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 316 Part 1 of a Runcation Recap with Cheri Whitt
THAT’S A WRAP!
Thank you for listening! Because of your support, we are in our ninth 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, my name is Sherry Witt. My Instagram handle is SherryBerry101. Most people know me by the hashtag WittSyndrome. You're listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast, part of the Runcation Nation.
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. It's time for another Runcation recap.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have a very special and well-traveled guest joining us today.
Speaker 2:Yes, a world traveler, a marathoner, an Abbott Marathon majors pursuer, if you will, and a pacer for Galloway and also sometimes a fill-in coach for Coach Twigs on customized Galloway training. We are so happy to have on our show and welcome you.
Speaker 1:Sherry Witt, thank you for having me and, by the way, when I do fill in for Chris, they call me fun coach. They call you the fun coach. You're the fun coach, fun coach, because if they want to do something that maybe Chris wouldn't let them, I'll say, sure, go for it. So let's take yeah.
Speaker 3:Good cop, bad cop.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:I love it. I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 3:What we like to do. First and foremost, we like to ask this of all of our guests For those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself to the Runcation Nation? Tell us who you are, a little bit about your life outside of running, where you're located and, if you have a beverage in front of you, what you're drinking while we're chatting?
Speaker 1:My name is Sherry Witt. I am, outside of running, a chief financial officer, but that does not mean that I can do running math. So do not expect me to go on a run with you and then understand what your splits need to be.
Speaker 3:And converting miles to kilometers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not my fun, it's my job. I started running marathons just under 10 years ago. I did so after I got very sick. I had a stroke, I was sepsis. They deemed me brain dead. There was a lot going on Renal failure and I had to learn to walk and talk all over again, and one of the things that I had never done was run a marathon. So I thought you need to do this thing, and that's what started what we now call Witt syndrome. And what am I drinking? I am drinking this weird thing, and it is a lot of vitamins. So there's AG1.
Speaker 3:It looks like green.
Speaker 1:There is a dose which kind of give it a smoothie. So like liver and cholesterol, the dose is that drink, and then I have some pillar vitamin C in here, some ice and water and it's like drinking a smoothie. But it's how I get down. Some of the Part of running is doing all the stuff, and so all the stuff means vitamins, supplements, recovery, things like that. So that is what I'm drinking, not because I'm a really good person, but because I have to get this down, since I ran with my group this morning that's a disciplinary drinking.
Speaker 3:That's not recreational drinking, right? No?
Speaker 1:it is definitely discipline. It's like taking all those vitamins. It's a discipline because nobody likes taking horse pills no, oh lord, yeah, they're just you do what you have to do and I'm in california, like I said, ventura california, which is halfway between santa barbara and la.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I actually have a jeff galloway. I run a local program here for him. We have them all over the world. We would love to have more but we don't have enough. But I have one here and my running group. They keep me sane and they keep me accountable and they make running fun.
Speaker 2:I always wanted to be a part of a running group, but I'm always like I'm so slow, I'm afraid to be.
Speaker 1:We do not. Look, it's so easy to slow down. I never want to hear someone tell me they're so slow. I can slow down. I can run a 15 second run, 30 second walk. That is one of the funnest ratios out there. You can be fast, you can be slow, but you can never be too slow on your long runs, because it's just time on your feet, right. So why wouldn't I slow down to hang out with you Because you seem like you'd be a fun person to chat with for six hours on a long run.
Speaker 2:So even the most expert runners are going to slow down, for me that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why not Look when we're out there pacing? We're slowing down to pace.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So why wouldn't we? I think it's kind of like, as you're going to find out as we go through, it's what I do. I love helping other runners and because I run so many I run, this year I'll have runs by the end of the year 17 marathons. I run about one to two a month. Wow, and yeah, and that's not including the training runs. Yeah, like I said, I have Jeff Galloway saved my life because I could have never run a marathon without him, but he made it so much fun it became an addiction. They call it wit syndrome. So I just sign up for random races. It's like I get bored at night and I look for races and I'm like, ooh, squirrel, that one looks good. And then I got all these races.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of signing up, for races like running. You said you've run so many this year 17., 17. 17. Running one marathon is challenging. What made you decide to go, after all the Abbott Marathon majors, which I now I guess includes Sydney?
