Latest / Rise and Run / 262: Rise and Climb: Meredith's Kilimanjaro Expedition

Transcript

262: Rise and Climb: Meredith's Kilimanjaro Expedition · Rise and Run

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, this is your pal Doug calling from beautiful Half Pet Park in Brooklyn, New York.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to use some intros every now and then.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to say hi.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck with all your training.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I will see everybody at my first wine time marathon pretty soon.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Miss you all.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for all the support.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Love listening to you all on my run.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: It really keeps me going.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Happy running out there.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_06: That's our buddy Doug with the intro on his way to his first wine and dine.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_06: I was surprised to see that gang.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_06: First, I figure Doug's down there all the time.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_06: This is his first wine and dine.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_06: I know he's done other races, but we're looking forward to seeing him.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: We're looking forward to seeing you as well, my friends.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to episode 262 of the Rise and Run Podcast.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_06: We're, as always, delighted that you're here.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Bob, but I'm here this week with John.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, how are you doing?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_06: And with Alicia.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: Hello.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_06: And that's all.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_06: Greg's traveling and Jack is traveling.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_06: So we'll hold down the fort for you this episode.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_06: Interesting interview this week.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: Something just a little different.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: One of our rise and run friends, Meredith, made an extraordinary trip to Africa and participated with a group in a summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_06: Really, really exciting.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_06: It was fun talking and living through the trip with Meredith.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_06: We hope you enjoy that.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_06: In the race report spotlight, we had some three big race events this weekend: Berlin, Margaritaville, and Dollywood.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_06: And we asked one of our new friends, Ed, to join us.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_06: And Ed is telling us about the Dollywood Race Weekend.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_08: If you enjoy the Rise and Run Podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_08: We want to share on their Run Disney journey.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_08: Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise Run Podcast, on Instagram, on Riser Run Pod, check out our YouTube channel, and visit our webpage, RiserrunPodcast.com.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_08: If you have a question, comment, race report, or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: We also want to thank our patrons whose support helps keep the RiseRun Podcast rising and running.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check out patreon.com slash rise around podcast.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_06: The Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Magic Bound Travel.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, you got your room set up for all the race weekends yet?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_06: What you don't?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_06: Well, what are you waiting for?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_06: Get in touch with our folks at MagicBoundTravel.com.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_06: They'll get you a no obligation quote for your reservations.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_06: And remember, all of the agents that work with Run Disney Runners are experienced Run Disney runners.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_06: That's MagicBoundTravel.com is their website.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_06: Check them out.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, let's see, friends.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_06: I got a little bit of I'll call it an alibi.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_06: I work hard to get your race reports in, and I look a lot of times I look up until Thursday, or I'm sorry, Tuesday evening.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_06: And then every now and then Facebook will throw me a curveball, and I'll be on there on Wednesday and I'll see a report that's been up there for three or four days, and I never did see it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_06: Don't know why that happens, but that was the case for Megan, who did.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_06: Remember, we we talked about her doing the 49th running of the Great Cow Harbor 10K in Northport, New York, but we didn't have a report.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_06: Well, in fact, she had sent us one.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_06: She did it with her cousin, her uncle, and some fellow run club teammates, and she ran her second fastest 10K ever.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_06: So congratulations, Megan.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry we missed you last week, but hope we made up for it here.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_06: You know, friends, you you hear me and you hear us refer to rise and run quite often, and we use the word a lot of times community and sometimes family.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_06: And it's because we feel that way.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_06: It's genuine.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_06: I go back to my friend Jeff Galloway when he said to me, Bob, you can't fake that.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_06: So when something happens in the family that's sad, we want to we want to acknowledge it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_06: We want our friends to know that we've noticed and that we want to pass along our love.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_06: Well, our friend Spencer's mom passed away suddenly late last week.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_06: Spencer's mom must have been an incredible woman.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_06: She and Spencer's dad devoted their lives to foster care.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_06: They were foster parents for over 30 years to around 250 children.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_06: They ended up adopting nine to bring their total family to 13 children.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_06: Please keep Spencer and his family in your prayers today and this week.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_06: Let's move on to our training schedule.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my goodness, wine and dine is three weeks away.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_06: Just three weeks.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's at least have you started packing?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_05: I have not.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_05: I need to get my stuff together and start thinking about that.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's it's I'm I'm joking a little bit, but we're getting there.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_06: I was just before we started recording, I took a look.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_06: Our meetup is under the events on our Facebook group page.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_06: So if you're looking for it, you have to go to events.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_06: And I saw we have 73 people who said they're going.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_06: Now, 73 is, you know, probably an average turnout for us, maybe even a little bit small.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_06: But I got to tell you, in the couple of years that I've been announcing the event on Facebook, I've never seen 73 yeses.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_06: I think the most I've seen is like 40.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_06: We'll get 40 yeses and then 110 people will be there.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_06: So I am excited.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the meetup again, I'm going to keep harping on it until we're there.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_06: It's 3 o'clock on Saturday at Disney Springs in what used to be the food truck area.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_06: We do hope we can see you there.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_06: We we just love it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_06: We will take a group photo at 3:30, and then we'll just hang around until folks leave, which is normally around 4:30 or 5.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_06: So if you can't get there right at 3 and it's quarter to 4, drop on by.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_06: I promise you, some of our friends will still be there.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_06: But with three weeks to go, we're in training week number 15.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_06: The long run this weekend is four miles with a magic mile.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_06: It'll bump up next week.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_06: Will be the longest simulation, so you can look forward to that.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_06: But once that's done, it's taper time.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_06: Marathon weekend is 14 weeks away.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_06: 14 weeks until 5k day.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_06: We're under 100 days, kids.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_06: Under 100 days.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_06: From the day of recording now, it's 99 days.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_06: 97 from the day that the podcast releases.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: It goes quick.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_06: It does, doesn't it?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_06: The next thing you know, we'll be talking about springtime and the season's over.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_06: But look, let's not rush it.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_06: We haven't done Wine and Dine yet, so let's not rush it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_06: We're in training week 14.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_06: With 14 weeks to go, we're in training week 14.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_06: Uh double up week if you're doing one of the challenges.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_06: It's a five and a half mile walk and a 15-mile run walk.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_06: And of course, if you're training for the marathon, it is a 15-mile run this weekend.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's the training schedule.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_06: John, Alicia, how's your training going?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_06: It's going pretty well.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, I went I had a funny story.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_08: So oh, good.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_06: I like that, John.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_06: I like funny stories.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_08: I call it race against it.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_06: Wait a minute.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna get the laugh, I'm getting the laugh button ready.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_06: Go ahead.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_06: You go ahead.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_06: Better be better be funny now, John.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_08: It better be funny.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_08: So Thursday, I get ready, get get all my stuff, get my gym boss, put my have my my garment on, get ready to run.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_08: I put my garment on, I go, nine percent.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_08: So I go I go, okay, I think I should get this.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_08: It's only a half an hour run.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_08: I should be able to get this done.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_08: Then I look at my gym boss.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_08: It's like one bar.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_08: I'm like, uh, so my goal was to finish the run before my time ran out.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm which perfectly timed.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_08: The minute I got done with the run, the the Garmin goes, uh, you're low power mode.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_08: Let's go into low power mode.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_08: So uh I battery saver mode, sorry.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_08: And I clicked into battery saver mode and everything worked out.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_08: Like I it's that's one of my biggest fears.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_08: It happened to me once.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_08: My first marathon I ran at Disney.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_08: My my my my my watch died at mile 25.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_08: So I so I'm like, I so I never really did the first marathon, I guess, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_08: Because if it's not on your garment, you didn't do it.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_08: I'm on my garment.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_08: I didn't do it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_06: There's no proof.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_06: Are you still using the uh Jim Boss?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_06: What do they call it?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_06: Charge?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, the charge, the charge.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, okay.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_08: Mine's working pretty good so far.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_08: I I it is it's it's 100% charged right now, so it's all ready to go.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_08: And I just gotta remember to charge my garment more often sometimes because you're like, ah, yeah, it's it's there, it's there.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_08: Then then you go down and look and go, oh, I forgot I should have charged it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_06: I had no luck with the charges.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_06: In fact, I was going to share a tip for friends who use the traditional gym boss with a battery.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_06: I always replace the battery before marathon weekend.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and I am and I am like I said, kind of weird.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, I have my charge and I also have a battery-operated Garmin on me when I do my long run.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_08: So I can you know, I actually it works pretty well.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_08: So if I wanted to change intervals and never really kind of want to slow down, I can set the one up, boom, put it up and go.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_08: Or hopefully, if I remember, like I can what do you call set the other one up and go so I don't have to like we we did this uh the 10 mile last year, like yeah, for why is like we should be going up for an interval soon.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_08: It seems like a long run.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_08: It goes, oh, the timer stopped.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_08: So I've done that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_08: I think we've all done that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_08: Like, oh okay, that's why we're still running.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: So note to myself, which I literally wrote down to go charge my garment after this because I have a long run tomorrow.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_05: And I hate that when you wake up and you're like, oh dang it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_05: No, I can't go for a run until this is charged.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um but overall my training has been going well.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um I John and I always sign up for the free bimbo um races.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_05: They have a five K.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_05: Um I ended up doing both.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I did the 10K for myself that I did last Monday.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and then I ran the 5K with Yogi, who's my dog.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_05: He loves to run with me.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: Um we hadn't done that long of a run for a while.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I was like, it's it's kind of long, bud, like, can you do this?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_05: And he was so excited.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_05: We kept a really good pace too, like 12 30.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, he was flying.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_05: He ran the whole thing.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and so that was really fun to just get that time.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I thought I was gonna be so tired and like sore the next day.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: He was like, Are we going?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Are we going for um so that was fun?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um, fun little sidek of of races and um just something kind of different to do in my training.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_05: But like I said, tomorrow is back to long run and getting back at marathon training bullet.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and it sounds great.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_08: And the positive is me and Alicia this year actually put our times in on Twitter.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: We did.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Last year we forgot this.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, okay.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_08: I know you have a week to do it.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_08: You have a week to get your medal?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_08: So oh, I forgot.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_08: Let me put it in Monday.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_08: Um just expired.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_08: I'm like, oh damn.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_08: Uh I did it too, and I just never put it in.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_08: I was too lazy to go there.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like, uh, yeah, I emailed them last week or last year, and I was like, please, like, I'm only a couple hours late, and they're like, Nope.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like, oh dang it, I did it.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_06: I did that one year a couple years back.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: Pretty neat.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: It's fun just to good swag too.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_06: For a free especially for the entry fee.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_05: You can't be free.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_06: I still wear the socks.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_05: My mom stole mine, but I I like those socks.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_06: We're talking training.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_06: I want to share a story, and I I share this story in an attempt to help you out, my friends, because don't don't be like me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_06: Don't be like Bob.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_06: Let me go back a week, and I did mention it in the last episode that I ran a 9K race down here in St.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_06: Petersburg on a pretty warm day.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_06: Now, no warmer than I've been used to, but it was pretty warm.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_06: Very little shade.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_06: And I did mention that it didn't go well.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't give a lot of detail.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_06: I'll go back even further.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_06: Two weeks before that race, that 15K, two weeks prior, I did a 14-mile training run.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_06: It went all right, not perfect, but okay.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_06: I finished the 14 miles.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_06: The week before, I did bird in hand.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_06: And again, it went all right.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_06: It wasn't my best race, but it went okay.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_06: So now I've got a 15K.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_06: That should be easy.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it should be relatively easy.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_06: I got to mile six and I could not run anymore.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_06: I was totally spent.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_06: I could not run anymore.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_06: I walked in the last three miles.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_06: I walked across the start-finish line.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_06: I mentioned my friends Richard and Krista were there.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_06: They literally held me up.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_06: I I put my hands down on my knees, and my friend Krista said, no, no, no, don't do that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_06: And she was 100% right.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_06: But I just couldn't move.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_06: Now she's right because when you're running or cycling or doing any kind of exercise at your lower extremities, your muscles are contracting and they're helping your heart circulate blood.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_06: So if you stop instantly like that, you increase your risk of passing out, which I thought I was going to do.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_06: But I just she was right, but I just couldn't go.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_06: So I saw what I thought was a medical tent.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_06: Turned out, I think I said this last week, turned out just to be a vendor who was uh you know, was dealing with hydration, etc.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_06: She was helpful eventually.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_06: I recovered.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't I did not die, which is a good thing.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: That's good, yeah.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, but uh but uh it was clear I couldn't continue like that.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_06: I just no way I could continue whatever the heck I was doing wrong.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_06: Now I think it came down to a couple of things.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_06: The heat didn't help, but that's just a subtext.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_06: I do take a low dose medication for blood pressure, and I've experienced this before.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_06: When I get dehydrated and I'm on that blood pressure medicine, it I get very, very faint.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_06: I have talked to my physician about it, and she told me it's okay not to take it on the day of erase, the day before.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_06: I did it this time.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_06: I just wasn't thinking I'd take them at the same time, and but I had taken it.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_06: So let me underline this.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_06: I'm verbally underlining.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_06: See, I'm making a line with my finger.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_06: Don't do that unless you talk to your doctor.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_06: Don't you decide, I don't care what the medication is, don't you decide you're not going to take it unless you talk to your doctor?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_06: But I it was more than that.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_06: And I really think it was nutrition.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_06: I have been working with Tom, and Tom's a nutritionist, and I I should have talked with him more, I should have asked him more questions.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_06: I just went about trying to get as much protein as I could in my diet, and when I looked at it, I was getting almost zero carbs.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: I mean very, very low daily carbs.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_06: So I think between the medication and the nutrition, that might have been my problem.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_06: This weekend I had 17 miles on the training schedule.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_06: I actually had a four-mile walk on Friday and then 17 miles on Saturday.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_06: I made it a point to get some carbohydrates.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_06: I even planned, we had a we had a lovely weekend here this last week.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_06: It was uh we called it fake fall.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_06: The temperatures are going back up, but it was beautiful.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I planned to get out at 7 a.m.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_06: when the temperature was going to be 65, and the dew point was like 60, which was great for here.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_06: It's fantastic.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_06: I got up at 4 a.m.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: and made a bowl of oatmeal with some blueberries.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_06: So I had those carbs three hours before I left.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_06: Then about 30 minutes before I left, I had a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_06: Clearly, no nutrition in the coffee, but the bagel with peanut butter is more carbohydrates there.