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Episode #20 - Talking Movement and Mission with Nicole Spencer

• American Gutter Monkeys, LLC

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Nicole Spencer has built a life around movement—not just as a runner, but as a nonprofit leader, coach, and now founder of Apex Strategy Partners. In this episode, she shares how a simple love of running became a tool for healing, leadership, and impact.

From organizing a 275-mile relay from Ground Zero to Cape Cod, to raising hundreds of thousands for veterans, to helping small organizations find their footing—Nicole shows us what it means to lead with heart. Her story is a reminder that in a noisy, complex world, purpose doesn’t have to be complicated.

Sometimes it just starts with putting on your shoes and walking out the door.

Speaker 1:

In a world that feels more overwhelming by the day, with big problems, broken systems, too much noise, it's easy to feel small, like nothing you do really matters, but then someone comes along and reminds us making an impact doesn't have to be complicated.

Speaker 2:

I knew I wanted to help women get into the sport of running, and that's kind of what I did. I said grab a pair of shoes, a pair of socks and I'll meet you somewhere and we'll get started. So share your experiences with other people so you can make this world a better place.

Speaker 1:

That's today's guest, nicole Spencer, a runner, nonprofit leader and now founder of Apex Strategy Partners. She's led 275-mile relays for veterans, raised hundreds of thousands for local causes and built teams that kept giving long after she's moved on. Her story is a powerful reminder that one person moving with purpose can do more than we think. Got a great show for you today. You think you'll find it refreshing. So take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, relax and welcome to Monkey Business Radio. Hello everyone, welcome to Monkey Business Radio. I'm Chris Collins. I'm here with my business partner and good friend, dennis Siggins, cape Cod Gutter Monkeys. Hello Dennis. Hey Chris, how are you?

Speaker 3:

doing Good, I'm doing good. You've been away for a little while. I miss you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I've been away. I was down in Florida, texas, seeing my son, so, yeah, it was a bit of a break for us. But we're at episode 20, which is kind of amazing. We made it through 20 episodes. That's good. Yeah, it seems like yesterday we were doing the first one, so Moneyball was our first one, but today we have a guest. You always love having guests on a podcast Sure.

Speaker 3:

One of my coworkers in my office, marianne Lally, who's been virtually a lifelong friend of mine we went to high school together back in the 70s. Her younger brother was a friend of mine she's been telling me about this wonderful lady here in Cape Cod who's doing some amazing things, and it's been many months. She's been telling me about Nicole, and Nicole's a busy girl. She's on the run, literally and figuratively, and she landed in our lap here about an hour ago today. So we have Nicole Spencer here today. How you doing, nicole? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me today. Thank you so much for visiting. What a treat to have you here. Nicole. You're a lifelong runner and you've used that running personally, professionally and also in nonprofits over the years. Tell us where it began.

Speaker 2:

Running. It began on the track many years ago in high school Sandwich. I went to Sandwich. I did Home of the Blue Knights. They are still the Blue Knights.

Speaker 3:

I think they are. I do believe.

Speaker 2:

And it was one of those things I started. I wasn't sure how good I was going to be. I knew I was fast, but you know four years of just missing states, or missing the big things, I think you know after having my third child and my brother being deployed to Iraq, I needed to get back into it, but it wasn't going to be on the track. I knew that. So who else decides to go from having a baby and, eight months later, deciding they're going to run a marathon? I did. I started training in May and ran my first marathon in October, and I really haven't looked back Of what year. So it was 2006. She was born and I knew I had a little bit of time to train and I knew my first one was going to be here on the Cape. It was the Cape Cod Marathon and if you know anything about marathons, that was not an easy marathon. No, marathons easy.

Speaker 2:

None of them right, but miles 20 to 24 in that marathon are not fun, but I knew I had to do it.

Speaker 3:

It was a thing and I was going to do that. So over the years, this has transitioned into something so much more. Before we went on the show here, you told us about Heroes in Transition. You talked about your brother, and so you used your love for running to benefit nonprofits and to benefit many, many people. Tell us about that.

Speaker 2:

You know we talked earlier but before we got on the air and running is one of those sports that you need a pair of shoes and a pair of socks. Maybe sometimes you don't, but you need a pair of shoes and a pair of socks and you can go out and do it. One of the biggest things that we hear all the time and all of us sitting at the table are runners is that I'm not a runner. I can't do that, and so I think that was one of my biggest assets to when I started my coaching business. When, again, my youngest was in grade school, I knew I wanted to help women get into the sport of running, and that's kind of what I did. I said grab a pair of shoes, a pair of socks and I'll meet you somewhere and we'll get started. Running is one of those sports too. I think that changes and, honestly, saves lives.

