#239: Running Podcast: Bart Yasso Is the Man!
Sarah and co-host Amanda Loudin catch up with running luminary and Runner’s World Chief Running Officer, Bart Yasso, days after Bart’s retirement announcement on Twitter. The trio set off talking about how to get into big, mega-popular running races, but the conversation rapidly veers toward amazing anecdotes from Bart’s four decades of running. It’s like the podcast version of the guiding principle Bart shares: “Never limit where running can take you.” Sarah and Bart bond over “tube socks” as he tells how he became the “mayor of running” after nearly expiring while running his first mile. Find out what Bart strongly encourages every runner to do at a race. (Hint: It involves standing around.) He emphasizes the importance of being a runner for life, and how it should guide planning your race calendar. Marvel at Bart’s story about running the 2016 Richmond Marathon with four random women (including two mother runners!), and how this icon made running “cool” for one 14-year-old girl. Bart reflects on his 2017 Farewell Tour, revealing which races he hopes to run as part of the international endeavor.
This conversation with Bart, a legend who is very much still a humble, kind-hearted human, is a special podcast. Round out the memorable recording by listening to Sarah’s follow-up interview with Kristen Stewart, one of the four women with whom Bart recently ran the Richmond Marathon. To hear the Sarah-Kristen convo, you need to be an Acast+ subscriber: Download the free Acast app on your smartphone, then tap the “a+” logo on the AMR podcast homepage on the Acast app. The interview will show up as bonus content, along with chapters of the audiobook version of Run Like a Mother. In addition, being an Acast+ member gives you access to the entire AMR podcast back catalog, including the November 3, 2011, podcast starring Bart Yasso. Subscribe today on your smartphone!
*If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes. Many thanks.
**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. We’ve also joined the Acast podcast network, download their app to hear our podcast and many others like it!
[PSA Time!] This week: Free 2017 Goal Setting and Race Planning Webinars with Train Like a Mother coaches! Register here!
Dry Martini: One month
Fellow NYC marathoner Marianne texted me this morning with congratulations about our one-month marathon anniversary. Which makes total sense but I was stunned anyway. The marathon was November 6; I’m writing this on December 6. So, yeah. One calendar month has passed.
Yet it feels like a decade has passed since I took my 26.2 mile scamper through all five boroughs.
It’s not just that the run itself has faded into my foggy memory — I can see, now, how people forget how hard it is and chose to run another one — it’s that I can barely recall that I did it in the first place. Especially when I go out for a long run of six miles and am ready to go home after the first two.
I did mark this one month anniversary by retiring my marathon shoes: a pair of Saucony Guide 9s that remind me of watermelon slices.
My body feels fine, mostly. While it takes a little bit longer to warm up than it used to and my right ankle and left upper butt aren’t always as on-board with the plan as I’d hope, I think I’m past the worst of the aches and pains. The calls to stop are coming from inside the house — or, rather, inside my own skull. Getting myself out of my nice warm bed on cold, dark mornings and pushing through that first mile is super hard, y’all. I mean, it’s always been an uphill battle but that hill is more like Mt Washington than it used to be.
Which isn’t good because I’ve committed to the 3M half in Austin in January. Right now, 13.1 miles seems like the distance between here and Texas itself. At least it’s unlikely to snow during the race.
Which is what it was doing during our annual Turkey Trot. Calling the precipitation that was pelting us at the end of the 5K “snow” would be generous because it was more like hard balls of ice but, given the season, I’ll be generous. Also: Hard Ice Balls is my drag name.
Co-worker Danielle and I before the Trot. I’m not sure what her drag name would be.
I went into the Trot with zero goals and low expectations. Surprisingly, the first mile was great. The second mile was a little tougher but still pretty good, despite said pelting. Surely, I thought, I can’t keep this zippy pace up for the last mile (and a little). Then I did and finished the race up with an 11:05 mile average, which is super-duper speedy for me.
And then I went home and ate my face off. Like one does. This was the year I aced both pecan pie and cornbread stuffing, btw. It’s the small victories.
What I’ve discovered during the last few weeks is that my physical fitness running-wise has improved, despite all of the overwork damage I likely did to my kinetic chain during the marathon. I’m clipping off some pretty speedy (for me) miles, even on 5 or 6 mile runs. So – hooray!
