Run Eat Drink Podcast
Welcome to the Run Eat Drink Podcast! This is the podcast where we embark on exciting adventures, combining our love for running, delicious food, and tasty beverages. Whether you’re an elite runner aiming for victory or just starting your “Couch to 5K” journey, we’ve got something for you. Let’s dive into the three pillars of our show:
Accomplish (Run): Accomplishment is deeply personal. Are you eyeing a race series win, planning your next “run-cation,” or hoping to set a personal record in your next half-marathon? Each week, we feature fantastic destination races from around the country. Discover scenic courses, learn about the charities they support, and get inspired to lace up those running shoes. And when we’re not on the road, we share interviews, training tips, and insights from our own running journey.
Explore (Eat): Running and traveling go hand in hand. As we explore new places, we also explore local cuisine. We seek out hidden gems—the eateries that locals rave about. Bold flavors, interesting dishes, and passion for food—that’s what we’re after. After each race, join us as we wander the city streets, discovering post-race refueling spots. Whether it’s a gastropub, a food truck, or a cozy café, we’ve got dining options to satisfy your cravings.
Indulge (Drink): When the running is done, it’s time to unwind. We raise our glasses to celebrate our accomplishments. Local breweries, coffee shops, speakeasies, and watering holes—these are our destinations. From craft beers to artisanal cocktails, we explore the beverage scene. Cheers to a well-deserved drink after crossing the finish line!
Join us on this journey of accomplishment, exploration, and indulgence. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a curious foodie, there’s a place for you at the Run Eat Drink Podcast.
Run Eat Drink Podcast
RED Episode 306 Michael Leslie’s Chicago and NYC Marathon Double in 2024
RED Episode 306 Show Notes. Michael Leslie’s Chicago and NYC Marathon Double in 2024
If you want a shout out for you or someone else you love on the show, email us at info@runeatdrink.net or call us and leave a message at 941-677-2733
Happy birthday month, JoJo!
Happy birthday, Susie!
Happy birthday, Dawn!
Join us as we honor Aimee’s dad at the 20th Anniversary Miles for Moffitt Race in November 2025! Join our team, donate to our fundraiser, or share this link:
https://runsignup.com/2025runcationnationteam
Runcation Recap with Michael Leslie, Patron and Proud Member of the Runcation Nation
This week, we give you part 1 of our 2-part interview with Michael Leslie. He inspires us to go for whatever our dreams are in the realm of running by talking about doing two Abbott World Marathon Majors in the short span of two months time! Shout out to Customized Training with Chris Twiggs that helped him get it done!
Chicago Marathon
https://www.chicagomarathon.com/
New York City Marathon
https://www.chicagomarathon.com/
Abbott World Marathon Majors
https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/
Galloway Customized Training
https://www.jeffgalloway.com/galloway-coaching/
Connect with Michael
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001164287701
https://www.instagram.com/rundisnerd/
THAT’S A WRAP!
Thanks to MagicMind for sponsoring this week’s show. Don’t forget we have a limited-time offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code REDPOD at checkout.
Go to www.magicmind.com or use our discount code: REDPOD at checkout.
Or go to https://www.magicmind.com/REDPOD20.
THAT’S A WRAP!
Thank you for listening! Because of your support, we are in our eighth year of the podcast! Don’t forget to follow us and tell us where to find you next on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Also, check out our store on the website and get some swag, thanks to Pure Creative Apparel. Thanks to www.PodcastMusic.com for providing the music for this episode, too!
Hi, this is Mike, also known as Run Dizner, proud member of the Runcation Nation. You are listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Run Eat Drink podcast. We feature destination races from across the country and after the race, we take you on a tour of the best local food and beverage to celebrate. So, whether you are an elite runner or a back-of-the-packer like us, you'll know the best places to accomplish, explore and indulge on your next runcation. Welcome to episode 306 of the Run Eat Drink podcast. I'm your host, amy, and I'm not solo this week, because we have a Runcation recap, part one of an interview packed full of tips and inspiration with Run Dizner Michael Leslie. We reached out to him when we saw back in 2024 that he did not one, but two marathon majors within the span of two months. He did Chicago and New York and we had to talk to him about both of them, comparing them, contrasting them for the run, the eats, the drinks, the exploration, the indulgence all of it in those two big Abbott World Marathon majors. We thank him and his lovely wife for giving us the time for such a generous amount of time. Michael, thank you for coming back on the show. You're such a great person to chat with, inspiring, and we can't wait to share this interview. It's fantastic for your long run and we can't think of a more appropriate week to start sharing this with you than the week that includes Patriots Day. That includes the Boston Marathon. So, to begin our shout outs, we would like to wish the best of luck to anyone who is going to run for a charity run. And you got in that race, that world marathon, major, that Boston marathon for your age group and your pace and time, applause, cheering section, right here from the Runcation Nation, the Running Drink Podcast Towers, and we wish you the best of luck, the best of a race experience, the best of accomplishing, exploring and indulging. Especially and specifically shouting out to Marco Chassetto. He's an inspirational figure. We can't wait to watch him conquer the Boston Marathon course in 2025, learn all about it, watch the magic happen. Every time he runs a race, there is an inspirational nugget at the finish line and we can't wait to get that for you.
Speaker 2:In addition to that shout out, we also have a couple of happy birthday wishes. Dawn be joyful on Instagram. She did an 11 miler on her birthday too. Thanks, dawn, for all your support and love in this very difficult year, and we cannot wait to accomplish, explore and indulge with you at a race really soon. We could say the same thing for Susie. Susie Beck, the queen of the first class upgrade on her runcation destination half marathon 50 states adventures. So happy birthday this past week to Susie Beck. Both ladies are patrons of the show. Susie, we love to see you and your drive and positivity. We can't wait to see you achieve your 50 states goal in Hawaii and toast to that feeling Darlene spirit there with you as you enjoy a Bloody Mary toasting both of you and your accomplishments. Dawn, we can't wait to skip, hop, jump and dance straight through a course with you.
