Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 152: Ryan Busby - Founding a Local Run Club

Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 152: Ryan Busby - Founding a Local Run Club

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Guest: Ryan Busby Strava⁠

Show Notes:

Ryan Busby⁠ helped found ⁠Zionsville Run Club ⁠nearly a year ago when his city didn't have one.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠Cure⁠ and ⁠Amazfit⁠, we talk about:

  • How he used to be anti-suburbs but now lives in the heart of the Indy suburbs (and loves it)

  • The founding of the Zionsville Run Club

  • The ⁠4th of July Big Boom 5K⁠ they’re hosting

  • Being a triathlete 

  • Running slow to run fast and how we both learned this strategy through our coaches

  • How he met his wife and they trained for a half marathon together 

  • Convincing people to come visit Indianapolis during the month of May

  • Hoping our kids love running 

  • How he ended up playing rugby in high school and college

  • Running his first marathon in 2024

  • Setting goals for his next 70.3 in Madison, WI in September

  • Mindset tricks from a book called The Inner Game of Tennis

  • How we’ve both been lucky enough to have shingles at a young age

Previous Guests Mentioned

Sponsor Details

Other Links

This is a ⁠⁠SandyBoy Productions ⁠⁠podcast.

Episode Transcript

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

Ryan Busby: the world can be crazy and on fire. Yes. And you can escape from that and have like a big win.

Ally Brettnacher: Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast for everyday runners. I'm your host, Allie Brett Knocker, and if you run, you're a runner and every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together

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Thank you Cure Hydration for supporting this podcast.

And now to this week's episode, I have Ryan Busby, who is one of the founders of the Zionsville Run Club, a new club that'll celebrate its first birthday this summer here in central Indiana. So I talked to Ryan about how the club came about, how it came together, and about their event that they will host this July 4th, the 4th of July, big boom, 5K.

We talk about his running journey, How he started by doing half marathons And how he met his wife and They trained for half marathon together. [00:02:00] He then became a triathlete, starting with sprint triathlons, working his way to a 70.3 Iron Man in Muncie.

He is now starting to train for another 70.3 in Madison, Wisconsin this September. so there's a little triathlon talk during this running podcast. And he also played collegiate rugby, which is interesting. So I really loved getting a chance to get to know Ryan, who certainly now is a staple of our running community here in Central Indiana.

So I know you're really gonna enjoy this episode with Ryan Busby.

Good morning.

Ryan Busby: Good morning. How are you?

Ally Brettnacher: how are you? I'm delightful. I'm so proud of you for running today.

Ryan Busby: I didn't want to, I didn't want to. I actually, um, I hit my alarm. the snooze, probably three times too many and didn't realize it. And so like, I looked at my alarm, it was going off and it was, I had to be there in six minutes.

Oh. So I immediately like, rolled outta bed, quickly, chatted my friends. I was like, I'm gonna be a minute late. Jumped in the van as I'm like throwing my shoes on.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh.

Ryan Busby: I'm glad I wasn't alone. 'cause there was like a trail of minivans. We all laughed. It's like everybody draws a minivan [00:03:00] on the Tuesday morning crew.

Ally Brettnacher: you know, consider changing the name of the club to the, like the minivan Run

Ryan Busby: The Minivan Run club. Yeah. It's, it's all the, the parents that are trying to run before their kids wake up, they do the five 15. it was not fun this morning. It was cold, it was windy, it was snowing, but we had each other, so it was good.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. You had quite the crew turnout.

Ryan Busby: I think we had seven people.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so great. Yeah. There you go. Lucky number seven on St. Patrick's Day. Exactly. How amazing is that? Exactly. Yeah. That's that's really awesome. I will, I I'm gonna say it out loud on this podcast. I'm gonna come to that run.

Ryan Busby: I'm gonna hold you. It's, it's, I think it's in writing. It's, it's in

Ally Brettnacher: whatever this is. Yeah. Whatever this is. It's

Ryan Busby: is, it's legal. Yep. It's in the transcript. Yep. I'll hold you to it. Yeah. And

Ally Brettnacher: And your neighbor, Ashley Schwab is a great friend of mine and one of my running partners and she has to run in the mornings.

Yeah, same thing. She has young kids. She's gotta get it done before her husband leaves for work. And so she's, I've, we've talked about it. We just. Haven't been about it. Yeah. Mostly 'cause of the winter. That's my excuse anyway. Which really isn't an excuse.

Ryan Busby: No. You could pick her up on the way out.

Ally Brettnacher: Right.

Totally. It'd be perfect. It'd be perfect. I used to run on the Zionsville Rail [00:04:00] Trail Yeah. A lot with her when we would be training for And it's since then gotten a lot better. so much more trail.

Ryan Busby: It's amazing. It's amazing. I mean, I think from, because we started the v Terra neighborhood, it's like right at the, right at the

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know names of neighborhoods at all. Some people are really good at

Ryan Busby: I know. I know. Like three and one of is vra, uh, you start like right off, whatever that is, Zionsville Road and you could take it like past Whitestown and it ends in a field and I think they plan on expanding it. Yeah. Um, but I wanna say it's like 12 completed miles at this point.

Ally Brettnacher: It's so nice. It's not bad. Yeah. It's not

Ryan Busby: at all.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, and now. I think technically, well, you could run from the rail trail to the Monan because now they have that sidewalk on a hundred and 16th street, and then you could just get over to Main Street and you could just go all the way over there.

Yeah. Which would take forever. But if you're really trying to get some miles in Yeah. It's not a, a really

Ryan Busby: long run. Yeah. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: really, really long run.

Ryan Busby: run. It'd be amazing.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So how long have you been in Zionsville?

Ryan Busby: Just three years. Okay. I'm trying to think now. It's been a little over three years now.

Ally Brettnacher: Where were you before? Um,

Ryan Busby: Where [00:05:00] were you before? Um, we were close to downtown.

We were like in the Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood.

Ally Brettnacher: so nice. It's

Ryan Busby: that's so nice. It's so nice. We loved it. We were like the never suburb crowd. We were like, we're never gonna leave 4 65. And we had kids and. We were like, we're not going out on Tuesdays anymore.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Right. We're not, we don't need to be next to the cool part of town.

Yeah.

Ryan Busby: It's like every time I'd go out, it's like everybody kept getting younger. It's like, what is happening? Yeah. And we were pushing strollers and, it was, it just made more sense to, to head out. And so once we moved to Zionsville, it's like my eyes were open and like

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. The

Ryan Busby: sun came shining in.

I

Ally Brettnacher: I was like,

Ryan Busby: I'm, I'm a suburbs guy now. Like I'm, I'm all in, you know, I immediately, the guy that sold me the house, he was like, do you wanna buy the riding mower too? I was like, I would absolutely love the riding mower. So it was within a week, you know, where we're full suburb and, having barbecues with the neighbors and hanging out.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. It was amazing. How long were you an anti minivan person as well? I feel like that kind of goes hand in hand,

Ryan Busby: My wife was Okay. I was very pro minivan. I was, I was, I was all about the

Ally Brettnacher: mini. So, who drive do [00:06:00] you drive the van?

Ryan Busby: I sometimes I have a truck, but I prefer the minivan. Okay. Um, so, but, but we, we, we were looking at everything.

We were looking at like a lander. We're looking at like, you know, kind of the crossovers. We had to have this come to Jesus moment. We're like, why are we getting a van? We're like, for convenience to get the third kid in there we're like, let's just like go all in on function. Yeah. And man, that Honda Odyssey, Ooh,

Ally Brettnacher: Ooh, I've heard good things. Incredible. We're not a van family. and we only have two kids and we're only gonna have two kids, which I think makes a difference. Yes. Um, yep. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: It's like once you cross that third kid mark, it's like you have a choice to make. Yeah. You know, the road diverges in a yellow woods and you have to pick, are you gonna be a van family or

Ally Brettnacher: you gonna be inconvenienced by what you consider like a cool car? Or are you gonna just Yeah. Embrace the suburban minivan life. Mm-hmm. So okay. We've talked about the Zionsville Run Club. I wanna hear the story about how that all came together. Yeah, because it's pretty new. What do you I mean, less than a year old.

Ryan Busby: Less than a year old. It'll officially [00:07:00] be one in June, so we'll be, wrapping up our freshman year here soon. Yeah, it, it's kind of a fun story just because it was, it was like we call it like a coalition of runners, you know?

It's like there were a million little run groups that were going on everywhere. And so when we moved to Zionsville, I was like, well, I wanna meet some people. I had been like doing like a little triathlon training group downtown Indie, the Phoenix Group for a while, and I was like, well, what do we have up here?

I was like, clearly, like everybody has a run club. they're everywhere. Yeah. And there was nothing. And I was like, I can't find a run club. There's nobody to meet up with, but there was this zionsville runners Facebook group. Mm-hmm. And there it was, there, there's wasn't anybody like, posting in it.

And so I was like, Hey, does anybody run here? And there was one guy, that uh,

Ally Brettnacher: mike.

Was it Mike?

Ryan Busby: It was Evan. Evan Williamson. he's got the, Chick-fil-A on Michigan. Oh. Which about half my salary goes to.

Ally Brettnacher: That's cool. Yeah. We

Ryan Busby: that Chick-fil-A. And he was like, I'll run with you. I was like, that's great.

It's like what time? It

Ally Brettnacher: Like

Ryan Busby: Five 30 on Tuesdays. So we started running [00:08:00] and it was just him and I for a couple weeks. And then we, we got a couple more people on the morning run and all the while there were like afternoon runs. there were some people like all over Yeah, kinda meeting up. but again, for the, the parents five 30 after work just didn't work for

Ally Brettnacher: Right.

There's all that. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: So then we, we, we had the monumental and a few of us were there and we see the Carmel Run Club tent and they're all like barbecuing and they're having the time of their lives and it's truly like, it looks like a dream, right? Like they have such a good time and the Fisher's Club, they're having the best time of their lives.

all of the city clubs are like out with their tents. And the people that we knew that we'd been running together were without a home. And we're like meandering around and we're like, we're like, where do we go? And that's, we're like, we need a tent. We need to make this official, we need to get everybody together.

So we posted on Facebook, we're like, Hey, should we do this? we thought about it a little bit. And then Mike, yeah, so

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So Mike Cole. Yep.

Ryan Busby: Mike Cole, who has the, Greeks in Zionsville? I think he recently sold that actually.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, did he? He's

Ryan Busby: a new one in [00:09:00] Brownsburg.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. I saw a video of him on the internet that I, I didn't watch, but that's, I bet that was the announcement

Ryan Busby: he's documenting on YouTube.

