Welcome, Heat, And Guests

Casey Koza 0:32

Thank you for joining us for this edition of The Hobby Jogger. I am your co-host, Casey Coza, once again joined by my good friend and co-host, Mr. Rob Myers. Rob, this is episode number 69 of The Hobby Jogger. How are you doing today?

Rob Myers 0:51

Doing well. It's hot everywhere, and trying to run more than like three or four miles is not happening. So I'm kind of pissed off.

Casey Koza 1:00

It is hot. It is dewy. It is humid, and that does suck for running. But with that, let's welcome our guests back for I don't know how many times. Um, we have Mr. William Wandsley and Mr. Jeremy Pope of the Aid Station. Uh shout out aid station and Pope. How are you guys doing tonight? Doing great.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Uh, happy to be back again. Yep. Happy to be representing the Aid Station as well.

Casey Koza 1:27

Yes, yes, the Aid Station. Pope, saw you just drop some new Norda shoes there.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yep, 055 just dropped today. Get your Rachel Entricens. Oh, those are the those are the Rachel Entricon specials.

Casey Koza 1:40

Yep. Got it. She is the um like the super long distance when she went Cocodona. One Cocodona. One Cocodona and a pair of Nordas, I imagine. So awesome that you have those shoes. Uh still waiting for you to hook me up with my um Satisfy uh DDoS shirt. Has not arrived yet.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah. I'm waiting for it to arrive to us too. They're still recovering from circle pit.

Casey Koza 2:08

So exclusive, it's exclusive. I like it. That's why I want it because I need the exclusive gear. But both of you were out at Western States. I imagine doing drastically different jobs while you were out there. Let's start with you, Jeremy. You were out at Western States. Uh, what were you up to out there?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Uh we went out for a trail con, um, just kind of networking and stuff there, and then um we were crewing uh good friend Luke J. So stud masters runner. Had a great day out there. So nice. How did uh how did Luke end up? Luke ran 1751 for second masters.

Western States Crew Missions

SPEAKER_01 2:48

So damn shout out Luke J. Yeah. 45 years old, still still doing the damn thing. 45 gets you into masters? Gets you into masters. 40 gets you into masters. Oh, geez.

Casey Koza 3:05

Yeah, yeah, same. Um that I'm almost to Masters. That's I guess it's good. Uh it's rough, you'll get there. Yeah, that's that's a hell of a time though for for Luke J. Uh conditions were optimal, I think. Probably, Luke J would agree.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Uh, correct, Jeremy? Yeah, he was he lives in Colorado and stuff, so he was uh stoked for the weather.

Casey Koza 3:26

I mean, yes, I imagine uh the year you and I crewed for our good friend Simone Gossel, little warm-up there on the ridge. Uh, didn't saw some jackets out there at the first aid station. And I I know Will, you were crewing as well, correct?

SPEAKER_04 3:43

Yeah, I was out at Western States crewing for my brother Jim Walmsley. Uh, it was the fourth time I was out there. So I was on crew B duties and fourth time doing it out there.

Casey Koza 3:56

Yeah, the uh what is that called? The excitement team? The energy, the high energy team goes out to the ridge, right? That's what Jess would call it. Yes, yes. The high energy team. I was also part of the high energy team with Mr. Jeremy Pope when we were out there uh with Simone. Did you have jackets on up there this year?

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Yeah, had jackets, had jeans on, even to dusty corner, mile 38. Uh so yeah, crew B, we crew them at mile 24 Duncan Canyon. That's the first time the runners see any crew is mile 24, and then again uh mile 38, uh dusty corner. Um, yeah, both of those jackets and jeans. Uh, I think when the runners came in, a little bit of adrenaline gets going. It's hard. I don't know, get excited hearing the runners coming in. Uh, jacket came off both times, but otherwise it was cold, it was chilly. Uh, even at Forest Hill, mile 62 could go in shorts, but it had to be in the sun because it was still chilly, even 62 miles in around noon, 1 p.m. in the afternoon. So, really first time ever it's been that cold.

Rob Myers 5:07

So, Will, if we're looking in the rearview mirror, and you mentioned you've been there four times. You were there in 2018, 19, 21.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

I missed 2018. Okay. But 2019 was the previous course record, 21, 24, and then this year.

