AUDIO ONLY - 304: Lessons from the Boston Marathon
===
[00:00:00] ATR USB microphone: This is the Real Life Runners Podcast, episode number 304, lessons from the Boston Marathon.
[00:00:08] Angie: all right, so today we are talking about lessons from the Boston Marathon of 2023. It is currently Monday, April 17th. We are recording this podcast episode on the evening of the Boston Marathon.
[00:00:43] Kevin: Patriots Day.
[00:00:44] Angie: It is Patriots Day and we are hyped up because it was just like, that was just such an incredible race today. Such an incredible marathon, um, to watch.
[00:00:54] Kevin: Yeah. Such phenomenal teaching that I did during the day as I was streaming from my phone in my classroom.
[00:00:59] Angie: I [00:01:00] know Kevin and I were texting all day long, and if you're his boss listening to this, which I know sometimes your boss does listen to our podcast.
[00:01:06] Kevin: I actually was doing some quality teaching cause they're taking a test tomorrow. So it was a good review day.
[00:01:11] Angie: Yeah. There was definitely pauses in between. He was probably just texting me on in between
[00:01:15] Kevin: classes? No, the, the whole back end of the marathon. I was on lunch break. So the timing actually worked out really nice. That worked out well. Cause it's a, it's a late start for boxing.
[00:01:21] Angie: I know. But it was like, You know, I was watching the live coverage, um, here and we are tracking people on our phones on that app and, you know, we have some athletes, um, that were running the Boston Marathon. Shout out to our athlete Chris, who just did phenomenally well today.
and to everybody else that ran Boston. today. Just job well done to, to everyone. And so today we wanna talk about Boston. First of all, we wanna talk about why the Boston Marathon is such a big deal, why people want to run Boston, why it is such a goal for so many people to have a Boston qualifying time and to run Boston. And then we wanna talk about some of the lessons that we can pull away [00:02:00] from today's performances from, specifically the prosyou know, there were, I'm sure there were some amazing stories like. With the non-elite athletes.
[00:02:08] Kevin: Yeah. There are about 30,000 amazing stories.
[00:02:10] Angie: And unfortunately, ESPN doesn't cover all of those, but we do know what happened with the elite runner, specifically the on the men's side. And today we wanna really dive into that and, and take what we saw today with the elite athletes in the Boston Marathon and apply those lessons to us as real life runners cuz there are so many things that we can take away from this as well.
So, okay. So let's start off with why is the Boston Marathon such a big deal? number one.
[00:02:38] Kevin: Because everybody from Boston says it is.
[00:02:39] Angie: Yes, that is true. That's part of it. That is true. so number one, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest marathon. Okay? The modern day marathon, as we know it now. The first modern day marathon was run in 1896 in the Olympics, and the Boston Marathon was started in 1897, so the year after that first [00:03:00] modern day marathon. So this is the oldest marathon in the world, and that's a really big deal.
[00:03:05] Kevin: Oldest annual, like the, you could argue the Olympics. Well, yes, but I mean, the one that we compete every single year in the same exact location, like the Olympic marathon's been around an extra year, but it only goes once every four years.
Right. And it moves from city to city. Boston has continuously run this thing. Mm-hmm. Every year, almost every single year. except the one year covid year that we had, we had a spring and a fall. Boston Marathon. Yeah. That was interesting.
[00:03:29] Angie: Those, those years don't count for anything.
[00:03:31] Kevin: Every year since 1896. It's phenomenal.
[00:03:33] Angie: 1897. But yeah, so this is one of the reasons that Boston is often known as the People's Olympics because
Boston Marathon is the race that quote unquote, normal humans can run with elite runners mm-hmm. Because they can all run in Boston, but ever since the beginning, Boston always had a qualifying time. They always set a standard and they always had a high standard. And so [00:04:00] the brand, the Boston Marathon means something, right? Because even if you are a normal person that was not an elite professional runner, you still had to be fast enough in order to run the Boston Marathon.
[00:04:12] Kevin: Yeah. Like there's, there's some standards, and the standards have changed over the years, and kept getting faster and faster over the years because they still wanted it to be like a select group of people. Mm-hmm. And every once in a while, the, the time standards will drop pretty substantially. as trainings improve, as shoes improve, I'm actually kind of curious how they're gonna change again with, you know, super shoes on all athletes.
Mm-hmm. And so many recreational athletes putting super shoes on and just chopping huge amounts of time off of their, off their time. So I'm, I'm curious how the stands are gonna go, but the last few years, everybody who's run a qualifying time has made it in. Mm-hmm. And I don't know, five years ago or so, you, you had to be able to beat, not just hit the qualifying standard, but you had to be able to beat it by almost five minutes because it's.
You have the qualifying standard, but then they have like a [00:05:00] registration day and they let you in based off of, are you 10 minutes faster? Mm-hmm. Okay. Now we'll open it up for those people. Are you five minutes faster? We'll open it up for those people. Are you One minute faster? Yeah. Now we'll open up for those and it would fill up mm-hmm.
Before it got to the people who like just sneaked under their, their BQ time.
[00:05:16] Angie: Right. So even having that Boston qualifying time doesn't always guarantee that you will then be able to run Boston like it it has for the last couple of years but prior to that, it did not mean that at all. Especially like after the bombings of 2013 where Boston started to get a lot more recognition and a lot more people that were interested in running that mm-hmm that race because of, you know, they wanted to honor memories of various people um, it became a lot more popular unfortunately, after that tragedy.
[00:05:45] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, it's the number of people. I think they're up to 30,000 people now, and you really, you can't put that many more people into the race. Like it's got the, the pro start, the women's pros well, sorry. There's wheelchair start then Men's Pro [00:06:00] start, then women's pro start, and then the first wave that has, I think within the wave there's nine separate corrals within it, and then a second wave and then a third wave. Like, yeah. How, how many more people can you put into it?
If you see the, the race coverage of Boston Marathon? The starting line's not that big. Mm-hmm. Like it's kind of a smaller street and you're kind of winding through neighborhoods at the beginning. Right. You can't really expand it all that much like. It's, it's a world major. There's tens of thousands of people in it, but it can't get much bigger.
New York is a little bit bigger, but even that, like there's only so many people, you're gonna be able to stick onto that bridge.
[00:06:36] Angie: Yeah. and you, you mentioned there that it's a world major, so that's another reason that Boston is such a big deal too. Boston was a big deal before that, but they also then partnered in 2006 with actually four other marathons.
there was London, Chicago, Boston, and. Not Tokyo, Berlin. They all paired to become like the, the world [00:07:00] majors and then they added Tokyo, I think in 2013. So there are six current world majors and there's a lot of people that want to run all six world majors. So that increases the demand for Boston even further.
There's, you know, a lot of marathon runners wanted to run Boston anyway, but now you stick this, world major label on it where there's a lot of people that are trying to get their six stars, that's gonna increase the demand to wanna run Boston as
[00:07:24] Kevin: well. But this one still has this time standard that you have to get and right.