So if you wanna follow along, it's on YouTube.

Ally Brettnacher: He also holds the Guinness Book of World Records World Record for the fastest marathon run while holding a pizza.

Incredible. I can't remember what episode he is of this podcast, but people should go listen to it.

Ryan Busby: It's incredible.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And one more tangent about Mike Cole. I just ran a race in Florida in Fort Myers. Yeah. Guess who won that race? Mike. Mike Cole.

Ryan Busby: he there?

Ally Brettnacher: I I, I could not believe it. I was mid race and I look over and there, it was a looped course so you could see everybody.

Mm-hmm. And it's, it's Mike Cole and I could not believe it. I yelled. I was like, is that Mike Cole? And he like, did a fist pump and he went on to win the race. Yeah. Anyway, shout out to Mike. He's, he is amazing.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. Yeah. He's amazing. Great runner, great guy. I mean, he's like, when you think of a, a pillar in

Ally Brettnacher: the mm-hmm.

Community. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mike. Yeah. Great guy. Yeah. In fact, during his episode, I was like, are you gonna start the club, Mike? Like, why is there no zionsville run club? Yeah. So now full circle.

Ryan Busby: So yeah. So he hit me up and he was like, listen, [00:10:00] this is something that we've always wanted to do. He's like, it takes work. we've just never had anybody. It's gonna lead it.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: was like, my hands are full. He's like, but I'll support.

And I was like, okay. It was great. And he's like, let's, let's have a kickoff and get some people together, after the holidays. 'cause this is like December. Yeah. Everybody's busy with Christmas and stuff. So January rolls around, we hit up the Facebook group, we're like, Hey, runners of Zionsville.

do we want this? And everybody's like, yes, let's do it. I was like, okay, great. Mike opened up Greeks for a night and we all got in the party room. We ran in for like a few miles, came back and he like, made everybody free pizza. And we kind of had this little meeting. We're like, do we want to do it?

what should we do? And it kind of came down to should we franchise off of another group? Should we try and expand off of caramel runners or indie runners or, you know, what does a vision look like? We're all like, let's just do our own thing so we can control it.

And we made the decision that night, to get the ball rolling so We're a 5 0 1 C3 we license under the Roadrunners of America. Okay. Okay. RRCA. and it took a lot of work and [00:11:00] it was, we had a, a number of volunteers that came in, like Mike Steele.

he had experience with, setting up nonprofits in the

Ally Brettnacher: Right. That's a whole thing, because you have to have a board of directors. You have to Yeah. A lot of stuff.

Ryan Busby: And so he like spearheaded that. Okay. Um, Ricky, she came in and she was like, I'm a CPA. Like, can I help? I was like, absolutely.

You

Ally Brettnacher: I I really like Ricky.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. She's, she's the best. So without the help of everyone, there's no way it would've happened, which is just a miracle to watch. And, you know, it's, it's so fun to see the community come together and all the while like we're running, you know, it's like we're just getting out and logging some miles and having fun.

but we bought our tent. We got to some races. It was so fun. Like seeing like all of that happen. And we were talking about HubSpot earlier, so I have a free license through HubSpot and I spun up the website, you know,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I was gonna ask about that. 'cause the technology piece of it, like the website and all that stuff is tough Yes.

For people who aren't in tech.

Ryan Busby: Yes. but I set it up and the night that we set it up and I set up a little form, I didn't advertise or anything like that, the next day we had three people sign up purely [00:12:00] just from like Googling Zionsville Run club. Wow. Finding our website, like filling out the form. I was like, this is amazing.

I had no idea. And it was like, and so it was untapped demand. Yeah. And people that we had never spoken to, just looking for a local run club. Right.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, absolutely. And well also, I mean, Carmel Run club's great. But they're huge now. Right? They are huge. I mean, it's a huge club.

Yeah. So I, I find, being a part of something from the beginning, I'm sure that's been so fun.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. It's so nice to have the Carmel Club. Carmel. Fishers, Indie, having them nearby to look up to and see what they're doing. Mm-hmm. 'cause they do it so well. They set such a good bar of what a run club can and

Ally Brettnacher: should use.

Mm-hmm. And run 3 1 7. Yes. Or not, not run. 3 1 7 Sorry. Three run seven.

Ryan Busby: Yes. Yeah, yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: run 3 1 7, the race series, and then three run seven their club I mean, it's huge. I can't believe it. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. It's, it's very nice to see like, again, what, what good looks like in having that in the community.

Ally Brettnacher: right.

Yeah, absolutely.

Ryan Busby: a Absolutely, it's a nice benefit of being on the north side of Indy.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. And so, okay. How many members now,

Ryan Busby: We [00:13:00] have, 55 or 60 paid members on the club, which is amazing. We've got like 600 people on the Facebook group.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I think I'm on the Facebook group for sure.

Yeah. 'cause I'm West Carmel, so I am Right on the border. Yeah. And so I kind of, I can go both ways.

Ryan Busby: You can go both ways. Come join a run. Yeah, it'd

Ally Brettnacher: I, I know I will. I really will. I went to, I bought a tank top. I have a Zionsville Run Club Tank top.

Ryan Busby: Great. They're great tank tops. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: 'cause you and I, I can't remember if that was the first time we met in person at the, uh, hit the bricks 5K.

Yes. Yep. Yeah,

Ryan Busby: so.

Ally Brettnacher: so. Yeah, because I remember, I think that's when I found out Ricky was also running the Marine Corps marathon. Yeah. Last year in 2025. Yeah. So, cause I don't know her super well, but that was nice then to be like, oh good, there's gonna be Yeah. Somebody else I know is gonna be out there.

Yeah. yeah. That, that race was fun. So fun. That's by the city of Zionsville, right? Yeah. They put that on or, um,

Ryan Busby: the Optimist Club.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay. What, what is that?

Ryan Busby: Mm. You're asking the wrong person. Set

Ally Brettnacher: just cut that out. We don't know.

Ryan Busby: Well, so I know Ian, he's on our board. and he, he works a little bit at Runner's Forum, [00:14:00] but he's also a member of the Optimist Club and he puts on the race.

Okay. and I think, is it

Ally Brettnacher: is it like optimistic? Yes. Optimist, not like Optimist Prime, right. Optimist. Like, which is Yeah. Which I, that's what I assume, but then you're like, what is it?

Ryan Busby: And actually my in-laws are a part of the club. We should know more about what they do. My understanding is they, they're very youth focused and help with helping with like youth opportunities.

Okay. In Hyattsville. Yeah. Okay. but it's a, it was a great race. I mean, they had a great turnout. It was a beautiful day. Good course.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It was fun. I got to push with Ainsley's Angels, which is, the only five KI should say I've done with them, which was really fun.

that race was cool. And now, so Zionsville Run Club, you have your own

Ryan Busby: We, we will, yes. We're gonna have the 4th of July, red, white, and boom. Yeah. Downtown Zionsville

Ally Brettnacher: Has that always existed and now it's just your, it's your race or is that, okay? So

Ryan Busby: it was Mike Cole's race. That's right. And it took a hiatus, I think it was after COVID.

So it's like, he had been running that for years and then COVID happened, , I don't know the last time it was run, but that was partially [00:15:00] why he was like, I want the club together. He is like, so then I can hand off this race.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Then

Ryan Busby: club can put it on. Yeah. And we could just keep it going for

Ally Brettnacher: years. Yep. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: registration's open. Awesome. July 4th. downtown Zionsville starts and ends on the bricks. we've, it'll be 8:00 AM There's a lot going on in Zionsville that day. There's the farmer's market, so you could finish up, go to the farmer's market. we're very excited.

Ally Brettnacher: That's really exciting. I

Ryan Busby: trying to convince Mike Steele, so His kids are involved with like the winter percussion at Zionsville. Oh. I'm like, please bring a drum line. Yeah. Like at the start and finish. we need a full drum line. We need

Ally Brettnacher: oh, you have

Ryan Busby: I know. So

Ally Brettnacher: fun.

Especially for 4th of July race especially. The fanfare would be perfect. I know. And then there's the Zionsville half marathon. Yes. Which Mike started, but he sold. Yes. Is that a tuxedo Brothers race now? I forget. I think it's okay. I think it's, yeah. also a great race. I've only done it once, but I spectated a couple times.

Yeah. I need to do that one again. Tuxedo

Ryan Busby: brothers, they have a lot of good

Ally Brettnacher: So many, they

Ryan Busby: they have so many good races. Their triathlon series is really fun. I mean, they have a lot of good sprints starting essentially from May to [00:16:00] September. Yeah. So they keep us, they keep us

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So are you still a triathlete?

Yes. Okay. Yeah. So were you a triathlete first? Before you were truly a, well, I mean, guess you're a runner if you're running, but

Ryan Busby: I know, so may, like for years, for like a decade, me as a runner was like, I would train for the Indie Mini and every training run I would run like as hard as possible and I'd run a mile really hard that I'd run two miles really hard.

And then, I would just do that to like exhaustion. Then I'd run the mini and I'd have shin splints and my knees would hurt, and my ankles would hurt and be like, okay, I'm in shape. I'm gonna try and keep running. And then I wouldn't run for like six more months. So it was like, I just repeated that cycle for years.

And then I had, you know, I had kids and like every person, every man that has kids, you're trying to play in your life. They think I'm gonna do triathlons now, which my wife is like, you know, we're trying to get our lives together. She's like, really? Now? great. Yeah, great, great timing.

So I was like, let's just do a sprint and. I did the Eagle Creek [00:17:00] Sprint.

Ally Brettnacher: That's the only one I, well, I've done two triathlons. That's the only one I've done in Indiana. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Great, great race.

Ally Brettnacher: great starting point too, because it's very approachable.

What are, what are the distances?

Ryan Busby: 500 meter swim 10.

Which

Ally Brettnacher: burn for me.

Ryan Busby: Oh, I had a panic attack. I, like, I, I had been swimming in a pool 'cause I didn't know how to swim. Well. Yeah, I could like doggy paddle. And the first thing, as soon as I got in the water, it was like I couldn't breathe 'cause it was cold. I'm getting splashed

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: and I, like, I invited my family.

So my parents are there, like my wife's there and I am 20 yards into the water and I'm just flailing and I just, I look like a drowning fish. And I was like, okay, I'll, I'll, I'll breast stroke. And even then, like I couldn't catch my breast. So I flip over on my back and I'm back stroking. This kayaker comes over who's one of the

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. And

Ryan Busby: like, sir, are you okay?