Speaker 1:Eva who said I'm signing up for Chicago and Berlin, run them with me. So I was like, sure, don't tempt me with a good time. So I signed up for those races in Berlin I got in the lottery, and Chicago I ended up having to run with a charity I think it was Paws for Chicago, which is for animals, and I love animals and I volunteer animal rescue shelters and I have four German shepherds because I'm a foster fail on the highest level and I am now no longer allowed to foster dogs because my husband said we have enough. But I said great, I'll run these with you. And then I thought I've got two, so why not go for the rest of them? And if you can? So I'm always in marathon shape, so why not? If you get a chance to run a marathon, go do it. That's how it started.
Speaker 3:That's a good reason, and I am a completionist at heart myself, so I understand. If I had two there's six of these I need to have the other four, obviously, so that to me makes total sense. That would be a brain itch I couldn't scratch. It's kind of like the Disney.
Speaker 2:Infinity Gauntlet Challenge.
Speaker 3:That's out of our control.
Speaker 2:But I feel like we were going to be completionists and get all the stones, all the Infinity Stones, and we're missing like one.
Speaker 1:I have that gauntlet. I ran those races and then they added they're going to add three more, so that just makes it. So. That's why I had to run Sydney, because that's number seven. So I'll run New York in November and that'll be my sixth star. I'll finish my six stars with New York and I'll have done the six stars in a couple of years. And then I did Sydney. I've signed up for Cape Town and I did Tokyo, sydney and Cape Town with Triumph Sports, which is a great. They do these races and they take care of your hotel and everything and you don't have to do any. It's amazing. And so I'm like what other ones are you doing? Because you make it so easy. I don't have to do anything but show up. I'm also kind of lazy in that aspect, because I want to put my energy into the run, not the travel plans.
Speaker 3:Sure, and they can both take a lot out of you. But I want to talk for just a minute about the training and how you prepare for a marathon. We've trained for one. Back in, I want to say 07, 08. No, a little later than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We did all the training. We were doing the Galloway program for training. We got up to 25 miles in our training runs and then we got the flu and the flu was a full bore case of the influenza that knocks you on your butt and you can't do anything and we ended up not being able to run the race and after that I was like I'm out. This is not a bucket list item for me. I have never consistently hurt and been as tired as I've been when I did them, when I trained for the marathon. But I said, but I will be your cheer squad, but that said, the training that we did. It was a traditional Galloway training method. But I'm curious for somebody like yourself who runs so many and has these big races coming, what does your training look like?
Speaker 1:So this is interesting because I have Chris Twiggs as my main coach and then, of course, you have Jeff. Jeff, he gives me a lot of information and tips and also Jeff is the one who tells me when I'm screwing up. He's perfectly fine with that and he's so nice about it. You can't. You're like, yeah, okay, but my training is very simply every so I do my two shorter runs during the week, I do weight training, I do only leg weights on running days, and on non-running days I do upper body or core, because I feel like your whole body is important, and most of us that run do it, for we're not like super elite athletes and so we have to do the best we can with what we have.
Speaker 1:So we run, like about every three weeks, every four weeks we're going to run 26 or 29 miles, depending on the program. So why not sign up for race and have a catered training run? Yeah, yeah. So what I do is I'll go pace Most of the races I run because my coaches Chris Twiggs will bang his head against the desk or Jeff will be like don't do that, but you can't go and run for time. You either have to pick running all these races or having a time goal.
Speaker 1:You can't do both and I love running too much. It's my happy place and, honestly, my husband appreciates my running because he says that when I don't run I can get a little crazy and maybe a little mean. I'm not sure I disagree, but whatever. So running is my happy place and if I don't get to run I'm miserable, I don't even like myself. I don't even like myself. So that is for me, it's like it gets all that.
Speaker 1:I've got a lot of energy and it gets it all out when I run and if I don't, then it's bottled up inside of me and then I start getting like snippy. So it looks like that and every once in a while like today I had a one hour prediction run, which was a nice, pretty easy run you go out 30 minutes and you turn around and you've got to end up exactly where you started or as close as possible, and so what that is is like pace work. You're trying to keep an even pace and that helps you if you're pacing an official pacer. So that's really what I mean. Honestly it's I have my group, we all I have at least one person who runs the long runs with me. So basically what it is, it's a big gab fest for six hours, or however long it takes us. We don't even listen to music anymore, we just talk the whole time. So it's pretty fun. My group keeps me accountable and they keep me running.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you yeah, like having a group is great.
