Latest / 12 Months to Marathon / Episode 112 — Running Your First Marathon at 48: Ryan’s Sydney Story

Transcript

Episode 112 — Running Your First Marathon at 48: Ryan’s Sydney Story · 12 Months to Marathon

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, welcome to the 12 months of Marathon Podcast and me, John Hill, the running podcast for the other 35s with Marathon Dreams, episode 112.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm joined today by a very special guest.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm joined all the way from the Philippines by Ryan Fenix.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Ryan, how are you?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh good, and you?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very well, thank you, sir.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Very well, thank you for asking.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: So a little bit about Gram from me before we get into the uh the interview itself.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: So Ryan has, as we record this, has just completed the Sydney Marathon in 2026.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have worked with Ryan since the spring of 2026 as we record this on his marathon journey.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'll of course let Ryan share his story and a bit smobs that, but I think this is a particularly good interview for anybody who is um approaching middle age or in middle age who perhaps wants to tackle uh a marathon.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is perhaps going to be the interview to listen to and get some inspiration and tips from.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't mind, Ryan, just tell us a little bit about yourself first, if you don't mind in terms of your background, your history, a little bit about you, and then we'll move forward from there.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, we're I'm living in Manila, the Philippines.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, sunny uh Manila and rainy at the moment, but yeah, usually very hot.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in terms of work, well, you know, we have responsibilities being a parent and uh and uh uh the work as well, the the family has to be fed.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um in terms of running, it's a very funny story actually, because I started running very, very casually like 20 odd years ago.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the story was I started it because I found a very, very cheap pair of running shoes in an outlet store.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got this pair, it's uh 1200 pesos, roundabout, right?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But this today's conversion rate would have been about uh$20, US dollars.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really, really cheap.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I said to myself, you know, I have this pair of gorgeous uh, you know, Adidas Clima cool, I remember that one.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I might as well take it out for a spin, take go out for a run.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I would like to say it was a run at first sight, I think, because I love the the way that the the air, you know, in my face and and the pavement, the foot in my pavement, in the pavement.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, it was just a casual sort of thing.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um the running boom, funnily enough, was in full swing in the Manila at that time.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of my friends were joining half marathons, marathons.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I always told myself, you know, one day I'll do that, one day I'll do that.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then one thing led to another, you know, the kids, you know, come and work, piles up.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then how shall I say it?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That was 2006.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So years went by and the running boom subsided, and then recently it came back again.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: By then, uh, I was thinking to myself, you know, I'm just I'm just too old for this.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I I probably the my dream of running a marathon um has passed me by because obviously I felt like I felt like it was a young man's sport, you know.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I felt like it was something that you had needed a lot of time to do, which I I thought I did not have, but that's a story for later uh for later.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that um it it was something that a 40-year-old plus plus middle-aged man uh could do in his mind, but could not physically do with his body because I felt really that uh it was past, it's just beyond me.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then so on a whim, it's just really on a whim, I said to myself, all right, I'm gonna try to uh to to uh bid for a slot, and this was not even Sydney yet, this was Tokyo uh 2025.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't get in, Tokyo 2025, and I said, Okay, that's it, that's it, because that was not I was looking for a sign from above, if you know, yeah, a Philippines religious country, and it wasn't there, so all right, wasn't there.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then funnily enough, I have was chatting with another friend and and she said to me, you know, why won't we try Sydney?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, I it's it's you know, it's it's a young man's game, you know, it's no more time for that, I can't do it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and she said, Well, if you're gonna try it, I'm gonna try it as well.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so, all right, all right, I just said, let's try to do it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, I got in.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and remember, I remember the first thing on my mind was that what have I gotten myself into?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because the city one is funny, it's funny because um the moment you apply, you put in your credit card details, right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the moment that the the the confirmation email comes to you, the bill has already been in your credit card.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: It means that you paid already.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's no backing.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no more sort of like Tokyo, because Tokyo, you you can sort of have a few days to think, yeah, I wanna do it or not.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can just you have to pay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: But for Sydney, no.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: For Sydney, the bill has been deducted, okay.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not in consequence, or it's around about three, four hundred, you know, Australian dollars.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: It it's uh it's not too bad, but but yeah, but it's been deducted already.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I have two problems now.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, the problem is from one, how am I gonna run it?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, how am I explaining to my wife that the the bill of a credit card will have$400 of something that uh probably we didn't give it planned for, but but yeah, that that was how the story goes.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So in terms of your when you originally got into running, were you were you sporty as a child?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Was that something that you were always into?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, so Philippines is a basketball country.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, it's a really die-hard basketball country.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: A bit about myself as well.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm proud to be one of the well, I'm I'm the FIFA Ballon d'Or juror for the Philippines, which is a bit strange considering that, you know, as I said, basketball is the number one sport in the country.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'm I I do that also um uh as a as a part-time journalist here in in the Philippines.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um you say, yeah, so running is not uh particularly uh uh sort of a famous or a popular sport here.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um in terms of running culture, I would say there are streets that are closed for traffic where people can run nowadays in Metro Manila, but generally the most of the population just run on the streets and not even on the sidewalks.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I can say for exp from my experience, when I was training for for the marathon, it was mostly on the streets at early mornings, and you don't really have the luxury of having sort of the parks where you can run.