Speaker 2:Jojo, welcome to your birthday month. It may not be your birthday yet, but we just love you. You are our mama bird. Just like Jessica said when she and Eric came on to recap big beach, we couldn't do it without you. You are a protector. You look over us, you watch for us, you take care of all of us and you're even a member of the coffee crew, even though you don't like coffee. You send me memes all the time, so I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2:Ladies. Your birthday month cheers to you and everyone else in the Runcation Nation that has a long run distance. They're accomplishing a race distance, a fundraising goal this month. They just opened Miles for Moffitt registration. It's going to be the 20th anniversary. It's happening in November of 2025. I have got to honor my father's legacy there. We will put out a link for you to join our team or donate or support us. By sharing that link, you know where my heart is with this and I love my dad. I know he's watching and I want to make him proud. So if you want to shout out for you or someone else birthdays, anniversaries, running goals, eating goals, drinking goals everything in moderation, but goals you know what I mean. If you want to shout out for you or someone else you love on the show, please send us an email, attach a little voice memo info at runeatdrinknet Just a little voice recording 30 seconds to a minute and we will play it and make you Runcation Nation famous, nation famous. Or call us and leave us a message at 941-677-2733. That's 941-677-2733.
Speaker 2:And now, before we get to this, chicago Marathon and New York City Marathon, double, double interview with Michael Leslie. He is so inspiring to me and I am on the comeback trail so I've been getting up early on Saturdays lately to travel to some interesting local 5Ks. I've been getting good advice for taking it slowly and building up slowly over time, my mileage with America's coach Jeff Galloway. You know him, you love him, we love him, and Kevin Gwynn from the extra mile podcast says if you do what he says, you will be successful. You have to listen to the man, the myth, the legend, the Olympian, the founder of the run walk run scenario. He has so much in common with Magic Mind, which we've been taking at the beginning and the end of our days lately.
Speaker 2:The people at Magic Mind make this performance shot which I can have at the start of my day with my coffee, or I might coffee a little bit after it this little green matcha tea colored shot full of natural ingredients, and it's been making everything a little bit easier as I head back out on the trail, the road, the 5k distances and I'm on the comeback to my run walk run journey with the Runcation Nation. It builds up slowly over time. It's not a quick fix. It sustains my energy, it builds and improves my performance in my workday and in my training over time. Enough energy to make it to, right after I get off work at 5.30, a yin yoga class at six. And I love that. It's not a quick fix. Created a product that takes the time it needs over a number of days of consistent use Really helps with stress. I love the all natural ingredients in not only this shot but the one that I finished my day with, the sleep performance shot. We've been talking about the ashwagandha in the mental performance shot, but the sleep performance shot has the best natural ingredients like lavender for calming and soothing the mind before bed, and magnesium, glycinate or glycinate tomato tomato for relaxing the muscles and calming the nervous system. It doesn't make me groggy in the morning and I love that.
Speaker 2:Magic Mind has expanded to bring the journey full circle and make it a complete solution. We have a limited time offer that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off a one-time purchase. We use code REDPOD R-E-D, like the Run Eat Drink podcast, redpod at checkout, or you go to magicmindcom slash REDPOD20 to redeem that discount. That's REDPOD in the discount box at checkout or magicmindcom slash REDPOD20. And we thank Magic Mind for sponsoring this week's show. And now, without further ado, it's Run Diz Nerd and his Chicago and NYC double. Let's kick it off. We welcome Michael Leslie to the Run Eat Drink podcast. I have to say thank you for your patience. We had this planned back in January and then my father's illness took over. He passed away from stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and I had to put it off. Thank you for being so supportive and sending encouragement when that happened and for being flexible around all of your big events between 2024 and 2025. It's been crazy for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, I went through a similar thing A lot of people don't know. A week before the marathon in 2019, before the disney marathon, my father passed away suddenly, heart attack. God, I basically had to change everything. I had to cancel my flights. I was still living in boston at the time. Oh, cancel my flights, cancel my run disney actually run. Disney gave me a refund, mind-blowing yeah. And then fast forward a year later, my mother passed from cancer, so I can relate in a weird way, like having to go through unexpected speed bumps yeah, I don't know I feel for you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your patience. We're talking about chicago and new york. I so wanted. Anna runs I. I so not Anna runs on coffee, but yes, because I wanted to have the three of you on. Anna runs on coffee and Aaron from the will run, for I totally wanted to have the three of you, and because she is a native who has run the Chicago marathon so many times, and then because of Aaron being at New York with you. Yeah, I so did, but so shout out to those ladies I'm happy to have you here now and thank you for being a patron and a supporter of our show. People didn't catch your first episode, which you totally should, for the London Marathon. Just amazing. Can you give new listeners?
Speaker 1:let's say who you are where you're, from what you're drinking Right now it's post-run coffee, although I do have a little St Patrick's Day Harp, a little harp lager for later, yes, in my Chewbacca koozie. Keep it cool. So I am originally from Massachusetts, now in Orlando, via Salem, massachusetts, to Orlando, florida. I looked at the calendar and I just realized I'm going to be 49 a week from Tuesday. I'll be 49 this month At all. No, picked up running a little under 10 years ago and got this itch two years back that I was like, oh, I want to run the majors and that's where I guess my journey's taken me, from Boston to London and then so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:So what motivated you to want to tackle all the majors?
Speaker 1:Yeah, at the end of each race, if you get an official finish, you get a star, and for me, it was. I wanted to run Boston because that's hometown race. Always wanted to do it. It's just to me, it's the gold standard of marathons. I've volunteered it, I've watched it. So I was like I got to do it. It's just to me, it's the gold standard of marathons. I've volunteered it, I've watched it. So I was like I got to run it. I ran Boston in 2023 for Dana Farber and got my start. I was like, oh man, I wonder if I can do all these. And that's where the conversation in my head started going. Right after Boston, I think I was probably having Chinese food and Mai Tais and saying you know what I think?
Speaker 2:Chinese food and Mai Tais. That's the way to have an epic meal, a celebration, and just decide you're going to tackle all of the marathon majors.
Speaker 1:Why not? What's the worst that can happen?