There's some standards. None of the other world majors have that same. Way of getting in. Yeah. There's some that like if you run a certain time, you have a better chance. Like it boosts your chance through the lottery, but all the rest of 'em are so popular that they just go to like essentially a pure lottery outside of like elite, sub elite that can kind of work their way into it.
[00:07:48] Angie: Yeah. And you still can run Boston without qualifying. You can run through a charity and that's one of the other amazing things about Boston is that charities raise over 15 million [00:08:00] annually. Mm-hmm. Because people have to raise money to run Boston for specific charities. And a lot of these charity organizations have very high minimum, fundraising, very high contributions. Right. so you have to raise like $8,000, $10,000. It depends on what charity you're trying to represent in the Boston Marathon. So that is no small feat in of itself. Right. Even if you don't have a qualifying time, you still have to raise a lot of money in order to be able to run for a charity in the Boston Marathon.
[00:08:31] Kevin: Yeah, a hundred percent.
[00:08:32] Angie: And that's really using, running for a lot of good in the world, right? Like there's a lot of people, there's some debate over whether or not Boston, you know, should allow charity runners that don't have qualifying times. And there's a lot of debate in the running community about that topic. But one of the things I think that we can all a, a agree with is the fact that raising money for charities is a good thing. And the amount of money that is raised for these charities, a lot of which [00:09:00] support local charities in the Boston area is a very, very good thing.
[00:09:03] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, I, I am part of that group of like Mm, should you have the charity runners in there and and look, you're raising 15 million annually for charities. Yeah. There's a lot of these charities that get most of their annual mm-hmm. Income from people that are running the Boston Marathon. Right. That alone is, is huge. Mm-hmm.
[00:09:20] Angie:
Back to that storied history that the Boston Marathon has. The Boston Marathon was also the first marathon that a woman ever ran because women did not used to be able to run marathons. Women were not allowed to run marathons and specifically the Boston Marathon. So Katherine Switzer in 1967 was the first female ever to run a marathon, and she was almost tackled by an event organizer. So her name is very well known in the running community. there is a very famous photo of this Boston event organizer trying to, to get at her and you know, physically remove her from the course. So that was a [00:10:00] very big moment, specifically in women's running history where. Katherine Switzer ran this marathon, even though she wasn't supposed to. And then it was finally opened up, I don't know if it was the next year, but it was finally opened up to women after that event, but she was brave enough to just do it anyway.
[00:10:16] Kevin: Banned at the race. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was a positive banding experience. Yeah. And I, I forget the name of them, but there were two guys, one that ran on each side of her. They essentially acted as bodyguards. Mm-hmm. With full expectation that somewhere during the race. Yeah. An organizer was gonna try and pull her off a course quick.
[00:10:32] Angie: I don't, did she bandit it? I thought she actually had a race number and then she just, she registered as Kay Switzer that would do it. Like she just, she didn't put her first name. She just put her initial.
[00:10:41] Kevin: That makes sense.
[00:10:41] Angie: Yeah. So, and then finally there's just amazing crowd support on the Boston Marathon course. It is just known that, All 26.2 miles. You will not be alone. There will be people out there cheering for you. There's some very specific areas. There's like the Yale Tunnel, there's a lot of [00:11:00] universities in Boston that the Boston Marathon runs by. so the amount of crowd support out on the course is absolutely. You know, incredible according to anyone that's ever run Boston so that alone, is huge. Cuz you know that if you've ever run a marathon, when you have people there cheering, even if they're total strangers, it makes a difference. Like, it makes a difference when people are yelling at you from the sidelines and encouraging you when on those times where you wanna quit. Like just having another human there watching you is gonna make you less likely to stop and walk.
[00:11:31] Kevin: Yeah. And when it's not just another human on the sideline, but it's hundreds of people on both sidelines, like Right. That fi final straightaway at Boston is a long final straightaway, but both sides of the road are about 10 people deep yeah screaming. And it doesn't matter whether it's the elites or it's a couple hours later of people coming in off of wave three. Mm-hmm. It's still just people screaming and cheering for the entire time. It's, it's a party all day long. Yeah. And people are, are supporting all the way from, from who [00:12:00] crosses the line first to who crosses the line, you know, it's six hours later.
[00:12:03] Angie: Yeah. So that's a little idea of why Boston is such a big deal. And I really wanted to put this in because I know that there's a lot of people out there that really don't understand it. Like people, you know, even in our inside of our running program, inside of our academy like that have asked like, what, what, what does that mean to run Boston? You know? Or what is it? Why is it such a big deal?
[00:12:23] Kevin: Why is it BQ a thing?
[00:12:24] Angie: Right? Why is a BQ a thing? And what does BQ even mean? Right? Like a Boston qualifying time. So hopefully now if you weren't familiar with Boston, now you understand why it's such a big deal in the running community for so many people.
so let's move on now to lessons from this year is Boston Marathon, because holy moly, that was just incredible thing to watch. It was an incredible thing to watch. So let's talk, let's start by talking about, Kipchoge. Okay, so Kipchoge is,
the best distance runner of all time. He is the goat. He is the greatest of all [00:13:00] time. He was supposed to win this race, right? Everyone assumed he was going to win. He has won, like before the Boston Marathon, this year's Boston Marathon, he has won 15 out of 17 marathons that he's run. He only has lost twice. So everyone just assumed he was going to win this one. And he put it out there that he wanted to win all six marathon majors. And he had never run Boston before. And so this was one of the things that he had to, you know, one of the boxes he still had to check.
[00:13:27] Kevin: Yeah. I think 15 outta 17. I think one of them was his debut.
Yes. One of them was his debut and the other one was, I think inthe other one was London Fairly recently.
[00:13:34] Angie: It was London.
[00:13:34] Kevin: Kipchoge's 38. Yeah. And is going out there competing against people in their mid twenties. Yeah. Like he's been marathoning for a while. He's not just like this marathon runner that came on outta nowhere. And people are like, oh, he's phenomenal. Like he used to be a 1500 meter runner. Mm-hmm. And a 5,000 meter runner. He excelled on the track. Right. And then took it off the track and started marathoning. Mm-hmm. And is even better at marathoning. Mm-hmm. Like it's. It's insane how good he is, how consistent he's been, and how long he has [00:14:00] been so good.
[00:14:00] Angie: Yeah. And so going into this race, there was so much hype around Kipchoge. So many people know this man's name. There were crowds all like following him around Boston. There were so many public appearances that he made and so he was expected to win. And spoiler alert, hopefully you've probably heard this by now, because this episode comes out on Thursday, but he did not win. He placed sixth overall in the race. And there is just so many things that we wanna kind of get into here because when you are expected to win. Right? Like this, kind of like when I was thinking about this and I was thinking and watching him do this, he still finished the race. He did not drop out. And there were, there was a a point in time where right after he started to fall back away from the leader pack, the announcers were like, oh, there's some rumors that he might be dropping out of the race. And it's like, oh, did he, did he get hurt along the way? Yeah. Did something happen? Because if you are the goat and if [00:15:00] you are the greatest of all time and that it's expected to win in this race and you're not winning, everyone assumes that something majorly bad has gone wrong.