Speaker 1:My question, though, relates to being a pacer. What made you want to become a pacer and how is your training different? Because you're a pacer officially was Air Force Marathon, and it's in Dayton, ohio, and it's hot and it's in September, and so I paced that for several years. And the really so.
Speaker 1:When you're a pacer, you have to learn how to run the pace you're going to pace. So if you're pacing a six-hour marathon, you have to learn to consistently run at 1344 or 1345 pace. But the pace this is where it gets a little weird. The pace is not based on your distance, it's based on the mile markers. So your mile pace is usually going to be faster than the mile marker pace, because most people can't run the tangents, and so they're running longer. So you have to know that when I hit that mile marker, that mile marker is my 1345 pace, not what my watch says. And then moving down the line at mile 10, what it is and all those things. And then moving down the line at mile 10, what it is, and all those things. So you have to practice it, and you should pace under someone who's done it before you decide to just go out and do it on your own.
Speaker 2:It seems like it would be very stressful to pace in a race.
Speaker 1:Also very rewarding and fun Disneyland half prime example. We had 80 plus people, amazing group, so energizing. Everybody was wonderful. We didn't have any Adam Henry's in the group, we had just people who were having a good time and like I would raise my hand and I'd say three, two, one and everybody would yell walking. You know, I'd say three, two, one and everybody would yell running and I tell these stupid jokes and people actually laughed at them.
Speaker 1:They're just to keep. They're supposed to keep you out of your head, because usually you're starting to hurt and you don't want to think about it. Jeff calls it your monkey brain, but you want to stay outside of that. I'm in a lot of pain and I just want to quit. So sometimes jokes or thinking about something else will get you to stop thinking about what you're doing right now. So that's it's stressful. At first it was stressful, I think, but when you just settle in and have fun with it, it's not. It's really not. It's just it's so rewarding to help people and especially whether they appreciate it or not, or whether they share their appreciation or not. They appreciate it because they finished something hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, now, okay. So you've talked about Triumph as an agency that takes care of all the travel, so you don't have to worry about that. You've talked a little bit about the training, the registration process. Is that stressful for you?
Speaker 1:So Run Disney. When I was registering for those back in the day, they didn't have you didn't have to get in there within 15 minutes or they were going to be sold out. I don't now because I pace. Usually if I'm pacing I don't have to worry about it. If I'm not pacing, I just don't do it because at the end of the day I don't travel to. I don't.
Speaker 1:I know this sounds weird and it's, but I don't necessarily travel for halves because I run ultras and marathons and so the half distance unless it's a super half or something like that is it's fine, but I'm traveling for fulls, right. So I'm not going to go to Florida for all the halves, but I'll do the Disney World marathon weekend in January. As far as travel goes, and like the world majors and the cost because I know that was one of your questions oh yeah, I think it's all pretty relative, right? So I'm going to say Sydney was more expensive. Your questions oh yeah, I think it's all pretty relative, right. So I'm going to say Sydney was more expensive than Boston.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And I run with the American Liver Foundation for Boston and I've run with them for the last two years. I have liver and kidney damage from being sick, and so it's a charity near and dear to my heart. And even with having to raise $10,000 to $15,000, of which most of it is my money, because very few people donate to my heart, and even with having to raise $10,000 to $15,000, of which most of it is my money, because very few people donate to your charities, it's real hard. So I have friends who match funds, but just the plane ticket to get to Sydney and back was $13,000. So because my husband has had a double knee replacement, I don't, I can't sit back and gen pop, we sit up in the pods and they're expensive, and so it's 13000 times two. So that was the most expensive race because of the airfare.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And where Boston is the most expensive because the amount of money you have to raise, but New York I didn't get in with the lottery of money you have to raise but New York. I didn't get in with the lottery, so I had to raise $4,000 for New York because I did that with the American Liver Foundation. So it's pretty relative. People go. Which is the most expensive race? I guess it depends. Now you can run any race on a budget, but I'm 60 years old and I don't want to sit on a plane in a little tiny seat for 15 hours.
