 3:The second half was great any honestly, like I heard a lot of people say that that was the hardest marathon they've ever done in their life. I mean like it was tough any you know any distance you did. Burning river this year was very hard in my opinion.
Speaker 1:The heat and humidity this year was just brutal. But there's only one more. We got to ask you about, john, before we get on to something else, hopefully shoe related, because I really like shoes the Barkley Fall Classic. I didn't realize until Rob told me, right before you hopped on here, that there was a Barkley Fall Classic. It takes place in Frozen Head State Park. Does it take place at the gate? The Yellow Gate?
Speaker 3:There's some minor differences and some major differences. Uh, it's not 100 miles. You know there's some debate how long the course actually is. You know? Um, basically, if you make the cutoffs, all the cutoffs, you can get to a quote-unquote 50k. Um, if you don't make the cutoffs or you choose not to go further, when you see laz at the final decision point, you can settle for a marathon. Again, there's been some debate over how far it is, because you can't have GPS, so you don't know the elevation and you don't know the distance. But a lot of people think it's way over 50K.
Speaker 3:I've done the race five times. I've volunteered at it once last year. That was an interesting experience too. It kind of sucks. I was signed up for last year but I was hurt and I couldn't run it again. I had injuries all last year, like, and then this year I was, I got in and I had a drop because I was injured majority of the year.
Speaker 3:And that's a race that if you're if you're not a hundred percent in your body, just don't do it, don't do it, don't. You know it. You have to be in like I'd say you'd have to be. You have to be pretty much confident with your abilities and in pretty much the best shape of your life to finish that thing. Or, like you know, pretty, pretty, pretty good shape, because you're climbing a lot of stuff. That's like it's not even running. You're actually like mountain climbing and like climbing up stuff, sliding down stuff. It's. A lot of people will tell you it's not even running, it's just it's very hard and I love it. It's. It's probably my favorite race. But hopefully I get back there someday or hopefully in the big berkeley at some point. But I've got a lot of other stuff to do. First I need to just finish 100 miler right now and then kind of we'll get to the other stuff the classic.
Speaker 1:Is it marked or is it an orienteering event as well?
Speaker 3:there are signs and like they put you in the right direction. There's some parts that are confusion, but for the most part there is confidence, markers and like, like the tape and stuff like that. Ok, I mean like I know the park pretty well because I've done the race five times and volunteered at it. That's the thing too. There's a lot of people like me there, or I've done it more than me there, and, like you know, if you're not confident in your um, your knowledge of the park, just stick with somebody that's done before. Just like, ask around in the beginning. You, more than like you'll spot somebody that's ran the big barkley doing it, or like you know some there's so many famous runners that do it you'll. You'll spot them out, just like I'm sticking with, if I can, if I can keep up with this person, I'm sticking with them, you know yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty cool, rob, you going down to do it. I'd love to.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's not that far from my house, I think it's less than two hours.
Speaker 3:Are you in? Are you in the race right now?
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no no, I'd love to do it though.
Speaker 3:Well, that's the thing too. It's like it fills up so quick, do it like like I am now, like I mean I might be able to finish it now, but coming off injury, I don't want to try to take up a spot from somebody if I'm gonna have a questionable day out there. So yeah, that's part of it too. It's just it fills up quick, yeah, it's. Uh, you have to be pretty confident in your abilities, yeah, but the most important thing is you got to hang out with laz.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, is he the same off camera as he is on camera? I mean that's the question everybody wants to know.
Speaker 3:I mean, like people say he's like the sadist and stuff, he's like the coolest dude. Like me and my friend Eric, we couldn't make packet pickup because we were like running late and we got our bibs the morning of one year and like we, we asked him like a like a minor question about the course because we weren't there and he busts out the map and everything's like, yeah, you go here, you go here and like, yeah, we're like, thank you, lads, that was very helpful. I mean like he's like a super nice guy. Um, yeah, a lot of people like say like he's this big, bad dude that destroys runners and stuff like that bullshit. He's a cool dude.
Speaker 3:I mean like I've never looked at him as like some evil force or whatever. He. If anything I he's made me such a better runner because I've I've never dnf the fall classic, but I've gotten the marathon a couple times when I was like getting started off and ultra running and that race pushed me harder than anything ever to train, harder to get stronger. So, if anything, I think he's a great guy for helping runners get stronger and pushing themselves to do amazing things yeah, it's something we haven't.