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not as much as perhaps in in UK where you are, or in Australia where I ran, where the culture is more running.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's Philippines, is there is now more and more, but I would say the facilities to do so may not really match the uh passion of people wanting to run.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And when you sort of 20 years ago when you decided to buy those, was there anything in the background there that was saying running or I want to run?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Was it was it you said about the cheap frying is that the only thing, or was there more to it than that?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Was there a oh yeah, there was.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I felt like also it was a good way to have a level of fitness as well.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at that time I was newly married, I wanted to keep my my figure.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, what's left of it anyway?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to keep in shape, yeah.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was uh attracted to the notion or the popular notion that running is the cheapest sport you can have.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, which which elicits a laugh from you and me because obviously when you're marathon training, yeah, you know, it's yeah, it's not a cheap sport.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: It certainly isn't enough, no, yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: But but yeah, but running itself, I mean you know, get a pair of trainers and you that you go.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, how did that sort of fit with the you mentioned the running boom in in the Philippines at the time?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: How did that sort of cut?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because you like you said, if it's a basketball country, it's not a sort of you don't hear a lot about Filipino athletes, do you, in terms of track and feel particularly.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So what was it?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: What was it in terms of the running boom?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like there?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Was it how how was that sort of was there events?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Was it running clubs?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: What did it what did it look like?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when you talk about the Philippines, it's usually Manny Pacquiao, the boxer.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the boxy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, we we pride ourselves in basketball, although we're you know not really uh very good at it um in terms of winning medals.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so running culture we have weekly.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the maybe in the now, yeah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because it's really, really booming now.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So weekly you'll have races.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is uh anywhere from 5k to to a marathon.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh marathon would not be weekly, but 5k, 10k would generally be weekly.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it has sprouted all over the country from Metro Manila to places in the north and and and south as well.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as I said, there were roads that they close, a car free Sunday, they call it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also there is this uh University of the Philippines, there's an Oval there where you can you can run.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing about the Philippines, I will tell you, and um this is maybe also the same for Southeast Asian countries, is that when you have a long distance run uh schedule, a race, let's say a scheduled race, it's always starting in the ungodly hours of the morning.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a marathon, like the Philippine marathon, for example, it starts at 12 midnight.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's because you have to account for the weather and the traffic as well.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: They close the roads.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you start at, for example, what we did we did in Sydney, which was at 6:30, you cannot run at 10 in the morning here in Metro Manila.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, nine o'clock is already pushing it a little bit.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why they start at 12.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's for the marathon.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Half marathon starts at 3, maybe ends at uh 3 hours or you know, uh four hours.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's a M, by the way, for anybody.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's 3 a.m.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's not yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have to be clarity.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 3 a.m.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it really screws up everything in terms of how you prepare.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know how you get some sleep and your your intake and all of these things.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how it is.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it we we survive in that atmosphere because we have no choice, essentially.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have to do it if you want to run, yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why you see a lot of sort of Filipinos who can afford it and have the opportunity, they run uh overseas because obviously this time is better there.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, yeah.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And in that, so that's so you 20 years ago, you you you you entered the running world and you mentioned that that because a lot of people I think listen to this can resonate with the story about things happening in terms of life that means you can't focus on it.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, what happened in that time in terms of the 20-year, like when you when you fell off running, did you do anything at all?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Was it a complete abstinence?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: What happened?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I I I continually ran, uh, is uh the answer there.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I ran five case, ten case.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, part of the allure for me of running was that I'm able to explore certain places um in the hours of the morning where it's still it's quiet, you know, and this is especially true in, for example, at touristy places.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can tell you that I've run, for example, at uh an area where in at 6 a.m.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: it's so quiet, and by 9 a.m.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: it's full of tourists.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, this is you can name your place Big Ben in the UK, uh in London, or perhaps uh name an exotic location.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it it usually is the case where in in the early morning, the place is yours essentially.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think many runners can relate to that the stillness of the air, the quiet of the place.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, it's just you and um Big Ben, essentially.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And by nine in the morning, you you share it with 10,000 other people, you can't take a decent selfie already.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I mean that that so every week I ran uh casually 510Ks.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um I tried to push it a little bit longer.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: I remember this race very well.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 2010.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there was a 10 miler.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: We don't use we don't use miles in the Philippines.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was called 10 Miler.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: That I remember that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if I was naive or I was just thinking, since I ran casually anyway, I just wanted to sort of push the envelope a little bit.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, but I ran that one and it didn't go particularly well, uh, John.