Run Eat Drink Podcast
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Run Eat Drink Podcast
RED Episode 311 Bart Yasso Talks About His New Book, 100 Runs of a Lifetime
RED Episode 311 Bart Yasso Talks About His New Book, 100 Runs of a Lifetime
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RUN EAT DRINK PODCAST Welcomes Back Mayor of Running Bart Yasso
Friend of the show and Mayor of Running, Bart Yasso, comes back to our show to talk about his latest collaboration with National Geographic, the book 100 Runs of A Lifetime. Thank you so much for the amazing interview, Bart!
Purchase his book on Amazon Here
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I am Bart Yasso and you're 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, Dana we are so lucky to welcome back the mayor of running, the chief running officer at wonders world until his retirement, until 2017.
Speaker 3:He reminds me of my dad, just doesn't want to retire and keeps on going and in fact now has a new book out 100 runs of a lifetime the world's ultimate races and trails. We welcome back Bart Yasso to our show, sir welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you Amy, thank you Dana.
Speaker 4:You're welcome. We are so excited to have you back on the show. We have certain luminaries in running that we've been fortunate enough to befriend over the years of doing the show. You're an amazing inspiration and wealth of knowledge. We are so excited to talk to you today and to talk to you about your new book. Tell us what was the inspiration for this new book?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I get a call one day from National Geographic.
Speaker 1:I didn't answer the phone because the number wasn't in my contact file. So, if I I don't know, the person left a message and said she worked at National Geographic. So I Googled and certainly she did work at National Geographic. So I called her right back. They wanted me to author this book. They have a series called the 100 series. They've done 100 scuba dives of a lifetime and 100 hikes of a lifetime, 100 ski slopes you should ski in a lifetime and then 100 runs of a lifetime and they're rolling out many more in this 100 series I think they had a disney, one that I saw yeah they just yeah, called him up I remember hanging out the phone because I said I I have great interest, they're going to send me a contract.
Speaker 1:I was like there's only once in my lifetime National Geographic's going to call me up to author a book. So I'm getting on this thing right now. There was a woman that worked at Runner's World and she threw my name in the hat and they knew that I run all over the world and National Geographic is a global product.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:They wanted races in the US, but also races and runs all over the world, so I think that's why they thought I was the right person for the job.
Speaker 3:I think you are?
Speaker 4:I can think of no one better.
Speaker 3:Why do we call him the mayor of running? Exactly so that's how you ended up partnering and getting in with National Geographic. I feel like there could be a whole series of books you could do for them with everything that you've done and seen across the world. How long did the project take?
Speaker 1:So it's about a two-year project to get a book out. I worked on a manuscript for four and a half to five months. We call it a book map, but it basically is an outline. I had to come up with a hundred races and runs, which was easy to do. It was easy to get 200. And then I had to narrow it down to 100, which was tough. And you create the map how they all fall into place, the four parts of the book. We turned it into four parts and then get each race or run in the proper place. Then you start. Once that's approved, you start working on your manuscripts and then the book has to get printed and copy editing to make sure everything's spelled correctly and in the right order and so it's a process.
Speaker 3:Is it like training for a race?
Speaker 1:it's like doing two ultras every day. What most people don't know about that haven't written a book is once you do a chapter and then go out for a run. And then I would go, oh, I didn't mention this or I didn't, and you go back and change all the stuff that you already had and kind of rewrite it, so you're never sold on what you put out there at first, and then you go back and tweak it and mess around with it and prove it. So it's not like you just bang out a chapter and say, ok, that's done, change it and tweak it and then you got your chapter.
Speaker 3:And some of the best ideas you have are on the run. When you're outside, you become clear.
Speaker 1:I think that's where I got the idea of how to shape the chapter I was working on of what people need to know about the event or the run Totally right.
Speaker 4:Now in the book, some of the photos. Of course. National Geographic's known for their photos, Beautiful. Some of those put you right in a specific moment of a run or a race in a unique destination and it was just fantastic. How were those photos collected, selected, placed in the book? And I love your book map idea and I'm assuming that's a large part of it.
Speaker 1:You've got to figure out how many pages and where those photos go. I know I'm never going to be a model in life because I'm 70 years old now. There's only one picture of me in the entire book. There's only one photo in the entire book that I produced and I didn't take the photo. It was taken out of race but it was sent to me. All the other photos were produced by National Geographic so they knew the locations and where to find the photos. I'm sure they have a massive database of photographers. All the photos are their ideas, except for the one photo that has me in it near the intro.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 1:Big Sur Marathon and thank God they used a photo of me running like 35 years ago. The big difference.
