The RunRunLive Podcast Episode 165 – Jack Fultz 1976 Boston Marathon Winner
[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi165.mp3|titles=Episode 165 – Jack Fultz]
epi165.mp3
Show intro by:
Ole Miss Runner
Intro:
Hello and welcome to the sore as heck podcast where we grimace, creak and groan every time we have to get out of a chair. That’s me and I feel pretty beat up after my first week back running.
Hello, this is Chris and this is the RunRunLive podcast where we aim to inform, entertain and inspire about all things running. We’ve got a great show for you today. I interview Jack Fultz who I ran into down at the abortive Hyannis Half Marathon. Jack won the 1976 Boston Marathon in one of the hottest days on record. It’s a great story and you should Google it to get the details. He wasn’t expected to win, especially on that hot day but he ran his race and everyone else came to him.
I’ve got some bits and bytes of audio for you and the injury series. I’ve got a very busy travel week this week which is also a build week for my running. I’ll have to cram some quality miles in on the road which is never easy.
I raced the New Bedford half marathon this past Sunday. It wasn’t quite what I wanted. My legs kinda fell off about half way through the race so I ended up running a positive 5 minute spilt. Meaning I ran the last 6.5 miles 5 minutes slower than the first 6.5 miles. That is not fun when people are passing you and you’re holding on.
The calf held up fine but my legs just weren’t ready for the pounding. They just hurt. I had to stop and stretch a couple times.
But – hey let’s call it a success. I won’t tell you my time because then half of you will be like “that’s a great time, what are you whining about you jerk” and the other half will be like “wow, he’s getting old” so forget it!
But I will tell you it’s all relative. I went down with the goons and I was the slowest finisher out of 8 runners. My buddy Brian the Silent assassin ran a 1:21.
So, yeah, in some circles I’m the slow runner.
It’s too early to tell, but the aquajogging seems to have maintained good aerobic shape but maybe not so much on the load bearing muscles – especially on a hilly course like New Bedford.
Speaking of load-bearing, you can’t be expected to bear the load of listening to me talk about myself much longer so
On with the show!
Audio clips in this episode:
Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:
@shawnTR (Shawn from Trilogy Running) with the most interesting man in the world…
Life cereal commercial – “Mikey”
Monty Python and the Holy Grail – “Killer Bunny”
Story time:
Guest Blog Reading
Equipment Check:
Injury series
Mastering Injuries Part 4
The Doctor Arabesque
Hello my friends and welcome to week 4 of the mastering injuries series. This week we are going to cover the Doctor Arabesque where I will give you some thoughts, some tips and my experience on navigating the medical industry with your running injury.
First the disclaimer: I am not a doctor and have no certifications or degrees in anything related to medicine, healing, therapy or treatment protocols. All I can share is my experience in working through a number of injuries over the years.
The first couple times I went through the injury cycle it was very emotionally wrenching for me. I didn’t know what was wrong with my heel. I just knew it hurt and I couldn’t keep training. I knew I needed help. We have in our society people who have been trained in the human body, how it gets injured and how to make it get better. At some point you will have to seek them out.
I think it’s getting better, but the challenge many of these people have is that our specific problems are easy to fix. The first couple times I went to a doctor with an overuse injury, and I think many of you have experienced the same thing, they told you to stay off it, let it heal and gave you some anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the pain and swelling.
Technically they have solved your problem. Unfortunately there is a disconnect here. Your problem really wasn’t that your heel was swollen and sore. Your problem was that you are training for a race and your heel is limiting you from training. Taking time off and eating pills does not solve that problem. This solution treats the symptoms in a way but does nothing to solve the problem.
When the swelling goes down we will start training and it will, without fail, start to hurt again because we have solved nothing.
This is exasperated by the fact that we are intensely in love with what we are doing. It is frustrating to us that they don’t take it a seriously as we do. They don’t understand what they are asking us to do is to turn our back on what we love.
The other common pitfall that you will run into as runners is that they will have a standard set of default solutions to this type of problem. You may have heard Paula talk a couple weeks back about being put into inserts and stretches by default without the medical professional slowing down to do a bit more diagnosis.
You have to be careful if the diagnosis and treatment seem too rote. You may be railroaded into a solution that is wrong or only partially right for you. This is also risky because many of these rote solutions, like inserts or orthotics may only be treating a symptom of a deeper mechanical or form issue that you should probably work on.
So what do you do to avoid the doctor arabesque?
First, be accountable for your own health and body. These folks are smart and have a degree hanging on the wall, but they are not responsible for your health, you are. You know best what hurts and what helps. The best situation is to find a medical professional who will work with you as an adviser to help YOU diagnose and treat YOUR issue.
Second, be informed. Do your research before you go. This will help you get to the right person faster and help them diagnose and treat you. Within our online community there are thousands of people and resources to help you pin point that muscle pull or tendon strain. Be as informed as you can, but be open-minded and don’t get preachy. Again an advisory or partnership relationship works best.
Third, be your own advocate to get to the specialist that is appropriate. If you are an athlete, you want to find a medical professional that works with athletes. My doctors also treat the Boston Celtics players. When a GP tells you to stop running and take pills you need to be able to push back and say “that’s not good enough”
Doctors and medical professionals are only human and you need to meet them half way so you can work together to get you back on your feet.
In the best case seeing the doctor can be a big emotional relief. When you finally know what it is that is causing the problem and have a concrete action plan to get back it will give you new life, new hope.
