[audio:https://runrunlive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi102.mp3|titles=Episode 102 – Chris Crowley – Younger Next Year]

Show intro by:

http://gregstrosaker.com/ – Constant Cogitation Blog

Greg will also be bringing the Runner’s Manifesto to us in a future episode.

Intro:

Hello and welcome to Episode 102 of the RunRunLive podcast. Today I’ve got author Chris Crowley who is the co-author of the “younger next year” book that is very popular among baby boomers. I’ve got a great audio blog entry – a true story from my life over the last couple weeks. I’ve got a review of my new Brooks Ghosts and the usual dancing bears, singing goats and talking cats to keep you warm on your cold weekend outings.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and as I speak to you it is New Year’s Eve. Being that I am unencumbered by a social life it really doesn’t impact my podcasting schedule. I’ve had a rough couple training weeks. It’s disappointing because I was feeling so strong. But I’ve been at it long enough to realize that you have to take the down with the up. And you can’t over-react.

I have been battling a chest cold for over a week. My whole family has it and it is a bad-ass cold because it was able to take me down which hasn’t happened for a few years. I ran in the rain Saturday 18 miles and again on Sunday and that probably didn’t help.

Sunday night the missus and I were both up all night barking like trained seals. I got some antibiotics on Monday. I was forced to face the reality when I tried to do a speed workout on Tuesday. After two 800’s I found myself literally on my hands and knees heaving trying to catch a breath and not pass out. I felt seriously ill.

I had a number of factors line up to bite me. I managed to put on 4-5 pounds over Christmas by eating cheesecakes like peanuts – that didn’t help. My lungs are clogged with crap. And I discovered that the antibiotics slaughtered all the helpful probiotics in my intestines causing me some interesting intestinal expediency. Especially with my all-fruit diet during the day, it was ripping me up. I have learned to chew better.

I remember once, I think it was 1999, I had the same sort of chest cold and decided I needed to double down by doing a hard set of long hill charges to make up for the work outs I missed. I tweaked my knee doing those and struggled for six-plus months to requalify and overcome that injury.

Anyhow – I toned down my expectations and managed to get the work out in Wednesday. I’m taking today off and I’m RACING tomorrow. I have the Hangover 10k on tap with the refreshing and mandatory Atlantic Ocean plunge afterwards. There is nothing like immersing yourself in 36 degree Fahrenheit water to make you appreciate the succor of a big fluffy towel.

I was hoping to really smoke this race, but with this lingering cold I’m toning down my expectations.

It’s been really cold here this week with a wind that’ll strip the skin right off ya. But it’s winter, it’s supposed to be cold.

I’m not going to bore you with any top ten blah blah of 2009 or goal setting crap. You’re all adults. Get the hell off the couch and fight for yourselves.

On with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Episode #2 of the ice-bath chronicles.

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

KelownaGurl with a rendition of SnotRockets in flight. Sampled from the one hit wonder Afternoon Delight from 1976 by the Starland Vocal Band.

Story time:

Text here

Equipment Check:

Brooks Ghost 2’s … I had a discount code that was expiring at the end of the year from when Brooks sponsored our Twitter Ultra team at the Ragnar Relay and I wanted to gat a pari of Launchs but they were sold out so @Brooksrunning on twitter recommended the Ghost 2’s. These are a high mileage neutral cushion shoe – so they should be right for me. I checked out reviews on line and the big complaint was that they have a very high arch and push up against the bottoms of your feet. Indeed the first time I put them on I was like “Ouch”, bit I have been wearing soft orthodics for a few years that lift my heels a smidgeon to help my Achilles tendonitis.

Amazingly, I found that when I tried them without the orthodics they fit perfect. I haven’t gone long int hem yet but I’ve done some base 5’s and 6’s and some speedwork with no problems. They are nice and light and have a normal transition point so I can run midsole or with a slight heel roll and it feels ok. They are very similar to the type of standard trainer we used to get in the old days and I like that.

I’ll let you know how the fair, but for now I give them a tentative thumbs up and have put them in the rotation.

Featured Interview:

Chris Crowley – Younger Next Year

Links

http://www.youngernextyear.com/

Audio Blog

The Luckiest Person in the World!

Outro:

I’m going to declare 2009 a success. I managed to avoid any debilitating long-term injuries and got in somewhere around Runs:224, Total Dist.:1694.4 Mi, & Bikes:61, Total Time:127:15.

I ran a number of races including The Ing Atlanta Marathon, my 11^th Boston Marathon, The Marine Corp marathon and The Atlantic City Marathon – but none of them were qualifiers! I also ran a few relays including my first overnight relay with the Ragnar Twitter Ultra team – and yeah, we won. That was a hoot. I successfully learned how to mountain bike but came up 60 miles short at my target race the “wilderness 101” with a mechanical DNF. “I’ll be Back”

But you know what? I also put the bread on the table and kept my kids in school and my family under cover. And I met a bunch of really interesting and cool people who have made my life warmer, more interesting and much more exciting. Thank you all. Let’s see if we can score some more runs in 2010!

I spread myself around the interweb this week – if you listen carefully you’ll find that I’ve managed to sabotage the listernership of several podcasts including a chat with VeganRunningMom about surviving down cycles that may end up on her runveganrun podcast and I hosted the runners round table where we talked about running with our dogs and I tortured Michael from the Real Rookie Running podcast that he just launched by acting pompus and giving running advice that I should probably keep to myself!

I chatted with IronMan Bobby too and he said he was threatening to release the video interview he did with me at Marine Corp – so we’ll see. If you folks want to start your own podcast go and look at runningpodcasts.org for instructions. It may seem like a good idea to you now – but wait until you have to think of something to say in episode 102!

Next week I’ve got a Killer episode interview with Hal Higdon about his new novel Marathon. I’l try to get that out even though I’ll be traveling to clients most of the week. What the hell else do I have to do?

SO you have a brand new shiny year to work with. A clean slate. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to let it gather dust? Are you going to continue to make excuses and feel sorry for yourself or are you going to carpe the diem and make the world you want? Because you know the best way to get what you want? Just do it. Do it now. Go to day and take the first step. Sign up for that race. Dig that bike out of your garage. Dust off your speedo and I’ll see you out there kickin ass in the new year.

Music tonight is by gruvis_malt-and is called the_heart_transplant_you_could_afford Enjoy – we’ll see you next year.