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Guest: Alan Errichiello @alanerrichiello
Show Notes:
Alan Errichiello is the President of the Fishers Running Club, one of the largest running clubs in Indiana. He's now completed multiple ultramarathons, but once said he would "never run a marathon".
During this conversation, sponsored by Athlete Bouquets, Alan and I talk about:
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How - despite the meaning of his last name - he does not have “little ears”
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Joining the Fishers Running Club
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Why he ended up running an ultramarathon and a marathon after saying he would never do it
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The year of all of the ultras - The Full Mo, Prairie on Fire, Hennepin 50K, 8 Hour Dream
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His crazy ankle injury and he STILL ran an ultra
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What the flags in his Instagram profile stand for
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His weight loss journey and losing 75 pounds
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How Madison from the latest season of Love is Blind is HIS DAUGHTER
- Other random facts like how he used to have long hair, how he once survived a tornado, how he was a juror in a murder for hire case , and how he was a model for a national jump rope brand...
Sponsor Details:
Athlete Bouquets - Use code PODCAST for 10% off your order
Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.
Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast celebrating the everyday runner. And if you run, you're a runner and every runner has a story. I'm your host Ali Brett Knocker, and join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together.
This week I am joined by the president of the Fishers Running Club here locally in Indianapolis, Indiana. But before I get to Alan, I want to say a heartfelt goodbye again to our friend Lindsay Welty, who was on this podcast earlier on. She's an incredibly talented runner and ultra runner, and she's moving to be a more official runner out to uh, Colorado.
So Lindsay, we're gonna miss you. Congrats on your final run of the full Mo, down the Monan, at least as a resident. Hopefully you'll [00:01:00] be back for that race. In the future, and congrats to everybody who finished the full mo. I did tag a bunch of people I saw on Instagram and I probably left someone out, and so I'm terrified to do that here.
But you know, if I saw you, because I cheered my butt off for you and I had a blast doing it, I actually took my girls out to the Monon and joined the athletic Annex aid station, which was right around mile 27. My friend Eileen Poor, who was episode 17 of this podcast, has recently gone through a surgery and was standing on her own two feet and dancing and cheering and so it was so wonderful to be there with her. As well as Lana, who also uses my running coach, Rachel Senders. And so we had a great crew out there and then Jake and Sam from Athletic Annex, let my girls.
Like climb all over them. I felt so bad, but it was a blast. We loved it.
My favorite story is this guy named Mark who comes up to me and he's like, Hey, um, how long is this race?
And I mean, I like was like, uh, you mean in miles? [00:02:00] And he said, yeah. I said, okay, well it's a 50 K, so it's like 31.1 miles or something like that. And he's like, okay, thanks. And I just kept thinking like, what if I would've said 50 miles? Like we're at mile 27 is where this aid station is. I mean, so funny, and there were just so many amazing people running about, I think almost getting close to 200 runners this year.
So the event's really grown in the last few years since its inception. And someday maybe I'll, maybe I'll do it. I don't know. It sure seems like a good one to start off. It's on the Monan Trail, which is a paved. Old rail trail that goes through, you know, obviously a big, big part of our city. So congrats again, and then congrats to TJ Daley and Christy D who have both been on this podcast previously who are responsible for putting on the event.
It's awesome. So congrats to you guys too. And before I forget, I also want to make you aware of an upcoming giveaway for the Twin Cities Marathon, which is on October 5th this year. And we are partnered, and by we, I mean Sandy Boy [00:03:00] Productions, which is um, my show. And then Lindsay Heine, it's her network.
She has a show, I'll have another. And we are partnering with Pure Fuel from Anderson's Maple Syrup to provide a giveaway. So a lucky winner will get an entry to the Twin Cities Marathon. They will get a 10 pack of Pure Fuel, which is the OnCourse fuel for Twin City Marathon.
And then, um, twin Cities in motion also has provided a VIP wristband package. Really excited to be able to offer that maybe some other goodies in there. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled on Instagram for that. I'm Allie, A-L-O-Y-T, Brett, B-R-E-T-T.
Runs. So Allie, t Brett underscore runs on Instagram then back to this week's guest. I have Alan Ello. again, who's the president of the Fisher's Running Club on the podcast this week. It's been a long time coming, and Alan has recently, as this was recorded, made a comeback from a surgery that he had to have.
For an injured ankle and he kind of dives into the specifics of that, the story and what's [00:04:00] going on. But as of this recording of this intro, he has been cleared for walking, biking in the elliptical, and he will be able to run in July of this year, So really excited for him to get back after it. He had just an amazing last couple years or so with his, all of his ultra marathons, which we talk about.
We talk about how he said he would never run a marathon. So you know, anybody who knows Alan knows that is false. Well, obviously I just talked about the ultras and there are so many fun facts about Alan at the end of this episode, like, I'll just rattle off a few. His daughter is Madison Erico from Love Is Blind, season eight.
Loved her. Didn't know I watched it on the treadmill, didn't know it was his daughter. And then he survived a tornado, like literally a tornado ripped through a building he was in. He was a juror for a murder for hire case. He used to have long hair. He's lost 75 pounds at one point in his life, and so he's just.
Amazing. And his energy and just his kindness is infectious and, and as he'll [00:05:00] share, he's been through, you know, some tough stuff in life, but he is just awesome and in such a good place. And Alan, I am cheering for you and cannot wait for everybody to hear this conversation with Alan. Enjoy.
Ally Brettnacher: Welcome. Alan Ello.
Hello.
Did I crush that? Absolutely. Sort of.
Alan Errichiello: You did.
Ally Brettnacher: You can correct me. It sounded Italian air. Well, yeah, when I looked it up on pronounced names.com. You know what it says? It's like Eric Ello.
Alan Errichiello: You should hear Siri. You should hear Siri pronounce it.
Oh dear.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah,
Alan Errichiello: it's like Ello or something like that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So it's Italian.
Alan Errichiello: It is. Um, it is Italian and it means little ears.
Ally Brettnacher: No, it does because the pasta or No, that's already, or a, there's a type of pasta. Yeah. That looks like little ears.
Alan Errichiello: Mm-hmm. Do you want me to show you my ears real quick? Well, now I'm curious.
I don't have little ears, but No, your ears
Ally Brettnacher: are very normal. Yeah. That's really funny.
Alan Errichiello: So yeah, that's, uh, that's the meaning of my last name.
Ally Brettnacher: That's cool. I learned, I already learned something new about you, Alan. Yes, [00:06:00] yes. As did people listening probably. Absolutely. Although I'm sure your fisher's running club knows it all.
Are they gonna be surprised by some things today?
Alan Errichiello: Uh, probably. I, I looked at the, the loose agenda. They may learn a few things. Okay. I'm pretty tightlipped about, life in general. Um, I do have a core group that I, that you know, are close to me that know Right. A lot of things, so.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, I mean, you run tons of miles with people and inevitably you start to talk about just about anything.
Alan Errichiello: That's exactly right. And it's funny because, you know, you tend to get into these pace groups or we're doing a certain amount of distance, and so, um, especially if you're training for the same race, and so you, you tend to run with the same people over and over. Mm-hmm. And then. That turns into, Hey, what are you doing afterwards?
That turns into, hey, uh, you know, let's go grab something to eat, and then what are you doing next weekend? So it's turned into a great community.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love the Fisher's Running Club. You guys are all so incredibly welcoming and amazing and yeah, I [00:07:00] mean, if I lived in Fisher's, I would have to be part of the club.
Alan Errichiello: We would absolutely love to have you, and you're welcome to join us anytime, but I
Ally Brettnacher: should.
Alan Errichiello: I I, I felt the same way. I remember a friend of mine I played adult soccer with, I was an adult soccer league. I know, I
Ally Brettnacher: saw that. I wanted to talk to you about that. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: but he, uh, he's like, Hey, I'm gonna go check out the Fisher's Running Club.
And little did he know that I had been stalking the club for probably about six months.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh.
Alan Errichiello: But at the time, I was so, I was so in my own head, right? Mm-hmm. I looked at them, I was like, they look like elite runners. They're, they're fit, they're in shape. They are probably fast. And so I kind of held off for a while, but when he invited me, I was like, yes, hell yes.
Let's go.
Ally Brettnacher: You're like, alright, yeah, I'll go. So he joined first and then you were like, okay, well,
Alan Errichiello: well he, he's like, we're going this Wednesday night, and I remember the exact, uh, location and I was like, I'm gonna join you. Um, if you're gonna be there, I'll be there. And so I, showed up, basically ran, they were super friendly, just random runners.
You know how runners [00:08:00] are.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And I joined that night. It was mid, mid 2018.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: And now you're the president.
Alan Errichiello: Yes. Look at
Ally Brettnacher: that.
Alan Errichiello: who would've thought, who would've thought I, if you would've asked me half the things that where I'm at now, I, who would've thought. Right.
Ally Brettnacher: Right. I love how you said, I will never run a marathon.
And then you decided to run an ultra marathon before you ran a marathon.
Alan Errichiello: That was a crazy, crazy, uh, story. Crazy thing. Crazy time in life. Yeah, I, when I joined 2018, I, I was doing five Ks and I wasn't, I was a, a i, what I call a fair weather runner. Mm-hmm. And so I would essentially run when the weather was mostly nice, which is never in Indiana.
Right?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, that's true.
Alan Errichiello: So, , but of course joining the club, I, I was looking for a community. I was looking for some social, , outreach and just, I wanted to be a part of something. Yeah. So, 'cause I had been a part of an organization, , and I had left that, and so there was [00:09:00] a little bit of loss there.
Mm-hmm. And I wanted to just kind of fill that hole. And so, , of course you, you get surrounded by so many different types of runners. Um, our club has a pretty diverse group of runners in terms of paces and, and distances and things like that. And so there were quite a few that were training for monumental and, uh, Carmel Marathon and.
You know, I had just, , I had run a couple of marathons or half marathons and, I mean, just not knowing what running was, I didn't know there's a science to running. And, , I remember my first couple of half marathons, the first were at monumental half marathons. Okay. And I, I think the first year I ran, like a 2 24.
Okay. Had no idea like what that meant. I just know I felt terrible afterwards. And I had a headache and we were, we were at Cheesecake, cheesecake Factory, and I'm just laying on the, like the stone seat outside, just waiting to be called in and Oh
Ally Brettnacher: gosh.
Alan Errichiello: And then my buddies were like, uh, you know, later on they were like, we're, we're gonna run it again.
I was like, okay, I'll [00:10:00] do it. So I, wow. Yeah, I actually decided in 20, I think it was 2016, I was, I'm gonna run it again. so I trained a little bit more. I kind of knew a little bit more about it. And then, um, I, uh. Ran a 2 24 again. So really the exact, almost the exact same. It was, yeah. I mean, that's wild.
Within seconds. Wild. Yeah. Huh. but after that, you know, kind of let's jump back, , to the Fisher's Running Club. -.'
I was experienced in running the, the half marathon and there's this, I guess there's, , kind of an unspoken goal to run a half marathon under two hours.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Right, right. So
Alan Errichiello: it's just, I don't, you know, it, some, most people can achieve that.
I understand. Some people just don't care to do that. That's fine. but I was challenged, I was inspired by our club members, and so I remember wanting to, go sub two. And so I believe my first sub two was at the the mini marathon.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And so that kind of, once I, I actually achieved it. It was that year, I believe.
Was rainy and you're running in like puddles, like inches of water. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, [00:11:00] it's just a terrible day on, but I barely got under two that year and it, that really kind of set something off in me.
Ally Brettnacher: That's a huge PR Yes. Did you go like from that 2 24 to the sub two or did you have some in between?
Alan Errichiello: I had a couple in between. Okay. Uh, so I had the 2 24 twice and then I think I was at as part of the club and I think I was trying to go for sub two, at monumental half. and I think I was, I, I was a little bit injured, not like debilitating injured like I am now. but uh, I think I got a 2 0 5 and I was like, okay, next, the next half I'm, I'm gonna do it.
It, yeah. So that was the Indie mini and I achieved it, so yeah. And then I basically, I was like, I'm going to just keep going for it. I'm just gonna see where I can go. Mm-hmm. How fast I can run. And I just kept chasing that goal and, running with a lot of different people. They're, they started to ask like, well, you're, you're running great.
You're doing well. You're, you're progressing and you're getting faster, so when are you gonna run a marathon? I was like, I am never gonna run a marathon. Like, and I was just adamant about it. 'cause I just had zero desire. Yeah. [00:12:00] I mean, I, at the time, 13.1 miles was tough for me.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Well, it's tough.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: For anybody.
Anytime. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. The thought of doubling those miles. Yes. Which just kind of blew my, I couldn't wrap my head around it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I've been there
Alan Errichiello: and so I, I acted tough, but I was really scared of a marathon, to be honest with you. Yeah. You're
Ally Brettnacher: like, no, I don't need to. I'm good. And you're like, inside, you're like, no, I
Alan Errichiello: can't.
Right. I mean, I can't do that. And this is, this is me because I've had, I did a lot of major life changes, so I was still getting used to being in shape and fit.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: And so I was still testing myself. I was still trying to see what, where I could go physically. But you know, we all know it really just kind of boils down to mentally challenging yourself.
Right. And, and having that mentality of like, I can do anything. I could do hard things, is what they say. Right? Yes.
Ally Brettnacher: Right,
Alan Errichiello: right. , But yeah, kind of fast forward to, I think it was 2021. And so we had, you know, everyone talks about the COVID and how Right. It affected a lot. , At the time I was, I was married and [00:13:00] my father-in-law.
They were coming back from Florida. My mother-in-law and father-in-law at the time were coming back from Florida. And, they had caught, they had gotten COVID. And so, , for my father-in-law, it was, , it was, it was bad. And he ended up in the hospital.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I won't go into details 'cause it, it was a very difficult time.