Speaker 3:That's Bart. He had the hair.
Speaker 1:I had a mullet and I didn't even know what a mullet was, but my hair started to retreat in the front so I had more hair in the back. Yeah, I was just cruising along at the Big Sur Marathon. At halfway that picture was taken.
Speaker 3:That looks pretty challenging. There's a few hills in that race. Yeah, so you were on our show before and talked about your life on the run and how running shaped you and gave you direction and gave you discipline. In this book, in the intro you talked about a specific run in 1995. You make a reference to as being sacred. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 1:You know what I always said that run out of the crater was my favorite run of my life. I've been saying that since 1995. People would ask me what's your favorite? Not a race, the coolest run you've ever done. I always said the Nuringuru Crater is in Tanzania. It's 30 kilometers around, it's 2,000 foot deep, cold and it has just about all the animals. It's almost like creating a little Africa in Africa.
Speaker 1:The giraffe don't go down that crater because they can't negotiate the steepness of the hills going down into the crater floor, the walls of the crater. But you go down in the crater and you get to see all the lions and everything except for the giraffe. You're down there spending the day and taking in all the lions and everything except for the giraffe. You're down there spending the day and taking in all the wildlife. And then it gets closer to sunset and your guide says we've got to head on out. You're not allowed to leave the vehicle, you can't walk around.
Speaker 1:But I asked the guy if I could run out of the crater and he was not keen on the idea. But I convinced him that I'd be safe and I can jump back in the Jeep if something comes out after me. He stayed right behind me and I ran up the crater wall and up to the rim at sunset Just an incredible view. The sunsets in Africa are just unbelievable. I did run into a hyena behind a bush, but the hyena was more afraid of me than I was of the hyena. We startled each other. I came around the way the trail was going and hyena jumped up and took off away from me. So that was a good thing, that's a good thing, but that was the only encounter on the way out was my favorite run of my life and then eventually would turn into a run of a lifetime. I never used that phrase before until the book came along.
Speaker 4:That's a great turn of phrase. The way that you have these connections to these races in your memories and the feelings they evoked in you, I think has a lot to do with the closeness that runners feel with one another. The running community is so incredibly tight knit and supportive. It's the shared struggle, it's the emotions that races can generate in people. When we're talking about elite level runners and running luminaries like you, who write on the topic, there's a connection that forms between the author and the reader. Do you think that this book's going to connect you in a different way with your audience, with the running community?
Speaker 1:The book is not 100 runs of Bart Yasso. The book is really 100 runs of a lifetime. And there's some events in this book that I've never done. And there's some events in this book that I've never done and that's done by design because I want to do them. So I challenged myself in my own book that I had to get out there and do these couple races that I've never done, but I felt they're such iconic events that they need to be in the book. A couple of them I may not be able to do, but there's a couple that I could finish. I just don't run that much these days, so I would struggle on the longer ones, but we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1:I really think that it's going to open up the doors for people to create their own 100 runs of a lifetime. It doesn't have to be any grandiose, spectacular thing. It could be just running with your family member a son, a mom, a grand, whoever and you end up in Rome and run a 10K run or whatever it is. That would be considered a run of a lifetime. So when I did the Rome Marathon, my mom was there and she was elderly at the time. We got a picture. I stopped during that Rome Marathon. I got a picture of my mom at Trevi Fountain. I didn't know it at the time, but that would be my favorite running moment ever. When my mom passed away. That's when I realized the value of that photo, what it meant to me, what she did for me. So it truly is my favorite running moment.
Speaker 1:So I think people are going to connect that way. It doesn't matter where you are. You can just go out and do any time. It doesn't matter if you're up the front, middle, back. I don't like when people put themselves in a certain area of a race, whether it's the back of the pack, mid pack or front of the pack. Just be part of the race. That's what it's all about. Part of the community out there putting one foot in front of the other getting to that finish line.
Speaker 3:So it sounds like he's answered this question already. For people who don't know, we were lucky enough to explore and experience the book before talking to you tonight. We see that it's organized into short distance and road races, and then there's a section of marathons and then trails and ultras are together and then you have the fourth part. That is not races, and you said that came to you on a run when you got done and you looked at each section.
Speaker 1:Which one is your favorite and why I like part four, because runners can do it anytime they're in that area at their leisure and they can do it 10 times. The run, I remember, was outside of India, arjalan, india, a really pretty place with Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, as a backdrop. It looks like from my hotel room that I could take a baseball and hit the mountain, but it was like 30 miles away. The mountain's so big it looks like it was right there. Outside of Darjeeling there's a place called Manipajang and I ran up to a place called Sandapu from Manipajang, about 20 miles.