[00:15:08] Kevin: Right. And it was, it wasn't like a super terrible rain. Like this wasn't the, the rainy, cold, sleet year, but it wasn't ideal. Like it was, it was wet and slippery out there. It was raining off and on at various portions. Mm-hmm. At, at one point it was, it was funny, I listened to the announcers. They're like, oh, it's currently raining on the men's leaders. And then the, the woman who was also hosting, she goes, it's also raining on the women. I think just, it cracked me up. Like, like it's, oh, it's only raining on, on the screen on the left. but I mean, if they were in Florida, that might be true. And, and in Boston, because it's a point to point. Yeah. Like it's not a loop. Like you literally could run into like a rainy patch Right. And then out of it. And so it's quite possible that he could have hit a spot on the road. Mm-hmm. And like his leg went funky. Yep. If something went slippery, it was quite possible that something more catastrophic could have happened. Right. And he, he fell, he twisted an, he bent knee funny. Mm-hmm. So that [00:16:00] was possible. But you texted me, you're like, they're, they're saying he might have dropped. And I'm like, if he dropped, he had to have been hurt because I don't think he has it in him to pull out because it's not going well. Well, I just don't think that's in him.
[00:16:13] Angie: And I think that's one of the things that makes him the goat. Yeah. This is one of the things that makes him the greatest of all time, because so many elites when the race isn't going their way, they just stop. They just pull out of the race and, and they dnf they don't finish because it's not worth it. Because of the way that a lot of elite professional runners contracts are written. They get certain bonuses for finishing at certain, places, right? Mm-hmm. Like if they win, they get a certain, contract bonus if they get second, third, fourth, whatever.
If they are first in their country, they get a certain contract bonus. There's lots of bonuses built into..
[00:16:48] Kevin: First from their particular shoe company.
[00:16:50] Angie: Right? So there's a lot of bonuses built into their contracts, with their sponsors. And so for a lot of these runner. It isn't just about running, it's their way [00:17:00] of life. It is, it is their bread and butter. It is what, the way that they make a living. So if they can't finish at the top and get those bonuses, it's not worth putting their body through the wear and tear of finishing that marathon. So a lot of elite runners are like, well, if I'm, if they're, you know, near that halfway point or near that 20 mile mark and they know that they're not even close to hitting some of those bonus numbers that are stated in their contract, they'll just end their race.
[00:17:25] Kevin: Right. And it, it kind of varies. and it's really very much how the contracts are written and contracts are kind of changing a little bit. because part of the aspect of Wakes, what makes athletes amazing athletes is their ability to connect with people. Mm-hmm. And so, while I am sure Elliot Kipchoge has some bonuses based off of certain places, It's not like if he doesn't finish in the top five, in the top three, he's going to lose his contract.
Right.
[00:17:53] Angie: Any, anyone would be happy to pick him up, like
[00:17:55] Kevin: he's an icon of the sport, whereas some other people, at least it used to be [00:18:00] this way. I think it's less. So it's starting to shift. There's a beginning of this shift. Yeah. That if you can show that you're worthwhile to the company mm-hmm. Even if you're not finishing in the top five, that if you're still worthwhile, if people are connecting to you mm-hmm.
People are like, oh, well I've got this social media following. Right. It's like, oh, well that's important also because people trust you. Mm-hmm. Even if you're not finishing in the top five. Right. So, you know, that's, that's an aspect to it. Yep. But, Just on a personal level, he was supposed to win and then partway through the race, kind of late in the race, somewhere around this, around like 1920.
Yeah, it's, it's, before it got to the really bad hills, it got to the part where it started to climb, but it was not the big climb of, of Heartbreak Hill at 20. It was, as it starts through the rolling section of, of the Newton Hills, which is a whole big stretch of the race, he just started falling off the back.
The leaders started pushing the pace, and it was kind of subtle at first. It's like, did he just move himself to the back of the pack? Mm-hmm. And then he was a couple steps off the back. Yeah. And then he was [00:19:00] out the back of the pack and the announcers were like, it looks like Kipchoge is slipping behind.
Yeah. What's going through his head at that point? Mm-hmm. Because he'd run so many races where it was in the exact opposite position, where he put his foot on the gas and everybody disappeared around him. Yep. At this point, someone else hit the gas pedal and he tried to hit his gas pedal and it wasn't there.
[00:19:20] Angie: It didn't go.
[00:19:20] Kevin: So what do you do? How do you keep pushing when you've got seven miles to go? Mm-hmm. And you're watching the crowd pull away.
[00:19:28] Angie: Yeah. And especially when you have that expectation, you know, kind of going back to this idea of expectations versus reality. When you expect to win, like he expected to win, right? Yeah. Like that. He had that expectation of himself, like yes, he has respect for the sport, he has respect for the marathon. He understands that running anything can happen on any given day, but he still went into that race with the expectation that I am going to win this race. I guess. the announcers were talking that he had been talking about setting a course record like in a couple [00:20:00] weeks prior. Sure. And he, he kind of stopped talking about that part of it and just talking about how he wanted to, to go out and win this race. So his, his, focus kind of shifted a little bit, but he was still expecting to win. So, That's what I really would like to know is like how do you keep pushing on when your reality is not meeting your expectation? And I think that is something that we as real life runners can all relate to. We all sometimes have ideas in our head of what should happen or what we think might happen. And when our reality doesn't meet that expectation, how do we keep going? How do we keep putting one foot in front of the other? How do we keep pushing ourselves? It's because it's not like he just, you know, fell back and, and stopped pushing. Like he kept pushing himself. He ended up in sixth place. Right. Like that is still very, very respectable.
[00:20:47] Kevin: Right. Cuz when he initially fell off the pack Yeah. At one point he was in ninth place, like he got dropped out the back. Mm-hmm. And then he had to recompose himself during a difficult portion of the race. Like as you hit the the [00:21:00] hill, you've now lost contact with the pack and you're about to hit the biggest hill of the race. Yeah. Like, you really have to bring some focus to there. And he was able to get up the hill mm-hmm down the other side of it and put himself in, in the best perf the best showing that he could on that day, I think is probably the, the best way to say that. And it, it wasn't a win, it wasn't what he was hoping for. Mm-hmm. I th he wasn't the only one standing there on the starting line saying, I'm going to win today. I think that there were plenty of people standing there on the starting line.
[00:21:30] Angie: Yeah. Like Evan's Chabe, the defending champion.