I respected my father. He, he was the one in the family who was really interested in my running. He would ask, what'd you run today? How fast you go? What are you doing? What's your races? Yeah, I mean, he was truly interested in, in my running. And, so we really bonded over that. but unfortunately after several rounds of pneumonia, he, he passed away. And so that was a really difficult time. And that was early July.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. And that, would that be in 2020 or was that 21? 2021. 21.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And so at that time, earlier that year, I, I had finally decided to run the marathon. I was like, I think I'm ready. Oh, it was, course I'm a scared shitless, you know what I mean?
Yeah. I was just [00:14:00] like, I just wanted to do it. Everyone was doing it. And I was like, I was like, you know, I think I can do it. And so I started to wrap my, my mind around it. And then as you know, in July is the big eight hour Endurance Dream. Right, right. And I thought, I was like, you know what, I had been on Relay teams before and it was fun.
I have a love hate relationship with the eight hour Dream endurance race because it is so fun. I tell people it is the worst kind of fun that you could have, right? I mean, it's, it's one of the hottest days of the year. I know.
Ally Brettnacher: It's so hot. That's what scares me about it. Right? It starts at
Alan Errichiello: 10:00 AM so you're running through the hottest part of the day for eight hours if you can Right, right.
If you want to do that. And, uh, so I decided that year I was like, you know, I'm gonna run solo. I had seen a lot of my club members run solo. I was like, I, I like that because I can run what I wanna do.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: So prior to that, I had run, I think the, the furthest I had ever run was 15 miles, like two weeks before that.
Okay. And, I was like, I should probably set a goal for myself for that day. I was like, I'm gonna go for 20 miles that day at the eight hour dream endurance race. [00:15:00] Right. Yeah. There's plenty of support. It's a great, place to run. Um, lots of people, a lot of support. And so, um. I remember that morning, just sweltering hot.
I mean, you're just instantly sweating right? As soon as you step out the car. my father-in-law had had just passed, , I, I wanna say about a week or so prior. Mm. So, I was still thinking about him.
Ally Brettnacher: Were you able to have a funeral at that time?
Alan Errichiello: Yes. Okay. Yeah, we did. We did a proper burial. That's, yeah.
I mean, that's good. Yes. Yeah. but, uh, still kind of thinking about that, that was heavy. Um mm-hmm. And so I remember getting there that day, and we have some, some club members. Um, his name, his name is Wolfgang, and he had run solo plenty times, and he's like in my ear. I, I specifically remember, he's like, Hey, wouldn't it be cool if you ran a marathon today?
I was like,
Ally Brettnacher: Hmm.
Alan Errichiello: I was like, no. Like, no, it wouldn't be cool if I said, first of all, I don't want this to be my first marathon. I said, secondly, I was like, you know, I, I, I can't, I really don't think I could do that [00:16:00] anyway. Mm-hmm. And then he's like, well, how about this? He goes, do you think you could run a, don't you think it would be cool to run a 50 K in Ultra?
I was like, I was like, what Moron would double their miles in two weeks, never having run more than 50 miles. And so he got in my ear, he got in my head, and I had a chip on my shoulder. I mean, it was just like, it was a hard day and I was still thinking about my father-in-law and how like, and I wish, you know, he would've.
Yeah. Been, you know, because I was thinking about my marathon, this was training for a marathon.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And so I was starting to ramp the miles up and I remember running, and at the time I was still very novice. I, again, I had only run 15 miles, right? So I knew nothing about nutrition and hydration. And I remember running, if anybody that's run eight hour dream, you know, that, that sidewalk that goes around the stadium, you know, the football field or whatever, and goes into the parking lot.
Well, that, that [00:17:00] eventually, I think I was 12 miles in or something like that. And I, my quad just started to lock up and I was like, this. Not like, what is this? Like why does this hurt? Why, why, what is happening? Yeah. and you know, I'd heard about hydration, nutrition. I mean, my club is, is very smart.
They, they provide aid stations on our Saturday morning runs, right? Like, so they're very aware of, uh, keeping our runners safe. But I didn't, I, I wasn't planning on doing anything anyway that day. I was like, if I could get 20, that'd be great. And so long story short is I kept going and I wasn't sure if I was gonna even get to 15 that day, but I kept thinking about my father-in-law.
and he had inspired, I mean, he was just a. He wasn't, I wasn't thinking like he's, he's in heaven looking down. You know what I mean? It was like, I just felt like if he were here, I would love to talk to him about this. And so that, I mean, more or less kept me going. And I, I had that chip on my shoulder and I had Wolfgang still in my, like, I just remember him saying, wouldn't it be cool?
And I was like, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. [00:18:00] Like, I'm, I've got, I've got something to prove here. I've got energy. I need to exert this. Whatever I'm dealing with right now, this grief and these emotions, and what better way to do that than to run. And I'll tell you, it was tough. I mean, I.
I, I'm not, I'm not a real emotional guy, but I got emotional that day several times when no one was around because I was hurting. My, my, my legs were locked up, but I just, I had this chip on my shoulder. I was like, I'm gonna do it. And so I did it. I ran, I, I finished barely under eight hours and I think that day I ran 31.9 miles and that was my first ultra.
And I had zero intentions of ever doing that.
Ally Brettnacher: That's really amazing. Yeah. Congratulations.
Alan Errichiello: Thank you. And it, it just, you know, it just goes to show you that if you put your mind to it, you can do it. You know, your body's gonna listen. I wouldn't recommend doing that. And I course, you know, had I had a what, a compound fracture, stick it out, I would've, would've stopped.
Ally Brettnacher: Right, right.
Alan Errichiello: But I knew it was muscular and I knew I could suffer through it. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So, [00:19:00] and for eight hour endurance, I've ta we've talked about it on this podcast before, but there's a couple of loops that you can choose between. Mm-hmm. And you can stop and start whenever you want. Mm-hmm. Yes. And so you just as much as you wanna do within that eight hour timeframe.
Yeah, you do.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And I think, uh, a good rule of thumb, I think, especially for those running solo, trying to get distance, is to run the longer loop because there is the worst part of the route of the course, right?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: It is, I believe it's called bulldogs revenge. And you're literally going up a road, you jump onto a curb and you go straight up a muddy path.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh,
Alan Errichiello: up to the bell tower.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And I'm telling you that that will mess with you. Mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Yeah. You'll, you'll be crying when you get to the top, especially later on in the day. Sure. Again, you're talking mid-July, you're talking temps that can be in the eighties and nineties, you know, Dew point, so high, you know, that type of thing.
Yeah. And you're just suffering. Yeah. but that I [00:20:00] say, I'll say is that you, if you're running solo, try to avoid like less than the amount of times that you go up the hill because the 1.9 mile route also you end on that. You, you basically, that's at the end of the
Ally Brettnacher: Wow.
Alan Errichiello: So you, it doesn't matter what, what, short, long, okay.
You're going to hit that hill.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So,
Ally Brettnacher: wow. Yeah. And so, speaking of nutrition mm-hmm. And hydration, I'm assuming the club had a tent and you had access to, you know, all kinds of food and mm-hmm. And hydration. Did you just kind of play it by ear and, 'cause you'd never done it before, so.
Alan Errichiello: What did you, so the club Yes.
Was there, we had a, a quite a few relay teams and our, our, uh, competition, like our cup team was running. And so they had plenty. I mean, there was plenty there. I mean, you could probably go to any runner and say help. And they would just give you whatever you wanted. Whatever you asked for. Yeah. I was, it was just at that point, it was just too late.
I didn't, I didn't realize I should have probably started hydrating the day before. Sure. And I probably should have started the day off, not with five cups of coffee, but probably with an electrolyte drink and [00:21:00] continuing to, you know what I mean? Right, right. Hard lesson learned. But, plenty of support that wasn't, it was just me kind of being ignorant to the fact that I, this is like, you know, first of all, I wasn't planning on it.
Secondly, I just, I wasn't aware of like, after 15 miles you're gonna, you're gonna feel like death. Yeah. And you need to do everything to prevent that. So.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. But do you remember you had to have eaten something during that time or, yeah, I remember. It's probably a blur too.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. People were providing like electrolyte drinks.
I was down in Gatorade. yeah, I can't remember exactly what I did. I mean, I actually felt like a rockstar because like, I had the, our club members, they come in, they would bring like ice and they'd have a roller. So I'm sitting there drinking and they're like, rolling my legs and they're like, that's the best.
That's so nice. Yeah. They're changing out, you know, my shoes and they're like putting ice on my back and things like that. So Great. Again, great support out there, but it was just, it was, it was too late at that point. Right?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I spectated last year in 24 for a little bit, and it was really fun to kind of get a sense of the environment.
Mm-hmm. 'cause I'd never been there before and so it definitely got me interested in the [00:22:00] concept, but I suck at running in the heat and so that's terrifying. But also it like doesn't really, I mean, you know, if you hydrate properly and, and are ready for that, it's, it's what you wanna make it. Yeah. Um, so as long as we're not, I'm not on a team that's like counting on me for certain paces then, then it would be more fun I think in that environment.
Uh,
Alan Errichiello: that, and that's what I love about that, that day is because, um, you're just surrounded by runners who are determined to do something. Yeah. And some of them are determined to just have fun. And that's, you know, some of those relay teams, they're, they're there for fun. You could look at their, their team names, they get really creative.
Um, and then, you know, there's people that, that do well in heat, which is normally the CUP team. Right. Those competing, yeah. Those super humans. Right, right.
Ally Brettnacher: Like how do you do that? Yeah. I don't know. Wow. And so that was your fir first ultra. Yes.
Alan Errichiello: It still blows my mind today that I, I got through that. Um,
Ally Brettnacher: yeah, so especially before a marathon, but I mean, grief can do crazy things.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so then you were training for monumental, I assume Uhhuh your [00:23:00] first full. Yeah. Okay.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. I chose that because our club, you know, we had a big presence there. Yeah. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: And
Alan Errichiello: it was a well supported race. And so, um, and it just, everyone was doing it. I was like, I'll just, I'll train with them Right.
And we'll run together.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And
Alan Errichiello: so, I, I ran monumental that year, and it, everything, I mean, the training block, the day, the weather, that day, everything was perfect. I mean, I couldn't have asked for more other than a bq. Right. Yeah. But, that still today in, November of 2021, I've run three marathons total, and that's still my best.
Your best marathon. Yeah, my best marathon. So.
Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sometimes it's funny how you just, like, when you don't know what to expect, sometimes you do better because there's no, you just don't know what to expect.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Yeah. And, and so what what was really cool is I'd had a lot of experience marathoners that, were telling me what to do, what not to do.
Yeah. And so I kind of took some of their advice. I, you know, I worked it in to how it would fit me. [00:24:00] Um, and so I trained, based off of a, like a, just a standard training plan. And it worked well for me. and I did have a friend, his name is Treg, Boston Marathoner. He's like, I want to run this with you.
And I was like, sweet. Yeah. Thank, I mean, let's go. Like, and he's like, I'll hold your stuff. I'll do whatever you need me to do. And he goes, but you're gonna dictate the pace. And I was like, okay. So we started off hot and, I felt,
I felt really good. Of course, I,
I,
thankfully, I knew what to expect because of the, uh, the ultra marathon that I'd run a couple months before.
and so I ended up negative splitting the first half and the second half, and it just ended up like everything was just perfect. And so I couldn't have asked for anything more, honestly, for my first marathon. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's the best. Yeah. Well, and then 2022 was the wind year. Oh God. 'cause that was the first year I ran the full at monumental.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I was like, cool, great. For this first time, I'm running the full here and it's gonna be just like a tornado.
Alan Errichiello: So yes, I, I [00:25:00] remember that because, that year was just a terrible year of running for me, uh, because I had signed up for a spring marathon.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: It was Glass City in, in Toledo.
Yep. And I jokingly call it Glass Shitty.
Ally Brettnacher: That's funny
Alan Errichiello: because my, it wasn't a, the race was great. I mean, the course is good. A lot of good support, a really great, uh, race. I would recommend it to anybody, but, um, you train through the winter, right?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And COVID was still hot and heavy. And, I remember getting COVID in like a January, and I'm supposed to be training for this marathon in early April, and so that, that first round of COVID really knocked me on my ass.
Like I was, I mean, I, it, it, it probably several weeks of just trying to figure out like, how do, how do we fix this? Like how do I get better?
Ally Brettnacher: Can you describe what your symptoms were? Like, what was the hardest part?
Alan Errichiello: Um, initially, so I think with everyone, I lost taste and smell, which was kind of the indicator.
Yes. But, um, I had, I've, I've always been a very healthy [00:26:00] individual and I don't recall ever having the flu like. Some people say you can carry it, but never have symptoms. So I've never had the, the symptoms where you're, you're, you have a fever, right? Mm-hmm. And your body is just like trying to figure out is it hot or cold or, mm-hmm.
So I started to experience that. I very fatigued obviously, severely congested. And, um, I remember for several, like, I had a, a fever a hundred, one fever for almost six days I think. Geez. And so that really like, just was just a different experience for me. I'd never been that sick before. And, uh, I remember one day just waking up with a severe migraine and I.
It, like it messed me up. And so I was brought a, a black cup of coffee and that seemed to have helped. And so, so yeah. Trying to reel from that. Your body's just fatigued Yeah. Fighting this fever and this sickness, and you're, you're just not sure what you're capable of doing after that. And so that knocked my, my marathon training plan from 18 weeks down to 12 weeks.[00:27:00]
And I was like, look, let's just not even expect anything from this. Right. Like, why are you even doing this? But I was just bound and determined, like, yeah, we had a big group going and I was really looking forward to it. And, uh, I had some aspirations to keep my marathon under four. Right. So my, 'cause my first one was really, I, I was very happy with that.