Speaker 1:We haven't really talked about the Barkley too much on here. It's. It's kind of a. It's just such a weird event that I don't I like the mystery behind it. There's not he doesn't allow cameras. There's one guy who tweets about it Seeming. I can't remember the gentleman's name, but it's just. There's this one account that you can follow. It's keith. Yeah, keith and you. You just follow this one guy and it's like oh hey, a, a dude with long hair and a blue shirt came through. He looked pretty good. Oh hey, you know a woman with long brown hair. Yeah, she doesn't look real good. It's just kind of like that's your update for it. I do like that.
Speaker 3:Keith is cool. So we have a race here called the Reverse Ring. It's a ring around the Massanutten Mountains and he helps run one of the aid stations. Who is he? He's from Virginia. I don't know him very well, but yeah, he's he's. He does a lot of stuff like in the race scene. He's a cool guy.
Speaker 3:But yeah, at this aid station on this race it's like the last aid station you get, I think the last. I think 13 miles to the finish. They they carry a brick oven pizza up to the aid station. They have to carry it. I think like a mile or something, but they do it because they know you're screwed by that point and you're not going to get aid for another 13 miles to the finish. Yeah, they give you pizza, like yeah, they give you pizza before you head off and it's awesome for like a minute. And then when you get back on the trail you're like, oh, this sucks again. Yeah, that dude's great. He's a cool dude. He likes a lot of underground races and stuff like that. We got a lot of them here in Virginia. I like the scene. It's cool. I mean Barkley's awesome, don't get me wrong, it's amazing. I would encourage people to seek out other stuff too. Don't just think Barkley's the only game out there. There's other cool stuff out there.
Speaker 1:That guy's a character, Keith Dunn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:Keith Dunn. I pulled up his Twitter here and, yeah, all he tweets about is Barkley, seemingly. It's pretty good. Rob, I know you watched the one documentary on it, the original one that kind of blew it up and made it.
Speaker 2:Where Dreams Go to Die.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was great where dreams go to die. Yeah, it's one of my favorite docs, yeah, it was really good. I I thought they did a really good job with that and I I know, like for the hardcores you know, john, you're probably in that group because you seem to run all these, you know, like the underground races, so to speak but brought a lot of light to it and probably helped out the sport quite a bit to get people interested. Because I know it, you know, when we were watching it here in our living room, I was this is before I was in knew, we knew what ultra running was and I'm like oh we, hey, honey, we have a race right here in our backyard. Did you know that? And she's like yeah, of course I knew that, like you didn't. But so I I think he did bring a lot of attention to the sport with with parkland.
Speaker 3:I think that's that's always for the better, I feel part of me is like this I want to make sure the sport stays weird. You know you want to have it like I love people are running and doing that stuff. But you don't want to. You want to get into like mainstream, like we don't want it, like you know, like we don't want, like the road riding community.
Speaker 3:No offense to the road riding community yeah yeah, we don't want to blow it up too hard. You know we want to, like, keep it weird and you know, fun. But yeah, it's great that people are doing it. I would never discourage anyone from running trails or anything like that, but you know, you know what I'm saying. Like you know, we want to still keep the sport weird.
Speaker 1:Definitely definitely want to keep it weird that's one of my draws to the and that and you just get to hang out with your friends and drink some beer. Yet it does keep me on the healthy-ish side as well, which is good.
Speaker 3:Well it's, it's chill. I mean like, yeah, the aid stations have like candy and stuff at them and you know like uh, it definitely more lively conversation. People are more willing to talk to you than like I mean I've done road races before Like if you say anything, people get mad at you. They're. If you say anything, people get mad at you. They're like I'm I gotta focus, I'm just like dude, what, get over yourself, man, we're just out here to run. Even like girlfriends I've had in the past, like you know, like they get mad like if you talk at a race because they're trying to focus and stuff like that. I just I think the ultra community is fun because like it's just chill, like you know, like you can just be a fool out there and no one cares, they just blend in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just gonna I'm just to walk up the sorry Rob power hike. I'm going to power hike up this hill and eat my banana here and just chat with the guy or gal next to me is a big part of the sport.