Speaker 2:

Dennis, you were telling me about your story and Chris and how the whole running industry has changed over the years.

Speaker 2:

We were talking about the Hoyts and what the Hoyts have done for the industry. There are so many things, and you know my in motion training business. We started a group in Mashpee for years that ran the Cape Cod Marathon as a relay and we helped families in need here on the Cape each year with hundreds of people that ran for Mashpee Madness, and we just, you know, gave all the funds back to the families for many, many years since 2012. Started as a volunteer at that organization saved my brother's life and I was lucky enough to be a part of that organization just until this last May. It was something I'll remember forever, but it will be in my heart forever as well, and 10 years ago we started our first Ruck for Hit Relay event and that was from Ground Zero in New York to the Cape, and that's really how it started. So, yeah, the love of running has turned into running to help others, and that's really. You know, running is one of those things that I don't know that I could live without it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely true we were talking about before saying that. Even just if you look at, like, the amount of money I would have spent on psychotherapy if I hadn't had running, I don't know.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's pretty amazing therapy, if I hadn't had running, I don't know. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. One of the things that became very apparent before we turned on the microphones was that Nicole takes on immense projects, things that logistically seem almost impossible. And, nicole, you were telling us about the first run from ground zero to Cape Cod 220 miles. That one was 275. 275 miles.

Speaker 2:

From ground zero to the Cape was 275.

Speaker 3:

And you had 16 runners in two vans we did, and you had police escorts from New York City and over the bridge onto the Cape. And how do you even wrap your mind around something like that? You're talking about three or four states. You're going through four different states.

Speaker 2:

I don't think I've wrapped my head around it yet. You just do it. I don't know how to answer that. Usually I'm one for words, but it was the team that we had to this day with Heroes in Transition Ruck for Hit. It's the team that you surround yourself with right. So we had those people. At the time. He was a chief in down Cape and he was a police chief, and that's Chief Kyle. I still call him Chief Kyle. He helped us get our police to escort. We just had so many people that wanted to help and you know, with something of such magnitude, you have to find the people, the helpers of the Cape Cod, of the state of the country. You find the helpers and those helpers will do good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, typically we see it out there too. You see a lot of there's a lot of good people out there. They just don't know what to do. So you know, it's that part of that whole thing of asking once you ask. But it's hard to ask money and that's one of my hardest thing when I'm doing volunteer work is asking other people asking for money. I know as a kid growing up I hated going door to door because my neighbors would see the Collins kids coming down with their seed boxes and I think it put in my brain this whole thing of asking for money and asking people to help, like you said before. I think you mentioned before the people out there. They want to help. You just got to be able to ask them and you got to be good at that and evidently you're pretty good at it because your track record for running nonprofit organizations and running events is pretty impressive.

Speaker 2:

Thank, you for that. Again, it's about the team. You have to have the people around you that understand what you're doing and why you're doing it. And I can't tell you how many times in the nonprofit world that we hear that, well, I can't fundraise, I don't know how to. And I always say from day one I don't ask people for money. I tell them the story of why we're doing what we do and I tell the stories of the people that we help and that, I think, changes the attitude of, well, I can't do it to. Oh, maybe I can tell a story of why I signed up to run with 20 pounds on my back to raise awareness and funds for an organization that really do a lot of great work for our military population.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you touched on Heroes in Transition a little bit. Well, can you go into that a little more? I mean, that was kind of came from your brother serving in Iraq, is that correct?

Speaker 2:

It was my brother. Adam received the first PTSD dog on the Cape through Heroes in Transition and literally, and figured, quite literally it saved his life. Tracy actually just passed a few months ago and Adam came back from Iraq and we didn't have a lot of military in our family when we were kids growing up and Adam was the first of us, one of five, and I didn't know how to help him and I'm not his mom, but I'm his only sister and I knew I needed to help. I didn't know what to do and this is where I get emotional. I walked up to Cindy Jones's door and she opened the door and she said come in. And it was. They were getting ready for their gala and she said we'll help him. And that was in October and November he received his PTSD dog.

Speaker 1:

Oh, interesting, so they trained dogs.

Speaker 2:

They, we did train dogs for a while. The PTSD service dog program has changed so much over the years, especially with the internet.

Speaker 2:

now that's a whole other talk show on what's happened with service dogs and service animals now, but that's really what did save my brother's life and you know, I knew that I was going to do anything to help heroes in transition and I really did want to help. So, whether it was that I had to find a way to fundraise or to bring some people into the nonprofit to help, you were teaching at the time too.

Speaker 1:

So you kind of gave up, you kind of walked from your teaching career. You got a master's degree in teaching and you moved on to nonprofits and in particular, I literally was old enough to hold a pencil.