I was like, let's just keep, let's just keep this, uh, you know, momentum going.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: Uh, so long story short, winter was terrible. Freezing cold. I mean, you're training in blowing wind, 20 degree weather, snow, ice, that typical Indiana, I've never done
Ally Brettnacher: a spring marathon. Don't do it. Yeah. It's just don't do it.
Scary.
Just
Alan Errichiello: ignoring people out there listening. Everyone else is like, it's fine. We do it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so yeah, I, I, I vowed to never run a spring marathon, but we'll see. I've, I've said things like that before, so, right. Um, so the week before Glass City, I'm sorry, glass City Uhhuh, um, we, uh, I think four days before they, they in, they yellow flagged the race.[00:28:00]
Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. They said it's going to be exponentially warmer. It's probably gonna be in the sixties or so. And we had been training in 20, 30 degree weather. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: That's so hard. Again,
Alan Errichiello: me just kind of being naive to like endurance distance running, I was like, I was like, okay, I mean, it's cool. It's gonna be warm.
So I started off hot again. I was running solo this time. Like I didn't want to run with anybody. I just wanted to, and I, 'cause I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. Right. And you
Ally Brettnacher: didn't want the pressure of like having somebody, you're like, I just wanna do my thing. Exactly. I couldn't relate.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. So I started off, um, I ran.
I, I ran the first half really well, and then I remember at mile 16 just feeling that same quad issue that I felt that eight hour dream. And I was like, oh, shit. Like I'm in trouble because I got 10 more miles to go. And the funny thing about Glass City is that they touted it as flat and fast. So I'm coming outta this neighborhood after mile 16, and I'm just trying to stretch and like, I was like, oh, it might be too late for me.
Like to, to re recover from this. Keep this up. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
And I get onto this main road, it's probably [00:29:00] about three miles, three or four miles long. I, I think I was mile 17. It, it takes you to mile. I, I can't remember, but it was a, it was a straight, and I just remember seeing Rolling Hills and I'm just like, my, I, I just feel like, just defeated.
Yeah. And I remember running and I was stopping frequently to stretch. And I don't know if that helped or not, but it just made me feel better to stop.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And, uh. At that time, I was running an 8 55 pace. 'cause I was, I thought, oh, this is good. Like, I was, you know, I'll, I'll do a sub four. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I was, I was, according to Garmin, I, I think I was targeting at 3 55.
I was like, oh yeah, great. This will be good. I mean, it's not my pr, but, I'll stay under four and, uh, I'll get away with this one. Mm-hmm. Somehow. Yeah. And, uh, I remember a golf cart medic pulled up and she's like, you wanna a ride back? I was, and I, I was like, uh, and I looked at her, I said, no. I was like, I'm gonna keep going.
I'm such a stubborn ass. Like, I, I will, like, I was like, Nope.
Ally Brettnacher: That's almost [00:30:00] so mean to ask. I know, right? It's like, don't give me the decision.
Alan Errichiello: It's like that. Yeah. Yeah. It was like the temptation was there. I like, no. Yeah. The temptation of
Ally Brettnacher: getting on was, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Because I thought about it. I, I took about, uh, about 10 seconds to consider.
I was like, you know what? No,
Ally Brettnacher: no. Like, I want this. I'm, I'm gonna get there somehow. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Maybe this is the, the, the terrible marathon you need to learn your lesson from. You know, everyone has one. Right? Right. Yeah. And so. So things got worse and I just, my pace went from like 8 55 all the way to like 10. And I ended up finishing with like a, I think a four 10.
Yeah. Again, not my goal. And I understand that some people would be happy with that. Oh,
Ally Brettnacher: totally. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Alan Errichiello: but I was, I was happy that I finished. I mean, it, you know, just kind of like, you just continue to do the hard things. And so I was really happy with that. And then, and then we, that later that year, I was like, let me just try this again.
So I signed up for the 2022 Monumental Marathon, and I remember that morning, just like a bad Oman. Like I'm, I'm driving downtown, I'm sitting there at a stoplight, [00:31:00] and my Garmin starts going off. I was like, what are you, what's going on? And he's like, Garmin is basically saying your heart rate is so high that we're, we're flagging you right now.
I was like, but I feel fine. You know? Yeah, of course. Yeah. I didn't stop. I was probably really anxious because I wanted to do well. Yeah, well 'cause you, yeah, totally. Yeah. And so, I, I actually did fairly well, I, I remember turning onto Meridian after what, mile 20? Yeah. One ish, right? Yeah. That terrible stretch of no, no man's land out there.
Yeah. and so I was turning on, and then that wind hit and I, I wanna say the winds themselves, like just that constant wind was probably in the T thirties or so. It was
Ally Brettnacher: crazy.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. But the wind gusts, I remember being f like they saying 55 miles plus per hour.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I remember being stopped on my tracks, literally, stopped on my tracks.
I, I saw the, the aid stations, the water stations just blown over. Yeah. I mean, I felt so bad for the
Ally Brettnacher: volunteers too. 'cause it's like good luck trying to fill a cup and leave it on the table. Yeah. Right. It's blowing all over the place.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Which also means your [00:32:00] runners that were depending on that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Totally know. It was, I remember mile 20, either outta water or there wa I mean it was just a nightmare. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. But I, I, I went through, I mean, I, I was okay. I was, I was a little bit, I was still had a little bit of, uh, my, my legs were starting to lock up a little bit, but I was fine. I did, I still ended up with a sub four marathon and that was my last marathon.
Okay. I was like, I'm just gonna take a break from this. I've had two, two bad ones in a row. I was like, lemme just figure something else out. Lemme just
Ally Brettnacher: do ultras instead. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Which spoiler alert actually. And I think maybe I, I ran the solo. No. Was it? Maybe not. I'm trying to remember all of them, so, yeah.
You know. Right,
Ally Brettnacher: right. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Let's just take a break and, yeah. Yeah. Although, you know, the ultra world is very different than the like mm-hmm. Super anxious staring at your Garmin run road running. Yeah. Because that's what I do. Um, I haven't done much by way of like trail or I haven't done an ultra, so it's tempting.
How did you end up deciding that you were done with the break from long [00:33:00] distance?
Alan Errichiello: because of just the, the two terrible experiences with the, the marathons, you know, at Glass City and with monumental, it just not, you know, just race day, just not going well for you. I was like, I'm trying to remember what I decided.
I think I was just sticking with, the half marathon and trying to get faster at that point. Mm-hmm. I do remember running eight Hour Dream again that year, and I, and that was a, that was a really bad year air quality wise. And, I ended up with a 50 K again that day, but I, I think I walked like the last half.
Yeah. I was just like my, I just couldn't breathe. I, you know, I just remember it was just, I couldn't process that, the air, quality for whatever reason. And I think I was walking with a lot of, of, our club members that day. But, and then I just, I just kind of caught the bug. I was like, I just don't have no desire to run marathon.
So I kept running. And I remember, I met TJ Daly and uh, I was talking to him and, he's just asking me about my background and he had learned that I was a president, president of the Fisher's Rugby Club at that time. He's like, he's like, Hey, I wanna, I want to promo [00:34:00] you a, a free race entry to the full mill.
Oh my gosh, that's so dangerous. I was like, I was like, yay. Like, yes. Uh, I was like, what? I was like, what? You know? 'cause I hadn't really heard of it and I wasn't sure. Tell people what it is. So the full MO is, basically. The Ultra Marathon, 31.1 miles, running the full distance of the Monan Trail. plus a little, you know, a little out and back, I think through Westfield.
So that equates to basically a 50 K. Uh, it is relatively the easiest 50 K you're ever gonna run. it's flat. You're running on, on the monan. there's mostly shade until the last couple miles, which gets really tough mentally and physically. Yeah. and so I was like, yeah, let's do it.
You know, and I had a couple of club members that were also were doing it, and so I was like, yeah, you know what, let's do it. Like, this actually sounds like fun and I'll support TJ and MTC. and so I ran it and, I can't remember what I did that year, but I remember just a, again, having some issues with hydration and just, [00:35:00] you know, my quads locking up at like mile 22 because
Ally Brettnacher: it's in June.
Correct.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Yeah. It was like at the, can't remember if we said that or not, but yeah, it's usually like the first, like this year's May 31st, but, uh, it was like June's right? Or early June. It is. Okay. Yep. Yep. I think it's, oh gosh, is it always the first Saturday after Memorial Day? Maybe. I think
Ally Brettnacher: that sounds right.
Yeah. Let's roll with that. Yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: I like that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: but yeah, I, I ended up running, it was fine. I had several club members run and kind of run me in. Um, and they learned a lot about who I was at end there. Um, they're never gonna along. It's like nothing
Ally Brettnacher: that I say in these last five miles can be held against me.
Oh.
Alan Errichiello: They were, they were doing everything they could to, to try to support me. Like just yell at that cone or, you know, just, just lash out. Just let some of this anger out. Yeah. 'cause I was, I mean, I was dropping, I was so angry at my quads, right? Mm-hmm. And so, um, but I got through it and it was great. Loved it.
Yeah. Um, probably, I think I, I ran the eight hour dream again.
Ally Brettnacher: And what year would this been now? Is this 23 or 24? Because Did you do the full MO twice? I did. So yeah, this was 2023 Becausecause. I was [00:36:00] spectating and I remember seeing you out there. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I spectated last year at the full mo.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And
Ally Brettnacher: I Where, where the running club was, which was like mile what, like 18 or somewhere like that? Yeah, somewhere in the middle. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: yeah, that's the, the whole, the, we had a really great eight station that just really mm-hmm. Not just provided everything you needed, but like, just the, the moral support was just amazing.
Yeah. Didn't wanna leave. Right.
Ally Brettnacher: You're like, can I just hang out with you guys here for a while?
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. I mean, it was probably a good, a good five to seven minutes I think. Staying there. Just talking and hanging out. Just,
Ally Brettnacher: were you, were you with Carly? Yes. I can't remember. Okay. Because I remember mm-hmm.
Seeing her, I can't remember if you Yeah, yeah. And you guys together. Yeah. And she was, yeah. Like you described at the eight hour, like, you know, sitting down, changing shoes, getting Yeah. You know, whatever you needed to do. And it was for me, really the first time I'd ever been around an ultra before. Okay.
And so it was just interesting to see the dynamic of Yeah. How you stop and just get what you need and take a beat before you go again. And just such an interesting vibe. It's, it's very,
Alan Errichiello: yeah, it's [00:37:00] very different from a road marathon and because it's, it's obviously a lot more relaxed and so I. You know, everyone talks about the food being so much better to eat, right.
Because you're not really scarfing it down trying to run a six minute mile, you know? Right. You're just like, okay. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I had a great support. Um, I, I, she, she'd helped me quite a bit. I remember I dropped an ice bag and I was like, I can't bend over, pick it up. So I just kept running. She's like, uh, let me go get that for ya.
Yeah. You're gonna need this. Let's keep this. Yeah. I remember just like her, her spraying like, what is it, Biofreeze? Yeah. I'd never had that forge. Oh. And she's like, you're like, like, just
Ally Brettnacher: do whatever you. Yeah. Yeah. So
Alan Errichiello: that was a great time. I, I appreciated the support there. Carly and I obviously became really good friends after that.
Yeah. Just seeing, seeing, uh, the side of me that most people don't. So
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. She needs to come on this podcast. She's one I haven't had.
Alan Errichiello: I think she would be an amazing one to have on here. She would, yes. Yeah. She's an excellent per uh, woman. I, I, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So, so you did the full MO two years in a row, Uhhuh, and was last year, the year of [00:38:00] all of your ultra marathons.
Right.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And so, I, there is one that I did with my buddy Aaron. We traveled to the hennepin hundred.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah, yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Which is a hundred miler, a 50 miler and a 50 K. Okay. And so, him and I trained hard for that. Like, where is that again? That's in, I think it started in Kelowna, Illinois. It's like northwestern Illinois.
Okay,
Ally Brettnacher: okay.
Alan Errichiello: And it was along a canal, basically. Probably, I don't know, an old fire road or maybe even a rail to trail. I, I, I'm not quite sure. Okay. but we opted for the 50 K obviously, and so we trained really hard for that. And our goal was to get a sub five. And I remember, you know, just traveling out there, um, it was a great weekend overall, just a great race.
and the problem, the problem with this race is the a hundred miler and 50 milers start really early in the morning. I. The 50 K didn't start till 5:00 PM
Oh
Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah. That's weird.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And I, I was thinking, I was like, why did they do that? And I'm just assuming because of like, just the logistics of it, you know, [00:39:00] because probably at that time, most of the a hundred milers and 50 milers would come through and they could probably start shutting some of those eight stations down at the very beginning, right?
Yeah. So I'm just thinking, oh, well, because it's, it's only 31 miles, you know, they're gonna just, you know, try and, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Wait, and then let everybody use that same Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Right, right. Which is actually pretty smart. But that was a little bit more difficult because I don't particularly enjoy running in the evenings, so I become very accustomed to running in the mornings and enjoyed that.
And so I remember we got there and we needed to be shuttled. And so we, we, we got there, we shuttled, they took us to the wrong spot. And so we're like, the race is gonna start here any minute. So we eventually got there, we got there probably about 20 some minutes late.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. Yes.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: My anxiety would be just like,
Alan Errichiello: it didn't feel good.
I, I mean, you're, you, I mean, by 5:00 PM you know, you're used to your day kind of ending, you know? Right. Especially if you're working regular
Ally Brettnacher: hours. I'm just ready to,
Alan Errichiello: oh, right.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: We got there and they're [00:40:00] like, look, we already let the other group go. Like, everyone that actually started there, instead of having to be, you know, had to take a shuttle there and they're like, all right, we're gonna start at this time.