And I can't talk 'cause like my breathing's not right. I'm like, fine.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, yeah. She's

Ryan Busby: like, well you're going off course. And I look and I'm way off in the

Ally Brettnacher: Oh

Ryan Busby: of Eagle Creek reservoir. I lived, I made it [00:18:00] out. Yeah. I was the second to last person out of the

Ally Brettnacher: the water. That's the same. I had very similar Yeah. Experience. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: So I took some swimming lessons after that, but after that I was fine. but then 10 mile, bike and then a 5K.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: but that was my intro into it. after that I was like, you know, maybe I could do a, half iron man, maybe a 70.3. It's like, it was just so fun. and. I reached out to, well, it was funny, I ran to him.

I'd never met the guy before. but Doug Robinson with Phoenix Training.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Ryan Busby: Met him at a Lowe's parking lot line to get some, like landscaping stuff. He had triathlon socks on.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, there you go.

Ryan Busby: And I was like, Hey, like, do you know, like anything about triathlons? It's like, I need to get better at swimming.

And he was like, yeah, actually. He's like, we're doing a long run tomorrow. Like, come on out. And so I started training with him.

Ally Brettnacher: that's so funny. You met at Lowe's.

It

Ryan Busby: so, so random. Yeah, so random. Yeah. he was the first one that I was like, when I started training with him, he was like, how, what percentage of your runs are hard?

I was like, a hundred percent. And he's like, how many are easy? I was like, none. [00:19:00] And he is like, how many are medium of like, none. He's like, okay. He is like, well, we need to do like 90% easy. And to me there's just, I thought he was going easy on me. He thinks I can't do it. And it, it,

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, right. Just

Ryan Busby: I'm like, I'm not in shape.

He thinks I can't train hard. And like it took a long time for him to actually convince me. It's like, no, this is how you should be training. Like this is like

Ally Brettnacher: No, like this is what everyone,

Ryan Busby: this is what everyone's doing. Yeah. And it like blew my mind because running was never fun. Like, I didn't like running.

and I got injured and it hurt me. I just thought because I wasn't in shape enough, because I played rugby in high school, in college, like it was supposed to hurt, you know? It's like every

Ally Brettnacher: rugby in college. Yeah. That's interesting. Okay.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. And I, I got, one too many concussions and finally had to stop.

So yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. You and Lance Schwab actually, did

Ryan Busby: play rugby? No, he

Ally Brettnacher: But he is had a million concussions that, that man. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. My, my marbles got rocked a few too many times and now, like anytime, I can't think of a word. It's like I know the game that erased half my vocabulary. It's like I know when that was gone.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: But it was honestly that turning point. It's [00:20:00] getting done with a workout and feeling good and feeling like, oh, I could have gone longer, but like feeling myself getting stronger week by week. That it was like a turning point. It's like, oh, this is fun and this is sustainable and this is great.

And I felt like it was like the, you know, the light came

Ally Brettnacher: right?

Yes.

Ryan Busby: And I started evangelizing to everybody. It's like, you could be a runner and you could be a runner. It's like you're just running too fast. Like we're not running slow enough. everybody's slow down and I started getting my friends out and they're like, we're not running fast enough.

I was like, that's the point.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Ryan Busby: so from there it's it's like, well, I'm gonna do a marathon. Like I started doing races, I never thought I could and I wasn't getting injured and it was enjoyable.

Ally Brettnacher: So for the Phoenix Club, is that like similar to a run club where it's structured where it's like a paid membership type of thing?

Or was it just a group and then you pay a coach?

Ryan Busby: Little bit of both. So they have like the group, it was like a club you paid. I forget what it was, 25 bucks a month or something. And they had like structured workouts and it was either, you know, running, [00:21:00] biking or swimming or, you know, we'd do like a brick workout and they would travel to races together and they still do.

And it's like a really good community. But then they also had like personal coaching, which I did that for a while with, with Doug. So I was like, I wanna do a 70.3. And so he, he helped me do that. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: It's so funny you talk about running each run as fast as you can because I trained that same way forever.

Yeah. Thinking, thinking I just had my chart with the number of miles I was supposed to run each day. Yeah. But I did, never knew that I was supposed to, I I just thought, oh, I have three miles today. I'm gonna go out and run three miles as fast as I can.

Ryan Busby: Yes.

Ally Brettnacher: And it's not at all what you're supposed to do.

Ryan Busby: I know.

Ally Brettnacher: It's wild.

Ryan Busby: they tell us this growing

Ally Brettnacher: don't, I really could have used that information a lot sooner because I also, I had a stress fracture in college from running too much. I, I've been lucky not to have a ton of other injuries, but I just was never really progressing in the sport at all.

Like, it was just kind of always the same, which now makes a lot of sense, but Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: And it's not fun. Right. It's miserable. Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: you know, [00:22:00] it's, it's fun when you, like, you do 90% of your workouts easy, and then you go to a race and you actually can run fast. Yeah. And it's like the first time you bring it fast in a while and you feel like you're flying like all of a sudden, like everything's fun.

Yes, yes. But nobody told me that as a kid.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. No.

Ryan Busby: You know? Mm-hmm. Maybe they didn't know, I don't know.

Ally Brettnacher: That's, I, yeah. When did that start to be how you trained? I have no idea. Yeah. But,

Ryan Busby: well, and I also thought that. Your progress was like directly correlated to the effort. It's like, so you could only be getting better, like no pain, no gain.

That made sense. so I had no, I, I'd never heard of zone two and I thought,

Ally Brettnacher: on. Me either.

Ryan Busby: I thought they just got better the higher they got. It's like zone five. Great. Now you're working out,

Ally Brettnacher: right? Yes. Now you're sweaty.

I mean, I, yeah. I would just kill myself every run just to Yeah. To get better. Right. You're like, well, how am I supposed to run faster if I'm not running faster?

Ryan Busby: Yeah. Well, when I started working with Doug, my five Gotta say, I'm not a fantastic runner, I just like to run. my fastest 5K was like 24 minutes. Okay. And I was like, [00:23:00] I just can't break that. And he was like, okay, we're gonna slow down. And I was like, the whole winter I ran nothing, but it was 11, 12 minute miles.

Yeah. And it was killing me. I felt like, I mean, I could walk that space,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Space. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: And he, he just kept it at it. Kept it at it. And then in March it was like, you know, after four months of doing that, and he's like, all right. He's like, just, let's just go test out a 5K. I hadn't ran faster than an 11 minute mile, and I did 21 minutes.

It was like shaved off, three minutes of a 5K time. Crazy. Purely by just doing slow runs. And that's when I finally was like a believer. I was like, okay, I can get faster. Like just by running slow and, 'cause I still thought he was just babying me. I thought it was like, oh,

Ally Brettnacher: funny. I didn't think about that aspect of it. Right. He should have been like, no, this, I guess he probably tried to explain, but it just didn't compute. You're like, I don't understand how that's possible.

Yeah. I ended up working with my running coach kind of by happenstance. I was introduced to her through my business athlete bouquets, and she was like, well, hey, in exchange for doing a giveaway for my clients, would you like to do a [00:24:00] month of coaching? And I'm just like, I don't need a coach. I've run plenty of half marathons.

Like I've run marathons. I know what I'm doing. Yeah. But then she started explaining what it was, not really giving me the hard sell, but just explaining what coaching meant and the types. And I thought, oh, maybe I should

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: work with somebody who actually knows what they're doing.

Mm-hmm. And maybe I'll learn something. And I sure did. And I still work with her, so. Yes. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: I always thought, and I, like a lot of my friends rolled their eyes were like, we're with a coach. Like, I thought it was for people that were like serious

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Same. Like the pros have coaches,

Ryan Busby: It's like a pro has coach and they're like, what are you trying to prove? what are you doing? I was like, I, I don't know. Honestly. It's like I, I don't have a good answer for that. I could make the excuse 'cause it was a triathlon.

I was like, well, I need help swimming. Right. It's like, but deep down I was like, I do wanna get better. It's like, I really don't know how to do this, you know? Well, and it was truly like, so much of it was Understanding like how to structure not just like one workout, but a week's worth

Ally Brettnacher: workouts. Mm-hmm. Like

Ryan Busby: whole training schedule.

It's like what should that flow look like? Like what should a [00:25:00] recovery week look like? how to know like when an injury might be sneaking up. Mm-hmm. Like all of that. Yeah. And then honestly, one of the things that I learned the most was I stuck with him through the off season. It was like how to handle after a race.

Like how do you do post-season recovery? How do you do an off season? Mm-hmm. Because that's when I always quit. You know? It's like, oh, I'll,

Ally Brettnacher: Start back up again in six months when I need to start training again. Yeah, yeah, Well, and I needed somebody to tell me, well, not only just to run slower but to rest. Yeah. Because that's another thing you just think, okay, the more I run, yeah. The better. I'll, you know, the faster and the better I'll get, the more endurance I'll have.

But it's, you know, I needed somebody to say, slow down. Yeah. Rest. Mm-hmm. you need to have rest days. Like that is important. And after a race you need to rest. Mm-hmm. That's important. It's like, oh, okay. I guess I could try to do that. But it was hard. I mean, it was really hard. I remember the first easy run I ever went on and I thought, this is this.

I don't know if I can do this. This is like, to your point, yeah. You're like, I am running. I could walk. Yeah, this is, but then now I love my easy run days. ' cause you're just, [00:26:00] I, whatever. Yeah, it's great. And you could run with who you know, for the most part, I mean, I guess easy paces are all relative, but it just makes it, I think, easier for people who have different speeds.

You know, you can kind of come together on. Easy pace. Mm-hmm. That's, you know, hopefully easy enough for everybody to enjoy.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. There was a, uh, one of our, so we do Farmer's market runs with the club on Saturdays, all through the summer. And they're on our website if you wanna check it out. But they're usually like, some of our more popular runs, we'll have like between like.

25, 40 people show up and we'll do like three miles, then come back and you can get a breakfast burrito from the

Ally Brettnacher: pharmacy.

Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah, that's actually really great. It's really great. well, last year I was running and I was like, yo, like run in the front group and it was just me and this other like high schooler who's like setting the pace and he just kept running faster and faster and faster. And like I looked down at my like, watch and we're like doing like 6 45.

I was like, okay. You know, like for me that's, that's peppy. That's, that's pretty fast. And I'm trying to act cool, like keeping a conversation going with him, like trying to control my breathing as [00:27:00] much as possible and I'm like getting gassed. Yeah. And we like finish up. And he was like, oh yeah. He's like, that was awesome.

He's like, you wanna get a couple more miles in? I was like, oh no. Like I'm, I'm really good. Yeah. And he's like, well, nice meeting you all this. And he's followed me as Strava. And later I see he has the nerve to log that as an easy run. He was like, great. Like conversational, easy run. Like, and then he logged another workout afterwards.