[00:21:32] Kevin: Like the, the poor guy looking down with the number one on his jersey. Yeah. And everyone's like, Ooh, well let's see how fast Kipchoge runs. Meanwhile, Evan's Tibet's sitting there like, Hey, you guys remember last year when I broke the tape? Yeah. That's why there's a one on my chest. Mm-hmm. You know, he had the same mindset at the starting line. There was a handful of other people, you know, at the, the very start of the race. They're like, here's some people to keep an eye on. But I bet there's more than just the like [00:22:00] five, six people that they named that thought to themselves maybe today. Mm-hmm. Maybe today is the day. Yeah. Because it's, we got a little bit of a headwind. We got some, some wet conditions. You add a little bit of variables to it. Yeah. And you're never quite sure how that's gonna affect every person in the race.
[00:22:16] Angie: Yeah and so when Kipchoge found himself falling back into like seventh place, you said ninth. I, I, I remember him in seventh, but like if he was in ninth at one point too, it's like, how do. How does he keep going at that point? Because he could have quit like, and a lot of professionals would have, but this was about more than that to him, because Kipchoge has a love and a respect for the sport. I think that is greater than other runners. And I like, I hesitate to say that, but at the same time, like his performance today showed that, like his performance today very much showed his love and respect for this sport. And that's why a lot of people call him the people's champion because he is a role model in this sport. He [00:23:00] is always talking about mind over matter. He's always talking about the mental side and how you have to really train both the physical side and the mental side of running in order to be a champion. And so many people, despite the fact that he is the greatest marathon runner of all time, so many people look up to him and can connect to him in so many ways because he is so vocally outspoken, about the, you know, different aspects of the sport.
[00:23:26] Kevin: Yeah. And just the challenge that is a marathon. Yeah. Like, you know, in one of the, all of the stuff that he has to do, all the interviews that he is given beforehand, there was one where he's like, it's a marathon. It's gonna be difficult. Yeah. And you just push, and then in when it's still difficult, you have to keep pushing. Mm-hmm. And that's what he was faced with. He was faced with, not only is it difficult and I have to keep pushing, but it's difficult. I've lost contact with the lead pack. So now he's just running solo. Mm-hmm. Like a lot of the people who are, you know, many, many minutes behind him, at least have dozens and dozens of people around them. Right. Don't get me wrong, the crowd is [00:24:00] still screaming for him, but they're probably screaming after they picked their job off the ground of like, wait, how come he's not in front anymore? Mm-hmm. They're still screaming. I'm sure they're still going nuts for him. Right. But it is gonna be like a little interesting, like, how are we cheering for this guy? Like, is he, is he doing okay? I'm, I'm curious how enthusiastic they would've been versus if you know, it had what many people were guessing was gonna happen, where it's gonna hit the hills. I bet he comes off of the hill and hits the gas pedal and just blows everybody away on the last five miles.
[00:24:29] Angie: Yeah, I It is, it all is, is very interesting. But, you know, I think that it's one of those things that we can all relate to as real life runners is like, when things aren't going our way, what is going through our head? Right? Like, what do we say to ourselves in those moments? How do we keep pushing, how do we keep our foot on the gas pedal, even though it, it quote unquote doesn't matter to other people.
Right. Because Yes.
[00:24:55] Kevin: Even though it doesn't matter, like, it's, it's what we talked about the other, the other podcast where it was like, [00:25:00] it both matters and doesn't simultaneously. Yeah.
[00:25:03] Angie: But especially when you're kipchoge, like people argue that it matters a lot more for him. Sure. Versus, you know, Joe Schmo from down the street. What, you know, what does it really matter if he hits that goal time or not?
[00:25:20] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, but it matters a whole lot to Joe Schmo. Yeah. It, the thing is that, like, it, it reminded me of a, as we like to on, oh, so many podcasts reference, one of my favorite coaches is Steve Magnus out there, I saw just a little while ago on his, on his Instagram, he had a great quote that said, competing when you are in the race or you have a shot is. Being a true competitor is being able to put out the same effort even when you're losing and there is little hope of victory. And that's, that's what sums up the other 30,000 people in it. Yeah. Like how many people ran that race with no shot of victory? Mm-hmm. You know, elite men take off at 9 37 and then the [00:26:00] first wave takes off at ten one. They're gonna run it in like two 10 ish, maybe faster if the conditions work for them. And you're giving him a 23 minute lead. So if you're starting at 10, you're not winning the race. So what is it that allows to keep going? That's where the true competitor comes in. Are you gonna be able to continue to put in that same effort? He put in the same effort. The times didn't correspond for Kipchoge on today's race, but I think the effort was still there. I think he was still pushing, I think he was waving to the crowd down the final straightaway, cuz I pulled up his splits. Yes, he should. I think at some point it was like, all right, today's not my day and I'm finishing sixth, so I'm not gonna like full blown absolute sprint down the final straightaway. I didn't see him waving though, but I I don't think he really, yeah, I don't think he coasted. I think he was still running really hot.
[00:26:48] Angie: Well and I think that, that I, I'm glad that you point that out for us as real life runners cuz Yeah. You can say this to about Kipchoge here, right? Like you can say competing when you were in the race or have [00:27:00] a shot is easy. Being a true competitor is being able to put out the same effort even when you are losing and there is little hope of victory because at some point he saw victory run away from him.
[00:27:10] Kevin: Yes, he did. Right.
[00:27:11] Angie: And he knew he he was not gonna win. Yeah. Right. And so that's one thing. But we as real life runners, we know a lot of us that we're not competing for first place. We're not competing
[00:27:22] Kevin: Victory slide away as soon as the gun is shot. Yep.
[00:27:25] Angie: Mm-hmm. So we're not competing to place. We're not competing to try to win the race, but we might be trying to compete against ourselves. We might be trying to compete against the clock. And when we see that the race is not going the way that we want it to and we see that time slipping away, are we still able to keep pushing? Are we still able to rise up and be that competitor and still give it our best, even if we're not gonna hit our goal? For Kipchoge, it was winning the race. For some of us it might be hitting that Boston qualifying time, it might be running under two hours for your half marathon. It might be running 30 [00:28:00] minutes for a 5k, whatever that goal is. Can you keep pushing even if you might not get that goal?
[00:28:06] Kevin: Yeah. I mean that, that brings me back to like thoughts on like our own cross-country team of the people that we talk to the kids all the time, they're high school kids. They've always got this number in their head. I'm hope that I hit that time.
And I'm like, okay, but it's pouring rain. We're hoping to squeeze this race in on a sloppy muddy course when the lightning alarm stops going off. Maybe today's not the day, but in their head they're like, no, no, no. I've gotta try and hit that time because I ran this time two weeks ago and then I took another 30 seconds off so I should get another 30 seconds.
I'm like, you gotta go out there and just know that you're going to push yourself, and if I yell out your split at two mile and you're off of pace, that doesn't mean that you can coast in. You should still be out there pushing really hard and grinding for yourself.
[00:28:53] Angie: And the last thing that I was thinking about as far as like expectations versus reality is that a lot of people [00:29:00] expected Kipchoge to win because they think he's superhuman and he can't be defeated. But in reality, we all have good days and we all have bad days, and we're all susceptible to racing because Kipchoge is human just like the rest of us.