And so, we probably started like at 5 25, 5 30, I can't remember. Yeah. I could probably go back and look, but Aaron and I are like, let's, let's go. We did it. And so we, it was great. We felt, really great, uh, strong. we had trained for it and so, we ended up. Uh, just passing a lot of people and it was kind of like a, a really a great feeling just because those are the people that had started 20, 30 minutes earlier.
Right, right.
Ally Brettnacher: Wow.
Alan Errichiello: And, uh, we were doing really well. They had the most amazing aid stations, like they volunteered from, you know, the area. And I remember just all of these different aid stations being just themed differently. That's fun. I think the first one you go through this, tunnel over, it was under a road, I think they strung like lights, like decorative lights.
Yeah. And you're just like, oh, that looks really inviting. Yeah. So you run through it and your mood is just boosted, right? Yeah. You get there and [00:41:00] like, I think it was a pineapple thing, so they had like,
Ally Brettnacher: oh yeah. Just,
Alan Errichiello: I mean, you know how like volunteers get really creative and they just really want it to be a, a great experience for you.
And so we would spend, I think we spent maybe about two minutes tops at you just wanna stay, but we're like, look, we got some goals. So all of the eight stations were great. I remember, you know, you just, as you get to mile 20, you know, the, the twenties and you just, your body just starts off fatigue and your, your mind is like, I hate you.
I don't do this anymore. Yeah. Why are we doing this? Right? And Aaron, he's a two time iron man, like full iron man. Okay. So he's very experienced and, and just all the, the tricks of the trade. And so he's like, lemme get you some broth. I was like, okay. Mm-hmm. So at this time it was at night. It was probably in the forties.
I mean, and so it was, it was near perfect weather. But you're still sweating, but you're cold. Yeah. and he, so I drank the broth. I was like more, you know, so broth like just did it for me. Yeah. It just instantly just kind of revived me and just gave me a boost.
Ally Brettnacher: I really want us to have broth at monumental.
Alan Errichiello: Yes. I brought
Ally Brettnacher: that up to the [00:42:00] team before. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. I think it's great. I mean, it's got a lot of sodium and it goes down easy. Yes.
Ally Brettnacher: And it's like when it's so cold, the warmth of it is just so amazing. Yeah. I had it once at Phil. The Philadelphia Marathon has broth at the end. So I'll never forget that Roth.
Yeah,
Alan Errichiello: that's, that's in the, the, the tool chest.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. That and
Alan Errichiello: pickle juice. Pickle juice, right. Yeah. Yeah. but yeah, we, we were at eight station 26 and like we had just run the marathon and we were still, we were cutting it close and I looked at my watch, like, there's no way we're gonna get a sub five.
And then I, I had a, a friend that had traveled there and, and they were like, if you run this pace, you can do it. I was like, I don't think I can do it. I don't think I have it in me. I was like, I, I'm just, it was at night. I mean, I'm fatigued from the day and the late start, and we were pushing, I mean, we were averaging like a 9 35 minute mile.
Mm-hmm. And I remember, like logistically, some of the challenges is because you're in pitch dark, there's no lights out there. And so I, I ended up having to hold my flashlight because my, my system rigged. Oh, no. [00:43:00] Yeah. Um, had failed. Yeah. Great. And my headlamp didn't work.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh, Alan, I know.
Alan Errichiello: So there's, there's a lot of challenges, but, but I remember, I think maybe to my benefit is holding this, this little light up three feet in front of you, because it was not, it, it was just mixed terrain.
I mean, you're, and it was at fall, and so like you're running through leaves, you're not sure what's on the leaves. Is there a hole you're running through those big, seeds and things? Oh,
Ally Brettnacher: right. Like the walnuts. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Those tough, those big ones. Yeah. Um, you're just, you're running like, there's a little bit of asphalt from previous whatever.
It was a road I would suppose. And uh, just all kinds of mixed strain. There's gravel, I hate gravel. Mm. And, and so you're just really, I was really focused on the three feet front, just not snapping your ankle. That's
Ally Brettnacher: just not full.
Alan Errichiello: So Yeah. But we, we ended up, it was so funny because. We, we got really close and we're looking at our watches and, and it's like mile 30.
And you're like, alright, we're, we're close to mile 31. It's like, oh, we're, so, we're almost there. [00:44:00] And then like mile 31 comes up and we're like, okay, I don't see the finish line. Like, where, where's the finish line? Like mile 31.1. And of course, you know, we're not stupid. We understand like, if you don't take, you know, just the tangents and things.
Oh, sure. It's not gonna be exact. Right. But you're
Ally Brettnacher: like, I'm wanting it to be like within a visual. Right. Fighting at this point. Yeah. Right.
Alan Errichiello: And so, um. We're running. And then Aaron, he's a beat, like he is an amazing runner. He's a distance endurance iron man. And like he's just, he's so stoic and he's just like always having a good time and, and just, you know, he's just always like trying to help everyone else.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: this is probably something that, uh, he would want me to share, but I started to see a side of Aaron, no one in our club has ever seen, he started to get pretty perturbed about, 'cause we didn't see the finish line.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh. And he's like, where the f is this finish? Oh yeah. He was like,
Alan Errichiello: he was like, where's this at?
He's like, where's this finish line? And I'm starting to think the same. I was like, what the, you know, I'm just, did we
Ally Brettnacher: get like somehow lost? I mean, no. Well, you, because you're like, how did I possibly Yeah. Right.
Alan Errichiello: But at that time we were actually on like a, [00:45:00] like some kind of a, a paved trail. Right. So you're
Ally Brettnacher: like, we are on the right.
Alan Errichiello: Right. And this looks like, you know, the finish line or whatever. So 31.1, 31.2, 31.30, 31.4. And I'm starting get really? So then we start to see the lights and I was like, oh my God. There it's, I think it ended up being like, but then the
Ally Brettnacher: lights are probably messing with your mind. 'cause in the dark, how do you know?
Like, well we were looking distance. Yeah. Yes, you're right. How far away it's, exactly,
Alan Errichiello: exactly. Because it was, you know, it was just tiny little lights and then Right. And you're like,
Ally Brettnacher: that better be close. Yeah. So what did your watch say at the end?
Alan Errichiello: I was like, high 31 point, I think 31.9 or something like that.
So
Ally Brettnacher: it wasn't terrible, but that's really hard mentally. But it, more than anything, just like I'm done at 31, 1, I, that's when I finished the race. The race is over.
Alan Errichiello: Exactly. So we ended up getting our sub five. That's cool. That day. And, and it was a, it was amazing. I got, I actually got my, second and age group award.
That's fun. Aaron got third, right behind me. And, um, does he
Ally Brettnacher: give you shit for that?
Alan Errichiello: No,
Ally Brettnacher: he's cool because he ran together or like, [00:46:00] I dunno, that's no, well,
Alan Errichiello: I, I was like. I was so focused on just getting done Yeah. That you're, that he fell back a little bit. Yeah. I didn't, I wasn't really paying.
Like, I think at that point we were just like, we're on our own. Like, yeah. I don't care if you don't finish. Like, I'm done, so I'm
Ally Brettnacher: out. I'm gonna be done now. Yeah. My friend Ashley and I ran the Zionsville half marathon together a couple years ago, and I remember at the end her kids came to like, run with her and so she slowed down and I remember kind of like waiting for her a little bit, but then just being like, okay, like give her her moment.
I'll finish. Mm-hmm. And we got second and third in our age class. Oh, that's awesome. And so it was fun. And Michelle, Geier now. Mm-hmm. Michelle Geier got first in our age group. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Which I found out later. But yeah, it was, uh, it was fun, but it was kind of like, I was trying to make sure, I was like, well, I don't want you to think I'm just gonna like, sneak in and kick your butt.
Right. 'cause really, you know, we did it all together. Yeah, I get that. So, yeah. Totally. I'm too competitive, so that's why I think about it. Yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah. So. Okay. So then you did the Hennepin.
Alan Errichiello: Mm-hmm.
Ally Brettnacher: 50 K. Yep. You design the full mo
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. That next year did the full [00:47:00] mo, um, last year.
Ally Brettnacher: what's the And Prairie on Fire.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. So that was the summer. That was my goal, my summer of Ultras. I was like, yes, I'm starting to get tired of running Ultras. I want to start doing some fast. I started missing some of the speed work and train. Mm. I did that prior year, I did train for a half marathon, and I had a PR major at Mill Race.
Okay. I've never done that one. I, I, I thought it was a great race because it was, it was mainly flat and it was fast. Yeah. And so, and it was right around the time where I had my coaches, Sarah Farney mm-hmm. With Soulmates, at the time Tracy Brook as well. But, I was like, does she
Ally Brettnacher: not, does she not work with Sarah anymore?
Alan Errichiello: they, yeah, it's just Sarah now.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, okay. I didn't realize that. Sorry. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: and so. I, I hired them. I was like, I wanna run a fast 50 k, but I also wanna run a fast marathon. They're like, mm, nope. Sorry. You can't do that. I was like, well, what about half? Like, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: So I did a lot of good training, long runs where, you know, you're warming up for 10 miles or 13 miles and then you're putting on like some speed work right there in the middle and then ending up with 17 to 20 miles.
And so that worked really well. I, I, that I peered my 50 K and I peered my half marathon [00:48:00] within about a month. And that was, that's really cool. I was just like a, a highlight of, of that year. I, I just really enjoyed that year. And then fast forward to, to 2024, I, I was missing the speed. I, I ran the, um, the full mo I ended up running with some, with some friends.
I ran it with Carly again, and she ended up taking off at the end. I was like, I'm here for you. Like, where are you going? Wait. So don't leave me. Yeah. So I was like, just go. Like, go. Yeah, you got it. Just go. And so she kind of inspired me and I ended up like negative splitting that last 5K. Wow,
Ally Brettnacher: that's amazing.
Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Where you just kind of like, wow, I didn't know I had this in me. Mm-hmm. But I also wanted to get done and she ended up finishing like two minutes before me. so that was great. I mean, it was great. It was her, her first ultra, I believe. but yeah, that was great. Enjoyed, great crowd, you know. and then eight, our dream, I wanted to pr my distance and so I did.
That was a tough year. I was told that I actually had, I was like heat exhaustion, uh, close to a heat stroke because evidently I was like slurring my speech. I was slow. Oh, like at a me,
Ally Brettnacher: like medical people who were on site [00:49:00] to do that, or did you have to go to the hospital?
Alan Errichiello: No, I, at the end I ended up pring my distance and finishing.
but by the time I was like, I guess was just like really slow to respond and I could, I remember just not being able to get. Cool down.
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Alan Errichiello: No, I, at the end I ended up pring my distance and finishing.
but by the time I was like, I guess was just like really slow to respond and I could, I remember just not being able to get. Cool down.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm.
Alan Errichiello: And so, um, I had a friend take me in her car and she just blasted the air. She's like, drink this, drink this, take this, all this. [00:50:00] And, uh, and so I was able to cool down, but she said that I was like, like borderline, like concerned,
Ally Brettnacher: right?
Like, I'm gonna take you somewhere if you don't, if this doesn't start to improve. Right? Yeah. Again, it's crazy. Our
Alan Errichiello: dream.
Ally Brettnacher: That's what I worry about. I'm, I don't know.
Alan Errichiello: Just, yeah, just, just make sure you are well prepared and just listen to your body. Right, right.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And then, prayer and fire, it was a different concept because it was a backyard ultra.
Yes. And so, um. Signed. So we
Ally Brettnacher: talked about it, but explain to people what that means. Yeah,
Alan Errichiello: so the Backyard Ultra is essentially, a last person standing race. And so, essentially what you do is at the top of every hour, you're, you tow the line, you start, you have an hour to get through, essentially like 4.16, seven miles.
So it's up to you entirely how fast or how slow you want to run or walk that distance. Mm-hmm. You just have to be at the start line, at the, at the top, top of the next hour. Yeah. Yeah. And so, just the, the rules are basically, you know, you can start and then you can just DNF like, I mean, [00:51:00] because there's a last person standing, everyone except for that last person standing technically DNFs.
Right. They did not finish, they didn't win the race. Right. Yeah. but you can do a refuse to, uh, continue. So like you may get back and you're like, you know what, I don't think I wanna do this anymore. Yeah. And so, um, I. That was the, the fateful race for me. I know. I hate it for you. It, you know, it, it's, it is quite the story.
I won't spend too much time on it, but yeah. Labor Day of last year, , our club has people running like every day, almost like there's groups just doing different things here and there on Memorial Day on July 4th, and on Labor Day we always have a, a group run. It's like a, a like a, oh,
Ally Brettnacher: that's fun. Um, what do they call it?
It's just a,
Alan Errichiello: they, you don't stop, like everyone is just running together. So like those are faster will stop. And, there's a, I can't remember what, what type of run they call it, but, no drop. It's a no drop. Oh, I've never heard of that. Yeah. So basically you have how many ever different. S and yeah. Yes.
Um, and so like the, the lead group will stop [00:52:00] and then just wait for everyone to catch up and then we'll just keep going. Okay. So we did the, how,
Ally Brettnacher: how often do they stop? Like
Alan Errichiello: it just depends on, on, on the group. Okay. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just a way for everyone to just kind of stay together and it wasn't a normal route that we run.
And so it, we called it the run around the reservoir. So it was run around geist at least one part of it, or the north half or the south half. And they kind of, you know, switch off between each holiday. this particular year, this particular year, it was, we, we ended up running it on the nickel plate.
