Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 69

Not sure if anyone actually reads this blog, but if you do, I'm going to start trying to post a blog alongside podcast episodes to make sure my website contains all of the great content I'm putting out there into the universe. :)

Here's a link to listen to this week's episode.

Guest: Chris Galloway

Show Notes:

Chris Galloway⁠ and I met through his wife, Julie. Chris has an incredible story about becoming the person he needed to be to strengthen himself as a runner (and as a human). During this episode we talk about:

• Being a part of the Fishers, Indiana running community
• His upbringing in Bedford, Indiana, and how he ended up going to Purdue University
• The businesses he’s built - a chiropractic practice and ⁠Prime Car Wash⁠
• Using running in college to change how his body looked
• How he grew up with his wife, Julie, and they’ve been together off and on since high school
• His dad’s running accolades and how he began chasing them in 2007 - 4:58 mile, sub-17 minute 5K, 1:18 half marathon and a 2:46 marathon
• Getting sober after drinking since he was 15 years old and battling issues with food
• Faith and his relationship with Christ - how he chose Christ after reading a book he discovered while in jail
• The 10-12 marathons he’s done in the past few years
• Covering his watch during marathons
• ⁠Using Strava to “Educate, Empower and Entertain” ⁠
• Life Coaching with Vince Auten (⁠EP 56⁠)
• Finally getting his dad's marathon PR
• Heading to ⁠Hood to Coast⁠ with Mark Guyer (⁠EP 59⁠)

Episode Transcript

Welcome to finish lines and Milestones with Ally Brettnacher Incredible stories and tales of triumphs with everyday people achieving their goals and fitness.

This podcast brought to you by athlete bouquets.

Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting athletebouquets.com.

0:22

Hello and welcome to episode 69.

This is Ali and this week I'm in marathon training.

It's been a couple weeks now since I registered for the CNO Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, which is on November 9th in Indianapolis and it'll be my second time doing this race.

0:39

I did it for the first time in 2022 and it was very windy and horrible weather.

Last year was perfect and so this year is going to be perfect again.

I just know it right everybody.

So we will pray for that.

And my run this week was really, really hard.

0:54

It was so hot and so humid, as is a lot of these days of summer marathon training.

I'm a little bit behind the Chicago Marathon training crew because of course, that race being in early October, that build starts sooner.

1:09

So I'm at 15 miles this week.

And the first six was warm up and then I had some speed work in there.

And I was so lucky to have my friend Whitney Bevins, who was episode three or four of this podcast, join me for the last 9 miles of my workout.

1:25

And without her, I wouldn't have done what I did.

She is an incredible coach and was there, you know, in my ear motivating me to to hit the paces I needed to and making me feel like I was amazing.

Even though Whitney is amazing, she has won the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon before and she's qualified for the Olympic trials.

1:47

So her coming down to my pace and making me feel worthy of her partnership was so fun.

So thank you, Whitney.

I appreciate you so much.

So that was certainly the highlight of my week.

Getting that done.

2:02

It was hard.

I had, there was some walking in there.

So disclaimer, even though it still is 15 miles, it was really tough.

I know not every workout's going to be perfect.

And in this heat, I'm going to give myself some grace and just keep plugging away.

2:18

So next week is 16 easy miles, which I am so looking forward to.

This week's episode was with Chris Galloway.

This was the first time I'd ever met Chris.

I was introduced to him by his wife Julie, and I really enjoyed getting a chance to get to know him.

2:38

So he is an incredible masters runner here locally.

He also is the CFO of Prime Car Wash, a business that he helped found.

And he has somehow managed to run 11:50 marathons in the last few years.

2:54

And you know, at the start of his running journey started when he was younger, but then his dad was a really great runner.

So he set a goal of beating his dad's PRS and chased after that goal for quite a while.

3:10

There was a key moment of his in his life getting sober that allowed him to better himself and find his relationship with God.

And ultimately, spoiler alert, get that marathon PR, his dad's marathon PR last year at CNO Indie Monumental.

3:28

So we talk a lot about that journey and it's a really powerful episode.

I appreciate Chris coming on and sharing all about it because I know that he is sure to inspire of you so I hope you enjoy.

Hello, Chris Galloway.

3:44

Hi, Ally.

Welcome.

Thank you so much for making the trip over from Fishers.

No problem and.

It's nice to finally meet you, yeah.

Good to meet you as well.

When was it?

Was it last year that I made the mug or was that two years ago?

I think it was monumental of 2023, so yeah.

4:03

Yeah, last year.

It's been less than a year.

Yeah, so thank you so much to your wife Julie.

First for reaching out to have me make you APR mug and 2nd for saying you need to have my husband on your podcast.

That's pretty cool that she thinks that.

Oh, and that she trusts me to go on a podcast.

4:20

Right, we will say only nice things, Julie.

So, so you're over in Fishers and I can't believe you also know Vince Auten.

Of course you do, being a runner over in Fishers.

Are you part of the Fishers Running Club?

Yeah, formally I am.

I run mainly in the mornings at the Jordan Y or I run by myself on on treadmill just depending on what I got going that day.

4:43

But I do run with a lot of those those people and I know them all socially just because Julie been a member and I'm a big part of the running community.

So, and if you're a big part of the running community, you're going to know Vance.

Right.

Yeah, especially over there.

And I'm.

4:59

I was lucky enough to have him on this podcast.

I should know what episode, but I don't remember off the top of my head, but I know he will be listening to this.

So.

Hello, Vince.

Hey, Vince.

We'll talk more about him later.

So I am excited to just get to know you and how you got into running and all of the things.

5:16

So are you originally from this area?

I'm not, I'm from Bedford, IN.

OK, where's Bedford?

But just about 20 minutes South of Bloomington.

OK, All right.

Are you a Hoosier?

Did you go to IUI?

Didn't my parents went to IUI, went to Purdue?

OK, so my husband, so I am a Boilermaker by marriage, all right?

5:35

Yeah, I went to Miami of Ohio.

So I'm not, you know, IU or now I'm just Purdue because I support him.

Of course.

And did you?

Were you athletic growing up?

Well, if you're from Bedford, IN, if you know anything about it, it was Damon Bailey Country, OK.

And I was 10 years old in 1990 and I want to play basketball and I had a decent shot, but I, I, I couldn't follow the plays.

5:58

And I wouldn't say that I'm super athletic when it comes to run jump.

OK.

Type Athletics.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm certainly not either.

So I think, well, I played basketball one year in high school.

I think I scored two baskets, if that tells you anything.

Yeah, I think I made it to, I made it to 8th grade, OK.

6:14

And then it was at that time I was crossing over and starting to play.

I started to play golf.

OK, so.

Started to play golf when I was 11 years old and caught on to that pretty quick.

Oh, that's.

Nice.

I am jealous of that because I started, I took my first lesson, I think in high school, but then didn't really, you know, pursue it at all.

6:34

And I wish I would have, because I would be a heck of a lot better today.

Yeah, it's a cool sport.

It taught me, I would say, the majority of early life lessons and gave me a foundation for all the other, all the rest of the tendencies that I have as a human, as a problem solver.

6:51

I mean, I had a wild hook and I was always trying to find my way out of trouble.

So it pretty much set a set a pattern in which I would still follow to that day.

I mean from from like what I it was a with my occupation.

I'm not essentially a problem solver.

7:08

Right, that's so funny.

What a good way to put that.

Does your dad golf?

Yeah, my dad is my dad's.

My dad's 72 years old.

He just shot.

I think he shots, He's beat his age like five times in the last two years and he shot I think 68 couple, maybe three weeks ago.

7:26

So he's, he's still going, he's got the, he's got that fire inside of him still.

Yeah, that's awesome.

That's amazing.

So when did you get into running then?

During college?

After college.

Well, I ran in junior high, so I started, I was overweight going into, I guess, you know, went through puberty and when I was 6th grade and started eating a bunch of Arby's and you know, I remember I used to eat like bags of curly fries, like.

7:54

Oh my gosh, There's curly fries that they sell in the grocery store that just don't taste the same.

Yeah.

No, not even close.

I mean, the seasonings killer at all.

So I don't, I don't do that stuff anymore because I mean, my stomach can't handle it.

But anyway, I, I was, I was overweight and my dad was a runner.

8:10

He was always, you know, always kind of pushed it.

So I, I ran in 7th grade and for what I was body type, I was a pretty good runner.

And I think I was, I think by the end of the year I was second or third man on the 7th grade team probably, and maybe 3rd or 4th overall.

8:28

OK.

And is this cross country?

Is cross?

Country, cross country.

And then I ran in 8th grade and I think I ended up being second man and I was still still overweight, but but I was deep into golf at that point and so it just kind of took a back seat.

And then played tennis in high school as well.

8:44

So I got some cardio doing that and I had some success as a tennis player as well.

Where'd you go to?

Well, I guess I don't really know Bedford very well.

Bedford N Lawrence, OK, one high school there.

OK, So it's probably you got 350 in a class.

8:59

Right.

OK.

Or three. 150 or in the whole 315 in a class?

OK, at class.

That's right.

Yeah, I went to Westfield High School up here and now it's much bigger than it was when I graduated in O four.

It was probably about 250 a class.

But I played #1 singles in tennis, OK.

9:16

And I'd never played tennis in my entire life.

That tells you anything about.

What did?

What did you say you graduated when?

O4.

O four, yeah.

So I graduated in 99.

OK, yeah, so we're not too terribly.

Yeah.

Not too terribly far apart.

Yeah.

So I, yeah, tennis, I still, I wish I would have hung on to that too.

9:33

I could probably still play a little bit, but yeah, it was just kind of a fluke thing.

I think going to a small high school.

I just tried everything I wanted to try, so that was kind of nice.

Yeah, man, I can't believe Westfield was small then.

So small.

I don't know how big the classes are now, but I just know.

Even just driving by it on the highway, I'm like, wow.

9:50

Yeah, I mean, massive growth with Grant Park over there.

Oh yeah.

Grant or Grant Park?

Over there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

So what made you choose Purdue for undergrad?

Well, one of my buddies was, I was going to go to IU and one of my buddies that, you know, really I just had a bunch of classes with him and I played tennis with him and we were really good friends.

10:10

He was like, you're going to be in business anyway, just go to Purdue, get an engineering degree and then we'll start a business.

And I was like, OK, sounds good.