Speaker 2:

My poor brothers used to sit with the stuffed animals and I would teach them. I won't tell you that they hated school probably all of them but it was one of those things I knew I was going to do, and so Cindy also. She had a teaching career, and when she lost Eric in Afghanistan in 2009, she knew that she had to keep his memory and keep his mission of assisting the troops on the ground alive. So it's funny what one idea of what your life was going to look like and how that transitions into something else.

Speaker 2:

And just being with you guys, both of you, today to hear the stories of your lives. It's just you never know. You don't know who you're going to literally walk into or run into, into, or run into, you know, on the street and how you can change someone's life. But at the end of the day, we're all here to make this place better than you know, better than when we leave it. So Incredible.

Speaker 1:

And so then you went from there. I mean, you've been working there for 10 years or so, about 10 years.

Speaker 2:

Since 2012,. I started volunteering and helping Cindy write thank you notes, kind of moved up and became the director of development and then the executive director, and it's quite an organization, I can't say enough. It's been my heart and soul for that many years and they do such good work here on the Cape and beyond and it was time that our team was ready to bring in some new leadership, and Celine Gordon, who's our executive director now, is phenomenal. We have a fantastic working board and now we have full-time employees, which is a wonderful thing. So it's grown and that's really one of the reasons why I knew it was time, because sometimes when you see something and you're ready, it can grow even further sometimes when you're not there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's kind of one of the overlooked skills that people don't realize is that actually building organizations that are good enough that you can walk away from, which is amazing? We talk a lot about that here. You know, if a franchise trying to set a franchise up, that's exactly what hopefully, you know the purpose of what they're trying to do is trying to build it up so they can walk away. It's a very hard, hard skill. You know, if you try to take too much on and try to do everything yourself. You know building a team.

Speaker 2:

It's been and I say it all the time, but the reason that I knew it was time was because I knew we had the right team in place, and you can't do anything without a team. It's really hard to do it by yourself.

Speaker 3:

The personnel is just so important. No matter what you're doing, you just have to be surrounded with wonderful people.

Speaker 1:

So then the next thing is you kind of keep referencing, you know it's time to move on, time to move on. I guess you've moved on, it sounds like, and you've moved on to a new company, Apex.

Speaker 2:

You know what Kind of the whole theme that, when I look back at life you know wanting to be a teacher, having the in-motion training business or the running business is. You know being with heroes in transition. I love to help people and what a better, you know, I can't think of a better way to help than to be able to be there for somebody, whether it's a startup, small business or a nonprofit, that's looking to elevate to where they are, to the next level. I'm so excited to be able to just come in and see where I can help somebody and say, hey, let's try this, or have you thought of this, or let's sit down as a group and see where you think in five years you might be. I'm excited about that and it's really honestly just started.

Speaker 1:

So in terms of running analogy. You just put your sneakers on again and you're going out for that first run again.

Speaker 2:

That first step out the door, out the door, I have to say it's true, and my first step out the door was being lucky enough to be on here today with both of you and I can't tell you how grateful I am for that.

Speaker 3:

Nicole, you were involved in the Falmouth Road Race for a few years. Tell us about that.

Speaker 2:

We keep talking about helping people and you know volunteerism and I was lucky enough to be the volunteer manager for quite a few years and when you talk about people that want to help and finding ways to help, that race takes an enormous amount of volunteers.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I can't even imagine.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's unbelievable and it's hard to say to somebody. I'm not sure if I can use you there, but let's use you here and it doesn't matter. The whole town, I think of Falmouth. Most of the Cape volunteers for Falmouth Road Race and they do such a great job on their numbers for nonprofits program what they give back to their community. I was so lucky that was really one of my other nonprofits that I started with. That showed me so much of not only teamwork but really what it means to give back to the community. I still have volunteered for them for years. We do a lot of work at Heroes in Transition with them back and forth and wow, what an organization that gives back to so many.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's amazing. The Falmouth Road Race. I think we ran it in 76, 77, I think. Remember that.

Speaker 3:

I know we ran a couple in the mid-70s. By the time I got to college we used to hang out at the Elliott Lounge, which is where Tommy Leonard, the founder of the road race, used to 10 bar for most of the year, except in the summer. I didn't know him at the time that the race was started. I think it was 73 or four. Was the first year. What was the first year? Right, one of those two?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think one of the years we ran it was Rogers, and Shorter was there, rogers and Shorter, I think, yeah, I mean, you used to just walk up to the line back then, Well, you show up, you pay five bucks and you run.

Speaker 3:

Life was so simple.

Speaker 1:

And we loved it because there was beer at the end. No one was paying any attention, we'd just walk up to the bar and drink at the time.