It was like

Ally Brettnacher: real workout. It was a real quote unquote. Right. You know?

Ryan Busby: Yeah. I was like, man, he was so kind to me. He was so nice not to throw that in my face, on the run, but it's like that turd an easy workout. Okay. I was like limping on my way home. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: I know. It is all relative. And it's funny people, like you said, you know, everybody can run.

If you say you hate running, it's probably because you train the wrong way. Like we were talking about.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. You're running too fast. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So just slow down and you're not the slowest runner. You're not the fastest runner. Mm-hmm. You know, it's all relative and who cares also. Yeah. Some people, but, you know, I like, I've kind

Ryan Busby: of miss the days. [00:28:00] I honestly forget what it was like before. watches and Strava. Totally. And like logging

Ally Brettnacher: workouts or everybody sees every workout. You do

Ryan Busby: every workout. Yeah. And like I still get the self-conscious, like if I run like a slow run, I want to label it, it's like slow run, super

Ally Brettnacher: like the super easy, great, relaxing, cool down day or

Ryan Busby: Yeah, exactly. It's like, oh, this was like recovery and like super conversational and like didn't break a sweat.

Ally Brettnacher: Right.

Ryan Busby: You know? And it's like, that's silly. Like

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Nobody. Yeah. Nobody cares. Nobody's really caring. I mean really, I

Ryan Busby: I don't look at other people's arounds and I'm not like

Ally Brettnacher: whoa, what was Ally doing today, man?

Just really running slow. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: It's a bizarre thing.

Ally Brettnacher: It is a really bizarre thing. Yeah. I used to do the same thing where I'd be like, oh I would run with my dog. Mm-hmm. And he would stop, it was the dug mile, I call it. 'cause the first mile he'd have to like stop and go to the bathroom. And so it would always drive me nuts 'cause I'm like, you're ruining my speeds.

Yeah. I don't wanna stop. So I stop my watch and forget to start it again or whatever. But it's just funny going through that now. I'm like, I don't even stop my watch. Yeah. 'cause I just [00:29:00] don't care. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: That's very zen.

Ally Brettnacher: My coach might ask What, what happened? Did you like trip over a rock or mm-hmm.

What's going on? But you know, usually not even that. So.

Ryan Busby: Who's your coach?

Ally Brettnacher: Rachel Senders is her name. Okay. Yeah, she's in Carmel as well.

Ryan Busby: Nice. How long have you been working with Rachel?

Ally Brettnacher: great question. I wonder. It's probably, it's been four years at least, I would say. Yeah. So it's been great.

Ryan Busby: That's awesome.

Ally Brettnacher: I love the accountability. I love the community that she's built. Yeah. Too, right? I mean, I think coaches now are kind of like community builders. Yes. Really. I mean, they're building a team of people who are, like-minded, enjoy the sport, and then you go to a race and you all get together.

It's kind of like another kind of a club, really. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm not part of a running club officially.

Ryan Busby: Mm-hmm. It's, it's so fun. It's so fun to like be training with people mm-hmm. And have somebody who's encouraging you and believing in you, and then you have that build up to a race.

Mm-hmm. I, my life, it's like, obviously like I work a full-time job, I have a family. It's like we do all these things, but races create such a good [00:30:00] pattern in your

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Right. Little milestones. Yes.

Ryan Busby: the world can be crazy and on fire. Yes. And you can escape from that and have like a big win.

Yeah. And see your people and it's just, it's so insulated. It's great.

Ally Brettnacher: It is. And it's a good escape, really, because you're right. Who cares about stuff when like the world's on fire. You're like, oh, well I just, you know, prd my half mirror or whatever. You're like, well that seems so dumb, but you gotta enjoy life.

Yes. So you gotta do something to, to get away from it all.

Ryan Busby: We talk about that all the time. Like it's with everything going on. It can be like overwhelming, especially at work. we talk about it at work

Ally Brettnacher: all the time, like

Ryan Busby: my friends just death spiraling. But it's almost like walking into a new world.

'cause nobody's on their phone when they're running. We all go out.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I'm just kidding. I'm just

Ryan Busby: True. Sometimes. and it's like, we don't even think to bring it up. It's like we're just, it's like the happiest conversations and it's nobody's diving in, nobody's arguing. it's truly like an escape from all of that.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: our own little patch of utopia

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: on, you know, the [00:31:00] Zionsville rail trail and like all these races.

And so if you want that escape, do your listeners join your local club or go out for a run, find some pint, some people to run with. 'cause it's, it's such a nice break.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And if they don't have a club, reach out to Ryan. He'll tell you how to start it.

Ryan Busby: exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I'll tell you everything to do. Right. And, and all the million things that you do wrong.

Ally Brettnacher: Right? Oh yeah. You'll have that. Yeah. Okay. So back to the 70.3.

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: You did that in Muncie, is that right? I

Ryan Busby: I did the Muncie one back in, uh, it was 2023. Okay. Yeah, it was so fun.

Ally Brettnacher: what year would've been you, did your, like first sprint try where you kind of started?

We did 2021. Okay. Yeah. All right. So COVID kind of got you into all this a little bit. Yeah. But you were a college athlete too, so I guess there's a kind of always been Yeah. That in your life.

Ryan Busby: That's like kind of how my wife and I met, we were like training for the mini marathon together at the same time.

so like, oh, we kind of like go on little, like run

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Well that's adorable. So wait, how, how were you training together? Was it just after you met and [00:32:00] then that was a way you got together?

Ryan Busby: Yeah, we like knew of each other and I, I think it came up like in conversation. We were both training for it.

I was like, oh, you wanna go on a run? Like, yeah, we can go on a run.

Ally Brettnacher: best. That's the best way to get it going. It was great. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: that kind of did force a little bit of a conversational pace, I guess, you know, it's

Ally Brettnacher: like Right. You're not gonna leave her in the dust. Right. Or she, you know, vice versa.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. so yeah, and like we, we did a few of those and it was great. Like those, those were always so fun. So fun.

Ally Brettnacher: fun.

Ryan Busby: Are you doing the mini this

Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah. 50th. 50th year. Man,

Ryan Busby: that's exciting. So

Ally Brettnacher: exciting. In fact, I'm throwing you a birthday party the night before the Indie Mini. We have a live podcast at Bottleworks. Oh, we did it last year. So we're doing an event, I say we, Lindsay Hein.

Okay. Who, uh, has a podcast of her own that she's had for a decade. I'll have another, she has a podcast network that I'm lucky enough to be a part of. So we started doing events and doing it at the mini is so fun. 'cause it's really it's the hometown race. Mm-hmm. I mean, so is monumental in the fall, but the mini is just, given the time of year and how [00:33:00] exciting it is for the city of Indianapolis to rally around May, I think it's, you know, we've said on this podcast many times, it's kind of the rite of passage.

Yes. If you're in this area and you run, you've probably done the mini. And if you haven't, you've probably done that on purpose for some reason because you should have done it by now.

Ryan Busby: Yes. Everybody needs to do it. And most of my coworkers are remote and they're usually like either East Coast or West Coast, and they'll talk about Indiana and they're like, should we visit? You know, and it's like, if you're gonna visit, come to Indiana in May.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes.

Ryan Busby: It is the best place to be in the world.

the, the energy in May in Indiana. I love it. And the weather's great. It's like our, you know, we have two good months of weather, you know, it's like May and October.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: And like the weather's great, and there's just this energy, like this buildup to the race. there's so many festivities. I feel like every single day something's fun's

Ally Brettnacher: going on. Right. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: And the mini kinda kicks that off. It does.

Ally Brettnacher: great. How many times have you done the mini then?

Ryan Busby: Uh, like five or six. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: think there's people that do it every year.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. [00:34:00] There are, there are people who've done every single one.

Ryan Busby: That's crazy.

Ally Brettnacher: your head around that. I can't really, 50, I mean not to be sick or injured and I think some of 'em probably have done it injured. I've, yeah. Talked to people at Monumental who are streakers, who've done one on crutches just to, I mean, they're like, well, I have to do it.

Yeah. Just to keep it alive.

Ryan Busby: I always see those names in the back of the packet.

Yeah. That have done it for however many years The monumental is now. Is it 16 or 17 years old?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. People ask me that. I, I should know

Ryan Busby: I

Ally Brettnacher: because I was on the board for five years, but Oh, were you? Yeah, I was. I know that. Yeah, I just rolled off actually.

Ryan Busby: how was that?

Ally Brettnacher: how was that? It was amazing. So fun to see kind of the inner workings of an event like that. Yeah. And as a runner now, you know what it takes to start a club, right. And have a race, you know, you'll get Oh, just a five gig. Right. A lot of question and for like hundreds of people, you know, versus we're talking 17,000 people.

It's just so interesting to see what all goes into that gave me such a deeper appreciation for races and volunteers. Yeah. [00:35:00] And when you go to complain about something about a race, it's like, yeah, you have no idea. all the things that had to happen for that to happen or whatever it might be. So yeah,

Ryan Busby: the questions like that just keep coming up. It's like, how many porta-potties do we need? It's like, oh, mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Well we probably need that, uh,

Ryan Busby: Um, yeah. Where's, where do we tell people to park's? Like, good question. You know,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It's like all the tiny things.

Ryan Busby: tiny things? All the tiny things. Yeah. So, but for the monumental

Ally Brettnacher: right. It's a huge, huge undertaking.

Ryan Busby: What was your area of responsibility

Ally Brettnacher: Um, I would always volunteer at events, at the expos. and I usually would run the events because I couldn't not run the events. And then when I was on the board, I'm like, well, I have to give you the participant's point of view, obviously. Yeah. So, but I, I was always really passionate about the kind of the marketing side of things is fun.

again, from a participant standpoint, understanding that. And then we have a kids program too. Cool. As part of it actually, uh, monumental. It's beyond monumental is a, is a nonprofit. Okay. So all of that goes towards working with, with kids.

Ryan Busby: That's [00:36:00] awesome.

Ally Brettnacher: So fun. Now I don't only because all the running stuff I do now, there's, it is just kind of become to a point where it's like, okay, this is like bleeding together too much.

Yeah. So I'm still very much working with the organization, just not officially, officially. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: That's cool. Do your kids run?

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Ryan Busby: That's cool. Do your kids run?

Ally Brettnacher: I hope so. What about yours?

Ryan Busby: my five-year-old will

Ally Brettnacher: I guess five year Yearold is okay.

Ryan Busby: but he loves to, he runs everywhere he goes. And he, when I'm like getting done with a run, I'll see him at our driveway and he comes like sprinting with me and wants to do like another couple laps.