So, well, let's room together and let's see if that works out and.

That's cool.

Are you guys still friends?

Yeah, still, I talked to him yesterday on.

10:26

That's great.

So is he still local?

No, he lives in bed.

He lives in Bedford because he is a Bedford businessman.

He owns.

OK, I got a family business down there and they own a bunch of stuff, golf courses and a golf course and all sorts of.

Different.

That's convenient for when you go back down there.

10:42

Yeah, yeah.

I haven't been there a whole lot as of recently but but yeah, it is.

Well, and then you became a businessman too.

We were talking before we started recording.

You're in the car wash business.

How did that come to be?

Well, I started out, you know, like I said, I guess I went to college.

11:00

I didn't.

I don't really think about a whole lot of stuff.

I'm kind of the type of guy that acts before, you know, it's ready, ready, fire, aim.

Yeah, that's kind of I am.

I'm not a huge planner.

Yeah, it just.

Which drives my husband nuts, but.

Adapt, adapt.

Right, Right.

Different.

I guess that's different types of people.

11:16

Yeah.

So I guess, I guess I got done with undergrad and realized, but I didn't really know what I was going to do.

And on to my other, another one of my best friends.

He said, Hey, you know, you got all the, you got all the skills to be a chiropractor.

11:34

And he's in chiropractic school at that time.

And I trusted him and he's my one of my best friends at that time.

And, and I'm like, OK, well, that makes sense.

I like, I like health, I like nutrition, I like exercise.

And that's really all I knew.

I trusted what he said.

So I ended up going to chiropractic school and I loved it.

11:53

It was, it was really cool.

Got to learn about the human body, bio mechanics, Physiology, biochemistry, you know, all stuff that I still use practically today for, you know, just my own existence.

And, and, you know, I think I provide some value still to my friend groups with that type of stuff.

12:11

But so I ended up being a chiropractor and we started, me and me and my friends started a practice together and worked in it for maybe three or four years.

And, and one of my, one of my patients approached me with the idea of doing a car wash.

12:29

I think he was just looking for some capital.

But at that point, me and my business partner in the chiropractic practice looked at the deal and we were like, you know, we'd like to be partners in this.

And so we all partnered up together and while I was practicing, you know, whatever, 40 hours a week, we were, we were building this building the brand and built our first car wash in 2012.

12:53

And well, I guess it and maybe 2011 is when we formed it. 2012 is when it opened and they took off fast.

And you know, I got, I got kind of a math brain anyway.

And it really we just kind of, I mean, you know, how an executive team works.

13:13

You got head of, you know, you got the CEO and the head of finance and business development, marketing and finance, you know, numbers made sense to me.

So they plug me into finance.

And, you know, at that point in time, I'm not even sure I was even, I don't even think I was paying my own bills.

13:28

I think Julie was still paying the bills.

And I'm like, well, I got to figure this out.

And so, you know, I guess it's what a 12 years later and wow, still in that and we sold, we sold the practice in, I don't know, 20/20/16 maybe.

13:44

OK.

Yeah, that had that would be a lot to continue doing that and then growing this other business.

How many locations now it's prime car wash, Yeah.

So for anybody local.

Yeah, that's correct.

So we got six in Indianapolis, we got two in Jacksonville, FL We.

Got oh in Florida?

Yeah.

We're we franchised OK and we got one in Nashville, TN and we got one being built in Waukee, IA, one being built in Florence, KY right now.

14:08

Wow, that's.

Really cool.

Couple others, another one we're looking in in Bloomington at this point, and then a few other franchise partners that are hunting for land.

So there's a lot of stuff going on.

Yeah, Holy cow.

So back to time at Purdue.

Did you play any sports in college?

14:24

No.

OK, No.

Did you run like casually or do any sort of like racing at all while you were in college?

But yeah, I did, I, I ran, I started lifting weights.

I lifted weights a lot like after high school was over, I started lifting weights after the summer, summer after my freshman year.

14:42

And that can be kind of a cult, kind of a cultural thing with the, you know, everybody went to college, we went back to Bedford and everybody lifted together in the summer and, you know, did a bunch of, you know, debauchery in the, you know, in the evenings and, and, and, and, and that became the culture.

15:01

And then I, I think, you know, as, as a vanity thing, you know, maybe like junior year, I just didn't like the way that I looked.

So I started running and just ran small amounts at that time, but it had a large impact on, you know, what I looked like as a human lost a lot of weight.

15:18

And I think, you know, had had a greater definition in my body, which was something at that, at that time that I cared about, which I don't really care about that a whole lot anymore.

But but but that was that was an important thing then.

And so it was, it was more driven by what I could, you know, what I could look like and I could always do, you know, I could do it because I had done it as a, as a junior high, you know, as a kid junior high.

15:43

Did you?

Were you Greek at Purdue?

I was.

OK, what fraternity were?

You in Delta Tau Delta.

OK.

My husband was a Sigma Nu.

Yeah.

And he was president of the he was IFC president.

I was trying to remember which one.

Yeah.

So he was very into the fraternity life.

16:01

I always joke that I'm glad we did not meet in college because while Miami of Ohio is very Greek, I wasn't Greek and I just wouldn't.

That wouldn't have worked out then.

But did you, did you meet Julie at Purdue?

Did she go to Purdue?

No, I grew up with Julie.

Really.

That's super interesting.

16:17

I met her.

I was a senior.

She was a sophomore, just, you know, through mutual friends.

And, you know, I fell in love with her when there was a big snowstorm in 1999, I guess maybe.

Yeah, it'd been 1999.

We talked on the phone a lot and, you know, that's kind of when I think both of us fell for each other and we dated off and on, you know, Rocky road.

16:38

From I'm sure that had to be yeah, that had to be hard with like college and everything else.

Yeah, it was.

Yeah.

I did a lot of stupid things and.

Yeah, it's been there.

But but fortunately we were, we were meant to be together, so.

Wow, did she?

Where'd she go to undergrad?

16:55

She went to IU for the first year and then she went to Purdue.

She, I think decided to join the dance team there and I think I think I played probably a little bit of a part in it her of her going, yeah, there.

But she went, she went.

She joined a sorority also and and then joined the Purdue dance team and.

17:14

Wow, that's crazy.

Yeah.

I tried to join the dance team in high school, and if somebody has a video of that, it would be like the most embarrassing thing of all time because I had no business trying to do that.

But like I said, Westfield was small.

You could do anything.

A couple of my girlfriends were trying out, so I'm like, well, why not?

17:31

But I can't even imagine.

And this, well, this whole.

I did not make it.

This whole Westfield is small thing.

It's crazy every time you say that.

Yeah, I know it's weird now, but like, yeah, back.

Then I mean, there is no way that you would have been able to.

I mean you got to any, any of the schools like that.

You got to pick a sport when you're like.

17:47

Ten.

Oh yeah.

Like exactly.

And and then if you pick wrong.

Right.

Well, your kids never going to play sports, so sorry about you.

I know I think about that.

I don't need to because my daughter, my oldest daughter is 7.

So it's like, but yeah, I don't need to, but I do.

I talked about that a little bit on this podcast where it's like the sports here is just why it stresses me out.

18:06

Yeah.

I mean, I mean, Julie was a phenomenally talented as a dancer and a choreographer and like her brain works.

And it's really cool to see how the kids, some of the kids have those traits and and the kids are all to a certain extent dancers as well.

18:21

Yeah.

That's.

Cool, Kora primarily does dance and Hazel does dance and gymnastics and then Mila's cheer.

I mean, it's she does cheer more than I do work.

I think it's it's pretty crazy, but she's a really good, you know, you get to see her dance and as a as a cheerleader also.

18:40

Yeah, that's so did.

She do the Colts thing like the Colts junior cheer.

No, I have friends that their kids do that and that seems pretty intense.

But I think all all of that can be very intense depending on.

It is, yeah.

Mila does well with it, though.

I mean, we've had to see, we've had to see like some early life test of character and fortitude and resilience and, you know, emotional intelligence and with, I mean, really with all of them.

19:06

That's what that's what the suburbs of Indianapolis kind of force, right?

You know, you got to, we got to grow up pretty quick.

Yeah, so tell us their age, all their ages.

Milo's eleven OK four is 9, age is 7.

OK, gosh, that's that's going to be fun right now.

19:24

Crazy but fun.

It is, it is.

I mean, they're, you know, we're always going, our evenings pretty much revolve around getting them to where they're where they're going and getting them to bed and keeping them occupied.

And then our weekends and you know, I get, I take Saturday mornings for for running, but after that it's, you know, pretty much just what what?

19:47

Activity is 1st and dividing and conquering because I'm sure that they have activities at the same.

Time.

Yeah, there is.

There is a lot of that.

Yeah, what does Julie do?

So Julie, well, she's a teacher by trade, OK?

And so she studied education at at Purdue and taught until Mila was in the belly.

20:07

And and and did not teach anymore after after that.

She just recently started a new, a new endeavor with Hope anchor and crew.

Are you familiar with them?

So they make, they make like ivory, like real nice bracelets.

20:23

So you can go in there and, and you can pay to make a bracelet and the money goes to help women that have some different types of challenges, you know, as far as abuse or drugs or, you know, things that things of that nature.

And so, and so they, they minister to those women while making bracelets with the women or you have people that go in there and make the bracelets and then the bracelets get sold.

20:47

So she is, she is a, she just started a role as fellowship director and as and as intern coordinator.

OK, that's super interesting.

Yeah.

It's how good for her.

It's a faith-based organization.

And so she's got a group of, of, of women in there that they're all kind of growing together in addition to being involved in the in the business.

21:07

So it's been really cool to see her.

I mean, she just, she's doing what she seems to be doing real well with it and seems happier and, and finding some purpose in it.

So I'm interested to see to see where all that goes.

Well, congratulations, Julie, because I'm sure she will listen to this.

21:22

That's really interesting.

Hope, anchor and crew, yes.

OK.

Yep.

All right.

Very cool.

Yeah.

I definitely want to get into faith, but I'm going to save that.

Let's talk about running.

Like when you got into actual running marathons or races, you mentioned that your dad was a runner.

So what was what was his level as a runner like growing up?

21:41

Was he always doing like training and doing marathons and.

Yeah, so my dad, I would see him.

So he would come home, I'd see him in the morning right before work, and then he'd come home and I would see him when he'd get home.