Rob Myers 5:24

Do you remember the weather?

SPEAKER_04 5:26

2019 was the best weather, and it was still 10 degrees warmer in the canyons. 2021 was the hottest year, and then 24 was kind of in the middle. Uh, when we go with

Freak Weather And Fast Conditions

SPEAKER_04 5:39

reference point, typically at Western states you reference the temperature that's in the canyons. And if you're going 2019, which was course record year, uh, it was probably mid-80s. This year it was 73. So 2019 was one of the best weather years to that point in about a decade. Uh, and this one, you know, more than 10 degrees cooler in the hottest part of the course. Uh, 2021 was one of the hottest years, and it was 98, 99. And then I think two years ago, it was maybe mid-90s. So when you're used to you know 90 plus degrees and all of a sudden it's 73 in the canyons. Um, you now imagine in the high country, so you're in the mountains near Tahoe, the Sierra Nevadas, and um yeah, at the start it was maybe upper 30s, like when race was starting, and not just cold, but it was also incredibly windy. If you watch the coverage, people had jackets with the hoods on, and it was just blowing like crazy.

Rob Myers 6:44

Yeah, and for those listening, I mean, we talk about top five reasons. Reasons if you're setting the table, potentially predict what the outcome is going to be based on the racer. 100% temperature, just weather overall.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

And then the other part that you have to factor in that also playing like sometimes when you have cool weather, you look at uh the start of the race, the high country, and there's a lot of snow. So even though you have cool temperatures, a lot of times your legs become dead and you just don't have them laying the race. This year, Tahoe area did not have much snow. So not only do you have cold temperatures, but now it's just bone dry up top. So it everything just set up for fast at the beginning, and then it just kept fast throughout the entire day. Um, it's maybe if you're a professional runner, you may never see these conditions in your entire running career. It's once every couple of generations kind of weather.

Casey Koza 7:38

Yeah, really seemed to be freak weather this year out there. I know that was, you know, watching the broadcast, tuned into it. That was the I'd say probably number one topic of discussion was in fact the cool weather. Uh Luke J running a great time. Uh Jeremy Pope's task there to crew. What did what was Luke's feeling on the weather going into that? Jeremy, was he like, because you know you mentioned he was Colorado, super fortunate to get great conditions. Uh, but was he I I guess maybe what I'm trying to say is was he a little bit disappointed it wasn't the super heat that the race is notorious for? Like, oh, I missed the heat. That was something I wanted to battle.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

I'm not gonna throw words in Luke's mouth, but he was not disappointed.

Casey Koza 8:23

Got it. Okay. I figured I wouldn't be disappointed, but I'm sure you know there's people that think that's like part of the culture of the race is the suffering through the heat.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

So Luke's done um more mountainous races, like High Lonesome. You know, he's won there. Uh he's done the Bear, UTMB, um, Leadville. So like those are the style races he enjoys. And I his PR to date was 1830 at Leadville, which is really, really good there. Um so it was like a 100-mile PR for the guy, too, which is really, really cool to see. Um he he definitely was pushing himself to go a little faster than that and had a late puk and rally. So dude pulled it together and it was it was fun to see. So he he picked off a few masters in the last uh uh like seven to eight miles. So that was cool to see too. Um yeah, I don't think he was upset about there not being heat. Uh I don't think anybody was. And people were still cooling in ways that uh even like five or six years ago, you wouldn't have seen people using ice bandanas and stuff like that in that weather. People would have literally been just in short sleeved t-shirts and uh not doing the things they were doing this year, um, even with those temperatures. Like Will, you could speak to that too. It's like people were still using ice bandanas at I was at Robinson Flat first, so we just we didn't do A side, B side. Luke's super optimistic and just easy going. He's just like, I don't need all the A and B. Um so we went straight to Robinson Flat. People were icing there. Yeah, you're 30 miles into the race, it's still pretty cool on. I think we had pants on still.

Casey Koza 10:11

Yeah, little cool out. Will out there in his jeans, rocking the the the fashion jeans out there. I like it. Were they were they tight? Were they skinny jeans, Will?