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_06: And then I have some carbohydrates, some scratch carbohydrate bars.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_06: I I took one of those along the way.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_06: I also did something, and if have I used this phrase yet in this little discussion, that for a smart guy I do a lot of dumb things.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_06: I I haven't said that yet today.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think today.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_06: I don't think so.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah, you'll hear it again.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um I know I need to take nutrition during a run.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_06: I've known it for years.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_06: I'm terrible at it.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_06: I'm terrible at it.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_06: And I just part of it could be getting older.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_06: I just have to do that.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_06: This worked out much better.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_06: Now the plan was to walk two miles, run 13, and walk two.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_06: And the way my course laid out, it was much easier for me to walk two and a half, run twelve, and walk two and a half.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_06: That's just it was just ideal to do that.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_06: Now remember just the week before I couldn't make six.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_06: I walked two and a half.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_06: I did my six-mile loop in the the park that I run in.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_06: I felt fabulous at that point.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_06: I felt fantastic.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_06: Good.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_06: Uh got three more miles in, still felt great.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_06: Wasn't hurting.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_06: I just started getting tired at that point.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_06: Because that goes back to another thing that I need to learn to do.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_06: Gosh, you know, someday maybe someday I'll figure this out.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_06: But I've been working with customized training for years, and Coach Twiggs always talks about the speed limit on the long runs.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_06: And I don't pay a lick of attention.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_06: I go too fast.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_06: I don't go fast, but I go too fast.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_06: So I need to, I'm going to work on that also.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_06: That was something, Alicia.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_06: It's a question we always get.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_06: And we'll get it again, and we'll probably ask somebody else before we hit Marathon Weekend.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_06: But how can you go fast by training slow?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_06: What does that do for you that helps you out?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: We hear this a lot.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_05: We've we've talked to Jeff and we've talked to Chris about this idea of going slower on those longer runs.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_05: And truly, the long runs are where our body is getting used to the longer miles.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_05: That's where it's learning those distances.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_05: And so that really is not the time to work on the pace.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_05: So when they continuously tell us, and I say this to my clients too like you can't go too slow on those long runs because it's more about the time on your feet than it is on that pace period.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_05: It's the other runs that we're doing during the week that then we can work on getting faster.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_05: And so ultimately, it does help us to get faster for those shorter runs by going slower on the longer ones.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_05: Because if we push too hard, It increases our risks for injury and other things like your experience.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_06: Very true.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_06: Very true.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_06: I think it does two things for us.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_06: It increases our endurance.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_06: That's the big thing.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_06: And the second thing, then, and I've talked about this before too.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_06: I ran three miles this morning.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_06: You can't run 17 at a hard pace and then continue your training.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_06: You have to continue your training.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_06: So you need to back that off.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_06: So those are my lessons for this last couple weeks.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_06: Duh.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_06: Nutrition matters.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_06: Get your proper carbs.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_06: It just makes an absolute world of difference.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_06: I have one more thing that I don't usually do, but halfway through this I turned on holler hype.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_06: I did it at uh Bird in Hand.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_06: And I did hear I haven't enjoyed it that much in the past because I usually listen to podcasts.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_06: And the holler hype coming in off over the podcast wasn't that cool.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_06: But I was listening to music this time.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_06: And it made it even better.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: It like dims the music and then you get to hear your friends.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_06: It was neat, and I appreciate it.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_06: The other thing was, oh golly, I don't know what time of night it was.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: But I must have had my phone or something, and I hear somebody talking to me, and I had forgotten to turn holler hype off.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: I've done that before.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_06: And I had I had logged 65 miles, some of it, a good chunk of it, in my car with you know like two-minute mile paces and like that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_06: So all right, friends, that's my training update for the week.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_06: So before we get to our our interview for this week, I friends, I made a mistake about Zoom.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_06: Now it's too late for this.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_06: By the time you hear this, it's going to be too late.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_06: I did post this to Facebook.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_06: We will have our regular Zoom tonight, Thursday night.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_06: That login information is already on the Facebook page.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_06: What I've been calling the EuroZoom, I really did mean to have that the first Wednesday in October, which I thought was October 1st, but I was wrong.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_06: That's actually Thursday.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_06: So October 7th, the first Wednesday in October, we will have a Zoom at 3 p.m.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_06: Eastern Time here in the U.S.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_09: Caution runners.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_06: Change of topic ahead.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_06: Friends, something a little different this evening.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_06: We've got a rise and run friend with us that we want to talk about.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_06: She hasn't written a book.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_06: We're not going to talk about a marathon or train.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_06: What she did is she climbed the tallest peak in the continent of Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, which is in the country of Tanzania.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_06: And it peaks out at about 19,300 feet.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_06: Meredith, we're glad you're here.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Bob.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm so happy to be here with you all.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_06: We're glad.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_06: Now we talk about hill training, but this is pretty wacky.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, this is this is not hill training.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_06: This is something very impressive.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_06: We got a chance to meet you and get to know you a little bit at bird in hand.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_06: There were hills there.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_06: Not the same, right?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_04: There were definitely hills on that course, without a doubt.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_06: But not the same.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_04: And not the same.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I mean, I think it is um, you know, it's similar, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_04: When you're when you're hiking up a mountain and when you're running up a hill.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think the difference between doing a race that has hills and doing what I did and climbing Kilimanjaro is Kilimanjaro, you go a lot slower.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: And in fact, that that's the strategy, right?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_04: Is to go really slow when you're going up the mountain.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: So so that's the big difference.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_06: Well, yeah, we'll get into that in some depth, especially those altitudes you're at.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_06: But what made you decide to do this?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I have always really liked hiking.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, I had, and and you know, I didn't do really extreme hiking, but but probably for the last 20 years or so, I've just enjoyed getting out in nature, doing local hikes around where I live, you know, going with my husband and, you know, dog hiking.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_04: And and about four or five years ago, I I actually had a sabbatical coming up at work.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: My organization, after 10 years, you you get a paid sabbatical, and which is amazing.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_04: And I thought for a long time about what I wanted to do with that sabbatical.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I decided I wanted to do something that felt like a, you know, a physical challenge, right?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_04: Something that really was going to get me outside of my comfort zone.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_04: And so I decided to do a multi-day hike in Europe that's called the Tour de Mont Blanc.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: And you essentially hike around the base of Mont Blanc.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's a very famous hike.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, there are different routes, but I spent about a week doing this.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: And you start in France and then you hike for a while in France, then you get to Italy, then you get to Switzerland, and you finish back in France.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_04: And it was the most magical experience.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_04: I absolutely loved it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: And then I was sort of bitten by this multi-day hike bug, I guess.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I started looking for other ones to do.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then I did the Grand Canyon, which was a really, really terrific, almost spiritual experience.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I did a trail in California called the Lost Coast Trail.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's in far northern California along the coast.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_04: So you basically hike for four days on this rough and wild beach in Northern California.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_04: And it's a backpacking trip and you're camping.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_04: And that was an amazing experience.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: But throughout all of these hikes, you know, I'm doing them with other people and, you know, talking to our guides and talking to my fellow hikers, and Kilimanjaro kept coming up.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_04: And the first time it came up, I sort of thought to myself, oh, I have no interest in doing that.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_04: That's too much, right?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's too extreme.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then it kept coming up.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_04: And then I found myself really thinking about it, considering it.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_04: And and finally I decided, you know what?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_04: I want to do it.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: And and I signed up to do it.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: And then it was still a whole year before I actually went on the trip.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: So I had lots of time to prepare, right?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I mostly trained for the hike through running, which we can talk about.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_04: But but I also had lots of time to um to overthink certain aspects of it.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_04: So by the time it actually got to the day that I was leaving for Tanzania, you know, I remember actually the night before sitting at my kitchen table talking to my husband Patrick and saying, Can I do it?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I don't know if I can do it.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_04: I feel really nervous.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just not sure that I'm up for it.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_04: And he said to me, Of course you can.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_04: Are you kidding?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_04: Of course you can do it.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: You'll do it.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_04: And that kind of gave me the boost I needed to get on that plane and really take it on.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: So you just talked about it a little bit.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but what did training look like for this trip?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_04: Training really looked primarily like running for me.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, it's interesting because so I live in in Jersey City, New Jersey, not too far from John.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm at sea level, right?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: I do not live in altitude.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_04: And in fact, I've never lived at altitude.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I knew that I couldn't really do much to prepare my body for altitude in advance of the hike.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: And I just had to accept that.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_04: But what I wanted to do was to get myself in the best sort of aerobic shape, right, that I possibly could.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: Because I knew the better shape I was in and sort of the more physically fit I was, the easier the hike was going to be, like the physical part of the hike.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and you can train for that, right?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_04: You can train to be able to handle many hours of uphill walking every day.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: You can't train your body to be at 19,000 feet.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, but I wanted to give myself the best chance of being successful.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I did a whole lot of running.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_05: Working on like the inclines, was there something that you found within the running?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: Because I know a lot of us that don't have hills around are always looking for ideas.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: But um, specifically, I mean, this is a big incline.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_05: Is there something you found that worked the best for you to work on those?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I definitely did hill repeats just when I was outside, kind of running, running around my my neighborhood.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_04: I also went to the gym.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: And actually, I've done this before all of my big hikes that I've done.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_04: Gone to the gym, gotten on the stairmaster, you know, climbed those stairs on the stairmaster, gotten on the treadmill, put it up, you know, put the the incline up.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_04: And and that is helpful, but but what they always say, they people who know about hiking, always say that the very best thing you can do to prepare for a hike is is hike.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_04: So, so I also just tried to do a lot of hiking.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_04: Now, again, I'm not in altitude.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_04: I also don't have a lot of hills really, even where I live, or a lot of hiking trails with a lot of ascent.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_04: But I did get out and did a lot of hiking.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_04: I I did a challenge last year that was called the 52 hike challenge, where you hike, you do a hike, uh at least one hike a week all year.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I completed that, that challenge.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_04: But um, but yeah, it was it was very interesting, sort of thinking about the all the ways that running can prepare you for an experience like Kilimanjaro, and then the ways that it can't.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_04: And really the the primary way that it doesn't prepare you is with the altitude.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_04: But but I think preparing you, in addition to just, you know, again, the sort of cardiovascular system, right, being morphit is um, you know, when we run, right, we we sort of get used to being a little uncomfortable, right?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, and also knowing that discomfort doesn't necessarily translate to danger, right?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you can you can run and maybe not feel so great, or maybe feel a little tired, or maybe your legs feel heavy, and you can keep going and finish the race, right?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: Or or the training run or whatever it is that you're doing.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that almost mentality, I guess, or sort of confidence in being okay through discomfort, also really prepared me for Kilimanjaro.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_06: Meredith, I'm assuming you went with some kind of a group or that this was some kind of a package, right?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_04: I you you actually have to.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_04: Legally in Tanzania, you're not allowed to just go and climb Kilimanjaro on your own.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_04: You have to be with a group, you have to be with certified Tanzanian mountain guides.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_04: So so I definitely went that route.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_06: Did they help in your preparation at all?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_04: They did.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_04: And and actually, I'll give them a shout-out.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_04: They're called WO, and it's an acronym that stands for Women High on Adventure.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_04: So this was an all-female group that I was with.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I didn't know that.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they're an absolutely incredible company.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_04: I've actually done several hikes with them, and they plan group adventures and hikes all around the world.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_04: So I went with them, and yes, they they provided a lot of information to us about what to expect.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_04: They also gave us information about how to train, but they even have a personal trainer on contract that if you want to, you can work with this personal trainer to really ensure that you are as fit as possible and as ready as possible for whatever hike it is that you're going to do with them.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: So, so the information from them was helpful.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: And they also provide a lot of detail around the gear that you need to bring, which is which is also very, very important.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: So I felt extraordinarily well supported before and during this experience.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_06: Very good.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_06: Any surprises in what they asked you to do or ask you to bring?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_04: I guess one surprise was just how much gear you need and what you have to bring.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_04: And and honestly, a lot of what I needed to bring to Tanzania, I didn't actually bring with me on the mountain.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: And that's because Kilimanjaro, the the weather could basically be anything, right?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: And and in fact, is very changeable as you climb an elevation, certainly.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_04: But but also is, you know, at a at the same time of year at the summit, you could have tons of snow and ice, and it could be totally windy, or it could be, I mean, it's always cold, but it could be less cold with no snow, right?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got to bring your cramp-ons, even though you don't know if you're going to need them.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I had to bring a lot of things with me.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_04: And then the day before we left for the hike, we met with our mountain guides who had updated information on the conditions and what the weather was like on the mountain, and went through everything and decided what we actually needed to bring with us on the climb.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_08: What did you pack that turned out to be the absolute essential item for this trip?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I'll give I'll give you the real answer and then maybe I'll give you the sort of more fun answer, the thing that I was grateful I had with me.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so the most essential item was my hiking boots.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: And and these are hiking boots that are not new.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: I've actually had them for quite a long time.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, I'm feeling like maybe this was the last big trip that these boots are going to be able to make because they're kind of on their last legs.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: But but those boots, yeah, I lived and died by them, right?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, and they they did not let me down.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_04: They kept my ankles supported on that uneven terrain because it's very rocky on the mountain and you know, lots of opportunities to sort of twist your ankle.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: I had no problems at all with those boots keeping me supported.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_04: I had zero blisters the entire time, which is really remarkable.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, some of my fellow hikers were struggling with blisters and were, you know, taping their toes and had all these hot spots and stuff.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: And I didn't.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_04: So I will say that is probably the most essential item.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: This this is not a climb that you can do in trail runners, right?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: Or sneakers, right?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: You really, you really need to have some sturdy hiking boots.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_04: Thing that I did not need to bring, but was very grateful to have was a little bottle of tahine, you know, the oh yeah, um the the spice tahine.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because the food that you eat while you're on the trek is very bland.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_04: And it and it needs to be because when you're at altitude, your stomach, your digestive system um doesn't want to work uh, you know, in the same way that it does when you're not at altitude and it's more difficult to digest heavy food.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: So we had a lot of bland food, we had a lot of carbs, and while the food that we ate was good, you know, it was a little boring.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_04: And and, you know, especially by day three, four, five, six, it started to get really boring.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: So I was so happy to have that tahine.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_04: I was kind of sprinkling out on everything.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_04: And then another uh woman in my group brought a little uh container of craft parmesan cheese, and that went real quick.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: We were sprinkling that on everything together.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_08: We talked about the gear you got, your training, but there's something else.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_08: What was the mental training that you did for this trail?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_08: Sorry, what was the mental training that you did to take yourself outside of your normal, going up 19,000 feet?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that it was so important, you know.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_04: And it's not to say that mind over matter means that suddenly your mind overtakes your body, right?
