336: Preparing for a 100 Mile Ultramarathon Mentally and Physically

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 336. If you're looking for ways to bring more joy into your running and you want to be a physically and mentally stronger runner, you're in the right place.

Speaker 2: 0:18

This is the Real Life Runners podcast, and we're your hosts, kevin and Angie Brown. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Now let's get running.

Speaker 1: 0:29

What's up runners, welcome back to the podcast today. As you may have noticed, we were not able to release a part 4 of the mini series for Kevin's Road to the Daytona 100. So we're going to do a little combo episode today and we're going to do part 4 of Kevin's recap to the Daytona 100 because his race is coming up this weekend, and we're also going to tie in goal setting for 2024 and talk to Kevin about his whole mindset and thinking behind his goals for the 100 mile, like why did he even want to do any of this in the first place? And then also his shifts, some of his mental shifts that he had to make in between his last attempt for 100 miles and his current, or I should say future, attempt. Current attempt, I think, at 100, maybe some of you, when you're listening to this, he will actually be running. If you're listening to this, on Saturday, december 9th, kevin will be in the middle of his 100 mile race, which is kind of cool.

Speaker 2: 1:35

Yeah, maybe this is like your weekend long run podcast. In which case, thank you for bringing us along for your weekend long run.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Yes and please, while you're running along, please say a little prayer for Kevin and that everything is going well and he feels good and strong.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Yeah, I feel awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Yeah, so all right. So let's just jump in, because everybody wants to know how are you feeling, kev? Like we are now at the end of your training, which is kind of nutty for this race, of course. How are you feeling heading into this weekend and your Daytona 100 race?

Speaker 2: 2:12

A little nervous, a little excited. You know you're getting close. When you start just putting in as many carbs as you possibly can like, that's the sign.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Oh, have you already started carb loading?

Speaker 2: 2:23

I've been eating a lot. Yes, I've been eating a lot. It increases more over the next couple of days, but I kind of started a little bit today.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Okay, so tell us what is the carb loading look like for a 100 mile race? Because one of the things that we teach inside the academy is that most people do carb loading wrong. Most people think about carb loading and they're like, oh I just the dinner before the night before the race, I'll eat a really heavy carbohydrate dinner, and we like to tell people that is not the way to do it. You should really need to start multiple days before your race, depending on the distance of your race, and that depends on what you're doing and what your goal is and everything. But you have to start a couple days before to both build up the glycogen stores from the carbohydrates in your muscles and in your body and also build up your water stores, because part of the benefit of carb loading is holding on to water as well. You're holding on to fuel on your body and you're also holding on to water as well. So what does carb loading look like for a 100 mile race?

Speaker 2: 3:22

Kind of similar to carb loading for a marathon, really, because there's only so much glycogen that you can store. So I start three days out.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Yeah, and you've been building up glycogen stores throughout your whole process of training too, also true.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Like even on long runs, moderate runs I'm making sure that I'm fueling extensively during the runs. So I'm really trying to avoid putting myself in that big glycogen depletion at any point in time and just staying just fueled throughout. But in terms of like just a more specific prep for the race, starting three days out I move to like most of my calories go into a carbohydrate form. So really what I do is I kind of reduce the amount of fat that I'm taking in because that just fills me up, and so I move that over to carbohydrate and then, as you get closer, like Thursday and Friday is going to be a little bit more carb heavy. So I'm going to have to bring like liquid calories some sort of sports drink or juice or anything that's liquid, because you can get calories in easier that way.

Speaker 1: 4:23

Yeah, that's true. So you still are maintaining protein is what I'm hearing and really just replacing fat most of the fat with carbs.

Speaker 2: 4:33

That's my big replacement, because then you can still like really ramp up how much you're eating. I can eat pasta all day long Like I can just keep eating it, and if you put, like butter noodles involved, then you're going to get full because there's there's butter, there's fat and it's filling. The protein is still necessary, though. Like you have to have the protein. Like the last thing I need in preparation for 100 is for, like, my muscles to not be, you know, prepped and rebuilt. Like even like little workouts that you're doing put small strains on you. You want to make sure that you've got enough, you know, fuels in there to make sure your muscles are strong and prepped.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Also, yeah, so you probably cut your protein by a little bit, but much less so than the fat.