SPEAKER_04 10:21

I mean, with my thighs, I don't buy them skinny, they just happen to fit skinny. Uh you know, just thicker thighs. It's yeah, I don't like shopping for jeans. Thick boy.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

They don't make like a they don't make like a 34, 32 uh straight leg, thick thigh.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Uh yeah, I get the like loose athletic fit, and it's still pretty, you know, still split a couple bad boys if I bend over too much.

Casey Koza 10:52

Jeez. Here we go. All right. Yeah, yeah, it was uh it was in and it was a moving on from Will's fashion talk on skinny jeans. That's tough to overcome. But yeah, it was tough out there. I know uh, you know, I I was I received a uh a screenshot of a local hobby jogger that had opinions on when people should and shouldn't drop out of races and everyone's do their own asshole opinions, I guess. Uh but it, you know, I you know obviously your runner will sustained an injury. Um maybe they've been lingering. I don't know, called it quits, but uh, you know, he's a professional athlete and he's living with his body, so I have no issue and don't feel that he owed anything into the race,

DNFs, Injuries, And Respect

Casey Koza 11:35

but hopefully he felt the same way.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

No, he was very, I think, at peace with it. Uh, you know, it's like, hey, dropping's fine. Uh, yeah, two years ago when he won, he his knees started having complications. And uh yeah, this race, 15 miles into it, he started feeling his knee kind of being dis wasn't comfortable um throughout the race. He ended up taking, you know, enough pain medication with a leave and Tylenol. He's like, I'm kind of maxed out on it. I did a shoe change, I've stretched out, it's getting worse. Pain is starting to go lower back. Uh, so that started happening, and then he's like, not feeling competitive or like, hey, I want to suffer through and start chasing people down, and you know, just to finish, he doesn't have anything to prove. He's done a death march when he did a 2016 finish, and he's finished four other times. So it's like, what's the point of suffering through and potentially getting a longer injury? And uh, forced great. We had family there, we had our and uncle Capiamani, our cousin John, uh, our whole crew was there, so it's kind of fun getting to hang out, and yeah, we hung out at Force Hill after he dropped for a couple hours, and yeah, he was in very good spirits.

Casey Koza 12:51

Sweet, good, glad, glad to hear it. And yeah, he doesn't, you know, doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. Won the race four times, and you know, I've seen him, you know, in 2022 UTMB. Was that when we were there? Is that when we went to UTMB? We were there 22, yes. Yeah, uh, we saw him death march in. It's not something he's against. Uh, so I don't think that makes you a tougher person. Certainly didn't make me tougher after I walked 13 miles in the grindstones finish. Um, felt a little silly to be honest, with everyone standing there waiting for me and the pouring down rain. Suck for you guys, but I appreciate you doing that. Hey, you got those stones, and now you're doing your race this fall. Correct. Correct.

Rob Myers 13:31

But let's set the table for the listeners, though. I mean, you gotta remember this is his job. So everybody listening, and you got the big presentation, you know, on Friday. You're heading into the office, you're sick from the night before, you got two hours of sleep. Do you reschedule the meeting? Of course you do. It's your job, right? It's the same thing. Like these guys are professional athletes, that's what they do for a living, that's how they put food on the table. The rest of us are doing it for fun. If it takes us an extra two hours, who cares? Right. But when it's your job, you want to show up at your best. And if you can reschedule that for another time to go and improve yourself, then you do it. So the smack talk and the just all the hate is uncalled for.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah. I totally agree. It's like um Jim's showing up to do a job, and it's like he has other things planned. It's not Western States was the only thing this year, you know. The dude's coming off of an insane, you know, the world's to the OCC, like it was insane. So like OCC, Tianti, Mesquite 50K. Yeah, he was doing some shorter stuff that just absolutely ripping.

SPEAKER_04 14:41

And he was still injured last year, dealing with his knee injury. Like it would come up earn after every time it ran.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

It's not like you just you know, hike it in from 40 miles out, you know, as a professional to just finish the race for a badge of honor, you know. Like if it's even sub-elites and you know, those people that talk like that, it's like it's okay to have a badge of honor and not having a DNF there, but when this is what the guy does, you know, and if if there's a thought for UTMB, like it makes total sense. Get out of the way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

Quicker recovery, and hey, it's only nine weeks out from the in the Western states.