Speaker 2:To quote my esteemed colleague, a road race is like the orchestra. A trail race is like a fish concert.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I mean hopefully it stays that way. I'm not going to lie it is changing. I mean it it stays that way. I'm not going to lie, it is changing. I mean it is definitely more. It's getting more type A Like people are getting more competitive and that's cool. I just hope that more competitive as the sport gets, we can still have the different. Like you know, I feel like the way it used to be, everyone still got along. No matter where you finished, people would still like you know you still hang out with everybody and stuff like that. But I hope we still keep that connection with all. You know, no matter what the paces that you run, you can still be cool with everybody. I hope it still stays that way. We ran.
Speaker 1:Rob ran it as well. David, the Cleveland half. I lined up with the 130 pace group. I've got my button up shirt on my tieband, my like white soccer shorts on. I'm like trying to talk to people and they're just not having it. There's just people warm. I was like what do you guys warm up for these things? Like what are you Really? That's oh okay, I'm just going to stand over here and hopefully no one wanted to talk. It was so serious. I was like, yeah, this kind of stinks.
Speaker 3:I I don't know how much I like this when I, when I get, when I do road races now, like I'm always drawn to like that weirdo that wears like the like the real jean shorts, I'm like, oh, there's like there's somebody cool or like you know somebody like, and don't get me wrong, I like to run fast sometimes and do road races, but for the most part I just like being a weirdo on the trail.
Speaker 1:I think that's my thing yeah, because when you go to a trail race and you're a weirdo, there's 90 other weirdos with you. Like nine out of ten people are weirdos.
Speaker 2:When you go to a road race, it's you're like the only one in attendance, I think so, john, speaking of trail looks, um, you got to bring back the mustache dude, and I don't think I've never said that before to any other person. But you got to bring back the mustache dude, and I don't think I've never said that before to any other person.
Speaker 3:But you got to bring back the mustache man I started a new job and I I didn't want to, I didn't want to give him the full flavor yet. So, um, he'll come back at some point. But yeah, it's. I'm like, uh, who's that actor? Pedro pascal, I look like. I look like him when he shaves. It's like it's bad. You just got to grow up. You gotta get the mustache back. I know it just works, man, it just works. I know it's like a signature. You can't cut off your signature, man, it just doesn't work.
Speaker 1:No, no, yeah, bring back the stache. The stache plays.
Speaker 3:He'll come back. He'll come back soon, yeah.
Speaker 1:Now, john, you're also a shoe guy correct, I try to be Mainly trail.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've how can I say this? I haven't. I've done a lot of reviews this year. A few haven't came out yet. I've also started a podcast. Recently. We recorded an episode. So I got a pair of Amazon shoes like $20 Amazon shoes and I did a really technical 50K. These aren't trail shoes either, they're definitely road shoes. And I ran a technical trail race in Massanutten, rocky Rudy, constantly underwater, and yeah, we reviewed the shoes. I'm not sure when that's going to air, but I'll let you know when it does. But yeah, that was an experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, please let me know how the Amazon shoe review goes or when it goes up, so I can.
Speaker 3:I'm like this I love reviewing trail shoes, like seriously, and stuff like that, but I think what I really enjoy is just reviewing off the wall type of shoes, like just, yeah, just like you know, the random road shoe, oh, one of my favorite shoes have you ever seen? What's the name of that? What's that Walmart shoe? What's the shoe they sell at walmart? Um, ah, so the this brand. It'll come to me what the brand name is. They sold these like knockoff hoka clifton's. Basically it looked, the shoe looked exactly like a hoka clifton. Okay, yeah, so like it was like 15 bucks, it was awesome. So like I I look for like weird stuff like that, like anything like really cheap to run in and just you know, see what I can do in it. It's. It's kind of amazing what you could do with some of these shoes. It's great I saw one.
Speaker 1:It was like a Timu vapor fly knockoff or something and the guy was running in them. I don't know how I this got into my algorithm, but it was pretty funny Like the shoe blew apart after like four miles or something. Yeah, it was a a team who special knockoff of the vapor fly. I believe I could be wrong, but just to make the lawyers happy.