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you did so you did carry on running in that period of time, but you perhaps weren't as free to do as much as you would have wanted.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: And correct me if I'm right, wrong, Ron, but didn't you didn't you go on a bit of a on a bit of a weight loss journey as well, a well, a weight gain and weight loss journey.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't mind, share a little bit about that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh when I when we got married uh 20 years ago, we were um how shall I say it?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh very slim.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then uh as the years went by and as children came along, and they are really blessings from above, as you and you you you can uh everyone can relate.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um came uh with the children came the requisite weight gain.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was uh uh I remember every child that came.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have three children, every child that came carried with it 10 pounds.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So at one point in time, I was carrying a lot of weight.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when COVID came, uh I said to myself, this is like now or never, you know.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we were locked down in Manila for the longest lockdown.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can Google this.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we were locked down in our places, and I said if if I didn't lose weight now, there was never going to be another perfect chance for me to do so.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I lost uh quite a ton of weight then.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I lost like uh 40 pounds.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So everything I gained, I lost it, and I was able to keep it uh keep keep that weight down until now.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think running can lose a new particular weight.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's a podcast for another day.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, it it it it at least it helped me sort of maintain my fitness as well.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I funny enough, I did do a podcast on is running any good for weight loss because I think it's a bit of a paradox.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think people automatically assume, or obviously won't go down this tangent because of my my own weight loss journey and weight loss coaching background, but people go on this tangent and then we'll shoot.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think the what the best way to explain is runners don't run to get thin, they run because they are thin.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably the best way, the best way I ever heard it described.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, how did you lose the weight during lockdown?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: What did you do with anything particular?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was uh uh well, first of all, there was a last-minute uh purchase of a treadmill.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the last one, the last one in the store.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that one very well.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so we got the treadmill.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to do the running there.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, basically just following workouts online and being very disciplined with food.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that was what got me through.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And keeping off of it is well, actually, the one thing I'll tell you, everybody, is that once you lost the weight, you donate all your clothes, the big ones, out of the way in a clear closet.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's enough motivation because you got to buy new ones, and the old ones are out of there.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you if you gain weight, you'll have to buy more clothes, right?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Which obviously you don't want yeah, that's exactly what I did as well.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, that's a funny uh that's a funny coincidence.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I got rid of my older old clothes as well.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's it's almost like um on anything in life, I love the uh what the word decision means to cut away.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm thinking when you make that decision, I'm not going back.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a very symbolic way to say, you know, I'm never going backwards.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like when the Sydney marathon takes your credit, takes your money off your credit card straight away.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, nope, you're doing this.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's it, you're doing this, or you're gonna be stuck, you're gonna be uh out of pocket.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So fast for let's fast forward then to this 20 2025 phase.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: What I suppose what was it that made you think, because not everybody thinks like this, of course, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: What was it that made you think right marathon?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: What what got you there?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm, that's a very, very interesting question.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, when you think of running, I mean generally, you think that's the pinnacle of obviously there's older marathons, there's all the other longer distances, but when you talk about running, I think for me that's the pinnacle of it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: That that's that's the highest of the highest you can go.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And in a way, you want to sort of try yourself in that at that highest peak.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then what better way as well to apply for a major?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's why if you notice, I only applied for two, Tokyo and uh Sydney, because that's the nearest to us.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: The rest will be like a lot, uh, Europe and US, it's a little bit farther away from us, Cape Town as well, is obviously a little bit far.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: But so that for me, marathon for me is like the pinnacle of it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a great, great challenge, John, if I if you're to you know to be honest about it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm not gonna lie, when I when I found out I got in, because obviously when you're sort of okay, let's try it, let's try.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not there yet.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just try it out, try it out, and try if you get the get the ballot and try to get the slot.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: But once you got it, and your name is on the sort of the list, and most importantly, when it's debited in your credit card, it just feels like, oh my, what have I gotten myself into?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's that's the number one question I got.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about you that made you think I can run a marathon at I imagine you were sort of 47 at the time you entered, or maybe just 48, you know, because that's you know, that's how obviously how old you are.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: But what was it that made you think I uh this is something I can do at this age?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because many people will think they were many people would, you know, using using natural language, would think they were perhaps past it at that age, and you know what I mean?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: So what was it that made you think, no, actually I can do this at 47, 48?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think the the odd 5 to 10k is is was easily doable for me at that time.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and because I lost that weight, yeah, I said to myself, you know, this is probably the best shape I'll ever be in terms of like uh the the weight that I I have now.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Plus also the the weekly workouts that I've been, well, it's twice a week workouts I've been doing, meant as well that in terms of like maybe fitness level, I'm probably there.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess it's more like a now or never thing zone, I think.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, yeah, I get that.