Speaker 2:It's a big commitment, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's hard on everyone around you too, Like I think that's one thing people don't realize sometimes. When you put goals like this out into the ether, you have to realize that it affects your family, it affects you, it affects your workplace, it affects everything. Like my wife is a saint for putting up with me through all of this.
Speaker 2:And what is your wife's name? For those who haven't heard you on the show before.
Speaker 1:Her name is Kelly. She's probably off with the cats.
Speaker 2:And she's a mathematician, she is a professor, a teacher.
Speaker 1:She's a math professor, she's super smart.
Speaker 2:She's like my dad. I don't know what happened to me, but I totally missed the math genes in my family, so I'm in awe of people like Kelly.
Speaker 1:Like I got to listen to her lecture online.
Speaker 2:How was that.
Speaker 1:Everything went right over my head Using variables, and I'm like you know what. I'm going to go over here and I'll watch YouTube.
Speaker 2:I guess you have to figure out because, to your point, like you have to finish within the parameters of all of the marathon majors. Did she help you?
Speaker 1:figure that out. No, she leaves the running part to me. As far as figuring out the pace, I'd been running long enough to know, okay, I have to hit x per mile distance. It is, so that part of it wasn't hard. Boston was a little tricky because they're not super clear like chicago, new york. New york is great because they leave the finish line open all night long, like there were people coming in that were out there for 10 hours. I don't know if there were people coming in that were out there for 10 hours. I don't know if they got a star, but they were out there for 10 hours.
Speaker 1:Um and Chicago uh has an extended finish line to Boston. They they roll it up pretty quickly.
Speaker 2:They're like we're done.
Speaker 1:We want to talk about being done. They shut the streets down during the race. They have cutoff points and If you don't hit the cutoff, they pull a thing across the road and you're done.
Speaker 2:So you had New York, you had London, you have Chicago, you have Tokyo. Is Tokyo the only one that you've done so far that had like those cut points, like you must be here by nine something am.
Speaker 1:Tokyo was very rigid. They put you in corrals. But compared to Chicago and New York, they had the corral system, but when that gun goes off, everyone goes. It's a rolling start. In Chicago they'd send a wave, wait a few minutes, send a wave. Same thing with New York. Actually, they didn't line my corral up until the one before us was completely gone. Then they moved us into the shoot, which I thought was cool because you have the whole thing to yourself yes, that's yeah.
Speaker 2:So we've asked you to come on the show you swiggin um, because we saw that you have the goal of getting all of the marathon majors, which would be six of them.
Speaker 1:Correct, technically seven if you count Sydney. But I've been told I'm not running Sydney.
Speaker 2:Why is that?
Speaker 1:It's a huge commitment. As far as travel, time off and expenses, there's nothing cheap to Australia.
Speaker 2:And everything over there is trying to kill you. Yeah, that too.
Speaker 1:If you're in the outback, I guess you're not on the streets of a marathon, or I don't know could be a dingo, come get you.
Speaker 2:Okay in the timing of it, I guess, because they are all lotteries when you're in you better make the commitment right. And so somehow the stars aligned to have you accepted not only in new york but in chicago in the same year chicago was a charity bid I got in through.
Speaker 1:I ran with the mda muscular. I was running in honor of my friend's son who passed through a rare form. His name was Ben. I never got to meet him but it was a huge impact on my friend's life and I thought it would be a nice gesture to run in his honor through Team MDA.
Speaker 2:Wow, so you actively made the choice. It was not that you got the lottery on both.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:So in Chicago you got a charity bib, and then in New York you got through the secondary lottery through the New York Roadrunners. So what's the secondary lottery?
Speaker 1:So if you're an NYRR member, your name goes in twice, so it's like a secondary poll.
Speaker 2:Oh, you are part of the New York Roadrunners.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and actually it's a cheaper entrance fee, entry fee, race fee. So for me it was, I think, $2.55, because I was a member of the Roadrunners.
Speaker 2:So $2.55 to register for the New York City Marathon.
Speaker 1:And I think it's $3.10 if you're out of the country.
Speaker 2:Okay, if you're international or if you're not a member of the New York Roadrunners, correct. If you're in the New York Roadrunners, does that make it more of a possibility that you'll get in?
Speaker 1:You have different options. Through New York Roadrunners you have the straight draw, which everyone throws their name in the lottery. They also have other programs. You can run the virtual New York City Marathon and then next year you get in to the marathon. They also have the 9 plus 1 program where you volunteer and run a combination of 9 plus 1 and that gets you in, you in. There's different avenues to get into the race. Compared to London where you have international travel charity or drawing, new York has roadrunners charity drawing qualify. So there's a lot of ways to get into the New York City Marathon, which is really cool.
Speaker 2:Anna runs on coffee. She talked about a friend of hers that did the virtual.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's getting harder to get into the virtual itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because people realize it's a great way. If you're not ready for this year and you're like, okay, I'm going to do this next year, I'll just run the virtual this year. Take my time, all you have to do is finish it. There's no time cap on the virtual. So if you decided to go out one day and run like an eight-hour marathon, you still get your entry next year.
Speaker 2:That would be me.
Speaker 1:It's a big day, nine or ten or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is, but to register for that. New York City, the virtual is intense, you say. It's not run disney intense, but it's pretty intense so you got to be there when they open the registration multiple devices I've never done multiple devices for new york city, because they put you in a waiting room, they put you in a waiting room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's honestly a little bit quicker than run disney. As far as the process to get logged on, to get in, the cool thing is, if you have an account with them, get in the waiting room, sign in. All your information is pulled so you don't have to fill in all the stuff that's so much easier yes, you don't have to worry about all the other. I forgot this, so I have to go back.
Speaker 2:Oh, wait a minute, because I did that, I didn't get in and do you want all this merch and the clock's ticking? Other people are registering. Come on.
Speaker 1:And New York does merch right, and that was one thing I wanted to talk about with them. So you don't order any merch when you register, new Balance puts it on their website. Everybody can see it. So, like you can order your finisher's jacket, you can order your hats, your singlets. I ordered it and then I had it in my bag as I was going to New York, so you receive it, so super easy.
Speaker 2:So you order it, receive it, have it, wear it, yep.