Speaker 2:We do support running in $15 Walmart shoes, but we don't recommend it.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you can do it though, but yeah, it's amazing the kind of shoes that people wear at races like. I love looking at people's shoes like you, just to see what they're doing and, um, yeah, you see everything now races like you see really competitive people even at like trail races wearing like like vaporflies and stuff like that, like less technical ones. Yeah, you see people wearing shoes from like 10 years ago. It's just, it's great, it's it's it's cool, it's cool to peep it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is weird the shoes that people will wear to those. I did a. It was a two mile dog race. I had my dog running with me, obviously for a dog race. He got a little tired at the end but it was a trail race.
Speaker 1:It was actually on part of the burning river course near salt, run down that big hill, a Hill, and there's complete carnage in the race. I should tell that story because it's pretty good. So it's a two-mile dog race. You go down this wet dewy hill, the Sound of Music Hill right by it. Oh, I know it, it's wet.
Speaker 1:There's dogs dragging people. There's a giant German shepherd that this guy is like having to hold back to start because this dog just wants to run. They say go. The German shepherd's gone, dragging its owner along with him, who can barely keep up. He slides on the dewy grass, falls down the hill. There's poodles and pooches going every which way. It's complete chaos, carnage, race, and I think it's hilarious that they started on a downhill dewy grass field. It's the same people who do Burning River that do this race. So it's pretty funny. And yeah, I got Obi and I my dog Obi, Obi-Wan. We got picked up and passed in the last like 200 feet. He was walking, he was done. It was by a girl in V flies on the on the dog trail race. So I was just from that day on I just had a thing for people in vapor flies like yeah, yeah, it's just can't like them yeah, it's weird, I, I, I have one pair I'm gonna wear at the marine corps.
Speaker 3:So I'm pushing a buddy on the marine corps marathon this year. Uh, that's probably my biggest road race I'm doing and I love the marine corps marathon. It's the Marine Corps, so I'm pushing a buddy on the Marine Corps Marathon this year. That's probably my biggest road race I'm doing and I love the Marine Corps Marathon. It's the 50th, so I got to do it. That's our local marathon here in the DC area, so I've got to do that one. And then I'm doing a couple 5Ks with my girlfriend and then pushing for Ainsley's Angels and, yeah, I'll probably wear it. So Ainsley's angels is an organization, uh, basically they promote inclusion and help athletes, uh, that are disabled, they can't run, be able to participate in races by, you know, athletes pushing them in their, uh, their race chairs.
Speaker 1:So, uh, it's called dancing with angels, or Ainsley's angels. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ainsley's yeah, check them out, man, they're all over the country and yeah, they're great. I've been working with them since 2017, I believe, 2017. And yeah, I've pushed athlete riders on all distances. I was going to do an ultra with this guy but then COVID shut that down. Covid, the race that we were going to do, the ultra on a 50 miler here, that went away. After COVID, that didn't even come back. Going back to the, uh, the fallen races yeah, so at some point I'd like to push somebody on like a 50 or a hundred mile race. I think that'd be fun, but, uh, yeah, covid, killer man.
Speaker 1:Awful. Yeah, yeah, it took, took down a lot of, a lot of good businesses and and races. Uh, ainsley's angels, that sounds like that sounds pretty interesting, that's yeah, they're awesome.
Speaker 3:I, yeah I love pushing uh people on races and, like you know, talking and just like you know, it's really cool doing something for somebody else. I mean, like I think with running, especially the road stuff, you can get to a point where, like it's all about self promotion and stuff like that, but when you're helping somebody else out, it's, it's a better overall experience. If you ask me, you're doing something for somebody else and again, in a sport where you're pretty much kind of like you know, greedy about your time and like you know, look at me, it's cool to help somebody else out.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, yeah, that's. How many races have you pushed someone in? Oh geez.
Speaker 3:I don't even know. It's been a lot Multiple marathons like all this. I've done all distances, man, I don't even know.
Speaker 1:And John, you served right yeah, always, always good to have a a former service member on what? What did you?