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're at that point already in your life where in you say, all right, this is the best shape I could possibly be, and yeah, maybe it's about time to try to do to challenge myself as well.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so you get into Sydney, you get the email, you get the you get the money taken from you.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: What where does you where's the where does your head go then?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously you've never gone with respect, you've probably never gone anywhere close to doing that sort of distance before trying for anything like that.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So where did your head go?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: What was your what was your first thought?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let me share first what my wife thought of.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go, yeah.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're comfortable with, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So so so obviously I had to tell her eventually, uh, honey, don't it don't be surprised when the bill comes and there's this$400 uh a bill that's gonna come.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that she was always very sort of uh strongly opinioned about was that uh you I better get some help.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because obviously you hear about, especially now, uh well, in the Philippines, there was like two or three cases last year.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: They were playing basketball, right?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is just a normal pickup game, and they passed out and they died.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I I don't know the people, but I'm reading the news.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so my wife obviously, uh, with a could with that uh news coming out and said, you know, you're running, this is not a short distance.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you better get some help into how you're supposed to finish this, because obviously it's never gonna be a straightforward thing you can do tomorrow.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have to sort of plan it.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing I'll say also as well, um, I also got inspiration from my sister-in-law who also had her uh weight loss journey, and she did Sydney actually 2025.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: So she did it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was thinking maybe that's also a reason why I sort of tried Sydney as well, because well, you know, she's 12 years younger than than than than us.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but she she was able to do it as well, coming off again, uh her own health issues.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, but yeah, going back, so my wife said to me, You better get some help.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Don't worry, I will get some help.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because I will never, I I will never be in my mind.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, I I can probably wing it in terms of like researching and how to finish it.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but I don't know if I can sort of do well with winging it, you know.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So timeline wise, when did you actually find out you got in?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, first week of November.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you found out in the first week in November.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: So what did you do in between November and because we first I think we first spoke to each other in the spring, I think about February time.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: So what happened in that four months between finding out and you know, really sort of ramping it up?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so two things happened there actually.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thing was when I found out that I was gonna run uh Sydney 2086, um I said to myself, All right, I'm going to first challenge myself in finishing a 21k run.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So how to do that, how to do that, I said, okay, let's go to uh the the coach of choice now, which is AI.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I I got uh a plan from from from I think it was Chat GPT, and it was there was a plan how to finish 21k in however weeks.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was uh 10 weeks, if I may if not mistaken.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: So my goal then, first week of November, was to be able to run 21k before Christmas uh uh of 2025.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I gave myself around about uh oh, that was less than less than 10 weeks, no?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but uh yeah, but that was my goal.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was able to do that, I think, uh not quite well, but I was able to finish 21k.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not the best of results.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's half marathon, that's half marathon distance for anyone who does e-malls, by the way.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, carry off.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I was trying to to see how I I was gonna do with with the AI.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was okay, I think, in terms of like being able to finish, but the feeling of finishing 21k half marathon that time wasn't really particularly enjoyable.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: You want your runs to be enjoyable, you know.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you obviously you you sign up for um uh doing these early morning runs and all of this hard stuff, but at least you have a certain degree of enjoyment.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: You should get at least a little enjoyment from that.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't able to enjoy at all.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, so that at then at that point I was uh telling my wife, okay, maybe let's time it's time to get a real coach, uh a real live and breathing coach.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um I got a local coach from uh the Philippines, which we started, I think we started in uh January.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I wouldn't mention his name, uh, but um the the the issue with that one was I felt um, you know, John, um we're not really sort of uh born to know all of this stuff, like running stuff.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a ton of questions, I had a ton of questions.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um to to use the term, it was stupid questions.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, like I remember asking, so what exactly would you call a tempo run?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this one you can you can Google.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I know what Google definition of a tempo run is.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I just wanted more sort of clarification what it was because that was what was written in the the program, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, uh easy run, tempo run.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know exactly what a tempo run was.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess there was the relatability issue.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like a coach has to be you have it's a very personal choice, I feel like.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um obviously, you in terms of football, you have these brilliant footballers who are never good coaches because they can't relate to the players, you know, they can't express what they want to say and all of these things.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that was what was happening to the coach.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was, I would like to say he was a good runner.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he we we didn't have this rapport, we didn't have this connection.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to the point that I felt so intimidated in asking questions.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um which was like I felt like I was wasting his time.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, I know what you mean.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know, yeah, I know what you mean.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'll ask a question there.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I'll ask a question on that, in the sense of just going back a step, so many people who perhaps could get a coach, because let's let's separate this out here.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is about just coaching in general or getting help, because I'll say I'll add something in here.