Speaker 3:

I remember that there was a road race in Framingham, which is where I grew up, and after the road race Will Cloney was running the beer concession. You know who Will Cloney is? I don't. He was a founder of one of the original greater Boston track club gurus. He was the head of the BAA for a couple of years, a very, very famous. Well, anybody affiliated with the Boston Marathon would immediately become famous because it was the biggest, largely the only marathon back at the time. But I remember he said to my father I think I was 14 or 15, hey, wally, can Dennis have a beer? And my dad goes yeah, give him a beer. And he was serving beer to us high school kids after a road race, which is something you can't do that anymore.

Speaker 1:

But life was different. And the Falmouth road race? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not sure about that.

Speaker 3:

But life was different. And the Falmouth Road Race, when Bill Rogers showed up because he loved the Cape and he ran it, and the following year he brought Frank Shorter back with him who was the two-time well, one-time gold medalist and soon-to-be silver medalist in 76. And then it put it on the map and then forget it. It's been booming ever since and it is probably might be, one of the top four or five most popular road races in the country. It has the appeal of Boston Marathon type legendary status by now. But the thing is it's so hard to get all those people into Woods Hole yeah, it is. I can't even imagine logistically how they do it.

Speaker 2:

10,500 runners. They've capped at different numbers and we I say we because I think I always say we I don't know why I say we all the time. I feel like such a part of these organizations even still, good leadership does that.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Again, it's that feeling of you know, seven miles running along the coast, just being near the water and listening to the stories Falmouth always sells out. It's just within seconds, oh yeah. They do a lottery system and then thank God for their Numbers. For Nonprofits program that helps so many different local charities.

Speaker 1:

Now? Is it a nonprofit now? Is it a fundraising event in itself now, or is that just kind of oh, it's still a world-class road race. It is First and foremost it really is Does the Falmouth Road Race funds or is there a bunch of organizations inside it just kind of doing their own thing or running their own, raising their own money?

Speaker 2:

Falmouth Road Race Inc is the actual nonprofit and they give back hundreds and I mean millions over the years, but hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to local organizations here on the Cape. The scholarships Lucky enough for us, my daughter received a scholarship through Falmouth. She volunteered for them. Take a look at the amount of give back that the road race does. So, yes, there's a number for nonprofits program. So not only are they a nonprofit, but they're bringing in hundreds of local nonprofits to help raise funds as well. It's really a special group. We talked about Boston Marathon Off-Air and how they have their program, their charity program, and it's kind of a thing now and I will say I'm not biased or anything, of course, but the program there I know, for Heroes in Transition we've had one of our biggest teams and upwards of 35 people on that team. That raised about $40,000 or $50,000 for us.

Speaker 1:

And that's just one race seven miles.

Speaker 2:

People can do it and we talk all the time about nonprofits here on the Cape and beyond and there are so many people that want to help here on the Cape and really anywhere. That's our job to help others.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you're going to start a company basically to help nonprofits, small businesses. So if I was coming into your office today and asking you what was the first thing you would tell me to start thinking about doing? I want to help. I've got this issue. I've got this thing. What do I do?

Speaker 2:

I think first sit down and really find out what your why is. Why are you doing? Why are you starting something? Or why do you want to get to the next level? What is it? What is your why? You know why start a new business and then kind of your team. You have to build a team. You can't have one person, you can't have the expectation.

Speaker 2:

Presidents might not know how to start a 501c3, not-for-profit organization, but they know that they need to help others and that serves two purposes. One, it helps others, but two, it heals something in them. And most recently Mashpee found that they've had their loss of students and that gets me emotional too. But so many of those parents and families have started nonprofits to keep their memory alive. And what a better way to help somebody keep their son or daughter's memory alive than to be a part of their organization. So I think that's what I really wanted to.

Speaker 2:

Why I wanted to start Apex is really just to share my insights and to help in any way that I can. I think you know, kind of luckily I'm a jack of all trades on so many things, but that's because I've had so many wonderful people in my life that have shown me so much. I learn every day, whether it's you know, 12 years of working with heroes in transition or walking down the street or coming in here today. If you're not in my mind, if you're not learning, you're not living. So share that experience. Share your experiences with other people so you can make this world a better place. Wow.

Speaker 3:

That was great, thank you, thank you, thank you. So how's your running going? I'm back, it feels good to be back, did you? So how's your running going? I'm back, it feels good to be back. Did you miss some?

