Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 113: Mike Brydges - @MikeRunsMarathons

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Guest: Mike Brydges @MikeRunsMarathons

Show Notes:

Mike Brydges ⁠and I met via Instagram and I was immediately drawn to how kind and authentic he is.

During this conversation, sponsored by ⁠Athlete Bouquets⁠, we talked about:

• Becoming ⁠@mikerunsmarathons ⁠

• His Uber driver getting into a car accident on his way to pick up his bib for the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon 

• Running the Boston Marathon with a kidney stone 

• How he started running in the first place and what got him into marathons

• Finishing his first marathon at the 2021 NYC Marathon and the one marathon he did not like that he ran in 2022

• Starting his Six Star journey - Berlin, Chicago, NYC all back-to-back in the same year 

• Races in New York City besides the marathon 

• Deciding to tackle Six Stars AGAIN

• The Run Down and telling stories of everyday runners 

• Why he says he’s the Anti-Matt Choi

• Being part of the Peloton community (he’s #weareresilient on the leaderboard)  and the Positive Peloton Group

  Sponsor Details:

  - ⁠Athlete Bouquets ⁠- Use code PODCAST for 10% off your order

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.

 

Ally: Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast celebrating the everyday runner. I'm your host, Ali Brett Knocker, and if you run, you are a runner and every runner has a story. Join me every Friday as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together. This week I'm interviewing Mike Bridges, who is, Mike runs marathons on Instagram.

But before I get to Mike, I wanted to talk about the downhill Boston qualifying drama because. If you don't already know this, if you're new to listening to this because of Mike, I am based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and we have the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 8th this year, and we are a top rated, non net downhill Boston qualifier marathon.

So I'm just saying if you're really bummed and you wanna run a fast marathon, come see us in [00:01:00] Indianapolis in the fall, we will sell out. This year for sure. So if you're not decided on your fall marathon, come do that. And I am gonna get judged for this, but I've run the very downhill big Cottonwood Marathon or half marathon out in Salt Lake City and totally, when I found out it was a Boston qualifying course, I was like, well, I'm gonna come back here and run my bq.

I need all the help I can get. And that race was actually my PR for a while, which felt like cheating. And so I totally understand why the BAA is trying to level the playing field, but if they could just stop changing things. That would be cool. 'cause I just wanna be able to set the goal, be able to see what it is and go get it, versus being like, I don't know, but I'm just chasing my best.

So if I don't get there, that's cool. I'll still be at my very best. And then I also wanted to mention my treadmill running this week. It's so hot. It's gotten really humid in Indiana, and I know I shouldn't complain 'cause it was just winter, but I ended up running nine miles on my treadmill this week because I wanted to avoid the heat and humidity.

And I put the question out there to ask [00:02:00] how far people have run on the treadmill. And so I just had to shout out my friend Kimberly, because she told me she's run. Not one, but two ultra marathons, ultra marathons, that's 31.1 miles on her treadmill. And she told me one of those times she was pregnant. So anyway, if you think running a few miles on the treadmill is hard, just think about that.

And there were a ton of other people who have done 20 milers. And you know, for me, I've never done a 20 miler on the tread, but I've done in the double digits. I can't remember exactly how far. But I am a treadmill runner. I love my treadmill, especially love watching the new season of Jenny and Georgia on Netflix, so you'll find me on my treadmill a lot this summer, probably as I gear up training for the Marine Corps marathon in late October.

So now let's get to Mike. So Mike Bridges and I met via Instagram as many of my guests and I have, he lives in New York and we talk a lot about that. The New York races, he's done, he's done all of them, I think pretty much. So he kind of gives us the inside scoop about that for people who are [00:03:00] not from New York and he is chasing his six star medal.

For the second time, not once, but twice. When he finished the first time, he is like, well, now what? And just decided, oh, I'll do it again. So we're following him now on his journey in round two,

so again, make sure you go follow his journey. I also love how he is dedicated to meeting the everyday runner, sharing everyday runner stories. Obviously if you're here, you like that too. So again, be sure to check out his Instagram and the stuff he's doing over there. He also, in his profile, this is what sold me on Mike.

I was like, he is the anti Matt Choi. That's what he said. And if you don't know who Matt Choi is, he's the running influencer that had E-bikes. During the New York City marathon and he's done other stuff like that, like no shade to influencers, but like when you're putting other runners in danger so that you can create content, that's just not what it's about.

So that's why I really liked Mike, and I'm so happy that I finally got to sit down with him and get to know him. And I know that you are gonna be really [00:04:00] inspired by this conversation with Mike Bridges.

 

Ally: Hey, Mike. How's it going? I'm

Mike: I'm good. How

Ally: How yourself Doing? All right. I am so glad you're finally here.

Mike: Me too. It's been a long time

Ally: It's been a long time coming. Yeah. And anybody who doesn't know you or follow your journey yet, you are. Mike runs marathons on Instagram, which I love. Yeah.

Mike: I, I went through like three or four different names and then I, I'm pretty sure it came to me like on a run. I came back I was talking to my wife. I was like, I think I found my name. Mike runs

Ally: Marathon. I was like, I guarantee you.

Mike: has that name.

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: And

Ally: And then I typed it in. I was like, oh,

Mike: the

Ally: the email address is taken.

Mike: but the username was not.

So I

Ally: So I was like,

Mike: okay, cool. I

Ally: I got lucky with that. Yeah, I'm actually really surprised about that. When did you get on Instagram for running in particular? Um.

Mike: probably during the pandemic, I went through like different names and I, I kind of like posted here and there, but it was mostly just like, here's what I did today with my run. And that was kind of it.

Ally: Yeah. And now so much [00:05:00] content you're getting, you're telling runner stories, which is so cool.

Mike: I know, I know. It's, I, I, I have to give a shout out to my wife because I was supposed to try to start doing content last year. but then like, somehow the year just flew by and I was like,

Ally: Oh, I guess I can't start,

Mike: in 2024.

Ally: so

Mike: my, I was

Ally: was like, I think I'm gonna start 2025.

Mike: my wife was like, do it.

Ally: So

Mike: I

Ally: kind of

Mike: forced

Ally: myself to start by buying, like,

Mike: that I had to make

Ally: myself be like, yeah, it's

Mike: amount of

Ally: money.

Mike: you are going to be using it and if you don't use it, then you waste your money

Ally: Right? So it's an incentive not to waste your money. Yeah. I feel that.

Mike: I'm, I'm so grateful, for what has happened in my life over the last five months with, with running, because I,

Ally: I never thought that people would

Mike: listen to what I had to say.

Uh,

Ally: tell me about it.

Mike: I thought it was just like, I'd throw it out in the ethos and just like, if people catch it, like, that's wonderful. [00:06:00] to, to have people, you know, message me and, and tell me that I inspire them or tell me their own stories, just, it's just wild. I mean, I was able to do a shakeout run before the Tokyo Marathon, which if you had said that to me at any point in my life, I would've said you were nuts.

Ally: Tell me more about that.

yeah, I, I

Mike: had

Ally: had started

Mike: content probably

Ally: probably for

Mike: months, and I was like, Hey, let me just put a Google form together. If anybody wants to join, they can. I mean, it was very

Ally: small

Mike: it was supposed to be like

Ally: three, four,

Mike: but only two showed up. But listen. One, person makes a difference.

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: you know, it, it was, I just remember

Ally: Running. We were running around the

Mike: Palace and I remember doing it. We were talking and, just thinking

Ally: thinking the entire,

Mike: how

Ally: how is this,

Mike: life? Like, how

Ally: how is this?

Mike: Like, I'm in Japan. I've,

Ally: I

Mike: met

Ally: met up with people following me on

Mike: media from

Ally: around the country

Mike: somehow

Ally: somehow we are running

Mike: this like

Ally: incredibly.

Mike: distinctive building that yeah,

Ally: Like even now, just this [00:07:00] like, oh my god. Yeah. gosh. Yeah. It has to feel like a dream. okay, so there's so much that we have to get into during this conversation because even though you've been running since, you know, 20 18, 20 19, you've packed a lot into that short, long amount of time. I mean, I guess it's all relative, right?

'cause it's still been years that you've been doing this, but you've accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. So tell, tell the people where you are are from and where you're, where I'm talking to you from.

Mike: so I

Ally: So I grew up in South Jersey, near Philly.

Mike: I lived here until I was 18, and then I moved to New York City for college and lived there for 17 years, and

Ally: Wow.

Mike: moved back in 2022. went through, my, my grandma at the time was, was very sick. She unfortunately passed away,

you know,

Ally: you know, we, we moved out here by my

Mike: Then

Ally: fiance. We moved down here to

Mike: be

Ally: be closer to her doing everything.

Mike: and

Ally: And plus New York City just got really, really,

Mike: And

Ally: and my wife,

Mike: had always wanted to live in New

Ally: New York [00:08:00] City, and

Mike: and it is

Ally: it was just like this weird

Mike: like

Ally: COVID thing. And then we were doing long distance for about a year and a half.

Mike: and then I

Ally: I decided

Mike: to

Ally: Florida

Mike: to

Ally: be near her and her family

Mike: lived

Ally: lived there for about eight months, and then

Mike: got a

Ally: job up in New York City again.

Mike: and

Ally: She was like, Hey, I've always wanted to live in New York City now.

Mike: try it out. And

Ally: And she came in.

Mike: so

Ally: after the first year of our lease,

Mike: and living there, we were

Ally: they're like, you know what?

Mike: for

Ally: for her sanity, I was like, let's get outta here. Plus

Mike: in my

Ally: my opinion New York City changed so much since the pandemic that I just,

Mike: I,

Ally: I can't even realize anymore.

So I, I still go up there for races. I go up there, see my friends, but

Mike: it's

Ally: it's nice to be able to visit, but.

Mike: be able to leave.

Ally: Yeah, , so I'm from Indiana, so if you can imagine like me coming to New York, it's obviously very different from where I live. I live in the suburbs of Indianapolis and it's like exactly like you would picture suburbia.

Like that is where I live. And I don't think I've been to New York City since before the pandemic. ' the last time I was in the city would've [00:09:00] been for the 2019 New York City Marathon I spectated that year.

Mike: Okay.

Ally: And for some friends that had cheered me on the year prior, and I think that's the last time.

So I was there like right before the pandemic I guess. But then I haven't been back, which is so sad. I need to take my kids there.

Mike: Yeah, I

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: it's a

Ally: It's a beautiful city, but it's, it's,

Mike: in my opinion, so many more issues now that need to be worked out.

Ally: So, okay, so that's how you got to run Brooklyn was, as we're recording this, Brooklyn was last weekend, right?

Was it? I don't. Okay. I was like, I feel like it was just yesterday and I don't know. So how was that race for you?

Mike: Uh, it

Ally: Uh, it was a struggle.

Mike: so the day before, I, I had traveled the week prior for work. I was in Georgia and I had flown up to New York to go get my bib and I was gonna go finish working at our office and got an Uber. And I was like, okay. So I will take my Uber to downtown Brooklyn, pick up my bib, and then Uber again up to, uh, the office.

And

Ally: On there.

Mike: Uber driver got into an accident

Ally: What? [00:10:00] That's wild. Yeah.

Mike: three car pile up. It was wonderful. And, um,

Ally: Great.

Mike: was actually kind of like lying down. I had my seatbelt on, but I was lying down, like trying to take a nap. 'cause I had woken up very

Ally: Early,

Mike: I was

Ally: very tired. And so

I heard that beeping sound

Mike: get when you get too close to a

Ally: hard. Oh

hmm.

Mike: it,

Ally: And I noticed that it wasn't stopping and I was

Mike: We're

Ally: about to hit something.

Mike: And

Ally: So I braced and

Mike: I,

Ally: what shoulda taken me about 45 minutes, six hours

Mike: just to

Ally: get

Mike: downtown Brooklyn from JFK, which was just like insane. I

Ally: I had to roll my suitcase,

Mike: you know, probably 30

Ally: blocks in order to get some way and then go up and,

Mike: and

Ally: and that night, so I got my bib and that night I started to feel like

Mike: weird. I, I

Ally: I got really bad migraine. I started,

Mike: really dizzy. I

Ally: started to feel, oh,

Mike: like weak.

Ally: woke up the next day. I only got like two hours of sleep.

Mike: so I

Ally: I woke up the next day for the Brooklyn half and

Mike: I felt a

Ally: got a little nauseous and I was

Mike: let me do like my

Ally: okay

Mike: like traditional Pre-race, routine that

Ally: That I've

Mike: thought that

Ally: that might help. It

Mike: [00:11:00] kind of

Ally: kind did, but not really. I knew something was wrong when I tried to

Mike: one of my Martin Joes before the

Ally: race,

Mike: and like gagged. So I

Ally: I got to a mile or

Mike: in,

Ally: prospect

Mike: going around it before you had all the way down to Coney Island.