Casey Koza 15:25

And I guess for me, from what I read, it was more of all just the other hobby joggers and the hobby jogger minions that were like chiming in about how it's like disrespectful to a race or something.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

Where I mean it's hard to get into, but it's also a different kind of race. When you have aspirations for winning, yeah, walking in is not the same. I mean, look at Hans dropping out mile 80. His goal's not top 10. He's envisioning wanting to finish strong, not necessarily win, but he wants to race to the finish line and just wasn't able to. Yeah, uh, it's it's I have no issue with Hans doing that either.

Casey Koza 15:58

That's he's another professional athlete.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Something kind of interesting. Like, I mean, injury or not, I even think the cold weather for the experienced runners was kind of a big negative to the returners and the veterans at Western states. Yeah, I totally agree. Um, because you saw like Dan Jones, Abby Hall, you know, two people that have a lot of experience. Uh, and kind of seeing, like with Jim, can easily see how it's doing because trying to get calories down, your training for Western states as veterans, you're getting all the heat you can. So when you're doing that, your calories are in your liquids, your bottles. It's real easy to drink it when it's really, really hot. You get to Western states, it's not hot, you're not as thirsty. So now it's like, okay, we've got to problem solve. How do we catch up on calories? And I feel like for the inexperienced or people that don't do as much heat training, you know, hey, this is a lot closer to what they're used to getting nutrition in. That makes sense.

Casey Koza 16:59

Yeah, like because if you train for western states here through the end of May, it's cooler. Mm-hmm. We had very cool weather this year, and it's yeah, that's so it's you're used to it. You go out there on the cool year, and it's the same as it is here.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

So look at three of the top four Euros. You got Thomas Cardin, uh, fourth place, I believe. No, third place. Is he fourth? Yeah, it was fourth. Yeah. Vincent Bouillard, France. So both of those are French runners. Francesco Pupi, like all of them are training, maybe 80-degree weather.

Casey Koza 17:32

Hot weather training comes from sitting in a sauna, I imagine. Or a hot bathtub or hot tub, or whatever some podcasters told him to do, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, I just still have no shame. And the the DNF for an elite like that is um, I mean, you saw with Hayden as well. It's like that you could see the guy was visibly injured, you know, and it's like he has no reason to just hobble this thing out. Yeah, same with Killian. Um and kudos also kudos to um Hans. The dude sent one to towards the moon, and he just he didn't land on the moon.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

He for anyone that was coming in with like a potential injury as well, like there's also potential. They know, like, hey, if everything goes right, it's not gonna be a problem, they're gonna have the race they want.

Casey Koza 18:20

Yeah, and and shout out Hans. Yeah, I mean, that was fun to watch. It was good TV to watch that. What's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_04 18:25

The people that were too injured were not gonna be a factor, like they dropped out before the race. Uh, some of the bigger names, uh, you know, Anne Flower on the women's side, David Sinclair on the men's side. Uh, there are a couple others that really exciting names, and nope, they're injured or what have you before the race, and not there.

Casey Koza 18:44

Safe to say Killian went into the race injured as well.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Yeah. 30 miles in though, he looked real good. He looked like prime Killian running in the lead pack.

Casey Koza 18:54

And then, yeah, I mean, obviously he had something, some issue at what was the Gama, correct? Uh, a few weeks before, or you know, yeah, it was like a month before, and yeah, it didn't go his way, so probably I'm guessing the Gama, it's race in Spain, incredibly technical, it's short distance, fast.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Um, and that one I don't know if it's an injury, like, because he's pretty quiet on everything. And or is it really, hey, he's building up this huge block for Western states, and is he kind of overtraining or in a peak week? And is that why you can't keep up with the speed of people? That's their A race, and he's using as a long run, yeah. And you know, so it's hard to tell a killing, and you know, I I think after Western States, no, it probably was an injury at both.

Casey Koza 19:39

Yeah, maybe we don't know, we're speculating.

Rob Myers 19:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Casey, I mean, we're 30 minutes into the podcast. My favorite part of this is really the mile to mile, right? So if we look at the top 10 men's finishers, top 10 women's, I mean, miles zero, nobody could have predicted the finishers, right? The folks are really I mean, they're in the top five. None of them when we're looking at the starting line, I could have predicted would have been in the top five for the most part. And there's a couple names here and there, but I mean five, yeah, yeah. I mean Poopy,

Logistics, Crowds, And Early Race

Rob Myers 20:14

I mean you know, Peterman. Obviously, you would have been in the top 10 if I was predicting it, but let's go back to miles zero. You know, Jeremy. Well, we took off. Like where were you? Where was the first uh aid station that you were at ruined for your for your runner?