Speaker 2:

time I did. I had some time where I just I was not mentally like ready to get back out on that road. And you know, the last few years I haven't taken part in the Ruck for Hit event that I helped start and I was, you know, on the course and that does a lot to your mind when you're not on a team. But I'm back, I'm loving it. It is something that I hope I can do for a very long time. I love to walk too, so walking has been a close second. But clearing your head and I mean it's hard. What did we say in the beginning when we were off air? There is something so special about running that when you talk about running to other runners they understand. But somebody that hasn't picked up the sport of running may not get it.

Speaker 3:

If somebody is not a runner, then no explanation will do and if somebody is a runner, then no explanation is needed and there's so much truth to that. The benefits are just the physical benefits is obvious, but the mental and the emotional benefits. The physical benefits is obvious, but the mental and the emotional benefits. But obviously you've demonstrated that the benefits can move on into business and nonprofits and that type of thing, which I think is probably the ultimate benefit of running or anything, is the impact that it has on other people.

Speaker 2:

I got lucky. You know I was given two legs that really have done a lot of wonderful things in the sport of running, and I'm not the fastest by far. Speed doesn't matter to me anymore At a time it did. I think for all of us sitting at this table.

Speaker 2:

It did. Chris, you had said something about your marathon and how it changed your life when you were younger. And Dennis, we were talking about your championship. High school teams, you and Chris together. It's that piece. But then what do you do with that? After you know, we can't all win championships every year, so how do we take the sport and bring it to other people and say, hey, this has changed my life. You know, tell your story.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and the other thing about running I always thought was special too is if you play basketball and things like that, you might go to a pickup game once a week or twice a week, but it's that consistency, and that consistency kind of gets under your skin after a while.

Speaker 1:

Well, running is a lifelong sport and it transitions to other things you do, this ability, this consistency, the ability to get up and do it every day or every other day or whatever, but it's not like. It's more than just a sport. You know, I go out and play, pick up basketball or something like that no-transcript. Growing up, you know, I was seven kids in my family. I wasn't quite, you know, I wasn't the brightest, I wasn't the fastest, smartest, I wasn't you know whatever. But the one thing I did one time is I went out and ran marathons. We used to run marathons to raise money for our jackets.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we did that. I remember that we used to win.

Speaker 1:

Every year we'd win a championship or something like that and we had to go out and get jackets. We paid for them by fundraising. Unfortunately, I had to go knock on doors, which I hated. But then one day someone said to me wow, you's the only time anyone's ever said that to me, you know, because I was just a kid of one of seven, you know, just an ordinary kid, and that kind of clicked with me. I thought, oh, my God, you know I can do things, I can do something. That's really special. Yeah, that is pretty special.

Speaker 1:

I did do a marathon, you know, and it kind of translated into the rest of my life. Yeah, I can do those things. Oh, that's of thing, and running is a little bit like that and you don't get that from any other sport. I can't imagine coming off a basketball court thinking it will sort of turn, maybe from Michael Jordan or something. But so, yeah, yeah, it really has changed so many lives and everyone I talk to has a story like that about running. There's some sort of story of you know how it changed your life.

Speaker 2:

Certainly your story today was interested in, but yeah, I can think of 10, 15, 20 ruckers that I could bring in here, and you would literally sit here and say wow, and that's.

Speaker 2:

I mean again, the people that run the ruck for hit. You know that maybe have never put shoes on before. We talked about that. You know what's the hardest part of running is putting your shoes on and getting out the door. The stories, and it's just. You know you listen to marathon runners who are raising money or doing you know this good work. It's that revolves around running right, self-confidence building and to go back to that, I mean how lucky are we to be able to do it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we came up at a time too. I mean, running was exploding. When we came out, running just was exploding. It was booming in the 70s, and one of the most amazing things I remember is when you used to see a woman running. It would be special.

Speaker 3:

It'd be very rare You'd be like wow, look right here in New England. I mean, joni Benoit is from Maine, who's Lynn Jennings from Bromfield Mass? She was a year behind us in school. Lynn didn't have a girls team to run on. She would end up making the 86, I mean, I'm sorry, the 88 Olympic team in the 10K and she won a couple of world cross country championships too. She went to Princeton and she didn't have the opportunity to compete in high school sports as a girl. There was no girls team back then. And we've come a long way. I just finished reading. I read at Christmas time my son gave me the book the Long Road to Glory. Nicole, have you read it? No, but I've got a.

Speaker 3:

Is that the Joan Bonoite story? Yeah story.

Speaker 3:

Nicole, have you read it? No, but I have. Is that the Joan Bonoite story? Yeah, it's about Joanie and Ingrid Christensen and Rosa Motor and Catherine Switzer all the ladies that started with Jock Semple trying to throw her out of the race in 67 to Joanie crossing the finish line in 84 in the LA Olympics with the inaugural women's marathon. Phenomenal story, and as I read it I knew some of these ladies back in the day and it was amazing. The author he's a track and field coach at Concord Carlisle High School. He did an amazing job writing this book. Hundreds and hundreds of people that he interviewed, 10,000 hours of interviews it's amazing. 10,000 hours of interviews, it's amazing. And it's just all about the ladies and what they went through to put the Olympic marathon on the map.