But running at all feels harder in my brain than it should — and that’s perhaps a result of seasonal ennui and holiday madness. Each year I’m remind how dark and cold this part of the country can be as well as how much of a marathon getting through December can be. Time to double-down on radical self-care, I guess. Even that seems like a lot of work right now. Is it self-care to snuggle in your bed with your stinky dog and trashy science fiction?
Said bed and said stinky dog. She’s very tense.
There seem to be a few downsides to not running as much as I was. First, I don’t have many running related stories to share. Second, I’m not running quite enough to not have the entire universe irritate me most of the time, for which I apologize to all the people I know. And, last but not least, it’s hard to get through all of the podcasts I love before the new episodes are released. First world problem, I know
I should be able to catch up on some of them next week when my kids, husband, and I decamp to Central Florida for a few days to celebrate an early Christmas with my Mom and, I say this with great hope in my heart, drive three hours up the peninsula to close on her old house and deal with other financial junk that modern life requires. In between, we may even manage to hit a theme park.*
I have a few training runs to squeeze in during those days, too. Maybe the change of scenery will light a fire under my tired heinie? Or, perhaps, the very real possibility of being chased by a gator will put a spring in my step? We, shall, in fact, see.
* I know there are a bunch of theme park-loving BAMRs out there. A word problem for you: Given that a) my kids are 11 and 14, b) they’ve been to each of the parks before, and c) I’m not sure we’ll have time/money on this visit to really spend a day in one but could be convinced, what should we do? No idea is too silly….
[PSA Time!] This week: Free 2017 Goal Setting and Race Planning Webinars with Train Like a Mother coaches! Register here!
Proof That Dogs Are the Best Running Friend of All Time
[PSA Time!] This week: Free 2017 Goal Setting and Race Planning Webinars with Train Like a Mother coaches! Register here!
There’s something about a best running friend that never says no. That never cancels. That always has a smile on their face and a spring in their step. That’s why we couldn’t help sharing the best running friends you posted on Facebook. We’ve podcasted about them, now here’s your smile for the day–a non-stop stream of happy BRFs. You’re welcome!
This pair doesn’t hit the trail or the road. More like the mattress. But what a welcome sight to come home to after a long run!
We’re told these two aren’t inclined to run–just chase each other around the house. But cute nonetheless!
What a fine looking pack. Feel free to add your own below!
In Case You Missed It: Free 2017 Goal Setting and Race Planning Webinars with Train Like a Mother coaches this week! Register here!
Why My Treadmill Workout Is My Savior
Welcome to our new column, “Room on the Road,” by Denise Dollar, who you might know as the founder of Heart Strides, Denise uses this space to discuss her struggle with running and weight. Check out her previous posts here.
One pro to having my treadmill in the sunroom: enjoying my children’s artwork.
Blowing into my hands, my fingers already stiff, I shuffle from side-to-side, trying to stay warm. I wonder why I’m out here. If I was in Wisconsin right now I wouldn’t even be outside. I stop my internal whining and give thanks. Cold fingers and all.
It’s a small group today, moms like us, antsy to shake off a trying week filled with sick kiddos, holiday events and not enough hours in the day. There’s no pressure to be a certain pace or distance, but I always feel pressure.
To be clear: These are my people. The only pressure they put on me is to join them more often to move forward. Pace and distance? That’s the pressure I put upon myself, every single time. I’m not fast enough. I’m not going far enough.
Huddled together while waiting for the last mom to arrive, there’s talk of upcoming races. I get nervous, wondering how to interject my no I’m not training right now. I know they won’t care. But I care. It’s too much for me to say out loud right now. Hearing myself say I’m not training feels more like I’m not a runner.
The conversation bounces around from recipes to our new favorite running gear, and then it happens. The treadmill is brought into the loop. I hate the dreadmill. I’d rather die than run on the treadmill. I just can’t do it. Always a last resort. Always.
I look down at my feet. I don’t hate my treadmill, I think to myself. And while I don’t typically proclaim my love for the treadmill—it feels like admitting you eat white chocolate while binge watching Real Housewives—I feel the urge to give it my support.
I find my voice and mumble, I love my treadmill. No one says anything. I say it again. I LOVE my treadmill. That got their attention. What? How on earth do you do it? How boring! How can you take the treadmill over this?