Speaker 1:I kept it in the package. I had my jacket in the package. I had my finisherisher jacket ready to go.
Speaker 2:And the shirt that you're wearing that says run New York City. Was that part of the merch?
Speaker 1:This was really cool. One of the Nike stores in New York City was doing a pop-up. They were doing custom printing. The back of the shirt has all the boroughs going down the back Super cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was one thing about New Yorkork it was always something going on every day oh okay, so you got in via secondary lottery to new york, and so secondary lottery means you were a member of the new york roadrunners and then you entered the lottery yeah, like I missed.
Speaker 1:I didn't get the first one, got the second loop around.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so if you're a member of the Roadrunners, you can say I'm going to do the lottery, and then they pull the it's basically the same day.
Speaker 1:You either get in and then you're like, okay, second chance, and then they pull through again.
Speaker 2:So, whether you do it, whether you get in the first or second, you find out at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then they charge a credit card right away.
Speaker 2:Did you see the credit card charge first?
Speaker 1:No, I saw the email first, the credit card one. It's funny. I know someone that was in for Chicago and he didn't get the email and then he all of a sudden got a notification from his credit card that had been charged like hey, I got into Chicago.
Speaker 2:That's a way to find out. Okay, so we talked about the way you got into New York and what was the charity process like for Chicago.
Speaker 1:It was pretty seamless. They have their lists. It's not a huge list. Compared to Boston or New York, chicago is a shorter list. I reached out, filled out the form, explained my why and why I wanted to run with them. They got back to me and I think it was a couple of days, got back hey, we'd like to invite you. These are our guidelines. This is the fundraising minimum. My fundraising for Chicago was only $1,750.
Speaker 2:Okay, $1,750.
Speaker 1:So compare that to Boston, when I had to raise $10,000.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Huge difference. Wow, huge difference. Yeah, what's really cool is not only are they great to get you registered and do the whole process, but they're checking in on you all the time and still follow my social media, like the other day when I posted about Tokyo, I get a congratulations message from the MDA Association. I was like, okay, these guys are super cool. It's a great support system. It was an easy process. It didn't feel as daunting as Boston. Like Boston, you have to give a comprehensive plan of how you're going to raise your money. With Dana-Farber it was really serious. I had to give them the amount I was going to raise, what I was going to do to get there. This is my plan. This is how I plan to get A, b, c and D.
Speaker 2:I didn't have to do that with Did you have to tell them in any way how you were going to raise the funds or?
Speaker 1:I gave them an overview. I have a lot of friends that know why I'm running and I knocked the cover off. I got it really quickly.
Speaker 2:Did you mostly through friends and family or did you end up doing things like? We see people who do silent auctions and we've done one Just friends and family.
Speaker 1:I am so thankful for everyone that stepped up.
Speaker 2:That is awesome and it's so meaningful when you're running and everything falls into place for that purpose. So what made you decide to do them back to back?
Speaker 1:It was at first. It was like thinking to myself can I run X amount in a year? So go back to 2024. At the beginning of the year I ran the Disney marathon and then I ran London. Then it was like, can I do two more? Because in my brain I'm like, if I run Chicago, I'll have trained all the way through summertime leading into the fall, so I'll be race fit by Chicago New York's only a few weeks later. All I have to do is maintain that fitness and I should be good In my head. I have enough time to recover, but not too much time where I lose fitness. Yeah, so that's when the Chicago-New York thing came into my mind. Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:When you told people about it, what were their reactions?
Speaker 1:First question is always why? Why? I said, why not? The goal is to get all six and why not try to be as aggressive as possible? I ran three majors in one year. I decided it was going to be an aggressive year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a big time commitment. It's a commitment on friends and family around you for work, to get time off plus the fundraising. Thank you to your friends and family around you for work, to get time off Plus the fundraising. Thank you to your friends and family for supporting. There's a lot in the process, in the thought process, in terms of training, fundraising. You have to be also healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't have any setbacks with injury. I made the conscious decision to stick with and continue my Galloway customized training Nice and Coach Twiggs laid out this plan of okay, this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to get there. It's really easy when you can log on and look and say, okay, this is what I have to do this week. I do A, B, C, D. Yeah, Back in the day you would get the race calendar and you have to figure how many days am I? Yeah, With customized especially too. Like I had like vacations. And he's like, okay, you're not running this week because you're going to be here. And I took a cruise and he's like can you run? I'm like, yeah, I can run, I'm on a boat, but I think I ran five miles on the boat, Miles on a boat, but I think I ran five miles on the boat Miles on the boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, wow, it was a Disney cruise and then I ran the Castaway 5K.
Speaker 2:I've never been on a cruise so I have no idea how that would be, but it's good that he alters the plan according to your life.
Speaker 1:I think that is the huge benefit people overlook with that program is you really do customize it to your life. It's not customized based just on the race. If it's like I can't do long runs on Saturdays, he's not going to put long runs on Saturdays. My long runs are always on Sundays. That's just how my life is and that's how I like my week to go. If I didn't hit a workout because I had a little funky thing in my leg and I was like I don't want to hurt myself, I would just put a note in the workout, had some cramping issues, had a knee issue, and you adjust and maybe back off on something we don't do speed work, maybe we just do some cross training. You got to have a plan and having that support system.
Speaker 1:For something as big as a year that you had is essential it started in January maybe started before January because I was training going into the Disney marathon that year and then it just went all the way through.
Speaker 2:And you had customized the entire time.
Speaker 1:It was great because he scheduled my downtime for recovery runs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Oh, so we had our auction for the Donna Marathon weekend. Mm-hmm, chris came on our show. He made a fabulous drink in honor of the Donna Marathon weekend.
Speaker 1:I remember that episode. I think I have the recipe somewhere.
Speaker 2:He's in the. What does he call it? What does he call it?
Speaker 1:His bar with all the rum, oh the aid station.