Speaker 2:I work too hard for that.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to, I'm going to pay for the pod, yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't blame you one bit, we do. We fly up to Atlanta for Jeff's race and I'm like I don't even want to be in you. You call it gen pop, I call it comfort minus, because Delta has comfort plus. I'm like that's comfort minus, it's awful. So I'm right there with you on that. I can't even imagine doing that kind of a flight. We've done Alaska at the Anchorage Run Fest twice and we didn't do coach on either one of those, because you're just 14 hours in a plane.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even for us because Alaska is closer. I did the Anchorage Run Fest as Humvee's Marathon right, yeah, that's what they call it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I got to run that, what they call it now and I ran, I got to run that. So that's a funny story. I got to run that with Jeff and Barb and another friend of mine and this other friend of mine and I'm not going to name names because she'll probably listen to this, but she'll recognize the story so she was really struggling and was having some really bad shoulder muscle spasms to the point where it was really affecting her running because her bra strap was digging in. There was a lot going on and so Jeff is trying to. Jeff is like wow, he goes so what do you like to eat on your pizza? Or he said what do you like after a marathon? And I go oh, pizza's good.
Speaker 1:And this person's just oh, my goodness, I can't believe you're talking about food. And Jeff, he's got that Quaalude voice. So Jeff is just what do you like on your pizza? And I go oh, I love pineapple on my pizza and black olives. And he goes ooh, that sounds good. So we're talking like the remember the sweaty balls thing Saturday Night Live. So we're talking in that super soft voice because we're trying not to scare the cat away, the wild cat, and this person throws up their arms, they're just like, oh, my goodness, I can't even talk to you right now, and just storms off. So I was like, wow, now I want pizza, jeff. And he's like, yeah, me too, you know pizza. So we just you go out there and you have fun, and what happens on a race stays on a race, unless it's funny. Then you can share the story, but you change the names to protect the innocent, of course. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:With all the travel that you've done, I have to imagine that you've gotten rid of the things that don't work for you. You've grabbed onto the things that do work for you. Are there any tips, tricks, hacks, things that you could recommend for runners that are going to be doing any of these races, things that you would recommend that would come to mind to make their travel a little bit easier?
Speaker 1:Travel or training Travel. Just find a good. So you get to me the easiest travel I've done is finding a good tour group. I've run with bad tour groups and I've run with great tour groups, and so I always recommend the great ones, and I don't talk about the bad ones, because I may have just had a bad experience with it, it may just be me have just had a bad experience with it, it may just be me, but I think when you're going somewhere with a tour group, it should be exactly what they're offering, which means that they're going to take care of you as a runner. They're going to get you to the start and the finish line they're going to take care of, let you see the city, get your breakfast and whatnot, not just here's your bib, here's your breakfast coupons. Have fun, good luck.
Speaker 1:I think that number one, if you can do it with a tour company and you've got a good one do that, because otherwise you're making all the travel plans and I think my biggest tip would be check where the start and the finish line are and try and get something somewhere in between, because people think I don't want to walk to the start, but you also don't want to walk back from the finish, and what you have to remember is all those roads are closed because of the race itself.
Speaker 1:So getting traveling within the city or wherever you're at is going to become very difficult. So either to if usually the start and finish are within a couple miles of each other, and walking a mile after the marathon is not that big of a deal it's a great way to cool down and it's a nice form of recovery. Most people don't want to, but and walking the mile to the race is also a great little warmup, right. So I think those are my two biggest tips as far as traveling and running, because when you have to do it yourself it's hit or miss, but at least, least if you know look at the course should give you where the streets are, so you can pick something that's in between somewhere and that's a good place to be now let me ask you.
Speaker 2:You said when I initially asked the question. You said travel or training. What training tips would you give?
Speaker 1:So I would tell people the biggest thing I see, because I am also a certified running coach. I'm a Galloway program, I'm certified with Galloway and also with RCA Slow down. Too many people are running their training runs at their marathon pace or too fast. They're injured or why there's. This is not fun because you're not slowing down. And then I get the.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be out there all day. You're already out there all day. You, you're planning on running 26 miles. How long do you think it's going to take? You, you've already blocked off that day. So just slow down and take an extra half hour an hour, and that way you're ready, you're I. Just we just have so many people who don't want to. I can't run that slow. Yes, you can, we all can, we can all slow down.
Speaker 1:And so I think my biggest tip would be for people your long run pace should be about two minutes slower than your race pace. So if your race pace is 10, your long run pace should be 12. And that's I like what Chris Twigg says. That's a maximum speed limit. So no faster than two miles slower, which means that you can go slower than that. You can walk. Like Jeff says walk the whole distance. You'll get all the endurance and the added benefit is you have more time on your feet and I've never been injured. I've never been injured and I've run over 120 marathons and my schedule's crazy and I've never been injured. So I might know a little bit about what I'm talking about, but I did learn from the masters, chris and Jeff.