Speaker 1:

And how recent it was. I mean, you're talking the 80s. They weren't allowed to run In the 80s, they were thinking that women should run marathons because it was bad for their health. No, no, no, chris, it was worse than that.

Speaker 3:

It was only in 800 meters in the Olympics up until 68.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Incredible, and they had all kinds of myths about ladies going to destroy your reproductive system.

Speaker 3:

It's going to, you know, but but you know everything was run by grumpy old men back then like Jacques Semple, and that's a story for another time. I heard very recently from a friend that Joni is now running with her grandkids. I know she famously has run some 5Ks with her children. She has a house here on the Cape. She blew past my brother and his son a couple of summers ago. They were running down in West Dennis Beach and my brother asked me about this and I said oh yeah, I heard Joni does have a house over that way he goes. Yeah, because it was a woman who's much older than me but just went right past me and Connor when we were running the other day and he said I knew it had to be Joni.

Speaker 2:

She's something so special. Oh my goodness, it's unbelievable the changes that these women made for other women. Everybody in all sports, not just yeah, just that was I can't imagine. I've been lucky enough to meet her through the road race and she has the Beach to Beacon.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, she does.

Speaker 2:

yeah, the week before, two weeks before the road race here in Falmouth. Running is a thing. It's a thing that you know. People say to me all the time through my in motion training business I can't do it. You know that's the biggest thing. You know that's the biggest thing. You run fast. No, I don't. You've run distance before, but that's what did we say about 30 years on our legs, you know 30,000 miles did you say?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know you. Just everyone puts their shoes on the same way you know, and you walk out the door and you go.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we really hadn't touched on that. That's the other business that you kind of created. It's in in motion training for women's sports, getting women in, particularly women who've had babies or whatever, transitioning in their lives. So they're trying to start something new and they need some sort of outlet, some sort of support, and you offer running as in particular.

Speaker 2:

I did. That was started a while back when my youngest I got the daughter at the end and it was like one of those things I said I love this sport so much, but how can I bring it to other people? And I remember that first group it was, they were all moms of very different ages and they were scared to death to walk, walk, run. We walked for four minutes and ran for 45 seconds and the one thing that I remember at that group at the last interval said that's it. And I said yes, and they're like well, we want to do it again.

Speaker 3:

We can do that back again.

Speaker 2:

And it was something that you know, back in 2011,. I think I started. I'd done for so many years and it's always been there. You know it's been my running, it's been my constant and I'm excited to get back into the coaching. It was hard to do that and work full time at Heroes in Transition, do all the things I was doing there. So there are so many things I'm getting back into and finding, you know, kind of going back to my roots a little bit and I'm excited for all the things to come.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's amazing because you keep talking about I loved it. It really struck me, it was a wonderful thing, and so now I need to bring it to other people and let other people experience. This is kind of oppressive.

Speaker 2:

There's a book that I read the Go-Giver it was a while back. A friend of mine, a Coast Guard friend of mine, sent it to me a few years back after she moved. It was on a table in my room for two years before I picked it up and it's probably about 100 pages. If that, so good. And I learned so much from that. And I guess you know, at the end of the day, we're all here for a short period of time and if we can continue to share the things that the secrets to our success whether it be in running or in business, or in nonprofit work or in family life, you know, help somebody that's what we're here for, you know make this world a better place. And I think through you know, all the things that I've been blessed enough to be able to do so far in life, so many more things that I'm looking forward to doing it's that it's just to give back and to make this world a better place.

Speaker 1:

It's an interesting message to be hearing today, because I work with a group called Julius Foundation in Uganda. We have a school over there and we're going through a really tough time right now. It's really, really struggling to keep it together and we just had a board meeting last week. I'm actually thinking of leaving the board because I just say I'm just, I don't know that I can do anything else. You know, it's just, I'm reaching the absolute limit here. But hearing your message here, maybe I'm back in my mind thinking, well, maybe this is just. You know, I'm taking a pause from running for a little bit here before I walk away, because it's a very hard thing to walk away from, but it's very hard to keep going. So, yeah, so it's a bit of a struggle. So it's interesting hearing this message here from you today about this. You today about this.

Speaker 2:

I love that and I hope it helps and if there's anything I can do to help, just you know, chris and I were really blessed.