Speaker 2:The aid station. Yes, his bar with all the room station. The aid station yes, he calls it the aid station and he's doing this fabulous pink drip. He's like a mixologist too and I just and he was, he and Jeff so generous to give like a six month plan away to raise money for the Donna foundation. They're such great people, so knowledgeable, and it gives you that customized try. I know you say you feel like a spokesperson, but we always talk about it and love Jeff and Coach Twiggs, chris, it gives you a community of support.
Speaker 1:That's the other side of it too. Yeah, is you have that support system, whether it's through the Zoom meetings or the Facebook group, people holding other people accountable, picking you up when you got to have that, especially, like you said, like a six months, that's a training block for a marathon. Yeah, if someone, whoever won that could easily use that support system to get themselves ready for a marathon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or a challenge race. Does he do triathlons?
Speaker 1:I used it for Dopey when I did Dopey a few years back. So I set up for challenges.
Speaker 2:I should ask him that. I'm going to ask him that the next time that we talk or he comes on the show, you had the training in place so you felt like you could make the decision and be healthy to make it to each start line and recover, and you had the support you needed. Yep, how about the planning in terms of lodging and travel for your dog?
Speaker 1:Travel was a hiccup for Chicago because of a hurricane.
Speaker 2:Hurricane Milton.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I had to fly out the day before I was originally scheduled to leave, just so I could get ahead of the hurricane and actually get to Chicago. So I had to change my flight, stay at a hotel next to the airport and then move on to my hotel. I like to book my hotels way in advance.
Speaker 2:Always smart for big opportunities like this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I try to pick hotels that are either the host hotel or something that's close to the start line for chicago. I stayed at the downtown hilton. It's right on michigan ave, nice walking distance to the start line. It was also the host hotel.
Speaker 1:I was seeing elite runners and oh yeah, like the swiss silver bullet was in my elevator and I'm like, oh my God, this is amazing. I saw Chris Nickick. He was there. It was really cool and Chicago and New York are similar. In New York, I stayed at the uptown downtown Hilton, the host hotel. Both were in great areas where you could walk to everything. When I was in Chicago, I booked my flight, booked my hotel and then, before I left, I booked a city pass which gave me access to museums, architecture, tours, aquariums, so I was booking stuff ahead of time for Chicago. It was like 180 bucks and I got to go to many things. There are things that I just didn't do because of weather. One of them you could go to the Chicago Sky Deck, like in Ferris Bueller, when they're overlooking, oh yes.
Speaker 2:Oh, you did it you did the thing.
Speaker 1:You did the thing. No, I didn't, because it was the day I was flying out and the weather was so bad and it was such overcast that it was covered by the clouds. So I decided I'll just go to the airport. I did a riverboat architecture tour.
Speaker 2:In Chicago.
Speaker 1:In Chicago. Oh, architecture, wow. They take you along the intricate rivers in Chicago and you look at the different architecture, like the styles of buildings that were built over time. That's interesting. And then you have unlimited access to the art museum, which was unbelievable. They have a whole modernism wing. It's awesome Really, yep. And then I walked over to the aquarium, looked at some sharks. You have 180 bucks. You can do all of that.
Speaker 2:Wow, so you made it really truly a Wait. Here's the question Before or after the race, you did all this.
Speaker 1:So on a boat and they go around. So that was easy. So that was like I think I did that the first day I got there.
Speaker 2:Oh, so it's nice and easy. You're not really using your legs.
Speaker 1:I did the museum twice because I walked to where the boat takes off, but on the way back I walked right by the museum. I'm here. I might as well go in for a while all before the race, but they were so close that I didn't feel like I was walking too much.
Speaker 2:You didn't feel like oh, I'm worried, I need to save my legs. It's not like people who do Disney races and spend all day in the parks before that, yeah, I'm not the one I don't do shakeout runs before races.
Speaker 1:Walking around loosens my legs up, eases the nerves.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so you didn't do the Chicago, the 5k that precedes.
Speaker 1:No, I don't necessarily like to run the day before a race. I didn't do the New York one either, the 5k in New York.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you're focused on a goal and you had parameters within that race. You have to finish to get that star. You needed to have a certain time in both correct To get that star you needed to have a certain time in both, correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I've always felt like I'm not an elite runner, so I don't need to make sure that my pacing's on point. You don't have a pace band Did that for Chicago just because I wanted to finish within a certain time. Then I was like, oh, I'll do this for New York and I did it for Tokyo. It's a nice reminder. I don't focus on it. If I feel like I'm running too fast, I double check. Or if I feel like I'm running too slow, I double check.
Speaker 2:But I don't sit there and every mile like You're checking the pace band, assessing the pace, and you're not paying attention With a. Garmin. You run with an Apple Watch.
Speaker 1:So I run with a Garmin. I think it's the Forerunner 945 LTE and they stopped making this one. I'm so bummed because it does my intervals on my watch so I don't have to run with a race timer. Nice, it vibrates whenever I do my walk breaks. That's good, super easy.
Speaker 2:Yes, so did you have to custom program them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can go and it's not that hard, though, like you just it's in your settings for your run. It's like intervals, and you set 30 seconds on or 45 seconds on, 30 seconds off, whatever you want to have it, and it just it vibrates.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I ran with a Garmin for a long time and I but I do e-coaching with Jeff Galloway. You do the customized coaching and Jeff sometimes has me do some pretty weird intervals. Yeah, they're like the same ratios, but okay, I'm slow, I'm very not Abbott marathon majors ever, or I'll be the ones, like you say, that are running Like they keep the course open for a long time after the the cutoff for to get your star, let's say I don't know, six, 24 is an interval for me, and I'm talking about seconds because so they're strange. So there's a way to do it through the Garmin app and then you can sync that workout to the Garmin.
Speaker 2:Oh cool, yeah, but the set intervals on any Garmin like the Forerunner I think we had the Phoenix, but not the new Deliciousness. We have the older ones and but not the new deliciousness. It's, we have the older ones but we but on those are like they are. They're set intervals like 30, 15, 45, aren't they?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so mine. So I ran Chicago, actually New York, and Tokyo. I ran 30, 30s, 30, 30. Yep, I just kept it simple. I didn't want to recreate the wheel, although I think for Berlin I'm going to probably run 45 30s just because I'm stronger. Now, nice, faster and stronger.