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: So many people who have got the means to get a coach, because obviously, if you haven't got the means to get a coach, whether that be time or financial, then that that will that's not in the conversation.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about people who have actually who actually can have got the means to do it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't, even with marathon, they they just try and wing it themselves.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: What was it for you that said I need help?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: What was it really for you that said I've got to get help?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I was asking, I think the trigger there, I was asking Chat GPT.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so exactly how do you take the gels, and what was your sort of um uh recommendation uh to get the the best out of the gels in your runs?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the chat GPT didn't doesn't run a marathon, hasn't run, will never run a marathon.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: So in in terms of like how they will answer me, I felt like, dude, I mean you you can't you can't you can't hand answer me that way because see I need answers based on people's real life experience.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, of course, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: That basically was a trigger point.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just need to get some help here.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: So talk me through your let's go through the marathon training journey then.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, from from start to finish, talk to me about the training process, which which for most people is the hardest bit of it all.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I'll hide to break it to everyone who's listening, but that is the most hardest part of it.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that training, the training cycle, yeah, it's it's really tough.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, so there's a plan.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I had you on board by then.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we were working together by then.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh actually um the 16-week sort of training block started in May.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we were already talking in April, which uh I was I'm very grateful for.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh at the start of the training block, there was like there were there were runs that uh you had to do.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um I remember the the second week I I asked you this specifically because um I was really getting ahead of myself and looking at the week seven, eight, nine, ten.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I we were in week two, right?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I was telling myself, uh John, I just finished uh I think it was 18 or something uh along that line, a kilometer run, and I really, really had to drag myself to finish that one.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's if there was a finish line, I would be crawling to the finish line.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had nothing left.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I was sure I ate properly, but I'm not sure uh how to finish it, given that I've given everything I've got.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do I finish that that that distance?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: 42 kilometers, that even a half, I cannot even finish half of uh the distance yet required.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really tough uh the first few weeks, a lot of doubts in my mind.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the situation in Manila running-wise wasn't really the best in terms of uh the heat and humidity, especially in the summer months.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about May.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: May it was uh summer time in Manila, so at the risk of sounding giving too much details, there was so much sweat in my socks.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was really that that bad.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um the my my shoes were getting a lot of foamy bubbles that uh I don't know if it was uh from too much soap or it was electrolytes from my body coming out.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like it was this the I mean it was really tough.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was not the easiest of places to to to train.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I guess you know that that difficulty, the the difficulty in terms of the humidity, first of all, was in my mind the one of the more important things that I have uh done in terms of the training block, because that one, together with all the challenges that followed later, the rain and uh all the other, you know, the the challenges as well, it really toughened my mind in the sense that, all right, if I were able to overcome this, obviously not easy.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Come race day, everything would be easier.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, you know, we're we're gonna run in Sydney where the weather is cooler and there hopefully will not be an issue with you know sweat in my socks.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it didn't, it didn't, uh, you know, spoiler alert, it did not.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean those were the things that really challenged me uh among many things in the training block.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And how did you deal with fit in the training in alongside quite clearly a busy family and business life?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um I'm a believer of uh early to bed, early to rise.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't really a problem for me in terms of uh waking up early.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the 4 a.m.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: alarm clock was really, really sort of uh a cliche as it sounds, right?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it was the the only way for me to get in my runs, weekday runs, and still make it in time uh to bring the kids to school and go to the office on time.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you to do that, you have to be early in bed as well.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that discipline that was instilled, I think, was really important at the time.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it carries on actually, it carries on to normal daily life.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I like particularly like the structure as really John, in terms of like the day-to-day of today's uh interval day, tomorrow is a rest day, the next day is an easy day.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: I particularly like that structure.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess uh tip for everyone who's who's sort of in the marathon training itself, you print that schedule out and you color the ones you finish, and by the end of the month, you see a colorful sort of uh uh maybe uh planner, and you just feel happy about yourself that you're able to do it.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, these things are are I mean, these things help, I guess.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I also I like to share the story as well in terms of the challenges in the uh in the marathon training.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so as we went along that that training program, um, week week two became week five, week six, so uh became week 10.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the distances grew longer, and you sort of gained that self-belief uh little by little, you know.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 18 becomes 21 kilometers and 21 becomes 25 kilometers.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of slowly you gain that belief.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um there was um particular run I I remember telling you you you as well.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was like week 13, week 12 or week 13.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is the very last long run that I had to do.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was a 34 kilometer run in miles, that would be 23.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: 22, I think 21, 22, yeah.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, miles.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I have to do that.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was telling you about the humidity and heat in Manila, like uh in May.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: This was already in September, I'm sorry, in July, August, when the reverse happened, the sun couldn't come out, as in it was like uh a deluge of torrential proportions every day.