That's nice. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping he runs. Yeah. He loves it so far,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. my oldest is, eight and she hasn't done a 5K yet, but she could. Yeah. And so I've been thinking about that for this summer. Do I, you know, try to put together a plan for us to kind of train for one and then do it? Yeah.

Um, there's, in June, there's the, uh, Indianapolis 5K that monumental puts on mm-hmm. With the mile. Mm-hmm. So it's like, hmm. They definitely are interested because I do it. [00:38:00] Yeah. Yeah. Which is fun to kind of be setting that example for them. I mean, I grew up watching my mom run and be really active and my parents Yeah.

Have always been active. So

Ryan Busby: we meant to make it out this year, but we did it. The, uh, all comers track meet. Have you seen that in

Ally Brettnacher: I need, I need to go to that sometime too. Yeah. So tell people what that is.

Ryan Busby: It's, I'm gonna botch it, but essentially it's like a track meet for everyone and anyone from like, the youngest kids on up and they have sprints.

yeah. Essentially a track meet and you could sign up, do like a 40 yard dash do, like, I think they go up to a mile run. but as a kid you can go run and be timed and you're racing everybody on the track and there's stands and you get a ribbon and it's

like, it's a community event.

And

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. I need to do that.

Ryan Busby: don't think it's that much. I think it's like 10 bucks

Ally Brettnacher: something like that. Right, right. Yeah. No, I've heard of it and I love the concept of it. Yeah, love it.

Ryan Busby: It's

essentially just a passion project. I mean, it's

Ally Brettnacher: it's the people, well, especially people, you know, adults who are former track athletes.

Mm-hmm. Themselves. Mm-hmm. They don't really have an excuse outside of, maybe inside of a [00:39:00] workout to go race some of the distances they used to do. So it pretty cool spur. Right, right. I have no idea how fast I could run a hundred meters at this point. I don't know, probably it wouldn't be impressive, but

Ryan Busby: I want to go find out though,

Ally Brettnacher: Right. It'd be nice to kind of know, and who am I faster than, I don't know. But yeah, I saw a video recently of, did you see this? Of an 81-year-old man who was doing a, I forget the distance, like call it 400 meters, but he was sprinting and you're like, holy crap. Was

he fast?

I mean, yeah. For 81, watching somebody sprint at 81, you're just, it's like,

Ryan Busby: what?

That's crazy.

Ally Brettnacher: Absolutely crazy.

That's amazing.

Yeah. Yeah. So you have one brother.

Ryan Busby: I've got a brother and an older sister. An older sister,

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. You're a middle child?

Ryan Busby: Yes.

Oh yeah.

And

my wife's a middle child. Oh. And so like our middle child, he's the king of middle children, like all of his little ploys that he brings out.

I'm like, I know your game. Like he, he plays his siblings off of each other. Like he, he's the instigator. Yeah. [00:40:00] but I see right through

it. Like I know what

his, I know what he's doing. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I feel the same way with my oldest. 'cause I'm the oldest. Yeah. And I'm like, believe me, I know how this feels.

Yeah. You have to be the one that sets the example and is the responsible one all the time. Yeah. And it sucks, but it's just how it goes. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. And that's, I mean, honestly, that's kind of the thing with, with our middle child Teddy, I'm like. Honestly, man, it's a great spot to be. I love

Ally Brettnacher: being a middle

Ryan Busby: child. It's like you get all the fun, not as much the responsibility you can.

Like, and he plays that off too. It's like you just push that onto the older sibling. Mm-hmm. You know, it's our oldest Roman, he is the stereotypical oldest child. His, some of the first words that he ever said to me it was, I was sweeping the floor and I missed a spot. And he came over and he goes, dad, no.

And like pointed to the dust on the floor where I missed it and he, he took it outta my hands so he could perfect it. So he's very much the perfectionist. Like everything in

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yep. That's, yep, that sounds about

Ryan Busby: right. Yep.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. When you were growing up, how'd you get into rugby as a sport?

Ryan Busby: That's a good question. we, I went to [00:41:00] Pendleton and they had a club team and it was like all the kids from soccer and football, they had gotten into trouble. Um,

Ally Brettnacher: that makes sense. Okay.

Yeah. like

Ryan Busby: it was like all the kids in soccer, they were getting like too many red cards and all the football players that couldn't stay on the team and they like collected them together into the

Ally Brettnacher: rugby team.

That was pretty smart.

Ryan Busby: It was great. Yeah. And so it was me and my buddies that played. And it was so funny 'cause it was like a ragtag club where we had the same jerseys that they had in the nineties. And so it was like very thick cotton, but they're all blood stained, all ripped up. And they were like black and white stripes.

they looks like jailhouse jerseys.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. And we

Ryan Busby: were playing like the other, you know, a lot of programs that had like booster clubs and fundraising and they were wearing the modern jerseys, like the modern, they looked like a real team and we're going out there and like just literally rags and we're just fighting people and it was the best.

It was so fun.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. Um,

Ryan Busby: But we did that. And then I went to Anderson University and they had a rugby team and I went and played [00:42:00] there too. And it was great. have you seen rugby where they have the line out where they like push, when you go outta bounds, they throw the ball in and you lift people up in the air.

Okay. It's, you like pick them up by their legs and put 'em up in the air. Yeah. Well, in high school I was like six four, but like 130 pounds I was a stick. And so like, it was great because you could throw me like way up in the air, I could catch a ball. So like, yeah, we were like. Undefeated in line outs, you know?

And like I, I could get hit really well. It's like I could take a hit, like I couldn't tackle all that well, but I got up pretty fast and you know, I was able to, put on a little bit of weight in college, but still, it's like it was a tall, skinny guy that

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Throw up

Ryan Busby: in

the air and, but man, it was so fun.

Rugby culture is great too, because after, after a game they'd have a social, so it's like you would go punch and fight and kick people on the field, but then afterwards it's like the home team would host the social. They might have a keg or something like that. And your best buddies, you'd go hang out.

Like you meet like a lot of the people you already knew. There's a good community. [00:43:00] Like if somebody needed a place to stay, like you'd hit up the local rugby league anywhere in the state, the rugby field folks would take you in. It was

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. It was great.

Wow. Yeah. So

Ryan Busby: it

was a good community.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. And then we talked about your wife Lauren. yeah. did you meet when, after college?

Ryan Busby: In undergrad.

Ally Brettnacher: In undergrad, okay. So she also went to

Ryan Busby: Anderson?

Yep. Yep. Technically we met like my freshman year intramural softball, but I was, an idiot. I just wasn't paying the right attention.

Ally Brettnacher: That also sounds about right. Well, my husband was in a fraternity at Purdue and we thankfully did not mean college because for that reason, like I would've been like, no, absolutely not.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. I'm glad I didn't even attempt to make a move then. 'cause that would've just, you

messed it up

Yeah, I would've put a nail in the coffin then. so then we like met, really got connected like the end of my junior year.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Does she still run? Will she run the mini?

Ryan Busby: She runs a little bit. She does zionsville's Burn bootcamp. that's, that is like all the rage. Uh, it's, everybody loves it that she does that with, she's like an everyday or, but.

Ally Brettnacher: every day. Yeah. I mean, I've been, I've been and [00:44:00] it's hard. It's a lot.

Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: free childcare though is what, what

Ally Brettnacher: I mean. Really, really amazing. Yeah. Yeah. But

Ryan Busby: But she loves that. So I think that's, that's what she's doing now. Like, we'll still run together. she complaints that her run too slow though. I'm like, well, you don't know about the easy run, like you're running too fast.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, well, especially if you're going to burn bootcamp every day. Yeah. Run, run slow. It's

Ryan Busby: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. Gotta recover.

Ally Brettnacher: okay. And then your first marathon, did you say which one that was, was it monumental? Yeah, it was

Ryan Busby: monumental. And that was 20, 20, 24.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. So not all that long ago. No. Wow.

So fun. How'd it go?

Ryan Busby: It was the best, it was incredible. Like, I, I probably had more fun doing that than the, the 70.3 and I don't know why.

I think it's just like the energy.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Just

Ryan Busby: a blast. I think I also ran a little bit faster than I thought I would, which was a very good feeling.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Um. a lot of my friends were there. The weather was great. It was like 50 degrees

and

Ally Brettnacher: trying to remember that year. Yeah, that's not the wind year, that's for

Ryan Busby: sure.

Ally Brettnacher: No, that was the [00:45:00] first year I ran the monumental for the first time. Oh gosh. Was that year. But yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. I, I think that stopped a lot of people from running

after that. Yeah.

Like scarred

Ally Brettnacher: oh yeah.

Ryan Busby: yeah, it was so fun. And that's, that's about the time they were kind of starting up the run club and so there was some other people I'd been running with that were doing it.

and yeah, it was like the energy there is so fun until like, what Miles? What is it? Like 18 or 19? Yeah, there's

Ally Brettnacher: some, there's some lonely spots.

Ryan Busby: You like the Valley of

despair? Mm-hmm.

Backed by the, by the, uh, art museum. Right.

Ally Brettnacher: In fact, I talked to the team about how we put a Red Bull truck there recently, with like a dj and I thought, you know what I should put together, 'cause I'm doing this for Carmel

at

the 20 mile mark.

I am gonna have a, a cheer

station. Yeah.

And so, you know, they're setting me up with a tent, a microphone, music. So I'm like, I should do that at. Monumental where they need it the most. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: That they need

Ally Brettnacher: it there. Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: It's, it is so funny 'cause it's like, that's probably for me, like the hardest part is like mile like 20, 22 and you're getting out [00:46:00] of, you know, Maria and Kessler, where you have Butler and all these like, good parties, like all, all the candy, they're giving out crumble cookies, like people are growing out and you know, it's like all this energy and it starts to die just as you are as well.

And so like your energy starts going away and it becomes quiet. And all of a sudden, like you go under 38th street and there's just bodies, people are like sitting on the side of the road and people are like, walking and everybody's not having fun anymore. It's like, okay, if we can just get through this little stretch and get to Fall Creek, then

we'll

Ally Brettnacher: be

good.

Yeah. Because it's not that much, but it's a point in the race where Yeah, it is. It is tough.

Ryan Busby: It's like, yeah. What it's, it's maybe a mile.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: But it's a hard

Ally Brettnacher: I'm trying to remember it.

Ryan Busby: It's Kind

of a rite of passage

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. No, I've done monumental twice the marathon. Twice. Right. Yeah. Okay. So is that the only marathon you've done?

Ryan Busby: Just the monumental, I've

Ally Brettnacher: only done that twice. Okay. Yeah.