SPEAKER_04 20:33

Um where was I at miles zero? Uh when race went off at 5 a.m., I had already been on the road for 30 minutes, so stayed uh near Olympic Valley where the race starts, and it's almost a three-hour drive to the first aid station. Uh, and trying to get there an hour before they're gonna show up. Uh yeah, I was on the road for 30 minutes at that point. We left our place about 4:30 a.m. Got to the first aid station, and I am I feel like Western States is gonna have to do something different because it is way too crowded for parking at uh Duncan Canyon, and I don't get why. I understand it's getting more competitive, but you've got some crews where you're supposed to only have one vehicle and they clearly have two or three. I think there's some fans that are hey, there's the only chance I'm gonna be able to see the elites during the day, so they drive and get there early. Um, you've got some shoe companies that are out there, like the feed had a bunch of people, like are they even with a runner? I don't know. Uh so that's kind of one thing. But yeah, first time I saw Jim was at Duncan Canyon, and yeah, we we got there about yeah 7 15, 7 a.m.

Casey Koza 21:54

I'm disappointed. Well, I guess you were both crewing, so no one went up to the escarpment to see the the cresting of that. That's that's a pretty cool vibe.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

I went to the escarpment on like Wednesday or Thursday, Thursday. Got a little jog up there. Did you hear with uh podcast? Dan and uh Mariana. Shout out Dan and Mariana of Laurel Highlands.

Rob Myers 22:15

Well, who's who's in the front of the pack in that big climb?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Man, I don't even remember. I went about a half mile up. That was the first time I got to see the star, which was pretty cool. Um but at that point Jim was actually like way back. And he was just running up through the field, like chatting people up. That was really cool to see. I don't even I think Hiroki was I think he actually led up the escarpment.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

Hiroki and Hiroki. Just favorite thing of the broadcast kept panning. All right, we think this is our F1 or women's leader. This is like he just happens to be the perfect distance, you know, six minutes ahead of the first female, and he's wearing almost identical Nike white tops, orange shorts. Lot of camera time for Hiroki, looking like Jen Lichter.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah. Also, he's really, really cool. So uh good for him. And he had a fantastic race. Like, yeah, he's going back. So yeah, almost like I thought maybe he was on the ropes because he was kind of like almost going backwards, and then it was like closed hard. Um, no, had a great race.

Casey Koza 23:36

Yeah, and Jen Lichter, uh, that was a hell of a performance. New course record, new women's course record, um, by by quite a bit, I believe, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Uh minute and a half. Oh, just under two minutes. I had a coordinated Walters, Tom.

Rob Myers 23:51

Yeah, she was 15, 2805.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

It was a nail biter coming down to the track.

Casey Koza 23:58

Yeah. Okay, good for her. Great story. Uh, if you want to look up Jen Lifter's story, awesome story. Uh yeah, super cool. Uh,

Breakout Performances And Records

Casey Koza 24:08

cool to see her do so well and uh be excited to see what she does next. I I you know I don't read too much when it comes to trail running news. I just watch the sport and I'm a fan, so I don't know if she said anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Coming off the Black Canyon and then the Western States, like that is insane. Both were distant PRs at the time. It's like absolutely insane.

Casey Koza 24:31

Yeah, and uh yeah, so glad to hear that you guys both had a great time out there at Western States. Unfortunate for Will, uh runner, not what he wanted, but Luke J, awesome job. Uh, thanks to the crew support there of Mr. Jeremy Pope. Rob, next year I think we we gotta go out. I at least want to get up to the top there of that mountain when they start out and and see the the deal there.

Rob Myers 24:54

Yeah, I mean this past year the the escarpment looked like looked crazy, man. Was the wind really that bad? It looked like people were gonna launch off the side of it.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Yeah, it was definitely as bad as it looked. Um yeah, what time do you need to start if you're gonna get to the top of the escarpment? Would you say by 4 a.m. 3 30? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, 4 a.m. The meters are getting to the top of the escarpment, I think in about like 38 minutes, 37 38. I'm not getting up there that quick, I can guarantee you that.