Speaker 2:So the year has been beneficial in terms of your conditioning.
Speaker 1:I also took control of my nutrition. I scaled back on alcohol consumption and I've actually since January. I've lost 16 pounds since january and I've picked up a whole minute pace as far as per mile. So whatever I'm doing, whatever changes I made, it's and then I also maybe I'm stronger because of last year too, who knows? I I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 2:Do you do weight training as well?
Speaker 1:Sometimes I'm not really consistent with it. Gotcha Like I have scheduled cross training days, but normally it's on the Peloton.
Speaker 2:Oh, on the Peloton.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yes, who does the Peloton? Who's obsessed with the Peloton? Tom?
Speaker 1:Oh God, Tom didn't he have a challenge.
Speaker 2:He did with somebody From the Rise and Run folks right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, where it was like we'll rise and ride for a challenge or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it was for a charity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bragging rights in a charity.
Speaker 2:Peloton, I love the Peloton. I don't have a Peloton, but anytime we go to you said a Hilton. You stayed at a Hilton for New York and for Chicago, not a sponsor. They have sponsored an episode before in Orlando for us, but they could be a sponsor Hilton. So we love Hilton, we love Hilton. And they have Pelotons in the gym.
Speaker 1:So that's where I've gotten my peloton fix, or I know disney cruise line just signed a deal, or is about to sign a deal, where they're gonna have peloton bikes on their cruise ships awesome for peloton and great for like cruisers.
Speaker 2:I really have to take a cruise.
Speaker 1:I've never done it, always wanted to you're not gonna get an argument out of me all right three. I get three booked this year, so so.
Speaker 2:I'm like marathons you have. You're having a marathon of cruises. Good, it's good. Ok, so you stayed in Hilton properties because they were host hotels respectively in New York and in Chicago. What about like flights? Did you have to? What about like flights? Did you have to all? Because last time we talked about London, you had a company and they did it almost all of it for you.
Speaker 1:This was all me. I flew Southwest into Chicago Okay, Super cheap and easy. I think I flew Delta into New York cheap and easy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I flew into Midway when I went to Chicago and it was much closer to my hotel smaller airport but closer to my hotel and then I think I flew into JFK when I was in New York.
Speaker 2:You flew into JFK, new York, so I was going to do Chicago, but then Milton happened and my work. They were so good to me. They're like, yeah, we have customer service appreciation week this week, so why don't you come up and work in the office and evacuate? And they got me there and the day I was the first day I was traveling into the office with my virtual friend that I had just met for the first time in person I got an email from Chicago that said if you had issues with Milton in Florida, you can defer. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I got that email when I was in Chicago.
Speaker 2:Did you really?
Speaker 1:I was in my hotel because I had flown out the day before I was supposed to leave. So I'm in my hotel in Chicago. My phone, I look I'm like eating a Portillo's hot dog and I'm like, oh yeah, it was a Portillo's next to my hotel. Game changer.
Speaker 2:Okay, good to know.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, I got the email. You can defer a like. A little bit late for that one.
Speaker 2:I don't yeah, but it was just shout out to Chicago. They did very, they were very considerate of?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they definitely, and I knew a lot of people from Florida that decided to defer to next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I thought I'm not really in the cause. If I had gone I probably would have only done part of the race. So it was. I think it was just. It was just classy of them to do that and I appreciate, appreciate that, and I might not ever be ready for a marathon, but it was just. I I think that New York and Chicago, they are cognizant of those kinds of things and handle them really well yeah, yeah, 100% agree, yeah so not necessarily a certain flight.
Speaker 2:When you had, you flew southwest and I imagine it was pretty you didn't run into any snags around Milton with them.
Speaker 1:We were the last flight out of MCO that night to Chicago, so I mean it was a pretty empty plane. I think it was just people that had to switch our itineraries and get out.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah. I was on one of the last planes out of Fort Myers into New York around that and there were so many people I had the complete opposite. If they were like Getting out, yeah, so, but all good. What about transportation in Chicago and New York? You stay at the host hotel, so it couldn't have been really too far to walk anywhere.
Speaker 1:But the only Ubers I took were to and from the airport and then two, I think two spots that were just a little bit farther than I wanted to walk, one of them, being the expo, was like 15 minutes down the road. So I took an Uber there. New York. I walked pretty much everywhere. For the most part I didn't't. I think it took ubers to and from the airport just because I like to be on time. Yeah, I don't usually trust public transit for that kind of stuff. Yeah, but yeah, no, I didn't do a lot of ubers in chicago. Everything was walkable, in same thing with new york city. Just, they're two great walking towns. Yeah, cities, cities, yeah, sorry, you know, I, yeah, I say you can use them interchangeably is there a difference?
Speaker 1:They're two great walking towns, yeah, cities, cities, yeah Sorry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I say you can use them interchangeably. Is there a difference?
Speaker 1:Maybe cities are bigger, I don't know. A bigger Town is smaller. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but regardless though, what now? Okay, so you were taking, and do you recommend that kind of transportation for the places?
Speaker 1:that are maybe too far. Took the, the trains in chicago but there were a couple snafus with delays and this and that. So if I have somewhere I need to be nine out of ten times I'm going to take an uber, just because I don't like getting, yeah, delayed on public transportation.
Speaker 2:So you took one to the expo in Chicago and then also in New York.
Speaker 1:So I took this. I took an Uber to the expo in New York and then I thought it'd be fun to walk back to my hotel from the expo, not realizing that I had to walk through Times Square and all the way over to Uptown. So it was like a good 25, 30 minute walk.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, with my luggage. So I still had my luggage. Oh yeah, I took my luggage because I got off the plane and went straight over.
Speaker 2:And you figured oh, I'll have the packet pickup done and then I can sightsee or prep for the race. How early did you fly in for each Sunday race?
Speaker 1:So normally for a Sunday race I'll fly in on a Thursday. So I'm like Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, come home Monday. For Chicago I had to go in on Wednesday. Just because of Milton I flew in on Wednesday. I don't spend a long time in these cities. One, it's expensive and two, like sometimes after a race or if you're there too far before race, you're wearing yourself out. So yeah, so even tokyo I flew into tokyo on thursday, flew out on monday wow, well, okay, whoa, but it sounds like us.