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: And you can sort of do anything because you've decided you can.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, obviously, I really prepared myself physically as much as possible to do this hike, but it was definitely a huge mental challenge, especially Summit Night, which I know we're gonna we're gonna get to and talk a little bit more about.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, but I think just really deciding I'm not gonna negotiate with this mountain, right?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just going to decide that unless something really goes wrong, right?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_04: Really physically goes wrong, and I just cannot make it to the summit, I can't do it, I'm going to get to the top of this mountain.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_04: And again, I think running sort of prepares you for that a little bit, right?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you're you're doing a race and you know, you're you're feeling uncomfortable and you're feeling like you you could stop, right?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_04: You could quit.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_04: And then just really making the decision.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_04: No, I'm gonna keep moving forward, I'm gonna keep putting one foot in front of the other, I'm gonna be able to do that, right?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_04: As long as I'm not injured, as long as it's safe for me, I'm gonna keep going, I'm gonna make it to the finish line.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: And it was similar, I think, with climbing this mountain, like really just making the decision that I was gonna do it and I was gonna get to the summit was was huge.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_05: Let's talk about getting to and arriving to Tanzania.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_05: What was going through your mind when you you came into this new country?
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the first thing going through my mind is I really hope my bag made it because my bag had all the gear I needed.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_06: Very practical.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_04: I, you know, I brought my boots, my hiking boots with me on my flights, but you you have to check hiking poles.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_04: You're actually not allowed to bring hiking poles in a in a carry-on bag.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_04: And and you know, and obviously I had a whole lot of other gear that I really needed, warm, you know, layers and that kind of thing in my suitcase.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_04: So so that was honestly my first thought is I got off the airplane, um, you know, at Kilimanjaro Airport, which is which is in Tanzania, and went over to the baggage uh claim, that conveyor belt, and I watched all the bags coming out, and my bag wasn't coming, and my bag wasn't coming, and my bag wasn't coming.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_04: And I, you know, immediately started thinking, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_04: What's okay, what's my plan B?
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_04: What's my plan C?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: What, you know, and then the very last bag that came out was my bag, and I was so relieved.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so so anyway, that was the first thing that went through my head.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: And then the next thing that went through my head is I can't wait to meet the other women that I'm going to be sharing this experience with.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: Actually, two of them I already knew because we had hiked the Grand Canyon together.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: But um, but we were a group of eight.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_04: And other than the two women that I had hiked with before, I hadn't met anyone before.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's always, you know, it's a little nerve-wracking, right?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_04: How are we gonna get along and um what's everyone going to be like?
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_04: But of course, everyone was wonderful and we got along extremely well.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we were best friends after 12 hours, you know.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then just, yeah, a lot of uh anticipation for the climb and everything that it was going to bring.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_06: You leave the airport, where do you head?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_04: We went to a beautiful, actually, lodge in Moshi, Tanzania, which is the jumping off point for most people who are climbing Kilimanjaro, a little town called Moshi Touristy, sort of town.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_04: And uh yeah, took a, I took a nap because I'd been traveling for a long time, and then um, and then got up and met my fellow climbers, and then we met with our mountain guides who were going to be leading us up the mountain.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_04: And that's when we did the gear check that I was describing earlier and and deciding what it is that we really needed to bring with us and what we could leave behind.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_06: So you're you're there at the lodge for a while.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_06: What's the first day on the mountain like?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_04: So we actually started our hike the following day.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we left at about 10 a.m.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_04: from this lodge in Moshi, drove maybe an hour, hour and a half to the um Machame gate.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: So there are actually several different trails that you can take up Kilimanjaro, and they take different lengths of time.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_04: And the Machame Trail, which is the route that we did, is a seven-day hike.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: So you climb up for five days, and then it takes two days to come down.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: So, and and Kilimajaro is a national park.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_04: So you go to the gate of the route that you're going to take.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_04: They check paperwork, uh, you know, you have to show your passport.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_04: They also check all of your gear that you're bringing, the Tanzanian officials, because they wanna make sure that you're not bringing anything prohibited on the mountain.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_04: You can't bring plastic.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_04: Uh You can't bring alcohol.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_04: You um can't bring, I forget, there's a whole list of things that you're not allowed to bring, and they really look through your backpacks and they, you know, and your duffel bags, and they make sure that you don't have any of those things.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_04: So what so that actually took probably three, four hours to sort of go through that whole process with the officials at the gate.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_04: And then finally we were we were allowed to proceed and we started our climb.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_06: And then what's your daily routine?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_06: What are the camps like?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_06: Uh food, how did it go?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_04: As I said before, when you climb Kilimanjaro, you actually climb through five different climate zones, and they're all very different.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_04: And that is one of the things that makes Kilimanjaro so special and so unique from other mountains.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_04: So the the first day we were in a rainforest and it was relatively warm.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we started um we started climbing and you're you're immediately climbing uphill.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, you start to get a little sweaty, you know, you're taking your layers off.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, we just were enjoying the flora and fauna around us.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_04: We saw a little chameleon that was adorable.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_04: We saw some monkeys and, you know, herd some wonderful birds.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then we arrived at our first camp.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, this is tent camping, right?
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_04: These aren't lodges, they're not huts, right?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_04: You're you're uh sleeping in tents, very nice big tents, but still tents.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_04: And so we we sort of got into our tent, and then I thought to myself, wow, you know, I was feeling so warm in the rainforest and you know, was almost, you know, kind of getting a little sweaty and had to take off some layers, but I'm starting to get cold now.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I remained cold for the next six days.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, golly.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_06: Golly.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_04: It is very chilly.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_06: So about how many miles that first day did you hike?
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we what when you're doing one of these long hikes, you almost never measure the distance in miles.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: You measure it in time.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_04: And that's just because the routes can be so varied, so challenging, right?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_04: You're going uphill, you're going downhill, right?
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_04: And you you have to go more slowly.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_04: So, so typically you you sort of speak in in units of time as opposed to units of distance.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_04: So almost every day, um, except for some at night, which again we'll get to, but every every day we hiked about six, seven, eight hours.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, very doable, right?
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, these were relatively long days, but not extraordinarily long.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_04: And then typically when we would get to our camp each, you know, afternoon is usually when we'd arrive because we'd leave, leave pretty early in the morning.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_04: We'd get there in the afternoon, you know, we'd rest an hour or something like that.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: And then our guides would take anyone from the group who was interested in doing what they called an acclimatization hike on another, another shorter hike.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_04: And what we would typically do is hike maybe an hour, hour and a half further up the mountain and then come back down.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_04: And again, you do that to try to get your body used to the altitude.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_04: And there's a philosophy, I guess, on Kilimanjaro that is known as hike high, sleep low.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_04: And what that means is you always hike further, hike higher up than you're going to sleep.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: So you, you know, you're you're following the trail and you know, sort of almost going past your camp, and then you come back down to where your camp is to sleep.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_04: And again, that's all part of getting your body used to being at altitude because each day you're getting higher and higher and higher, and you want to be able to stay feeling well all the way through that push to the summit.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_08: You're talking about these camps and it's tent camping.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_08: Now, are these tents set up?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_08: They're ready for you.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_08: Do you got to set them up?
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_08: And how is it at these camps?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, great question, John.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_04: So, so every distance hike that I have done before this trip, I always had to set up my own tent.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_04: And I was actually kind of proud because I got pretty good at it and, you know, could do it pretty quickly.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, I never really went camping as a kid.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_04: So this is something I definitely learned, right?
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: You know, in recent years how to do this.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_04: On Kilimanjaro, the group is so well supported that you basically don't have to do much of anything besides hike.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_04: So you don't have to set up your own tent.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_04: We had a crew of porters supporting our group of eight women hikers, and they set up our tents for us and they would go ahead of us.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_04: They're so strong and they're so fast.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_04: They went way faster than we could.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: They'd go ahead of us every day, get to the camp before we did.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_04: And once we arrived at the camp, everything was set up for us.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_04: We had our sleeping tents, we had a mess tent where we would have our meals, and we even had toilet tents with portable toilets in them, in these little tents uh for us to use.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_04: So it felt, frankly, for camping rather luxurious um and nice.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_06: Now you you talk about the guides.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_06: What tell us about the role the guides play and how they help you and your fellow climbers?
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, we we we wouldn't have been anywhere without our guides.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_04: I they were absolutely critical.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, so knowledgeable.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_04: Our our two main guides were named Amor and Abu.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_04: And they both had been Kilimanjaro mountain guides for years.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_04: It's actually a very prestigious job to have in Kilimanjaro.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, in fact, even being a porter, right?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_04: The folks who are, you know, carrying everything and setting up the tents, that's considered a really good job in Kilimanjaro.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of the porters actually sort of graduate to become mountain guides.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_04: So all of our mountain guides had been, we had four total, had had started off as porters and had been porters for at least three years before they became mountain guides, but there's a you know whole certification process.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_04: You have to take a test, you have to study.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_04: And so they were very knowledgeable.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_04: They were, you know, not only guiding us in terms of showing us the best route to take, and um, you know, when we got to sort of difficult sections of the trail, where to put your hand, where to put your foot, you know, when you're actually climbing.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_04: There was one section of the trail that is a essentially a sheer rock wall.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it takes a couple of hours actually to get up it.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's called the Bronco Wall.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_04: And they were like right next to us every step of the way, you know, ready to sort of reach out, help if anybody was slipping, again, showing us sort of where to place our hands and feet to make sure that we were as safe as possible.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_04: And um, and then they were also just emotionally supportive, right?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this is it's a tough experience to have.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't know if you all are familiar with the phrase type two fun.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_04: So something we uh we talk a lot about in in hiking.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think it actually applies to running too.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_04: Type two fun is something you choose to do that when you reflect on it later, you think it was fun, but when you're actually in the middle of it, it's not that fun.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_06: We're familiar, yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_04: So so that's kind of what what this experience is, right?
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you're grateful to be there.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: There are moments of wonder and magic and you know, laughter, but but a lot of it's pretty grueling and tough and you know, and uncomfortable, right?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I said before I was cold for six days.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: I I could not get warm for six days.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_04: It was so cold.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, I had every layer on.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: I'd get in my sleeping bag at night and zip myself up and put my, you know, um hood around me and sleep with a beanie on and everything.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_04: So, so it's tough, right?
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: Physically.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_04: And our guides were always so encouraging of us, always telling us we were doing a great job, telling us that they were proud of us.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_04: And that was so helpful and, you know, really got me through a couple of rough moments where I was sort of like, oh my gosh, why did I sign up for this?
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_04: What, you know, what am I doing here?
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, was just so grateful to have their encouragement and their support.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_05: Speaking of that difficulty, was there a moment when you wondered whether you were gonna make it or not to to the summit?
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_04: There, I'm thinking about that question, Alicia.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know that there was ever a moment where I thought, I'm not gonna make it.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_04: But there were definitely several hours when we were pushing to the summit where I thought I am going to be so relieved when I get to the top of this mountain.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_04: Like I am not having a good time right now.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_04: And and, you know, this is the hardest thing I've ever done, right?
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I think again, for for runners, you're, you know, we've all sort of had this experience where you're just like really struggling on a, you know, in a race or, you know, even on a training run.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_04: And you sort of think to yourself, like, oh my gosh, you know, am I going to be able to, you know, push through?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I, you know, what do I need to do?