Ally: and got about a quarter way up and I,

Mike: like I was

Ally: I was just gonna throw up. I was so nauseous, I

Mike: I

Ally: felt so sick and

Mike: I

Ally: ended up having to log for a little bit. I was texting my wife, I was like,

Mike: I

Ally: I dunno if be would do this.

Mike: I

Ally: I think my DNF I've never DNF race before. Yeah. And um,

Mike: I

Ally: I was like, you know, I think what might happen is I'll get to the top prospect part. Everybody will go around it. I'll just keep going

Mike: and

Ally: and I'll leave. but then I kind of like

Mike: I was

Ally: trying to

Mike: bargain with

Ally: with myself. I was like, okay, let's

Mike: see how

Ally: how you feel at the bottom of Prospect Park around, but

Mike: and

Ally: see how it,

Mike: And

Ally: and by the time I got down.

Mike: the

Ally: Humidity. That was like 96%

Mike: dropped a little bit and there

Ally: there was a, so I started to

Mike: little

Ally: little better.

Mike: I

Ally: I had a

Mike: a

Ally: little more,

Mike: towards the middle part of the race,

Ally: but

Mike: was [00:12:00] able to finish,

Ally: still

Mike: time. I missed my

Ally: time.

Mike: by like minutes, I think. but yeah,

Ally: yeah, it.

Mike: a struggle. I had struggled with that. And then the week before I had done, uh, a 10 mile race in Philly. And, same

Ally: Same thing. Humidity hit

Mike: real

Ally: real bad. Mile three I like, like

Mike: was like,

Ally: I don't wanna,

Mike: anymore.

Ally: but I still finish. And

Mike: And,

Ally: this is what I'm starting to recognize for my bicycle.

Mike: this is when the hard part

Ally: The starts, especially

Mike: with running, especially with training

Ally: for fall. Mm-hmm.

Mike: the

Ally: Humidity. I take a medication that makes over,

Mike: So,

Ally: oh,

Mike: so,

Ally: so, and I used to run with water, but now I don't

Mike: I just, I don't have enough

Ally: because

Mike: I, I

Ally: I don't wear a belt anymore

Mike: carry my phone in my

Ally: hand.

It can be a struggle

Mike: But yeah, I, uh, I finished at least

Ally: Yeah. What was the Philly 10 miler? Is that the Big 10 miler they have there? Because I know there's one that's like really big.

Mike: the Broad Street run.

Ally: That's right. Okay. 'cause I have a friend, a running friend [00:13:00] actually, who lives in Philly, so yeah. shout out Kim, if you're listening, but man, that's, I can't believe you got in a car accident, slept two hours, and then still did a race.

That's, that's painful, man. That's Congrats on finishing because it's easy just to stop. It

Mike: It was,

Ally: was, it was a struggle and I had several people

Mike: yell at

Ally: at me

Mike: being

Ally: like

Mike: a

Ally: a couple weeks prior.

Mike: I had run Boston. I had a kidney stone.

Ally: Oh my God. I can, I really need to hear this story because I could not believe this.

Mike: Yeah,

Ally: Yeah. It was

Mike: um, was on a,

Ally: a,

Mike: yeah,

Ally: also was on a Monday. I was in hospital

Mike: hospital

Ally: that Friday

Mike: before because I

Ally: I.

Mike: okay, I definitely know that I have one, I have a history of them. and

Ally: so we went to the er, they did a CAT scan. They're like, good thing,

Mike: The

Ally: worst part's over.

Mike: it's

Ally: We out

Mike: be

Ally: on. I was like, great. I cash over for the marathon,

Mike: kept

Ally: kept checking

Mike: and was like, maybe I missed it. Maybe it did come out. I

Ally: I dunno,

Mike: So

Ally: ran the marathon,

Mike: was

Ally: fine.

Mike: And

Ally: And then I came home to Tuesday.

Mike: [00:14:00] and that

Ally: night

I

Mike: started to

Ally: to get pain

Mike: I

Ally: and

Mike: wife take

Ally: take me to the hospital and

Mike: were

Ally: they were like, okay, let's do another CAT scan.

And they were like, the kidney stone is stuck. Oh my gosh. So,

Mike: So

Ally: so they were like, we have to keep you.

Mike: you here and we

Ally: Oh no.

Mike: I

Ally: I was like, oh my God.

Mike: So I

Ally: I had taken it off,

Mike: two

Ally: two days already

Mike: for the

Ally: for the marathon. I had to take the rest of the weight off.

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm not sure. I'm sure some,

Mike: some

Ally: people will know what this is. They had to install a stent

Mike: into

Ally: my kidney, which is.

Mike: a giant metal tube that goes from your kidney out of you. and it was very painful. I

Ally: I got it taken out,

Mike: Tuesday

Ally: before the broad run

Mike: and then I had the Broad Street

Ally: run.

Mike: So

Ally: there was that and then there was,

Mike: con I I found out I had a concussion. 'cause I get, I did go to the

Ally: er

Mike: when I got back

Ally: I was gonna ask you that 'cause it seems like something was off for sure. Yeah.

Mike: I had a concussion from that, so I had those two things happen like one week after another, and I'm, I'm

Ally: I'm happy that this

Mike: there was

Ally: [00:15:00] was,

Mike: health

Ally: yeah. Geez, Mike, that's, I mean, just one of those things is a ton to go through, let alone like two in that short amount of time.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. But I

Ally: Golly.

Mike: um, I always tell myself I've been through worse, so, you know, it's, I can get through that.

Ally: Right? Yeah. what do you do for your day job, by the way? So,

Mike: So

Ally: I'm a consultant. Okay.

Mike: I, I work for a company primarily that, I mean, we do commercial consulting, but I work with government consulting. So I help states with a variety of different issues they might be facing,

Ally: So you travel a lot for work then, or just sometimes or? Uh,

Mike: it's

Ally: sometimes. Usually once a month. Okay. Okay. So not depends on it depends on the project.

Mike: I'm working on.

Ally: Gotcha. And so let's go back again to when you started running in the first place.

So where were you living at the time that you started running?

Mike: I was

Ally: I was living in,

Mike: in New York.

Ally: okay.

Mike: you know, I I, I like telling the story because it's, it, a lot of people,

Ally: As I tell the story that like,

Mike: then this, and [00:16:00] then this, because it

Ally: because it was just like,

Mike: cascade of issues after the other.

Ally: so

Mike: uh, in

Ally: February, 2018

Mike: bad mental health

Ally: issues,

Mike: I was, trying

Ally: trying to find

Mike: know, the right

Ally: indication to help me.

Mike: it just kind of wasn't, we

Ally: we weren't finding it. And I, I got put on one medication that

Mike: up

Ally: up causing

Mike: essentially

Ally: paranoid. I wasn't Mm.

Mike: I wasn't

Ally: Being,

Mike: and

Ally: and that culminated in me

Mike: to take my life

Ally: trying

Mike: in

Ally: in February. I was in the hospital for a couple days

Mike: Um, Because

Ally: because of that. And

Mike: about a

Ally: a month later, after getting a, my

Mike: my, girlfriend at the

Ally: at the time, we've been

Mike: for

Ally: about three years, she up with me saying that.

Mike: saying that what I had gone through was too much for her, which I and I understand, you know, it's, if I was in her position, I would kind of feel the same way and in, in a sense.

I

Ally: I was also in like really intensive therapy at the time.

Mike: like three times a week, including like, group therapy. And, and I

Ally: I finally

Mike: decided, you

Ally: you

Mike: this was gonna be like the time where I

Ally: I gonna,

Mike: taking that very seriously [00:17:00] and figuring out my mental health issues and, and trying to solve them. And

Ally: then, uh, so that started to work.

Mike: very

Ally: Gradually. Very.

Mike: And

Ally: And then in April of 20,

Mike: I

Ally: I lost my, uh, great uncle, my grandfather, brother.

Mike: I

Ally: I grew up with a,

Mike: mother household. I

Ally: I dunno who my dad is.

Mike: And so

Ally: so I've been lucky enough to have my grandpa and

Mike: him as kind of my

Ally: father,

Mike: and

Ally: and he was one of the nicest men I've ever

Mike: he

Ally: was a big, a big advocate for mental health.

Mike: He had

Ally: He had bipolar. And

Mike: he was the

Ally: the first person ever tell me, you know, it's okay to have a health issue,

Mike: You just have to get

Ally: get it checked and take care of it and you'll be okay.

Mike: there's

Ally: Nothing wrong with you, you're not broken.

Mike: It's just something that

Ally: So that would just have to,

Mike: with. And

Ally: so

Mike: it was

Ally: really refreshing.

Mike: him say that to me

Ally: And so when I lost him, it really hurt me because I couldn't go to his funeral

Mike: and

Ally: I had not seen him

Mike: a couple years. So, That was, that

Ally: that was really heartbreaking.

Mike: and

Ally: And my grandpa's a very, very stoic man,

Mike: And I

Ally: and I remember [00:18:00] calling him,

Mike: he lost him and they

Ally: they did everything together

Mike: went on trips together. you know,

Ally: that he was essentially the only sibling,

Mike: that he spoke to, and he had five

Ally: brothers.

Mike: sisters.

Ally: Geez.

Mike: and

Ally: and so I remember calling him and couldn't even speak.

Mike: He was just sobbing and I was just heart. I was broken.

and then

Ally: then a month after that,

kind of in conjunction, I

Mike: found

Ally: out that I had an

Mike: that

Ally: needed taken care of, kind of immediate anywhere else.

Mike: culminated in cancer.

Ally: And so,

Mike: uh,

Ally: essentially.

Mike: rest of 2018, I had to have surgeries. About

Ally: every two weeks.

Mike: kind of stave this

Ally: I sleep long.

Mike: the

Ally: The worst part was that I would,

Mike: I had

Ally: I had one big surgery

Mike: which was

Ally: in just

Mike: the, I, the

Ally: worst thing probably I've ever had in my life.

Mike: But

Ally: But then the rest of the year I had to have surgery

Mike: work.

Ally: and so

Mike: go

Ally: seven in the morning to the doctor,

Mike: do the

Ally: do the procedure, and then I would go to work and have to act like

Mike: was fine. and then I

Ally: I also decided to finally go

Mike: see a[00:19:00]

Ally: primary doctor

Mike: I started to get really bad

Ally: migraine

Mike: the point where I would, I would throw

Ally: up.

Mike: and it, it

Ally: It got,

Mike: it

Ally: it got really bad

Mike: so

Ally: so I went to go see him and

Mike: found out

Ally: out that my blood pressure was just like

Mike: abysmally

Ally: high. It was like

Mike: 180, 1 90 over like 90, over a hundred or over 90, a hundred or something

Ally: something like that. And it was,

Mike: it was

Ally: was to the point where he like.

Mike: I.

Ally: If you don't start doing something,

Mike: you are gonna have

Ally: have had some stroke

Mike: heart

Ally: a heart attack and strokes around the middle side of my belly,

Mike: Um, and

Ally: And so

Mike: I

Ally: I took

Mike: kind of

Ally: all of that,

Mike: all of

Ally: of those events together to be like, okay, I need to

Mike: I need

Ally: do

Mike: do

Ally: something that's gonna

Mike: help me lose

Ally: weight and get healthy.

Mike: You know,

Ally: You know,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm not trying to shout, like,

Mike: at

Ally: everybody about their weight, but like my doctor was very

Mike: He was very

Ally: like,

Mike: direct with

Ally: with me because

Mike: it's

Ally: what I needed. Mm-hmm. And

Mike: so

Ally: I,

Mike: I

Ally: started to think about what I could do and

Mike: I

Ally: I had tried running,

Mike: like, I

Ally: I dunno, [00:20:00] maybe

Mike: nine

Ally: years before that, but it was like,

Mike: I'd

Ally: I'd run around my block and it

Mike: be

Ally: just like destroyed my,

Mike: And

Ally: and so I was,

Mike: I

Ally: I, I went to the gym.

And

Mike: and I looked

Ally: I looked around and I was very self-conscious at the time, so I was like, I'm not gonna wait.

Mike: I

Ally: I don't wanna be around all of these people that have all these muscles that I don't have and feel judged, and I don't wanna hurt myself in the mirror.

Mike: and

Ally: so I,

I gravitated towards running and I, I

Mike: got on

Ally: on the trip home for the first time, and

I, I

Mike: never

Ally: forget this, but whenever you hit start on the treadmill, it would just start for 20 minutes.

Mike: And I

Ally: I made it a

Mike: a

Ally: goal that I wanted to be able to run.

Mike: those

Ally: was 20 minutes from mm-hmm.

Mike: And at

Ally: at the burn, it was terrible.

Mike: I

Ally: hated it.