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it was uh uh the long run, obviously it's gonna be on a weekend, a Sunday.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was um it was raining for two weeks already, and that particular weekend there was a storm coming in Metro Manila, which obviously you you I don't know if it's better to run in the rain or in the heat.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't particularly like both of them, but uh I think running in the rain is is so difficult.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's so difficult.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I had we my wife and I made the decision, and thank you to my wife actually, who will be listening to this podcast because she was really supportive of my my this this dream of like this bucket list that you may call it.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: So she she drove me uh to a place in uh Laguna, which is like uh six sixty fifty-sixty kilometers away from Manila, where the rain will be a little bit lesser.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's still rain, but lesser.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: So in Manila, it was 60 millimeters of rain projected in there in Laguna was 30 millimeters of rain.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to do 34 kilometers of that distance.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did it in five hours, John.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, with 30 minutes of waiting in the shade for the rain to finish, and four and a half hours of trying to dodge uh the rain clouds where there was rain clouds and where there were no rain clouds.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um by the end of that one, I was literally really, really spent.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um maybe just a little bit of oversharing as well.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: But uh in that week when I had to do that run, um, I had to go undergo uh an emergency colonoscopy.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's three days before that run.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, three days before that run, I had to do that.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'll not I'll spare everyone the details.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, but but needless to say, for those of you who've undergone colonoscopy, you know that your electrolytes are gone, everything is gone uh on the day off.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: So essentially you have a stomach, you lost weight as well because obviously nothing is left in your stomach, including all your electrolytes, it's gone.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um I remember silently thinking uh how to run 34 kilometers in the storm after undergoing colonoscopy.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I have to do this 34 kilometer run.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what, John?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I I it it never crossed my mind not to do it, you know.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess it was maybe stubbornness or maybe the fact that I knew that if I were to miss this, it will not really uh it will be something in my head that will be thinking, you know, he could have maybe done this.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you have to be safe.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had doctor's clearance to to to do that.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's very important, by the way.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have the doctor to do that.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he said you're crazy, but if you want to do it, you can do it.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's no not not dangerous, but yeah, you're crazy.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: So physically you're okay, but just yeah, yeah, you're mentally you're not, but that I suppose that's a lot of that's a lot of marathon running in in general, isn't it?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh physically you're okay, but you know, the mental questions are different ones.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the marathon then.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that was your last run.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that was a couple of weeks before Sydney.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, talk to me about Sydney, and let's talk about what was your goal, what was your plan, and how did the rice go?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I mean, being a first-time marathoner, you generally I mean, you you think of numbers like you want to finish X hours, X minutes.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: But as we you you kept on discussing this during our weekly calls, you know, you just you just you can't put a number on a first-time marathon marathon runner.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: You you have a figure in your head, more or less, but you know, it's just a figure in your head.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have to actually do one and finish it.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh so I had I had a figure in my head, and I said, okay, this will be the pace that I'll do, which will get me through uh the end.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was thinking of doing it five and a half hours.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh Sebastian Sauey would have had two done two already and had had time for coffee.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, obviously.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah so so I have planned five and a half hours.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be the pace of around about seven minutes and fifty uh minutes per per kilometer.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think I think we we plan to do it very conservatively uh to start and and just try to gauge our sort of fitness levels at 30 kilometer mark and see how it goes.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't want to overextend yourself and then have this flame out in the end.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you you just want this day to be enjoyable, you know.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: As much as it can be, yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: As much as we can, as much as much as marathon running is enjoyable, you want it to be enjoyable.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um and I remember you asking me the day before, actually, uh checking up on me.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that, John, by the way.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um how I was feeling on a Saturday, because Sunday was a was a race.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I will I remember I remember debating whether I wanted to verbalize it by saying to you that, you know, I I'm feeling surprisingly quietly confident at that time because I think I think uh part of me was feeling that way because I did all those tough runs.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: I did everything that that was required of me.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um there was no more you can ask of me, I think.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh to I mean in terms of the planning, in terms of the strategy, we've we've got it bang on.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just a matter of executing it on race day.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that's obviously, you know, that's uh that's for tomorrow.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: But today on Saturday, I just felt, you know, I'm at peace.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was at peace.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking I could not do anything anymore uh further, just to be able to finish this marathon.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: So on Sunday, when I was in that start line, um I remember just uh looking back at our discussions um on first of all the pacing and and the strategy, and most of all, the confidence that was instilled in me by by the finishing the plan, essentially, and by well, your pep talk actually really helped as well uh the week before.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um it it was it was sort of a calming presence in the midst of I I remember looking left and right, and although some people were obviously they're not going to be showing nerves.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they're really showing nerves, but not outwardly, you know, they're happy and you know, but I feel like some of them, um, I was able to talk to a few of them, and they said in Filipino, there's a word called Bahalana, it's whatever will be will be.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the behind that word for them was that maybe they wouldn't really have uh the proper training, or maybe not enough plan behind it.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever we will be, it's I can't do anything about it anymore because but for me, those I had the same mentality, whatever we will be.