Rambling on, explaining why I love it, which feels more like my day in court, knowing that I won’t sway the jury. Your honor, the treadmill is a fine piece of equipment and has saved my life on more than one occasion.
Those days that slip through my fingers, the days that are filled with more good intentions than free time, have been saved by my treadmill. Day or night, it’s always there. Granted, it’s not ideal to be getting my miles in at ten o’clock at night, but when I’ve promised myself to do something, anything, a few miles before bedtime are better than none.
Those days that I have to be accessible by phone if Logan’s (my son with Type I Diabetes) school needs to call me? I can’t thank my treadmill enough. Those days, when his blood sugar is all over the place, when my mind is racing with I hope he doesn’t crash after PE, I hope he remembers to go down to the health room and check his blood sugar, I hope he doesn’t get too low, I hope, I hope, I hope… those are the days that I can’t leave it all on the trail or the road. But I can leave it on the treadmill and know that if Logan needs me, I’ll be there as soon as I can.
Those days when I want to be invisible. When I am in disbelief that the bulge above my sports bra is fat. What is that? Is that really fat? That must be my shirt. It’s just a weird angle. No. It’s fat. When I just want to hang a ‘do not disturb’ sign on my life. When my heart is heavier than my legs. Those are the days that I need saving.
The only problem with my treadmill? It shared a space close to my dining room. Recently, while sitting the dining room table, glancing over at it, I became angry. I’m not doing enough, I need to work out more, I’m lucky to have it, just do it.
Sitting there wrestling with old thoughts, trying to replace them with new ones, I had an epiphany.
Having the treadmill—something I loved, the one thing I called my own, my source of relief—in the same room where I ate was stressing me out.
I needed to separate the two. I needed them to each have their own space in my house and in my mind. I wanted to break up the fight between the guilt I felt when I wasn’t exercising and the guilt I felt when I was eating.
After much pleading with my husband, we moved the beast to our store room, and I honestly rejoice every time I turn it on. I am honestly excited to hear the hum of the track every single time.
My treadmill’s new home, feeling renewed.
During my treadmill workout, I don’t have to download my miles for the world to see. I can go when I want and as far as I want. My pace is my business and my business only. I can wear my too-tight capris without explanation. I feel no stress about keeping up or holding somebody back. Nobody is here to make me feel out of place—and I feel no judgment when I slow my jog to a walk.
That said, I’m see my treadmill in a new light as I take a closer look at my eating and exercising habits.
If it’s possible, I may love it a little too much. Is it throwing me off balance? Becoming my crutch? Something I lean on for strength, forgetting my own?
Maybe. But that’s a question for another day. Right now, I’m craving the whirl of my ‘mill and the solitude of my store room—and that’s one craving I’ll indulge guilt-free.
Always worth it.
Are you a treadmill fan? Or hater? Why?
#238: Podcast with Green Chef Talking Food and Cooking
Sarah and co-host Molly Williams have a rollicking time talking with Denver-based chef Elizabeth Buckingham. Elizabeth aims to demystify meal preparation with “chef-y tricks, including how to think two steps ahead to avoid 5:30 p.m. craziness. She shares clever tips for tackling grocery shopping, bonding with Molly over frozen vegetables v. “aspirational” veggies. Talk turns to protein, which is when Elizabeth starts singing her first chorus of praise for quinoa. (Sarah’s eager to try out her suggestion for making it taste more appealing!) She then moves on to exclaiming the benefits of full-fat dairy products and other whole, unprocessed foods. The chef offers mouth-watering-yet-simple suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, answering questions culled from the Another Mother Runner Facebook page. After a deep dive into turmeric, listen to new BFFs Molly and Elizabeth bond over bitters. And if you’re looking to play a drinking game while listening to this podcast, we’d suggest chugging (whole milk, of course!) whenever Chef Elizabeth utters the word “quinoa,” “frittata,” or the phrases, “raised bed” or “full-fat.”
Before diving into talk of food, Molly and Sarah have a detailed conversation about #foundchange in which Molly shares a never-before-revealed theory about why there’s so much more money to be found in Texas bar parking lots than in Portland.
*If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes. Many thanks.
**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. We’ve also joined the Acast podcast network, download their app to hear our podcast and many others like it!