Mike: I

Ally: I was

Mike: really,

Ally: really struggling. I would have to run, walk. My pace was very, very slow.

but eventually

Mike: I

Ally: I got the 20 minutes

Mike: and I felt a

Ally: ipo, a really great intent of accomplishment. And I also realized

Mike: while

Ally: running

Mike: that I

Ally: I start to get this

Mike: mental

Ally: clarity

Mike: that

Ally: I,

Mike: I

Ally: I never [00:21:00] really got.

anywhere else?

Mike: I

Ally: Mm. I felt like this sense of calmness,

Mike: kind

Ally: kind of everything that was

Mike: like

Ally: in my head that was just like

Mike: yelling at

Ally: at me

Mike: or

Ally: just wouldn't be quiet,

Mike: just

Ally: finally just

Mike: died

Ally: down.

Mike: And I, I

Ally: I realized, you know, maybe,

Mike: maybe

Ally: this is what I

Mike: do

Ally: to destress and

Mike: it, it

Ally: kind of escalated from,

Mike: I

Ally: I mean, I ended up, I didn't run off dock.

Mike: It was also the

Ally: I was gonna ask you if you remembered your first outdoor run after this point, but it was winter. Yeah.

Mike: my

Ally: My first outdoor run.

Mike: 2019

Ally: Okay.

Mike: I wanna say May, I started running in like. August, September of 2018. So like that whole time period was inside.

Ally: Okay. And it was at a gym where other people were Correct? Yeah.

Mike: Yeah. so I ran like my first five KI ran my first 10 KI may have

Ally: Broke my first 15 K on the treadmill,

and my biggest fear was like,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm running on a [00:22:00] treadmill, so it's helping me go

Mike: If

Ally: if I go on nine and I have to up my own.

Mike: in, am I going to be slower?

Ally: Mm.

Mike: and I

Ally: And I remember going outside for the first time

Mike: and

Ally: and running and being very happy because it wasn't that much of a different end.

Mike: at

Ally: at the time I hit the cold, I have rain on, so my hands, my feet always cold

Mike: always cold. And during

Ally: during the winter,

almost

Mike: solid

Ally: and perfect.

Mm. even if I wear gloves.

Mike: And

Ally: So,

,

That was my

Mike: like

Ally: rationale running by.

Mike: And

Ally: After running outside, I was like, I,

Mike: I

Ally: I really liked it.

Mike: And

Ally: So I, I got very lucky that my,

my therapy I was going was right by Central Park. So

Mike: I would finish work,

Ally: go

Mike: go

Ally: go to the gym

Mike: around the corner, pack my stuff up, and then just go to

Ally: Central.

Mike: And I, I, I ran in Central Park. God, I don't even know how many times for over the last, over

Ally: Over the next,

Mike: years. , And,

,

I,

Ally: I, I didn't wanna run a marathon

at all. I, I just wanted to

Mike: able to [00:23:00] get

Ally: meet it and stay healthy. And,

Mike: I

Ally: I had,

Mike: well, I don't know if it was that winter, I

Ally: I found out about 5K that was happening with

Mike: nami, the

Ally: National Lines for Mental Illness

Mike: and

Ally: decided to

Mike: run

Ally: that and

raise money for them.

Mike: And it

Ally: it was a, it was an excellent experience. I actually think that was the last one they ever

Mike: because I think

Ally: came. After that transitioned.

Mike: walk.

Ally: But

Mike: after

Ally: doing that, I was like, I'm not, I've never really been a competitive person.

I've never done sports before. Um,

but running that race different.

Mike: seeing people and be like, can I pass them?

Can I, I wanna beat them. Can I get

Ally: Get to the finish line before they, they can.

Mike: and

Ally: and so I, I kind of

Mike: bit

Ally: got bit by like

Mike: race

Ally: book, but I didn't know what I wanted to do because I, I didn't know anything about like

Mike: Road runners I

Ally: I didn't about

Mike: and was it called MYC races or NYC runs? or

Ally: any other organization that helped races.

Mike: in the city? I,

Ally: I just knew that it was a lot of

Mike: and I had a

Ally: people. And I had a friend,

Mike: whose

Ally: best friend, friend from New York actually [00:24:00] in 28.

Mike: in

Ally: 2019. I

Mike: it was, I. Probably like

Ally: was

Mike: probably April, may. I was like,

Ally: like, you know what?

Mike: I

Ally: I think I gonna try qualify for the New York City Marathon by doing their nine

Mike: one

Ally: one program.

Mike: And I

Ally: I had a friend tell me, uh, and this is what

Mike: I

Ally: I have to shout out to Darren,

Mike: he's

Ally: use them.

Mike: sparked my, my

Ally: Marathon.

Mike: running. He said, you

Ally: You don't have enough time to,

Mike: And

Ally: so I signed for

Mike: races and

Ally: and started in finished

Mike: the first week of

Ally: of October

Mike: and was qualified for

Ally: 20. And

Mike: and obviously got canceled. So I ran it in 2021 and that, that's, that started everything.

Ally: so, so the nine plus one for New York City Roadrunners, you do nine of their races and then you get into New York? Is that, am I understanding that right?

Mike: you have to do nine

Ally: Of their races.

Mike: then volunteer at one.

Ally: Okay. That's crazy. That's kind of cool though, to have that opportunity, especially when you live close enough to do that,

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. [00:25:00] And that's, that's one that was one of the benefits of living in New York.

Ally: right? Yeah. I wanna go back to kind of the beginning of what we were just going through that 'cause that was a lot, that's a lot that you've gone through. And so up until the point in 2018. Like, had you dealt with mental health, like looking back now, like what you know now? Like had you struggled with your mental health for a long time?

Mike: Yes. Yeah. I've, I've had, I, I depression since I, I mean, fifth grade, I know exactly when I knew I, I became depressed because I was yelling at myself and calling myself an idiot when I was in fifth grade. and, I didn't

Ally: I didn't really start taking it serious.

Mike: my, my

Ally: My great,

Mike: son, he, he took his life.

And so I

Ally: I realized, you know, I don't

Mike: want to

Ally: wanna end up like

Mike: I

Ally: starting therapy. And I started trying to find psychiatrist company

Mike: and

Ally: and it just, it was,

Mike: I

Ally: I don't really remember most of money

Mike: because

Ally: because rest

Mike: and,

Ally: I, I'm happy that

Mike: you know, I,

Ally: I, I ended up finding a therapist who,

Mike: who understood my needs and was able to find me someone who would [00:26:00] be able to help me.

Ally: and

Mike: I

Ally: I contribute.

Mike: of my, my healing with

Ally: with my mental health to the, uh,

Mike: the, uh, the

Ally: the therapy program that was, that I was in, and the therapist that helped me,

Mike: and the

Ally: psychiatrist, that helped me because,

Mike: they

Ally: they saw me at my lowest. They were the ones that were there for me when,

Mike: when I

Ally: when I tried to take my life and

Mike: instead

Ally: of

Mike: you know,

Ally: kind of pushing me out or

Mike: or not wanting

Ally: wanting to help me, they, they kind of

Mike: wrap their

Ally: their services around.

Right.

Mike: and made sure that I was all right. But

Ally: Yeah. Mental health has been a

Mike: big

Ally: struggle for me my, my entire life.

Mike: it

Ally: runs my family. My mom

Mike: my brother

Ally: has

Mike: pretty

Ally: sure my grandfather has

Mike: He doesn't

Ally: talk about feeling.

Mike: he, he gives off a, a lot of the signs.

Ally: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, and what people talk about more now, thankfully, well, is mental health in general and then like also the medication side of things because I've been on antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication now for four years, and it's not an exact science too, like where you just go take a pill and you feel better.

It's [00:27:00] like. It's a really, it has to be, not just the meds, but what you're talking about, like having a therapist, having a psychiatrist perhaps. And then you know, also, obviously you found running, which is great, but it's been an ongoing struggle for me and I'm sure for many of people who are listening as well.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: so it's just like, you know, like your great uncle said to you, you're not alone, you're not broken like this. I think probably more people than not like have deal with anxiety and depression these days. Anyway.

Mike: Yeah, it's,

Ally: It's funny, whenever I go to,

Mike: new psychiatrist now. or talk to a new therapist. They, they ask me like, what's your medication history? And I'm like, well, if you can name a, an

Ally: yeah,

Mike: I've been on it. Like I've been on nearly every single thing that you can name of. And so whenever I tell them that, they're like,

Ally: Okay, so

Mike: can't

Ally: can try these. Yeah. Right. And it's like, I just got this, I don't know this DNA test done, I forget what it's called, but it's like it helps you look at what medicines might work better for you or which ones you should stay away from.

Mike: Oh, wow.

Ally: [00:28:00] So I did that and actually mine ended up not being that helpful 'cause it's like I don't really have negative reactions to many.

Mike: Mm.

Ally: so it just kind of confirmed what we've been trying, which is good.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: but you know, with all the side effects it can tell you like, Hey, you really shouldn't take this 'cause it's, it's probably gonna give you some gnarly side effects. but yeah, I think about, you know, what you went through in February of 2018.

Did they like looking back, was it part of the meds you were on too? Because I know sometimes that can cause suicidal thoughts and then actions. I mean, that's just so scary.

Mike: Yeah, that, that I, I contribute a lot of it to the medication I was on at the time

Ally: Ugh.

Mike: I start, I started to get paranoid. I, I thought that, like I lived in a studio apartment. You walked into my apartment, you could see everything. I thought that someone was going to come out of like my bathroom, which you can't get into my bathroom unless you're in my apartment.

Ally: Yeah,

Mike: Um, I, I was afraid to open the windows 'cause I thought someone would be staring back at me. Like it was, it was terrify terrifying. And, um, one thing I,

Ally: I,

Mike: say actually, that I [00:29:00] forgot to mention is I, I remember when

Ally: when I

Mike: did the act, I

Ally: was lying on the ground,

Mike: and

Ally: I

Mike: kind

Ally: kind of realized what I had done,

Mike: And I

Ally: heard this really, really,

Mike: really

Ally: clean

Mike: that

Ally: like, I don't,

Mike: I,

Ally: I, I

Mike: tell

Ally: myself like, it wasn't mine. I don't know whose it was, but it wasn't mine.

Mike: And

Ally: And all it said was not yet.

Mike: And

Ally: that is what

Mike: made

Ally: me get up.

Mike: up.

Ally: Oh my gosh.

I,

Mike: I,

Ally: like,

Mike: I don't

Ally: I don't wanna get graphic.

I

Mike: wrapped

Ally: myself

Mike: in like a bunch of t-shirts and I, I Ubered to the hospital,

Ally: gosh.

Mike: yeah, to, um, to get help. But I don't, I don't think, if I, if I

Ally: I didn't hear that voice. I dunno.

Mike: I

Ally: I dunno.

Mike: would be today.

Ally: Are you, I mean, you didn't mention God, so does that mean, are, are you not religious at all or are you,

Mike: I, I

Ally: I dunno what I'm, I I think that there's,

Mike: when, when I was, if you had asked me when I was younger, I, I mean I was gonna become a deacon when I was a kid.

Ally: wow. Okay.

Mike: but, but

Ally: Now I

Mike: think I'm, I'm

Ally: probably more[00:30:00]

Mike: spiritual than

Ally: than anything.

Say I probably,

Mike: towards Buddhism

Ally: and

Mike: probably

Ally: probably most other religion

Mike: in

Ally: in terms of

Mike: just the, the idea of trying to

Ally: break the cycle of suffering,

Mike: and,

trying

Ally: to

Mike: I don't wanna

Ally: say be kind because that's kind of within every religion. But,

just making sure that if you're, you're trying to help others

Mike: ways

Ally: that will help them themselves.

Mike: help their own suffering.

Ally: Right, right. Yeah, man. And then. Okay. Gosh, this is crazy. So then you ran New York after, it was, that'd be so hard to have it canceled too. Like you, it's your first

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: marathon. You never thought you were gonna run a marathon. Then you're like, okay, I've trained

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: this. Do you remember, like, did you, were you still hopeful it wasn't gonna be canceled?

Do you remember kind of that

Mike: Yeah,

Ally: the days leading up to that?

Mike: I,

Ally: I, I had,

Mike: uh, seen New York Row runners as the year progressed, cancel their, their [00:31:00] races. And so I was hopeful. I was like, maybe we'll have something by November that will be able to help us with this, with this, with COVID-19.

Ally: but

Mike: when

Ally: when they did cancel it,

Mike: was, I was not surprised.

Ally: right,

Mike: fact, I

Ally: I was a little.

Mike: because I was like, I'm not training as much as I should, and I don't know if I'll be able to do it. so I, I, I will say that I was a little happy that it was delayed, so I

Ally: Well, that's good.

Mike: of training.

Ally: Yeah. Yeah. Well, 'cause I know, you know, I've talked to plenty of people who have had, you know, big races canceled because of COVID and it's just like, man,

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: for you, you just got an extra year

Mike: Yeah. I

Ally: I mean, the benefit was

Mike: benefit was that I got to do it the following year. 'cause I know that there are some races they just canceled and they just didn't

Ally: Oh yeah. Right. Yeah.