And so, again, I don't wanna get into too much detail, but there was an individual on roller skates that was, was next to me, more or less, and they started to fall. And so. You know, we were, had some pretty good momentum there, and so I started to, to hop on my left foot because they were, they had started to fall so much over.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I remember taking about one, I was like one, two, and then on the third hop, they had fallen over so much that I had nowhere else to go except just land on top of their skate. And [00:53:00] so I landed on that pretty hard, fell down, just like, just kind of trying to figure out what just happened and prayer and fire was five days later.
Right. So I'm just, I'm sitting there thinking like, is this is my erase room? Because I had an a, b and a C goal for that day. And I'm just thinking, is this out the window? Like what's going on and up, being able to, like, I remember standing on it, just shooting pain. And my ankle. I was like, you know, did you
Ally Brettnacher: finish your run that day?
Alan Errichiello: No, I ended up walking a mile south just to kind of keep, try to keep the ankle loose and I was like, I can't do this anymore. Yeah. Oh my
Ally Brettnacher: gosh, that sounds so painful.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. It was not good. And I'm not, I'm not new to sprained ankles. Right. Like, well, soccer, because I played soccer mean I sprained, I, I
Ally Brettnacher: stopped playing soccer because I sprained my ankle a couple times and I'm like, okay, I would rather be able to run Exactly.
Than play soccer. That's
Alan Errichiello: exactly why I stopped soccer.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: and so, There was a nurse there, her name is Carly, not the Carly, it was a different Carly car. Yeah. And she's like, she goes, you know what, maybe you should, because I remember going to the pool later that day and I saw her there. I was like, she's like, maybe you should go get some steroids or something.
Like just, you know, it wouldn't [00:54:00] hurt. And I was like, you know, I will went and got steroid packs, took it. I didn't do anything that rest of that week. I kept it up, iced it. I literally just tried to keep off of it.
Ally Brettnacher: Now for steroid packs, what does that mean? Are you like injecting steroids or are you taking them orally or what does, I don't know how that works.
Okay.
Alan Errichiello: So that it's a pill pack.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay. So
Alan Errichiello: like they start you off like with like a high dose. Okay. and then there's, you eventually start to wean off by like day five or six or whatever. Okay. So like you're taking like six of a, a certain, you know, milligrams and it just decreases as you go. Okay.
You're the pur the purpose of
Ally Brettnacher: that is to help with like the swelling and inflammation. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just the healing. Yeah. You know, that type of thing. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: and by Friday I was like, I was feeling pretty good. I mean, I was still, I was kind of walking out. I didn't run. I knew that prayer on fire was the next day.
And so I was like, you know, just in my head I was like, what am I gonna do? Should I go? Like, what is the smart thing to do here? And of course, I didn't do the smart thing. I was
Ally Brettnacher: like, well, yeah,
Alan Errichiello: I'm
a runner. I mean, you know. Right. We
Ally Brettnacher: don't always do the smart thing, that's for sure.
Alan Errichiello: But I was feeling pretty good.
[00:55:00] Like I wasn't feeling the shooting pain or anything like that. Right. And I was like, I didn't sign up for any races. I didn't have anything big. I was like, let me just, let's just see what happens because I can rest after, after this race. Right, right. I was like, did
Ally Brettnacher: you ask the doctor nurses like, Hey, I have this coming up.
I mean, you probably knew the answer, so I feel like in my case, I probably just wouldn't have asked them. I just would've
Alan Errichiello: she, yeah. I said, I have a big, I didn't ask her. I just sold, I told her, I said, this what I'm doing. I said, I have a big race this Saturday. What can you do? She's like, well. We could take an x-ray, we could do this.
She goes, but it sounds like it is, because at the time it was, it was barely bruising, but it was literally not even 24 hours, it was maybe 24 hours or whatever. Yeah, yeah. So it wasn't quite as bad. Gosh. And, uh, so crazy, you know? So I'm kind of masking like the severity of it and she's like, yeah, but just listen to your body.
That's all she said. And I, you know, so, you know, fast forward, I, I'm just, that night I'm like, I dunno what to do. Everyone's gonna be out there. I want to go. I was like, you know what, Alan just, just tow the line. Just start. Yeah. And just hopefully you can finish a yard, right? [00:56:00] Right. Yeah. You could probably walk 4.1 miles.
Like, just, just start and see what happens. So I did, I started that day. I was in a really foul mood just because of everything, but I started and I essentially, um. That, that first yard was a little rough. I mean, I wasn't in severe pain. I mean, I, I, I ran because I was like, I feel okay. I mean, it wasn't ideal, but I also wasn't like cringing and just like, you know, falling over or whatever.
there were moments where maybe if I had stepped on an uneven surface, it kind of felt a little bit. But, but then I, like, I just kept going. I was like, let me just see if I can finish this one. Lemme just see if I can finish this one. Right. And I had people telling me like, I see you. Like I, you know, they're just kind of chatting me like, Hey, I saw that, you know?
And I'm like, okay. You know, and of course me being the stubborn as asshole, right? I was like, I'm just gonna keep doing this. And I got to the point, maybe it was like halfway through and I'm not feeling great, but I wasn't feeling terrible still. And I remember someone telling me like, why don't you just chalk it?
Like, just, why don't you stop? Sign up for another ultra at the end of the, at the end of the [00:57:00] month, you're, you're, you'll be fine by then. I was like, I'm here. Like, no, like, screw that. Like I, I'm doing this. Yeah. Un you know, again, unless it's just very detri, I can't literally cannot move forward. I was like, I'm doing this.
Yeah. And so I did, I just kept going and I've, I started slowing down and everyone was doing really, really well. So I ended up running a lot of it by myself. Again. I was, I was okay with that. Yeah. and so finally my seagull was to just to get another 50 k, like it was my summer of ultras. Mm-hmm. I had three goals.
Just run three. I ran three ultras in what? Four months because I was essentially gonna be done with ultras for a long time.
Ally Brettnacher: Uhhuh.
Alan Errichiello: Um, and so there, there I go speaking again. so I, I ended up finishing calling. I ended up, refusing to continue with, oh gosh, was it 34 miles? Wow. Which happened to be a PR for me.
my goal, my b goal was to be in the 40 mile range. My, a goal was to be in the 50 mile range. Right. But I thought, I was like, this is, well, that was
Ally Brettnacher: before you Yes. Stepped on a [00:58:00] roller skate. Yeah. Thank God.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And so, I was happy with that. I, I did the hard thing and, um, I prd, I got my solo Summer of Ultras complete.
Yes. My goal was done. Mm-hmm. I had nothing lined up, and so, I took about a month and a half off from running, which killed me. Yeah, that's hard. But I also enjoyed the downtime. I went to go see John Grant, who is, he's, he's one of our sponsors of FFRC and just an amazing physical therapist. And it took him about 45 minutes to try and figure something out.
He's like, well, your flexibility's good. Your range of motion's great. He's like, this doesn't hurt. That doesn't hurt. He goes, I'm. Let me do a couple more things. And he finally kind of pinpointed, he said something about the Tali bone. I was like, okay. I don't know what that is.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I've never heard of that.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Right. Yeah. And he's like, here's some exercises. So I started doing these exercises and I started to feel a little bit better, but it never completely healed. Mm-hmm. And I was like, John, what's the next step? And he's like, you need to go get an MRI.
God. No.
So, yeah. Yeah. So I went through the winter, just like, just kind of like being [00:59:00] very stubborn.
I was like, ah, it's gonna get better. Like, I, I'm okay. It's winter. Like I'm just going to continue to see if I can run through some of this. And finally, I ended up going to Forte, uh, recommendation from two other people that had had surgery there.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm.
Alan Errichiello: And they took an X-ray. They're like, yeah, we see a big spot on your Tali bone, so you, you need to go get an MRI got an MR mri and like, he's like, you have what is called a lateral osteochondral lesion of the Tali.
Speak
Ally Brettnacher: English please. Right. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So I used AI to kind of break down the, the doctor who had written out, you know, the MRI results and yeah. And they basically, I went for a consultation back to, my potential surgeon at that time. Yeah. And he's like, he goes, this was caused because of a severe sprain.
And he goes it's actually a common injury. Most people just deal with it, but runners
basically are the ones who feel it the most. Mm-hmm. He's like, you can do one of two things. You can just live with it. You can run, you're not gonna do any more damage. He goes, [01:00:00] or, or it's gonna require surgery.
I was like, like, no, not the s word. You know, God, I mean, he's like, I can give you a, a cortisone shot. He goes, well, I wouldn't recommend it if you're not in complete pain. 'cause I wasn't in complete pain. Yeah. But there were times of instability, there was times of shooting pain. There were times where I'd run after a mile.
I wouldn't even know it was there. It was just very inconsistent.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So my, my running, the quality of my running head, diminished. And I was just like, uh, let's just move forward. Let's just get this done. Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did, it was a successful surgery, so far as of today. I'm glad that I did it 'cause I can tell that it, it was repaired and so he showed me pictures of the surgery, which it wasn't bloody, there was no blood.
Ally Brettnacher: So weird. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why it wasn't healing.
Alan Errichiello: Like it wasn't bringing, you know, that blood flow to kind of bring some of those
Ally Brettnacher: I I whatever it needs to heal. Yeah. Science. The science. Right. The science needed the blood. Yeah. And
Alan Errichiello: so, he showed me some pictures and basically they, they drilled two holes right here, right here at the front of the ankle.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm.
Alan Errichiello: And then they took a [01:01:00] big piece of my ankle and cartilage back here. They cleaned out the lesion and he put like this little, the picture's interesting because it looked like, like a crab salad or something. Yeah. Like, not bloody, but it was just like crab salad. There was stuff there. Gross. I know, I know.
That's the best way I can explain it. Yeah. and so he basically put it back in the hole. Geez. But he said that he, he showed me that there was a piece of cartilage, like the size of my pinky nail that was actually ripped up, like you can see. Oh. I was like, oh, wow. Yeah. Like that's the reason why my Right.
Like it wasn't gliding. It was, it was catching.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. The idea of that. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: yeah, so that was, that was pretty interesting, uh, going through that. 'cause I had never broken a bone in my body. Yeah. I, I prided myself on being a strong runner. I had been sidelined for a week or here, here or there just to make sure that nothing bad was, you know, even worse was going on.
Yeah. So this was my first, I had to go under anesthesia, which kind of freaked me out a little bit. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. and, uh, yeah, just kind of going through this was, was quite an experience I've documented. I [01:02:00] may do like a post about it or something. Yeah. And I've tried to keep people updated, but yeah.
But I, I do have to shout out to my club members and family. I mean, they have just been amazing in the support. they've been there, they've dropped off meals. They've given me like these DoorDash credits and think, I mean, just,
Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Oh, the
Alan Errichiello: outpouring of love and the check-ins. I mean, those don't go unnoticed.
I have a lot of people to think once this is
Ally Brettnacher: over. Yeah. So that's so great to hear. Yeah. I mean, the community is, it is the best. Yeah. I wanna go back to something you said about using AI to decipher your MR MRI results. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Did you literally like copy and paste the results into chat GPT or similar?
Yeah. And it said, explain this to me like I'm five or something. Yes,
Alan Errichiello: that is exactly, I used, uh, I think deep seek. Okay. Uh, the kind of this new free one. Okay. I've never tried that one. Yeah. And I just said, explain like, I'm five, what, what does this mean? And they like, and I pasted the, the, diagnosis?
Yeah,
Ally Brettnacher: I, yeah, I guess I don't,
Alan Errichiello: which I, I mean, it would, I tried to read through it. I was like, what? Like I have no idea, like all these bones and all these [01:03:00] joints and Right. These words,
Ally Brettnacher: it's like, could you just Yeah. Please. Yeah. And make you think that they would do that for people. Like, okay, now, hello, you know, use AI to like, provide readable test results.
There's a business idea for somebody.
Alan Errichiello: True. And of course I got the bills, like this didn't do anything for me, you know? Yeah, of course they, it did. But, um, yeah. but I did, and it explained it very well and it basically told me what the surgeon told me. Yeah. It was, yeah. Which is
Ally Brettnacher: helpful when you don't understand, you're like, I'd like to understand.
Yes. What's going on in my body? Yes.
Alan Errichiello: Because I, I mean, I didn't have another, I, the, the consultation after my MRI was another week. I was like, I'm dying to know Yeah. What is wrong with me? Yeah. So that's why I did it. Yeah. Smart.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. What can't I, yeah, I do. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: My sister actually, she's, she's like this top nurse, or she's, that, her background is nursing, but she's more in, in administration and director.
Um, but she's like, you should use ai, you know, to, to help diagnose. So I was like, and you're
Ally Brettnacher: like,
Alan Errichiello: yeah,
Ally Brettnacher: well, okay. Didn't think about that. Think that's what I find with AI is that I don't, it's not my natural inclination to be like, I should do this. Right. Right. Like, I'm trying to use it right [01:04:00] now to, for my indie mini race recap.
I like did a voice note, like, while I was in my car, and then I pasted it in and said, Hey, can you just turn this into a blog post without changing the tone too much, you know, and it did a decent job, but it still, in my eyes, doesn't sound like me, like writing it. Yeah. So there's still like a gap there, but I think it can help.
And then I can just edit what it, what it spits out and still make it From my point of view, but it's just so interesting. You can do so much with that.
Alan Errichiello: I, I've noticed you had to groom it a little bit. Yeah. Kinda embellish it here and there, but Yeah. Well
Ally Brettnacher: it's all about the, it's all about the prompt.
Alan Errichiello: Yes, that's true. Like people, that's true.
Ally Brettnacher: Like literally have classes on how to do prompts for ai. Yeah. It makes me feel dumb. I'm intrigued. I am.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. That's something I wanted to kind of dive in a little bit more.