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_04: And and like you just sort of decide you're gonna do it, and you know, and you're gonna make it.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_04: And and, you know, I definitely had several of those moments.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_04: But but yeah, I never I I almost didn't allow myself to think that I was not going to make it.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_04: I was just going to make it.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_06: I'm I'm curious.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_06: Now, I have some experience, but nothing like, nothing like what you've done.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_06: But once you get above, let's say, 12 or 14,000 feet, breathing becomes difficult, and just moving forward 10 or 15 steps becomes very hard.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_06: How are you able to deal with that?
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, that is true.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_04: That is true.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I mean, the the first thing I'll say is our acclimatization work really worked, right?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there is uh, you know, a strategy for sure behind going really slowly.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_04: And the the word in Swahili for that is pole pole.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, pole pole means slowly, slowly.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_04: And our guides, I don't know how many times a day, they reminded us, pole poly, pole pole.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: And and in a way, you know, it feels sort of awkward at first, especially again, like if you run, right?
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's all about you want to go fast and you want to, you know, go hard.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_04: And and it's the opposite on Kilimanjaro.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_04: You don't want to go hard, you don't want to go fast, you you want to move really slowly.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: And and sometimes it almost feels excruciatingly slow, but that is because the slower you go, the more time your body will have to acclimate to the altitude, right?
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_04: And then as I described before, those acclimatization heights where we would get to camp and then we'd go a little bit higher and come back down.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I also took Diamox, which is a uh prescription medication that I got from my doctor to help um, you know, essentially help help you acclimate acclimatize, I guess, a little bit more easily in altitude.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't work for everyone.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I frankly, I'll never know if that really made a difference for me or not.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_06: You can't both take it and not take it at the same time.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_06: So you can't really exactly, exactly.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_04: And and actually, of our of our group of four women who made it to the summit, so four of us were able to summit, two of us had taken Diamox and two hadn't.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_04: So, so who knows?
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_04: But anyway, but I did take it and maybe it made a difference.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_04: At one point in the hike, and I think this is maybe day three, they warned us, okay, this is the day where you're high enough on the mountain that people will start to feel altitude sickness symptoms.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_04: And when we got to that day, I was kind of, you know, I was like hyper aware of my body and kind of checking, right?
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_04: You know, how do how do I feel?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_04: Do I do I have a headache?
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_04: Do I feel more tired than usual?
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_04: Am I, you know, and and I was okay.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I was so grateful to be okay.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I still had an appetite, which a lot of folks lose lose their appetites at at altitude.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_04: But I I was okay.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_04: And and most of the other women in my group were okay too.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_04: So I think all of those steps that we took to acclimatize really did what they were supposed to do.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_04: When we got to our final camp before we hiked to the summit, we were at about 15, a little over 15,000 feet at that camp.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_04: And when we hiked into that camp, there was a big sign and it said, attention climbers, you know, be aware of the effects of altitude sickness.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_04: If you're feeling these symptoms, get help.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes the smartest decision is to go down.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_04: And reading that sign and knowing that the next day we were going to be pushing to the summit, it really felt real, right?
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_04: It felt, you know, it sort of brought into focus for me how serious this was.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, people have died, you know, people, people have died and um, you know, gotten really, really sick and, you know, had to turn around.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, a lot of people get really sick and have to turn around.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_04: So I definitely took quite seriously the situation.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_04: And even at that point at 15,000 feet, I was feeling okay.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I still didn't know how I was gonna feel at 16, 17, 18, 19,000 feet.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I knew it could, you know, could go sideways at any moment.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_08: Was there anything you looked back on that might have been funny or unexpected that maybe might have taken your mind off all this along the way?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, we we laughed so much.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_04: I uh oh my gosh.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_04: We so I mentioned before that that chameleon that we saw when we were in the rainforest on day one.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_04: Well, what I didn't tell you is one of my fellow climbers stepped on the chameleon.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_04: And and and then we instantly became concerned for the chameleon's health.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_04: So we like were picking it up and we were looking at it, we were trying to decide, did it have internal bleeding, was it gonna make it?
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_04: You know, our mountain guide was looking at the chameleon, our mountain guide was holding it, you know, it's like, and and then for the rest of the height, you know, and I took some pictures of this chameleon and our analysis of the chameleon's health.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I think the chameleon was fine, actually, I should say that it seemed to be okay.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it was walking around, it was moving its head, you know.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_04: I think it, I think it survived this experience with with us.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, but then for the whole rest of the the height, you know, we kept talking about the chameleon, wondering about the chameleon, looking at pictures of the chameleon, you know.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: So it's like it was just, you know, a hundred things like that, right?
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_04: Just a hundred silly, funny things that honestly, if I were to try to describe them to you, they wouldn't be very funny.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_06: But oh my gosh, I get that.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they were funny, they were really funny at the time.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_08: But you had to be there, and you left the chameleon in the rainforest, I hope.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, okay.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, the chameleon, yes, the chameleon, I I don't think would have done well if we had um take taken it up with us.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_04: So, yes, it it stayed stayed in its habitat.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_06: I also think some of the symptoms of altitude effects mimic intoxication.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_06: So I think, yeah, things can get real funny.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly, exactly.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_05: Take us through summit night.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_05: What time did you start and what was it like hiking through the darkness?
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_04: So I mentioned before that this hike was was tough and it and it was tough.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but you know, until summit night, it was tough but manageable, right?
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_04: There wasn't any day where I felt, oh my gosh, I, you know, I don't know how I'm gonna take another step, or I don't know how I'm gonna get to camp, or I just, you know, really having to do some self-talk and you know, encourage myself to get there.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it felt it felt like a lot of other tough hikes, right?
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_04: That I had done until summit night.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_04: And summit night, my friend described it as slapping you in the face, right?
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_04: It is unlike any other day of the hike.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_04: And part of that is because Alicia, as you just said, you're you're hiking in the dark almost the entire time.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we woke up at about 11 p.m.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_04: and then started the hike at midnight.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_04: And the push to the summit takes, if you're lucky, about seven hours.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, midnight to 7 a.m., we were doing this summit push.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_04: And finally, when we reached what's called Stella Peak, which is um, you know, sort of a milestone to reach on the mountain.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_04: It's not, it's not Uhuru Peak, which is actually the summit, but you're you're maybe an hour away from the summit at that point.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_04: And most people say if you can make it to Stella Point, you can make it to Uhuru.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_04: So we made it to Stella, and the sun just started to come up.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I was looking around and sort of, and first of all, I was so grateful to be there and so relieved to be there and felt honestly like a new person, right?
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_04: With that sun coming up.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_04: Instantly you don't feel as cold, instantly everything seems, you know, brighter.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_04: Literally, it was brighter, right?
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, yeah, it's easier.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but but anyway, but but getting back to the this grueling seven hours, and it was truly grueling, you know, I I don't know how cold it was because I didn't have a thermometer, so I I couldn't tell you how cold it was.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_04: But what I will tell you is we left our tents and you know, we had our headlamps on, right?
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_04: You got to wear your headlamp in order to see where to put your feet.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_04: And we started hiking, and we were maybe five minutes into the hike.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I I reached over and grabbed my my tube that was connected to my water bladder because I had a water bladder in my backpack.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I grabbed the tube, went to take a drink, and my water was completely frozen.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_06: Frozen, yeah.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and then I sort of got a little anxious.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_04: Like I knew that that could happen, but I guess I thought that might happen two, three hours into the hike.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_04: I I did not anticipate that it would happen instantly.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_04: And it happened instantly.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and then I started to worry a little bit about getting dehydrated.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I had I had a water bottle with me also, and I had put, you know, it was a pretty big water bottle, and I had water and electrolytes in there, and I put like a thick wool sock around the water bottle, and I turned it upside down and put it in the bottle holder of my backpack.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I turned it upside down because obviously the, you know, the top is gonna freeze first, right?
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_04: But if it's upside down, that's the bottom.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_04: So then you can turn it right side up and you, you know, can still have liquid.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm so glad I did that because that was the only thing I had to drink the whole time.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, my bladder did not unfreeze until after I had reached the summit and was, you know, maybe two, two hours down the mountain coming back.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I did get dehydrated actually, um, and was very, very thirsty once I finally got back to camp.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_04: But but, you know, the other thing about that water bottle is you're so bundled up because it's so cold.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I had multiple pairs of gloves on, which rendered my fingers useless, essentially.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_04: So I could not unscrew the top of the water bottle without taking off my gloves.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, you can't really stop as you're doing this climb because if you stop, you get very, very cold.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_04: And also there's nowhere to stop.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's huge boulders, right?
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_04: On all around you.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_04: And it's not like there's a an easy place where you can kind of peel off and take a seat, even if that was advisable, which it's not.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I had to, once again, the mountain guides coming in and saving me, they had to open my water for me because I could not open my water.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_04: Myself.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_04: So when I would get thirsty, I would go to a boo or I'd go to a more and say, Can you can you help me open my water?
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_04: And they'd get it out for me, they'd unscrew it for me, you know, hold it up to me, and I would drink some of it and close it and put it back.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so that was I I I was not expecting that.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was not expecting that.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_04: I I thought, I thought I my tube would be good for at least a couple hours, but but it wasn't.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_06: But you worked it out.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_04: Worked it out.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, worked it out.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, so we're we're climbing, uh, you know, going, going up in the dark, in the cold.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_04: And it is, I mean, the whole mountain is, I mean, it's a mountain, so you're hiking up the whole time, but this part of the trail, this final stretch from your base camp to the summit, is extraordinarily steep.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_04: And it's relentlessly uphill.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_06: There is no that's about 4,000 feet from what you told us, right?
• 1:07:03
  SPEAKER_04: Correct.
• 1:07:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_04: Correct.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_04: And there's no place where it levels off for a minute, and you can kind of, you know, catch your catch your breath or whatever, and then starts.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's just straight up.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_04: And again, you can't really rest because that is um not a great idea with the with the cold.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and, you know, you also, you know, it's not great for your body to be in that altitude for a long time.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_04: So you want to get up to the summit.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_04: Ideally, you're at the summit, maybe 15 minutes, not not too much longer than that.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_04: And then you need to start coming back down.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, again, just for the good of your body and and your health.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, we're climbing up and I'm just putting one foot in front of the other.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I, you know, sometimes on my hikes or on my runs, I'll kind of have a mantra, right?
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_04: That I'll repeat in my mind.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_04: I find that helpful.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, I think probably because of the altitude, my mind was just not working as well as it typically does.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I found myself like unable to sort of come up with a mantra, unable to say the mantra to myself.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like I I've actually never experienced this before, but my mind was just blank.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I knew I knew where I was, I knew what I was doing, I knew what I needed to do.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_04: But my mom, actually, as I was telling her about the hike after it was over, my mom said, Oh my gosh, I, you know, seven hours in the dark in the cold.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_04: What were you thinking about?
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_04: And I said to her, nothing.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_04: I just, I thought about nothing.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't.
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it it like almost felt like too much.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, so I just really kind of relied on following the person in front of me and just putting one foot in front of the other.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_06: And then you make it to Uhuro.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we made it to Stella Point first.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and and actually, even before we got to Stella Point, there was a spot a little bit lower where our guide said to us, okay, this is the point of no return.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_04: And if you go on from here, you need to make it to the summit.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_04: If you don't feel you can go on from here, you need to turn around.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_04: Because I guess at that point, in in terms of the altitude, rescuing someone who can't go on above that point is really dangerous.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_04: So, so we got to that point, and I said, Nope, I'm good.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna keep going.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_04: I'm okay, I don't need to turn around.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_04: And so that that kind of felt like a milestone.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_04: Then we got to Stella Point, that felt like a milestone.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_04: The sun came up, and again, you can't, you're not really supposed to eat while you're while you're hiking to the summit because the altitude, you can get really sick.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_04: And in fact, I I'll spare you the details, but I saw many people who were sick around me.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but but when we got to Stella Point, uh one of our guides pulled out a thermos of hot water and little cups, and and he poured hot water into cups for us.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_04: And oh my goodness, it was like the most fantastic cup of anything that I've ever had in my life.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_04: And um, so I drank that hot water, and then we were ready to push to Uhuru Peak, which is again about about an hour further.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_06: You get there, what are you thinking?
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_06: What do you do when you're up there?
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_06: What were the emotions like?
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I I could see there's a a wooden sign at the peak that's actually quite famous and iconic, this wooden sign.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_04: And as we were hiking from Stella Point to Uhuru, at that point, Bob, going back to one of your earlier questions, I really could not breathe very well.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_04: And I but I knew I knew that that was going to happen.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I told myself, don't panic, you're okay.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, it's gonna be difficult to breathe, but you know, just kind of go slow, right?
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_04: Try your best not to get out of breath.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_04: So, so that's what I did.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but but it was it was tough.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_04: That was actually the toughest, even though the sun was up, which I was grateful for, that last hour was physically the most demanding part of the entire hike because I just couldn't, I couldn't get enough oxygen and had to had to just again go really slowly.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_04: But when I finally saw that wooden sign, you know, it was probably at that point, I don't know, it was still in the distance, it was pretty far.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_04: But when I saw it, just waves of relief, you know, rolled, rolled over me and and I, you know, I started to cry.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I just I couldn't believe it.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't believe I had made it, I was going to make it, it was right there.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_04: It was only another, I don't know, however far it was, 500 feet or whatever it was away.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and then and then we got there and I was standing in front of the sign, which frankly was a moment that I had visualized for a year, right?
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_04: Really leading up to this hike and to actually be there and to see it and be standing there was I it's hard to describe what that feeling was.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was pretty incredible.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Meredith, you spoke on not being able to really use your hands as much.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_05: I'm a big photograph type of person.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_05: Is this something where you can have photographs of being up there, or is it just kind of like in your mind type of thing?
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm a big photograph person too.