21:57

And the first thing you know he did was did was run.

So on a dated on a daily basis, I can remember him running down the street and I'd wait for him to get back and he'd come back.

Sometimes you'd be walking up the hill 'cause it was a big hill, come back to our house.

And so I knew that that was always a part of his life and he, they would have running club events over at our house and because we had a cool and so people would come over and my mom and make a bunch of food and everybody go on a run and, and eat.

22:25

And then I can remember one time he would always go on longer runs on, you know, Saturday or Sunday.

One time he told me he did 11 miles and I was like, that is that's impossible.

You know, like he, there is no, I'm like, he is not human like, because I knew at that point what it meant to run like 1/4 of a mile.

22:43

And I'm like, there's just something that he has that like barely anybody else has.

I'll never be able to do that.

And, you know, I've thought a lot about things like that in my life that, you know, I thought this would be impossible for anybody to do.

And then, you know, at some point in your life you do it right.

23:00

And so after college, I went to chiropractic school and I ended up deciding to run a, I was like, OK, here's the big goal.

Finally, one day in class, I'm like, you know, I think that this is something that that I can probably do and that I want to be able to match up to what my dad can do.

23:20

And I didn't know a whole lot about his, I guess we call him accolades at this point.

But then I decided to half marathon.

I trained for it.

I did it.

And I can remember it being like a moment in my life where I was like, well, man, I thought I could never do that.

And if I can do that, what are the other things in my life that I thought I couldn't do, that I can probably do and.

23:41

Which race was it by the way?

It was the mini.

OK.

Yep.

Yeah.

So I was living in Saint Louis.

I came back and stayed with you, hung out with some some friends and three or four of us did it and it was, and then had a good time that evening.

And yeah, so it's kind of an eye opening thing.

23:59

And and then I ended up getting through chiropractic college, moved back to Indy and in opening a practice, you know, when you're a chiropractor and you're opening a practice, people just walk in the.

Door right?

Gosh.

It's it's, you got to go get them.

And, and so I was like, OK, I got there's I got to figure out multiple things to do that I can meet people that would potentially my services and with a running background, I knew that that made sense to join a running club or multiple running clubs and just go meet people and and and run.

24:34

And so I did that for a little bit.

And you know, the whole point of it initially was to find patience, but that but it quickly it kind of over my my desire to be a run or overtook.

Yeah, imagine that that happening.

And, and I and I was going to 5K races every.

24:49

I mean, I was going anywhere there was runners like because I was still trying to recruit patients and, and, and so I was going to races every weekend.

Started running 5K's and you know at that point I started asking questions to my dad.

I'm like, well, what you know, what are all your what are all your best times?

25:05

And I'm running like 20, you know, anywhere from 19 to 21 minute 5 KS at this time when I start inquiring.

And you know, he's got a sub seventeen 5K and, you know, half marathon under one, you know, round 118 and a marathon at 2:46.

25:22

So, yeah, so those were the numbers.

Like, you know, those were the numbers, those 3 distances and his miles 458, you know, so those were the four distances that I always had in my mind.

And I'm like, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to get all those at some point just because, you know, I'm the, the way I generally think that I can do anything that I want to do, whether that's the reality or not, that that has been my pattern for the last, you know, 25 years.

25:50

And so I went on a, you know, pursuit to, to beat these, to beat these times, you know, pretty much for my, you know, for my own glory of being able to say that I can, you know, kind of do whatever I want.

And it was a fun, fun stuff with my dad, you know, communicating with him back and forth and knowing that he wanted me to do that to, to beat him.

26:14

But it proved more difficult than than I thought it was going to be.

Yeah.

So this was in, I mean, when when this when this pursuit I think softly started.

I mean it was in 2007 or 8.

Right.

Yeah.

So yeah, that's when I started.

26:30

That was my first mini.

I did the indie mini as my first half marathon in 2007, so kind of similar in terms of the amount of time I've been doing that.

Do you remember your first half marathon time?

It was 1137, OK.

I think OK I.

26:46

Remember the exact number.

But still, yeah, that's yeah.

So you still had I mean, yeah, you like you said like 1921 minute, I mean that's to sub 17 and then you're talking about like 1118.

You said for that 137.

That's that's a lot of time.

27:02

So how did you do that?

How did you did you end up using a coach when you first, you know, started trying to, you know, improve and get faster?

How did you?

Well, I was, I was running with Indie Runners from 2007 to probably off and on 2015.

27:23

There's some overlap on some things here.

I ended up getting into leadership at Indie Runners, ran the training program and was president of it for a while.

So but I guess my my first improvement was from 1:37 and maybe like 1131 was my second was second.

27:41

Geez.

That's a lot.

And then I was able to break 1:30, which me and my dad ran together.

He was on the tail end and and I think I ran 128 something.

He ran 129 when in in like 2000.

It was the first guy set marathon.

So I think that was O8 or O9.

28:00

And so at that point it was within like talk, the, the the conversation was, was being had because I was now he was 60 at that time or 58 or whatever.

And so we were crossing, I was beating him at that point, but I was still nowhere near his P Rs.

28:16

So I got like the, the joy of running with him a little bit and then and then beating him and then, and then it, you know, as I got a little better and he got a little worse, it was, you know, at that point there was no real competitiveness between us, me and him.

28:33

So I think I lost that competitiveness with him.

And then I was just trying to be competitive with the, the PR, the.

Times that he had said yeah.

Of Tim.

Yeah, that's so funny.

My dad is 68, so and he, he wants to do one more marathon.

28:48

He wants to do one when he's 70.

But him and I, it's kind of, it's kind of sad, you know, when you start that transition of like he, he qualified for Boston, I forget which first year, but he was like super fast.

I should know, I should find his PR so I can beat it this year because I don't know it off the top of my head.

29:04

But.

But he's run Boston a few times.

But now, you know, he's prioritized his golf game, as he'll say.

And he's like, you know, I could still do the running thing, but I want to play golf more than I want to train for.

Yeah.

Me and our dads are which they sound similar.

Yeah, so, you know, so now there's definitely no competition between the two of us because I'm working on my speed getting faster and faster and he's just trying to keep keep running basically.

29:28

So yeah, that's funny.

So did you do a lot of just local stuff?

When did you decide that you wanted to go for 26.2?

Well, I did.

I think I kind of, I think I wanted to just check the box and I think I did it in O eight maybe and the the Monumental marathon.

29:47

I think I ran like 320, maybe 3/24 at that time.

So I got it done.

And, you know, he was there and, and it was a, you know, it was a celebratory moment, but it was kind of just like, Hey, you're in the club.

Right, did it.

I'm a marathoner.

And after after that, I think I took some years off and I trained for triathlons.

30:09

And you?

Know I.

Was building my practice at that point in time and then the car wash kind of came along.

So there wasn't really a lot of training going on then.

But then in 2013 or 14, somewhere in that neighborhood is when I started.

30:31

I met a guy that I still train with today and we started meeting up at the Jordan Y in the morning and we'd go over to North Central Track and do track workouts and we're both real early risers.

30:47

So we started meeting at, you know, I think maybe it was 530 at at at that time.

And then he was involved through a a one of his neighbors personal best training.

And then I got introduced and Ebersole, Matt Ebersole started coaching me in 2014.

31:06

OK.

I think you still work with him today.

I do.

I still, I need to have, I've said this a few times.

I need to have him on this podcast.

Yeah.

I don't know Matt personally, but I just, I always see him everywhere and I know who he is and he has to.

He's probably heard of my podcast, I would imagine.

Matt, if you listen to this, I will ask you to come on.

31:23

I need to.

I've just been putting it off.

He scares me, which is kind of how I was with Mark Geyer.

He shouldn't.

Matt.

Matt.

Yeah, I know he's a nice guy, but he just is like such a big part of this community.

Yeah.

So that's really.

Cool, he's a he's AI would say he's a great coach.

31:40

He knows how to he knows how to communicate with all different personalities.

Like he's not coaching me and my training partner in the same way.

I mean, he knows, he knows what he needs to say when and when to speak up and, you know, when, when to not and, and he allows you to, he allows you to make your own mistakes.

31:58

And you know, he's like a he's a lot of different things.

He's a father figure for a lot of these people that I'm training with as as well.

And he's a, you know, he's a friend and a conf.

I mean, he's all things, yeah, all things that that you would you would want a role model or or a coach or a leader to be.

32:16

Yeah.

Wow.

So 10 years you've been working with Matt?

Yeah, that's awesome.

I am.

I have not been the best student.

I wouldn't say so if Matt is listening to this, I think that's, I think everybody that knows that I kind of, I tend to do my own thing a little bit, but he's always there to to assess a given time frame and, and and then try and get me back on track.

32:42

Yeah, off.

Track.

So yeah, that's, yeah, that's a lot of times what we need.

Yeah, right.

So at what point was Mila the oldest?

Yeah, Mila.

OK, Mila's the oldest.

So she's 11.

So when was she born?

She was born in 2013. 13 yeah, I know.

32:58

That's like, you know, the numbers guy here at this point.

OK. 2013 OK.

And so you had taken some time, so 2008, you did your first marathon.

You're done.

Yeah, still doing running, but just not marathons and some triathlons.

You said what level of triathlon did.

33:14

You, I did, I did 1/2 Ironman in Branson in 2000.

I don't even remember 2010 or 11.

And then really took everything off other than working at, you know, doing some stuff with Indy runners more as more in a more in a leadership role rather than running.

33:32

So running really took a back seat as Prime was being built and I was still adjusting a lot of people and, you know, we were having, you know, having little kids at that point.

And so, yeah, running was was not really a mean.

33:47

It was there, but it wasn't it wasn't a big part of my life at that point.

And then probably, you know, after Mila was born, really that into into 20 fourteens when I got when I got serious again and you know, pretty much dedicated myself to the pursuit of, well, I guess at that time, I mean, it was the pursuit of my daddy's peers.

34:07

That's why I was doing it.

Yeah, it's nice to kind of have that like, OK, that's I'll put that up there and that's what I'm going to go get.

Yeah.

Did Julie run during this whole time as well?

Like would you guys do races like go to races together or run together at all?

She would go to some races, but she wasn't running.

34:24

I mean, she, Julie, Julie really started transforming her health in like 20, I think it was 2017, OK.