And I think that that's a really. Relatable thing that I wanted to just point out that like, yes, he is the greatest of all time. Yes, he is a phenomenal marathon runner, but even Kipchoge has bad days. And I feel like this performance today just made him even more relatable and even more likable in the running community.
[00:29:32] Kevin: Yeah. And he was remarkably likable beforehand. Yeah. But the fact that he finished it and then he puts up and I, I don't know how much he writes his own Instagram versus other people. Right. But he thanked all of the competitors. Mm-hmm. He thinked that the crowds like he, yeah. He respects all of these races, not, not just like respecting the distance of the marathon, the race of the marathon itself, but he respects the Boston Marathon for what the Boston Marathon is.
Right. Like he, he gets it. He could've [00:30:00] never tried the Boston Marathon. Mm-hmm. Because there were a lot of people out there like, yeah, he's the greatest, but he runs these very flat courses and just goes so super fast. What's gonna happen if he gets hills? Yeah. He didn't have to answer that question. He never needed to run Boston if he didn't want to, but he, he gets the, the importance of Boston.
He gets the history behind it, and so he wanted to give it a shot knowing that today's outcome was a possibility, right? That maybe the Boston course is not perfectly set up for him, that it may make him. Even on a good day, look a little bit more human. And I just don't think that he had a good day on top of that.
[00:30:35] Angie: Yeah, I think there was several things. And looking at this from a coaching perspective, there's a couple little logistics that I
[00:30:41] Kevin: just were coaching. Chi Kipchoge.
[00:30:45] Angie: Yeah, let's, let's wait for that phone call. I'm not gonna hold my breath, but here's the thing. So I was also thinking about this from a coaching perspective, cuz we, one of the big things that we talk about with our clients and here on the podcast as well, for all of you that we coach, unofficially because if you're [00:31:00] listening to this podcast, I hope that you think of us as your coaches. Like even if you are not a part of our program, even if we are not your official coaches, like that's what we're doing here. We're trying to help you be a better runner. So we are part of your coaching team, you know, even if you have another coach, I mean, I have a lot of coaches and a lot of mentors that I've never paid before, but I take their advice and it helps me to become a better human or a better business owner, or a better runner or ver, you know, a better mom, like so many other things. so from a coaching perspective, and granted I don't know all the details, but what I do know, his schedule in the days leading up to the Boston Marathon was absolutely packed. He was doing so many interviews and so many appearances. His, his day was packed. And I've, I've heard that from multiple people that were, are like, you know, in the press, the press arena and whatnot, and it's like, this really points out this idea that your life plays a role and he [00:32:00] is, you know, experienced that before. Yeah. Like he's, as a professional runner, this is part of the job. He knows that. He knows that he needs to make these press appearances and whatnot, but. Your life plays a role. What you do in the days leading up to that race plays a role. And did any of that play a role in how he felt and performed today? I don't know. I can't say that, but we as real life runners know that if we are on our feet or if we are really busy with other things in the days leading up to a big race, that does have the potential to affect how we perform in that race.
[00:32:30] Kevin: Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, I'm sure the defending champion had plenty of appearances also.
Yeah. Like if they're gonna have panels, you're gonna have the defending champ. You're gonna have Kipchoge.
[00:32:38] Angie: Yeah, but he, he did not have as many as Kipchoge.
[00:32:41] Kevin: That's the thing is there's no way like just because of who he is, right. Everybody wanted the panel course. And maybe of course before that, different interviews that he was doing that the defending champ who rightfully showed up at the race thinking I'm going to win it myself. Probably did not have as many, [00:33:00] experiences. Yes. The press, press experiences, different panels that he needed to be on different places that he was expected to be. so yeah, maybe that played a little bit of a role. Mm-hmm. And that definitely does play a, a role with all of us.
You know, you go on a destination race, you're trying to figure out like, yeah, well where do I, where do I eat dinner? Mm-hmm. Just the stress of trying to figure out where to eat dinner Right. Is an extra decision that you have to try and figure out. You're trying to co to coordinate all sorts of like mm-hmm. You know, how do I get to the starting line? How do, where, how is my friends and family going to see me? You know, he didn't necessarily have to figure that out because, you know, they're just gonna watch on the stream from like the, the camera on the lead cart is what they're gonna do. All of these things build up extra stresses around us.
So as real life runners, it's helpful to try to reduce as many of these stresses as possible to try and reach our potential.
[00:33:45] Angie: Well, and what did that feel like to have a police escort with you everywhere you went? Yeah. Right. Like he had like four cops around him at all times. Right. Like, I mean, as, as much as that is there to help you feel safe, like I feel like that does add a little bit of stress, right?
As, as well,
I don't [00:34:00] know.
[00:34:00] Kevin: He seems remarkably laid back at all times.
[00:34:02] Angie: He does, but who knows what he is, what he is actually feeling and experiencing too. Right. the other thing I was thinking about too is that he never ran the course before. And this is one, one of the things that the announcers pointed out that I found interesting is that the top three runners that, that finished, in the top three, they all had run this course before.
And so that really points out this idea of prior experience and how important it is to have prior experience in really all situations. Definitely in running. Like, is, is it, you know, Are you probably going to be better prepared for your second marathon versus your first Yes. Right. Like you don't know what you don't know.
Going into that first one, your second one, your third one, you're going to be better prepared for that. And Boston is such a unique course that, you know, they were talking about how Kipp Cho, he drove the course. Yeah. Right. Like he did virtual reality stuff on the course, but he never actually ran the course.
So he didn't actually know what it was like to run Boston. So how much of a role did that [00:35:00] also play in his performance?
[00:35:01] Kevin: Yeah, very much. I mean, another specific example just in that is the top American that finished, yeah. Finished seventh. It was Scott Fale. He's run this course, I think this is his fourth Boston. He's finished seventh, three other times, two other times he's finished like seventh. Seventh, he had a bad race on, on one year and then he finished seventh again. Yeah. Ridiculous. He knows the race so well. He doesn't get caught up in the excitement of the opening miles where people tend to push it a little bit fast. Yeah. He's like, no, no, no. I'll be back here. I'll catch everybody on the back half when the, the hills start really rolling and, and people get start falling apart a bit. And he just kept sliding up through the whole back half of the race. Yeah. And finished his top American. Yeah. He kind of came outta nowhere at the end there because people were so concerned with Kipchoge. Right. Not winning the race that that's where so much focus was. No one looked back to see like the battle for where the top American was gonna be. Mm-hmm. Which when, when you get the the e s ESPN coverage here in the States, it's almost always where the top American's gonna be. Yeah. Like who's the winner and then where's the top American gonna be is kind of our, our coverage.
And they [00:36:00] completely skipped over that. They totally
[00:36:01] Angie: did. Because it was all about
[00:36:02] Kevin: Kipchoge. Right. So he just kept doing his thing, which is what he's done for years. Yeah. Which is why he's one of my favorite athletes to follow, because that's what he does. He doesn't care if you're covering him or not.