Speaker 1:When you get to the top, where the trail ends, ends and you're running right on the border of Nepal and India, you can see little markers that say this is Nepal and this is India. You can see four of the five highest mountains in the world. It looks like they just put them there for you, just for your looking pleasure, and so the mountain you can't see is K2, the second highest peak in the world, which is in Pakistan. We've got Everest, cancun, junko, lhotse and Maklo, so the four are just visual, and it's the only place on the planet that you can see the four highest peaks, four of the five highest peaks. So it's a cool place to run to and hang out yeah.
Speaker 3:So and that's a run, you don't really have to do registration and worry about.
Speaker 1:Take a taxi from Darjeeling to Manipajang and put on the shoes and up to Sandafu. You can spend the night in Sandafu and come back the next day. Pretty place. There's other ones in that list too. I love the 22-mile run on the Pali coast in Hawaii, in the island of Kauai. It gets rated as the prettiest hike in the world year after year. It's an unbelievable setting. You can run it. It is a pretty arduous 22 miles can be really slippery. You've got to do a couple crossings where rivers come down off the mountain and run into the ocean. The water is really treacherous. You got to know when to cross to get to the trail on the other side. It's really dangerous. They list how many people were killed this year.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:And it's that bad you can't't mess around, but it's such a beautiful, incredible run. I don't know how you could outdo either one. To be honest, it would be probably people that do a warmer climate, love the ocean the poly coast would be better and then people that love mountains and want to go high up and see snow. I would say running the stand-up foot would suit them. So you got your pick.
Speaker 3:So you have bucket list races in this book you want to do.
Speaker 1:One that keeps me up at night, all the time, the Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 4:In the Grand.
Speaker 1:Canyon. I was there to do the Rim to Rim and went to bed, got up at 4 o'clock in the morning ready to go. It snowed like crazy overnight. The trail was closed and they had signage everywhere you park clothes. Luckily I had an extra day. It was may and I was surprised at how much it snowed I'm surprised it snowed at all, wow that's what you're in arizona, on the south rim, and it snowed a lot.
Speaker 1:So I thought the forecast was to warm up and that'll melt and then I'll do the rim to rim the next day. The rim, the rim's 48 miles. It's pretty rugged down into the camp, down to the floor, across the river, across the bridge, and then up to the north rim and then work your way back to the south rim. So it's rim to rim, south rim to north rim, back to the south rim. So it's rim to rim, south rim to north rim, back to the south rim. The next day it snowed more, it did warm up and a lot of the snow melted, but overnight it snowed again. So I knew it wasn't going to happen.
Speaker 1:I did some runs in the canyon at other times that I was there, but I never did. The classic rim to rim Keeps me up at night. I got to do it. That would be the first one I do. Once I get some mileage under my belt and see what I can do. Maybe wait till June and hopefully it won't snow. And you want the lodges and stuff on each rim to be open, because that's where you get supplies. Sure, you want that stuff to be open so you can access water, bathrooms and everything you need.
Speaker 4:Yeah, here in Florida right now in April, it's 87 degrees. So the idea that you were getting snow in Arizona, which is arguably hotter than here, yeah.
Speaker 1:But that area is high elevation and Mount Humphreys right there, which is snow-capped basically probably all year, so it's interesting there's parts of Arizona that stay cool.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I go to sleep thinking rim-to-rim. I think I can handle rim-to-rim these days. It would have been an easy run years ago. Once I get that checked off, then we'll see. I'll take a look at what's next.
Speaker 4:For runners, who might be picking this book up aside from a beautiful coffee table book or something to add to their collection from running authors. What would your recommendation be for the way runners could use the book?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think to use it as a guide 0-100 runs of a lifetime. The mistake I made is I didn't have in one place all the runs that I did. I used to have training logs from the 70s and 80s where we wrote everything down on a logbook and they're buried somewhere I don't know where they're even at. And then I started writing stuff on a computer back when you had to put a sloppy disk in your computer.
Speaker 4:I'm floppy disk years old. I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:So I lost those floppy disks. I don't know where they are. I didn't even have a place to put a disk in your computer these days, so when I started compiling all the runs I did, I had to use my passport to remember exactly every place I went to. I'm going to suggest to runners that they compile their runs, not like a log, but the run that you head out, and you just thought it was magical. That's the one you want to store somewhere and you could just create it in email or on a Word doc or something like that to access.