She got involved with Beachbody and started doing some workouts like that, like a Shakeology and just kind of changed her paradigm.

And then and then after that she's, she's ran some off and on more, more doing like beach body stuff at that point.

34:45

I can't remember what year she started getting serious into it, but I can remember us, you know, us doing some five KS like around Christmas time together.

And she got pretty good pretty quick.

She got a lot of talent if she and she ended up running a marathon, I think it was in 2020.

35:03

Is it 2022 or 2023 at Glass Glass City?

OK, where's that?

What's that one?

I believe it.

I mean, I think it's Glass City, Ohio.

Okay, yeah, I've never heard of that.

Well, I don't think that's the name, man.

This is where Julie is going to be.

We got sorry.

35:18

Cut.

Cut it.

Let's Google it and then we'll just say what it is.

Yeah, yeah, this is where my memory is not good.

Yeah, no, that's fine.

That's fine.

It probably is.

It's probably Glass City.

So was she like I did a marathon?

Is she just want done one marathon?

I think she'll do another one.

35:34

I think she wants to qualify for Boston here.

We go, OK, Julian, when?

She gets 45I.

Think, yeah, I'm almost 40 so I'm like looking at that.

It's like this year I want a PR in the marathon, which I should just crush because I've finally started working with a coach.

I had my half marathon PR last year, so I'm, you know, I'm just under 4 hours as my marathon PR.

35:54

And so it doesn't seem realistic to go all the way to say I'm going to qualify for Boston this year.

I need to be a little bit more patient.

So you're on the come up right now this.

Is yeah, I'm on the come up.

Here we go.

I'm like, okay, these are my prime years, let's go.

And it's hard with little kids, as you've experienced, especially like building a business.

36:12

But you know, you figure it out and then we haven't talked about your mom at all.

What's your relationship like with your mom?

My relationship with my mom is good.

My mom, I think when it relates to running, she's done a little bit of running OK and but she wasn't, it's not nothing like my dad.

36:28

Right.

You know, great lady loves me to death.

You know, I think our years together were when I was young, and I would say that she probably would say that she treasures those years the most.

But, you know, our relationship is good.

I mean, she lives here with dad.

36:45

They're still together and they live a mile down the road and get to get to see the kids whenever, you know, whenever they want.

And she's, you know, pretty happy about that.

She likes to try to devote her efforts to the to the kids.

And, you know, she's a great leader for me and for them when it comes to faith.

37:04

And you know, I think her and my grandma have been a big part of my life in instilling that into me when I was a when I was a kid and giving me that foundation to find my way back to as an adult.

So.

Yeah, it's my mom actually was the one who started running in our family, and then she couldn't anymore.

37:22

And so then my dad kind of took the baton.

Yeah.

So she always is kind of like, I know that she wishes she could still run, I'm sure, especially now that that's kind of been my dad and I's thing growing up.

But yeah, I still want to get to faith.

But I think I know one of the reasons that Julie is so proud of you is because of your sobriety.

37:42

So finding sobriety, you're three years sober.

I have a lot of things to say about my relationship with alcohol, but I'd love to learn about that journey for you too, and kind of where it fits in to your running and then, you know, faith journey.

Yeah, so I started drinking when I was 15 saying I think that it, it probably I had a, you know, I had a tough time when I was, you know, maybe not 8 from 9 to through junior high.

38:15

I lost my grandfather and I dealt with that and, you know, and and I lost a best friend, not passed away, but she moved away, lived with her or she lived, she lived across the street from me.

And so like some loss there and I dealt with that by, you know, eating addiction, I think.

38:32

And so I gained some weight as I, as I talked about before, and I just got on a pattern of masking my problems with from taking things from the outside and putting them into the inside almost in a numbing, a numbing strategy.

38:49

And you know, junior high, I was overweight.

And so I got kind of, I got made fun of at that point and I became real self-conscious and I'm an analytical person anyway.

And while I lost the weight with extreme dietary measures, I probably in the process developed an eating disorder at that point in time, not even really knowing, you know, I the, the strategy to lose weight was just only eat once a day and not even.

39:18

And, and so I did that, you know, I was eating like French fries and Nacho cheese for like a month.

And and that was it.

And that was it.

And I lost and I lost a bunch of weight and, and so I ended up going into high school thin.

39:34

And so I was a thin person at if you looked at me, but I was still I, I still struggled with weight consciousness and, and really for a lot of years.

And so I think that that that self consciousness was carried through with me and into high school and, you know, going through puberty and changes and starting to really let be interested in girls.

40:00

I had a hard time talking to girls because I was always thinking about what they might be thinking and and and which is impossible anyway.

I was like, yeah, good luck with.

That yeah, but and, and so and so those things, you know, I tried to manage my way through those things and the and management strategies were largely ineffective until I found alcohol.

40:23

And I remember the first time I drank, I was like, I don't know why everybody's saying this is bad, Like this is the best thing ever.

And I can remember being drunk and like, you know, feeling free to say and think what I wanted to think.

And, and so that then became the management strategy for doing the things that I that I wanted to do.

40:44

And you know, it's hard to not tie faith into this, but it, but essentially what I was doing at that point is because I had all this pain and, and, and challenge in, in, in my brain and my emotions.

And there was other things I wanted to do that I didn't feel like morally I should be doing.

41:06

I just poured alcohol on top of everything to do really do and think and say whatever I wanted to say.

And that became an effective pattern for me to be able to do the things that I wanted to do.

And what I didn't realize at that point is that I was that, that the, the morality to is, is God talking to you and telling you what you should be doing or you should not be doing it.

41:28

And I didn't want to, I didn't want to hear from him.

And so I just kept drinking.

And then, you know, if if you, if you are, if you have anybody that has struggled with alcoholism, it just gets it gets you and you can create any reason to drink.

41:44

And so, you know, I drink when you're mad, drink when you're sad, drink when you're happy, drink when you're golfing.

You know, drink because you're you.

Because the kids, you had a hard day.

The kids were crazy.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, help you sleep.

And so throughout the years, I mean, and it and it got it got bad quick.

42:01

Like I, I had to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning when I was 18 and college and it just things of that nature just kept happening.

You know, I ended up, I mean, I had trouble with the law and you know, years after that and, you know, multiple things of that nature.

42:21

And but I was always, I was always functional enough to where the things like I could make money, I could work, I could still have friends.

It didn't really harm my friendships a whole lot, but I was able to do a lot of the things or my perception was that it wasn't harming things only to the extent to which I thought that I probably shouldn't be doing it.

42:45

But if I could do it and do all the other things I wanted to do, I was going to push it as far as I could and drink as much as I could.

And there was periods of time where I had to reduce to get the things done and I would do that.

And then there's times when things were OK and I'd drink as much as I could, you know, weekend benders, you know, to, you know, and, and that of course leads to other drugs.

43:07

And then then the, the combination of those things leads to, well, you know, a lot of debauchery, right?

And, and, and just a general frame of mind of, especially when you're getting away with it, for the most part, general frame of mind of arrogance.

And so I was that person to varying degrees from the age of 15 to, to probably 40.

43:31

Yeah, so, and finally at 40 or 41, I'd had a lot to drink the night before one night and I was in Bedford and I decided I was going to drive home in the next day and I had a hangover, had a couple, couple drinks and on my way back pulled over and actually got to call one of my buddies to come get me.

43:57

And I thought I was going to be OK.

I mean, I had enough to drink to where I was like, I'm not sure anything's gonna happen here, but I ended up ended up getting charged and and so that became the big time wake up call and that I quit drinking that next day after my buddy drove me home and and I haven't had a drink since.

44:17

Wow.

So there's been, there's been, there was, there was a time when I almost drank again, but I but I ended up not drinking again.

What was that?

What was that situation?

So when you're when you're sober for a little bit and your life is going good and you know, you haven't had to pay for the concerts, you haven't had to pay for what you've done, you start to think, well, I'll say I'll speak for me.

44:46

I start to think I can, can I really go the rest of my life without drinking like that?

That came into my mind and, and it had been a couple months, I think it was December.

I quit drinking in September.

I'm like, can I really can, I really quit drinking here forever.

And, and I decided that the answer to that question was no.

45:05

And, and so I went to the store, I got, I got a bottle of Jim Beam and I took it down to the basement and I think the kids went to bed and I went downstairs and it was, it was the holidays had just started.

45:23

I put family man on, ironically enough.

And I'm like, you know, I was kind of a tradition for me to sit down and start the holidays and drink a bottle of Beam and, and watch family man.

And so I opened the bottle and I got a cup, my left hand, I got the bottle in my right hand.

45:42

And I'm trying to figure out whether I'm just going to chug the bottle or pour it in the cuff.

Like that's what I'm thinking about.

And flash into my mind the scene of Jack Nicholson in The Shining, because I've got a bar down there, you know, and I'm staring into this bar and I, you know, I'm getting ready to take the drink.

46:01

And a voice comes in my head and says, if you take this drink, there's no going back.

And I, and I thought for a minute and I'm like, it's, you know, I think I'm still going to take the drink.

And, and I almost then again, and then as I'm getting ready to, to execute this thing, the voice comes back into my head and I'm like, that's God.

46:26

And, and I'm like, I can't take that drink.

And, and so I didn't.

And I twisted the cap back on the bottle, put it, put it away and, and that, and that was it.

And, and I, and I knew at that point that this is not something that I can have in my life.

46:47

And, and so I just ended up at that point committing to never, to never drinking again.

And I, and I haven't.

And, and along that path, you know, there's been a lot of, there's been a lot of things like I ended up, I ended up getting charged and I had to go to jail, go to jail for four days.

47:09

And so, you know, there's the penalties paying, paying for these things was a reality for me.

And and.

Because you had kids at this.

Point.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I had to, I had to deal with, I had to deal with those problems post, you know, post, post activity and post healing.

47:33

You know, there's, there's, there's ramifications that filter on through your life after you've after you've healed, after you've actually hit bottom, you still got to deal with stuff.

Well, it takes so long.

Yeah.

Because I've experienced like, friends and, you know, family friends that have gone through that.

47:49

And it's amazing how from the time you're pulled over to the time you're sitting in a cell can be a really long time.

Yeah, yeah.

And so, so that was, you know, I had to deal with that and, and, and, and in retrospect, it was the, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

48:07

And because it, it, you know, it ensured that it, it, it bought me the amount of time from the time I quit to the time I made it past that first temptation to the, the reality of that punishment and to have to go past that punishment.