Speaker 3:

In high school we had a very dedicated coach, mr O'Rourke. I've been accused of being extremely organized, you know, very well put together, sometimes even intelligent. I was a lost cause in middle school. I really was. I was born way before ADD was invented, so I was just a diagnosis waiting to happen. I couldn't remember my middle school locker combination. I couldn't even get to classes on time. I was lost.

Speaker 3:

But I used to read about this high school team, marion High School in Framingham, and these kids were winning championships. They were conference championships. Every year they were state championships. Every two, three, four years they'd win a state title. And I remember thinking I want to be one of those guys. And Chris and I had a teammate several years ahead of us, joe Kolb, who I still see to this day. He was just a perennial conference champ, state champ. He was just a local hero, still is and I was in middle school. I was a goofball and I said I want to be one of those guys and I saw Jack O'Rourke at, unfortunately, a funeral here a couple of years ago and I took him aside.

Speaker 3:

I was back in Framingham and we talked in a, a group. I don't know if you were in the group. It was at my brother, walter's funeral, chris. I don't know if you were in that group, but my kids were there and they'd met my high school coach a couple of times. But we were sitting in a group and I said everything that I am in life I owe to running because I was so disorganized and I remember the first race freshman year, I wasn't going to impact the score. I was so disorganized and I remember, like the first race freshman year, I wasn't going to impact the score. I was just a freshman and I forgot my running shoes. I had to run in my training shoes. I left my racing shoes at home and then another day I had a race and I forgot something else. And the lesson learned is pack your stuff the night before, you know. And I remember I was starting to emerge as a very, very good runner by like toward the end of my freshman year and I was in a freshman, all freshman meet. I said, okay, finally, I can actually maybe win a meet here. And one of my shoes came untied. And I learned another valuable lesson just double knot your shoes every day, and I don't mean literally double knot your shoes, which I do, but everything else in life you know. Double knot the rest of your thing, and I talked to my coach about this. You know, 40 years after the fact, everything. Don't be an idiot. Don't be a moron. Your teammates aren't going to want to hang out with you. Be a good teammate, be a good training partner. Everything I learned in life I learned through running and through another thing Cross country.

Speaker 3:

It's not a fall sport, it's a lifestyle. You know. You just don't show up September 1st and make it happen. Cross country is something that demonstrates what you've been doing the other eight and a half months of the year. And it's so true. It's so true. It doesn't.

Speaker 3:

We're roofers. I don't care if it's raining, we're doing something today. We're not going to strip open a roof, but we're going to do something. I've got a team of 25 or 30 gutter monkeys here under this roof where we work right now and we do gutters. It doesn't matter if the weather's perfect or the weather's bad.

Speaker 3:

Yesterday wasn't such a good day to be out in it but that's what we do, and a lot of the young kids today, I think, need a little more discipline than we needed because we had our fathers that were a lot tougher than fathers are today. And this is what we do. We're gutter monkeys. We're gutter monkeys every day. Even if we're not, you know, we're runners every day. Even if, even today, I only run two or three days a week, I'm still a runner on those other days and you still act like a runner, you still behave like a runner, you still think like a runner and it drives everything. And it really did change my life and, um, I would be remiss if I didn't tell mr o''Rourke that on that day. So I've made a point Whenever I see one of my college coaches or one of my high school coaches, I let them know that it turned me into an athlete, which turned me into a young man, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's really special. I've been listening to your podcasts the Monkey Business. I love this, I think it's great and I think, if we can get the younger generation and again, I have children from 18, almost 19 to 22, it's if we can get them to listen and to just understand that. And we were 18 and 22 at one time and we didn't understand and we didn't listen. Right, that's kind of the way we learn. But if we could put something in their hands, tangible, that they, instead of just you know, like that, they can understand, this can change your life. You know, and I think so much of what you're doing here with your business and in teaching, that it's an invaluable lesson. And yeah, life's changed so much, you know, since we were in school and all of these things. But this world's still here and we still have more good to do.

Speaker 2:

So how do we teach that generation that? You know? We teach by leading, we teach by example. We, you know we all make mistakes. I've made many, my share of them, but we all learn from those and you know, best thing about learning about the mistake is you hope you don't. You know you learn from it enough that you don't do it again and you hope that you taught somebody else something so they learn from it. And I guess you know, through running both of you had said it today and I think I said it as well you learn something every day because it really isn't. You know. It's not something that you need a lot of equipment for, but it takes a lot more brain power.

Speaker 3:

And you don't need anyone. You can run with 10,500 people in August in Falmouth or you can run alone in your neighborhood, and it's true. A pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some running shoes and you're good to go. It's the least expensive activity that you can do.