• 1:12:53
  SPEAKER_04: And that I I had the same thought, right?
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, how am I going to take pictures?
• 1:12:59
  SPEAKER_04: I want to document this, I want to be able to remember it.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the other thing I was nervous about with regard to photos is, you know, when you're when you're in extreme temperatures like that, and at altitude, it can drain your phone battery.
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I had my phone like tucked into, you know, whatever, my fifth layer that I, you know, I had it close to my body because I didn't want the phone battery to drain because I wanted to be able to take pictures.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_04: But what I will say is when you are having this experience, when you're in the moment, it is very, very difficult to take pictures.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_04: Even for someone like me who always wants to take pictures.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and you know, if you have seen my posts in the Rise and Run Facebook group, you see I post a lot of pictures.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_04: I I love that.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, I took, I took four pictures this entire summit push.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_04: I took a picture when we first started out of um sort of a selfie with some of my fellow um fellow hikers.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_04: And then I took a photo again when we first started out of like some hikers that were above us on the mountain with their uh headlamps because they sort of look like little fireflies, you know, up in the air.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_04: So I took that picture, and actually that's an amazing picture, and I'm so glad I took it because what I didn't realize at the time, but realized later when I looked at that photo was the stars were just oh wow, amazing.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_04: I would think that would be amazing, yeah.
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_04: And in the moment I didn't, I it was like too much to appreciate that, but I'm so grateful I have that photo because you can see those amazing stars in that picture.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and just absolutely stunning.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_04: And then when I got to Stella Point, I took a photo, and when I got to the summit, I got a photo in front of that wooden sign.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_04: I the you you could not drag me off that mountain until I got that photo.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_06: No, of course not.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but I wish I had more.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_04: I wish I had more.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you got the memories.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_06: So from the time you started, which was around midnight, till the summit, how long did it take you?
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_04: So I summited at 7:06 a.m.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, that's not bad.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:15:13
  SPEAKER_06: I mean what do I know?
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_06: I got nothing to compare it to, but that sounds pretty good.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_06: That sounds like it did pretty well.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was good.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I, you know, our our group made good time.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, again, we were going pole, as you as you must.
• 1:15:29
  SPEAKER_04: But but, you know, I I was very proud of us, and and I was sort of hoping that we would make it in seven hours, and it was almost exactly seven hours when we made it to the summit.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_06: That's a PR, right?
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_06: PR, yes!
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_06: All right, now you now you got to turn around and go back.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, yes.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_04: How was that?
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, it's funny you say that, Bob, because you know, you have this euphoria, you're at the summit, you get your picture with the with the sign, and you know, we were all hugging each other and crying and just you know, hugging our guides, and our guides were telling us how proud they were of us.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_04: And then I thought, how am I gonna get back down?
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_04: I I just I was so gassed.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_06: I just I mean you're still at 19.6 or whatever.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, the air's still thin as can be.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_06: You're gonna get a little better as it goes down, but not much.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_04: Not much, not much.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_04: And actually, what I didn't what I didn't mention previously is I hadn't slept at all because I can believe it.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we we had to we had to get up at 11 p.m., right, to get ready to start hiking at midnight.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_04: So we attempted to go to bed at around five.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, there was a lot of activity in the camp, so it was loud.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm the kind of person where I really need kind of, you know, I need quiet, I need dark, you know, it's hard for me to sleep when there's a lot of, you know, activity going on around me.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I just, you know, had had the jitters, right?
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was wired, summoning was coming, the adrenaline was pumping, so I didn't sleep a wink.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_04: So, so this whole summit hike, you know, I was doing it on no sleep.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_04: And that was, you know, also part, I'm sure, of what led me to feel so exhausted at the top.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_04: But what are you gonna do?
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_04: You can't stay up there, right?
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta, you gotta turn around and and start climbing down.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_04: And and I will say, once I actually started climbing down, I felt a lot better.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_04: I think it was more just the idea of having to do it, of having to hike, you know, another, I mean, it probably took three and a half, four hours to to get down, back to base camp.
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, obviously you you don't have to go pulley pulley when you're going down, only going up.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so so I but but yeah, once I started moving, I felt a lot better and I thought, okay, I got this.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_04: I I can do this, I can get back to base camp.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_06: Very compelling story.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it was exciting.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_06: I I really enjoyed hearing that.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_06: Now, I'm not I'm not rushing you down the mountain.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_06: But before we go too far, before we let you go, I want to talk about another adventure that followed not long afterward.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_06: You were over in Berlin last weekend and you ran the 5K.
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_06: Now, I think I know the answer, but how'd you wind up in Berlin and how'd you end up doing this one?
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, I travel a lot for work, and there are pros and cons of having to travel a lot for work, but one of the pros is I get to run in some really cool places.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and and sometimes even hike.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I will oftentimes, you know, carve out, you know, three, four hours when I'm on a trip to just run and experience a place, you know, see it from um, see them from another perspective, or, you know, see parts of it that maybe I wouldn't get to see otherwise, just sort of going from my hotel to the meeting or whatever it is that I'm that I'm doing.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_04: So, so I was in Berlin for work.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_04: I knew that I was going to be there the same time as the marathon.
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I thought, oh my gosh, maybe I could even, you know, grab, you know, an hour and watch some of the marathoners run by because I knew the course was going to be going right by my hotel.
• 1:19:29
  SPEAKER_04: But but a few days before the marathon, I, you know, I'm training for wine and dine, so I needed to get nine miles in.
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I went on a run through Berlin and I ran to the Brandenburg Gate and ran into some folks there who were running the marathon and struck up a conversation with them.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, I took some photos for them.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_04: And they said, Are you running the marathon?
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Oh, no, I'm not.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I'm I'm here for work.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_04: And they said, Oh, well, you know, I think the 5K is still open.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Oh, there's a 5K?
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't even know.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't know.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_04: And and, you know, the 5K is the last three miles of the marathon course, which is, I mean, in my opinion, you know, the most iconic part, right?
• 1:20:18
  SPEAKER_04: Of the course, running through the Brandenburg Gate.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_04: So, I mean, when I tell you, I got my phone out instantly and registered for that 5K.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't believe it was still open.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_04: And in fact, it sold out the next day.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_04: So I think I got in just under the wire.
• 1:20:33
  SPEAKER_04: So, so yeah, the day before the marathon was Sunday, Saturday morning, I uh lined up with 13,500 of my closest friends and uh and ran the 5K and it was fantastic.
• 1:20:47
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that metal, it's like better than any other souvenir that I've could have uh could have gotten in Berlin.
• 1:20:52
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, so how did the how did the Berlin 5K compare to some of the other races you're accustomed to doing?
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I have never done an international race before, actually.
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_04: So so that was really neat and it was cool that this was the first international race that I've ever done.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_04: I I hope I get to do some more.
• 1:21:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but so that was that was one difference.
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_04: And and then most of the races that I do aren't quite this big, right?
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this was it was 13,500 people.
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've done some big races, but I also do, you know, I do a lot of local races.
• 1:21:29
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, I like to do sort of races in funky places, right?
• 1:21:33
  SPEAKER_04: Like I I always do this this 5k they have near where I live through the Lincoln Tunnel and you know, ra race on on uh, you know, the New Jersey Turnpike.
• 1:21:42
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and so these aren't particularly large races, and and this one was huge, and it was just fascinating to kind of see the logistics of that, and um, you know, and and it all went so smoothly, um, which is pretty remarkable for an event of that size.
• 1:21:57
  SPEAKER_06: They they clear the traffic off the Jersey Turnpike before you race, right?
• 1:22:02
  SPEAKER_04: Luckily, that would be an interesting no that would be an that would be a really interesting race, yes.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_08: That was last that was last weekend, actually.
• 1:22:12
  SPEAKER_04: It was, yeah.
• 1:22:13
  SPEAKER_04: Just I know I couldn't do it because I was on I was uh on this trip, but yeah, um, but that's a good one.
• 1:22:18
  SPEAKER_06: Well, Meredith, great.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_06: I'm glad you had a chance to do that and glad you had a good time.
• 1:22:22
  SPEAKER_06: We we had a bunch of others we're going to talk about in the race report.
• 1:22:26
  SPEAKER_06: Uh several did the 5K, many did the marathon.
• 1:22:29
  SPEAKER_06: It looks like a fantastic event.
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_06: But the big adventure, I think still, the one that very few people get a chance to do, is that Kilimanjaro trip.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_06: Now, you talked about some of the other things you've done in hiking.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_06: Has summoning Kilimanjaro changed what you think your next great adventure might be?
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_04: That's a great question.
• 1:22:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, I had been anticipating this hike for such a long time, and and it was so tough that uh my my fellow hikers and I at the end said, you know, we're not gonna do anything hard for a while.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're gonna uh we're gonna just coast a little bit now.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe the next trip will be to the beach or something like that.
• 1:23:15
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, of course, like I like it, yeah.
• 1:23:19
  SPEAKER_04: But but, you know, me being who I am, I I always like to sort of be anticipating the next thing.
• 1:23:26
  SPEAKER_04: And um, and again, I, you know, started running during COVID, so you know, about six or so years ago, but really just started to get um confident enough, maybe three years ago, to to start doing races.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_04: And I've been doing more and more of those, and I really love them.
• 1:23:49
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, now I think I'm ready to take on, you know, some even more significant races.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_04: So I actually am going to do um um Big Sur in April.
• 1:24:04
  SPEAKER_04: So that that is something that I am eagerly anticipating and very, very excited about.
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, wine and dine is coming up, and I'm gonna do the challenge there.
• 1:24:17
  SPEAKER_04: And um, and I'm signed up for some other New York Roadrunners races, um, and hopefully we'll get picked in the the lottery, the nine plus one lottery, which is sort of a new process that Roadrunners have to try to get into the New York City marathon.
• 1:24:33
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll see if if I get picked in that lottery and I'm able to do the nine plus one program.
• 1:24:38
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I guess I guess less less of a big hike on the horizon right now.
• 1:24:43
  SPEAKER_04: I don't have anything like that, but just really focused on on running and taking on some some bigger race challenges.
• 1:24:50
  SPEAKER_06: That big share sounds exciting.
• 1:24:52
  SPEAKER_06: I understand that's one of the most beautiful races here in the U.S.
• 1:24:56
  SPEAKER_06: So I think you're going to enjoy that.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_06: So since you've returned, you come back to running.
• 1:25:01
  SPEAKER_06: Have you noticed any difference in your running?
• 1:25:05
  SPEAKER_04: Since I came back from Kilimanjaro, I have run my fastest 5K, my fastest 10K, and my fastest half marathon.
• 1:25:15
  SPEAKER_04: And I summited on July 28th.
• 1:25:19
  SPEAKER_04: So it was not that long ago.
• 1:25:21
  SPEAKER_04: And I've been trying to make sense of like why this has happened.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, obviously, it's, you know, it's not like something magical happens to you on the mountain or, you know, you you are, you know, suddenly your lung capacity is double what it was before.
• 1:25:36
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think that's physically impossible.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I was, you know, I've been sort of reflecting on why that is.
• 1:25:42
  SPEAKER_04: And I think I'm just more confident, you know?
• 1:25:45
  SPEAKER_04: And then the immediate aftermath, right?
• 1:25:47
  SPEAKER_04: I was my Garmin was telling me, oh, plus nine and plus ten, you know, when I would start, start running.
• 1:25:54
  SPEAKER_04: But but yeah, I think I'm just, I'm more comfortable.
• 1:25:56
  SPEAKER_04: I I did this thing that was the hardest thing I've ever done, right?
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_04: Made it through that summit night, which was which was so, so tough.
• 1:26:04
  SPEAKER_04: And now when I'm running and I, you know, feel a twinge here or legs feel heavy there, I'm just sort of like, well, pff, you know, I I climbed Kilimanjaro, I've got this.
• 1:26:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so anyway, that's been a pretty, a pretty cool thing.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_06: Meredith, it's been a blast.
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_06: I really enjoyed that.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_06: That was exciting.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_06: I really enjoyed you.
• 1:26:23
  SPEAKER_06: Did a good job telling us about a very exciting thing that none of us will get, well, few of us will get to experience.
• 1:26:30
  SPEAKER_06: I won't.
• 1:26:31
  SPEAKER_06: But I'm glad you I'm glad you talked with her.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_06: I'm glad you dropped by to tell us about it.
• 1:26:35
  SPEAKER_06: We're looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks, my friend.
• 1:26:38
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 1:26:38
  SPEAKER_04: See you in a couple weeks.
• 1:26:39
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 1:26:41
  SPEAKER_04: This has been such a blast, and I just I'm really honored to share space with you and be able to to talk through this experience with you.
• 1:26:50
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you.
• 1:26:51
  SPEAKER_09: Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
• 1:26:56
  SPEAKER_06: Hey friends, I don't know if you noticed or not, but our friend Mona of Mona Moon Naturals, by the way, left a review of the Hydra patch on Facebook.
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_06: She seemed pretty impressed by it.
• 1:27:12
  SPEAKER_06: She seemed to think that it helped her more, not during her running, but afterwards.
• 1:27:20
  SPEAKER_06: Have you all had a chance to use them yet?
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_06: John, I know I think you talked about it once already.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I I've used them a couple times, and I like I said, it's not it's called a hydra patch, but it's not it's not gonna replace hydration.
• 1:27:37
  SPEAKER_08: I think it's it helps get you the electrolytes and the other vitamins and minerals that you would get by hydrating, like you would do bihydration, like with the something on the course.