Speaker 2:So you have no, no pun intended, but you have street cred, street, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I listened and I did the work, and when I did it wrong, I got told to stop doing that and I listened. If you've got a coach, listen to them. If you are a coach, don't coach yourself. That'd be like an attorney representing themselves, because you'll it might. So get the coach.
Speaker 2:Get the coach, get the coach. So now, of all the majors that you've done so far and we get through, where's your favorite expo experience, your favorite pre-race experience, and why? Or it could be a favorite for a variety of different reasons.
Speaker 1:I think expos. Lately the expos have gotten so ridiculous as far as too many people coming in and trying to grab up all the merch and then reselling it, so it's really made expos not fun. I will say the best run expo that I have ever seen to date was Chicago, and I'm not a fan. I don't, I'm not a fan of Nike gear. It just doesn't suit me, it doesn't fit me. Many reasons right. But I appreciated the fact that was a well-oiled machine. They had merchandise, they didn't run out of stuff, they had people there willing to help you. Sydney had a lot of merchandise and it was great. But they had some problems in the beginning which had to do with standing in line to pay. We stood in line for over two hours just to pay because they didn't have any queues and people were just cutting into line because they didn't see that the line was all the way back to the entrance. So they were just coming right up to and then cutting in and there was nobody there to stop them.
Speaker 2:No management of the line.
Speaker 1:No management, but by day two or three I don't know, because I didn't go day two but they fixed it. They put in cues because they heard people and this was their first year as a world major, so I respect that they took care of it. But by the time they took care of it there was no merch left.
Speaker 3:You might get a car magnet if you're lucky that kind of thing or the extra small shirt.
Speaker 1:Marine Corps puts on a good expo. I think that after COVID expos have gotten, they're not as good as they used to be. Right, Most of the vendors lost their behinds on a lot of the COVID races because they didn't get their money back and they're gun shy. They don't want to go pay for a booth anymore. So the expos have gotten really small and that's sad, because I like shopping. I love shopping for stuff I don't need and I can do that very good at an expo.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And they're like they're taking all the fun out of it for me. They'll buy like 10,000 race shirts that I don't need and I'll never wear, but I still have that option.
Speaker 3:We also. We like expos. You have the opportunity occasionally to run across a small company that's got a new product or item or training tool or piece of clothing or whatever and they don't have a big national footprint. Maybe they got a website, maybe they've got some manufacturing going. They're trying to get some word of mouth advertising by getting out to these expos and we've picked up a few things over the years that have been really good and like that. And it's a shame to see that because, like you said, they lost their shirts in the post-COVID and a lot of these expos require these insane certificate of insurance for all the vendors as well and they can't afford that. They can't make that back on sales.
Speaker 1:It's funny because I use this product called Pillar and I was using it for magnesium to drink at night to help, because magnesium is an electrolyte that we need, but if you drink it at night it helps you sleep.
Speaker 1:So we were in Sydney and they had a booth and I had no idea how many other products they had. And so of course the guys hey, and I go oh yeah, I use your magnesium. He's, did you see all the other stuff? And I'm like, no, what other stuff? And so I walked out of there with probably five pounds worth of they have the glass jars, right. So I bought the B complex, I bought the immunity C, I bought the shoot. What else did I buy? I bought six different things from them because I love the magnesium and I didn't know, because I ordered magnesium on Amazon, so I don't. I never ordered magnesium on Amazon, so I don't. I never went to their website. I could have seen it, but I was like cool and I got to taste it there and I think the expos give you the opportunity to try the product yes, yeah, I've this pillar you.
Speaker 2:Just I, just I was interested so I went to the website. How did you get the five pounds of gear home from Sydney?
Speaker 1:the good thing about traveling in the pod is they do not have a max on your luggage weight. Interested, so I went to the website. How did you get the five pounds of gear home from Sydney? The good thing about traveling in the pod is they do not have a max on your luggage weight. Oh, here's another tip for people who are traveling.