Casey Koza 25:29

So uh no, no, no. Hopefully the cable car will be running and I can take the lift up, but uh yeah, but it is west coast time, so a little bit easier for us that wake up early on the east coast to get up there uh in time without major impact of waking up at like 3 a.m. like that. So yeah. Next year, Rob, we're going. On the list. On the list. Yes. Um, what I would like to talk about real quick, uh, not my favorite race ever in the world because it's not a race, it's an endurance run. I should know that. Uh is hard rock coming up this weekend. Uh Uray 100 canceled by Wildfires. Hard Rock says they're good to go. Wildfires off the course. Will you guys be tuned in to Hard Rock endurance run this weekend?

SPEAKER_01 26:42

I'll be I'm gonna be out in Maryland this weekend. Um, I'll I'll probably tune in a little bit uh just to kind of see what's going on. I like my buddy Jimmy Elam, so I really like that guy uh rooting for

Hardrock Preview And Favorites

SPEAKER_01 26:55

him.

Casey Koza 26:56

Shout out Jimmy Elam. Uh yeah, because it I mean to me, and correct, and I might be wrong in saying this, but it appears to be a match race between Ludo and Tom Evans on the men's side, and then another match race on the women's side between uh Tara Dower and Courtney DeWalter. Um so maybe not the most competitive race ever, but uh I guess Will.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Definitely want to tune in because Courtney, I mean, she's fun. Uh Ludo, though, pom pom, like that guy is my hero, 50 years old, and giving me hope that we are still not anywhere near our prime. We're still going up and up.

Casey Koza 27:40

We we are. Uh, yes. On the Ludo scale, we have plenty of time left to reach our peak. Uh, I will always tune in when Ludo is running. Uh yeah, he does give us hope that we can he's 50 now.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

He is 50, he will be 51 this year. Gosh, yeah. Yeah, he is an Erling Halan, in my opinion, for ultra running.

Casey Koza 28:03

Guy is just a specimen. He's a fine specimen at that. I will be tuning in to watch Ludo. Um, I believe it starts. We're recording this on Thursday night, tomorrow morning. Is it tomorrow morning? 48 hour cutoff.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Um I honestly don't even know that.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

I think it starts tomorrow. Starts July 10th. I don't know what time.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

But shout out Dylan Bowman. Dylan Bowman's in the field. Debo is in the field.

Casey Koza 28:35

Uh free trails, free trails proprietor.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I think the other female that can mix it up is Careth Arnold.

Casey Koza 28:44

Yeah. And there is probably people, I not the deepest knowledge when it comes to these. Although I am the former UTMB Free Trail Fantasy Champion. I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to all the you guys excited to see our boy Arlen Glick out there. Always excited to see someone from Ohio compete anywhere. So yeah, shout out Arlen. Yeah, shout out Midwest.

Rob Myers 29:09

6 a.m. 6 a.m. tomorrow. Yep. So 8 a.m.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

here in Ohio. Yep, 8 a.m.

unknown 29:16

here.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

Eastern time.

Casey Koza 29:19

A lot of elevation out there.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Yeah, Arlen's been out there for a few weeks for sure. Um, had a good training box, so that'll be interesting to see.

Casey Koza 29:27

Yeah, I did uh friend of the show, Morty, uh local runner here, was out there for a bit and did run into him. Uh Morty will showed up. Well, and Jeremy showed up to my uh 4th of July beer mile. You two did not. Uh no, make it that what you will. Um, Jeremy, you at least have an excuse. Uh, you are we're running the 4th of July Stampede with the aid station down there in Worcester Memorial Park. Guess I'll give Will a pass since his daughter was in the parade, local 4th of July parade.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

Race director got soft this year and due to high heat moved

Beer Mile Rules And Premium Shoes

SPEAKER_04 30:07

his start time up. That is true, though. That's 100% true. You have ice cold beer. That's cooling enough. It wasn't that hot, was it?