Ally Brettnacher: I know you're a technology nerd like I am, so I'm, yeah. I don't know if you knew that, but I came from the software world, so I did
Alan Errichiello: know that I listened to your very first podcast when you were sitting, gosh, in the closet.
Oh my gosh.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. My closet. And I
Alan Errichiello: learned all about you. So, um, I thought it was pretty cool that you came from a technology background and your parents were in software. Yeah. Yep. Because that's where I started off was in [01:05:00] software. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So
Alan Errichiello: yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. My husband is in software too. Okay. So just all the technology.
Yes. Can't get away from it. Yeah. We'll have to dive in
Alan Errichiello: deeper sometimes, so.
Ally Brettnacher: Yes, for sure. So now I wanna take a minute to kind of go back. To like who you are and where you're from originally. Yeah. And about your family and some of the other random stuff you told me that I am like, we're gonna have to see how we're gonna have enough time to put that in.
Okay. But we will. Yeah. Somehow, some way. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So, um, I, you had asked me about the flags on my Instagram. I had to
Ally Brettnacher: Google what they were. Yeah. I knew the Italian flag, but the other two,
Alan Errichiello: yeah. So I'm half Korean. Okay. Italian and Polish.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And so my mother, uh, is, is full Korean. My dad is obviously half Italian, half Polish.
He was in the army, met her in South Korea. Wow. And so, yeah, that's where my sister, I have an older sister, that was born there. Okay. And then they came back. My dad was, honorably discharged from the army. He was, he was done, he was a staff sergeant, so he was that [01:06:00] guy with that wide brimmed hat that's in face your face.
Oh my. Yeah. And so, strict childhood obviously. I was gonna say. Um, so yeah, that was a, that's interesting. and so yeah, that's essentially, my background. I know a little bit of Korean, I love Korean food. I love Italian food. but at the time, you know, in the, in the late seventies and eighties, there was not a lot of diversity.
There was not a lot of, necessity to speak Korean. And I remember my mom taking my sister and I to a Korean church and, and so we'd go to church and then we would have like Korean language classes and stuff. And I never, never took on until. Duolingo. I know, right? I use that for Spanish. It's nice to, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So, um, and that's about the stint of my, my Korean background.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. And so when you were b you were born in the United States, Uhhuh, where were you born?
Alan Errichiello: I was actually born here in Okay. In Indianapolis. All right. Yeah. Yeah. East side of Indianapolis.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Okay. And so you have an older sister and you have other siblings as well?
Alan Errichiello: I do. So my older sister's two years older [01:07:00] than me. Okay. And then, 18 years later, my younger brother was born, and then my parents decided, well, why not? So they had another to kind of like,
Ally Brettnacher: wow, that's so wild.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. So I have a sister, my younger brother, 18 years and 20 years younger than me.
Yeah. Geez. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: That's, that's wild. It is.
Alan Errichiello: It really is. Yeah. I mean, I just remember them telling me that my, you know, mom's pregnant and I was, I was 18. I was like, huh.
huh. Like,
Like, you don't wanna think about stuff like that. Right. I was like, I'm gonna have a little brother. Yeah, because I was, I was the second child, you know, I was the spoiled one.
I was the favorite. Right. And you're like, wait
Ally Brettnacher: a
Alan Errichiello: minute, hold on here. But enough years have passed then. Yeah. You
Ally Brettnacher: know, I'm still the favorite. Right. Right. To this day, so. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Of course. That's so crazy. Yeah. What an interesting, and so you're out of the, did you go to, you know, normal college?
Mm-hmm. Like when you were 17, 18, and then where did you go to undergrad?
Alan Errichiello: So I went to I-E-P-U-I. Okay. And I have a, my degree, I have a associates and a bachelor's degree in computer and Information Technology. Yeah. From Purdue.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah. There you [01:08:00] go. Nice. So, yeah. So did you visit home a lot while you were, or did you live at home?
I lived at
Alan Errichiello: home for a little bit. 'cause I, EPUI, you was more of a commuter campus at the time. and then I moved out.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And so, um, I had a, I had a roommate at the time, which was a lot of fun. just trying to grow up a little bit.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: but yeah, I mean, I was there to watch my brother grow, change the diapers and things like
Ally Brettnacher: that.
Right. That's like when I'm picturing it's just so crazy. You come home from college. And you know, your mom and dad are like, Hey, can you, you know? Yeah. And you're like, okay.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Weekends were like, can you watch Alex? I was like, I guess like, um, wow. Kind of. Wow. So, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. What did you're like going from, I don't know, partying on campus to like watching an infant to, yeah.
I mean,
Alan Errichiello: yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's, that's really cool though.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah, it was. And then of course, you know, Ashley was born like a year or two after that and so it's just like a whole nother family.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Are they here locally?
Alan Errichiello: yes. Everyone's here except for my brother. He lives just outside of Toledo.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah.
Alright. Not too far, not too bad. Yeah. Yeah. So when you were growing up, or like [01:09:00] in college, were you active? Did you play sports, soccer, I would suppose because mm-hmm. You played as an adult?
Alan Errichiello: Yeah, I played soccer and I was in track and soccer through high school. Um, I was also on the other side, I was in the arts.
I was actually in drama and theater. Oh. So I really enjoyed that. Interesting. Yeah. and then after college, I, I just was focused on college and working and was focused on my career. Yeah. Um, which ultimately led to me just kind of, getting into this really unhealthy lifestyle. Mm-hmm. I was in tech at the time, surrounded by tech people.
You know, we, we work hard, we play games. You drink Mountain Dew all day. Yes. You sit on your ass, you know, you're just sitting there, just working. I mean, a lot of it was really exciting times because, you know, just the internet was still fairly recent at that time, early two thousands, and a lot of technology just coming out and as you already know, and then I just got into this really bad lifestyle of just working.
And then hanging out with friends who were [01:10:00] gamers. And I remember, like I was, I was actually pretty good at, you know, a certain type of game. I played till two or 3:00 AM Sure. And then I'd get up like at seven and just kind of just roll outta bed, shower, and just go to work and just set at a computer all day again.
And at the time I was working for a consulting firm and they had, they provide, like, they had like all of those, like the, the fridge stock full of everything you could drink. And they baked cookies and all the snacks. And so I got really unhealthy to the point where I, I had gained so much weight, and I was considered obese.
It's crazy to me. Yeah. By the time I was probably late twenties and early thirties, I was just like, wow. And for me, I was, I was pushing probably 250 pounds. Okay. And just, I was going from a size 36 up to a 38 extra large shirt trying to hide it, you know?
Ally Brettnacher: Right.
Alan Errichiello: Just very unhealthy. Had I, I used to mountain bike up actually during that time.
Okay. And I stopped because I was like, I, it didn't make me feel good. I enjoyed it, but I would get headaches [01:11:00] and I was just like, this is not enjoyable. So I stopped doing that and I basically stopped all, like, all physical activity except for moving that mouse and keyboard.
Ally Brettnacher: Right.
Alan Errichiello: Um,
Ally Brettnacher: my gosh. Yeah. That's crazy.
And then you somehow lost 75 pounds
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Overnight. When did that journey start?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, overnight. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: I remember, one of my childhood best friends, I saw him on Facebook and, and he had posted pictures from a Spartan race.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah. The Spartan races. Yes. That's so interesting. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I've always been, I had always loved being outdoors.
I always loved being active and doing, you know, ath I was pretty good at Sports and just being, able to hold my own.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: And I was like, that looks like fun. He goes, you wanna do it? I was like, yeah, let's do it. But in the back of my mind I'm like, oh, I'm so overweight. Like, I was like, I can't run like.
You know, I don't have any workout clothes. So I actually started, I was inspired because we had signed up for, I think it was Warrior Dash, like that was the, the, like the closest one in indie or close to indie. And, I remember training, I remember going out to the fort and running the [01:12:00] trails. Wow. And I, I remember, changing my diet, stopping a lot of the soda and the donuts and the pastries, which I love, and just trying to just kind of based on loosely on what I knew.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And so I started to feel better and I started to lose weight. And so that, that just kind of carried me so far that I got so much momentum from that first 20 pounds just instantly off. Mm-hmm. that I was so inspired. I was like, I think I can do more. Like I can do better. And so, wow. Over the course of probably 10 years, I mean.
Holding it off is one thing, but I lost 75 pounds probably over three or four years. Wow. I mean, just the healthy way to do it, you know? Yeah. You just, you start to make these lifestyle changes. Right. Which
Ally Brettnacher: really is what you have to do. Exactly. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And of course I had some, some good times and some bad, you know, you, you plateau after a while.
I remember kind of getting down to two 20 and just having a hard time just making some changes. I remember 200, getting down to 200, 200, I was just so excited 'cause I was starting to go down a pants size and Yeah. I remember 200, trying to break 200 was very difficult [01:13:00] 'cause my body's just resisting whatever it was.
Right. Continued to just push harder or try harder and do these different types of things. And so eventually got on the one nineties and 180, so I was down in the one seventies. Wow. So, I, yeah, my, my ideal weight is probably like my body where I really have to be, very. Purposeful is right around 180 1, 78 to 180 is where I feel the best.
I'm lean you, you can run fairly fast. I'm not built to be a runner. I'm, I'm tall, I'm heavier.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: but I, I just make it work.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And so I remember running the mill race, my, my half pr, and I think I was right around 1 72, 1 73. Okay.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So, wow. That's such
Ally Brettnacher: a feat.
Alan Errichiello: I, I, yeah. I look back and I'm just like, I'm never again.
However you need to see
Ally Brettnacher: a picture of that.
Alan Errichiello: I, I do have it. I, I show it to people, but it is, it's so bad. It's so embarrassing. I mean, but I, I kept it. I look at it, I'm like, never again. Right. Never again. I will, I will tell you, I did break 200 this past winter, [01:14:00] because I wasn't running and I, I had, I was still dealing with the eating issue.
I was still eating like I was running ultras. It's so hard. It is. Yeah. And so, but I've, I've. Come off that I'm, I'm back down to like 1 93. Yeah. And so I'm, I'm slowly coming back down. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: That's just so hard. It is dealing with an injury. Mm-hmm. Not being able to, I mean, talking to Eileen Poor about her experience.
Mm-hmm. Yes. You know, not being able to run. She's like, I'm just watching my body change right before my eyes after all this time I've put in all this work. I mean, you know, it's bad enough, you can't run. But then, you know,
Alan Errichiello: we were just talking about that this morning. Yeah. 'cause uh, we connected, she, she saw me, saw my Instagram story.
Yeah. You know, initially she just checked in and we've actually kind of bonded over our, our situ, you know, I know she had surgery on April 1st and I was on April 14th. Yeah. And so we've kind of went back and forth and I mean, she's, she's obviously had it like five times as worse than I do. And, but, uh, weight was one of the things that we talked about.
Yeah. Just how difficult it's been for us Right. To adjust. And so, I was glad to hear [01:15:00] that she's out of the sling and,
Ally Brettnacher: right. I know. I'm like making some progress, but still it's just. A time that I, I just, you know, I look at my life and I'm like, everything's running. Like all I do is run. Yeah. I mean, I love it.
Right. So that, that's my identity. Right. And that being taken away for whatever period of time Yeah. Is, is really hard. Yeah. so yeah. So at this point, okay, so you were really overweight in your late twenties. At what point did you get married or like meet your, your ex-wife?
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. Uh, we, I met her, in youth group.
Oh, there you go. Basically, yeah. Um, high school-ish. Okay. But, I, I had known her for many, many years, long story short, and then, we didn't start dating until, I was probably 19 or 20 or so. Okay. Okay. Maybe early 20, I can't remember. Something like that. But during that time I actually had a child.
Yeah. I had Madison, um, so Madison was born when I was 19.
Ally Brettnacher: 19. Yeah. Yeah. So this is so interesting to me because. You had siblings?
Alan Errichiello: I did. And then you, [01:16:00] and they grew
Ally Brettnacher: up together. And then you ha that's kind of, so that's her, her aunt and uncle,
Alan Errichiello: correct. Yeah. And Ashley, her aunt is actually younger than
Ally Brettnacher: her.
Yeah. Yeah. I have a friend that has a uncle younger than her as well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's just how, how it works. Yes. And that happens. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So you've got a kid, well, no wonder, and then you're working to mm-hmm. Support your family. Yeah. And yeah, I mean,
Alan Errichiello: so I, so Maddie was born, and then I, you know, I got married when I was 24.
Okay. Wow. And then, you know, her and her and I had two children. and so Roman is 19 now.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And Sophia is 13. 13, okay. Yeah. And Maddie's 29. Wow.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So. Can we talk about it now? Yes.
Alan Errichiello: Yes. I kind of brought her name up just to kind of like, and you're like
Ally Brettnacher: looking at me like I know where this is going.
Ally. Yes. So, okay. So people who follow me on Instagram like you do, Alan probably saw that I did, I listened or I watched This season of Love Is [01:17:00] Blind mm-hmm. On my treadmill. Yes. Because I was like, okay, this, you know, reality tv, it is a guilty pleasure. Mm-hmm. I love watching it, and so I'll just do it on the treadmill so I don't feel so guilty.
Yes. And you're like, Hey, you know, this is something a lot of people don't really know. Mm-hmm. My, my daughter Madison was on this season of Love is Bright. Actually, you didn't tell me, you just said it was your daughter. Yeah. You're like, you can guess like who it is. Mm-hmm. And I'm like thinking in my head, I'm like trying to picture somebody who's Korean, frankly.