Speaker 3:do in the navy. So I went in to be a corpsman. But, um, when I started doing the medical stuff just didn't work out. I went into supply and that was probably for the better. But, um, yeah, I, I liked it and the navy helped plant the seed to be a runner, because you have to do, like, the physical readiness test in the navy. So, uh, you know, I started started kind of like running more there. My mom runs too, so, like you know, when I was younger, she kind of planned the seat also, so between her and the Navy I wanted to, but I wasn't disciplined enough and I always had in my head, like you know, I wanted to like play football or baseball or something, and just thought that running was a component of of sports, not an actual sport. But, uh, yeah, the only right guy was, like you know what I want, to run marathons. And then, yeah, I just started doing. I found out this weird ultra world and here I am trying to stay in it yeah, we, uh, we do cherish our wheel.
Speaker 1:Weird ultra world right rob oh yeah, sure do it.
Speaker 2:Definitely wouldn't be as fun. I mean to casey's point earlier we have friends that all they do is marathons and good for them, but it's just how many seconds can I shave off? And it's just so serious and I don't know I I'd love to care that much but I just don't. I want to have a good time honestly, you know what.
Speaker 3:I think that's partially what got me hurt last year. Like I was doing ultras and doing um a lot of road races, trying to like do some fast stuff, and I had some good times here and there, but I think ultimately you know that, and then I had a lot of other stressful stuff going on, but I think I was just trying to do too much and I probably should just stick with doing ultras and just doing my own thing. I feel like whenever you stray too far away from yourself, that's where that's where the bad stuff happens. And you know, the racing is one thing, but if you're just in a bad state and you're just trying to like make things work that aren't there, it's not gonna it's not going to be good. You're going to drift further away from what you like. So that's my advice to anyone out there Do you, and you know, if you like doing ultras, just do those. You don't have to cater to anyone else. Or you know, you don't have to do road races.
Speaker 2:Just do your ultra thing. It's fun to go fast, but I don't know. I leave that to 5 and 10 Ks.
Speaker 3:Anything more than that. I'm on the trail for me now like if I do a 5k I'm not gonna try to get like sub 20 or any of that bullshit, I'm just having fun with it. I'll wear a costume or I'll run with my kid or girlfriend or something, but I'm not gonna try to, I'm not gonna try to be like a superhero on that that anymore, because I again I think that's where I really messed up, trying to like live in both worlds and do road stuff and trail stuff the going fast.
Speaker 1:Like Rob said, it is fun, but I just don't. I don't know. I don't find much enjoyment in it, and I've run one road marathon and that was it.
Speaker 3:Well, probably the dumbest thing I did last year.
Speaker 1:I like these, I always like these, the dumbest thing I did.
Speaker 3:So like I ran a really technical race, here's another one. You can look up the wild oak trail 100.
Speaker 1:Uh, aka twat oh, it's good because that was that's part of the uh grindstone course, correct it is.
Speaker 3:it is. If you look up the website it's pretty funny too. It's uh, it's an interesting website. But anyway, um, and yeah, that's another like low-key race that, um, a lot of people want to compare it to barkley or like say it's kind of like a bar, like a, a minor league for Barkley. I mean, it's its own race, it's hard, it's it's its own thing, it's not Barkley, it's his own thing. But anyway, I did that. I I've DNF that race like many times, but I finally finished it last year and then, like the week a week later, I ran a 5K under 20 minutes, like trying to race people. You know, like that I shouldn't have been trying to keep up with. I was just doing stuff like that, like you know, like a slow-moving technical ultra until like the next week trying to like do a sub-25K. So like I should have known better. But yeah, that's the kind of shit that got me where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to limit it to a year, maybe three. I just can't, I don't know. I just fear a back injury so bad anymore that I just don't, I can't.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm like this If I just do paces I'm comfortable with, I mean I'm not going to win a race, but I mean like I could have fun and be like the middle of the pack. I mean sometimes I'm even towards the back, sometimes I'm even less, especially this year. Like, if you look at some of my results this year, I I finished a 50 miler with like a minute or two to spare this year and honestly, that's a more enjoyable, that's a that's a fun journey. Right there. I mean like when you get to a point where you don't think you're gonna make it and you run in and everyone cheers for you, I mean that's awesome.
Speaker 3:But um, yeah, I mean if I just run ultras, like at a slower pace or just like a comfortable pace, I should say, you know, I think I can do a lot of them and I and stay healthier than just trying to run a bunch of road races and getting all these PRS and stuff like that Cause, like that's what for me, that's what's going to knock me out. I'm going to go too fast, I'm going to pull stuff.