Speaker 1:I wish I would have had all the races I did and all the places I've run in one place. It would have been a lot easier to do the manuscript. So that's what I want people to really think of what is a run of a lifetime for them and store that. Hopefully they come up with more than 100 and then they can whittle it down and create their list of 100 runs of a lifetime.
Speaker 3:Now for the ones you haven't done yet. Did you talk to other runners about those particular ones you added to the book?
Speaker 1:There are also well-known races like a Berlin Marathon. Oh yeah, races I've actually attended for Runner's World. I was there working and didn't run the race. So yeah, there are races I knew a lot about. But I actually did talk to people that have run it and got some feedback from them what I was writing about. They said I was spot on with the message I was putting out there.
Speaker 3:And the book has an index.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:By destination, and then it's broken up into states in the US. So then, if you are looking to travel, we are the Run Eat Drink podcast.
Speaker 1:That's what we do.
Speaker 3:So we're planning to go to this, but I love how we can look at that and say, okay, we're headed to this location. What should we do or where should we run if you had to select one from the short list? Yep what would that?
Speaker 1:be. So I started out the less than a marathon distance started garden of the gods in colorado springs. I just fall in love with that place. Every time I go there Sandstone peaks and the design it looks like somebody created it but there was no one there carving up this stuff. It just happens to be just such a pretty setting and I let off the chapter with that race for that reason. It was one of the coolest races I've ever done.
Speaker 3:Challenging elevation-wise.
Speaker 1:It is a challenge. The elevation is 6,800 feet, so there's some elevation, but people are scared of elevation when it comes to a race. You don't have to be scared, you just run slower. People that live there run slower. They are more used to it than people living in Florida.
Speaker 4:It's so flat here we are slower, they are more used to it than people living in Florida. I was going to say we are dwellers at sea level, so we're used to lots of oxygen in our air.
Speaker 1:I remember when I did the Key West half marathon I did a radio interview before the race and the guy said we measure elevation by inches. He said that little bridge you go over to get on the Key West I think it's 84 inches tall above sea level. I was cracking up.
Speaker 4:For us that's the issue is temperature it's hot and there's no shade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3:Part of this book is that you have weather tips laid out in each run.
Speaker 4:Strategically placed.
Speaker 3:If travel is going to be a challenge, here's a recommendation for where you can stay.
Speaker 1:Five-star hotels, and then there's the Joe's Motel kind of places. I have nothing against staying in a nice hotel, but sometimes you're staying in your motel room and the car parks up front and the headlights come right through the windows in your room.
Speaker 3:That's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:And a lot of those when you drive to Key West. You drive from Miami to Key West you see a lot of they brag about having air conditioning and televisions. Because that was a big thing to brag about 60 years ago. I was going to say that's part of it, it's still there.
Speaker 4:You see that sign. That's part of the American motel culture from the 50s 60s that is still very much alive and well in parts of Florida.
Speaker 3:Okay, so in the marathon section, what is the most memorable?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I started out with Big Sur. For that reason I have this classic photo of doing Big Sur in 1990 and then doing it in 2017. And a photo was taken at the exact same spot on the bixby bridge, at halfway. And the difference my time, I think I was two hours and 45 minutes slower from when I ran it back in 1990. But I always say to people and you can see in the photo, in the one photo I have a nice stride going, I'm not on the ground at all. And then you, you see the other one, it looks like I'm cemented to the ground.
Speaker 1:But you know what I always say to people I ran so much slower, I didn't have any hair anymore and the little bit I have is gray. The other photo I didn't have gray hair and I had lots of hair. The leg speed's gone, the hair's gone, but the leg speed's gone. The hair's gone, but the passion was still there. Because I was going slower, it didn't matter. I was having the exact same amount of fun and enjoyment and passion about the sport as I did running two hours and 45 minutes slower. Could have even been more than that. I can remember somewhere around two hours and 40 minutes or something. Oh, such a pretty place and I was happy to be out there and that you're soaking it in at the pace that's comfortable for you.
Speaker 3:Whoever you are and whatever you're doing, living in pennsylvania.
Speaker 1:We don't have high elevation. We have lots of hills here. The hills in big serve never bothered me. I can train on hills like that.
Speaker 4:It makes a big difference we've tried to run hilly races before and in spite of running parking lots and it is just not the same.
Speaker 1:I see all the Miami runners go and just run up and down that bridge, maybe that's what we need to do.
Speaker 4:That's rough.