• 1:27:49
  SPEAKER_08: But what I did notice also is at the end of a run or a longer run, I was always dry mouth.
• 1:27:57
  SPEAKER_08: Uh you know, third, maybe maybe.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_08: dehydrated, thirsty, uh cramping up, but since I've been using it, and hopefully this is not it's it's not a it's not a coincidence, but I've been really hoping I've been really what do you call it uh not cramping up and feeling really good after the run.
• 1:28:16
  SPEAKER_08: So so I think it's doing something I think so I mean I I've I've been using them I've been using for my long I'll be using them at Wine and Dine I'll be using them at Marathon Weekend.
• 1:28:27
  SPEAKER_08: And a little bit helps.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_08: They come in patches of three, 10, 30 and 100.
• 1:28:33
  SPEAKER_08: Uh a 10 pack is about$99.
• 1:28:37
  SPEAKER_08: But if you gauge the code it gets down to$75 in free shipping.
• 1:28:41
  SPEAKER_08: And I mean like you said if you're doing a lot of races this weekend and you don't think it works it's something to look into.
• 1:28:48
  SPEAKER_06: I'm going to put a sheet up on the Facebook page.
• 1:28:52
  SPEAKER_06: Right now they're large orders their orders of 30 and 100 are not available.
• 1:28:58
  SPEAKER_06: But when they come back up and I suspect they will I may buy a hundred and make them available to our friends at whatever the cost is to us.
• 1:29:11
  SPEAKER_06: Of course that would involve me sending them out which I which I could do or giving them to you when we see you at one and dine but I'll put a form up on the Facebook page for whoever's interested.
• 1:29:24
  SPEAKER_06: I still the jury's out for me.
• 1:29:26
  SPEAKER_06: The first day I wore it was that 14 mile run I was very positive about them.
• 1:29:30
  SPEAKER_06: I wore it at uh bird in hand and okay it it it certainly didn't hurt anything.
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_08: And then I wore it on that catastrophe of a 15k so I think that's just proof of what John said to start they're not a replacement they're a supplement you can you can be dumb enough to uh need more than the hydro patch can supply and something else that I noticed so I know the end of the year is coming and a lot of you are going to have some HF HSA and FSA money left in your accounts they are HSA and FSA eligible so if you have some of that extra money in your savings your health savings accounts it's a perfect place to try them out.
• 1:30:20
  SPEAKER_06: John that's a good point.
• 1:30:21
  SPEAKER_06: I thought you were going to tell folks they should buy them for me for my birthday.
• 1:30:25
  SPEAKER_06: Oh that's true too end of the year you know end of the year nothing doing all right friends hey let's take a look at some of the other races that you have told us about the Rise Run 5K in Kissimmee is now about well it's a little over two weeks away because it's the week before uh Wine and Dine weekend there is a team Rise and Run right now there are only seven of us signed up I'm planning to I'm planning to brave interstate four I'm planning to drive over in the morning do the race and then drive back Lessa's been telling us about the haunted half in Kingsport Tennessee she has a code now that's on Halloween day October 31st she's got a code Lessa423 L E S S A 423 she had a note there was a change to that race there is no longer an early start for the half marathon but the course closing time has been extended from three to three and a half hours Space Coast is coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving it's 53 days away that's November 23rd there will be a meetup there I have not posted it to Facebook yet but I will it will be 3 p.m on Saturday at the Village Idiot that's right the Village Idiot is a bar right across from the little park where you pick up your bibs and shirts etc 3 p.m Saturday uh Sunday afternoon Becky and I always go to the Carib Brewery which is just a little bit north of Cocoa Beach that is where they brew the pineapple cider that everybody loves so much when they finish their Disney races.
• 1:32:15
  SPEAKER_06: So you can grab you a six pack or a case of the pineapple cider.
• 1:32:18
  SPEAKER_06: One last one I want to talk about this week is the Sun Sky 10K which was formerly the Skyway 10K in St.
• 1:32:27
  SPEAKER_06: Petersburg that race is not until March 21st of next year.
• 1:32:32
  SPEAKER_06: However registration for that event will open at midnight Monday October 5th that is next Monday only 8,000 runners that thing despite the fact that it's a hundred dollars for a 10K that thing's going to sell out fast.
• 1:32:50
  SPEAKER_06: So if you're in the Tampa St.
• 1:32:51
  SPEAKER_06: Pete area or just anywhere in in this part of Florida that's a it was always a terrific run the Skyway 10K new race directors now hopefully the Sunsky 10K will be just as good but 100 bucks registration is going to fill up fast.
• 1:33:10
  SPEAKER_06: Okay one more time our next zoom is coming up tonight October 1st Thursday and the next European Zoom and of course everybody's invited to attend the uh Wednesday afternoon Zoom I just call it the EuroZoom because the timing 3 o'clock Eastern time is intended to allow folks in Europe to join us in the evening it'll be that EuroZoom will be the last one before wine and dine the one that we've got on Thursday we have one more zoom scheduled before the race weekend but if hey look if if your first run Disney event or your first wine and dine this is a great place to come to get your questions answered about the race.
• 1:33:51
  SPEAKER_06: And now please stand clear of the door it's time for a race report manténganse.
• 1:34:04
  SPEAKER_06: All right friends let's kick it off with a weekend long event we had three big events this weekend but we'll start with the one in Pigeon Forge Tennessee the Dollywood race weekend lots of friends there.
• 1:34:19
  SPEAKER_06: I've asked one of our newer Rise and runners to join us now Ed first of all welcome to the podcast good to see you here.
• 1:34:28
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you ma'am now no pressure but let's see we had about a dozen people there and and you're representing all of them you okay you go you good with that I'll do my best I know you will I know you won't let them down.
• 1:34:42
  SPEAKER_08: Okay so Ed, so here's the question we asked all our people on the spotlight how did you get started running?
• 1:34:49
  SPEAKER_07: I started running believe it or not not until I was 40 years old so about 20 some years ago for me.
• 1:34:56
  SPEAKER_07: I actually had a sister-in-law that got me into running 5Ks and 10Ks and I just kind of took it from there.
• 1:35:01
  SPEAKER_07: I uh I joined the uh Chicago Marathon uh that year and ran Chicago Marathon and at the end of that I thought I will never do that again it took 16 weeks to train and and uh then I got done and then I said well you know what I'm starting to feel like I should do another one so that's how I started this race was in Tennessee you ran in Chicago and friends Ed is resplendently decked out in his Detroit Lions sports shirt so where do you live Ed so uh I I spent most of my life in Michigan um I am currently at a house in South Carolina we built a retirement house uh my wife and I did so I am at the house in South Carolina she she is at the house in Michigan she has not retired yet so so okay okay I understand that we had something like that go on uh in our family too yeah I figured that was going to be the answer let's see uh you got a Michigan Illinois Tennessee yeah you're not in any of those places that's okay so what made you pick this one quite honestly I was I was up in Michigan for like uh six weeks but uh I was doing some race I did a race in uh Saga Talk with my daughter who was from Chicago she met me over there and then my wife and I went to Australia I ran the Sydney Marathon over there.
• 1:36:17
  SPEAKER_07: Oh nice and then I came back to Michigan and Pigeon Ford happened to be on my way back to South Carolina kind of uh and I had also done the uh the Dollywood race in uh April and I really enjoyed it um so I I just planned the uh the trip to uh pigeon forge to do the Dollywood race for uh fall uh on my way back to South Carolina that sounds nice now you did what they called the butterfly challenge right correct and and the challenge for uh Dollywood is 5k 10k and half marathon I know a lot of the Disney ones are just two races uh 10k half marathon so you i'm I'm sorry you knocked out all three Ed yes and and expound on that a little bit uh 5k was on Friday night at 11 o'clock p.m and 10K was Saturday morning at 5 30 uh it was uh it was rough going to bed at 1 a.m time to get back to your hotel and setting that on for 4 a.m to get up the next morning that that was a little rough and and that was a little different from what they did in the springtime in springtime they actually ran both on the same day they ran to 5k had maybe a half an hour break and then you ran to 10k right after that I vaguely remember our friends talking about that so when was the half half was on Sunday morning 530.
• 1:37:37
  SPEAKER_07: Busy weekend brother busy busy weekend uh I will I will say um I was pretty tired Saturday and a lot of it was lack of sleep and uh you know Sunday after the half marathon I actually felt pretty good and got some rest and uh second one to the park and and really enjoyed it.
• 1:37:53
  SPEAKER_07: This race is at Dollywood I mean was there any other special moments there besides the race because aft because in April we still had Dolly with us was there anything special going on there for Dolly I I thought they would actually do some kind of uh a tribute or or something during the races I at least I didn't see anything for that uh they but they did have a lot of uh um kind of the logo for um Dolly uh the I will always love you and they had a lot of uh uh insignia stickers uh that kind of thing out for Dolly let's go through some of the races how are the races uh okay uh so 5k 10k half marathon they all started at the same place as anybody's ever been to the uh the Dollywood park as you're walking up to the entrance uh there's off to the left hand side there's a preferred parking area um it is up a hill uh and and you you walk up the hill uh and and I'll tell you what for the fourth time I walked up that hill I thought I'll never have to walk up this hill again.
• 1:38:52
  SPEAKER_07: Well little did I know that hill was going to be about mile 11 of the half marathon oh no that's not fair man but that's but uh so to Expo was actually uh outside in that preferred parking lot um they had you know shirts uh a shirt for each race so 5k 10k half and a challenge shirt so four shirts which was different from the spring as well um and uh 5k uh started uh as I was saying on Friday night 11 o'clock uh so and each race also ended by going through the uh the theme park the dilightwood theme park so it was about the last mile mile and a half of every race um so that was nice and finish line was was all the same start line finish line was was all the same um if I can say a little bit about start correls uh back back in um april uh was very very much uh they just had signs up you know 10 to 11 minute pay stand here uh this this time they actually had correls uh but very loose uh very flexible i guess i would say um you were assigned a corral um like i was in correl d uh but if you wanted to move up you could if you wanted to move back you could there was nobody monitoring you know going going in and out uh they did have tapes across the front of them so once you got in a correl I mean you could have ducked under they there was nobody policing that uh but but quite honestly uh the starts were um what a b and c went off together so a b and c were gone uh and then correl d like two minutes behind them right they kept like maybe a a two minute gap between it so then corral d and e went and then I think they had correl F and then they actually had a walker uh corral so if you were assigned to the walker corral you maybe started all of four minutes behind the it wasn't it was very quick uh so mentioned the 5k 10k same start point um when went um of course a little bit further away but again ended through the park um same finish line uh half half marathon went through some of the uh uh splash country the water park that was there uh definitely had some uh some parking lot uh uh to think thank you you know it it would probably remind a lot of Disney people of lizard beach but yeah um it was dark and it was probably 20 to 25 degrees cooler so it wasn't nearly it was still hilly still hilly uh I will I will say each each elevation gain for like the half marathon at least on my watch I had about 950 feet over the half marathon uh 10k I had about 440 feet um and the 5k I don't remember 200 so maybe so so definitely some elevation gain um yeah in all races so yeah that is not insignificant um spend some time in the parks the rest of the time did you end up uh out on the streets in the area or how did that go?
• 1:41:52
  SPEAKER_07: There were there were parks or parts that uh went through parking lots uh also they have two different um resorts uh the the dream song and I'm sorry the the dreamworks and the heart song uh went through some of those and um and also yes for the half marathon went out along uh streets uh maybe maybe miles five to eight or so uh I was gonna suppose that wasn't out and back and there were some sidewalks um to be uh you know gone through oh on sidewalks there yeah so they had kind of closed down one lane of traffic and then they used uh the people going out uh away from uh the park on the sidewalk and the people coming back in the first lane the traffic coming back so they kind of split it up there were I mean definitely some um curbs uh and and some uh gravel to uh to uh to get through um but uh it was it was pretty good you were there in the spring you were there for this one yes reading others report they apparently made this one significantly better so i my my uh my take on uh everything is that um they they did a really good job of of listening to customer feedback and the racers feedback as as to how do we make improvements um i I will tell you for the 5k 10k half in the spring uh they all ended at the same spot and and it was it was a tough uphill to to end on i'll say uh so they so they uh they changed uh start and end spot um and they made so many improvements uh in in my opinion that uh from this from the they they really listened to uh what people were saying and what they said they thought could be better they and and this is you know second race i'm sure they'll make some more improvements yeah next uh next spring as well sounds very promising sounds like the the uh the the president uh eugene naughton was uh not only announcing a little bit he he jumped on the uh on the racetrack too and he ran with uh with oh cool people so he gets uh he gets some good feel for what the course was down talking with the people it's always fun when you uh have the president there you know running with you so getting some feedback from him yeah I I appreciate knowing that happened he he's supporting his product and he's supporting the people who are out there running that's that's terrific okay so at the end of the race was there any interesting food boxes so uh uh Dollywood known for their cinnamon bread um and lots of people in costume yes cinnamon bread costumes lots of butterflies of course uh lots of people dressed as as Dolly uh at the end of the race uh they had a miniature uh cinnamon bread uh with icing if you wanted that and they also had sandwiches as too which I thought was a really good nice oh cool show and I was like this is this is perfect this is a good ending on top of that they had live band uh and and they had all the normal uh proteins uh snacks uh kind of things as well as long with you know power aid and waters and that kind of thing but uh but the cinnamon bread and the sandwiches were a real uh a real hit for me yeah we read about that too so that's that was John's subtle way of directing you yeah John was you just guessing there might have been something right yeah that's guessing there is something there well and that the race sounds great had a large group of folks there um when we're done with here we'll go through what others did how about you now what's up next for you and when will we see you at Disney?