Right. And I'm like, okay. Like I don't picture anybody in my mind that like, looks just like you and I mean, my kids look nothing like me. So, yeah. so then when I Googled, I was like, oh my gosh. Mm-hmm. That's crazy. Yeah. So, 'cause Madison has ties to Indiana, she talked about on the show. Mm-hmm. And I just thought, oh, you know, okay.
And I never would've,
Alan Errichiello: most people don't, I think some people have put it because when she started to use, or, or show her last name Erico, they're like, well, you know, obviously local here. Like, well, there's only one Erico that I know.
Ally Brettnacher: Right. It'd be like [01:18:00] a Brett knock or like, oh, it must be related to you.
Right.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. So I've had some people kind of reach out. It's, it's really wild to me because I remember like scrolling through Instagram and I'm seeing like people do like, like I see a picture of my, of Maddie, my, I call her Maddie.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Mads is I think, what a lot of people call her as well, but she's mad and I see mad like.
Her picture. And then I see like this talking head talking about, well, Maddie, you go girl. And it just, I don't, I didn't watch the show.
Ally Brettnacher: I was, that was gonna be my first question. Yeah. Was
Alan Errichiello: did you watch? So not at all. I did not watch it. I have not watched this day and I probably will not, only because it's, the content is not something that interests me.
First of all, I would never watch it to begin with. but especially now that my daughter's and it has to do with dating and relationships. Yeah. And that I'm just gonna stay out. Dad is gonna stay out of this one. If she wants to talk about things, I'm here for you.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: But otherwise, I prefer not to know.
And she's, you know, she's like, I think that's smart dad.
Ally Brettnacher: That's so weird. So, well 'cause like if she [01:19:00] would've gotten engaged, you potentially would've like met this person. Mm-hmm. Perhaps been on the show yourself. Yes. Yes. Did you have to talk through that at some point?
Alan Errichiello: Yes, we did. A year ago, um, a year ago, early, what was it?
2024. Okay. When she told me that she was being recruited. She's like, you know what? This, you know what this means. I was like, I have no idea. Yeah. Like, what is this? What is, how does this involve me? Because it doesn't, right? Yeah. Right. She goes, well, if I can get engaged, I was like, what engaged? What the hell?
What is this? What kind of show is this? So I'm kind of coming off a shock a little bit, and she starts to tell, tell me about this. And of course, you know, I, I just all new to me and she essentially said, oh my God, if I get engaged. I was like, and I'm just kind of interrupted. I was like, you're not going to get engaged on this show.
Right? And she's like, dad, just. Just let me do my thing. I was like, okay, okay. And so she basically said, if I get engaged, then they're probably, they're gonna want the parents to come out, and meet and do all this. I was like, okay. I was like, well, shit, because at [01:20:00] the time I was, you know, we were going through divorce
Ally Brettnacher: Oh.
At that same time. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: We were kind of just going, doing through that. Not a lot of people knew it at that time, and so I didn't say much. but yeah, I'm just trying to, to figure out the logistic, like how does this work? And you're like,
Ally Brettnacher: how in the heck are we gonna make that happen? And Yeah. Try to be this like TV family.
Right,
Alan Errichiello: right. Yeah. So that was really awkward, but Spoiler. She obviously did, spoiler alert Alan was not,
Ally Brettnacher: did not have to be on television.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And so, um, but we talked about it through and through, just what it looked like, of course, as a dad trying to give her my advice. But Matt, she's very street savvy, very smart, very, oh, you could totally
Ally Brettnacher: tell.
Yeah. She's, she's gorgeous too. Yeah. Which you already know.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: But yeah, it was so interesting to me, like watching the show. Obviously they cut it to make it what they wanted they
Alan Errichiello: did.
Ally Brettnacher: But in the stuff that I could see, I just was like instantly like, oh, don't do the No, no, no. Like, this is not this one.
This one dude was like totally saying, you know, the same thing to two girls. She, I mean, she was like, so I heard Yeah, she, she was very much like, okay, well I'm not having [01:21:00] that. She does not, which is good. So, yeah,
Alan Errichiello: she's very much like that. Yeah. So I, I trusted that she was gonna be fine, to hold her own.
Yeah. You know, she had, again, just. She has a lot of self-respect and, you know, these shows are really meant for entertainment and so they're totally gonna spin it however they want to, however they want. Because I talked to her about it and she said they kind of did spin it, spin her in a, in a negative light.
And I was like, I'm sorry.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: She goes, well. but you know, this has been such a door opener for her. I mean, it,
Ally Brettnacher: I mean, it has to be, right? Like now she's got over a hundred thousand Instagram followers. Yeah. She's, I mean, yeah. That's pretty cool. What's some of the cool stuff that's come out of it that you've seen?
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. so I remember initially like I, I kind of saw her Instagram before she got, you know, went public. I think it was a couple, maybe 2000 or so. So she was doing fine, just being just a regular person like you and I, right? Yeah. Yeah. Do you still
Ally Brettnacher: follow her on Instagram? I do. Okay. I do.
Alan Errichiello: and then. After everything came out, I, I was like, this is gonna be interesting.
'cause I wanted, like, I'm a numbers guy, right? I, I need data. I [01:22:00] need to see like, what's going on. I remember seeing it jumped up into like, instantly to like 20,000 to 30,000, 50,000. And, and I just check for a while and I was like, ah, I need to check to see like, where's she at.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Alan Errichiello: And then the last time I checked it was like 116,000.
I don't, and I don't know where it is now. Yeah. But, um, it's been, it's been great for her because, um, she, I, I, I asked her, I was like, what, what can I share? Right. And so I'll say she's got some big things coming up.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's so, so exciting. You're not Yeah. You're not gonna see
Alan Errichiello: the last of her.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Good.
Alan Errichiello: on top of that, she's got a lot of brand.
She's a brand ambassador for a, i, I don't know how many. I, I think there's one that involves food and a lot of makeup, I believe. Yeah. Um, she's obviously doing content creation now.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. she, she's on, um. an app where, I forgot the name of it. Where Cameo.
Ally Brettnacher: That's what I was gonna guess, yes. Oh, that's
Alan Errichiello: fun.
Yeah. So, um, she was contacted by her PR agent. It's like, Hey, you're the number one searched cameo right now. You need to [01:23:00] sign up. Really? Yeah. At the time,
Ally Brettnacher: that is cool. Yeah. That's so interesting that they can see that and then, then tell people. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: I, I don't know how that works, but that's what was she was told.
So she's on cameo. I don't know. I don't know how many she's done.
Ally Brettnacher: oh, how many Fishers running, running club members are gonna get cameos now from Matt Maddie.
Alan Errichiello: That's true. Yeah. There's only a few that that know me. No. And know that. Yeah. Her. and so it's funny because I look at the mutual friends on Instagram and I'm like, yeah, they, they know now.
Right. They know me. Must have put
Ally Brettnacher: this together. Yeah. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: co a couple of other cool things. I mean, she's doing, she just continues to get these end, you know, just brand ambassador, opportunities. And so she's, she's also very artistic and very creative. Yeah. And so she's had, she's had a lot of paintings.
She's actually sold a lot of paintings. Some of the, the FRC members have actually bought her paintings. Oh, that really cool. So I'm really thankful for them.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: some weird things that have happened.
Ally Brettnacher: Uh oh. Um,
Alan Errichiello: nothing major. my, my ex-wife, she contacted me. She's like, I'm getting all these requests, like friend requests.
Oh no. 'cause hers was private. Like she's. [01:24:00] Very private person. Yeah. Which is smart. She's very smart for that. but she's getting a lot of friend requests.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I was like, I was like, well, that's odd. But mine was completely open. I just, I guess never really thought about it. But I went back and I looked, and I remember there's a reel that I had.
I, I mean, there's probably a couple hundred views on it. And next time I looked at it, I was like, 15, 18, something like so many tens s of thousands.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And then Maddie's like, Hey, you might want to make your Instagram private, make your, I was like, I was like, yeah. I'm like, I'm thinking. She goes, she, she snap or did a screenshot of like this conversation somewhere, about love is Blind.
And one of the, the pieces is like, yeah, I don't think she's lying about Paris, because I was on her dad's Instagram profile and there's a picture of them taking her to Paris or to the airport or something. I was like, oh, geez. Like, jeez, shut that up. People are crazy. Well, let tell you this, my ex-wife basically texted me one day.
She goes, look at this. She gave me a screenshot. She had started a new job. And, uh, she got an email from a [01:25:00] fan at her job, her corporate email account. The subject line says, your daughter is not a good person. Yeah. And then in the body says, I hope she gets what she deserves you to her work, email to her work.
How that, how do you fear that out? How do you, so here's the, here's what I'm thinking is, you know, Maddie has, you know, my ex-wife is her stepmom, but she was more of a mom and a mother to Maddie than her biological mother. Yeah. So her biological mother is the one that she talks about in love is Blind, evidently.
Okay.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: And kind of divulges a lot of, just, just she had a very, difficult, very challenging, yeah. Childhood, you know? 'cause she lived with her mom most of the time.
Ally Brettnacher: That's what I was wondering. 'cause I do remember her talking about that. And I didn't go back and I was like, I should go back and watch.
And I was like, I, you know, whatever. But, but it's, that's so interesting. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I'm really hoping so everyone that watches the show, unless my ex-wife is not the, the villain here. She's, she's a very good [01:26:00] woman. Yeah. And a very good, great mom.
Ally Brettnacher: So, well, I mean, trauma cells Yes, it does. Right. So they just are gonna be like, oh, so you had like the worst upbringing ever and it was super traumatic and everybody has traumatic pieces of their childhood.
Yeah. So we, they just exploit it a lot. Yeah. In reality television.
Alan Errichiello: And Maddie's amazing because she, like we, we. essentially got placement of her when she was about eight or nine and kind of just, we saw some things. Her environment was really, really bad. Like I, when I tell people it's like, it's, the environment is something you see in a really bad movie.
Mm. I could, I could go on. I'm not gonna diagnose details. Yeah. But it's, it's really, she's experienced quite a bit Yeah. At that age. And so we, we brought her here and just kind of really wanted to see her have a better future. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: And clearly
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: You did a good job of that.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So she still, she lives in Minneapolis
Alan Errichiello: for the time being?
No. Okay. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. For the time being stay tuned.
Alan Errichiello: I can't, yeah. I can't divulge anymore, but no information. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Being given. Okay. Yeah. Well I could talk to you about that forever. 'cause it's so interesting to me. Just, I've [01:27:00] never met anybody who's had a kid go on like the Bachelorette or the Bachelor or something like that.
It's just Right. Such an interesting Who knew world. I know. Yeah. Who knew? Who knew? And also I'm gonna look at my notes and cheat because you had other random facts. Oh, yes. That I was like, okay, first of all, you used to have long hair. Sure. Were you overweight and had long hair?
Alan Errichiello: Probably at point. Certain points, yes.
Ally Brettnacher: And then, okay, we, you survived a tornado, which is nuts. Yeah. So when was that?
Alan Errichiello: Oh gosh. Was it early two thousands? Um, and it actually hit south side of Indy through the east side. I was actually working at Finish Line Corporate.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, okay.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And, uh, the tornado ripped right through that building. While you were inside of it.
We were inside of it. I remember standing in this hallway and, I was able to, I was able to see out like this glass door. And I remember, yeah, I remember seeing this tree just like, instead of being perpendicular to the ground, it was parallel to the ground, like, and it was blowing. And I was like, and I heard this loud bang, bang, bang on the, like, the, like there was two floors and so on the roof.
And then I saw this air conditioning unit [01:28:00] just thrown into the parking lot. It was like size of a minivan. And then I, but I remember like the most. Real thing to me was there was this breeze that came through the building and I saw the dust rise and like the can lights, and it kind of like got in everyone's eyes 'cause this dust or this wind was go blowing through the building and then your ears start to pop.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh no. 'cause the pressure, the, yeah, the pressure
Alan Errichiello: changed and then it was green or something outside, and then I was like, yeah, this is it. This is
Ally Brettnacher: bad. This is not good. This is what they say.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. And it ripped, ripped the warehouse part. And did
Ally Brettnacher: any, was anybody injured?
Alan Errichiello: No. No. We were all kind of in that safe hallway, the inner hallway.
But I just, I didn't want to be in the middle of the hallway and I, I wanted to feel like I had an out, so I stayed closer to that door, which probably wasn't smart, but, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, I couldn't, what can you do? You just do what you're, you just,
Alan Errichiello: yeah. Do what you can. I mean, it was, I mean, I grown men crying, you know what I mean?
I was just like, to me, I was intrigued. I was always kind of lived on the edge, but like some people, it was very traumatic. Oh,
Ally Brettnacher: that's so scary. Yeah. Even just the one that, that came through Carmel. What was that? In [01:29:00] March, I think. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And
that was
that was. Pretty scary. Really. Absolutely. I mean, thankfully no residential, like too much residential damage that I saw at all.
Yeah. It was mostly like these buildings downtown, but it was like right here.
Alan Errichiello: Right.
Ally Brettnacher: And I'm like watching the weather and where the tornado is, and I'm like, I know exactly where that is. Yes. And I've never experienced that.
Alan Errichiello: It, it is, it is an experience. And you'll always know, like when a Tor tornado rolls through, that's what people
Ally Brettnacher: say.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. You'll just kind of always have that feeling. cause it affects you physically. Like it's not just mentally, it's like you feel it, so.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. And then Alan, then you tell me you were a juror on a Murder for Hire trial. Yes. Was that here?
Alan Errichiello: It was in Hancock County. Yeah. I
Ally Brettnacher: did not even, how do I not hear about that?
When was this?
