Episode 3-286 – Joe Bears – New England 6 in 7

The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-286 – Joe Bears – New England 6 in 7

Joe-bears(Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi3286.mp3]

Link epi3286.mp3

To donate to my liver foundation fund for the Boston Marathon -> http://go.liverfoundation.org/goto/cyktrussell

Support RunRunLive; Purchase an audio book of running stories.  Written and performed with love by Chris Russell  ————-à>>>>>>>http://bit.ly/1cH2Fr7<<<<<<<———–

Introductory Comments:

Hello my friends and welcome to episode 3-286 of the RunRunLive podcast.

At the time I thought it was a great idea.  I told the people that I work with that whenever I go to a conference I like to run in the morning.  I know these days that there are a handful of others with my affliction.  And, wouldn’t it be a grand idea for us to have an organized group run in the mornings during our yearly customer conference?

As I was sitting in the hotel bed sweating from a fever last week it didn’t seem like such a great idea to be getting up at 5:00AM to lead a group run in Piedmont Park in Atlanta.  The virus that my loving children had gifted me when they came home for spring break morphed into some devilish flu that lasted most of the 2 weeks since we last talked.

This is our company’s big event of the calendar.  Over 200 of our customers, from all over the world, with whom I have built personal and professional relationships, are in attendance.  Breakfast starts at 7:00 AM and dinner and drinks carries on into the evening.  Not something I could call in sick for.

Can you picture me propped up in a sitting position with pillows in the hotel bed so I could sleep without coughing?  Sweating a fever into the sheets and then rolling out before dawn to jog a weak 5k in the park?

Amazingly enough I made it down to the lobby each day.  I got 7 runners the first day and 5 the second.  I think that is amazing.  How much has the corporate world changed since when I started that I have professionals from all over the country willing to roll out of bed to jog with me before the sun peaks over the horizon?

It was like your typically running club experience.  There were the two guys who took off hard and pounded out a slug fest against each other.  There was the group of steady midpackers.  And there was me with the stragglers bringing up the rear.

Here we are 3 weeks out from Boston and my training is half-dead and not showing any signs of re-animation.  I’m keeping at it but I lost another 2 weeks of quality to the flu and the services for my Dad.  My ankle sprain is still there to remind me not to toe off and I’ve got an extra 10-15 pounds strapped around my mid-section for stability.

I told Eric yesterday that my body is rejecting marathon training like a diseased liver transplant!

It’s going to be a long day on Monday the 21st for me.  But, like they say, if life gives you lemons you can use the juice and a couple of copper pennies to make a home-made battery to power your cell phone during the zombie apocalypse.

Maybe you could put a positive spin on it by saying I’m ‘well tapered’.

I’ll just get out there on the course and run walk the crap out of it, meet some people, have some fun and be done with marathons for awhile.  I keep forgetting that even in my current fat, sick and broken state I’m still in better shape than most of the planet.

Today we have an interview with our old friend Joe Bears, who besides acting weirdly sycophantic, is running all the New England states in a single week, more or less.  It’s an interesting concept.

I’ll bet we have a whole series of these events pop up where someone constructs marathon series that are geographically co-located in the corners where states come together.  If you engineered it correctly you could probably get at least 48 states into a year.  It’s a simple multi-variable traveling salesman problem – we could solve it with a little linear programming.

Anyhow – Joe’s a great guy and he’s running all these states for Girls on The Run, who I think I interviewed the founder a couple years back – excellent charity to enable the future young women of our world with Running as a Keystone habit.  When you get back from your run go visit Joe’s page on Facebook – Bearss Marathon Challenge.

In section one we think through how to differentiate yourself in a value exchange. In section two we talk through a couple tips to tackle the Boston marathon course.

It is exceedingly easy to become inwardly focused in times of stress and difficulty.  It is our dinosaur response to close the shutters of our perception and hide.  We feel out of control and vulnerable.  But it doesn’t have to be so.

The people looking in to us do not feel our angst or see our burden.  They don’t know our trials.  They still look to us for leadership and it is our unique opportunity to lead in hard times.

It is entirely possible to remember the simple thing; that it is not about you.  I saw people this week looking at family photos and they always say ‘look at my hair’ or ‘that’s a terrible picture of me’ even though there are 6 other people in the photo.  It’s human nature to see a reflection of ourselves in everything.  It’s the ego.

But you will see more; more than your own reflection, if you pause to look into the eyes of another and truly focus on listening to them and hearing them and asking ‘how can I help?’  Most of the time they just want to be recognized and understood.   You will gain much from this.

It is not about you.

On with the show!