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I had this, you know.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people will call me arrogant or what, but for personally, I feel like it is something I can do, I can finish it.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and and me, I mean, we so with the the race proper, we we ran uh the race.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: The plan was 30 kilometers.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: We we gauged by that point.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: By 24, I was looking at myself and I was thinking, you know, I think, I think the rice will will come into play here, all the all the difficulty.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's no my my my socks were dry, you know, there was no sweat and the sun is shining, it's cold, it's cool.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go for it.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: So by 24 kilometers, I really just amped up the pace.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm proud to say, John, by by kilometer 37, I was running like 20 seconds faster per minute until kilometer 37.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I would like to think that if your fastest lap among the marathon is kilometer 37, uh, I mean, I mean, I mean, you have to you know give it to that person because that that obviously you were fading.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can see the runners left and right are fading, but you're still going strong.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: But kilometer 37, I knew that I could finish.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, again, this is something that there was a hill coming out of 39, but I feel like you know, this is this is this is in the pocket there.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's um uh first thing, I think it's it's not arrogant because you followed the plan.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: Arrogance is an immature attempt to make it for a lack of self-worth, and that's not what we're doing here.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: You followed the plan, you've did the work, and there's almost a an inner sense of I've done the work here, so I've done everything I can to make this the best I possibly can.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: And secondly, and this again, uh I I think it may be a debatable point, but uh at least from my observation, if you can if you negative split a marathon, that is a well-executed marathon.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you well, if you negative split any race, arguably, but certainly marathon.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you negative split a marathon, I think you've executed that as well as you can.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: So well, thanks.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so thanks to you.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks to, you know, I mean, thanks to the plan.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was something that I felt like, all right, you want to finish on a high, you want to finish on a strong note, you want to finish smiling, and most importantly, you want to finish like saying that, you know, it was difficult, obviously.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, there's never gonna be an easy marathon, I don't think.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then you just feel come out of it saying, you know what, with the proper preparation, you can you can do that, you know, as opposed to, for example, um, like again, crawling yourself to the end and just saying it's it's it's not for me.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, both you give me end up at the same time, I think.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the experience is totally different.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you you probably enjoy if.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the word is wealthy, but you can probably enjoy the day more.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly I did.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking at the sites and all and better.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think I feel like I I think you want to, I think as as best you can, I think with marathons, and people have heard me talk about this before on podcasts as well.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is especially if you're doing a big major, because number one, like you said, there's going to be sites, there's going to be spectacle.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, you don't know when you're ever going to do that one again because it's very hard, they're very hard to get into.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, and like I always mentioned my London experience, I was fortunate enough to do it twice.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: The first time wasn't great because of circumstances.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I I was I was glad I was able to go back and actually fully observe absorb it all.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, when you're training for a marathon, I wouldn't want anybody for it to be excruciating, challenging, yes, of course, physically demanding, yeah, of course.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: But we want to be in control.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a lot of myths.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: I won't obviously go off in a rant about this, but there's a lot of myths that it has to be this terrible, excruciating, wall-hitting thing.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, it is a very physically demanding thing.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, it is, that's obvious.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't have to be impossible.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, you can enjoy the challenge of it like you did.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, and then a word about the wall as well.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, uh, this one I think is important for people who are probably sitting and thinking the wall is inevitable.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because that was one thing I was really worried about uh going into the race.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when I signed up for it and it got run, I was thinking, how am I going to avoid that?
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or if I do get that, how am I sort of navigating through it?
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because it seems like when you look at social media, it's inevitable.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has to go through it.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like um I can, well, from my uh experience, you don't have to.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think proper fueling and maybe just a little bit of common sense as well in terms of timing and maybe not as much ego as well.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps um uh pockets for your gels will be the key for not hitting the wall.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was I remember in kilometer 30, 32, uh, because that will be have been the threshold point where the longest run would have been for me in the training period.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I wasn't really bracing for it, if if there's a word, but I was at the back of my head, I was saying uh I have to be prepared when it comes.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: But then it didn't come and I felt stronger and stronger, on the contrary, as the race went along.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess it's to answer my own question, it's possible not to hit that wall and enjoy the last 10 kilometers of the race.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and what was your time?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's five official time is five fourteen.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: Five fourteen.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so 16 minutes faster than your projected initial goal.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: So very good.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, yeah, thank you.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're welcome.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, right, so thank you for that.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really inspiring story and um uh uh a testimony to just you know following a plan and being committed to it and disciplined around it, which I think is the most important thing when it comes to marathon training, however you do it.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the final couple of questions from me, Ryan.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the first one is um if there's anybody who's listening to this who is similar to yourself, maybe you know, mid mid to late 40s, maybe at that point when they've done a bit of running, maybe they've got that itch to scratch, um, and they're debating whether or not it's possible, what would you say to them?