48:25

And, you know, I was still at this point, still a self, still still hadn't made my way all the way to where I needed to go as a, as a person.

I still the, the driving force I think was my story can't end with me drinking again.

48:42

Like it was still all about me.

It's like I told my buddies, I'm like, I can't drink again because it ruins the story.

Like if I drink again, what, what is this right?

And, and so that sadly bridged me, I think from, you know, my desire to, to, to paint the picture in the way that I wanted to paint it to, to getting to where I really needed to go.

49:10

And you know, in this in this process I had we we'd started going to church and I got baptized in that November in between the time I quit drinking and the time I almost drank again.

And so, you know, God had came into my life and the Holy Spirit was guide was guiding my decisions.

49:31

Now you know, you still got free will, right?

Just because God's in your life doesn't mean that God can stop me from taking that drink.

I still had to make that choice.

And just because you got God in your life doesn't mean you're not going to have to pay the penalty for the things that you've done as as as, as you know, I just said there.

49:51

So, but those things all really all those things occurred in, in, in, in that come in, in that combination of those events.

A couple of my buddies quit drinking too, like, so we were all doing it together.

50:09

And, and so it, it kind of became a thing within our group, like everybody's quitting drinking.

And, and it's because I paid some of the price and that felt good.

And, and I'm still seeing that today that people that I'm close to, whether it's, you know, my doing or something else that's being done through me, people's lives are improving because they're quitting drinking.

50:34

And, and I hope that this, you know, if anybody's listening to this story, they can understand that this is a path to changing your life.

Damn, that's powerful.

It was for me, yeah, I can barely.

I mean, it's tough for me to stuff for me to communicate it, yeah.

50:51

Especially when I started thinking about, you know, other people that that's affected.

Yeah, and what about your wife?

What about Julie?

Julie, she quit drinking as well.

She quit before I did.

I mean the, the path kind of got set in motion.

51:06

So she quit, brought me to church.

We got invited by some friends and, and all, you know, again, that was a huge part.

And so and she still is.

Neither of us have had a drop of alcohol since then.

And so, you know, it's just been one big merging of things together for, you know, for the good of me and Julie and our family and, you know, hopefully continuing to be more of my friends around me that get to experience that.

51:40

Did you grow up religious?

Somewhat, OK.

I went to church.

My mom and my grandma were very religious.

They'd read the Bible all the time, talk to me about, you know, got into Revelation a lot.

So it's kind of a scary thing for me.

But I got baptized around the time my grandpa died to deal with that loss.

51:59

And so initially, you know, I'd had Christ in my life, but it was just, I didn't understand it enough to know how to, how to, how to have that relationship and, and to allow that relationship be the focal point when I'm dealing with emotional problems or functional life problems.

52:19

And so with with that, it was, I understood it, there was a baseline, but it was fleeting in the reality of how to, how to have that as, as a, as a solution for the for life's challenges.

Yeah, well, it's hard when you're when you're at that age.

52:38

Yeah, yeah, it's tough to understand things.

Yeah.

And you're going through puberty and kids are mean and it's hard.

I.

Mean it's a really hard time of life yeah.

I feel like you and I have so many similarities Chris.

It's crazy I started drinking when I was 15 I still drink but I've my relationship with alcohol has changed a lot a lot in the last I don't know probably just a couple years ever since COVID.

53:01

I think like my husband and I got in this pattern where just drink every night.

It's like for for what, like, you know, open a bottle of wine, watch TV became habitual and something that I could just tell I'm like, this isn't I don't what are what are we doing?

53:18

This doesn't make any sense.

And also just as I've aged, frankly, like I can't have more than two glasses of wine without feeling like shit.

So it's like, you know, there's a reality there that as I'm trying to improve my fitness and, you know, get faster and it's, it's clearly not something that serves me in the way that I felt like it used to.

53:38

Right?

Like we've talked about where it's kind of that liquid courage, where it gives you the ability to be invincible or do anything.

I think as I've gotten older, I've just realized I don't need it for that at all.

So we'll see.

I've, I've also watched my husband his, his Jim Beam is Maker's Mark.

53:57

And I like can't stand the smell or sight of Maker's Mark.

And literally last night he went to CVS and bought a small bottle.

And he does that because he can't and he doesn't listen to this so he won't hear it, but he can't.

If he buys a big bottle, it can't, he just can't have it in the house.

And he knows that about himself.

54:13

So he'll buy a small bottle.

And then this morning I find myself like, you know, paying attention to see like, did he drink the whole small bottle?

And he didn't.

And it was like, OK, well, that's, that's good.

But it's also like, I just know he's battling these demons.

And I hope and I pray that he'll get, he'll get to a point where he can change that relationship without there being a defining moment like when you've had where you have to pay a big price for that.

54:42

I just worry about that a lot.

Yeah.

I mean it's personality driven, right.

I mean, there's there are.

I don't want to come off as make an alcohol the the the the scourge of the earth.

Well, sure, yeah, a lot of people listen to this drink.

I mean, of course.

But but if anybody that's listening this knows me, I mean, my personality is zero to 60.

55:02

I mean, yeah, it's it's black or it's white, right?

There is there is no halfway about anything.

And so anything I'm going to be doing, it's going to be a big, you know, there's, even if it's good, there's going to be downsides because I'm going to do it.

You're going to take it to the extreme running.

55:18

There are downsides, right, for that.

I I don't feel like I experienced a lot, but I'm sure Julie.

But I know what you mean.

Yeah, there's, I mean having.

Yeah, I get it.

Way less than the Jim Beam, right?

But it's still an issue.

There's still downsides.

55:33

And so, so you know, people and I was a like people with those personalities are attracted to each other like, you know, like running groups, right.

And so the running, you got a big running group and then the the small running group will segment its way off and you and you find yourself with five or six of those exact personalities in the group.

55:55

And, and those personalities usually have, it seems to have some on the continuum of confidence to narcissism, right?

But it's on that, it's on that continuum and, and that usually, you know, it can have defiance and self aggrandizement in, in, in those things.

56:18

And those were, you know, you get involved in that, in that type of an environment.

And, and everybody wants to at least what we would do, would say we're going to do whatever we want.

We'll have 15 drinks the night before and we'll go out and we'll go out and run a race the next day hungover.

56:36

OK, we'll throw up and then we'll keep going because we're so we're just so tough, right?

And and and I and and that's and, and then so it's, it's such a, an egotistical thing that just grows and grows and feeds and, and and it make and it needs more alcohol to feed it and it needs more hard times and challenges to overcome to then continue to feed the ego that's that's grown.

57:06

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure somebody listening to this is, is struggling with figuring out.

And I hope that this can just add another person to the number of people that you've impacted with the price that you've paid.

57:22

I know it will.

I hope so too.

You know, there's a couple of the guys that did quit right around the time.

One of them specifically effects impacts a lot of people and like just as far as his reach and his network and, and I'll get to every couple weeks he'll be, we've got a chat and he's like, hey, this guy quit drinking.

57:42

So great.

This guy, you know, this person quit, wants to quit drinking.

And so it's really, really cool to see that I'm in, in a way connected to that.

Yes, yes, 1000% Well, I feel like I there's this day and age, thankfully there's a lot of alternatives in terms of like if you feel like you want to have a beer now there's good non alcoholic beer like that tastes good, right.

58:06

So you can for me, that's one of the ways that I've changed my habits during the week is just replacing it and not having it around.

But having something that can just take take the place of that.

And I don't know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty darn close to just saying forget it.

58:22

I don't.

I don't understand why there's even a point at all anymore.

Yeah.

I mean, I think if if we, well, we haven't talked about the second-half of the story where things go better as a runner for me, but.

Let's well, let's talk about the second-half of.

58:38

That story.

So so you heard me talk prior about seeking to beat my dad's rec records for really for my own.

I mean, yeah, there's some of it that keeps me attached to him.

But really it's just kind of a personal glory type thing.

58:56

You know, I was as a golfer and all.

Any golfers on here will know this.

We're all out for glory.

We want, we want the last hole, you know, 9 iron in your hand, you got to stick it and make the putt to win.

So golfers, golfers are raised to seek personal glory because that's what you, that's what you see.

59:14

So, you know, I was, I always had that desire.

And, and so that was, that was my good.

That's why I wanted to beat the records.

I wanted it to be a good story.

You know, I'd imagine all these ways that I'd beat it and, you know, and then I'd tell all my buddies and everyone would say, Oh, Chris is so good.

59:31

He did it.

You know, one of those, one of those things that's, you know, those are the types of like stories that I'm painting in my mind.

And you know, so I go through this situation with, with quitting alcohol and finding faith.

And in, in that time I started doing a program called 75 hard.

59:52

Oh yeah.

And which is a really cool program.

And I decided to, I decided to do double S every.

I decided to run every twice every day in the two workouts.

OK, yeah, explain 75 hard to people who might not.

Know so, so this is a, it's a program where you got to you got to take a picture every day, read 10 pages of a book every day, drink 128 ounces of water a day and do 2 workouts a day.

1:00:15

One has to be outside and you have to follow a strict diet of your creation for 75 days.

And so I did that.

One of my business partners was doing that and heavily advocating it.

And so I decided to do it and, and, and, and it ended up being like a, a platform for me to, to, you know, like a base to build off of because I figured out my body figured out how to do double S and, and I had to stick to it and, and, and I actually had to exercise discipline.

1:00:48

I'm fine with self-control.

I've have been horrible with prior to this point in my life, but this I think this instilled for the first time some self-control in me.

And then after that I ended up, you know, the last day of that I ran the man.

1:01:06

I ran a marathon during it and it was it was I think I ran three O 5 or something like that.

And then the last day I ran the mini still, you know, not really tapered and and I ran like one.

I had a PR in one 19119 thirty or something this point.

1:01:22

And so I can, you know, I can, I can kind of taste taste going toward my dad's, you know, my dad's numbers at this point.

But but my mind was different.

You know, I, I had been through a lot of stuff and I was clean.

Not only clean as in like not alcohol, but just clean.

1:01:41

I wasn't putting toxic things in my body.

You know, I didn't have all those chemicals from energy drinks and, you know, all the things that we put in our body and my body was just functioning better.

And because, because those things were not in my body, I could hear God.