Speaker 1:I have this duffel bag. We affectionately call it Monster and it's a Vera Bradley which I found from Run Disney. Right, it's called the Dog Show, so it's got all these dogs, so all my luggage has dogs on them. But this big duffel folds up very nicely and fits in my suitcase. So then when I buy stuff I have a bag that I can put it in so I can check that extra bag versus. Yeah. So I put the Pillar stuff in my hard side suitcase and then I move, like my running shoes and my dirty laundry, into Monster. But Pillar is a great product for anyone who's they have. I love their I think it's called Immune C. I love their magnesium. Their energy, which is B vitamins, is great. I bought in. Their magnesium is amazing. And if you're going to try the magnesium, I like the pineapple coconut one, which is really tasty, the other one, the watermelons. It's iffy for me anyways, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow, are you shopping? It's the first time that I heard about it, and what I normally do during interviews is when somebody says the name of a product or something that I might oh I might want to go shopping for that I'll try and find the website and have it up for later. So now I, just now, I just need to. They have a whole bunch of stuff. Seriously, sleep, recovery, immunity, injury, all yes, so anyway.
Speaker 1:It's all great stuff and oh and yeah, that's right. I bought the Omega, the fish oil stuff, from them because you did, oh yeah, Because they're like it's burpless, and I'm like, oh great, because I have yet to find a product.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That is truly burpless right.
Speaker 2:Where you don't feel like you're tasting fish, and so I usually take it at night, but I do. So far, so good. Fingers crossed. I like it, wow, okay, that's something I have to look at then later and so okay, so, speaking of products and everything like that, do you have free race or training must-haves in terms of, like your food and hydration options, and then does that change during, like on race day, or is it nothing new on race day?
Speaker 1:I might be a little different than most, but I don't nothing new on race day. Whatever I eat for breakfast every day is what I eat. I don't really. The carb up principle is all fine and you got to do it, not the day before the race. So usually, even when I'm running, two days before I run, I have a big carb meal. So it's always part of my routine because I'm always running marathons. So it's a little different for me.
Speaker 1:What I drink, my hydration I use this product called Prime because I can't eat a lot of salt, which is a very interesting place to be as a runner eat a lot of salt, which is a very interesting place to be as a runner. My body doesn't process salt and so therefore I can't have a lot of it. So Prime has 90 milligrams of sodium, but it has the other electrolytes. So I offset that with the potassium and the calcium, magnesium and things like that. But they have like cherry bomb and firecrackers. They have great flavors and they're super tasty and I think, as far as fuel goes, I use goose and dates. I like dates. Wintergreen lightsabers are amazing because not only do they help your runner's breath, but they give you the amount of sugar you need in that mile, so they're great little. And the, whether it's peppermint or wintergreen, it helps with your breathing right. So one of the things that kind of opens up your nasal passages while you're chomping on it.
Speaker 2:So it's a cool little yeah, that's why somebody else in our in the Runcation Nation, jessica Harley Running Gal, she says she chews gum for that reason, yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:It's important because we, as runners, we're overusing our lungs in that whole system and it can cause us to have breathing issues which can come from restricted airways, and so opening them up in every way we can imaginable is really helpful. When we're out there sucking air, we're like I can't breathe. So I got to tell you though my favorite fuel and you can't get it anymore. But I think it was back when Boston had an anniversary I don't know if it's 25 or what it was like probably right before COVID, they had this goo came out with this Boston Eclair and I took that with the chocolate outrage, and I got one of those bottles and I put Boston Eclair, chocolate outrage, boston chocolate. So I layered it up and so it was like eating a Eclair, it was like the chocolate frosting with the middle.
Speaker 1:It was such a treat, and now I can't do that anymore because they don't make that oh yeah, but so goo, if you're listening, come out with that product again there you go, they're not a sponsor, but they could be.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying reach out to us, they, they could be. And also here's some positive feedback for a product that could work for you here again. Yeah, that.
Speaker 1:Boston Eclair was delicious. Why did you?
Speaker 2:take it away from us, and then do you hydrate with anything specific, pre-race or during race? Pre-race for, like, race day and then during race, what do you do?
Speaker 1:So I don't drink water before the race. On race day I have my, maybe my half a cup of coffee or whatever. So I don't want it because I don't want to be peeing on the race course and it just falls out sometimes and I don't want that Pre. So I normally I had a situation happen where I had to really be better about not being cocky, right. So we get into this habit of I do this all the time, I'm good, I don't need to do any fueling, I don't need to do any of that. I got this. My body knows what to do. My body only knows what to do because I'm giving it the stuff it needs to do.