Speaker 2:

And you don't know who's going to watch you or who is watching you. You know, and that's the thing, I can't tell you how many times someone said hey. I saw you in the snow the other day. What the heck were you doing? I don't. You know I'm training for Boston, so I'm doing this. Or I'm training for the Rock. You know I'm doing my coaching. It doesn't stop. Just like you said with gutter monkeys, you don't stop what your business is because it's not perfect conditions. Life doesn't stop because of unperfect conditions.

Speaker 3:

Yesterday was a hot day. It hit a hundred and not all of our gutter cleanings got done. There was just there was about four jobs or five jobs. It was just too hot to get them done.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes in January it's just cold and we tell the guys you know we have a full schedule, go out and do what you can do today. You have to give it 100% of your best effort today. That's all you can ask on any given day. And you know what we plug those jobs in that we didn't get done. Yet. We do it all the time in the winter we go a whole week. We never get all of our jobs done in a one-week time frame.

Speaker 3:

In January you got some snow, you. In a one-week time frame in January you got some snow, you got some cold. You know what? We push it off. We do it on Saturday. We catch up. You just go out and do the best you can. Same thing with running. Some days you got it and you finish up. I don't run that far anymore. The furthest I go these days is five miles. But some days you finish up and you say, boy, that felt really good and I'm going to take another loop around the neighborhood and some days you just say I feel terrible and that's the best I had today. But if you get through those awful days, the good days are easy. And it's true with everything. It's so true with everything Runners are. My brother used to say that he was a non-runner. He would say my high school and college teammates everybody still runs. And he would say my high school and college teammates everybody still runs, you know. And he would say none of your friends have grown up, they still act the same.

Speaker 1:

And I said well, that's a good thing. It is kind of weird. I thought about that the other day because I'm getting up there in age and I'm running down my neighborhood and I had my shirt off and I was just kind of running along and I'm like, oh my God, I shouldn't be out here looking, I'm too old to be running down the street without my shirt, you know, because it was so hot. And I'm thinking to myself and I'm like, screw that. I'm 18 years old, still Look at me running.

Speaker 1:

And I remember thinking that in the back of my mind Like screw that, I'm not that old, I'm still 18. I'm still running down the street and then some kids, those guys, groups of guys, will go by us and he'll go by me like I'm standing still.

Speaker 1:

I think, oh my God, I used to run like that, but yeah yeah it's an amazing thing and it kind of tied back to kind of sort of you know the fundraising and whatnot. You know what good comes from. You know, just putting your shoes on, going out the door and doing that. You know what can I do to help. You know all these problems in the world, oh my God, you know it's hopeless. You know what can I do to go out and do anything and kind of tie it back to that. Just putting your shoes on and getting out the door. And yeah, sir, you're 70 years old or whatever you are. You know, yeah, you can still go out and do. It be consistent in your thought process of you know, this is something I want to do. I'm going to be consistent if I'm going to go out and do it.

Speaker 2:

Isn't that business though?

Speaker 3:

you know it's life, nicole. You've impacted a lot of people and there's only so much we can do as one person in one life. And you know, sometimes you can look at the war in Iraq, or you can look at the war in the Ukraine or what's going on. You know, on all the parts of the world and you've chosen a few things that you can impact and that's the best we can do. Look around locally and you say, what can I do? And you've done it. You've done more than your share.

Speaker 1:

So thank you, yep. We're coming to the end of the show here, wrapping up about our time frame here, but good luck with your new business.

Speaker 2:

Apex Thank you. Yep Apex Strategy Partners Thank you.

Speaker 3:

And thank you for having me on today.

Speaker 2:

And good luck with your move out to Oklahoma.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, you're moving to Oklahoma.

Speaker 2:

It's been a slow move to Oklahoma, but yes.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow, I didn't know about that one.

Speaker 2:

That's the way we'll end that show.

Speaker 1:

All right yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's been a definite you never know which life path you're going to be led to. Yeah, and this one's moving over the bridge and out to Oklahoma with my fiance and doing lots of good in many different places.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you just spread your goodness out there? I guess I hope so. Okay, well, best of luck. Thank you, all right. Well, dennis, you're going to take us out.

Speaker 3:

No, monkeys were in the making of this podcast. Catch you guys next time. Bye.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for tuning in to Monkey Business Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to subscribe, like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps us reach more aspiring entrepreneurs like you, and if you got a question or topic you'd like us to cover, leave a comment or reach out to us on social media. We'd love to hear your thoughts and keep the conversation going. Don't forget to leave us a five-star review if you found the episode valuable, and make sure to share it with anyone who might benefit from our tips and stories. We'll see you next time. This podcast is produced by American Gutter Monkeys LLC. Build real wealth through business ownership. For details, visit us at AmericanGutterMonkeyscom.