• 1:45:29
  SPEAKER_06: So I was supposed to run Chicago Marathon um I I already told you I did Sydney end of August um this was I'd I'd much rather do a uh an event run than than go for a training run it's much more fun to me to do an event um so I was gonna do uh Chicago however I'm having a uh a minor surgery on a on a hernia that I need to get taken care of so I will miss Chicago this year uh upsets me a little bit uh this would have been my 21st year running Chicago so I'm gonna miss that but however I'm I am trying to get back for wine and dine um I am a I'm a uh a perfect challenge wine and diner um so I'm trying to hang on to that even if I gotta walk uh you know all the way I'm I'm good with that um I'm also a uh a perfect dopey uh you know oh not many of those so so you know perfect dopey perfect wine and diner and and I'm also signed up for all the other runs next year I'm I'm signed up for uh the princess I'm signed up for springtime uh hopefully if I remain perfect in uh in wine and dine I'll get the offer to come back again next year so oh I think you will well Ed we'll see you there for sure absolutely I'll be at all of them and uh I look forward to I don't think we've had a chance to meet yet but I look forward to it I I I met you a year or so ago it was it was in the uh the waiting line to get into the expo and then I was like just a brief my actually my son-in-law I was like I think that's Bob from Rise and Run so I wanted to introduce myself I'm sorry I do that all the time I I could do that we could have had that encounter and then I could have saw you Saturday afternoon and not remember I'm sorry there's a lot of folks but I I enjoyed I look well in that case and let me uh I look forward to seeing you again Ed look forward to seeing you again real soon hey thanks for uh thanks for taking the time especially I I just gave you short notice on this one so thanks for jumping in and I think all the rest of our friends who ran will be happy with uh the way you represented them at the for the Dollywood race I hope so appreciate Ed joining us let's finish up Dollywood we had again as I mentioned a number of folks there Margaret was there with her husband John now Margaret like Ed had run the race in April said she was hoping for some advan enhancements but she was really blown away by how much they improved uh she echoed the same thing we just heard that they listened to the feedback and follow through now of course a highlight of any race Margaret's in is her costumes for the 5k John and she both ran it and they dressed as the patriotic horse riders from the Dolly Stampede who open and close that show and for the 10K it was Margaret she was Skeeter Riding Nugget again from the Dolly Stampede I guess you have to see it to understand who they are but that's cool.
• 1:48:32
  SPEAKER_06: And then for the half she donned the wings and ran as a beautiful butterfly Bradley was there our friend JH reindeer also known as Heather was there had a great weekend she ran the half her daughter Hal ran the kids' race first race for Hal.
• 1:48:53
  SPEAKER_06: Hey Hal that's a PR congratulations Brooke ran her tenth half marathon at this one one year after her first full so she's been busy she ran with Kaylee and rode one of the coasters John we forgot to ask it about riding the coasters oh yeah now Brooke credits her hydro patch for helping her through this one we were talking earlier in the episode that I we got that note uh from uh Mona about wearing the hydra patch so yeah Glenda around the half said that hills are tough I think everybody that runs Dollywood will tell you that hills are tough a lot of good photo ops a lot of good music she talked about the snacks at the end and you know what John she talked about this mini uh loaf of cinnamon bread and she'll do it again melody was there a lot of changes from spring uh most all of them good some of them a little questionable now she wanted to ride Bear Mountain but when she got there found out it was down still walked away from this one with a smile on her face April did her first half marathon, a PR, of course.
• 1:50:06
  SPEAKER_06: Couldn't have asked for a better experience.
• 1:50:10
  SPEAKER_06: And what would a race in Tennessee be if Jimmy wasn't there?
• 1:50:14
  SPEAKER_06: Jimmy did all three runs.
• 1:50:15
  SPEAKER_06: The 5K was his 100th race.
• 1:50:20
  SPEAKER_06: Congratulations, Jimmy.
• 1:50:22
  SPEAKER_06: The rest of the weekend, his goal was just to finish, which he did.
• 1:50:25
  SPEAKER_06: He's going to be back in November for the Light the Way races.
• 1:50:29
  SPEAKER_06: And I want to mention Megan was also there.
• 1:50:32
  SPEAKER_06: Megan was there working at the aid stations.
• 1:50:34
  SPEAKER_06: Sounds like a great event in Tennessee.
• 1:50:38
  SPEAKER_06: Let's move to Saturday in another big event in Kissimmee, Florida, the Margaritaville Run Half, 10K, and we had a host of Rise and Run friends who were there.
• 1:50:50
  SPEAKER_06: Debbie was there running the half, as was Abigail.
• 1:50:54
  SPEAKER_06: Abigail's first time running with a pace group.
• 1:50:56
  SPEAKER_06: She picked the two-hour 40-minute pace group.
• 1:51:00
  SPEAKER_06: We knew some of the pacers.
• 1:51:02
  SPEAKER_06: Jared ran the half in a custom-made Jeff Galloway kit.
• 1:51:07
  SPEAKER_06: He finished his half in one hour 40 minutes.
• 1:51:10
  SPEAKER_06: That's a PR.
• 1:51:13
  SPEAKER_06: Last year Jared weighed over 200 pounds.
• 1:51:16
  SPEAKER_06: He ran this race today at 148.
• 1:51:20
  SPEAKER_06: Jared, we're proud of you for the dedication it takes to do something like that and for that tremendous half marathon time.
• 1:51:27
  SPEAKER_06: What did I say about 240 pacers?
• 1:51:30
  SPEAKER_06: Well, Adam and Jack were there to do that one.
• 1:51:34
  SPEAKER_06: Adam sent us a report, said the vibe of the race was amazing.
• 1:51:37
  SPEAKER_06: It doubled in size from last year, and this was the first year they used Galloway Pacers.
• 1:51:43
  SPEAKER_06: They got the pace, they had a blast.
• 1:51:46
  SPEAKER_06: Adam very much looks forward to this one getting bigger and better and pacing in the future.
• 1:51:52
  SPEAKER_06: And I found out that they have already invited the Galloway Pacers back for next year.
• 1:51:57
  SPEAKER_06: Nancy ran the 10K, ran both a PR and a Run Disney proof of time.
• 1:52:04
  SPEAKER_06: Mary ran the 10K, as did Nikki.
• 1:52:06
  SPEAKER_06: Nikki PR.
• 1:52:09
  SPEAKER_06: Jody ran the 10K.
• 1:52:11
  SPEAKER_06: Kylie and her husband Drew both did the 10K.
• 1:52:15
  SPEAKER_06: Drew's recovering from sinus surgery, so they walked together, had a great time.
• 1:52:20
  SPEAKER_06: Monica did the 10K after a hard summer.
• 1:52:23
  SPEAKER_06: She's back doing what she loves.
• 1:52:25
  SPEAKER_06: Ran this one with her, and I quote, partner in crime.
• 1:52:30
  SPEAKER_06: April did her first 10K of the season.
• 1:52:33
  SPEAKER_06: Erica did the 5K with her roommate Haley.
• 1:52:36
  SPEAKER_06: They had a ton of fun.
• 1:52:38
  SPEAKER_06: Will always return to this race, even though she had a hard time finding the free booze.
• 1:52:43
  SPEAKER_06: Well, better planning.
• 1:52:45
  SPEAKER_06: Better planning, Erica.
• 1:52:47
  SPEAKER_06: That's uh that's your mission for next year.
• 1:52:50
  SPEAKER_06: Denise ran it and she finished the 5K.
• 1:52:54
  SPEAKER_06: Let's continue on Saturday in Winter Park, Colorado, where Sherilyn did the Elevation Everest event.
• 1:53:02
  SPEAKER_06: Ryan did the great 5K pumpkin run in Lone Oak, Arkansas, race 36 for the year, race 89 of his Arkansas Grand Prix streak, and Ryan's first ever first place Masters finish.
• 1:53:21
  SPEAKER_06: I think Masters is 40 and above in racing.
• 1:53:25
  SPEAKER_06: 40 and above for masters, 50 and above for grandmasters.
• 1:53:29
  SPEAKER_06: And I once was at an event where I became the great grandmaster, 60 and above.
• 1:53:35
  SPEAKER_08: We're probably gonna see a lot more great pumpkin races in the months to come.
• 1:53:38
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, coming up, John, next couple of weeks.
• 1:53:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I'm sure you're right.
• 1:53:41
  SPEAKER_06: Ryan took off on this race, locked in with his friend Ethan early on.
• 1:53:47
  SPEAKER_06: Then when Ethan peeled off, Ryan joined another runner, Eli.
• 1:53:54
  SPEAKER_06: Eli's 11, and Eli took off with half a mile left.
• 1:53:58
  SPEAKER_06: Ryan ended up running his best 5k in two years, finished masters champion, as we mentioned, and topped it off with pumpkin pancakes.
• 1:54:09
  SPEAKER_06: Megan was in Ryanbeck, New York for the Rhinebeck Fall Foliage Half Marathon.
• 1:54:16
  SPEAKER_06: Zach was also in New York up in the Finger Lakes area.
• 1:54:20
  SPEAKER_06: Monteur Falls had the Finger Lakes half marathon.
• 1:54:23
  SPEAKER_06: Got her own on a beautiful trail along Seneca Lake.
• 1:54:27
  SPEAKER_06: Finished in about two hours, 12 minutes.
• 1:54:29
  SPEAKER_06: Good run, Zach.
• 1:54:31
  SPEAKER_06: Morningstar and Sarah ran the Badge of Hope Haunted 5K in Auburn Dale, Florida.
• 1:54:38
  SPEAKER_06: Bethany did the Urban Cow 5K in Sacramento, California.
• 1:54:44
  SPEAKER_06: I think I remember that one from last year.
• 1:54:46
  SPEAKER_06: That's a name that's easy to or hard to forget, easy to remember.
• 1:54:50
  SPEAKER_06: Mark was in McHenry, Illinois for the Moraine Hills run for the Hills half marathon.
• 1:54:56
  SPEAKER_06: In the mid-40s at start time.
• 1:54:59
  SPEAKER_06: Golly, that's chilly.
• 1:55:01
  SPEAKER_06: Not sure he was mentally ready for that temperature yet in his training, but once they got moving, it was perfect.
• 1:55:07
  SPEAKER_06: He's got another half on Saturday, and then he'll be taking it easy for Wine and Dine.
• 1:55:13
  SPEAKER_06: Out in Auburn, Washington, they ran the Pacific Runderland 5K.
• 1:55:19
  SPEAKER_06: Stephanie was there.
• 1:55:20
  SPEAKER_06: Small but mighty race to benefit the three Washington National Parks.
• 1:55:25
  SPEAKER_06: Lovely out and back next to the White River.
• 1:55:28
  SPEAKER_06: Eight seconds off of her 5K PR.
• 1:55:32
  SPEAKER_06: The metal spins, it shows the images of all three of the national parks.
• 1:55:37
  SPEAKER_06: Great atmosphere, definitely going to do it again next year.
• 1:55:40
  SPEAKER_06: Allison and her friend were also out there.
• 1:55:43
  SPEAKER_06: In Carrollton, Georgia, Bill ran the Carrollton half marathon, his first half marathon.
• 1:55:50
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's a PR, Bill.
• 1:55:54
  SPEAKER_06: And he finished in 214.
• 1:55:56
  SPEAKER_06: That's a great pace.
• 1:55:58
  SPEAKER_06: Not only his first half marathon, but his first race since the 2023 Springtime Series.
• 1:56:05
  SPEAKER_06: Lori ran the Akron, Ohio half marathon.
• 1:56:08
  SPEAKER_06: Akron always puts on a great race weekend.
• 1:56:11
  SPEAKER_06: Firestone Park was party city with the residents out blasting music and cheering like this one was a world major.
• 1:56:20
  SPEAKER_06: Michelle up in Erie ran the runway 5K at the Erie International Airport.
• 1:56:26
  SPEAKER_06: She ran to the race, did the 5K, and then ran back two miles each way.
• 1:56:33
  SPEAKER_06: So four plus three and a half, seven and a half miles.
• 1:56:36
  SPEAKER_06: And in what seems to be a Facebook trend on Ryzen Run, stopped at a beer cooler on her training run to cool off.
• 1:56:47
  SPEAKER_06: Did not, however, hug a turkey that I noticed.
• 1:56:51
  SPEAKER_06: Martine was in Powhattan, Virginia for the Good Medicine 5K.
• 1:56:55
  SPEAKER_06: Her first run since shoulder surgery.
• 1:56:59
  SPEAKER_06: That's a phrase I have trouble saying too fast.
• 1:57:02
  SPEAKER_06: 55 degrees and breezy.
• 1:57:04
  SPEAKER_06: It was awesome weather.
• 1:57:05
  SPEAKER_06: That shoulder is sore this evening, but it was worth it.
• 1:57:09
  SPEAKER_06: Martine, I'm glad you're recovering from that.
• 1:57:11
  SPEAKER_06: That surgery is not easy to come back from.
• 1:57:15
  SPEAKER_06: There was a best damn race leftover race in Safety Harbor, Florida.
• 1:57:20
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't know what was going on.
• 1:57:21
  SPEAKER_06: I've been to that one.
• 1:57:22
  SPEAKER_06: I've seen that one before, though.
• 1:57:24
  SPEAKER_06: But Sarah was there and she ran it.
• 1:57:26
  SPEAKER_06: It was just past her birthday, and that put her in a new age group.
• 1:57:29
  SPEAKER_06: She ran this one with Darth Vader.