1:02:01

You know, when you spend 25 years trying to block them out and then you do the opposite for a few months, you can hear them like.

And, and so I knew I, I had a, I had a strong sense of a relationship with God at that point.

1:02:19

And only in jail that I find a book that was sitting there that I read that was, it's called Abide in Christ.

And I read that book and, and then I, you know, and then I chose Christ at that point, not that I didn't know Christ, but you know, that at that point is when that, that really, really, even though I've been baptized before this before, that was really the time that I, that I chose him to follow.

1:02:43

And I started reading the gospel, getting all I got an audio Bible.

Start listening to it every day.

And if you listen to the gospel or read the gospel and you do it over and over and over, it's going to ingrain in your, in your brain as far as what you're the choices that you're going to make.

1:03:00

And, and prior I'm, I'm listening to, you know, 48 laws of power and all self improvement books.

It's all self stuff.

It's not it's not like it's still all promoted to you doing things for you.

But when you when you find the gospel, it's the complete opposite of that.

1:03:19

It's you doing things for other people.

And so I've got a lot of years of 40 of selfishness.

I'm an only child also.

So I've got a lot of years of selfishness that that I'm still trying to unwind into being more of a servant.

1:03:36

And but I can 100% say whether you're have faithful or not, it when you make the, the, the, the transition from self-serving to servant, that is you, you, everyone knows that after they've done that, that that's the point of existence is to serve other people.

1:03:52

And and and all I mean, regardless what you think about you.

Know.

God or faith or religion, when you when you make that shift and and and so I'm actively trying to do that at this point and but when you do all this, there's a surrendering that happens because if you're in if you are AI, guess what would be the word independent self-sufficient person.

1:04:15

Your tendency in tough times is to tighten up and take control.

And I can solve the problem.

I can do it and, and nothing is too great for me to overcome.

You know, people, people that have that philosophy and I had that philosophy for a lot of years.

1:04:33

And there was some reinforcement of that from things that I saw in tough times to where I thought that it was all on my shoulders and I wanted everything to be on my shoulders.

And, but you know, as, as you, as you start to incorporate the gospel in your life, then you realize that it was never you anyway, right?

1:04:54

You know, and, and so, you know, one way or the other, you're either using, you know, I don't know if anybody hears a Star Wars person, but you're either using the force or you're using the dark side.

And I use the dark side for a lot of my life.

And I LED a lot of people to the dark side.

1:05:10

And, and unfortunately, but I realized at this point that surrendering, giving U control and understanding that that things are not all my doing was, was a big step.

1:05:28

And so I started training a lot.

And my training was not as it was before either.

My training was all to, to, to get in connection with, with God and, and the Holy Spirit and to, and to that and to get in connection with my friends.

1:05:45

So my point, my, my big point that became it's not my PR.

It's not beating my dad's PR's.

That's how silly is that right to to think that and and make that so important when I've got something that allows me to have wonderful relationships, allows me to be healthy and allows me.

1:06:06

So, you know, the, the two things that that I think you need to do as a human is to have a relationship with God and serve your brother or sister or whatever those that, that to me is the, is the point of existence.

And so after I realized that and I started training in that fashion and I started racing again.

1:06:27

I've, I finally, I ran, I had a 5K and I beat one of my dad's PRS in that.

And I, and this was, you know, I took a different frame of mind to do it.

And I realized the person that I was was never going to get those times.

1:06:44

And so, but the person I am now, I can, I can do things that I could not do before because, you know, all the negative, all the weights that were on me.

It's like if, if you're an economist or you're in the markets, it's like my whole life I had high interest rates on me.

1:07:04

And now interest rates have been cut.

And so, and so the, it's time, it's time to do some things.

And I don't know what they're going to be.

I don't know if I'm going to beat my dad's PRS or not, but at this point I don't care.

I genuinely finally reached apathy about that situation.

1:07:21

And so I kept training.

It was later that year that I, that I finally got the half marathon PR and, and, and the celebration had to be different, right?

The celebration has to be of thankfulness and the celebration has to not be the way that you always visualize the celebration being about me.

1:07:44

It was, it was not about me.

And granted, there are, there are things pulling you to, to want you to make it about you.

And I'm not saying that I've never done that because I have had times where where there's, you know, there's recession back into that type of thing, but but that was the, that was a big difference.

1:08:02

And then so I started running the marathon And the biggest, the biggest reality that I had in the marathon, and this is, and I preach this to everybody that'll listen, but I realized that the thing that made the marathon so hard for me is I'd get to 17 or 18 and I'd look down on my watch and I'd be going slower than I thought I needed to go to get the goal that I wanted.

1:08:24

And, and so I realized that what does it matter what my watch says anyway, right?

It doesn't it, it's not like I'm going to look at my watch at mile 18 of a marathon and be like, oh, I need to go faster.

So I'm just going to, and if I do that, I got 10 minutes of that anyway, and then I'm in a real bad place.

1:08:46

Then you hit the whatever you want to call it, the bear the wall.

And you know, and So what I've been doing is been trying to take control in the exact moment when I need to let go.

And So what I started doing is I just, I'm like, well, I don't need, I don't even need to look at my watch.

1:09:02

I know I've ran, how many, how many miles have I trained?

I know how fast I'm going and, and, and if I, and if, and I know if I'm going to right pace or not.

And so I finally did that in one marathon, ran a blind and I got to, I got to 17 or 18 or 19, whatever it was in this marathon, I relaxed and I looked at my watch at the end after the marathon was over and I, and I wasn't, I felt like I was going slower, but I wasn't.

1:09:26

And then I recovered.

So I'm like, OK, I figured some things out about the marathon at this point.

The problem is trying to exercise control over the marathon.

And, and then you can of course parallel that to the rest of your life and all the things that I just said.

1:09:42

And so surrender was there and the relaxation in a time of, in a time of stress became the thing that I was that I've been trying to do.

And of course, you know, in those moments when you need to be carried, you will be carried.

1:10:00

And so I know in that moment in the races, that's when I need to be carried.

It always happens.

Ever since then, I've, you know, I've ran, I've ran Boston was tough this year.

But other than that, my marathons are very consistent since then.

Wow, what other marathons?

1:10:17

I think I've ran 10 or 12 in the last three in the last three years.

Ran Charlevoix.

Oh.

Cool.

Charlevoix is awesome.

Makes you think it's Des Linden.

Yeah, yeah, she lives there, is from there.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, Charlevoix.

I've ran three times, ran Carmel, ran Monumental, ran Saint Jude.

1:10:35

Oh, cool, that one.

St.

Jude's awesome.

Ran and it's a good time of the year.

Ran Boston.

I ran a ran like the Millennium Meadows Marathon in, in Michigan.

And so, you know, the marathon to me is a lot like poker, right?

If I don't know if anybody, if anybody's a poker player out there.

1:10:52

But if you're playing hold em and, and you and you play in a cash game and you play for long enough and, and you're going to win, you're going to and you're, and you're good enough and you, and you got an edge, you're going to win.

But the problem is the cards got to come out and there's so much randomness in the game that on any given day you can be the best player at the table and still lose.

1:11:15

But overall, if you play over time, you're going to be you're, you're almost guaranteed to be a winner if you're doing it right.

And that's what I've noticed with the marathon.

Everybody gets on a 16 week cycle, they do 1A year, 2A year.

And if they get bad weather or they're not peaking, it's a disaster, right?

1:11:34

And it's a not only a disaster for the race, but it's a disaster for their mental game.

And so I'm like, the only way that I can mitigate that is to race marathons all the time.

And, and to do that, you have to be very high volume.

You got to do double S When I say, I don't know, maybe you don't have to.

1:11:52

That was my solution is to have the volume always really high to do double S and to make sure that my body can recover enough to do four to six marathons a year.

And thereby taking out the, you know, the variability and whether I'm going to run a good one that year or not.

1:12:09

I'll only run one good one that year, but I'm going to get the one that I that I love that my training likely says that I'm says that I should get.

That year.

So do you cover your watch for every race?

It's evolved now.

I look at about every five miles in a marathon if, if, if I'm not feeling, if I'm, if I'm starting to have anxiety or for whatever reason.

1:12:36

I don't look at it under any circumstances because I know, I know myself.

I know that as soon as that that doubt seeps in, I know there's no, there's nothing good that can happen by me looking at that watch, you know, because the only thing possibly that could happen they're good is that you're going faster than you wanted, than you thought.

1:12:56

But I don't know that that gets you anywhere.

Anyway, so yeah, yeah, it's so interesting.

I made these I made these stickers to put on my watch for my easy runs for the kind of similar reason.

It's just like just run and you know, just take it easy and who cares?

1:13:13

And the sticker says no one cares because nobody cares about the time like and it's it's just an easy run.

So why are you even looking at the watch?

You feel it buzz when you know how far you've gone.

So just it's.

A very good.

Point, you know, so I've tried to use.

I don't use it.

I do a lot of treadmill running, but when I do my easy runs outside I try to just cover it up and not think about it and it is really freeing.

1:13:37

I have not done that in a race.

I don't know.

If I can.

But I understand.

Running should not be stressful.

Right, it's very true.

It's, I think it's I'm running the Colts 5K this Saturday.

I'm going to be in a massive amount of I mean, maybe pain's the word from from from 2:00 to from 2:00 to the end, but all my buddies are going to be there with me.

1:13:59

And you know, you're going to you're going to go to the edge at that point.

But other than and I guess, you know, there's some track workouts.

I was in quite a bit of pain this morning also.

So there is some but, but you know, not more than a couple times a week.

Should it should it be stressful and and and this and and the stress should be you should fit, feel, figure out how to be in a good place when you're when you're in the pain and.

1:14:27

Yes.

So but but when running starts to get stressful for people and I see it all the time, it's like I got to get this marathon PRI got to do this.

It's just you got to, you got to control alt delete on your, on your mindset at that point, and you got to relook at it and say, what really matters here.

1:14:45

What matters are the people that have come along with me on this journey and, you know, are, are taking the walk with me.

And, and that's the, that's the, that's the most important thing about that.

And, and anytime anybody's losing perspective or love for it, you just got to turn your, you just got to look behind you and say, this is, this is the one of the greatest things that I've ever been involved in because of the relationships I've I've had.

1:15:12

And, and I think if you can do that, the stress can go away.

Yeah.

But it shouldn't be.