Speaker 1:I'm going my hip again. Yeah, I, I feel like. I feel like doing alters, even though it's a longer distance. It's just a better thing for me, this twat race I'm looking up tw ot oh it's.
Speaker 3:I think it's under the wild oak trailcom yeah, I'm looking at it, that's a I.
Speaker 1:I can't believe I haven't heard of this race because I've very low key.
Speaker 3:I'll probably, I'll probably get in trouble for you if you're mentioning it uh means like uh me mentioning it out there on a podcast.
Speaker 2:You're never going to get into it again, John.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're not going to let me. I want to do it again. One of my DNFs this year. I tried to do the 200 earlier this year. I got over the pneumonia and then I started having stomach bugs and and stuff like that I guess residuals of the pneumonia and I could. I only did one loop. It was embarrassing. I only did one loop for the 100, for the 200 miler and yeah, I don't know. Another thing too like my good friend Tony, he passed away me and him did this race all the time. So I was like sad on the course without him and stuff like that and yeah, I don't know if I'll ever do it again. It's tough. It's going to take a while to get that mental toughness back on top of you know physical toughness, you know getting over the injury. But yeah, it's tough, like when you run with somebody like that over the years that certain race. It's tough to go back to it Like I don't know if I'll ever go back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I certainly understand what you mean there, john. Yeah, I can get behind that sentiment. I understand it, or that would be difficult.
Speaker 3:And you know what. Again, going back to the races that you saw like the Export, I think that's the Export. Yeah, I can't even tell you the names of the races I'm about to do, but that's kind of where I'm at right now. I just want to do new stuff, you know, uh, go new places, meet some new people, kind of just like. I think part of me just wants to kind of like, you know, have some new experiences, just because you know like um, yeah, if you have a friend that passed away that you're real close with, I think it's just like uh, for me. You know, it's just I got to do some new races and just kind of get away from stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And John, you certainly do do a lot of new races. I mean there's, you have a list, Maybe the long you and Andrew Glaze might be. Yeah, he's.
Speaker 3:Don't even put me with that guy. That guy deserves his own category. I mean, I've done some stuff, but yeah, that guy's the master.
Speaker 2:You're a close second, john, you're definitely a close second.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you had a lot of races. I wish I could train like he does. I mean he puts in some miles. I just try to do what I can because I got a kid and I know he's got kids also. I'm a single dad, so I try to do what I can with work and stuff. But yeah, I envy that guy's training. Not only does he do a lot of races, but he puts in a lot of weekly miles, which is really commendable.
Speaker 1:What was he on, robin? We had him on the show Andrew Glaze. What was he on? Do you remember week mile?
Speaker 2:It was an anniversary. Was he close to 200 at that point?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it might have been because he ran 200 miles that week, I remember yeah, 200 for the 200th week yeah, because that could have been it. Yeah, maybe I think I would know that. But yeah, andrew was almost two years ago.
Speaker 2:Casey, you know we're getting older. Our memories are not that good anymore.
Speaker 3:Yeah, memories are shot, but that was one of the things I missed about covet. I mean, like during then I I put in like crazy weeks like that. But like I, I think I could do miles like that if I had the time and I didn't have the stress I have now. But yeah, if if I was in like some situation where I could just run, I'd like to see if I could do that again. I think that's the thing.
Speaker 3:I haven't like fully recovered with covid. I I get it's weird, cause, um, I was in a spot where, like I would wake up early, I would just run just a crazy amount of miles, come back hang out with my kid the rest of the day. It was amazing, I mean for me and I know everyone had a different experience and it was a horrible situation. But like, uh, I don't think I've ever like really recovered from that. Like, just cause I to I, you know, I got to hang out with my kid, I got to run, I got to do a lot of stuff for me. It's hard to come down from that. It was almost like a high. You know, like I just run, whatever and uh, yeah, I, I don't know hopefully, um, hopefully I haven't got to like, hopefully there'll be another spot in my life where I can run like that again or just have something comparable, but uh, yeah, it's different.