Mike: and I

Ally: What a time,

Mike: I know, like

Ally: like for instance, in Boston.

Mike: in 2020, if you were a charity runner and you raised money for charity for 2020, you did not get into 2021.

Ally: Really? I did not realize that. That's insane. All that money.

Mike: and [00:32:00] you had to do it all over again for 2021.

Ally: Okay. Who? What?

Mike: Yeah,

Ally: I can't believe I didn't know that. I feel like

Mike: Yeah. It's

Ally: so bad.

Mike: It's ridiculous.

Ally: great that, you know, more money was raised for charity, but it's, that is so hard to raise that kind of money. I have not, I've done, for New York City, I ran for Alex's Lemonade stand, but I wrote a check. I didn't fundraise.

I was just like, you know what? This is the cost of doing this. My husband and I give every year. I'm like, we're just use this as one of our gifts. but I know people who are, you know, you're out there getting five and 10 bucks from people

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: to $15,000. I mean, it's just crazy.

Mike: I had

Ally: I had to raise 9,000 for Boston.

Me So

Mike: it

Ally: Mike.

Mike: it was not easy. Not easy.

Ally: Yeah. Geez. Okay, so New York kind of kicked off your six star journey. Did you, when you ran New York, did you even know what the six stars, like Abbott World Majors were?

Mike: I had

Ally: I heard something about this.

Mike: six star World marathon major thing. I, I like, I think I [00:33:00] looked it up and I saw that it was like a bunch of marathons around the world.

Ally: Didn't

Mike: but I didn't really know what

Ally: what it was per se. All I knew is

Mike: I just

Ally: wanted.

Mike: New York for saying that I could finish

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: I used to

Ally: To work

Mike: at the

Ally: the Apple

Mike: that's on, uh,

Ally: Fifth Avenue, 50 Street. So

Mike: a

Ally: a lot

Mike: finishes would come in after the race because it finishes very close to there. And I would always just be in

Ally: ofWe.

Mike: all these people who would walk in just with the, um,

Ally: Yeah, the ponchos.

Mike: the poncho on. I, I

Ally: I remember we had one

Mike: walk

Ally: walk down the stairs.

Mike: legs gave out.

yeah, it was, I was like, I was like, that's badass right there. but yeah, again, I just wanted to be able to finish it and say that I could. And I liked it, but. It was a massive struggle. you know, I, I,

Ally: I.

Mike: I don't have as much know, I did not have as much knowledge as I have now when it comes to running with shoes and with, hydration and with fueling. I

Ally: I

Mike: that

Ally: that race

Mike: my

Ally: feet,

Mike: broken, like the, the

Ally: outer edges of my heel

Mike: [00:34:00] or

Ally: or not myel,

Mike: my, uh,

Ally: uh, my arches

Mike: were

Ally: were so

Mike: hurt and they were in, I was in

Ally: in

Mike: pain that like, I finished and I had to, like, lean up

Ally: against

Mike: because I couldn't put any pressure on them. And,

Ally: you,

Mike: came

Ally: to out that

Mike: I needed to

Ally: to have,

Mike: orthotics in my

Ally: in my shoes. I had

Mike: I had flat

Ally: flat

Mike: and

Ally: and I didn't know. Right.

Mike: and

Ally: And once I got them, I was totally fine. Wow. But, uh,

Mike: you know,

Ally: you know, the,

Mike: ra I

Ally: I remember I was calling my, my

Mike: then

Ally: girlfriend at the

Mike: being

Ally: being like,

Mike: I,

Ally: I'm in so much pain. I dunno if I do this. I

Mike: hurt

Ally: so bad.

Mike: And

Ally: And I, my best friend Chris,

Mike: who, you

Ally: you know, I contribute a lot.

Mike: my growth to, to him because he's a former Marine and he's, he's one of the

Ally: The inspirational.

Mike: I've I've

Ally: I've met

Mike: he got on the

Ally: the

Mike: and he said, don't be a bitch. that, that's been our running line

Ally: That's what you need. Yeah.

Mike: what I needed. And, and I finished. And, the pictures, I mean, you, if you look on my Instagram, the pictures from that race are like, I thought they were gonna be very cathartic and just [00:35:00] like so much emotion, but instead they just look like me sobbing and in pain,

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: which like is true. But after finishing that race, I

Ally: I was just like.

Mike: I can't believe I did this. And I think I wanna do it again. Um,

Ally: that that same day. Yeah.

Mike: yeah.

Ally: That's crazy. Especially with the pain you were in,

Mike: yeah.

Ally: you get from, so for people who have not done New York, it takes forever to get to the start, and then it also takes forever to get outta the finish.

Mike: Oh

Ally: So like how did you, did you end up like flagging down a wheelchair and saying, can somebody like wheel me outta here?

Or were you literally just hobbled?

Mike: I did go to the med tent and they put ice on my feet, and, and everything, but I, I,

Ally: I, I,

Mike: up walking out,

Ally: yeah. And it takes forever to get outta there.

Mike: yeah, that's

Ally: It's the 27th mile. It is like the 27th and 28th. I feel like. So long it feels like, yeah.

Mike: Like, I did Boston, you just walk down, you make a right, and then you're just out. But with New York, you have to walk all the way around.

And it was the 50th anniversary, [00:36:00] so it was like so much security because of, of, you know, how prestigious it was for that, that day. And, And they, the, I don't wanna say that the, the, um, security has gotten a little bit lax over the last couple years, but it was, I remember my, my

Ally: My family telling me that they had to go through like three or four security checks because

Mike: we bought

Ally: seats for them to sit in the bleachers in the finish line.

Mike: And so

Ally: so you had to go through one security line. Another

Mike: in order to make sure you didn't have anything so you

Ally: Wow. You had to buy seats.

Mike: yeah. I mean, you, they're specifically at the finish line so you can watch people cross

Ally: Oh, shoot.

Mike: they're, they're not, well back then they weren't that expensive, but, you know, I thought

Ally: I thought it'd be nice them to be there.

Mike: since it was my first marathon.

Ally: Totally. is that the same at Boston? Do you have to buy seats now?

Mike: No.

Ally: um, those are, it

Mike: it

Ally: was

Mike: 'cause last year I got two of them for free because of, of my donations with

Ally: charity, charity.

Mike: But they're

Ally: They're not like at the finish line,

Mike: far

Ally: back. It's really weird. The ones that are at the finish line, I think are only,

Mike: [00:37:00] designated guests.

Ally: okay. Interesting.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: is so interesting. Well, New York as your first marathon is pretty incredible. Were people like telling you, Hey, that's a really hard one to start with.

'cause that's what I think.

Mike: No, no one said, no one said anything to me about

Ally: You're like, Hey,

Mike: I didn't even

Ally: think about, you know, I was

Mike: just, you know,

Ally: gonna New York.

Mike: and I didn't even think about the elevation. I didn't even think about all the bridges

Ally: Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Mike: yeah.

Ally: Well, at least you'd been in Central Park. Did you run in the hilly parts of Central Park?

Mike: Oh yeah.

Ally: Oh yeah. That's good.

Mike: Hill. Harlem Hill in the back is my, my arch nemesis.

Ally: Is that on the marathon course?

Mike: Thank God. Not anymore.

Ally: God, not any. Okay. When it first started it was, but not any. Okay. I feel like I endured that because I remember I didn't know that it was hilly in Central Park. I thought the only hills were the bridges.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: And then somebody said to me, oh, just make sure you're ready for Central Park.

I was like, what do you mean? And they're like, oh, it's really hilly. I'm glad somebody told me. 'cause I did not realize that, 'cause I'd run in Central Park where it's flat. [00:38:00] So I had no idea that there, I mean, it's so big. Like I had no idea there were hills there. So what a race. So you finished New York as your first, like that is really impressive.

And it got, you got to do it on the 50th anniversary.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: That's pretty special. It's like, okay, how do you top that? Well, tell us the story.

Mike: Well, my uncle's wife passed away, say over the summer of 2021. And

Ally: So we were trying to find some way to honor her and her. My uncle,

Mike: After they

Ally: they retired, they moved to Florida

Mike: they,

Ally: and they worked at that Disney room.

Mike: And

Ally: so

Mike: my

Ally: my wife,

Mike: came up with the idea, you know,

Ally: you know, why don't you,

Mike: why

Ally: why don't you run the,

Mike: marathon for them? And I was like,

Ally: okay, great.

Mike: when is

Ally: It was January of,

Mike: of, uh,

Ally: 20, 22 months after two.

Mike: York.

Ally: I ran that, right? I hated it.

Mike: I like, I think

Ally: think that was probably the

Mike: one

Ally: marathon that I did not like.

Mike: And it's,

Ally: whenever I tell,

Mike: that, they're like, how, what do you mean? It was Disney? and

Ally: and

Mike: it

Ally: it was awesome running through

Mike: King and running

Ally: underneath

[00:39:00] Ciella Castle, but

Mike: couple things. One, they let people into the

Ally: the

Mike: like your, the Spectator, they let them into the park at like six o'clock in the morning. And so I got to see my wife, which was awesome, but then

Ally: Them out

Mike: they kicked them out and

Ally: and then

Mike: you

Ally: don't get a ticket.

Mike: get in. if you

Ally: Run the race,

Mike: I, for the

Ally: the amount of money.

Mike: I just don't understand that.

Ally: But then 75,

Mike: even,

Ally: probably like 85% of the race was on

Mike: highways 'cause you're

Ally: You're running in between the parks

Mike: And

Ally: because it was like COVID time.

Mike: there're

Ally: They're supposed to have characters along the way. There were characters, but there weren't like

Mike: That

Ally: that many, or the ones that they had were not

Mike: I, I don't important, I

Ally: like they were obscure characters.

I could, I could totally picture what you're saying

Mike: and I got to mile 20 and, I accidentally ended my run. so that made me mad. And then I started to see like out and

Ally: back

Mike: going on

Ally: on the highway

Mike: then

Ally: and coming back and I was like, I have to do that too.

Mike: I

Ally: I don't wanna do this.

Mike: And so I was like, I

Ally: [00:40:00] My

Mike: I was like talking to my wife, I was like, I hate this so much.

I don't want to do

Ally: do this. I think I just wanna leave.

But I finished it for my, my dad.

Mike: and you

Ally: you know,

Mike: it, to

Ally: to this day it was my slowest marathon. But,

Mike: ' cause I walked a lot.

Ally: and this, and right after New York, actually, I

Mike: applied to the

Ally: to the lottery

Mike: Berlin.

Ally: just for the heck of it. I was like, I, I've never traveled outside of the country,

Mike: I've

Ally: I've never been to Europe.

I've never done anything like that. So I was like,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm not gonna get in. There's probably so many people.

Mike: apply and, and whatever. I

Ally: I got an email

Mike: I think it was in December at like four or

Ally: five in the morning

Mike: And I

Ally: and I remember

Mike: just

Ally: said, rolling over, checking my phone,

Mike: and seeing that, and

Ally: and I jumped out of bed and I yelled,

Mike: to my wife.

She's like, what?

Ally: what,

Mike: What

Ally: what happened? I said, I just got into the Berlin Marathon,

Mike: so we

Ally: we are going to Europe next year.

Mike: And she was

Ally: Saying

Mike: what? So

Ally: that was actually the moment that kicked off my

Mike: my six

Ally: next.

Mike: 'cause I was like,

Ally: New

Mike: New York was

Ally: was great.

Mike: was

Ally: It was like kind of my intro into marathon.

I, you [00:41:00] know

Mike: I was like, you know what?

Ally: what Berlin is gonna be the one

Mike: everything. And, and I

Ally: I started to really do a lot of research with running. I started to

Mike: the, the different

Ally: acknowledge these

Mike: use, the different

Ally: types of feeling,

Mike: you

Ally: you know, how to balance out your diet during the

Mike: a

Ally: marathon, you

Mike: a wall.

Ally: and

Mike: And, um, finding the

Ally: the shoes. Really,

Mike: for me and it

Ally: it was

Mike: a

Ally: a lot of training.

Mike: then I decided also that, reason

Ally: I was also gonna run Chicago

because why not,

Mike: why

Ally: not? And it was two after.

Mike: after Berlin.

Ally: Oh my god. Yeah. You crazy people

Mike: in,

Ally: I got.

Mike: into that with a charity. And

Ally: And so

Mike: I, I

Ally: I did that and then at the same time

Mike: I had

Ally: I qualified in 2024

Mike: for the New

Ally: New York City,

Mike: in 2022.

Ally: marathoning, Chicago, Berlin, New York.

Mike: and so

that

Ally: that took up all of my training

Mike: the year.

Ally: and it was,

wait, okay, so you did all of those back to back to back

Mike: yeah.

Ally: in 22 [00:42:00] then it would've been, or is that Yeah.

Mike: I was also supposed to run Philly, which was a week after New York.