I mean, you shouldn't be waking up freaking out about, yeah, oh, I've got, you know, am I going to be able to run this easy run at 8:12?

1:15:27

I mean.

Or or is it going to be 832?

Like it's like who?

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter at all, at all.

And I think that way too, just about about races too.

It's like, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

The you should be in it for an experience that you enjoy.

1:15:47

To your point, you shouldn't be so stressed about it that it's taking a toll of any kind.

No, I mean, I'll give you some insight into what I'm thinking about on Saturday.

I know that there's about 15 of us that we've been building this race up for months.

1:16:02

And the best part about it is standing on the start line and looking around and knowing that we're, we've all, we're all here.

We're, we're going to remember this start line.

We're going to remember the gun and, and we're going to there's going to be some the interesting things that are going to happen along the way of, of this race.

1:16:21

There's going to be there.

There's enough people to where people are going to be in kicks and it's and we all love each other and we're all driving each other to to, to be better in that way and forming bonds while while we're doing that.

And you're going to look back 30 years from now and remember that start line and remember the hugs at the finish.

1:16:42

Line, you know, Yeah, yeah, 1000% I want to hear about Strava.

So now we're talking about like, not looking at your watch, but you do you are a Strava guy.

And so you always are wearing a watch.

Let's be clear.

And yeah, I took a peek at your Strava and I was like, Oh my gosh, there's so much here you do such a good job too.

1:17:03

Tell tell people about how do you think?

About I try to keep I just want people to be interested in it.

Like I want people to be like what's Galloway going to say today?

Like and it's and I just try to share the things that I'm interested in and educate, empower and entertain.

1:17:19

And I think that if people follow it, they, they, all of those things are happening.

And, and I think that I like to be insightful in, in ways that maybe people haven't thought about stuff.

And I, you know, I think that I do have some nutrition knowledge and some bio mechanics knowledge that can be helpful to people if they do follow it.

1:17:43

You know, I got a lot of people that are connected in the running community.

So I like to, if people are looking at my Strava, they probably know what's going on with people that are competing against each other sometimes.

And so I like to be involved in that.

And, and I'm a little bit of an instigator from time to time.

1:18:03

And I, I enjoy that.

And, and I've made friends from Strava or people that I see it like people that I've met at races.

Sure, OK.

And, and then I, and then I try to take an interest in their training and, you know, you make a couple comments and next thing you know, you're on a morning run with them, You know, so I think it is a it's it is this one social media that I other than I use Twitter for financial things, OK, but, but it's the one social media that I engage in because I see it as nothing but positive.

1:18:34

Yeah.

And my intention behind it is, is, is all positive.

And, and I think it's relationship building and, and hopefully inspiring and, and, and insightful.

And, you know, sometimes people text me and be like, I never thought about that.

Or like, you know, maybe I'm going to start eating a jar of peanut butter every two days or.

1:18:52

Is that a real?

Thing I mean it's close so yeah I go from butter to peanut butter to guacamole to interesting nuts to it's it's always I'm always doing something weird you know that that that I'll swear up and down by one week and then be off of it the next week and so it's.

1:19:10

That's funny.

Well, I now follow you on Strava.

So I'm, I am excited to continue seeing seeing what the weird thing of the week is.

Welcome to the ride.

Yeah, I, I am on Strava and I always am like I have it connected to my Peloton stuff so it just automatically posts and then same with my watch and I get, I go on fits and starts of like actually going in and updating and making any sort of comment.

1:19:36

I want to do a better job of that though 'cause I think especially since I am marathon training this season, that yeah, it's just, it's interesting, maybe for others, I don't know, but also to for me to go look back on in another training cycle or compare like previous workouts of my own.

1:19:51

Because I think there's always no matter what the comparison trap in social media, even on Strava, it's, it's tricky, tricky business.

But I think if you're self aware enough and.

I try not to like, if you looked at my workout this morning, I try not to put like what my times are in the in the in the workout.

1:20:07

Someone wants to look at it.

Yeah, they can look at it.

But that's, that's not, that's not my point.

It's not like, hey, I'm going to advertise what these times are so you can figure out what my race probably ought to be or look how look how good I'm doing and so infer what I might do.

1:20:24

I don't, I don't, I don't like to do that because, well, for one, the people that do that end up having too high of like expectations on their race and they and they think that like, what are they going to grab up to that race?

If their workouts say this, then that's going to make them do that.

1:20:43

I mean, to me, it, it makes it less likely that it'll happen because there's more pressure and stress and pressure and stress as I think to my, what I'm selling here is that pressure and stress in running make you worse.

Yeah.

And less stress and pressure and more joy make you better.

1:21:02

I want to talk more about Vince Auten because you're one of his coaching clients.

Yeah, I didn't know that.

Yeah.

So for anybody who hasn't listened to Vince's episode, go listen to that.

Vince is a wonderful person.

We met via Instagram, I'm pretty sure and and then we met in person and I was like, oh, I love this guy.

1:21:21

He's such a wonderful person.

What an amazing part of the running community.

Did you meet him through Fisher's running Club or a different way or?

I did.

So Vince, Vince ran with Julie one day, OK, randomly, I mean, Julie started running and I think, and if this is wrong, you know, this is the kind of the way that I remember it, right?

1:21:42

Julie started running with Merrill's miles on on Friday morning and and Vince was involved in that and I think.

What is that?

I don't know what that is.

You know, you know Merrill Yarling no well, it's just some people in Fisher's running group that meet at the at the coffee house on Brooks School and 96 guys coffee and and they all Merrill is a he's a scientist and he and he likes statist.

1:22:10

I mean, in his mind and as a person, he's kind of a scientist and, and, and so he's he's always an advocate of running based on heart rate.

And so they got a group there and, and everybody from I guess Team Gold, it is started running there and then a lot of people just started running at that run.

1:22:30

Fisher's running club has like multiple different nuanced.

Run.

Yeah, see, I don't know things.

That that, that people join and, and that's one of them.

And so Julie started running at that and then I think Vince did a long run with her and, and and you know, when you do a long run with someone, you're.

1:22:47

You're friends for like friends with them afterwards and so or and or just like never speak again.

Yeah.

Yes, that's that's correct.

That's I've not had that happen for the record, but.

Yeah, I've done that to a variety of people that made him maybe not come back, but Vince, you wouldn't have.

1:23:03

Vince is not like that, you know.

So Julie was just like, I really, really like Vince, you know, great guy.

And, you know, just throughout interactions, I, I talked to most people I see.

And so I talked to Vince a couple times and, and then I think we went to Glass City that marathon and I got to know Vince a little bit more and he shared kind of some of his goals.

1:23:24

And then we went on a run together and we hit it off as, you know, as friends.

And then he started this coaching business.

And I wouldn't say that I'm the most open person to being told what to do.

I've got.

1:23:40

I gathered that from your earlier comments about working with Matt.

Yeah, yeah.

Or coaching just in general.

So I think it takes a unique situation for that to be a something that works for me.

And Vince happens to be that unique situation.

1:23:57

Interesting.

And maybe he's maybe Vince is just really good at adapting to any situation that he's in to make it work for that person.

But you know, Vince, there's, there's a lot of when, when, when Vince started his coaching business, there was a lot of things going on in my life that were very complex and challenging in, in a, in in some different ways than we've than we've discussed.

1:24:22

And I felt like I just needed someone to communicate with that I could bounce things off of and steer me in the right direction and help me to think about things in a way that maybe I wasn't thinking about.

And to just tell things to someone that I just can't, you know, that I can't tell to anybody else.

1:24:43

Just because there are situations like that in your life that you just, you know, you can't, you can't tell anybody else those things, you know, not, not from a like a, these are awful things.

Just, you know, you just don't have anybody to talk to about that.

And, you know, even your best friends.

1:25:00

And so I had, I had some situations, you know, going on like that.

And I started working with Vince and he was able to draw things out of me and I was able to get things out in the open to, to figure those things out and, and put some perspective on those things as I'm navigating through these these scenarios.

1:25:20

And Vince, you know, Vince is a very faithful man.

And for me, as you've noticed here, if the solution doesn't have Christ in it, it's not going to be a, it's the solution's not going to work.

Yeah.

And Vince is a faithful man.

1:25:36

And so I can communicate with him the in those ways.

And I don't know that Vince communicates that way with all people, but he but he communicates that way with me.

And so he works for me to be able to look at things the way that I always need to look at them, both from, you know, he's got some business experience as well.

1:25:56

So he's got all the things that I need to piece together the answers, you know, in in each stage of my, of my journey moving forward.

So and he's just, he's just a cool guy.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah, go.

His company is called Invincible Coaching, which I love too.

1:26:13

So go check out Vince if you're listening and you don't know Vince.

He's amazing, and if you guys couldn't tell, that was a recommendation.

Yeah, if that wasn't clear.

Yeah, Go work with Vince.

I think we're going to have to go to the end of the podcast questions, Chris.

I don't.

I mean, I could talk to you just all day.

1:26:30

I I do want to emphasize, so my dad's PR was still out there.

We haven't.

We haven't got.

We haven't gotten.

Shoot, sorry, we haven't gotten to we haven't even gotten to the big.

OK.

All right.

Sorry, please.

So as as you can see, I wasn't going to get it in in my with my old mindset, I so I so I shut that down, went on the path I ran 7 to 10 marathons, didn't get it.

1:26:56

And I just said I might not get it.

If I don't get it, I don't care.

It doesn't change whether I'm going to be a marathon runner or not.

It doesn't change whether I want to go out and run these marathons.

But last year, Monumental, I was in pretty good shape.

I went out and just relaxed.

1:27:13

It was the weather was great.

The weather was perfect.

Dad was out there.

I said I wasn't going to say people's names because I last time I did a podcast, I got in trouble saying people's names.

But anyway, my dad, Julie and Eddie Lux came out there and and and had water for me.

1:27:30

And if I get disqualified for for this by monumental marathon so.

Be it Nope, I'm on the.

Board anyway, so they had they were they were like they had water for me out there and they're handing me water and and I had a liquid IV in it and the weather was perfect And so I was really hydrated and I was relaxed and I was hitting the times and I knew the whole way that that I that I was feeling good and I got to I got to mile 21 and the band was playing it was machine head was on.

1:27:59

So machine heads like a song from the from my old life, but but when it came on, it just lit me up and I'm like, let's go.