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I I'll tell you now, whoever's listening, it is more than possible.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um the caveat there, obviously, is you have to know yourself.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you you have to really want it.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's that's the most important thing.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um, I also would like to highly suggest you get some help because um you want it to be enjoyable, you want it to be a healthy experience for you, and especially at our age, you don't want any injuries to happen to us, knock on wood.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's the last thing you're a recreational runner, you're not a professional runner, and to get injured while doing something recreationally is never gonna be in our age an enjoyable experience, right?
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh in terms of possibility, definitely go for it.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like uh once you are in the throes of it, uh it may sound difficult, it may seem difficult, and it is difficult.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: No one's gonna sugarcoat it, but once you finish it, uh I think it's indescribable.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the it it gets normalized now, and this is another topic for another day.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but uh I feel I feel like uh it's something that uh no one can take uh away from you, you know.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Finishing uh a marathon, it's something that in this day and age where you can fake your resume and fake everything and fake left and right.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: That one, if you can fake a certificate, fine, but finishing a marathon, no one can take that away from you.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a very, very enjoyable experience.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish that on everybody who even has an idea, maybe an inspiration, uh dream to try it out.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you never know until you do it.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: Very well, well said, which brings me nicely on to my philosophical question, which is how has this whole experience changed you, Ryan?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've always been a believer that uh two things.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: So first of all, you the the the if you are not afraid to do hard things, it just rewards you in the end, I think.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and nothing nothing uh worth achieving comes easy.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, that that that's that's I think so.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have to prepare hard for a marathon.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, if you prepare hard and you in deep in your mind, you know you did the work, it will show.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: It will show where whether it is your time, whether it is effort.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Time is relative.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can finish in six hours and finish strong.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not important.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: The important thing is just uh you know you did the hard work, and uh it will really show in the end.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, if and conversely, obviously, if you don't do the hard work, it will likewise show as well.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's ugly head.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, let's put a positive spin here.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: You you do the work, it it really shows you can finish strong, and it's possible, it's really possible.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, perfect.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: What's next for you?
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I you uh you told me not to look too far ahead, right?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: You told me not to look too far ahead.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: I put my name on the Tokyo ballot next year for next year for next year, for next year.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: But that was because the the deadline was um uh end of uh August.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right, okay.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to do it before I had to finish Sydney.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I know you did told me not to do it.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: He kept that quiet, folks.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: He kept that one quiet.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know you told me, I know you told me.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: But uh let's see, let's see.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well you got a bit of time.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: When do you find it's soon you find out for that, isn't it?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: End of uh September.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: End of September, okay.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, yeah, you got that's at least you yeah, that that's not not not a bad thing, not a bad thing at all.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because you got a bit of time to uh to get ready for that.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: So anything else from you, Ryan?
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um, well, I mean, personally, again, for anyone listening, just go for it.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you if you feel like there's there's a chance for you, just go for it.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you never know until you try.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe a ringing endorsement for John as well.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, a coach is a very personal choice for me personally.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I I would like to say, and this is recorded and on the record, that I would not have achieved that.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not the fastest time in the world, right?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: But that feeling of finishing strong and being happy and enjoying the experience, I will never had will never have that experience without John's health here.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you, John.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, I appreciate that, and thank you for uh thank you for being so um committed to the process.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because that that that that you know, you can as the old expression goes, you can you can only lead a horse to water, they have to drink.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, thank you for being so committed to the process.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you very much.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh if people want to follow you, Ryan, on online, can they do so and where?
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh Instagram and um X now, it's Ryan Phoenix, R-Y-A-N-F-E-N-I-X.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: So just give me a follow and I'll be more than happy to you know share you my rally notes, the the notes that really carried me through the race as well.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, rally, yeah.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we talked to yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you, Ryan.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: And thanks for being so open with your story.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I'm sure that will hopefully inspire a lot of people who are either thinking about doing a marathon or have potentially put their names down for one which they might be finding out soon.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and they're a little bit sort of maybe a little bit nervous or a little bit apprehensive about whether it's possible.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think that will certainly help inspire a few people.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you very much to you, Ryan.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks everyone for listening as always.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcast from, uh, Apple or Spotify.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you do listen on those platforms, please drop me a review on there.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's really useful and it helps me out a lot.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: And share this podcast with your friends or anyone you feel it might inspire.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you don't follow me on Instagram, please hop over to Instagram at 12 once to Marathon.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: Follow me over there uh for your daily content and tips.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if you go to the link in my bio, you can join my free running community for the over 35s where we can take you away from the noise of social media uh and connect and give you some help over there as well.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks again to Ryan.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, thanks to everyone for listening as always, and I'll speak to you all again very soon indeed.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Ryan.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.