Section one:

commodityValue Exchange – http://www.runrunlive.com/understanding-your-value-in-a-value-exchange

Featured Interview:

Joe Bearss – Bearss Marathon Challenge 2014 – https://www.facebook.com/BearssMarathonChallenge2014

https://www.raceplanner.com/donate/Bearss-Marathon-Challenge-2014

Colorado runner, husband, dad and Girls on the Run of the Rockies advocate Joseph Bearss will be running 6 Marathons in 6 States in 7 Days!

Fundraising Goal: $2,500

100% of donations will go to Girls on the Run of the Rockies, which inspires young girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

Where? Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont!

Why? Currently, more than 50% of the girls in the program come from low-income communities. Funds raised by Joseph will allow these girls to participate in this life-changing program, empowering them to be confident, healthy and joyful. Your support will help Girls on the Run of the Rockies maintain the commitment to serve all girls, regardless of financial need.

Join Joseph on his quest to run the New England Challenge and the Shires of Vermont Marathon from May 12-18, 2014!

This endeavor will be documented with personal blog entries, leading up to the week of races and then nightly race reports and pictures of each marathon, keeping all supporters up to date!

Check out Joseph’s Facebook Page and join the community!

First Blog Post is up! Check it out here: Bearss Blog

Thank you in advance for your support. No donation is too small. Check out this video to learn a little bit more about Girls on the Run of the Rockies!

Race Schedule:

May 12, Monday: Pine Tree Marathon in Portland, Maine

May 13, Tuesday: Granite State Marathon in Nashua, New Hampshire

May 14, Wednesday: Red Island Marathon in Warwick, Rhode Island

May 15, Thursday, Nutmeg State Marathon in Hartford, Connecticut

May 16, Friday, Old Colony Marathon in Springfield, Massachusetts

May 18, Sunday, Shires of Vermont Marathon in Bennington, Vermont

Section two:

it-all-starts-here6 tips to run the Boston Course – http://www.runrunlive.com/running-the-boston-marathon-6-tips

Outro:

The green, feathery fingers of spring reach up through the muddy crust and embrace the new world.

I couldn’t run the Easter States 20 miler this past weekend because I had to be in the city for a conference.  I managed an hour of roadwork and an hour in the pool instead.  They had a miserable day with high winds and a cold drizzle.

It rained consistently for 3 days and Tuesday afternoon, like a fever breaking, the sun came out and it was 50+ degrees.  I raced home from the city, grabbed Buddy and we hit the trails.  There was still some ice and the ground wasn’t entirely thawed but it was glorious.

The old wonder dog and I negotiated the mud and the puddles and it was joyous.  No Garmin.  No music.  Just a boy and his dog out in the spring mud and sun.  The way it should be.

The ice hasn’t cleared form the ponds but the frogs are singing and the ducks are nesting.

And just like that, it is spring.

My trail shoes squelch through the soft forest floor rolling into pits left by the melting frost.  Buddy gallops by throwing a rooster tail of mud and debris into the air.  We dance across the rocks of swollen streams and slide down the muddy slopes.

The air is filled with a thick fecundity as if life has been unchained.  And we are reborn.

Everything is going to be ok.  I’ve got the Boston Marathon in a couple weeks and the Groton Road Race after that.  You can do me a favor, even if you’re not coming out to run Groton with us, and post or repost the link to the race for me.

I’ve gotten a good response to the RunRunLive facebook page so come on by and tell us what you think.

I’ve been working on a lifestyle hack this week that has been very successful so far, but it’s too early to tell whether I’ll be able to sustain it or not.  Another one of those keystone habits we were chatting about.

I’m at a meeting in Scottsdale next week if anyone wants to go run up a mountain on Tuesday Morning at the crack of dawn.  Then I’m out in Chicago the week before the marathon if anyone wants to go for a run.

It’s spring folks, time for rebirth and renewal.  Let’s get moving.  We’ve got things to do.

You me and Buddy – out on the trails getting it done!

Outro Bumper

Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support.  RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.

I also love to meet folks so feel free to reach out to me at Gmail or any of the other social networking sites.  I’m CYKTRussell.  And as you know that’s Chris-Yellow-King-Tom-Russell with two Esses and two Ell’s.

My Website is http://www.runrunlive.com and most if not all of this content is posted out there.   If you want the show notes to magically show up in your inbox when I publish a show in a beautiful HTML wrapper you can subscribe to the mailing list at my site.  It’s a useful thing if you are moved by something I say and would like to see if what I wrote is the same thing! It also has all the links to everything and everyone I talk to and about.

Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.

Ciao

Happy Song – Super Hero – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Superhero

Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in

The Mid-Packer’s Lament

On Amazon

On Kindle

On Audio (Read by the author) – http://www.runrunlive.com

The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy

On Kindle

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com

http://www.runeratti.com

Http://www.coolrunning.com

http://www.Grotonroadrace.com

http://www.SQRR.org

www.midpackerslament.com

Contact:

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Bio

Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

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