And and so I was able to hold it and you know, I never I never got too nervous.

1:28:15

And then, you know, made the made the turn at what is it 25 five where the where all the the cheer station.

Is all the running clubs have tents and Yep.

I hear Julie screaming, I hear everybody screaming and my dad's there and I know that I got it at this point.

1:28:33

I'm smashing it at this point and and he runs with me for about for about 1/4 of a mile.

I mean, he's going well, you know, I'm going 6 flat at.

This point.

And he's 70 and he's hanging with me for 1/4 of a mile.

And, you know, so it was, it was just kind of like the like the rug that tied the room together.

1:28:54

So like, it, it happened.

I didn't know if it was going to happen, but it did.

And he was there to see it and, and, and it happened for the right reasons.

And, and the person that I had to become to do it.

Yeah.

I.

Became congratulations.

1:29:09

Thank you all around.

I mean, it's really cool and I love the machine head story too because you know, God is like, I know what song to play right here, right now.

Yeah, I used to listen to that song before.

Oddly enough, before golf.

That makes no sense.

1:29:25

You need to be calm before you play golf.

Right, right.

Well, that's funny.

Well, that's the perfect segue too, when when I asked the end of the podcast questions, I always ask about a song in a mantra.

And so is Machine Head your song.

There's another song.

1:29:40

It's not anymore.

It's not who I say I am is probably, you know, that song was really important to me as I was going through all this.

And it's just like, you know, I can't control it anymore and I'm going to just do what I'm meant to do and whatever that is, I don't need to know, but I'm just going to execute what God wants me to execute.

1:30:01

And I'm not going to try to figure it out.

Just going to go do it and be and be LED rather than try to lead.

Yeah.

And then and then mantras.

I love your mantras.

These are really These are really good.

Yeah.

I mean these are, these are both from.

1:30:17

These are both from I'm not sure if it's Matthew or John, but you try to save your life, you'll lose it if you lose your life for me, you'll find it.

And so it's like, you know, you, you have to be willing to trust and, and be faithful and give anything that you think that you need in this world up for not things of this world, but for heavenly things.

1:30:42

And those are not what we're taught to think are the things that that we should have on this world.

You know, we're the things that we really need.

We've talked about a lot of the things that are that are heavenly things on this, but there's a lot of worldly things that people want that get in the way of ever attaining the things that really matter.

1:30:59

I mean, these are like these are like laying on your deathbed things, right?

That that we ignore every day and but, but, but we're put to the test.

We either got to give.

We either got to be willing to lose those things or not have the things that really matter.

1:31:17

And and so we're all put to those to that test.

And I try to, every time I have to make the choice between choosing from treasures here on earth that moth and vermin destroy, or heavenly treasures that I can take forever, I try to choose a heavenly treasure.

1:31:35

Yeah, so.

And then the other one, he who exalts himself, will be humbled.

He who humble himself will be exalted.

Yeah.

So, yeah, the well, so I had what I used to call the arrogance feedback loop that it involves that I still see and I and it and it, it drives me nuts when I see my buddies doing it because I'm just like, dude, I know.

1:31:55

And there's some people that I'm thinking of.

I know that if you just humbled yourself right now, this minute, just don't say it.

Don't think it.

You're going to breakthrough that barrier.

But since you were arrogant, you're going to get kicked back to this, to the to the start line.

1:32:12

You'll have to do it all over again.

And so, you know, the way, the way through the resistance is, is humility and humbleness, rather than trying to, you know, trying to glorify yourself and, and, and, and I know this from from experience because I did it for, you know, 40 years or 25 years, I guess say everything started at 15.

1:32:37

Yeah.

And then upcoming milestones or finish lines.

You're doing Prairie on Fire.

Yeah, that's cool.

September 7th.

It might be cool, or it might be awful, or it might be.

Really hot and on fire.

Yeah, yeah.

Is this your first time doing that?

1:32:53

Yeah, yeah.

So TJ Daly, I I ran Boston with him.

Oh, you did?

OK, so he was the episode right before this.

Oh, yeah, yeah, TJ is an awesome.

He's amazing.

Yeah.

I mean, he was in step for step with me at Boston.

He could have toasted me at any time, but I was struggling and, you know, so he's a he's a he's a great guy.

1:33:13

And and I've been wanting to get in kind of to the ultra world, but I but I really wanted I want to see.

And I think that this is the case that someone can train for ultra distances and still not have that be like their retirement from shorter.

1:33:30

From Speed, Yeah, I like that because I feel the same way.

I love Rd. racing.

I am like all about it, love it.

That's what I've done.

But I'm curious about the ultra world.

And you, you go running with TJ Daly and you're you're in now and you're doing Prairie on Fire.

1:33:46

It's like, well, but I I don't want to.

Yeah, give up My, my, like, I don't know, my uptightness in the running, like in the road racing because I love that.

I think the key is and, and what my strategy is, and you'll get to see if you follow on Strava whether it works or not.

I still show up to the workout.

1:34:03

I still show up to the Saturday workout and I still show up to the Tuesday track workout or steady state or whatever it is.

And that's my priority and I'm going to fit everything else in around that.

And that's my theory on on on how that might be able to work.

We'll find out, we will find out and then you're competing in the Masters USATF Half Marathon championship that we're having at four men this year, which is going to be awesome.

1:34:27

I'll be out there.

Yeah, I, I mean, I feel the same way.

This is this is one of those things about this race that I'm doing this weekend.

I think this is, this is going to be a lot of people that I know here locally and a lot of really, really solid competitors, hopefully from out of town as well.

1:34:46

And it'll just be something where I'm just going to enjoy the race.

Yeah, it's a, it's a Fort Bend.

I know the course I love.

I love the strategy on that course.

And it's, you know, you got it.

It's essentially you got to save yourself for mile 11:00 and 12:00.

Right.

You just got to get get up that hill and yeah, I love that.

1:35:05

How do you feel about the timing mats on the hill?

I ignore.

Him OK you I love it because I'm like OK like I don't know it just helps me break it down into a smaller like race within a race to enjoy it more than hate it that's.

How I feel about it, I like it.

1:35:21

I mean, at that point I, you know.

Yeah, at that point you're just.

Do anything else would be would probably be.

Counterproductive.

That's fair.

That's fair.

Especially for somebody, yeah, like you, who is just kicking ass.

But I love Fort Ben.

I used to be afraid of it because it was hilly.

1:35:37

I use quotation marks, but I used to do Geist all the time, and Geist is Hillier than Fort Ben.

So I finally started doing it once I joined the board for Beyond Monumental and I just, I love Fort Ben.

It's an excellent event.

We've got like the campfires at the Star.

1:35:53

It's just such a incredible environment.

I just love it.

So yeah.

Are you doing or have you done Hood to Coast I thought.

Yeah, I'm doing that.

When is that?

Is that 10 days?

Now, Right, So I'm like, wait, I'm confused because next finish lines is your milestones of like you know, local ones, but you're doing hood to coast.

1:36:14

Yeah, I've so I've done, I've done some of those before.

OK.

I've never done Hood to Coast.

I've done Bourbon Chase a couple times and I've done another Ragnar trail Ragnar and but Hood to Coast, we got it.

The the the guys that are doing it.

1:36:30

Geyer, you mentioned Mark Geyer.

OK, he's he's doing it as well.

That's right.

I'm actually, I just kind of piggybacked on his travel plans.

So we'll be hanging out quite a bit.

And Jesse Davis.

Well, you know, I know you know Jesse.

Do I?

I guess.

Maybe you don't.

1:36:45

Well, Jesse, I mean, he's been, he's one monumental a lot.

Multiple times he he called me he he ran 217 something.

Jesus.

OK, well, I probably know who he is.

I don't know that I know him.

OK, If I do, then I'm.

I'm going to cut this right out.

1:37:01

Yeah, sometimes I don't know.

I'm not the best with names all the time so.

So it's a bunch of Masters guys.

Yeah, yeah.

And we're trying to break the the the Masters record there, OK.

And.

Does TJ Daly hold that record?

Probably.

Jeez.

I don't.

I'm not going to say no.

1:37:16

I don't know, I forget, sorry.

TJ But but that's I mean, that's that's our goal.

I think it's in the five 30s.

So I don't know.

It hood to coast is describe hood to coast.

So you start Mount Hood.

OK, It's in Oregon.

OK, Oregon.

1:37:32

And you run, You start somewhat.

Yeah.

I just watched a documentary on this so.

I hope you did I so I did see that on your Strava and I was like I need to watch.

That I know it to the extent that what the documentary says.

So you run down the hood, the down the the mountain.

OK and the first couple loops are really downhill and and then you finish on the beach on the coast and and vans follow you along the way.

1:37:55

There's twelve people on a.

Team on a team And how many miles did you already say I?

Think I'll have to run, maybe it's 197. 197.

OK, I think I'll be running 15 to 18 miles.

So similar to a Ragnar but like this is one of the like the original Ragnar.

1:38:11

Very similar to Bourbon Chase.

OK, if you've done Bourbon Chase.

Yeah, or people listening probably have.

But yeah, as I told you, I'm doing my first Ragnar next month in Michigan.

It's a road 10, it's Rd.

It's one that TJ had done, but they were trying to break the course record.

So his experience will be very different from mine.

1:38:26

I was like, we're just, it's a 12 girls.

We're all.

It's like random these.

I mean, just a random team, varying abilities.

We're just going to have fun.

So different from trying to break records.

But that's really cool.

OK.

Well, I can't wait to hear about that.

Perhaps I'll have to have another member of your team come on, because Mark's already been on.

1:38:45

So go listen to Mark Geyer's episode, too, if you haven't.

That will yet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

Well, good luck with that.

Yeah, that's coming right up.

Yep.

Well, thank you so much for for doing this.

This is a really powerful episode.

You're going to change some more lives here.

1:39:01

I hope it was.

It's always good for me to.

It's always powerful for me to get it out for yeah, you know, to remember.

And I always do, you know, hope that anybody that can get anything from me, whether it's, you know, speaking or on Strava or on a random run, if, if I can better in in any, in any possible way, then then it's been a good day.

1:39:25

So.

All set.

All right, well, thank you everybody who's listened as well and happy running.

And if you'd like this episode, please go share rate review.

And if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, I am Ally ALOYT Brett under score runs