Speaker 3:The ultra and trails. Yes, the ultras and trails.
Speaker 1:Yes, the ultras and trails I led that with. So I led each of the four parts with what was my favorite. That one is, comrades, the race in South Africa, which they call a marathon, but it's actually an ultra. Kilometers or 56 miles 56 miles.
Speaker 1:It's the oldest ultra in the world. It's the largest ultra in the world. It's the largest ultra in the world. It's a race that changed the complexity of a country that was in need of change. It really helped with the abolishment of apartheid because the black citizens were suppressed from everything during apartheid. When apartheid was abolished, the black citizens flourished in running. They started winning comrades. When you win comrades, you're like the black citizen flourished in running. They started winning comrades. When you win comrades, you're like the most famous person in South Africa. A race is such a big deal for this country. It was really cool for black South Africans to be revered at the highest level in their country. It's a race that really changed the country. There weren't many international runners that did the race during apartheid, but once apartheid was abolished in the early 90s, then the international runners started running comrades and then the race really hit a whole new level. It's an emotional race to do the whole thing.
Speaker 1:When I was interviewing black South African runners and they were telling me what it was like during apartheid, it was hard to hear their stories. They told me that when apartheid was still around, when they ran comrades, they felt free of apartheid because they were on national TV and everyone supported everyone for that one day and that one race. The next day would be back to apartheid. They really felt like apartheid didn't exist. When they were out there running comrades, I said when I interviewed them I guaranteed them I'd be a runner the rest of my life, because I said if the sport is powerful enough to suppress something as evil as apartheid, that's a sport I want to be part of. And I remember telling this guy no matter how much I get beat up as I get older or slow down, I'm going to keep running until I can't run anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I gave him that guarantee. When you look at the history and then what we all overcome in a race when you hit a wall and you push through, or the community that is around running it's amazing.
Speaker 1:How about women? Catherine Switzer tried to tackle her and take her out of the race in 1967. 1967, I was already 12 years old. Not, this wasn't like eons ago and now there's races that have more women than men. I watched that change, starting this sport back in the 70s when I started the influx of women and the guys always wanted the women to run. It was just the organizers. After him became really good friends with jock sample, the guy that tried to take her out of the race because he just thought women were going to hurt themselves. He didn't want that to happen, thought she was trying to make a mockery of his race.
Speaker 1:He became good friends in the end yeah but still he jumped off the truck and tried to take her out of the race. Who wouldn't do that?
Speaker 3:wow seemed like a good time and she talks about him coming up to her and say let's go get a wee bit of notoriety up there, he gives her a kiss on the cheek.
Speaker 1:That gets photo on a newspaper yeah newspapers were really the media back then and to consume yeah, and patterne's still going to boston.
Speaker 3:She's unbelievable she talks about how men were so welcoming to women in the sport and archie was her coach guys knew that women were going to start beating guys that weren't as fast as they used to be.
Speaker 1:They were cool with it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you have big historic races like Boston, like yesterday's Boston, and then you have races that are not really races, they're runs, and that's that last section of your book. And how do you lead that off?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I lead that one off with the Nepali Coast in Kauai and do that 22 mile run. Now you don't have to do the whole 22 miles. I was able to run 22 miles pretty easily back then because it is muddy and just all kinds of conditions you run into in those 22 miles. But it is just unbelievable scenery the whole time. You're just absolutely blown away by what you witness. Always looking down the ocean, hearing these crashing waves it's just incredible.
Speaker 4:And, unlike the crater, no natural predators.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're safe from any critters, but you've got to watch out. When it's muddy, there's some spots where you can fall a long way, so you've got to be careful.
Speaker 4:And then, speaking of encouraging people to be, you assign a difficulty level easy, challenging, moderate, et cetera to each race. How do you define these? What's your criteria?
Speaker 1:there. It's hard to do. You hear some people say, oh, that marathon's an easy course. There is no such thing as an easy marathon, but it was more talking about the terrain of the course, whether it's a rugged trail or just a hilly race.
Speaker 4:A race can be only 10K and be a fast course, but like Peachtree is running July in Atlanta and that is not a fast course, but like peach tree is running july in atlanta and that is not a fast course, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's a net descent course. So you think it's going to be fast. But fourth of july and you start that. The elites go off at 7 30 in the morning. The other waves start way back. I remember doing the tv show for that race and talking to the elites afterwards and they said you guys do know there's people that haven't even started the race yet and they were finished and they already got their paycheck. There's still people out there. They're just about to start right now. They had no clue. They thought I was kidding. I said no, they haven't started. They know what corral they're in and approximately what time it starts, so they know when to be in the right place at the right time. But they were blown away that there's still people that didn't start running.