Speaker 2:When we flew to Alaska, we really needed like an extra day, did you? But here's the question though around the travel, did you bake in a day on the back end at home for recovery at all?
Speaker 1:Not necessarily. No, usually I'm pretty good. I don't think my body was too shredded after either race. Like I came back Monday, I usually fly out early. I like to get just get home early. I don't like waiting around. Yeah, so I got home early, hung out, I think, after both races. The next day I went and saw my barber got my haircut. Oh, good.
Speaker 2:So it was chill, you were chill, you were chill, it was good. We talked about you and your transportation experiences to the expos, but how were the expos for Chicago and New York?
Speaker 1:Both well done, super efficient. If I'm going to give a nod, I gonna say I think chicago over new york, because I like the layout better, just personal preference. Like we got there and both buildings are huge and they queue you up when you get there, just like anything else, because it's a ton of people. Yeah, lines move quickly, though I didn't feel like I was standing in line forever. So, like when I was in chicago, they had us lined up in a hallway and you go down, go through security, so they've got like metal detectors and whatever go through that and then you come up to this row of sectioned off tables and you give them your QR code and your ID and scan it, make sure it's you. And then you go to very specifically numbered booths. So like you just don't go over anywhere to grab your bibs, like okay, you, sir, you're going to 27. All right, go to 27. And they just they have everything right there. You get your bib, they again confirm and then you go right into the expo, super easy.
Speaker 2:And so did you spend a whole lot of time in the expos when you picked up everything not a ton of time.
Speaker 1:I saw some people I knew, which was nice. The there was a lot like as far as brands, compared to other expos, I think all the major running companies, with the exception I I don't think adidas was there, but everybody else had some type of representation, so there was a lot to look at. I didn't spend a ton of money there because I found out through someone that was from Chicago that the Nike store on Michigan was going to have the event stuff in the store, just like the expo does, and I was, oh okay, so there's, I can go here and not have to worry about people running out of sizes. So I mean, I went to the one in michigan, I got my jacket, I got my shirt and I got my hat, and that was good I wonder if they have that every year.
Speaker 2:That's a good tip if you.
Speaker 1:If that holds, I'll definitely look into that if someone's going, look to see, because that Nike shop on Michigan they also were doing custom. I didn't get one and I'm kicking myself for not getting one. They were doing custom shirts there too, like these, and they had one that they did. It was a bright orange shirt and it said a marathon changed my life. And I never got that shirt and I've been kicking myself ever since.
Speaker 2:Oh, and what was on the back of it? Was there anything on the back of it? I?
Speaker 1:didn't see anything on the back, but Nike had a huge presence in Chicago, like billboards, like really funny ones. I'll have to show you some of the photos. Yes, like worst parade ever, like stuff like that, like just being really cheeky and like really fun. Oh, they also had some really positive ones, like never give up and stuff like that. It was a lot of really cool.
Speaker 1:Actually I gotta pull one up real quick because I did take photos of yeah, absolutely absolutely and like the whole nike store was actually wrapped like in the chicago celebration color, like they wrapped the whole building. And where is it? Oh yeah, so the shirt that I missed. It said it says a marathon changed my life. But above it it says I'd never run. And then it's crossed out. So it says a marathon changed my life. Oh that is so cool. Yeah, that was one of the one of the billboards, and then that was.
Speaker 1:They wrapped the whole store oh, wow yeah, so they had a bunch of really cool stuff like to celebrate the runners all that nike like orange yeah, and my favorite sign it was great for chicago. It says at least the road to hell is slightly flat the, at least, the road to hell is slightly flat.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that was on during the race that you saw that yeah oh, and then the billboards were all around in yeah, they just did a great job and was it mile 20 that the heartbreakers were out there and they have a big old sound system and confetti guns and the heartbreakers, the heartbreakers yeah from heartbreak hill running company oh okay, I was thinking it was like a, a band.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I'm like what? Okay, yeah, okay, so we've. So you give the nod to chicago's expo, and but new New York was pretty flawless and seamless as well yeah, like you go in and it's it's New York, it's huge, it's that New York energy.
Speaker 1:And I will say this about the New York Expo there's like a buzz and an energy in that room like you feel it. Like you walk in and like you feel that New York energy, that vibe and gets everyone excited, like you can tell everyone's so happy and excited, like you get goosebumps. It was really easy. They had very specific places you had to go and then you basically walk in through their New Balance store, if you want to call it that, and that was huge, it had everything there. Store, if you want to call it that, and that was huge, it had everything there. And then, once you get beyond New Balance, it had a lot of other smaller brands on the other side, like Peloton was there, I think, garmin was there, kronos was there.
Speaker 2:So you could get anything you needed if you had a travel snafu.
Speaker 1:And that's one thing I will say about those two in particular. If you had a travel snafu we're talking nutrition, we're talking everything was there that you could possibly need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so did you stay with the hotels where you stayed, the Hiltons where you stayed? Were they closer to the start, closer to the finish?
Speaker 1:So New York was closer to neither. Okay, new York is a whole. Well, you start in Staten Island, so you have to get yourself to Staten Island in New York. Okay, so I was lucky. I was on a Galloway customized training bus that took us from the Plaza Hotel in New York City to Staten Island.
Speaker 2:Oh, rewind, new York City Marathon marathon has a customized, a galloway, customized training bus like like they offered it through the like on the website.
Speaker 1:The facebook page was like hey, we have a bus. It's, I think it was like 45 bucks a person and it takes you from the plaza hotel, which was maybe a 10 minute walk from my hotel. Okay, takes you from the plaza to Staten Island and it drops you right off when you get into the main race prep area. I fell asleep on the bus. Someone actually had to wake me up and be like hey, we're here, you have to get on the bus now. In Chicago, the Hilton is right on Michigan and basically on the other side of the park is where the race is. So walk down and then through security and then you're into the general area. So it was a 15 minute walk with security from my hotel.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, you took a bus for one, but then it was walkable in the other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, chicago, definitely the start and finish are basically in that park, that area. So again, my hotel, 15 minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not good, not bad. It's good you could save your legs. You're not. Now, what about start times and what was your experience around having to wait? I didn't feel like I waited that long for Chicago.