Ally: Uhhuh.

Mike: I finished New York, I was like, I'm gonna defer. I'm good. I,

Ally: I think that's a smart choice, Mike. Way to go.

Mike: yeah. Um, but it

Ally: It was, it was great.

Mike: Berlin, I, I had, I had set out with a goal, like, 'cause I finished New York 4 27. I was like, you know what?

I, I want to break four

Ally: Ground

Mike: I, I think I can do it if I train

Ally: train. Properly?

Mike: I don't like, we'll see what happens. Berlin, so mad about this. I finished in four hours flat.

Ally: No,

Mike: I was so

Ally: like 0, 0, 0. Zero, zero. Yep.

Mike: It was like four hours and like seven. It was literally four hours and like seven milliseconds.

Ally: Oh my gosh, that's really annoying. I would be pissed too. I'm sorry.

Mike: mad.

I was like, are you kidding me? And then I, I passed out when I finished Berlin,

Ally: Oh,

Mike: it was just, it was, I was so dehydrated because I, didn't understand the, the proper, fueling during a [00:43:00] marathon. And, it was fine. I think out of all the world marathon ages, Berlin's probably my least favorite because it just felt like the spectators felt forced to be there. They weren't like the energy that you get at New, I mean, maybe I, it is because New York is my first one, but like the

Ally: I mean,

Mike: like, is like, like no other marathon. Like it was, it's crazy. And Berlin I think was a little bit more, was relaxed.

Ally: I picture Germany and like German culture, like no offense to Germans. I mean, clearly my last name is Brett Knocker, so it's like, but just the stoicism of Germans and the more serious and like, like I just, that's what I kind of picture. When you describe that and it's like just not nearly the same thing as

Mike: Yeah, that,

Ally: that's, that's what I,

Mike: too. and luckily we made a trip out of it. So we spent like, four or five days in Paris and then we went, then we went back home.

Ally: Chicago

Mike: was a struggle. I ended up with some ankle problems at like mile 20 and had to walk, run the rest of it.

But I finished, I met a

Ally: met

Mike: great

Ally: [00:44:00] great guy while I was running

Mike: with named,

Ally: Mario and

Mike: I

Ally: I remember seeing him and I was like, that man has incredible running.

Mike: I

Ally: I ran up next to him. I said, mind if I pace

Mike: And we just like chatted the whole

Ally: The whole time we were running, our goal was for both of us.

Mike: four

Ally: Four.

Mike: I

Ally: I don't think either of us did,

Mike: but

Ally: but it was great.

Mike: know, be able to just like an instant connection with some random person that you're riding next to. You're both struggling, you're both doing this thing that is really difficult. and, and you're both having a good

Ally: A good.

Mike: And then New York in 2022 was, was just like awful because it was.

Ally: Like 80 degrees. Oh, that's right. Oh yeah.

Mike: They

Ally: Ran outta cup outta water. Mm.

Mike: And I

Ally: I decided that

Mike: race, that was

Ally: that was probably

Mike: my only race so far where I was like, I'm not going to try to pr I'm not going to try to do anything special.

I'm gonna have fun. So I was like pictures of people. I was dancing with people. It was, it was a lot of fun. 'cause I'm usually, I get pretty

Ally: serious.

Mike: my marathons 'cause

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: get in the zone. But that one,

Ally: when [00:45:00] I decided to take,

Mike: 'cause I was like,

Ally: like I don't wanna the

Mike: in the hospital.

I'm good.

Ally: I don't wanna pass out at the end. I think that's fair.

Mike: Yeah,

Ally: Yeah. Did they take you to the hospital in Germany or did they just get you in the med tent and you were fine.

Mike: Put me in the med tent and then, like 15 minutes later, like,

Ally: Okay, good. Go. Geez, Mike, your health, this is like crazy. Good. .

Mike: Chicago was awesome.

Ally: I felt like the Of Chicago.

Mike: much like New

Ally: Yeah. Yeah. Chicago, I've done the most out of all the marathons I've done because we're about three hours south in Indianapolis.

Of Chicago, so it's very accessible for us. I did it before there was a lottery. I think the last time I did it was in 2014 and that was a lottery. And I got in somehow. I don't know, but ever since then, no dice. So maybe someday again, but yeah, so Chicago. Okay, so what order? So it was Chicago, Berlin, New York.

Okay. Chicago, Berlin, New York, did you work with a coach or anything like that at this point? Do you work with a coach now? No,

Mike: No, I,

Ally: I.

Mike: um, I used an app. I don't remember what, I think it [00:46:00] was the run with How app, of worked but didn't. Now I use Runa and

Ally: Okay.

Mike: listen, Runa, if you wanna

Ally: Wanna sponsor

Mike: I've, I've broken all my prs with you

Ally: guys?

Mike: it for four

Ally: Marathon.

Mike: phenomenal, that would, I cannot like how awesome run is.

And I used it before it got really big. Like I used it like three years ago when it first started out. And it

Ally: Interesting.

Mike: it, it was awesome.

Ally: Are they based in New York?

Mike: no,

Ally: No, they're based in London. Okay, interesting.

Mike: Yeah. it, they just got bought by Strava actually.

Ally: Oh, I missed that. Interesting. Yeah, my whole, my previous life I'll say was in technology. It was in software. So That's interesting. that makes a lot of sense when you just think about how AI's gonna play into a lot of that with all the data that it has on you and how it could, you know, I still think for me personally, having a, having a person to hold me accountable helps.

But you also, you have a community to hold you accountable. Um, and certainly your own motivation, so. [00:47:00] Okay. That's cool. That's, that's a heck of a testament. I think Runa should sponsor you. So for what that's worth, which is nothing really, but you know, you gotta, you gotta put it out there, otherwise it'll never happen.

So yeah. Maybe I could get them to sponsor this podcast. That would be cool.

This episode is brought to you by runner. Just kidding. Wouldn't that be cool? If anyone knows anyone? This episode is brought to you by my very own small business athlete. Bouquets, gifts for runners. If you wanna celebrate the runner in your life, look no further than athlete bouquets.com. You can use Code Podcast for 10% off your order.

Athlete bouquets.com back to the show.

So yeah. Maybe I could get them to sponsor this podcast. That would be cool. so out. Okay, so then it was, that was 22.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: Did you run marathons in 2023? Yeah, I

Mike: Yeah, I

Ally: did.

Mike: in 23, and then I did New York again. London was great.

I, I've ran

Ally: ran into ankle issues,

Mike: [00:48:00] but

Ally: but that was primarily

Mike: it had just rained and the, it was pretty slippery the, on the

Ally: the road

Mike: And

Ally: and

Mike: in London, it's

Ally: different from the marathon

Mike: that they don't give you cups. They give you

Ally: bottles of,

Mike: And

Ally: and so people

Mike: drink the

Ally: the bottles

Mike: or drink some

Ally: some

Mike: and then throw them on the ground. And so the ground is just covered in bottles. and you'll, I mean, if you read

Ally: about,

Mike: run the London Marathon, there are so many people who will step on one and slip and roll their ankle or break their ankle and

Ally: and they'll have to,

Mike: it quits. But,

Ally: I think it was like

Mike: 13. My, I, I like

Ally: landed on

Mike: and my, my ankle went to the

Ally: side. And so I was like, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna come down.

Mike: but

Ally: But the crowds were incredible. I, I still can't believe that there was so many people out after just three.

Mike: So I was,

Ally: blown away by that. And

Mike: it was, it was

Ally: it was a really nice, like cenic route.

So you

Mike: to run like over

Ally: on the Tower bridge, you gotta see

Mike: uh,

Ally: obviously Big Bend the Eye

Mike: by,

Ally: walking at Palace.

Mike: And it, it was, it

Ally: It was, it was really

Mike: [00:49:00] It was really cool. I really

Ally: like

Mike: we were

Ally: you were in London for about a week.

Mike: and, uh, you know, got

Ally: Got experience it while we were there. Then

Mike: then, I, I

Ally: I kind of tried to make it, it's like my, my habit of

Mike: doing New

Ally: York every year.

Mike: So,

Ally: say it's kind of been a streak.

So now you kind of have to,

Mike: yeah. my

Ally: my goal is

Mike: up to, if you run 15 of them, uh, then you

Ally: you don't have to follow.

Mike: anymore. You just get in.

Ally: That was gonna be my next question 'cause I know Chicago, I think it's like 10

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. 15. So, I mean, you're on your way. I'm

Mike: I'm like a third of the

Ally: the,

Mike: almost.

Ally: that's wild. And for New York, this is, I guess aside, let's go. But how do you get to the start?

Are you a bus? Are you a ferry? Have you done both?

Mike: No, I get a

Ally: No, I or you? Oh,

Mike: so the first year we got a hotel in Staten Island, and then after that, I guess everybody else figured out you could do that. So they've always been sold out. So what we do is we stay

Ally: outside new.

Mike: and

Ally: in the past, what we've done,

Mike: Uber to the start line. It won't be, it's not

Ally: not that much, but

Mike: but what we

Ally: he found [00:50:00] now is it's.

Mike: easier for us to drive to the starting line area, drop me off, and then my wife will, will drive back and

Ally: And take the train into

Mike: and go do

Ally: whatever she wants to do.

Mike: to the finish line.

Ally: Wow. Okay. Yeah, I, mine was a nightmare. We stayed in Long Island City in a hotel, first hotel. First hotel we had booked. I'm like getting ready to get on the airplane with my friend and I'm reading the reviews of this hotel, Mike, and the first review that was like a month ago was like bedbugs.

Yeah. Which I'm like, I'm not from New York City, so I, you know, I think that's somewhat normal. I don't know, but it, that's really gross. And I said, I'm not staying there the night before a marathon. Like, what if we get bedbugs?

Mike: absolutely not.

Ally: yeah. Thankfully my friend Ashley, like we, she is like the problem solver and she crushed it.

She like called, she was on the phone with somebody for hours and we got a different hotel. Anyway, but I say this because it was just like we had to take, I think we walked to the train, took a train to the bus, took the bus to the start and it [00:51:00] was the whole thing to get there. Took me longer than it took me to, to run.

which is crazy to think about. So that's nice that you at least know how to do it, to make that a much easier process. 'cause it's a lot.

Mike: I, I didn't wanna have to deal with all that, and I, I, I, when I volunteer now, my thing that I do is I, I hand out bibs. the, uh, at the expo for everybody. I always see at the bottom of the bib, it tells them like what their, what mode of transportation is.

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: I see the times and I'm

Ally: I'm like,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm not a 40 person,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm not gonna be ready.

Mike: on a bus at five o'clock in the morning,

Ally: Yeah,

Mike: and if I am, I'm gonna be so, so cranky.

Ally: yeah, yeah. It was rough. It was rough. And then you sit on Staten Island for hours.

Mike: Yeah. That's what I've

Ally: So I remember like I packed myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I had magazines, which I did not read, but somebody told me to bring some. So I was like, okay, if I'm just gonna be sitting here. But yeah, it was, it was all part of the experience though, and it [00:52:00] was a really cool experience.

London, you mentioned the plastic bottles. I also heard that in Berlin they have plastic cups. Is that true

Mike: Um,

Ally: you remember? I think when

Mike: think when I did it, it,

Ally: I did it,

Mike: may have been paper cups. I, I honestly don't remember. I.

Ally: somebody told me, maybe it was last year, I don't know, the year, all blurred together now, but somebody told me and that stuck with me. 'cause I was like, how would I drink? Like you go from like. Always having paper cups that you fold and drink. It's like, how the heck would I drink out of a plastic cup and then not trip over 'em.

To your point, I have not heard that about London until you just told me. So that's

Mike: I had a, I, I, I

Ally: I talked to.

Mike: one of my followers last week who ran, bought, uh, London, and he told me about how he saw people go down and he's, he's actually a, um, a physician, so he was like, he was dying himself because it was so hot, but he was also checking on people to make sure they were okay at the same time.

Ally: Yeah, that'd be hard to turn that off when you're running through strangers who might need help.

Mike: yeah.

Ally: And how was training, 'cause that, let's see, that was [00:53:00] your first spring marathon, right? At that point.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: So how was training in the winter for you?

Mike: Not great. I do, I I've discovered that training for spring marathons is a lot of treadmill running.

Ally: Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say with, with your, how do you say it? Rays or Rays or

Mike: Rain

Ally: rays. Rays. I've heard that that can, that some people deal with that while they're training for marathons, because I've actually thought I've had it before, but anyway. Yeah. Well, how, what's your furthest run on a treadmill?

Mike: I don't know if I've done 20 miles, but I, I think I've done at least 15.

Ally: Yeah. That's so much. How do you do that? I mean, I've done pretty far, but

Mike: Yeah. It's, it's a lot of, a lot of music. luckily now I have a, a Peloton tread,

Ally: mm-hmm.