Alright. Are you gonna run another marathon?

Ryan Busby: I would love to. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. But it's not on the calendar

Ryan Busby: yet.

Not on the calendar yet. I know. I'm doing the Madison

Ally Brettnacher: 70.30 you [00:47:00] are? Okay. So, well,

Ryan Busby: yeah.

So we're like, we're gonna do that. And I've got a couple buddies from the run club that are doing that with me.

So like, we're all gonna like, travel up there together.

Ally Brettnacher: fun. Did you rope them into this?

Ryan Busby: Yes. We, we like talked about it. 'cause like they had all, one of the guys hasn't done one and he wants to Okay. It was like when that was our opportunity. And then another guy's like a big Iron Man, like he had done full Ironman, 70 point threes in the past, but he hadn't in a while and he's like, I'd love to get back into it.

So we, like, we were between Madison or Michigan, like, let's do Madison. So we're just starting to train on

Ally Brettnacher: that.

Okay. And where do you get your swimming in

Ryan Busby: the Zionsville High School.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, okay.

Ryan Busby: Which I just signed up for the master's

Ally Brettnacher: group. Okay.

Ryan Busby: is crazy. there's like 20, 25 people that show up to the pool at five in the morning and they have a coach, which is partially why I wanted to join.

But I was doing like 1500 yards swims, 1800 and I went. Yesterday for the first time in their workout was 3,700 Right. Meters. And I was like, I can't do that. So I, I quit at like 2,600. I was like, I'll, I'll get there. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: [00:48:00] Um,

Ryan Busby: but again, it's like fun community. super encouraging people.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, nice. Again, even with Right. It's nice to have community 'cause it makes you do it. Yes. I, the swimming was, yeah, the hardest part for me by far. I didn't grow up a swimmer. Yeah. I actually found out I had a, like a severely deviated septum, which, so I couldn't breathe very well, which I never knew until actually recently, like a couple years ago.

And so now I'm like, I wonder if I could swim now that I can breathe.

Yeah. Might make a big difference. You should try it. I don't know. Did you have surgery? Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: How'd you feel afterwards? Uh,

Ally Brettnacher: The recovery was awful for like a week, but then it was life changing. Yeah. Yeah. Like, wow. I can actually breathe through my nose.

Ryan Busby: to be gross, but when they removed the packing and you can like smell, it's like for the first time. Is that what they did? Yeah. Yeah. That's what they did for, I, I had nasal surgery. It was like smelling for the first

Ally Brettnacher: You're like, oh wow.

Ryan Busby: like, this is amazing.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's weird how you realize you could go through your whole life not knowing.

I know that you're like missing half of the, I mean, yeah. It was crazy.[00:49:00]

So.

Ryan Busby: I had, I had, I don't know what was going on. I was in middle school and it was like my sin, I had like chronic sinus infections and it was something in my head like just wasn't draining. So it's like everything was always packed so I could not breathe through my nose.

So they did like a correction and yeah, I was like, honestly, for as uncomfortable it was, I wish everybody had that experience, like breathing through their nose for the

Ally Brettnacher: the first time. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. It's like, you know, being blind and being able to see, you're like, this is amazing.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Well, and then I remember asking my surgeon, okay, so are there, you know, is there like video I can watch or like, so I can learn how to breathe through my nose?

I mean like, is there an exercise I can do to be like, like on purpose? Mm-hmm. Breathing through my nose. 'cause I'm still a mouth breather because I've been a mouth breather my whole life. So I recently got some mouth

Ryan Busby: tape. I was gonna say, have you tried the mouth tape?

Ally Brettnacher: What

do you

think? I, well it's very weird 'cause it feels like you're being kidnapped 'cause you just put tape on

your mouth.

It's

very bizarre. But, um, I've worn it to sleep a couple times and it's, it's nice. But I wore it once on like an easy [00:50:00] peloton workout. and that was weird. I caught a headache because I think I just don't breathe efficiently through my nose. Anyway, I digress, but it's like I need to still think about

Ryan Busby: it.

You did a workout with it

Ally Brettnacher: on,

right? Well, and then while I was reading the packaging and I was like, oh, this is kinda meant for sleep. But upon further digging, people do wear it while working out. To force the efficiency of, of breathing through your nose, which is intense. So I don't, I've only done that once.

Ryan Busby: That sounds scary.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, it's weird. It also looks ridiculous.

Ryan Busby: I, I'm imagining you going into the gym,

Ally Brettnacher: right? Oh, yeah. Like in

Ryan Busby: public? Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. No, just in the comfort of my own h So for this 70.3 in Madison

mm-hmm. Do

you, do you have goals going in? how do you approach goal setting? I guess kind of in general?

Ryan Busby: I know, I don't know. I, so I did, I wanted to break six hours was like my stretch goal for, Muncie.

Why am I

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. See, now that I'm not a triathlete, I'm like, I don't know what that

Ryan Busby: means,

It was like, roughly,

so

what is it, like a 1.2 mile swim? [00:51:00] I was gonna shoot for like 45 minutes on that and I was right at 45 minutes. And then for the bike, gosh, I'm gonna get my numbers wrong, but essentially.

Ally Brettnacher: like,

Ryan Busby: I wanna say it's like a little over three hours.

Okay. And then I was like, as long as I kept a nine minute mile pace on the run, I'd be fine. Yeah. And I was like doing great on the bike. felt awesome. I was like, this is amazing. I was like, I'm gonna crush my time. Mm-hmm. Got off the bike, got through transition, started running and immediately it felt extremely hot.

' cause like the wind's not coming off the bike anymore and I could not eat anything like the goose like it wasn't working. And I was like, this is not good. And so what a nine minute pace should have been very doable. All of a sudden it's like, I'm two miles into a half and I'm struggling.

I was like, this is not great. So I'm like going to the aid station. They had an aid station like every two miles and I'm just blending up whatever they had on hand and like a glass of water and just like swallowing it like a pill. So it's like, oh, I'm like. Eating bananas. Like they're, you know, vitamins, like, oh yeah.

It was [00:52:00] awful. Like pretzels, like anything.

Ally Brettnacher: Um,

Ryan Busby: Yeah. And then it was like, five miles left and I could just feel, it's like I couldn't get enough food. I started to get thirsty. It was hot. I was seeing colors I didn't know existed, and I was like, I just kind of make it. And so I made it at like 5 55, so it's like five minutes under the six, six hour mark, which I was so excited.

Yeah. Um, but it was truly, I had nothing left to give

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I was like, is it flat?

Ryan Busby: Muncie is very

Ally Brettnacher: flat. Okay. That's good.

Ryan Busby: So then to your original question, I went off tangent there. Madison's very hilly. So it's like, I don't know, like I really don't know how, I'm not like there's cyclists out there that know, like. They know how to measure, like what their goal time's gonna be, baking in hills and like watts and all that. And I'm just not that advanced at it. So like, I don't know, I would like to break six hours again, but maybe because the hills like that's not

Ally Brettnacher: doable.

Right. or weather

or who knows? What time of year is it?

Ryan Busby: September. It should be early September, so it should be like a little bit chilly,

but not that bad up

Ally Brettnacher: up there. Hopefully. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: So I don't know.

I've

Ally Brettnacher: do you swim for [00:53:00] that

Ryan Busby: one?

There's a lake.

Ally Brettnacher: of course. I guess that makes sense.

Yeah.

There's a lot of lakes up

Ryan Busby: there. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm, I forget what lake. but it looks really pretty.

It looks like a great course. Um, it's like one big loop on the bike, so it's not an out and back, like a couple times. You're not doubling up on anything. Mm-hmm. and the run is alongside the lake, so it looks really pretty. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I bet it will be. Um,

Ryan Busby: But yeah, I don't, if I can do under six hours, I think I'll be happy, but I also just don't wanna hurt, you know?

It's like I want to feel good. Yeah. I wanna feel good under six hours and if I'm not breaking six hours, whatever it takes to feel good,

Ally Brettnacher: you know? Are you still working?

With a coach?

Ryan Busby: No, I got a book. So there's like the Joe reel's like triathlete bible, which is actually a really good breakdown of like the philosophy behind training, like the science.

But then it helps you like build your own plan. Yeah. But then it coaches you on how to coach yourself. it gives you the way to structure a training plan, but then how to pivot each week, how to measure your, like TSS if you're using like that or if you're just using hours [00:54:00] TSS training, stress score.

So if you use Training Peaks app, it's a, have you used

Ally Brettnacher: No, but I, it's similar to VDOT from what I gather. Okay. Which is what my coach uses. Okay. To give me workouts.

Ryan Busby: Yes. So it like measures your essentially like each workout gets a TSS score. Okay. Which is like how hard you ran. It's like your heart rate plus time essentially.

So it's like time and effort. Mm-hmm. So for me. a mile at a 10 minute mile pace is like 10. Right? And so if I did six miles at a 10 minute mile pace, it'd be 60. And then the more you load up relative to your previous score, you're gonna get a higher

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: And so it's like, it's a good way to see are you over training? Are you under training? And then you want the peak performances to have negative stress at the time of a race so that you've like

Ally Brettnacher: turned fully recovered and you're ready to,

Ryan Busby: Yeah. So it's like, it's a nice way to like make sure that you're like putting the load on when

Ally Brettnacher: to mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Busby: I'm probably botching this, [00:55:00] so everybody that knows about TSS, they're rolling their, rolling their eyes right now at

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I mean, it's, I guess if it's in training piece, maybe it's a running thing too. Yes. Yeah. So I, I don't know.

Ryan Busby: And it's like if you have like a Garmin watch, it'll give you like your load score

Ally Brettnacher: Right, right,

Ryan Busby: that.

It's kind of the same idea. but it'll do like swimming and biking and running.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Okay.

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

So

I'm using that. It's a great book if anybody's interested. yeah, he's like the, like the godfather of, of triathlons,

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. which

Ryan Busby: was really only invented like in the seventies or eighties. It's not that old of a sport.

Yeah. but yeah, highly recommend it.

Ally Brettnacher: Have you ever had a running coach?

Ryan Busby: Not specifically. Like Doug helped with running like the Phoenix group, he was, it was a little bit of everything and he coached me through marathon training. So he, specialized in biking actually, but did triathlons and running as

Ally Brettnacher: well.

Okay. Cool.

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So when you do another

Ryan Busby: marathon?

Yes, I will.

Ally Brettnacher: Which, what do you thinking there? Like what do you see?

Ryan Busby: We all applied, like everybody on this Tuesday morning applied for Chicago and none of us got in

and not one.

not [00:56:00] one. Wow. Yeah. I want to do Chicago or New York. I think I'll probably just bite the bullet next year and like if I don't get in, do charity for Chicago.