Scott FALs gonna do his thing, which is patients at the beginning, work his way up, have another major marathon top 10 finish because it's what he does.
[00:36:21] Angie: That's very cool. So, Is a lot about what we took away from Kipchoge's performance. And now I wanna kind of move on to who actually run the RA won the race, which is, who is a man named Evans Tibet. Now, like we already said, he is the defending champion, right? He won the race last year, but yet no one was talking, I shouldn't say no one, but most people were talking about Kipchoge in the race and not a, a lot of people were talking about him. How does that make him feel? Right? Like, yeah, in leading up to this race, like you would think people would talk about his performance and like how he's coming back and he's defending champion, right? [00:37:00] But he was still not the favorite going into this race, and there was definitely not as much coverage about him versus around Kipchoge.
[00:37:08] Kevin: Right. It's a hundred percent. It's again, it's the expectations. Yeah. Like going in. You think that most people will be talking about him? Is he gonna be able to defend a lot of talk about like how often if people have been able to defend in the past, who's gonna, who's gonna try and come up and, and knock him off? Right. But he was almost like an afterthought. Yeah. Of, okay, well Kipchoge's gonna show up and maybe who could try to, to challenge against him. Mm-hmm. And people would mention Tibet in, in that aspect. Yeah. But it was almost of who might be able out of the group of people, out of this cluster who might be able to step up and knock off Kipchoge. Mm-hmm. As opposed to, do you think he's going to be able to defend? Yeah. This is the reigning champion who might be able to knock him off Yeah. Went the other direction. How does that hit his mind frame? Mm-hmm.
[00:37:53] Angie: Yeah, it's, it's so interesting, right? Like, and it makes me think about like this idea of being overlooked, right? Being the [00:38:00] underdog and does that help or does that hurt your performance? So when we watched his race today, Tibet just went out and ran his race. He executed his plan, regardless of the competition. I think, I mean, who knows, you know, I don't know his specific race plan, right? Like was it, was it like, I'm gonna keep up with Kipchoge for X amount of time, or was it like, no, this is, this is what my plan was. Yeah, this is the plan. But it looked like, cuz it was him and his training partner, like the, the two of them, his training partner ended up finishing third place. was Kipp, KIPP Deru, I forget, I forget his name. Sorry. I probably should have looked that up. But, he and his training partner were one, two and like they were in the lead pack with Kipchoge the whole time. And the two of them. You know, well, actually another guy came in and he actually started the kick at like mile 19. Yeah. Gay Goodday Goodday. It's, it's gay, right? G a e y. Thanks.
[00:38:52] Kevin: Yes. I was teaching math through the announcements. I'm really bad on the names. Oh, good. Honestly, I was teaching geometry.
[00:38:57] Angie: But he, he actually started the kick and then, [00:39:00] Tibet and his training partner went with them. So like the three of them started to pull away then it was like the four of them, I think there was like five in the lead group. Yeah. There's a little That Choi was not in it. Right. And so anyway, then the two of them just started to go off. So it was clear that the two of them kind of had a plan. Yeah. And they were like, all right, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this together. And the announcers were kind of talking about like, at what point do you make that switch of we are teammates working together to, we are now competing against each other, late in the race. Right. And that was kind of what the one announcer said he is. Like, at some point you just kind of know, like there's just kind of this understanding that like now we're, it's kind of, you know, we're each gonna try to win this race.
[00:39:39] Kevin: Yeah. I mean that was probably Kalasky coming in with that, a very knowledgeable Yeah. Experience of being in these situations. Mm-hmm. Where, you know, in, in Olympic races, you're gonna use your teammates to help race against you. Yeah. In these huge world majors, you're gonna use your teammates to try to help put you into positions. Mm-hmm. But, at some point in time, and it's not gonna be stated, you're not gonna turn to [00:40:00] the person and be like, okay, now we're racing. Right. Like it's, it's just gonna happen. Mm-hmm. And it's. It's gonna be maybe not the, the kindest move because you know each other so well. Yeah. Like, you know, your teammate, you're like, Ooh, if I push right here, that's a weak spot for them. Mm-hmm. Like, that might be like, you know them mentally, probably more than anybody else in the race. Maybe physically, you've watched some other people run some things. Mm-hmm. You've gotta guess as to how you might try and knock 'em out. But these guys, they trained together all the time. They definitely had a plan Yeah, of this is what we're gonna do for ourselves to put ourselves in the best position to win.
Yeah. And as we get towards the end, one of us is probably gonna try and just take the other person down. Yeah. That's, that's what happened.
[00:40:40] Angie: Yeah. So when you're in a race, are you able to go out and run your race regardless of who's around you? Right. Are you able to execute the plan that you came up with or that you and your coach came up with and not be influenced by what else might be happening? Because there's a lot of races that go out fast and there's, and people will [00:41:00] just kind of go with the flow and go with the crowd and just abandon their race plans and they end up suffering for it in the end. And Chot is a fantastic example of, regardless of who the competition was, this like, this is my race plan. I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna execute this plan. And it ended up winning him the race.
[00:41:17] Kevin: Well, I mean, he had the, the same kind of experience last year. Mm-hmm. The American runner, CJ Albertson. Yeah. For the last couple of years has said, all right, as soon as they shoot up the starting gun, I'm going, and he has just taken the race out. Yeah. I think he finished like 12th this year. but he just, he goes flying and last year he got such a gap on people, but Tibet ended up winning never on his face did it look like he was nervous that they were not gonna catch the guy in front. It was like, this is the pace that I'm planning on running today. Mm-hmm. This is the effort that I'm going for, and if I do that, the race should work out in my favor. Right. And so that's, that's what he did. He didn't worry that someone else decided that their [00:42:00] best race plan was really booking it for the first six miles and then hanging on through hills. Yeah. He said, no, no, this is my best plan. And so I'm gonna do that because my plan is most likely to win it for me. Yeah.
[00:42:13] Angie: So are you able to trust your training? Are you able to go out and trust? The process, trust the plan, like trust what you've decided, or what you and your coaches have decided to do and not be swayed by what else is going on. I think that's a huge lesson for us to take away as real life runners. And also this idea of, you know, being overlooked and having people not believe in you or not give you the attention that you might deserve. Not saying that, you know, we're doing this for attention, not saying that we should be, you know, celebrated by all of our friends and family, and like, I think that that's a, that's a pipe dream for a lot of people, right? But I'm sure there's been people in your life that think you're crazy or that don't believe that you can achieve whatever that goal is or have made [00:43:00] comments You know, kind of, as insinuating that, right? So if people don't think you can, does that fuel you or does that limit you?