Speaker 4:And that's if you've lived in Atlanta, like I did during college and after and for our first year of marriage. It shuts the city down. That's a big deal there.
Speaker 1:It's a classic race and it's been around since the early 70s and some of the traditions they keep going. Like the t-shirt you don't get it till you finish and no one sees it till you finish, which is really cool. It's what makes it fun and unique. I always say every time I've been to that race there's always some guy that has a shirt from 1974 and it's all faded and it doesn't fit. Stomach's hanging out, the arms are up, everything shrunk T-shirts. You used to get at a race in the 70s. If you washed it three times it would fit your cat and nobody else.
Speaker 4:The highest quality.
Speaker 1:Race registration fees. The first couple races I did it was like $3 to do a race so you weren't going to get a quality shirt. You see these it tends to be guys that women have a better sense of fashion. And the gentlemen that come to this shirt, they're just proud that it says peak street road race 1972. The shirt is ripped and shredded and doesn't fit anymore, but they walk around that expo with it on story.
Speaker 3:It's bragging rights I've been doing this race every year since 1972.
Speaker 4:I've worn the same shirt in every race.
Speaker 3:So when you categorized everything and you have the range, you have the distance, are there recommendations you would make for us, who may be? I don't know, we're going to be out there Back of the race.
Speaker 4:We're getting the most out of our race entry fee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they keep the finish line open forever 17 hours. People stop at Starbucks and get coffee. That's the only race I know it keeps a finish line open that long. I do the race announcing every year at the wineglass Marathon up in Corning, new York. They're big on making sure everyone gets the opportunity to finish. I always stay until everyone is in, so it's fun. We make a big deal of those people that are way in the back. Royalty.
Speaker 1:I love that Wineglass was one of the races I really wanted in the book but didn't make it because of all the geographic locations. I did have too many races in the northeast at first, oh, so I had to move stuff around that we really did have. I didn't want to forget about the midwest and I had to did my best to include a little bit of everything. It's hard to do that one didn't make the cut, the races that deserve to be in the top 100 list.
Speaker 4:Maybe National Geographic will call you back for more races of a lifetime. It's possible. I'm just saying something.
Speaker 3:National Geographic it did say it started at 200. Right.
Speaker 1:I just started and compiled them. I did have them in a Word doc or somewhere where I could just access it. I would have been doing that. It would have been a lot easier to do if I already compiled that. But yeah, so we'll see. That would be cool.
Speaker 4:Well, that's a good suggestion for Honolulu. I know when race events want to do the logistics and you have to do road closure. It's so incredibly expensive for races to hire law enforcement and it can be prohibitive. That ends up dictating a lot of times how long they're willing to leave a race course open. Having one at a major city like Honolulu, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the way they have it set up and then you come back in from that side. There's ways that people can get around and the race going on doesn't screw their day up, but when roads are tied up, cities really want their roads back.
Speaker 4:Yeah they sure do really do.
Speaker 1:Race directors have tough duty they do.
Speaker 3:They're like you look at chicago but then you look at new york and I think New York stays open longer.
Speaker 1:They're all trying to change. Some of the majors are going six and a half hours. Boston did the 5.30 pm thing. Boston finished line at 5.30 to be considered a finisher. First year I did Boston. If you finished after three hours 35 minutes and 59 seconds, you were not in the results. You had a break three, 35, 59. I had the booklet upstairs that has all the finishers and the last finisher is three hours 35 minutes, 59 seconds.
Speaker 1:And then they just stopped, you could cross the finish line, but you just weren't recorded as a finisher.
Speaker 3:Goodness.
Speaker 1:Back then they would tear the bottom part of your bid number off and put it on a spindle. That's how they did the finishers. If you came in after three hours and 30 minutes, there was no one there to take your bottom part of your bid. You were on your own and you're not in the results. There was no chip timing, that's on you. Oh wow A little different world back then.
Speaker 4:You have to bake in the administrative time, the time we want to thank you for including one of our favorites in the book and one that's near and dear to my heart as a Tampa native Gasparilla Distance Classic, and I know you've made difficult choices when it came to narrowing it down. For every one that's in that book there's one that's not. What's the one race that you wanted to include but you weren't able to do.
Speaker 1:The Wineglass Marathon, because I always do that race and I always say to the race director, sheila Sutton, this is like the hidden gem of all time. I love this race, but we had too much.