Yeah. I just, I gotta do Chicago

and I have friends in Chicago,

so I could stay with them. Right. And avoid Hotel

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Yeah. And it's close for us in Indy, it's like three hours, so That's great. Easy enough. Yeah. I've done Chicago four

Ryan Busby: times.

How's Chicago? Did

Ally Brettnacher: like It's amazing.

Yeah. I, it was my first marathon ever. 10? 10 10, really? So it's been a while. And actually I think the most recent year I did, it was 2015 maybe. So it's been over 10 years since I've done

it. Yeah.

Mainly because now that I'm would be interested in doing it again. It's all a lottery. I did it when you could just sign up

Ryan Busby: for

it. Really? Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, Right.

Which is great. But I did New York for charity. Okay. Because that was how I got, I mean, Ashley Schwab was running, and so I was like, well, when you're doing it, I gotta do

it. Yeah. And so I, I signed up to run with the same charity that she did, which is Alex's Lemonade

Ryan Busby: Stand.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, okay.

Yeah. childhood Cancer. Yes. so what a great cause to, to support.

Yeah.

Ryan Busby: yeah.

Um, a lot of [00:57:00] my coworkers are in Boston and so they, every year, like a handful of them will do New York and it all.

I

Ally Brettnacher: have fomo. Yeah. So it looks

Ryan Busby: like such a good race. Looks like such a fun

Ally Brettnacher: race. Yeah,

The largest marathon in the world. It's crazy.

Ryan Busby: It is crazy. Well, Margot, she's she's a gal that

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Margot's been on this podcast.

Oh, has she? Okay. She has, you'll have

Ryan Busby: She has. You'll I love Margot. So she just, she is finished Tokyo.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

I didn't even know she was running Tokyo unless I forgot, but I was like, holy

Ryan Busby: crap.

So she did all six majors. Yeah. She got her her sixth

Ally Brettnacher: medal. Yeah.

My coach just got her sixth star

at Tokyo. Tokyo P two. Oh, really? So, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, it's absolutely incredible.

Ryan Busby: So, I mean, I, I feel like that's a life goal to do all six. I'm so far away from even coming close to qualifying for Boston,

but it's like, maybe I'll be that 80-year-old sprinter.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. You just gotta get older. I'm like, I just

Ryan Busby: you just gotta get old. I'm like, I just, I just gotta get old.

Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Gotta get older and then, then I can do it. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. But yeah, and now, well now they're adding to the world majors, which, which makes it kind of weird 'cause you're like, well, which ones? Like now there's Sydney, Shanghai is going through the process.

So you're just like, okay, well God,

I know.

Stop moving [00:58:00] the goalpost. I think know the original six is a very reasonable thing to

Ryan Busby: wanna

do.

I

Ally Brettnacher: so.

Yeah.

Ryan Busby: I did. See, it's funny, like you mentioned like Chicago's now. You have to either qualify lower lottery. Yeah. You know, or, or charity, how running's become so popular that the average time of a marathon has gone up dramatically. So it's like, not only has the average, you know, or the, the, the winners like their times continually improved.

Yeah. And they keep moving the goalposts, like qualify for Boston, but also like the tail end has gotten so much longer. They talked about like planning used to, you'd probably put like a mark and just say, okay,

Ally Brettnacher: like

yeah, six hours, I

don't know, six

Ryan Busby: hours? Six hours? Now it's like they're saying like, okay, 7, 8, 9 is like everybody's coming in.

Which is awesome. I mean, it's a great problem to have, but I think COVID might have supercharged that

like

a lot of people got into running. I think there's probably like a social media aspect to it as well. Absolutely. I know run clubs are on the rise. Mm-hmm.

I mean US case in point. Yeah. But it's a great problem.

I just want [00:59:00] to be able to get in Chicago.

Ally Brettnacher: I know. Well, I, you know, I, I haven't always had the goal of Boston. My dad's run it a few times and so I've, you know, I've wanted to, but I wish I would've thought, I wish I would've thought about it earlier.

Yeah. Although earlier I didn't know how to train, so I probably wouldn't have still been able to do it. Yeah. but now yeah, it just gets harder and harder and you're like, crap. Yeah. I did a downhill race once in Utah and it was a BQ course and I did the half there, but I was like, okay, when I qualify for Boston, I'm gonna come run down a mountain.

Yes. Yes. But then last year they made the change where none of those count, which is totally fair because they probably shouldn't have, but you better believe I was gonna. Cheat the system. I was gonna use every advantage I could to, to get there.

Ryan Busby: So

I had a buddy trying to do that and he was like on track. I mean, he was like, you know, six 50 miles and I think it was like mile 22, his hamstring went out.

So we like hobbled like the rest of the way. Still had honestly had a respectful time. It's like, didn't it be

Ally Brettnacher: cute? Yeah.

Ryan Busby: like, oh,

Ally Brettnacher: it's a lot of stress. Like it's a lot of pressure to put on yourself I

think.

Yeah. [01:00:00]

At least for my, me personally, when I put too much of a stressor on time.

Yeah. That I, to your point, like we talked about earlier, I don't enjoy it then. Yeah. As much. So it's like, well isn't that the whole point? Yes. So have

Ryan Busby: you ever read the, uh, inner Game of Tennis by

Ally Brettnacher: chance? No. I used to play

Ryan Busby: tennis

though.

Oh,

did you? Yeah. You would love it. Then we actually read it for work. cause it's like there's a lot of parallels

Ally Brettnacher: to like leadership and

Ryan Busby: stuff, or it's

like

leadership.

Well, it's like leadership and just like the I, the whole idea. And it's like a very zen idea. It was written in the seventies.

but it's like you have two selves, right? It's like, and you think about like playing tennis or golfing, like how ma how often do you hear yourself being like, oh, come on. Like you blew it.

you need

Ally Brettnacher: like

every shot when I play

Ryan Busby: golf.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ryan Busby: up, it's like, get your feet off like you're an idiot. It's like, who are you talking to? And so like kinda makes you say like, when you're. Talking poorly to yourself. It's like, who are you talking about? Right? It's like there is the, the thinker, right?

So the, the person that's saying is like, Hey, you're an idiot. You

Ally Brettnacher: didn't do

Ryan Busby: that,

right? Yeah.

Yeah. And then there's the doer, which is the body, like your actual self. That's like in the [01:01:00] moment, like, and when you ever get into a flow state or when you get into that, like in the zone mm-hmm. That second self is what's taking over when you're not really thinking, when you're playing like outside of your body where like you're running and you just like zone

Ally Brettnacher: out. Yes. Yes.

Ryan Busby: the whole idea of the book is like, how do you get more into that zone? Because that's the zone that like learns. When you think about a kid learning how to walk, they're not trash talking

themselves.

Right. You know? Yeah. They're like, you idiot, like one foot after the other. It's like, no, they, they fall down and they don't get frustrated.

They just get back up and they keep going. And it's like very like, you know, you're noticing, you're very aware of your body, you're forgiving on yourself. Like, and that's the most natural way that we can learn and like the most natural way to go about life and doing things right. So to your point with running.

if you put too much of a focus on time and too much of a focus, on those goals, which they're very helpful. Right. And you should, and it's like, that could be a motivation, you have to be wary of the balance. Like, is it at the expense of muting that second self? You know, is it, is it gonna mute them?

And all of a sudden it's like purely about the time. Yes. [01:02:00] And you're no longer like in the zone and enjoying it. Yeah. And it's like, you know, getting rid of the why to begin

Ally Brettnacher: with. Mm-hmm. It's like,

Ryan Busby: I think the why is different for everybody, but for a lot of us, like originally it was just, it's fun. Right?

Like we just enjoyed

it. Yeah.

so it's a

Ally Brettnacher: it's a great book.

Yeah. There's another, oh, I'm gonna forget the name of her book, but Deena Castor, the marathoner, she mm-hmm. Wrote a book. And so you could just google Deena Castor's book. I forget the name, but it was awesome. It was about mindset and so it was about her career.

It was well written, but basically kind of taking those thoughts, the negative thoughts of you, like telling yourself that you suck. Yeah. And just switching them to be positive. Yeah. And how You have to practice doing that just doesn't come naturally. So that's been helping me a lot too, in, in just saying, instead of being like, oh, I'm so tired.

I, how can I do this? Be like, you are strong. You're feeling so good. Like, you have to Yes. Hype your inner self up. Yes. Instead of beating them down, I guess. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Yes, It's so, I mean, that's so true in, in everything in life, you know, it's like, not [01:03:00] just running, but like work and

Ally Brettnacher: and all that.

Yeah.

Ryan Busby: And,

and also like, you know, there's the aspect of not having judgment, good or bad.

Right. Just like noticing, you know, it's like, and then not getting down on yourself. It's like, oh man, like, I hated that like x, y, and Z at work happened today. It's just like, Hey, this, this, and this happened today. you know, that's it. And it's fine. And, and you know, I started trying to do the habit of like the first thing that I do, like when I see Lauren at the end of the day is telling her like the positive

thing.

Right.

You know, before just like unloading, it's like thinking, it's like okay, what was the best thing

Ally Brettnacher: that

happen today?

Ryan Busby: today? And like starting a conversation and that little thing changes everything. Like that changes the trajectory

Ally Brettnacher: of the

night. That's such a good

Ryan Busby: point.

You know, and so same thing with like running, it's like even like on a bad run, you know, it's

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Find bad run

Find, find. Yeah. Find what was good about it.

You did

Ryan Busby: You did it.

Yeah. It's like, get out. It's like the weather was good. Yeah. Or if the weather is bad it's like I got out in bad weather. It's like that's awesome. Like I'm great,

Ally Brettnacher: you

know? Right. And then you can physically run, like I remind myself of that a lot. 'cause not everybody can. And so. I just [01:04:00] try not to take it for granted.

Yes,

I know.

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

I got shingles, at the end of

Ally Brettnacher: December

Do you know what's crazy is I've had shingles. Really?

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

It's

Ally Brettnacher: hell? It's awful.

awful. It's horrible.

It's awful.

And it, you're not supposed to get it when

Ryan Busby: you're

young.

I know. Yeah. It was horrifying.

I'm sorry you went through

that.

I'm sorry

Ally Brettnacher: you went

Yeah,

thanks.

Yeah, it

was

Ryan Busby: was December was like the most stressful work month I've ever

had. And it was uh, Christmas Eve, I got this weird, like pain in my ear

Ally Brettnacher: In your

Ryan Busby: ear.

it was face shingles. Yeah, it went

through

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, fun. Yeah. Mine was like on my butt, which is weird, but whatever.