My friends, there will come a time when you have done your homework and you are sitting on a paper-covered bed in consultation with a caring, informed professional who understands you as an athlete. That professional will tell you that it is your choice, but you shouldn’t run for X weeks or months. When that time comes, you should listen, and start your journey to recovery.
Injuries should be seen as part of your journey. I like to call time off “a great gathering of strength”.
Stay healthy and make good choices my friends.
Featured Interview:
Jack Fultz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Fultz
The 1976 Boston Marathon: “The Run for the Hoses”
Fultz won the 1976 Boston Marathon in extreme heat with a time of 2:20:19. The temperature was 100 degrees one hour before the noon start time in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Over the 26-mile (42 km) course, spectators used garden hoses to spray water on the runners in an effort to cool them down.
Quick Tip:
Outro:
Ok my friends that is it, you have limped like a whinny octogenarian to the end of another RunRunLive podcast, congratulations, episode 165 in the can.
Next week I’ll have Thom Gilligan the CEO of Marathon Tours on for a chat, interesting guy, left BA 30 years ago and pioneered the marathon travel market. So tune in for that.
As for me my schedule gets a wee bit sticky from this point on. I’ll run the Eastern States 20 miler this weekend as my last long run for Boston. It’s a neat race. It runs down the coast from Maine, through all of NH and finishes over the border in Mass. 3 states in one race.
With any luck my fitness will show up for the race. I got beat up in the New Bedford race and training this week has been interesting. I’m sore. Remember the first week of practice when you played a sport in school? That’s how I fell right now…first week of wrestling practice sore, and I’m not 17 anymore so it takes a couple days!
I’m not feeling overly confident about Boston in 3 weeks so I’ll probably revise my finishing goal down to a 3:20. That’s only a 7:40ish pace, I can do that. We’ll see. I’m getting sick of kicking my own rump on the roads and I’m definitely going to slow it down, go multi-sport and get back into the woods over the summer. I need some karma running.
The Groton road race registration is ahead of plan and that is on April 10th, the week before Boston. We’re in the final stages where there is a lot of chaos and last minute ‘oh crap!’ situations, but we’ll survive. We still need volunteers if you’re in driving distance of Groton we’ll sign your community service forms and buy you lunch on Sat or Sunday.
…
Last week I told you I had taken on something this year that I’ve never done before. What is it? I’m going to run the Chicago marathon for a charity. I’ve never fund-raised before so it will be a new wrinkle to my running journey, and one that you can ride along on.
So my friends, as we near the end of this show, if you have ever gotten some small slice of inspiration , information or entertainment from me this show here is your opportunity to pay it forward. I’ve told you that I believe we can make the world a better place by each one of us doing little things…good things…and the sum total of these little, good things we can pile high and tip the balance for our humanity.
Here is an opportunity for you to do one small good thing. Don’t think about it. Don’t justify it. Don’t compare it with all your other opportunities to do good things today. Just do it. Do it for me, do it for you, do it for the human race on blind faith. Go to my site at RunRunLive.com, hit the button, which is a picture of me in the right sidebar and donate. Launch this small Karma boat with me and we can both make a ripple in the karma pond this week.
If you leave your name and/or personal message I’ll read it on the show. I am asking you, as a friend. I am thanking you as a friend. www.runrunlive.com picture of me on the right.
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Let’s transition now to current events. There’s been a lot of news coming out of Japan this week so let me share a couple stories with you.
I ran a project in Tokyo in the 1980’s. I was a baby-faced 20 something sent by the head office to teach the Japanese how to do things. I remember standing in front of a big conference room full of local executives and giving the presentation about what they were supposed to do. At the end of the presentation I asked for questions. One somber man leaned forward and asked, “How old are you?”
Another trip I was staying at the New Otami hotel in Tokyo right on the edge of the imperial palace near Budokan. I got up early to go for a run. I remember standing in the lobby in the early morning and they had bird song piped in so it sounded like morning. It was a novelty then, but now all the hotels in the States do this. I remember toiling up the hills of Tokyo with the sun rising, casting long shadows and it being so quiet and peaceful in the early morning.
On a subsequent trip I stayed in a tourist hotel out by Tokyo Disney World. The hotel room was tiny. I remember being woken up by high school kids yelling out the windows at each other from the top floors of the hotel. It was surreal.
It all seems like some sort of dream now 25 years later. I wish them luck in their current crisis. They will be ok, the Japanese are strong and big challenges like these bring out their strengths.
I would caution us all, no matter where we live that we are all in this thing together. Let’s not get xenophobic. What I learned on my travels around the world is that people are people, they are the same everywhere. Cultures are different but at the core, at the very human core, people are people.
Remember that challenges make us stronger. I read an interesting science fiction book recently where the main character had the ability to change the world, but not really the ability to say how. He visualized a world where all of humanity was at peace and working towards a common goal as one. His wish manifested as an invasion by hostile aliens from outer space!
Let’s work together this week. Try to make your interactions positive.
Music tonight is a nice mellow number, about 3 minutes long, by a_rex- called rock_n_roll, so try to relax and feel your body, really feel your breathing and your foot strike and your mechanics, as we finish this one up.
And I will see you out there,
Ciao,
Music:
From Podsafe
a_rex-rock_n_roll
red_yak-bass__the_dinosaur
the_touch_ups-dinosaurs_in_the_city
About the RunRunLive Podcast
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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.
Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com
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