Speaker 4:New York stuff already in the book. What makes it the hidden gem of?
Speaker 1:all time. I love this race, but it was we had too much New York stuff already in the book. What makes it the hidden gem? There are people finding out about it, but I do remember I always felt it was a hidden gem. The Finger Lakes area is really pretty to be a tourist at, which is right close to Corning. Corning glassware they do in Corning is really pretty. The course is fast but it's also that right size. Like the town of Corning are 10,000 people and the race gets 10,000 runners, so it's like you've doubled the size of the town.
Speaker 1:When the race is in town, I remember doing the race announcing. I hear this all the time. Runners come in and they go. Bart, let me tell you something. This race we came in from Las Vegas. We will be here every year. We love this race, but they always say the thing they love, one of those races, that and I could be prejudiced a little there because I do the race announcing there. I've been there every year since 2013 they have an amazing race announcer yeah, that's what sheila says.
Speaker 1:The race director, I do the race announcing. I speak at their dinner. Every year they do a nice pasta dinner and get big speakers. They started out with me when they started these dinners and then went to Meb Kofleski and Dina Castor, and so when they're speaking I kind of post the whole dinner and make sure everyone knows what's going on and introduce everybody. It's an incredible weekend. When I held the book, I thought of good races that I really wish were in there, but the very first one I thought of was Wineglass.
Speaker 4:Good answer.
Speaker 3:I'm happy that you talk about the whole experience with Wineglass and I love that the book provides not only pre-race shakeout runs you can do or post-race meals. I'm applauding that we're on a drink podcast.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:So if you're in Gasparilla, we could have the little paragraphs along the sides of the pictures. You could have one talking about the Columbia Restaurant.
Speaker 1:Columbia Restaurant's a big deal.
Speaker 4:It's a big deal.
Speaker 1:So the book I always had to remember. The book is not a Bargiasso book, it is a book about running and National Geographic. Because I'm vegetarian, I eat 99% vegan. I didn't put in vegetarian and vegan food because we're a small part of society. I really put in food that is very common to the area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Where I personally would eat, where I would do shakeout, runs and that kind of stuff. That's for everybody.
Speaker 4:And we have covered an ample amount of vegan and vegetarian options on the show, because we were completely plant-based for over a year and we covered a lot of really good options, I think if we were to do 100 runs of a lifetime, I think we might organize it as the running, the eating and the places where you can get the best beverages coffee we cover a lot of coffee too.
Speaker 1:Top of the list. Now you're speaking my language.
Speaker 3:Where have you run that you can get the best coffee?
Speaker 1:Boston has a lot of Dunkin' Donuts Little coffee shops, slash bookshops the little places that are really good. Boston's a hot spot for getting good coffee.
Speaker 4:I spent three weeks in Boston this past year and I was shocked at the number of Dunkin' Donuts they have there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's where you can get good coffee.
Speaker 4:And Dunkin's kind of like America's Tim Hortons.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:That's a good analogy.
Speaker 3:It is, but now okay, so you can get it like after your race in the morning and then you want a good cup of coffee post race, and then we know where to go to Boston. At the water stops they're going to ask you red or white red yeah, doc marathon.
Speaker 1:That is really real, I thought. I could really escape the wine, stop and get around it and they don't let you escape, but they just really give you like one ounce of wine.
Speaker 3:It's like a symbol or something.
Speaker 1:Get red or white and then you keep going. And they got crackers for you. You eat a cracker and then there's water and you drink some water and then you continue on. So that way you don't even know that you're really drinking 18 little one ounces of wine. I think it's 18 stops along the way. Wow, really, don't, let you get away without it's red or white. They don't say you don't want it.
Speaker 4:That's not an option to partake. Before the pandemic we were looking at races to go outside of the United States and take the podcast international. At that time there was a race we were looking at in Scotland that had a very similar thing. So you're running through the roads and trails and hills of Scotland and they had scotch tastings all along the course and I don't know if I could do 18 ounces over the course of that.
Speaker 1:I don't think I'd be crawling across the finish line. I can't give you that much.
Speaker 4:No, I don't think you have be crawling across the finish line.
Speaker 3:I can't give you that much.