Mike: what I'll do a lot is I'll stack a bunch of classes on top of each other and, and, and do things like that. And. I don't really pay attention to them because I'm listening to my music. But it's nice to have like something I could look at [00:54:00] potentially to kind of get

Ally: Yeah, you don't watch Netflix because that's what I do. I watch movies.

Mike: I've done it sometimes.

Ally: sometimes.

Mike: I don't think my mind is able to focus. Is, is

Ally: Okay. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. And then, oh yeah, we have to talk. I'm glad you mentioned Peloton, 'cause we do need to talk about that as well,

Mike: Absolutely.

Ally: Um, but let's finish the six star journey while we're there.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: So London 23, did you run And then New York in 23. What else? In 23? Any other races?

Mike: Um,

Ally: Um, I

Mike: a bunch of New York City, uh, this is the New York Row runner races. I think I did in 23. Did I do the Brooklyn half? I did not because I, for, I missed signing up for it. think I did the united half. I did, the Queen's 10 KI did a bunch of four milers that they had. stuff like that.

Ally: now, if somebody is interested in doing. A race in New York, outside of the, the marathon, which race has been a favorite for you?

Mike: I would [00:55:00] say

Ally: the race

Mike: that they do in Central Park

Ally: in

Mike: are, uh,

Ally: a lot,

Mike: have the same exact course,

Ally: but the energy is different.

Mike: on the race that you

Ally: Mm-hmm. Like

Mike: there's,

Ally: um, the pride run that they do,

Mike: in June, and

Ally: and then there's also

Mike: it's around the same time they do an

Ally: Achilles,

Mike: for the

Ally: the Achilles Foundation

Mike: those

Ally: mm-hmm. Individuals that are, are

Mike: runners that

Ally: that have,

Mike: some sort of disability and to see,

Ally: uh, so many of those runners, they are,

Mike: you

Ally: you know, persevering, pushing through, there's, they're

Mike: they're

Ally: running over hills.

You see me.

Mike: on, uh, hand cycles, you know,

Ally: Line runners, things like that, really pushing to get to that finish line. And there's a medal in the end, which is great.

I, I like those two. The queen's 10 K is really nice because it's flat.

Mike: Only

Ally: Only thing

Mike: that's

Ally: not great about it is that there's no

Mike: covering.

Ally: So you,

Mike: it gets really hot.

Ally: I, I don't wanna say the Brooklyn half because it is relatively

Mike: because you, you, you run around

Ally: around Central

Mike: and then I want to

Ally: Park,

Mike: the last six-ish [00:56:00] miles, it's just straight

Ally: straight down Toney Island on a highway.

Mike: there's, there

Ally: Oh, there's there people there,

Mike: and crowds, but it's, there's no scenery or anything like that.

Ally: okay.

Mike: United Half is cool because you run

Ally: Right over

Mike: Bridge. This year was the Brooklyn Bridge, and you run through Central

Ally: Central

Mike: but

Ally: But

Mike: there's a

Ally: there's a good like

Mike: miles, no, not even, probably five or six that are just on the FDR highway.

And

Ally: Okay.

Mike: they

Ally: They don't allow crowds there.

Mike: there's nobody,

Ally: uh, and square. Pretty cool.

Mike: it's, it's just packed full of people. And then you finish in Central Park. actually my,

Ally: My, my

Mike: race is

Ally: is

Mike: the

Ally: Abbo.

Mike: 5K dash of the finish, which is the day before the New York City Marathon.

Ally: Oh,

Mike: you

Ally: you start at the

Mike: building, you

Ally: you run up to

Mike: sixth

Ally: Avenue

Mike: the

Ally: Central.

Mike: and then

Ally: And

Mike: you,

Ally: um,

Mike: you cross the New

Ally: the New York City Marathon.

Mike: line. So they have the whole thing set up. So you see. like the finish time,

Ally: Yeah. Everything.

Mike: up there, you see the bleachers, you see all the flags. [00:57:00] It's really, really cool. and

Ally: It's like, especially you don't run New City Marathon

Mike: you that

Ally: feeling, right?

Mike: to the end of like, you're, you're crossing it.

Ally: Yeah. That's really cool. Are any of these, are they hard to get into? I feel like. The United half and the Brooklyn half have become so popular as running has just continued to become more popular. Are they like you have to sign up the day it opens?

Is it a lottery? How

Mike: So

Ally: Both of them have,

Mike: but there's, there's different ways you can get in. So you can't just like forthright sign up for it. Now, the only people who can are, who like meet a couple different criteria. So obviously you can qualify, but the United half, they, if you live in New York City or in the New York, around the New York area, they have, races in each borough.

Ally: and if you do

Mike: four of them. then you get

Ally: get entry into the next,

Mike: race. They

Ally: they

Mike: have a

Ally: a virtual one.

Mike: where if you do that, then you get entry into, into the next year.

Ally: Okay.

Mike: Brooklyn's easier for

Ally: for people

Mike: not from New York because it's based off of six, ,

Ally: on virtual races,

Mike: So [00:58:00] if you, I

Ally: so I think they do be during the year,

Mike: six of

Ally: them.

Mike: then you get entry into the following

Ally: Oh, that's interesting. Okay. So like for somebody like me, that would be a lot more doable. Yeah, you just have to just do it.

Mike: the Strava and then it just counts it.

Ally: Okay, well that's neat. Okay. Yeah, because I love the idea of doing one of those, but then I just, it from the outside looking in, it just looks so hard to get in anymore to anything really.

Mike: I mean, the easiest way for the United Half is just do the virtual,

Ally: Yeah. Yeah.

Mike: But

Ally: But they do sell,

Mike: quickly now. it's a nightmare. New York Row runners, it needs to fix or do something with their races because, it, they,

Ally: They go on on sale.

Mike: at like noon on the day that they go on sale, and then they're all pretty much sold out by like 4:00 PM and it's just like ridiculous how quickly they sell out.

And the only way to really into them without having to worry about

Ally: About it

Mike: is

Ally: to pay for an

Mike: for an

Ally: upgraded membership unless you

Mike: register

Ally: earlier. Right.

Mike: is what I have, because I [00:59:00] missed

Ally: All of the races for,

Mike: April,

Ally: may.

Mike: and June, because they sold out, which makes me mad because now I have to do all the races in the summer.

Ally: Right. Ugh. Yeah. That's wild. It's so good for the sport that people want to do it, but it's also just kind of infuriating because you're like, I, I wanna do it.

Mike: exactly.

Ally: Yeah. so did you say you did London for charity? Yes.

Mike: Yes.

Ally: Okay.

Mike: I've done

Ally: Chicago.

Mike: Boston, London and Tokyo with charities,

Ally: Wow. Good for you. That's incredible. So which year, so London, New York in 23 and then Did you do Tokyo and Boston this year?

Mike: 24.

Ally: 24.

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: yeah, I was like, wait, what is today? yeah, it's 2025. okay, so you did both of those last year and how are those experiences?

Mike: Tokyo was incredible. I, I've always wanted to go to Tokyo, and so when I got in with my charity, I like freaked out because I just [01:00:00] like. I just think about the fact that running has taken me all over the world and

Ally: I just don't know how

Mike: I

Ally: I would've been able to travel to these places

Mike: if

Ally: if I had not

been running

Mike: and

Ally: and so

Mike: when we got

Ally: got there. It was,

Mike: like a kid in the candy store, like it was Tokyo

Ally: is

Mike: by

Ally: far my favorite

Mike: the world. Like I always joke with people, like, I would move there in a heartbeat if given the

Ally: option.

Mike: and the

Ally: Tokyo Marathon was

Mike: fantastic. I, the, you always hear about people saying that the crowds are quieter and, and not as like,

Ally: Loud

Mike: what you would get from

Ally: like

Mike: and Chicago,

Ally: but

Mike: What

Ally: what they lack in that per se, which it's still loud,

Mike: but what

Ally: what they lack in that is

Mike: more

Ally: more of,

Mike: it

Ally: it feels like a genuine

Mike: want to

Ally: to be there.

Mike: they want you to succeed.

Ally: Even the volunteers are like,

Mike: for you. Like they'll

Ally: they'll be off

Mike: in

Ally: in the corner

Mike: just clapping, like,

Ally: like cheering on

Mike: sure that you're okay.

Um, it was

Ally: was perfect weather and that was actually first

Mike: that I broke four hours. I [01:01:00] got officially, it was

Ally: it was,

Mike: 48 actually. My,

Ally: yeah, I was looking

Mike: my watch says 3 43, so I went with that. But, was, it was a really, really tremendous moment for me because I remember crossing the finish line

Ally: and I've never had before

Mike: I burst into tears, I just started sobbing this runner

Ally: Runner.

Mike: to me and just gave me a big hug. And it was, it was, it was great. and I

Ally: I had, I had so much fun doing it.

Mike: It was, was

Ally: Beautiful.

Mike: You know, and all

Ally: All my races, all

Mike: my

Ally: marathon.

Mike: it a, a goal to, find my

Ally: My,

Mike: or wherever

Ally: she

Mike: We call each other, we find out what the logistics are of what she's by, where I can look for her. Um, and I always blow her a kiss. And so I was, I was happy that I was able to see her with this. 'cause she, she

Ally: wasn't

Mike: no

Ally: like

bleachers or,

Mike: line area, like I had to look for her. and

Ally: so

Mike: that

Ally: was,

Mike: was

Ally: was

Mike: And we were there for like,

Ally: almost,

Mike: weeks.

Ally: does she wear something special

Mike: Um,

Ally: have a special sign? No.

Mike: it, we, we were trying to figure out what [01:02:00] she's gonna wear like in the future.

Ally: Right. It's like neon. I don't know what's like the most,

Mike: bright.

Ally: yeah.

Mike: bright

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: her. in 2023. I missed her 'cause I couldn't find her in the bleachers. And so she has a video of me running and I'm like, this the whole time,

Ally: Like, where are you? You should just be like blowing. You should just be like blowing kisses everywhere. Like, I don't know where you are, but like

Mike: That's

Ally: maybe you could see this. Yeah. I mean, but in that moment you're like, where are you? I am, where am I? Like that's a tough Yeah, yeah,

Mike: is life?

Ally: yeah, exactly.

Mike: but yeah, Tokyo, I

Ally: I think Tokyo,

Mike: really far up there as one of my favorite marathons. and then I

Ally: I did Boston

Mike: in

Ally: in April. Month later,

Mike: Boston was, was great.

Ally: people were in

Mike: The course was deadly. And, you know, those, those

Ally: Newton.

Mike: are, are

Ally: No joke. I remember

Mike: telling

Ally: myself.

Mike: run up Heartbreak Hill and you're, you know, you're gonna be really proud of yourself. And I didn't even know that I was on Heartbreak Hill until I saw the sign that says, you [01:03:00] crested Heartbreak Hill. And I was like, oh, I walked it.

Ally: But

Mike: crossing

Ally: that finish line,

Mike: like

Ally: like even to this day, like I don't feel like it was real.

Mike: Like

Ally: Like I have my medal

somewhere,

Mike: In this room.

Ally: but I just like,

Mike: I don't

Ally: I don't know. It, it

Mike: feels like

Ally: like it didn't happen

Mike: a sense. and I, and, you know, I remember crying and just being really, really proud of, of the fact that I was

Ally: I was able to do this and it was kind of sad

Mike: because, you know, you

Ally: like I worked

Mike: for

Ally: right

Mike: to get to this and you know,

Ally: now that I've, now that I accomplished it.

Mike: like, what do I do now?

Like,

Ally: Yes. Yeah, that's hard.

Mike: Like, do I

Ally: Try

Mike: a marathon in

Ally: to run a marathon.

Mike: state in the country? Do I, I don't know. Do I try to run one in every continent? And,

Ally: Yeah. Right. Totally.

Mike: and, you know, I, I decided that I was just, I'm gonna do it again.

Ally: Oh,

Mike: yeah. So,

you know,

Ally: know, I'd already done New York.

Mike: New York, I already had one star again.

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: and so I

Ally: I did Tokyo and Boston.

Mike: year. [01:04:00] So that's three

Ally: That's why I got confused. Okay. Because I was like, didn't you do it this year? But you did it again, Mike Tokyo.

Mike: wasn't gonna do Tokyo. I

Ally: I wasn't,

Mike: Tokyo, but then I

Ally: I got,

Mike: from them over the summer, my charity, and they were like, we're looking forward to your application. I was like, well, I,

Ally: I, I,

Mike: I

Ally: I asked my wife

Mike: how do you think I should do it? She was like, you know, I wouldn't say

Ally: say you,

Mike: in,

Ally: because before

Mike: when we went

Ally: last

Mike: she was like, I don't really want to go to Tokyo.

Like, I don't have any inkling to, and then we got there and after like the first day, she was like, I love it here. It's

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: and then I

Ally: I got in

Mike: and, you know, I was really happy with that. And then

Ally: Boston.