Alan Errichiello: This was early. Gosh, it was early two th maybe 2004 or so. If you, I'm actually on murderpedia.com or something like that. It's called, it's, it's, yeah. If you, if you [01:30:00] Google my name, I need to like Google, hire Google deeper
Ally Brettnacher: clearly.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. It's not a, well, I mean, it was not a well known, but yeah, I was selected for this, this, you know, for jury duty and I had no idea.
And they're talking about it and like, you know, there's that thing like, I'm trying to get outta jury duty. I don't wanna be here. Right. Yeah. I have bad things to do. And I'm sitting there thinking, like listening to what they're saying and they're like, this is a, murder trial. Like, I raised up on my seat, actually.
I'm kind of interested
Ally Brettnacher: in this. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: Eyes got big. I'm kind of leaning forward a little bit listening, you know, and, they're like, so we're choosing. And I was like. I was like, I'm available. I'm not, I've not heard of this. You know, I've not heard of this, the news, I, I'm not, I don't know anything about this.
Wow. So, yeah, they selected me and, uh, it was one of the most interesting, experiences of my life despite how bad it was, you know, just despite the circumstances. Right. it just, it gave me a really good idea of people, what people will do. It gave me a really good idea of our, our system and how that works, how [01:31:00] trial works, and, um, and essentially, essentially there was a couple, and then there was the couple's friend, best friend, who was jealous of the time that her friend and her husband were spending together.
And so she spun the story that he was keeping her from seeing her best friend, if that makes sense. Okay. So single, single woman. Her best friend, her hus, her best friend's husband, was basically controlling her best friend and denying her to see her, you know, spend time together and hang out. So she had obviously just some really negative feelings towards the husband.
And so she essentially, she had a, she had a dau, she has a daughter who was in the high school, Lawrence North High School. and her daughter had a boyfriend. Yeah. So she hired her daughter's boyfriend to murder her best friend's husband. And she basically enticed him and said, Hey, if you do this, you'll get one of his Cadillacs, like one of his cars, young man just impressionable, probably wants, [01:32:00] likes the car, you know what I mean, is just completely enticed.
So she goes, buys the bullets, provides the ammo. he had already been convicted of murder 'cause he, he did pull the trigger early in the morning and killed him. So this trial, this trial was for the one who hired the murderer. Right.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. I'm sorry if that, if I didn't spin that.
Ally Brettnacher: No, that makes sense to, yeah.
You know, 'cause that No, it makes complete sense.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: But I was, I don't know why I was picturing them both in trial together. 'cause not how it works. Correct. But, Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: He was already in jail, so
Ally Brettnacher: he like, I mean, was he even trying to be it just doesn't seem like, what would, what You just go like, shoot someone.
That doesn't seem like a good way to like Right. Get away with it. Right. Just saying and just,
Alan Errichiello: I, people aren't smart young, you know, teenager, young man, probably sad. Wanted to, so sad. Just wanted things I, you know, who I don't really know what his driving factor was. Very unfortunate though, that the woman had, you know, basically.
enticed him to do it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so is [01:33:00] she in prison? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's good. Thank God. I mean,
Alan Errichiello: it, it, you know, they brought him in, they brought the daughter in. They were both in jail. Oh, Jesus. Their lives are over. Uh, her, her, she was 55 at the time, and I remember after everything was settled and it was up to the jurors, we had two, two that were held out.
They were like, I can't do this. I can't. Long story short is like, I can't sentence this woman to death. She's 55, and she would be in there for life. And I'm just thinking, I remember looking at one of the other jurors and I said, I was like, you know what kind of a character she, you know what kind of a person she is.
They've proved to you that she provided drugs and alcohol for parties prior to this. She bought the bullets and provided the gun. She basically duped this kid into killing a man. It's like, I, how do you feel sorry for someone like that? How do you feel bad for that? Yeah. And she's like, you're right. So we.
Guilty. Guilty. She, I actually recently checked on like, and I, I think she's still [01:34:00] in prison and that was early two thousands.
Ally Brettnacher: She should be, I mean, that's the time person you are. Yeah. I'm just waiting.
Alan Errichiello: It's like, I'm just waiting to hear like Yeah, I know her name.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: And I'm just waiting to hear that this person is
Ally Brettnacher: Well, like the, like the Menendez brothers.
Yes. They're talking about the Today Show. I'm like, get outta here with that. Right. They're reformed people like Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how much they blew the documentary outta proportion for tv, but I don't, I mean, even if they didn't like what they did, they still did. It is pretty bad. They still did it.
Like you. Yeah. I don't, I don't understand that. Right. man.
Alan Errichiello: So that was quite an experience. That is crazy. I'll never forget that either.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. And then used to be a model. Well, gosh, I, I love it. I have one of my best friends used to model for, oh gosh, I forget like. What was it? Kohl's. He was in the Kohl's catalog.
Okay. And we have the pictures and it's so fun to make fun of him for That's, that's funny. So that's what people are gonna do now. Yeah. I just try to dig those up. Where are the photos?
Alan Errichiello: Um, one is a national jump rope brand. Um, and I may still be on some of the [01:35:00] clothing, which, um, they're, you know, that's so good.
I know. I, I, I come almost cringe 'cause I was not in shape. I think they were looking, they had a certain look they were going for. Right. Yeah. The other one was, um, this one I really enjoyed was, you know, those backup batteries for cars, like you could jumpstart your batteries. Sure. So it was a national brand as well.
And they, they were looking, they had a certain look and so I was in a bunch of videos and promos. I'm, so there, my part was, I actually had two different photo shoots then I was, with these old classic cars, you know, just interesting. Yeah. I was like charging the, the batteries and they show me like, in, in one of the classic cars, one was a Mustang and one was like a GTO or something like that.
How did,
Ally Brettnacher: how did this even come about?
Alan Errichiello: it's who, you know, I, I have, um, a buddy of mine. Has a creative agency. Okay. I used to work with him 10, 15 years ago. Yeah. and so he's like, Hey, you, you have that look
Ally Brettnacher: right. They're looking for like a half Korean, half polish, half Italian guy. Exactly
Alan Errichiello: that with your height, your complexion.
Yeah. and so I, I, I really enjoyed that one. And then they had me back where I was on a motorcycle and we were at [01:36:00] an, you know, rv same product. And so that was fun. I worked for a, me a, a a company as well. I, I think I'm, I've got some photos on Amazon as well somewhere. Oh, that's great. For some exercise equipment,
Ally Brettnacher: That's
so.
Oh, that's so wild. It is, it is. So many interesting things about you. I love it.
Alan Errichiello: I, yeah, I kind of, when I was putting this together, I was like, huh, you feel like I've had some tumultuous years. I mean, I've had some really bad years.
Yeah. Like I've, I. I've made a lot of mistakes. I've heard a lot of people. Mm-hmm. But, I think, as I said in that email the other day, I was like, I am right now. I'm, I'm in a good place. And, the future is bright.
Ally Brettnacher: Yes. I'm part
Alan Errichiello: of an amazing club. , That, you know, again, my identity is running right now.
Right. And so, um, I'm just, I'm looking forward to what the future has.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I am so excited for you. Yeah. And that's the perfect segue too to the end of the podcast questions. Yes. Because we've been talking for over 90 minutes, Alan. Oh, shoot.
Alan Errichiello: I'm sorry.
Ally Brettnacher: Don't be sorry. I can't, I mean, I can't not talk about some of this stuff.
Yes. It's like, sorry, we have to talk about it. So, end of the podcast [01:37:00] questions. Okay. Are, what is your favorite running song and or mantra?
Alan Errichiello: Okay. So. Song, I, I listen to all kinds, but if, if there's one I really wanted to start a race off, especially a fast race, it's going to be either AC DC's shoot the Thrill or a Thunderstruck.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah. Ooh, thunderstruck just, yeah. Gosh.
Alan Errichiello: I mean, talk about just getting the blood pumping.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: My mantra, I don't really have one unless you consider a lot of f-bombs a mantra. Yeah. But I do, you know, I mean,
Ally Brettnacher: November projects is, fuck. Yeah. That's their mantra. So there you go. I I'm more
Alan Errichiello: like, fuck no.
Yeah. Like, fuck this, right?
Ally Brettnacher: Fuck this, this is my mantra. Exactly.
Alan Errichiello: And so that's funny. So, no, I, I thought about that a little bit and I was like, you know, I, it differs because at different types in the race, different types of races, my mindset changes and I adjust to it. But there's one that I keep coming back to.
Someone told me about this acronym called fast, and it stands for for a short time. Mm. So if you think about it, like you're, even if you're running a marathon or an ultra like it [01:38:00] is. For a short time. So just get through it. 'cause you know Yeah. You know very well what racing is like, what it does to you mentally, physically.
Mm-hmm. You're ready to quit. Yep. Or you hate everything, but you think about this, you know what, leave it all out there because this is just for a short time. Right. Just might as well just Yeah. Like two hours
Ally Brettnacher: you're gonna be home.
Alan Errichiello: Exactly.
Ally Brettnacher: And you're gonna be sitting on the couch wondering, did I give it my all?
Yeah. And you're gonna be really pissed if you didn't. Exactly.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah. So, and the other one I think about is really nerdy. It's, it's from a line in Star Wars of all things. My, my, my, um, hero Han Solo. It's like, never tell me the odds.
Ally Brettnacher: That's good. You know what I
Alan Errichiello: mean? Yeah. So I think about that a lot. Just the things that I've accomplished, things I never thought I'd do, things I never said I would do.
And just doing those things. And so just, yeah. Like never tell me the odds.
Ally Brettnacher: That's so good. Yeah. Okay. And then next Finish line or milestone milestone's gonna be getting your ass outta that boot. Yes. So like, how, how many times a day does somebody ask you how long you have to wear the boot?
Alan Errichiello: couple times a day now, I think there, yeah.
So here I'm gonna use
Ally Brettnacher: mine.
Alan Errichiello: This is why I started putting things on my Instagram and stories Right. And things like that just to kind of update. but I appreciate the [01:39:00] check-in, but I, I start to copy and paste at times just because it's the same thing. Well, it's good you have so many people that are Yeah.
It's amazing. Yeah. So, funny enough, my last race was Prairie on Fire and where, that was my last ultra for a long time, probably. and well, it was my, I said it was my last ultra, guess what my next official race is? I don't know. It's Prairie Fire, so I'm a liar if you guys don't know that. Yeah. Just maybe I'm sandbagging myself or everybody else and I just know I'm gonna do these things.
Yeah. I don't know.
Ally Brettnacher: Everyone else is gonna be like, never told me the odds. Yes. You're telling me you're never gonna do it. Guess what? Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's really good. Gotcha.
Alan Errichiello: Yeah, so I thought, and, and I, um. I didn't know like what the surgery meant in recovery. I knew recovery was gonna be six weeks.
Non-weight-bearing. Mm-hmm. And then he said it's gonna be three months of non-running. And so timing wise, I had to time it out. But, uh, there was a really good deal I got, because I ran in prayer on fire last year. I got a really good deal. I was like, f it, I'm just gonna sign up for it. Yeah. And [01:40:00] see what happens.
Yeah. So that actually was kind of a, kind of a cool what, you know, just come back is I'm gonna, that's my first race back. Right. Is Prairie on Fire? Yeah. And I ended it with Prairie on Fire. Yeah. So, um, that's gonna be a lot of fun. There's no expectations. Honestly. I, I, it really just depends on how fast I can ramp up, which I'm not trying to ramp up fast.
There's no goal. It's me just running healthy
Ally Brettnacher: again. Like being able to do it again. Yeah, totally. And just no
Alan Errichiello: setbacks.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Which is so hard as a competitive person too. Yeah. 'cause it's like. Well, when it gets closer mm-hmm. They'll be like, well, maybe I could do this. Everybody's out there. You know, you just, I mean, know.
I just wanna show 'em that I can still do this. Exactly. I've got something to prove. Prove everyone just wants you to keep running. Yes. That is, that is. And I know I'll have friends. Just wanna see you do a yard. Yeah. Yeah. That's what they call 'em. Yards. Yards. I always, yeah. Yeah. I'm learning. I'm learning.
Well, hopefully I'll be, I I wanna be out cheering, at least for some of these. It's so fun to bring my girls. Mm-hmm. And we make signs and just, you know, the
Alan Errichiello: environment is, is so fun. It's so energetic. I mean, just same thing with eight hour drink. I mean, it's just the [01:41:00] environment, the people that are just so supportive.
Yeah. And you get, you gain so much energy mm-hmm. From people that aren't runners.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And supporting you out there.
Alan Errichiello: So, great. So
Ally Brettnacher: it's, do you, , do you wanna hear the only Korean word that I know? Yes.
Alan Errichiello: That's, you know what it means, right?
Ally Brettnacher: I hope it means thank you. It does.
Alan Errichiello: Yes, you're right. It does. I,
Ally Brettnacher: I, yeah.
Anyway. Okay. So, thank you. I was thinking about that. I couldn't forget to say it and be like, look, I know one. Korean work. That's good. Yeah. That's all I got.
Alan Errichiello: Comso.
Ally Brettnacher: Comso. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you so much for doing this with me, Alan. It
Alan Errichiello: was, it was a lot of fun. It was so fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely. I, I'm a big fan. This is probably, thank you. Your podcast is the one I listen to consistently.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's so nice of you. Yeah. And it's, I appreciate that. Yeah. And it's
Alan Errichiello: been fun to see some of my friends and, and, and hear them as well. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: It's, oh, it's so much fun. Yeah.
Alan Errichiello: So,
Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Well, thanks to everyone who's listened.
Mm-hmm. And happy running or hobbling.
If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, [01:42:00] please let me know. I am @allytbrett_runs on Instagram. Send me a message or better yet, comment on Spotify, rate review, share with a friend. I really appreciate your support.
It does mean a lot, and I hope you're here next week.