Speaker 1:It's different now yeah, or I mean, or you just get a job at the laverne fire station and do fire loops I was a firefighter in the navy.
Speaker 3:Um, that's part of that was part of my job. Uh, doing that stuff. Uh, oh, cool, maybe, yeah, maybe it's in the cards, but, um, I don't know, I, I, I'm, I mean, that's pretty much what I've done in my whole life.
Speaker 1:So it's tough, I mean when you're in the sales life. It can be a grind, it can be a lot.
Speaker 3:It's kind of like running itself. I mean, like you know, there's a leaderboard and, like you know, it's kind of like a you know it's a sport in itself and there's thrills to it and I think, to help balance that out there, I it makes me a better runner Cause, like you know, there's a lot of like I don't want to say sitting around, but there is a lot of inside work that goes with that, like being in front of the computer. So, like when I do get to go off the computer, I'm like, yeah, you know, so I'm more motivated to run instead of, like when I was a caregiver, there's like a lot of physical requirements for that. Like you know, lifting, you know sales is kind of cool. Just because you know you get more downtime to rest, which I which I do need I need to be forced to like sit down at a desk or, like you know, rest, because if not, I just I'm an idiot. As you can see from my ultra sign up, I'm an idiot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you do a lot of traveling, john. That's driving traveling. I. I can't sit still, man, I'm always doing something, yeah do you mostly try and stay east Coast?
Speaker 1:it looks like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, more so now, especially because my daughter's getting older. She travels a lot for dance. She goes all over the place for competitions. So like it was tough this year. So like she had competitions every week earlier on in the year so I had to cancel some races. I was hurt anyway, so it wasn't that bad. But it kind of sucks when you have plans with people to do a race and it falls through and you know, like I knew that I need to be with my kid but at the same time, like you know, you're like, oh, you do miss the life too. So it's. I think that was a struggle earlier on this year to just being able to do the right thing and not. I mean, I don't have regrets about not doing races I was signed up for and stuff like that, Cause my kid means more than Ryan to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but at the same time, though, you do like you know, as you I mean, it's hard to walk. You know, for as many races I've done and stuff like that, it's hard to like walk away from that stuff, cause I love the community so much. But you know, it's easier to get for me getting races now because my daughter doesn't have competition this time of year. So I'm trying to get more in and trying to balance everything out. I want to hang out with my kids as much as possible, but again, also, you know, do races and be a part of the community so, john, last question for me uh, is bad water still at the top of the list?
Speaker 3:oh, I, I want to. I gotta finish. I need to finish 100 this year. Um, we I got, if I, if I knock out some hundreds. Like I, I really wanted to going into um burning river but that was such a kick in the ass, man, I you know, and that's. It's hard to explain it to people Like um. You know I've had people friends in the past that don't really get this but, like you know, it's for me like what happens throughout the course of the year it changed, goals change, like if your body's not up to it or your mind's not up to it and you, you know you're having issues. You have to take a step back at times. But uh, I'm hoping I rebound and have some better races coming up and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 3:Uh, you'll get there man, I want to do it. I've wanted to do that race since I was like 19.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have faith that you'll do it, john. You'll get it done, the 100 mile completed this year for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, I want to do more than one, but we'll see. I was like again. Going back to my ultrasound, as you can tell, I'm very ambitious. I probably shouldn't be as ambitious as I am, but you know what. I like to push it and I like to. You know I like to. I like to take some chances and you know I like to go for it.
Speaker 1:Well, john, I certainly appreciate your time here. You know we we do try and keep these to around 45 minutes because our listeners only have that attention span in them, it seems. So I'd certainly thank you for sharing your stories on races, on life in general, and I I appreciate your time here today, john.
Speaker 3:Oh, it was a pleasure. Thank you for letting me vent out some stuff and talk about my injury and my woe, but I'm going to, I'm, I'm going to hit the rest of the year stronger and I'm gonna get some good stuff done. Oh yeah, John, we're, we're rooting for you.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. So, john, where can our listeners find you on the interwebs?
Speaker 3:On the interwebs. I'm primarily on Instagram. Breezy Trailhead. I'm kind of taking some steps back from Facebook, too much fighting on there. Sometimes I'm on what's it called TikTok, sometimes I'm on there, but yeah, primarily Instagram.