Mike: Boston was nothing. I wasn't gonna run Boston, but I got offered to run Boston with shocks. so I, I

Ally: I found out while I was in Tokyo.

Mike: like

Ally: Oh my gosh.

Mike: a

Ally: A month before the marathon

Mike: out

Ally: found out that I was gonna do it.

Mike: and so that was, that was awesome. And then I have New York and Chicago at the end of the year.

Ally: Wow.

Mike: Um, so that'll be four stars.

Ally: Geez. And that leaves Berlin and [01:05:00] Chica or in London, sorry. Yeah. so, okay. I forget, I like have to try to remember when all the windows are open for like, registering or like putting your name in the hat. ' have you already applied? Okay.

Mike: just passed.

Ally: Okay.

Mike: Berlin is at the, I think it's in like September, October.

Ally: Okay. Because it's around the time of the race ish. Okay. It's hard. I can't keep track and I, I don't even remember. There's some, I think I put in for London. Maybe I forget. Like I literally, sometimes on a whim I'll just be like, I should just see and then, you know, it's a good excuse if you get in and be like, I need to go now.

'cause it's really hard to get in. that's what my brother-in-law did last year. He got into London and Berlin. So they went, did both, which is, or no, they, oh no, he only did London and Boston I think because, yeah. Anyway, I would love to do them all. I would love to, we'll see, I've got Chicago and New York.

I would love to qualify for Boston. I am almost 40. So that's, I'm kinda like waiting for that so that I can just get a little bit more leeway. But I'm also afraid that if I wait too long, they're just gonna keep making it [01:06:00] harder.

Mike: the times

Ally: It's like, I don't know. So I just tell people I'm chasing my best, you know?

And that gets me to Boston. That's great 'cause that's what I would love to do. But if not, then hopefully I still achieve the best that I possibly can.

Mike: Yep.

Ally: And you've also said that you are chasing a sub three hour marathon, which is

Mike: Um,

Ally: to think that you could even like backtrack a few years, you were like, I hope I can run for 20 minutes on a treadmill.

And now you're like, Hmm, I could perhaps do under three hours.

Mike: Yeah, it was, I never

Ally: thought.

Mike: hours of sub three would, would ever be possible for me. It sub four was just like something that always was outta reach. It was like there, but just like of my graphs just a little bit. And then, so last year when I did Tokyo was 3 48. And then I did New York last year and I did three 11.

Ally: Which is just nuts. That is nuts. In New York,

Mike: know what

Ally: what happened? Like

Mike: to mile 17 and I felt really good. And I have two running playlists. [01:07:00] One is just, it literally, it's called running music and shit. then the other one is called Fast as Fuck Boy. And so I got to mile 17 and I, I texted my

Ally: my wife, I said

Mike: other running playlists

Ally: coming

Mike: now. And I like. Those last, what, nine

Ally: miles

Mike: I just like went for it. And my training at Runa told me you'll finish the

Ally: marathon.

Mike: hours, in 25 minutes. I beat that by 14

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: And I just like, don't, like there's the picture of me crossing the finish line. I was screaming I, I was like, yes. but after that I was like, you know, maybe I could break three hours.

My, me and my, me and my best friend Chris, are making it a goal to try to break three hours this year. And, we are a little bit competitive. I, he had run the, the Warsaw Marathon either a week before or two weeks before the New York City Marathon, and he hit [01:08:00] three. 20 something. We,

Ally: Okay.

Mike: to break three 30 and he hit three under three 30.

And I was like, oh crap, now I have to do that. And so I hit three

Ally: 11.

Mike: He just

Ally: Just ran the

Barcelona Marathon.

Mike: and hit 3 0 8.

Ally: Ooh. Look at you guys going back and forth. Yeah.

Mike: now I had to figure out what's going on with that because I did Tokyo and I did Boston this year and I finished in 3 13, 3 14. So five

Ally: months now.

Mike: four

Ally: Oh yeah. Plenty of time.

Mike: to get this. and, and

Ally: I

Mike: goal was either either

Ally: Chicago.

Mike: New York to break the three hour

Ally: Okay.

Mike: I,

Ally: Chicago, obviously.

Mike: easier 'cause it's

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: it would mean a lot more to me if it was New York just because, you know, my first marathon, it would be my fifth time running it.

Ally: Yeah. And

Mike: that is

Ally: is the one

Mike: like, surprisingly, I feel

Ally: feel

Mike: have down because I've

Ally: I've been able to

Mike: it down so

Ally: so much in my mind,

Mike: and understand like each

Ally: portion. Mm-hmm.

Mike: well, so that I

Ally: I don't.

Mike: you know, really, surprised by [01:09:00] any portion of it.

Ally: Right. Yeah, that's helpful.

Mike: a sub three marathon just never in my mind seemed possible.

And then last year happened and I was like, oh, maybe this is,

Ally: Yeah. And to think you like weren't an athlete growing up?

Mike: no, no

Ally: no one in my family.

Mike: mean,

Ally: I mean, my brother,

Mike: golf, but like, no

Ally: no one in my family.

Mike: doesn't I, me and my grandma bowled and she was in the hall of fame for getting a 300. But that was like, that

Ally: Wow.

Mike: That

Ally: That's pretty cool.

Mike: Oh

Ally: Oh yeah. That's so cool.

Mike: My grandma's a badass. Um, but like I played, I played little League soccer for a season and I played little league baseball. and as my mom likes to say, when I was in outfield and I would play with the grass, you

Ally: Mm.

Mike: it was like I never did track and field. I never ran. and somehow this is like, this has happened.

Ally: It's just amazing. I wanna talk to you a little bit about the rundown.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: you're starting in talking to everyday runners and just chatting. I loved what you put together after Tokyo of like [01:10:00] just chatting with a few people, asking the same questions, putting it all together.

Like it was really cool. And so what made you do it? it was really

Mike: those first

Ally: ing

Mike: you know,

Ally: you know, I,

Mike: I

Ally: I just thought about,

Mike: Just

Ally: talking to runners of all backgrounds

Mike: and just seeing what

Ally: and their experiences.

Mike: 'cause I,

Ally: I wasn't really blown by, by the fact that like,

Mike: think I did six people and

Ally: every single one of them had different

Mike: I had people that DN fd, I had people that did

Ally: really well, I people struggle.

Mike: people who

Ally: who ran their first marathon, first international marathon and being able to hear their stories and

Mike: you know, understanding

Ally: their own grit and their perseverance. Mm-hmm. Inspiring to me.

Mike: And, I feel

Ally: I feel like we are,

Mike: the

Ally: the running community as a whole

Mike: really

Ally: likes to put a voice

Mike: emphasis on people that

Ally: letter, like

Mike: Elites or

Ally: Sure.

Mike: elites or

Ally: Really fast.

Mike: and

Ally: and not those [01:11:00] individuals that are just like the

Mike: runner, the average

Ally: person likes to place up their,

Mike: and go

Ally: go out there

Mike: and

Ally: and pound the pavement are the trails and,

Mike: and

Ally: have fun.

Mike: know, I, I

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: a

Ally: Lot of the people that we

Mike: we see that are, you know, the, the big voices in the running community are the people who, I don't, I don't think that it's

Ally: necessarily

Mike: fun for them anymore.

I think it's just become more of a, a job and more of a have to, rather than a want to. being able to talk to people who want to do this

Ally: and

Mike: aren't

Ally: necessarily chasing

Mike: big

Ally: extravagant goals. So just like, you know, I.

Mike: go out there and have fun. I wanna push myself. it is something that I think my

Ally: goal is to inspire other runners or other people who are thinking into running, yeah,

Mike: you know, I wanna

Ally: run,

Mike: but I.

Ally: I can't run a

Mike: minute mile. I can barely run a 15 minute

Ally: right?

Mike: people are gonna judge me and they're not gonna think that I'm a runner and I'm just gonna feel like a failure. Um, and, and I think hearing the

Ally: The stories, the people that are in their shoes or have gone

Mike: they're going [01:12:00] through

Ally: through what they're going through in the beginning.

Mike: and

Ally: And that's one thing that I always to avoid social media profiles, is

Mike: I

Ally: I always go back to where I started from because those people that are at day zero, I know what

Mike: like

Ally: and it was a like, people like to think

Mike: that

Ally: runners like what They the

Mike: the get

Ally: go right.

Mike: to say that like, I hated it, but I knew I needed to stick it out in order to get to where I wanted to be. and so that's really what I wanted, do with this. And, and,

Ally: Um,

Mike: I, I'm

Ally: I'm really excited. I've got a couple

Mike: interviews I've

Ally: I've already done that I edit.

Mike: I

Ally: I just have to stop being lazy.

Mike: And

Ally: it's hard. It's editing is hard work

Mike: yeah. And

Ally: and I've got a couple people.

Mike: reach out to me saying that they wanted to do one as well.

Ally: Yeah. Yeah. That's so great. I relate to it a ton. Obviously, given what I have been doing the last couple years. I remember just thinking like when I would drive around, just like seeing people running that, I didn't know.

And I'm just like, I wonder why they run. I wonder if they're just like running their normal four mile loop that they do every day, or if they like just run for a few [01:13:00] minutes if they, you know, just like, are they training for something or do they just run around? I don't know. And so just kind of the curiosity of like, what are all these people doing?

And you can, you know, like when you're in New York and there's 50,000 people and you're looking around and you're like. How did all these people get here? Like what did that one person like have to do to get to New York or to get the six stars? I mean, it's just really interesting to hear people's stories 'cause we're all so different, even though we all share a love of something that's the same.

So yeah, I think it's really cool that you're starting to do that and yeah, I can't wait to follow along. Yeah. I appreciate that. Mm-hmm. And then, okay, one more thing before I ask you the end of podcast questions is

Mike: Yeah.

Ally: of the things that drew me to you was that you have in your profile the anti Matt Choi, who, if people do not know who that is, maybe you should just briefly mention who he is and then why you say that.

Mike: Yeah. So Matt

Ally: Yeah. So Matt

Mike: influencer. he's become rather big on the, in the running community over the last couple years for, his, [01:14:00] his racing. But I think what he's gotten most famous for over the last couple years are his antics while running these races. he, to like to record himself during every single workout and run that he does and race.

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: in trouble multiple times during many marathons for his brothers using e-bikes to record him while he's running a marathon with 20 to 50,000 people, which is very dangerous.

Ally: So dangerous.

Mike: and not acknowledging those, the issues that come up with that. I mean, he, he got

Ally: He got disqualified from, I think the Houston marathon for Houston. Um,

Mike: he's

Ally: he's been warned. I,

Mike: it was

Ally: it was Berlin.

Mike: got

Ally: I got worn in Chicago.

Mike: then New

Ally: Then New York City, uh, last year.

Mike: a lot of

Ally: A lot of people from

Mike: him. I think

Ally: Port Iowa,

Mike: also reported him, I

Ally: I don't remember, uh, about him

Mike: e-bikes

Ally: story,

Mike: that

Ally: that race and people pointed out that they got clipped by the E-bike.

You not only put the runners at.

Mike: it puts the, the spectators at risk as well. he, he

Ally: He has now banned from every [01:15:00] single New York Roadrunner. Yeah.

Mike: And

Ally: And so,

Mike: you know,

Ally: you know,

Mike: I say

Ally: anti,

Mike: I'm

Ally: I'm really talking about someone who

Mike: runs themselves. Like, I

Ally: Like, I feel like

Mike: the running influencers are running for other people so that they can get this, this, kind of gratitude and, and, what's the word?

Ally: notoriety,

Mike: Yeah,

Ally: notoriety,

Mike: from the

Ally: the running,

Mike: normal everyday

Ally: everyday

Mike: person who is not recording their runs, who is just going out there and, you know, maybe posting a picture, but like, they're just

Ally: going out there.

Mike: sees, like the quiet work that they

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: to get where they want to be. I always tell people I

Ally: I don't work for myself.

Mike: I

Ally: I used to like, I used to a go with me, but

Mike: I realized I never used it

Ally: because

Mike: I

Ally: I would be so focused

Mike: task at hand that I just, I, I didn't see a reason to record myself because I, I wanted

Ally: Wanted focus on.

Mike: more than just like getting good footage.

Ally: Right, right.

Mike: and I,

Ally: And I wanna be the,

Mike: the, like, I don't, I don't wanna like bash him, [01:16:00] but like, I

Ally: I found him, I found like several years

Mike: and

Ally: and I've always thought

Mike: really pompous about what

Ally: what

Mike: with

Ally: he does,

Mike: running. And, I

Ally: I be

Mike: kind of

Ally: kind of

Mike: person who is more of a, a down

Ally: down,

Mike: personable runner who

Ally: who can

really inspire those people that are

Mike: getting

Ally: getting started with their running or people who are,

Mike: you know, not

Ally: not those semis,

Mike: not

Ally: not those

Mike: that

Ally: that run.

Mike: super fast.