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 3:I don't think you have to get a lot of water. Best post-race meal.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking post-race meal, based on the type of food that represents an area Crescent city classic in new Orleans. Oh when you finish the race, they give you a meal. I didn't eat it because it was not vegetarian it's like a fire with an andouille is an andouille sausage yeah. So that's like someone's turning jambalaya stew, just keeping it going, and then you can obviously go into the restaurants from there. But I would say and I like that because it is what they serve at the finish line is really what New Orleans is known for.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, they handed you a beignet and some chicory, coffee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can get it on your own the day before the race or at the Cafe Du Monde, and then you finish the race and they're in this big park and they just feed you like crazy and take a nap and go out to eat. That sounds great. It's always the saturday before easter. Oh, they always pick that weekend. But they do, they know there's a lot of tourists there they've just had mardi gras yeah, it's a tail end of mardi gras. They get 20 people in the race. It's a big deal.
Speaker 3:Like you you can run, you can eat, you can drink a destination, and that sounds like a place where you could really soak up the culture.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Where and how can the Runcation Nation get this book?
Speaker 1:So it is out, everywhere books are sold.
Speaker 4:I just looked it up.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's out there. Wherever buy books, you'll find are you doing book signings?
Speaker 1:I struggle with travel these days so I can't travel like the old days, but I'm gonna go a couple places. I'm going to a race this weekend in pennsylvania town called jim thorpe. Unfortunately, jim Thorpe was never in Jim Thorpe. The town purchased his body after he was deceased and moved it from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania and changed the name of the town from Monk Chunk to Jim Thorpe for tourist reasons. Now they have a Jim Thorpe running festival and I'll be there signing books this weekend. But I'll keep up on my social media and put my signings out there.
Speaker 3:And speaking of that, we know you have a Facebook page. We know you have Instagram. You also have your website.
Speaker 1:And I have the link for the book on bartjassocom.
Speaker 4:Are there options on bartjassocom for signed copies? I?
Speaker 1:haven't done that yet.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 1:I have requests. I save haven't done that yet. Okay, I gotta make it happen. I have requests. I saved the media interviews I do over the next two weeks, and then I'll be able to sort stuff out.
Speaker 4:Runcation nation. When that happens, we'll let you know. Bart's also on Twitter. X formerly known as Twitter. Uh and we're going to have links to everything that we've talked about here. We're going to have a link to the book to bart's website to his social media and the races that we talked about here today what an amazing.
Speaker 1:Used to like twitter, but it's been a weird social media lately facebook. I have two pages. I have a personal one that you max out at 5 000 and another one, then another one that has like $17,000. Interesting. You can only get that one if you have a book, celebrity or something like that.
Speaker 3:Deal.
Speaker 1:I got it when I had my book my Life on the Run. What?
Speaker 2:a great book.
Speaker 1:I do have two Facebook pages that I take care of, and then I will go on X and Instagram.
Speaker 3:We will keep up with your journey. This book is incredible.
Speaker 4:This gets a place of honor right on the set. This becomes a permanent fixture here. So thank you.
Speaker 3:I think the last race we saw you at was the Shamrock Marathon weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was thinking if it was Alaska or Shamrock.
Speaker 4:It may have been Alaska.
Speaker 1:I saw you guys in Alaska. It was 2022 been Alaska. I saw you guys in Alaska. It was 2022 maybe.
Speaker 3:You're right, whether it's Alaska.
Speaker 4:I remember stalking you that year.
Speaker 1:That's another race I love and was very deserving to be in the book.
Speaker 4:Anchorage Windfest is fantastic.
Speaker 1:They got so many races to choose from. It's really fun.
Speaker 3:And they have unique shirts. Their shirts are amazing.
Speaker 1:End up in Anchorage and wake up and it's 48 degrees in the morning.
Speaker 4:Our first time running that we flew from Florida there and when we go to the race expo they said there's black flag conditions on the race course or anticipated. And so we're telling everybody now prepare, don't go for a PR, it's going to be ungodly hot. And I'm like what did we bring with us to Alaska? They were saying that the high was going to be 75 degrees and they were dead serious.
Speaker 1:I don't think it got that hot.
Speaker 4:No, it was wonderful.
Speaker 3:Yes, it was truly wonderful. It was an amazing place to see, a runcation to remember, not only because of the beauty of it, but because we were lucky enough to explore and indulge with you there, and we really hope to do that again very soon.
Speaker 1:I hope so.
Speaker 3:Bart Yasso, the mayor of running. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you, amy, thank you, dana. You're doing what our sport is all about being out there, connecting with people and keeping it fun and real. You got to have passion and joy in this sport to be in it for the long haul, and you guys have the passion and the joy, so you're going to be around a while doing this stuff. That's what I love.
Speaker 4:Thank you, bart, so much. We're going to have everything in the show notes, everybody. That's it for Bart, yeah. So on this week's episode of the running drink podcast.