Speaker 1:And Jeff, I was doing a long run and about half a mile into it I had some other stuff going on because it was after travel and I had this like disembarkment syndrome. I guess I found out later that this is what it was, but half a mile into the run I thought I was going to pass out and I just could not recover and I'm like what are you? What's going on? You're, you know what to do, body, why aren't you doing it? And so I was talking to Jeff and Chris and Jeff was like oh, I know exactly what happened. You went into that with complete glycogen depletion. And I was like, oh, when you get schooled, you can't, you can't go. No, you're like, oh, yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:And so one of the things I have learned to do is you've got to do all the small stuff, which means every day I drink my amino acids. Every day I do. I don't use my hydration except for on race day, but I'm always drinking my amino acids. I'm always doing hydrating with water and you know, I take my vitamins so that if I and I try not to overhydrate so I don't have that opposite hyponatremia happen where I'm peeing out all my vitamins.
Speaker 1:And I discovered Carissa Galloway. She wrote a book and does this class that I took. It's a nutrition class. I love her take on things because she says the best diet, the best exercise, is the one that works for you, and so I had to find what worked for me and then do it and then not go. Oh, I don't have time to drink this thing or take these vitamins. You have to make the time. That's where I'm at, because you can only go so long on an empty tank before you run out of gas, and when you run out of gas it's a costly fill up which I think you may have experienced when you were training for your first marathon.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's what I think that was a costly error because you never finished.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:One thing Jeff likes to talk about is let's not run out of gas. Yeah, you talk to him, or you hear him talk or you go to one of his retreats. That's the biggest thing Slow down and let's not run out of gas. We had Jenny Simpson, who's joined the Galloway team, three-time Olympian world record holder. She says the same thing. Jeff says slow down on your long runs.
Speaker 1:I agree with 100% of what he's saying, and so it's nice to hear that, because I think that people over time, because Jeff has been around for so long, disregard him as new people come up with new stuff. What Jeff's telling us is still true for what we're doing. If you only run an eight mile long run, it's going to be miserable. The biggest pushback we get is on the long run. We run the distance before the distance, because nothing new on race day includes the distance. Why go to just 20? Why not do the extra six when people do that? But those are all the people we pass, because that last 10K is a big distance. I think those are just key points.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For any successful runner, if you want to run a marathon, your body has to know what you're getting it into before you do it right.
Speaker 2:It's all about going the distance and it's the book. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I think you have to do the small stuff in training.
Speaker 1:You have to sweat the small stuff in marathon training. Yeah, Because maybe not sweat the small stuff but just do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you have a job and you get up and go to work, you just do it. Same with training you just do it. Just do it. Your race day self will thank you. Yes, it will. When you travel and run, you have to use what is available at that hotel. So I'll do oatmeal or toast so that when you're there on race day you know that what they have will work for you. If they don't have that, I always bring a backup with me. I have these Hammer Nutrition Raw Energy Bars and they've got enough carbs and calories to get you going to run the race. I always carry those with me in case the hotel doesn't have oatmeal, which is my go-to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we know a local runner. She recently retired from the run shop where we got our shoes after we made mistakes running. That's how you learn. She takes everything with her in terms of nutrition and doesn't trust anything locally. You have to have a couple of different options or come prepared with backups.
Speaker 1:And I think that most places you travel, most countries, have some commonality McDonald's is everywhere. So if you have issues with going to Tokyo was really hard because they don't have. So I have a real tough time with salt and everything was carbs and broth because it's all like noodles stuff, high sodium, they don't. They right on the window. No special orders, no special requests. It is what it is, cash only kind of thing. It really messed up my digestive system. Thankfully it didn't mess it up on race day.
Speaker 1:Prior to race day, I had my bars and I was able to pick the stuff out. The sodium was my biggest problem, because whenever you're dealing with soups or broths it's a lot of salt. After the race you're like okay, I can do whatever, whether you should or not, and then you pay the consequences later. It's always interesting when you're traveling, especially when you go to a foreign country. Maybe you don't eat what they eat, but certain chains are there. My recommendation would be to you know, go to McDonald's. If they still have the chicken sandwich, at least you can get a piece of chicken. There's some French fries with no salt, so you got a piece of chicken and French fries and at least that's what you would normally kind of potato front. You got to work with what you got.
Speaker 2:Sherry gave us fantastic information and it was such a fun conversation that we have split it into two episodes. Make sure you come back next week to hear part two of our Runcation Recap with Sherry Witt. That's a wrap. Thank you for joining us on your long run, your commute to work around the house. Wherever you are, I'm your host, amy. Stay safe and well and we will talk to you really soon.
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