Speaker 1:They rolled out. Really it's efficient. Both races are efficient. I felt like I waited longer in New York City because they have to get everybody to Staten Island and then get you to Staten Island and then they get you in your separate areas, based on the color of your bib. Based on the color of your bib, so I was blue, so I had to go to, okay, blues over this side, and then pink was on this side, and then so they, yeah, so I don't know if you see the bib behind me, right, that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the middle is blue.
Speaker 1:Yes, If you're pink at that middle parts pink, oh okay. And then there was orange, and then okay also, your starts are different depending on the color you have. So pink goes on the bottom level of the, the first bridge, whereas blue goes on the top level, up and over, and then you meet on the other side. Oh yeah, so a little bit different with new york, chicago. They just have you sectioned off in a corrals and then they just tell you when it's open, you slide into the start, shoot and then you go. What?
Speaker 2:time.
Speaker 1:New York was much later. I waited. I took a nap when I was there. I don't think I started till 11 am ish in New.
Speaker 2:York Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, new York was later Mess with you.
Speaker 1:Did that mess with you, my nerves more than anything just because you're waiting for so long. I came prepared. I actually wore. I got a cheap fleece bathrobe that had a hood, so I was laying on the ground, wrapped myself in my bathrobe and nodded off a little bit. But here's what's cool about New York. You might be there for a while, but Dunkin' Donuts I still call it Dunkin'. I know it's Dunkin', but Dunkin' Donuts always yes, they had stands there that were giving people bagels, coffee, all for free.
Speaker 2:They gave us these little stretchy winter hats to keep warm, so like there was a lot of support there, which I thought was really cool so I just basically sat in my corral and sip my drink so you brought your own drink into your corral and and chicago, and it was you're supporting yourself so I it's the same one that I did.
Speaker 1:I had when I was in london, the the martin pre-race. It's like a ton of calories, ton of carbs. I like to sip that leading into the race, so like I'll start in the morning and I'll be sipping off of it all the way up to start.
Speaker 2:So did you take some from Dunkin' or Dunkin' Donuts to us in New York? Did you take some bagels or some coffee?
Speaker 1:No, I actually so I had. I ordered a ton of bagels from a place called Liberty Bagel to keep in my room.
Speaker 2:Liberty Bagel.
Speaker 1:Liberty Bagels.
Speaker 2:Let me make a note here what? Why Liberty Bagel?
Speaker 1:My friend who goes to New York City all the time was like you got to get these bagels. You got to get these bagels. So I was like, okay, fine, I'll get them. So I was like, okay, fine, I'll get them. Okay, they were really good. So what I did is I got a bunch of those from my room so I had them for my whole stay and I got a jar of peanut butter. Oh peanut butter and I just cream cheese, peanut, peanut butter before race because I want the protein.
Speaker 2:Got it. See, these are the questions, these are the cutting edge journalistic intense questions for you.
Speaker 1:So I took I took two bagels with me because I knew I'd be there for a while, so I had one bagel like right when I got there, and then I had my second bagel with peanut butter, maybe half an hour before I started okay.
Speaker 2:And then what was okay? Speaking of intake and like what you do with hydration and nutrition and waiting around in the corrals for the race, what? Where was I going with that? Where was I going with that? So you're there and you have okay, oh, yes, Okay, so in. So that's intake. What about the port-a-potty situation? So that's intake.
Speaker 1:What about the port-a-potty situation? I didn't have to look for one in Chicago because I got there and I didn't feel like I was waiting for a long time. So it was get there, stay loose and go New York. They were everywhere, there were tons. And what was really cool, too, with New York City is they had these recycle stations next to the port-a-potty. So if you had extra toilet paper that you brought that you weren't going to use, you can leave it there in case somebody needed it. Or if you were about to hop on your corral and you had a thing of sunscreen, you can leave it there for people if they needed it. But if no one used it, they recycled it.
Speaker 2:Interesting, ah, okay.
Speaker 1:I always bring a little thing of aerosol sunscreen and I'm not going to use the whole thing, I'm not going to carry with me. So I was like does anybody want this?
Speaker 2:here you go, you can have it yeah have a great race oh, sunscreen, yes, need that. Okay. So you bring sunscreen, you have the hydration and the. Now we know about the bagels who knew about the bagels? And you started around 11-ish in New York. What time was it in Chicago?
Speaker 1:I had to double check. It was early, much earlier. Much earlier, maybe 7, 8 o'clock-ish around there.
Speaker 2:Stay tuned next week for the conclusion to this epic interview and I cannot thank Michael Leslie enough for taking so much time. He's just so much fun to talk with and so full of practical tips and tricks to make your runcation amazing. But don't forget now, as we wrap up the show, that you have as the Runcation Nation. You have a limited time offer from Magic Mind that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription, or 20% off a one-time purchase with code REDPOD at checkout. Pod 20 to redeem that discount now, which is 20% off a one-time purchase or 48% off your first subscription with red pod R-E-D-P-O-D at checkout. Get that healthy boost with Magic Minds mental performance shot and our discount too. It's a small and simple addition to your daily routine that gets you focused, mentally clear, motivated and productive and it reduces stress.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you, 2025 has been stressful for me in ways. If you are a longtime listener of the show, longtime member of the Runcation Nation and I just think I'm getting things in 100% of my vitamin C and D per bottle, go to magicmindcom slash redpod20 to claim your discount or enter redpod at checkout. Save and try it today and thank you to everyone at Magic Mind for letting us give the opportunity to our Runcation Nation to try this product that we are so happy with and that has upped our game. That's a wrap. Thank you for joining us in 2025. I can't believe it. It's already almost May. It's almost Boston Marathon time. People. That's a wrap. Thank you for joining us in 2025. On your long run, your commute to work around the house or wherever you are, I'm your host, amy. Stay safe and well and we will accomplish, explore and indulge with you again really soon.