Casey Koza 30:17

So what happened is when I originally sent out the invite, it was supposed to be like 95 on Saturday. And I truthfully don't want to run a beer mile when it's 95 degrees. So I moved it up to 11 to avoid running in the heat. Um, and I sent the first invite out with a time, um, kind of by accident when I did that anyway. So it had to be at 11. So yeah, next year, maybe Jeremy, you can run both. Um, but looked like you had a great turnout for the 4th of July stampede down there in Worcester Memorial Park.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

We did. We kind of just filled the space and capped it at a reasonable um number to keep the parking lot and all the the whole entire park kind of tidied up. Um, so no, it was great. Sold out.

Casey Koza 31:06

That's awesome that it sold out, and I like that you capped it and didn't just try and maximize everything like a lot of race directors do, where you then don't have enough parking or facilities to handle the amount of people.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

So and then just like bait people on the race will sell out. We are we like we actually sold out, yeah, yeah.

Casey Koza 31:25

You actually sold out. Yeah, I w I went and looked and uh saw that there was like one entry left, so I was like, ah, that's awesome. So yeah, congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

If we could piece together this beer mile with on the same day, like I think this will work. Yeah, next year we'll uh we'll we need a loop or something though. Like a down and back is I don't know. I don't know what you think, Will, there, but the down and back's a little tough. It's the double down and back is one loop.

Casey Koza 31:51

Yeah, it's hey, I got I got what I gotta work with here. You know, we're running on this the non-permitted streets of Akron, Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

So uh I but I also think you you throw out um if somebody breaks a bottle, I mean, an instant DQ. Well, so new rule going forward.

Casey Koza 32:12

Yeah, that was a new rule made after the year he launched a glass bottle into my neighbor's driveway right in front of my neighbor. Completely intentional, completely intentional. He all he tried to hit my neighbor, actually. He was standing too close to the course, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

The guy was crowding the course.

Casey Koza 32:28

Poor Donald, you know, just out there uh trying to get a view of some people running a beer mile, and Will launches a missile at his head. Yes, we only allow aluminum cans at the portage drive beer mile.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Definitely was not a layup in the trash can that rolled out in embarrassing fashion. It was missile launch at Donald's head.

Casey Koza 32:50

Yes, that's the way I saw it, and that's why we now have a I can confirm that. See, we have multiple witnesses to the infraction will. So we would never lie or embellish anything. But yeah, next year, Jeremy, we'll try and work around. Uh, so hopefully, you know, you and I can do both of them come down and support the stampede with the aid station. Maybe I'll wear my Norda shoes, which I have worn a couple times out here in Sandrun. They are great shoes. I like them a lot. Uh, so in the bag that it came in is really nice. Like it's it's good solid gear that uh Norda puts in there.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Everything's premium. No, they're they're great shoe. Um, you spend the money, but I mean it's at least at two to two to one shoe, if not three to one shoe, you know, and it's less boxes, less shoes going into yeah, and it seems bomb proof.

Casey Koza 33:45

Uh, I don't think I will run through those anytime soon. I was a little concerned with the heel, but the heel's great, one of the most comfortable heels I've I've run in. So uh yeah, big fan of Norda and kind of the boutique, a brand of Norda, and you know, just grateful that you carry them down there. And I got to try them because if I didn't come down to the aid station and try them on, I never would have bought them.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

So only dealer in Ohio. So the 055 just dropped today. Check it out.

Casey Koza 34:13

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm going to uh because I like my other pair so much. Um, I I forget the pair I have, so uh you have the 001A. Yeah, bad with names, you know, like even with like the other shoes that I have, uh I just I can never remember the names. And a lot of these marketing departments are terrible with names, uh but Nord seems to be a much better. It's just numbers. I think I can remember numbers. But yeah, good job on that. And uh appreciate you guys hopping on here. Also, uh with the beer mile. Turns out rugby players make pretty good beer milers, you know. They may not be the fastest runners, but the beer drinking part, exceptional at. And uh yeah, we did, I think Bree broke her last course record this year um at the beer mile. So yeah, a lot of fun. Looking forward to next fourth of July, where I'm gonna hit the double of the uh the stampede down in Worcester, Ohio, and uh hopefully in a paranordis, too. But thank you guys for coming on again. I certainly appreciate it. I would say where to find you on social media. We can find Jeremy where.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Uh you can find me on Instagram at at PopeRound or at aid station running. At aid station running.

Casey Koza 35:33

So thanks again, and uh, we'll catch you next time, Hobby Jaggers.