[00:43:09] Kevin: Yeah. Like, do you start adopting, like you're not gonna suddenly out of nowhere be like, yes, they're right, I give up. I'm not even gonna give it a shot. Yeah. But those comments coming from the outside saying that maybe this is a bit crazy, maybe that goal is too much. I'm not sure that you can actually be successful. Why don't, yeah. Do you really think you can beat Kipchoge? Like, why don't you dial down the goal a little bit? Right? Like, look, he Kipchoge's gonna be on the line. Let's, let's talk about racing for second place. Right? That's not what it needs to be. Mm-hmm. But, you know, well that was maybe, you know, Evans Tibet discussion with his coach of not, not even thinking about racing for second place. The rest of us are here also, where it's like, okay. I have a, I have a goal time. I wanna break two hours in the half marathon. The numbers that we love to talk about all the time, sub two in the, then the half marathon, hitting a Boston qualifying time for, for a marathon. Like these numbers [00:44:00] that people put out there, they most likely have some friends and family that are like, well, that seems a little ludicrous. And if they, if you hear other people tell you that your goals and your dreams are ludicrous enough, you're gonna start saying that a little bit in your head. Or can you reverse it and say, all right, you think it's ludicrous. I think this is perfect cuz that's my goal and that's what I'm gonna chase after. And you thinking that I can't just tells me even more. I'm chasing the right goal.
[00:44:25] Angie: Yeah. Like watch. Yeah. Right. Watch me, watch me. Like, can that be your response? Like, if you have people in your life that aren't supportive or are making you question things, can you respond by saying, oh yeah, watch me. Right. Like, I mean, I feel like that's a little bit, I mean, I don't know Evan Shat, but I feel like there's had to be a, a little bit of that in, in his head as, as well.
[00:44:46] Kevin: I feel like almost everybody, like when you're performing and competing at that level. Yeah. Everybody's bringing a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. Oh. Of Yeah. I am the greatest person here.
[00:44:56] Angie: Especially you have to the defend champ.
[00:44:57] Kevin: You, you can't compete at that [00:45:00] level. Yeah. And not think that you are one of the greatest athletes in the world. Mm-hmm. Otherwise you won't be able to hang on, you won't be able, able to hang on through 5k. Yeah. Let alone 26 miles. Like, it's just, you're not gonna be able to do it. You have to have that level of self-confidence.
[00:45:12] Angie: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, when I think about this, when I think about the marathon. There's just a couple other little lessons that I shouldn't say little cuz they're all really big lessons, that we can take away from this that are not specific to a, a certain runner. and one of them is what you can control versus what you can't control. So we can control some aspects of the race, like our effort level, how much we're willing to push ourselves, our focus going into the race. But there's a lot that we can't control, right? And this is one of the things that we say.
that Even if you think you have the quote unquote perfect plan, you can't control what happens on race day. You don't know exactly how your body is going to feel. You don't know exactly how your body is going to to respond. You're not able to control the [00:46:00] weather at all. We can't control who else shows up at the race and what they are coming, you know, that day with.
I know that, that's something that you've talked about a lot before because Kevin is, is someone that when he enters a race, he is expected to win a lot. Right. And so I think that you can really, relate to Kipchoge in a lot of ways, obviously on a different scale.
[00:46:19] Kevin: Yes. Very, very similar. Very similar.
[00:46:22] Angie: Obviously on a different scale, but like when you enter a local race, Like, there's a lot, especially in our group of family and friends that just think that you're an elite runner, they, they know or they expect that you're gonna be winning.
[00:46:34] Kevin: I mean, the, the, the biggest connection to this one is friends of ours when we ran the Key West Half Marathon a few years ago. Yeah. They were friends that came down and were watching it, and we were out to dinner the night before, and he said completely jokingly, but this was the statement. He goes, I didn't drive all the way to Key West to watch you not win the race. And I'm like, oh God, he really expects me to win. Like, that was right. Like I, I internalized that [00:47:00] as some pressure and I He meant it as a joke. Yeah. But I think he only partially meant it as a joke, quite frankly. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like the, the thought was, you're here for the race. You're fast. Why don't you just go ahead and win it? Right. I, you never know who's gonna show up right at a, at a race, like especially a race that, that could be seen more as like a destination kind of race. You never know. There have been races that I have run faster or slower.
The race that I, I won when I won the, the Fort Lauderdale race that time would not have won it the year before, because the year before there was a guy who was 10 minutes faster. Yeah. He just wasn't there the next year. So it, it's sometimes it's about who else is in the race and, and how things are going for that person.
[00:47:39] Angie: Yeah. So it, you, there's a lot that you can't control. Right. And so I, it makes me just kind of think about that and, and really submitting to that. Right. Because, and, and understanding like there are things that we can control and we, we need to do our best to control those things, right? Yes. We need to control the controllables, but we also have to kind of give [00:48:00] up control of the things that we don't have control over. We have to release any sort of stress or anxiety that we have around those things because having stress and anxiety about those things that we have no control is only going to hurt our performance. It's not going to help us in any way. So control what we can and release what we can.
[00:48:18] Kevin: Right. And then I think one where it's kind of tricky. Is it in your control or not? Is your nutrition during races? Mm-hmm. During long distance races? I think it's partially in your control. Like if you're like, I'm just gonna have whatever they have at the aid stations, you're giving up a lot of the control. Yeah. And then you have to be okay with that. If you're like, I'm gonna carry everything, you're trying to take as much control as possible. But what if on that day you get a little bit nervous? You're like, I've practiced with this fuel. I'm great with this fuel. But if the nerves hit you on that day, the nutrition's not necessarily gonna digest the same. Mm-hmm. What if you've practiced in plenty of conditions, but now it's a hot day and you're not digesting the same way that you're used to digesting? What if it's a cold day and you're trying to get the, the, the [00:49:00] gel out, but it's the gel packet is literally frozen solid. What are you supposed to do with this? Yeah. So nutrition partially under control. So it's one of those things that if it slips outta your control, you have to just release it. Mm-hmm. And not get freaked out about it.
[00:49:11] Angie: Yeah. That's very true. And ultimately, I think it all goes, comes down to who do you want to be in these moments? Because you get to choose, like in these moments that like Kipchoge showed us, where you're expected to perform a certain way. And you don't perform that way. Who do you want to be? Who do you want to choose to be in that moment? Do you want to keep pushing? Do you want to see you know what you're actually made of here? Even when that result is slipping away from you? Even when that reality is not matching the expectation that you have? Who are you in that moment? And that's one of the things that's so beautiful about running, is that it reveals these things to us. Running is an avenue. It is a way for us to start to see how we want to show up in the world and to not [00:50:00] only see how we are showing up, but choosing consciously choosing who we want to be in those moments.
I think that that's one thing that a lot of people say is like, oh, like running will show you who you are or running will reveal these things to you. I think I just actually said it a couple sentences ago, right? Mm-hmm. I actually wanna flip that and say who do you choose to be in those moments? Cause just because your natural inclination is to be a certain way doesn't mean that you have to actually choose to be that way.
You can actually choose to be something else. So if you find yourself wanting to quit, if you find your natural inclination to take your foot off the gas, when that goal is slipping away from you, you can still choose to push harder. You can still choose to keep going even though your brain and your body is yelling at you to stop.