• 1:57:32
  SPEAKER_06: It was actually her son Colton, who was in a stroller.
• 1:57:35
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if you saw the pictures.
• 1:57:36
  SPEAKER_06: It was really pretty cute.
• 1:57:38
  SPEAKER_06: Up in Duluth, Minnesota, they ran the Women's Bridge the Gap Ten Miler.
• 1:57:42
  SPEAKER_06: Ellen was there her third year at the race.
• 1:57:45
  SPEAKER_06: Ten minutes faster than last year.
• 1:57:47
  SPEAKER_06: Going slower to go faster is still hard to wrap my head around, but it works.
• 1:57:53
  SPEAKER_06: We were just talking about that, weren't we?
• 1:57:55
  SPEAKER_06: It does work, Ellen.
• 1:57:57
  SPEAKER_06: Congratulations.
• 1:57:58
  SPEAKER_06: Good job.
• 1:57:58
  SPEAKER_06: Let's wrap up Saturday in Davidson, North Carolina, where Christy did the run for the green.
• 1:58:04
  SPEAKER_06: It's uh Christy ran a sub-6010K and a PR before her long training run on Sunday.
• 1:58:15
  SPEAKER_06: Moving on to Sunday, the big one, of course, was the Berlin Marathon, and Rise and Run was well represented.
• 1:58:21
  SPEAKER_06: Ashley was there.
• 1:58:22
  SPEAKER_06: Truly an amazing experience.
• 1:58:24
  SPEAKER_06: The crowd support was incredible for all 26 miles.
• 1:58:28
  SPEAKER_06: She topped it off watching her dad get his six-star medal.
• 1:58:33
  SPEAKER_06: That's really cool, Ashley.
• 1:58:36
  SPEAKER_06: Christine was there.
• 1:58:37
  SPEAKER_06: Divi was there.
• 1:58:38
  SPEAKER_06: Diviya ran the 5K and the marathon for her third star.
• 1:58:42
  SPEAKER_06: Not her best marathon time, but she had a lot of fun.
• 1:58:45
  SPEAKER_06: It was warm, still a great time.
• 1:58:48
  SPEAKER_06: Heather got her third star.
• 1:58:50
  SPEAKER_06: Now Heather rolls so she gets an early start with her push rim.
• 1:58:54
  SPEAKER_06: She got to mile five before the elites caught up with her, and then things got crowded after that.
• 1:59:00
  SPEAKER_06: Smiled so much her face hurt.
• 1:59:02
  SPEAKER_06: Gave a record number of high fives and PR.
• 1:59:07
  SPEAKER_06: Three hours, thirty minutes long been a goal.
• 1:59:10
  SPEAKER_06: Not quite there yet, but she's getting close.
• 1:59:13
  SPEAKER_06: Holly was there for her first ever world major.
• 1:59:16
  SPEAKER_06: Everything she could have wanted in a first world major.
• 1:59:19
  SPEAKER_06: Went to the expo Friday morning.
• 1:59:21
  SPEAKER_06: It was so efficient and a great location, which was an unused airport.
• 1:59:25
  SPEAKER_06: Lines moved quickly, the merch was plentiful and easy to get.
• 1:59:29
  SPEAKER_06: The expo was packed with great booths, including some European and Chinese brands that we don't get to see a whole lot.
• 1:59:36
  SPEAKER_06: She ran the Saturday 5K.
• 1:59:38
  SPEAKER_06: Sunday was fantastic.
• 1:59:40
  SPEAKER_06: The race wasn't great for her personally, but she was happy to finish, get her first star now on to Wine and Dine and New York City.
• 1:59:48
  SPEAKER_06: Jay was there.
• 1:59:49
  SPEAKER_06: He did the 5K on Saturday with his brother.
• 1:59:52
  SPEAKER_06: Jay had a whole lot to say about Sunday, which I appreciate, but I'm going to kind of cut to the summary here.
• 1:59:58
  SPEAKER_06: Says he's disappointed that it wasn't the race he thought he was going to have, but he's wildly content with the race that it was.
• 2:00:05
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's just the way to be, Jay.
• 2:00:09
  SPEAKER_06: The only thing he's sad about is he missed the PR bell in the finisher's shoot because he blew past his old PR from 2014 by 47 minutes.
• 2:00:22
  SPEAKER_06: Michael was there during his birthday week for his first world major.
• 2:00:26
  SPEAKER_06: He also ran the Saturday 5K, an amazing experience.
• 2:00:31
  SPEAKER_06: Highly recommends this thing with the Brandon Burkegate as the final stretch.
• 2:00:35
  SPEAKER_06: Definitely an experience worth remembering and worth doing again.
• 2:00:40
  SPEAKER_06: Michael was there, as was Nancy.
• 2:00:42
  SPEAKER_06: Wonderful race, lots of sights to see, great energy from the spectators, and Nancy ran a PR.
• 2:00:51
  SPEAKER_06: Rhonda doing her first world major, made it to Berlin, got the medal, another PR.
• 2:00:58
  SPEAKER_06: So much fun.
• 2:01:00
  SPEAKER_06: The T at the water stops apparently helped Ronda quite a bit.
• 2:01:06
  SPEAKER_06: Katie ran her first major, her second marathon, and a 30-minute PR.
• 2:01:14
  SPEAKER_06: And our friend Tom was there from the Will Run For podcast.
• 2:01:17
  SPEAKER_06: Tom sent in a spectator report.
• 2:01:21
  SPEAKER_06: So congratulations to our friends who participated in the Berlin Marathon.
• 2:01:27
  SPEAKER_06: Meanwhile, back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Rachel did the Great Race, a 10K.
• 2:01:32
  SPEAKER_06: On Saturday, her sons took part in the junior great race.
• 2:01:36
  SPEAKER_06: Lincoln ran the family fun run, and Carter won his heat in the top trot.
• 2:01:42
  SPEAKER_06: Lincoln also earned his Kids of Steel Challenge medal.
• 2:01:47
  SPEAKER_06: The weather was perfect for the half on Sunday.
• 2:01:50
  SPEAKER_06: Rachel may have started too fast, but still ran a PR.
• 2:01:56
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not sure.
• 2:01:58
  SPEAKER_06: The comment says half.
• 2:01:59
  SPEAKER_06: I've got 10K.
• 2:02:00
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not sure what you ran, Rachel, but you did PR, so congratulations and congratulations to Lincoln and Carter as well.
• 2:02:08
  SPEAKER_06: Oh gosh, I should have looked this up.
• 2:02:11
  SPEAKER_06: In Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
• 2:02:15
  SPEAKER_06: Danny Rambi.
• 2:02:17
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sorry, Danny.
• 2:02:20
  SPEAKER_06: Heyu Vatherstroen Tener.
• 2:02:25
  SPEAKER_06: And Danny, I seem to remember you putting in a report.
• 2:02:28
  SPEAKER_06: I don't have it here.
• 2:02:30
  SPEAKER_06: If I missed it, I'll catch it next week.
• 2:02:32
  SPEAKER_06: And I'll also look up how to pronounce those words.
• 2:02:35
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sorry.
• 2:02:36
  SPEAKER_06: Going to Madison, Wisconsin, pretty sure I pronounced that correctly.
• 2:02:39
  SPEAKER_06: Amy did the Henry Villas Zoo 10K run.
• 2:02:44
  SPEAKER_06: Started the day with this 10K at the local zoo.
• 2:02:46
  SPEAKER_06: Great temperatures, beautiful scenery.
• 2:02:48
  SPEAKER_06: Then after lunch, she ran the 5K, which was the Badger Challenge.
• 2:02:54
  SPEAKER_06: Two races in one day.
• 2:02:56
  SPEAKER_06: Also running the Badger Challenge was Glenda.
• 2:03:00
  SPEAKER_06: This was actually the finish to her main event of the day, a 70-mile bike ride in honor of what would have been her wife's 70th birthday.
• 2:03:08
  SPEAKER_06: She's done this ride every year since her wife passed.
• 2:03:12
  SPEAKER_06: She's done 67, 68, 69 miles, and then the 5K after it for the last two years.
• 2:03:20
  SPEAKER_06: It's bittersweet, but it gives her some nice time with their memories.
• 2:03:25
  SPEAKER_06: In New York City, the Tunnel to Towers 5K run and walk.
• 2:03:30
  SPEAKER_06: Monica did it.
• 2:03:31
  SPEAKER_06: This is the uh Rain or Shine Race Nor'easter edition.
• 2:03:35
  SPEAKER_06: She didn't PR.
• 2:03:36
  SPEAKER_06: She was off by a minute six.
• 2:03:38
  SPEAKER_06: Still proud of herself for running in the rain because she's kind of nervous about slipping and getting hurt.
• 2:03:46
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of firefighters ran or walked this one.
• 2:03:48
  SPEAKER_06: Our friend fireman Rob was there.
• 2:03:51
  SPEAKER_06: In Detroit, Michigan, Christy ran the Growler Gallop 10 Miler.
• 2:03:56
  SPEAKER_06: She realized early on in the race that she felt too dehydrated to do the full 10 miles.
• 2:04:03
  SPEAKER_06: 75 degrees with full sun, just a little bit too much.
• 2:04:07
  SPEAKER_06: So she followed the 5K course instead.
• 2:04:10
  SPEAKER_06: Still had a good time with the party after and spending time with her running friends.
• 2:04:15
  SPEAKER_06: This next one next one is certainly an organized event.
• 2:04:18
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if it was a race or not.
• 2:04:19
  SPEAKER_06: The 832 steps at the Seattle Space Needle.
• 2:04:25
  SPEAKER_06: Say us and say us if I'm pronouncing your name incorrectly, please forgive me.
• 2:04:30
  SPEAKER_06: And his daughter climbed to the top.
• 2:04:33
  SPEAKER_06: It was in for sure an organized event with bibs, shirts, and medals.
• 2:04:39
  SPEAKER_06: The Bimbo Global Race 10K was run.
• 2:04:44
  SPEAKER_06: I know a lot of this is virtual, but this was run on the ground in Pasadena, California.
• 2:04:51
  SPEAKER_06: Kayla was there.
• 2:04:52
  SPEAKER_06: It's a long story, but she ended up losing her key fob before the race began and then not starting.
• 2:05:02
  SPEAKER_06: In Fairfax, Virginia, Amanda did the Athletes Serving Athletes Virginia Run Fest.
• 2:05:09
  SPEAKER_06: Her daughter and she run this 5K together with the organization, very similar to Ainsley's Angels.
• 2:05:15
  SPEAKER_06: Fastest cat 5K she's run in probably two years.
• 2:05:19
  SPEAKER_06: So nice to meet this new running community.
• 2:05:24
  SPEAKER_06: Bluegrass Half Marathon in Johnson City, Tennessee.
• 2:05:28
  SPEAKER_06: Lessa was there completing her 38th half marathon, left us a long report report.
• 2:05:33
  SPEAKER_06: Beautiful, loads of encouragement along the course.
• 2:05:36
  SPEAKER_06: Someone once told her she'd never finish a half marathon.
• 2:05:40
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I guess you showed them, Lessa.
• 2:05:44
  SPEAKER_06: Number 38.
• 2:05:45
  SPEAKER_06: There was a fall festival 10K in Jenny's hometown in Oregon, so Jenny ran it.
• 2:05:52
  SPEAKER_06: Ran it as part of her long training run.
• 2:05:54
  SPEAKER_06: It was a cold 45 degrees at the start.
• 2:05:56
  SPEAKER_06: Wound up being a beautiful day.
• 2:05:59
  SPEAKER_06: The gorgeous day and the excitement of an unexpected PR were more than enough reward.
• 2:06:05
  SPEAKER_06: In Colorado, Shelby Allison ran the Boulderthon Half Marathon, State No.
• 2:06:12
  SPEAKER_06: 6, Half Marathon No.
• 2:06:13
  SPEAKER_06: 12.
• 2:06:15
  SPEAKER_06: At 5,600 feet, this was a real challenge.
• 2:06:18
  SPEAKER_06: We just spent a lot of time talking about altitude and its effect on the body.
• 2:06:23
  SPEAKER_06: Beautiful course.
• 2:06:24
  SPEAKER_06: They ran out of electrolytes at some aid stations and probably could have used more volunteers.
• 2:06:30
  SPEAKER_06: But the vibes were great all the way through with a whole lot of people coming out to cheer the runners.
• 2:06:35
  SPEAKER_06: Happy to get another half under into the books for Shelby Allison.
• 2:06:41
  SPEAKER_06: One of the Busch Gardens, I don't know which one, but one of the Busch Gardens had a Fiend's Frenzy 5K, and Alexis and Samantha did it.
• 2:06:50
  SPEAKER_06: It was a great race.
• 2:06:52
  SPEAKER_06: It was hilly, but it was still fun.
• 2:06:56
  SPEAKER_06: And finally, kudos to David for working as a volunteer at the Charlottesville, Virginia Loopdeville.
• 2:07:04
  SPEAKER_06: And there you have it, friends, the race report for episode 262 of the Rise and Run podcast.
• 2:07:11
  SPEAKER_06: Friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend.
• 2:07:14
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you for joining us this week.
• 2:07:17
  SPEAKER_06: We hope you had a good time.
• 2:07:19
  SPEAKER_06: Hope your training's going well.
• 2:07:20
  SPEAKER_06: There's not a whole lot of training left before Wine and Dine weekend.
• 2:07:25
  SPEAKER_06: We are excited.
• 2:07:26
  SPEAKER_06: Looking forward to seeing you there.
• 2:07:28
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, happy running the Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Running Disney.