It was like shooting down my

Ryan Busby: leg. Anyway.

Ally Brettnacher: It's awful.

Ryan Busby: But yeah, it's like, so I was like in bed for like two weeks and I like my face falled up. I couldn't

Ally Brettnacher: see.

Ryan Busby: And oh

my God. I was like, but, but I was thinking

it was like people, like some people live like

this, some People have chronic pain,

some people

like can't get outta bed.

And it's like, I'm never thankful enough just for baseline.

It's totally,

it's like just baseline feeling. Nothing good, right? Yeah. It's like even if I wake up and I don't notice how I'm feeling, it's like that's [01:05:00] how

I

Ally Brettnacher: That's

good. Yeah. That's great. That's

good. Yes. Such a good point. Oh my gosh, such a good point. Shingles of all things like so weird. Yeah.

Yeah.

Not fun. We're all

stressed these days.

Ryan Busby: these days.

That's what it is.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, and so is your year end calendar year, yeah. How have they not switched that? Because Salesforce, so I guess for people who weren't in the conversation we were having before we recorded, Ryan and I both are in marketing technology, or I was, I should say.

and so yeah, being in sales at year end when it's calendar year is the worst. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: But

Ally Brettnacher: Salesforce is February. February one is the

start

of the

new year.

I

love, I'm like, that is

Ryan Busby: so

great.

That was great. Yeah. Because you, you get a little bit of

Ally Brettnacher: Christmas,

right? You can actually have

Ryan Busby: Christmas. Yeah.

And then like the year end, it's on January 31st. What's, what's going on January 31st? Nothing. Right. You know,

Ally Brettnacher: you can actually

Ryan Busby: get stuff

done. You can

Ally Brettnacher: you're not fighting for people to sign a contract while they're on vacation already,

you know? Yes. It's

Ryan Busby: It's the

worst.

It's like we are having our end of year between Christmas and New Year's.

Yeah.

And I'm getting messages

on New Year's, you

know,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. like,

hey,

Ryan Busby: like we need to be getting all this

Ally Brettnacher: [01:06:00] done.

Ryan Busby: Yeah. And to this year, I was like, in the throes of shingles. I'm like looking at the message with one eye. It's like,

Ally Brettnacher: my God. got

it.

Oh, it's so bad. Oh my gosh. Wild. Good

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: but good times.

But yeah, no more shingles now.

And hopefully I feel like you're not supposed to get it again,

Ryan Busby: but

I

forget you can. No, I know. I, I was talking to my doctor and I was like, should I get this shingles

Ally Brettnacher: vaccine? Did I not? Maybe I didn't.

Oh. Because I

don't think they give it to you till

Ryan Busby: older.

so Yeah, they, it's after 50, but only because insurance doesn't cover it.

Oh. Um, he was like, do you want shingles again? I was like,

absolutely

not. He's like, Do

you

wanna pay $500? I was like. Honestly,

Ally Brettnacher: kind of. Probably. Yeah. If you can guarantee I'm not gonna

Ryan Busby: get

it.

Yeah. So

he is like, go to Costco. It's cheaper

there. Yeah. So I'm

probably just gonna go to

Ally Brettnacher: Costco

That's interesting.

Ryan Busby: Wild.

So for everybody that hasn't had shingles

Right. You can

get

it.

You can get it. And

Ally Brettnacher: and for people who are listening who are older, like bad asses, like Mike Cole,

Ryan Busby: get

Ally Brettnacher: be beware.

Ryan Busby: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Oh gosh. Alright, well I'm gonna ask you the end of the

Ryan Busby: podcast

questions.

Ally Brettnacher: I love

it.

So they're pretty easy.

The first [01:07:00] one is, what is your favorite running mantra and or

song?

Ryan Busby: Mm. I saw this question. I don't, I don't have any good mantras. but for song I was really trying, like when I was getting into running, trying to like work in my cadence. So I was trying to have like 180. steps per minute. And so I was looking up songs at 180 beats per minute.

Yeah. And Rambling Man by the Alman Brothers is like,

Ally Brettnacher: perfect. Okay. Wait,

how does it go?

Oh

gosh, come on.

Ryan Busby: me, Lord. I was born

Ally Brettnacher: Rambling, man. Okay, gotcha. Yep. Okay. I know, I know it. I just

needed that. That's good.

Ryan Busby: beat and it's really long and I love jam bands and so it gets into this jammy, like

Ally Brettnacher: that's not the Eagles.

For some reason I thought that was The

Ryan Busby: Eagles.

Anyway,

it, it kinda

sounds

like the

Eagles. Yeah, but that just because it's like I can run to it. It's like on the perfect beat and now I'll find myself, I don't run with music anymore, but it's like, that'll be in the back of my head. I'm like, oh

yeah.

ble me.

So like

Ally Brettnacher: singing

it in your head, going along. little

Yeah. Well, more and more I find that people aren't listening to music as much, which I'm, I don't [01:08:00] as much either. I, well, when I do listen to something, it'll probably be an audio book or a podcast instead of music.

Yeah. Yeah. But

music used to be a crutch for me. I used to like, feel like I had to

Ryan Busby: have

it

Yeah. To pump me up.

Ally Brettnacher: now I'm like, you actually really don't. Yeah.

Ryan Busby: Surprisingly

when I was running, yeah. When we were running like as hard as you could

Ally Brettnacher: Right. every single

Ryan Busby: run, I'm like, I gotta

Ally Brettnacher: it. Yeah. Right.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that's what it is now. It's easy. You're just like, well, I just wanna enjoy, I wanna hear the birds

chirping. I It's

been nice.

Mm-hmm. It is. Okay. And then next finish line or milestone. We've already talked about your next finish line. Well, I guess big finish line in September, but, you're running the, are you running the mini?

Ryan Busby: I'll probably run the mini.

I know I'm gonna do the Zionsville or Zionsville. The Cornel.

Okay. Half.

Alright,

I'm

gonna do the half. We're gonna have our tent there.

we're

gonna break

some

Ally Brettnacher: donuts. Awesome. I'll

be there

Ryan Busby: as well.

Yep. Come see us. Come grab

Ally Brettnacher: a

donut.

I love donuts. I love

Ryan Busby: I love donuts. We'll, we'll do Pana donuts or Pana? Pana.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't

know how you say it either. No. Are they, what are they?

Ryan Busby: They're the best. I, and I say that I, I eat a lot of donuts. They're so good. It's like Pana Donuts and Boba tea is

Ally Brettnacher: the restaurant.

Ryan Busby: Very [01:09:00] interesting. But man, they're just

Ally Brettnacher: so good. basic donuts, but they do it

well. Okay. All right. I'm interested in that for sure.

Yes. Okay. So caramel, maybe

Ryan Busby: the

mini,

maybe the mini. I I better make it out 'cause it's like 50

years.

Ally Brettnacher: It'll be good. Yeah. It'll

Ryan Busby: be good. Yeah. It'll be fun. And it's like a family reunion. You see everybody

there.

Ally Brettnacher: It's, and again, it's the, it's the,

Ryan Busby: it's the

thing. Yeah. It's the event. Yeah. Um, and then obviously 4th

Ally Brettnacher: July.

Yep.

Ryan Busby: Everybody should sign up for that.

we have like a pre-sale deal going

Ally Brettnacher: on

Oh, okay. Good. Alright. I'll link, I'll link to the

Ryan Busby: registration.

Awesome. And if you just go to zionsville run club.com,

Ally Brettnacher: that's also very, yeah, that's easy.

Ryan Busby: yeah, so those are my, and then the 70.3

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. In September.

Awesome.

What

Ryan Busby: What about you? What are your, what's your

Ally Brettnacher: next?

Oh,

uh, this weekend I'm going to DC to run the rock and

Ryan Busby: roll

half. Oh,

awesome. So and what's your mantra?

Ally Brettnacher: oh, my mantra. I have two. run the Mile You're in.

I

love that.

Yeah. Like focus on now, you can't do what's next now and then you get to do this.

yeah, those two I really, really like. And then, yeah, my song I love Unstoppable by cia, which is [01:10:00] so cliche, but I just really

Ryan Busby: love

it.

I love, I feel like that's best to over like a crackly speaker, like at the race, you know what I mean? It's like Absolutely. It's got distortion. 'cause they're playing it like way

Ally Brettnacher: louder so

loud and you're like, yes, this is perfect.

Well, my husband will play it for my girls when they're on the way to soccer, which is hilarious. I don't know how they landed on that song, but it's great. 'cause then yeah, I'm like, it is. Yeah. I'm unstoppable for like my 5-year-old who's trying, who's barely

kicking

the

ball. Yeah.

Yeah. Super

Ryan Busby: fun.

That's so fun.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I'm glad we finally

Ryan Busby: got

to do

this. I

Ally Brettnacher: It's Nice

to

get to know you.

Ryan Busby: to get to know you too. Actually, I have a, I have a gift for you.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh.

What? That's so nice. I

didn't bring you a gift. Well, I brought you coffee, so I guess that counts.

Yeah, you brought me coffee. Get repay that.

oh

Ryan Busby: fuzzy hat.

Ally Brettnacher: yes. This is amazing. I, they're so, I love wearing

Ryan Busby: these

And it's

Ally Brettnacher: for the audio people, but it's green too. And it's St.

Ryan Busby: Patrick's

Day. It's green. It. See, we thought, so we got these in like a month ago. We're like, did we

Ally Brettnacher: miss,

Ryan Busby: did we miss the

Ally Brettnacher: cold

weather?

Oh [01:11:00] yeah.

Ryan Busby: Nope.

And here we are. Oh, it looks great on you.

There you go. Yay.

Ally Brettnacher: Yay. Perfect.

That's amazing. Thank you so much, Ryan. You're welcome. I love it. You're welcome. Oh, perfect. What a way to end. Well, thank you to everybody who's listened as well,

Ryan Busby: Thank you for having me on. This is my first

Ally Brettnacher: Hey. That's my favorite.

Ryan Busby: It's so fun. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: It's so fun.

So happy running too is how I

Ryan Busby: end.

So happy

Ally Brettnacher: running. happy

running. Yay. Yay.

We're done.

Thanks.

If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, please share rate review. Actually, before I recorded this outro, I was the guest of another podcast in this network, the Mother Runners podcast, which is hosted by Whitney Hines, a fellow mother runner.

So if you are looking for another running podcast to add into your rotation, go check that out. I'll be sure to let you know when my episode is live soon. I am heading to DC this weekend to run another half marathon, so stay tuned for that race recap and I will see you next week.

Thank you so much for listening. Bye.

[01:12:00]

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