[00:50:51] Kevin: Yeah, I, the, the idea that the marathon highlights some things that, I mean, half marathon also really the long distance races tend to highlight and, and show [00:51:00] who you are, not necessarily because you're out there for so long. I think it forces you to forks in the road mm-hmm. Where you, that decision is in front of you. Yeah. You know, we've got all the decisions in your life are forks in the road. Mm-hmm. But we go through a lot of these decisions on autopilot and don't realize that we have the choice. We're, you know, you've got choices in everything you do in your life, but sometimes in the middle of the race, that decision becomes a lot clearer. Mm-hmm. Like the decision literally with every single step is do I maintain the pace? Do I pick up the pace or do I slow down? You get to make that choice over and over and over, and as it gets painful, that decision becomes more difficult to make and, and which direction do you want to go? How are you going to take over this thing?
[00:51:40] Angie: Yeah. And you know, my yoga teacher is actually someone that really helped to highlight this for me because she talks about yoga in a way that. I've never heard another yoga teacher talk about it before. And she relates it into our life in so many beautiful ways. And she talks about these positions that we are putting ourself [00:52:00] into, right? These yoga positions in Vinyasa specifically, that's what I practice with her, where you put your body into this position that is uncomfortable and it will start to reveal what, how you respond to discomfort, right? Mm-hmm. And so in that moment when you notice yourself responding to discomfort, you know, she kind of points out like, are you someone that starts to blame the teacher? Are you someone that like digs in and just tries to like writ through it? Are you someone that comes outta the pose because it's just too much for you to handle? Are you someone that like, tries to focus on something else and tries to like let your mind start thinking about something else? Right? There's a lot of different ways that we all deal with discomfort and yoga just starts to reveal that. But then once you start to see where you're naturally going, you then get to choose. Right. Because like, it's funny, when I first started to, to do yoga with her, I would like, and I mean I remember this back from my days of like doing TA Bow in college, you know, like [00:53:00] where Billy Blanks would like now, oh, we're talking way back. Right. Or like you do like the home exercise videos and I'd, I'd like yell at the TV sometimes. Like you forgot about us. And here we are doing like 20 repetitions on this one size. Right. And I would get mad at the teacher at the tv. Right. I would get mad at the tv. Yes, at the tv. And this person that I have no, you know, never met before in my life.
[00:53:21] Kevin: Really? We did 10 with the left. How come we're at 25 on the right side? This is not okay.
[00:53:24] Angie: It's not okay. Right. But it's like, So when she pointed that out, I was like, oh, that's so interesting. Okay, well who do I wanna be in this moment? Right. Do I wanna dig in? Do I wanna like be kind to myself? And even that can change from day to day. You don't always have to show up the exact same way. There are some times where in, in yoga or in running, I will choose to dig in and push through. And there are some days where I'm like, today's not the day for me to push. Like it's going to be the kinder thing for me to actually pull back and not push myself through that and just like actually listen to my body and take child's pose for a [00:54:00] couple of breaths.
[00:54:00] Kevin: Sure. So I mean that was Kipchoge's point of like, how much should I keep pushing? Yeah. He gave the race and his competitors the respect of continuing to, to run the race. Cuz there's, there's an aspect of like, he could have grabbed a calf and been like, oh nope, my calf. And so then did the other people win or did Kipchoge tweak his calf? Like, did that happen? It takes away from their win. Wow. I never thought about that. It's disrespect for the opponent. If you fake an injury, then you didn't lose. That person didn't actually beat you. Mm-hmm. It totally does that. From the flip side, you know, you've got Tibet's outlook of not getting the credit that you think that you deserve. Yeah. Do you use that to put yourself, to put yourself down because no one else is giving you credit or to use their lack of credit to actually push yourself and boost yourself forward?
[00:54:48] Angie: Exactly. So you know when a race doesn't go your way, you know, are you able to stay in it and not give up? Are you able to give your best. On that day, are you able to see the bigger picture [00:55:00] here? Are you able to have that love and that respect for yourself, for the sport, for your competitors? Which I, I love that you just brought that in. I hadn't even thought about that aspect of it.
[00:55:09] Kevin: It's, it's the DNF and, yeah. And I don't wanna dive into this too much But yeah, like the idea, sometimes DN f-ing is appropriate. Mm-hmm. If there is a legitimate injury and you are hurting yourself, DN Fing is, is a solid outcome for many people. Yeah. The pros that take it because they're not getting the bonuses, that's a little, little sketchier. But to fake an injury from the top to say, well, I didn't lose, my competitors, didn't actually beat me. I was just, I got hurt on this day. I think it, it disrespects the race and disrespects the competition.
[00:55:39] Angie: Hmm. That's really interesting. there was just so much that we could take away and we wanted to help you understand that the elites are like, Us in so many ways and we can take so many lessons away from the elites. Even though the number on the clock is a little bit different, they are still humans also. Right? And they are still grappling with the same physical and mental [00:56:00] struggles that we do in our running as well. And regardless of your training, it still has to be your day sometimes like today was not Kipchoge's day, and that made a lot of people really sad because a lot of people wanted him to win, including himself. But it's still about showing up. It's still about competing at that level, at the highest level for him, at the highest level for you, whatever that level is, right? Like if your level. Is, you know, running a a, a sub five hour marathon or a sub six hour marathon, whatever that might be. If that is your goal, make that like, and make that your goal and be proud of it. I think that that's really important. Don't, don't downplay and say, oh, well, it's not as good as so-and-so, or it's not, you know? No, it's, its your, it's amazing. It's amazing.
[00:56:46] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, that's part of what makes running so awesome is you can have these goals and you can stretch yourself. Yeah. And you can really try and dig in and sometimes no matter how well prepared you are running will humble you to your core. [00:57:00] Yeah. oh, I, I've got this thing locked down. I, and my training went so well. My last 12 weeks are so perfect. I hit every time and of every workout, I checked every box and running says, yeah, you know what, not. Today is the time to be humble. Today is gonna be frustrating, and that's when you don't get to see what kind of a runner you are. You get to see what kind of a human you are. What happens when you, you roll the dice and it does not come up the way you want. That's, that's where you get to see who you are, not how fast you can be, but how strong you can be, how much committed to you you can be.
[00:57:37] Angie: Yeah. And how strong you choose to be. Yes. Also, yes, very much. and so I just wanna end this li with the quote that Kipchoge came out with after the race where he says, and I quote, I live for the moments where I get to challenge the limits. It's never guaranteed, it's never easy. Today was a tough day for me. I pushed myself as hard as I [00:58:00] could, but sometimes we must accept that today wasn't the day to push the barrier to a greater height. In sports, you win and you lose, and there's always tomorrow to set a new challenge.
So as always guys, thank you so much for spending this time with us. And if you liked it, please feel free to share it on social media. You can take a screenshot and share it to your social media stories or share it with a friend.
the more people that we can reach, the better. And if you haven't yet, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or a rating on Spotify. And as always, thanks for being here. This is the Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 304.
Now, get out there and run your life.