Ally: Obviously I've gotten faster over the years. Like,

Mike: like I

Ally: like I said, I still,

Mike: I was running 12, 13 minute miles

Ally: yeah.

Mike: and so. I,

Ally: I, I wanna be that.

Mike: runner who is, who is inspirational to just, just average everyday people

Ally: Yeah.

Mike: and, and

Ally: And someone who doesn't go out there to try make for themselves

Mike: and, really,

putting

Ally: putting on this persona that is

Mike: is

Ally: not

Mike: genuine.

Ally: I

really

Mike: don't

Ally: don't like

Mike: is it

Ally: disingenuous

Mike: ingenu? I don't, I think

Ally: dis I think disingenuous is is [01:17:00] the right word. Yeah. I really don't like this

Mike: people.

Ally: people. I can deeply

Mike: point

Ally: them out when I, when I hear it. When I see it.

Mike: And

Ally: And so when I,

Mike: when I

Ally: I post,

Mike: footage,

Ally: when I

Mike: content, like it's like

Ally: this,

Mike: Like I

Ally: I,

Mike: my heart

Ally: heartly

Mike: Like this is what I do and this is how I

Ally: how I talk, I,

Mike: I act. And I'm not

Ally: I'm trying.

Mike: up some sort of like mask of, of a character. And that's what I feel like a lot of these running influencers do and, and something that I feel like Matt Choi does. And

Ally: So I wanna make sure that that runners know that,

Mike: you know, whatever

Ally: advice or support or

Mike: or

Ally: or care that they need

Mike: from

Ally: me as a,

Mike: hate calling myself an influencer.

'cause the

Ally: the only thing that I wanna,

Mike: you to do is go out and

Ally: right. I know it's really funny and even as small as I am, I've been called the same. And why does it feel like it's a negative thing? 'cause it really shouldn't be.

Like, you're just influencing people to do what's good for them themselves, you know? But Yeah, yeah, I understand that.

and, and that's, that's really what I'm trying

Mike: And

Ally: so when I say

Mike: [01:18:00] match way, that's what I mean.

Ally: yeah, yeah, I respect that a lot. I stopped following him. I mean, I was following him for a while, almost just like, 'cause I couldn't look away kind of a deal.

but then I was like, okay, after New York last year, I was like, no, I'm not. I just am out. I'm out. No thanks.

Mike: I remember, I remember several years ago when I first met him, he was like running a marathon and he would just like yell into his GoPro like mile 1, 5

Ally: Oh my God.

Mike: bro, you need to calm down. Like,

Ally: man.

Mike: you take, it is not that

Ally: Yeah,

Mike: unless you're at the Olympics or unless you're Connor Manz, like you, like, relax.

Ally: Yeah. I don't know. Go for it, man. It's like, what? Whatever. But like just don't bring the E-bikes, like don't hurt people. Like that is where the line really needs to be drawn. It's like, do what you know?

Mike: the ego.

Ally: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, man. Uh, okay, well it's time for the two end of the podcast questions that I ask everybody, and I'm really excited about the first one now that you have named your playlist running music and shit.

That's great. [01:19:00] So now the first question is your favorite running mantra and or song. So give us some songs from the playlist and then do you have a mantra that you use? I

Mike: I

Ally: do.

Mike: actually, um, let me look at my phone ' cause I, there's a couple, I. So my running playlists are really, really weird. So I actually grew up listening to video game music.

Ally: Oh.

Mike: and

Ally: And so

Mike: I

Ally: I have several of those songs

Mike: just like really bombastic, like orchestral, like in your face,

Ally: that make feel like,

Mike: a video game.

Boss battle, that, that, that

Ally: really come at me.

Mike: you know, there, there's one called Find the Flame that I like. There's, a

Ally: song

Mike: the, what's it into the Spider verse.

Ally: Oh, mm,

Mike: which is, you know, where he jumps

Ally: off

Mike: That's a good one. run It,

Ally: which is

Mike: what's it, Sean Chi, the,

Ally: Marvel.

Mike: with SMU Lou,

Ally: Oh, I'm bad. I

Mike: what, I forget what it's called, that one. what else do I have here? I have a couple

Ally: Taylor Swift,

Mike: Vigilant Anti shit, obviously,

Ally: a good one. Yeah.

Mike: that one makes me wanna fight

Ally: [01:20:00] Mm-hmm.

Mike: Um, got a couple Chapel Road songs. know, the, what is it? Super graphic. Ultra Modern Girl is

Ally: Like,

Mike: a bop. So like,

Ally: oh, I don't know that

Mike: I

Ally: I remember running down.

Mike: Queensboro Bridge last year and I literally was just singing it out loud, like as it was coming on, and I

Ally: Yeah. I was like,

Mike: was dancing.

I was like, I don't care what anyone thinks right now. I'm just having a ball. and then

Ally: red.

Mike: Supernova is a

Ally: Oh yeah.

Mike: And what, what is it? Oh, ready For It by Taylor Swift. That,

Ally: Okay.

Mike: there. Mm.

Ally: That's a good one.

Mike: I just think about her, Aristo entrance for that.

Ally: And

Mike: feel invincible when I hear

Ally: that's so funny. Yeah. And you have, do you have kids, right Mike? No,

Mike: No,

Ally: no,

Mike: are actually in

Ally: actually in

Mike: of doing IVF.

Ally: Okay. I was thinking, I saw, do you have nieces and nephews or any Like I've seen. Okay. 'cause I've seen.

Mike: I have one, I have one niece. I I do have one nephew, but my, my niece is like

Ally: Okay.

Mike: this,

Ally: Ugh. Okay. So you're hoping to become a dad soon. I hope that that journey [01:21:00] isn't too long. I have not gone through that, but I've known many people who have, and so

Mike: yeah. It's been, uh, over I guess a year and a half

Ally: Jesus, Ugh. I'm sorry. Well, when you have a daughter, she will appreciate that her dad loves Taylor Swift because, you know, um,

Mike: my wife

Ally: Kobe says

Mike: that

Ally: that Bernie Taylor Swift the best,

Mike: She just doesn't know it yet,

Ally: right? Yeah. There you go. And then mantra, do you have any mantras that you like?

Mike: so

Ally: my favorite one actually,

Mike: something that I learned from a therapist of mine, that has always stuck with me, which is through

Ally: iComfort.

Mike: comes progress.

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Mike: that has helped me in every facet of my life. Not just running, but you know, whether it's work, whether it's personal life, you know, everything that has always gotten me through, through everything that, if I'm a

Ally: Run,

Mike: or in a

Ally: run a race and I'm in the locker. Like if I keep pushing,

Mike: then, you know, eventually

Ally: I'll, I'll

Mike: come

Ally: come out it.

Mike: no

Ally: Mm-hmm. How,

Mike: how

Ally: how much pain I'm in. How much

Mike: you know,[01:22:00]

Ally: exhaust?

Mike: I have.

If I keep pushing, this is what gets me through. Like the Brooklyn half last week, or the, the Bronx 10 Mile, or not Bronx 10 Mile. The um, broad Street is just like, yeah, it sucks

Ally: Right now

Mike: imagine the

Ally: the finish line.

Mike: Imagine being done, like you didn't come this far. Another one

Ally: one is,

Mike: you didn't come this far to only come

Ally: yeah, I like that one too. Yeah. I feel like Peloton. They say that a lot.

Mike: Yes.

Ally: is your, what is, is your Peloton leaderboard name? Mike runs marathons.

Mike: No,

Ally: that too long? Yeah. I was wondering what is your, okay.

Mike: uh, we are resilient.

Ally: Okay. we're gonna be friends because Yeah. Living in New York, you've, you've been to the studio, correct?

Mike: I went once,

Ally: I went once, yeah. Yeah.

Mike: I run a Peloton group that has about 90,000 members. And

Ally: Cool.

Mike: yeah, it's called the Positive Peloton Group. I got invited to join this group of, what they're called, team captains, which is like this new feature that's in the app for you to create, a team for your whatever group that you

Ally: Mm-hmm. And

Mike: when we, [01:23:00] when

Ally: when I went up

Mike: April, they, we went up for the whole day. We did this whole thing on a

Ally: a Everything

Mike: some market research and then we did a 60 minute

Ally: Ride,

Mike: and

Ally: that was my first time in the studio. And

Mike: was, it was so cool. Not

Ally: not only

Mike: doing

Ally: that, but

Mike: to meet like a

Ally: people,

Mike: that,

Ally: one people

Mike: that I actually

Ally: interview

Mike: for the

Ally: rundown,

Mike: someone

Ally: someone that I met

Mike: there, and he

Ally: He also ran Boston.

Mike: it was just like such a,

Ally: Totally

Mike: mixture of

Ally: extra world.

Mike: and so yeah, the, I

Ally: I wanna go back up and do it again.

Mike: I'm pretty sure, you know, they, they sell out very

Ally: I know. I'm so lucky. I've gotten to go to the old studio, so I went, I forget which street it was on 22nd. I don't know.

Mike: I

Ally: think it was 20,

Mike: Street, the

Ally: 23rd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was awesome. I used to travel there for work and so I would pick my hotel based on proximity to the studio

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Ally: then get in.

So I've gone a couple times there or a few times, but then I have not been to the new one. So that's, I would love to do that at some point. Um, who is your favorite [01:24:00] instructor or instructors?

Mike: I

Ally: I love Alec.

Mike: um, because he is, he's really motivational, but sometimes you also need someone to just kick your ass.

Ally: Yeah. To just scream at you.

Mike: yeah, and I, I like Susie Chan because she's an ultra marathoner.

Ally: She's the best.

Mike: And then Mariana, I really like because she's like, she's super chill.

Ally: Yeah, those are good ones. I love Susie Chan. Her book is incredible. If you haven't read it.

Mike: Yes,

Ally: loved her book. And I just think she's like, she's like, yeah, just keep running and that's how you do it. And you're like, okay, Susie, that's what I'll do. okay. And then next finish line or milestone we've talked about already that you are gonna be running Chicago and New York this fall.

and, and Philly. Okay. I missed that one. So will that be your first marathon outside of the majors?

Mike: No,

Ally: No, I did

Mike: fill

Ally: Philly in 2023. Okay.

Mike: it was

Ally: Oh, that's right.

Mike: struggle. It was a big struggle. I got it. Band issues at like mile 18. So I'm, I'm hoping now with my, the new, the strength that I have now in my legs, and the, the training that I've done that I won't have that issue this time.

Ally: Yeah. Philly's the only [01:25:00] marathon that I have, technically d nfd because I did it when they had the half and the full on the same day, and you could just like, peel off and finish the half. I was super sick 'cause I did Chicago that year, and I sh I had no business running even a half marathon that day.

I was such an idiot, but I was very, I was just like, no, I'm stubborn. I'm, I'm here in Philly, I'm going to do this. I was with all my, you know, my girlfriends that were all running and so that was sad. I, I have a little bit of like, maybe I should do that, some dime as like redemption, like go back and run, run it.

But, I also need to figure out how to get you to come to Indianapolis because if you're chasing that sub three, like we are so flat and fast. So flat and fast. I mean, I forget, I should know the stat off the top of my head. I'm on our board of directors, but it's like the number of, Boston qualifiers or Olympic trial qualifiers for like a non net downhill course.

Like that's, we have that,

Mike: Wow.

Ally: yeah, notification, notification, Jesus Christ, that notoriety. But we're a top 15 [01:26:00] marathon in the country and we were hoping to break top 10 at some point. but yeah, if you've never been here, it's, it's, it's a really well done race. Um, we've been doing it for over 15 years and obviously I'm a little biased 'cause I live here, but it's really flat, like, no, it's like Chicago, like no hills to speak of.

And it's, it's amazing. So

Mike: Send me the info.

Ally: yeah, it's like right before New York though, every year. So that's the struggle is it's been on the same weekend before this year. It is, what is it? The 8th of November. Yeah, November 8th this year and New York is the following. No, the weekend before. So, you know, if you just wanna casually just run another marathon the week after, which is something you can do.

I can tell. So, well, thank you so much for doing this. It was a blast. And I told you that 90 minutes would just like fly by and they did.

Mike: right. You were right.

Ally: It's just wild to me every time I'm like, okay, and it's been 90 minutes, I don't know how, but it has, and it's just been such a pleasure getting a chance to actually sit down and talk to you versus just seeing your content pop up in my feed.

[01:27:00] So thanks for taking the time to do this and I appreciate what you're doing for the running community too, and, and sharing stories of, of other everyday runners.

Mike: I appreciate that and,

Ally: I appreciate that. Mm-hmm.

Mike: much for thinking of me with this.

Ally: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you to everybody who listened and happy running.

Hey, thanks so much for listening today. If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, please share it with your friends. Give it a rating and review and share it with your friends. That's the best way for people to find this show, and I'm going off to spectate for the Run 3 1 7 West Clay, 3.17 mile race. So hopefully you saw saw me out there. I was cheering for you. All right. Happy running. Bye.