Speaker 2: 5:11

Yeah, I mean the protein gets cut a little just because I'm moving to like 80 to 90% of my calories are going to move into carbohydrates by the time I hit Friday. I kind of ramp it up. So today I didn't have a huge mental focus on like I want to make sure that everything is all carb. I just making sure that I'm eating a lot all day long and starting to drink, which makes my class schedule really tricky because I get 47 minute classes and only four minutes between classes and the bathroom is not that close and so when you first start really trying to get that hydration in it, it's tough. By the time I get to Friday I'm super hydrated and I don't feel like I always have to run to the bathroom because I'm just holding water. You feel a little like sluggish because you're almost like holding on to too much water, but I think that's more of a super carb loading thing and usually by the time I wake up the next morning I'm fine. It's that day of Friday that I'm like that's a lot of water.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Yeah, like, do you feel bloated at all as well?

Speaker 2: 6:09

during Friday, like Friday by lunch, because that's my last like huge meal, like this is. I think one of the big things people get wrong on carb loading is they try and go big on the night before the race dinner. And I think what you should go really big on is the day before the race lunch and then have a good, you know, reasonable dinner. But I think the big big meal should be lunch, just in case you hit dinner and you're like you've taken all this carbs and it's just sitting there like a gut bomb when you wake up in the morning.

Speaker 1: 6:38

That is a really, really good point, and I think that this is one take away that everyone here can take away is like, if you can just shift, make that's a very small shift is Make making lunch your last really big meal and then having kind of a smaller dinner and not focusing on that, on that as much, and allowing your body more time to process through those carbs and actually put them in as glycogen stores.

Speaker 2: 7:03

Yes, yes, so that they can actually be absorbed and get to your muscles. And it's not like you you eat food and they just magically turn into glycogen in your muscles. There's a process involved and so going big on lunch, I think is good. This is also really nice if you you've got like a big race, like if you're doing one of these big Marathons, or you're out of town and going destination and you're not sure where to eat. Maybe there's limited places to eat. I bet it's less crowded at lunch so you could go get a really big lunch and then what you can come up with for dinner If you're like, oh, that's not exactly what. Even my first option for like a huge night before meal Well, it doesn't have to be a huge meal Like. It can just be a reasonable size meal if you go bigger at lunch and there's probably less of a crowd there.

Speaker 1: 7:44

Yeah, that's very true. So, physically right now, we are a couple of days before you start this race and toe the line. How are you feeling physically right now?

Speaker 2: 7:56

physically I feel fine, like I I've been, and that's really what I've been leaning into is I'm not hoping that I wake up on Saturday or as I go through this week, that I feel like amazing. I don't. I'm not aiming for superhuman, I'm aiming for feeling Good.

Speaker 1: 8:12

Yeah, I really want you to talk about this because Kevin brought this up the other day on our weekly coaching call. Like inside of the Academy, we have weekly coaching calls with our members and so Kevin has gone into some more depth in Answering questions and those kinds of things in there, which has been so fun. And I really loved this take on things when you talked about your mindset, like exactly what you're about to tell us, like I want everybody to listen to this one because I thought it was really really good and a really good takeaway.

Speaker 2: 8:42

I think a lot of people. It's like an expectations of how the race is gonna go and you've put in all of this training and then you're hoping that it's all gonna pay off and that you're just gonna feel superhuman on race day. But the odds of you feeling superhuman on race day are the odds of you feeling superhuman unlike any given day Like it's more likely that you're gonna feel like your normal self. And that's what I would like to head into the race. I would like to feel like my normal self. I know the months and miles of preparation that I've put into this. So if I can just be my normal self when I show up at the line on Saturday, I'm going to be prepared.

Speaker 2: 9:17

Am I gonna be ready? I don't know, that's a different word. But I'm gonna be as prepared as I possibly can and I don't need to feel Out of this world at best day of my life in order for the race to be successful. I know that I've put in the work so, as long as I can get there feeling fine and and that's where, matt, that's why I'm kind of like you know fine, I'm giving you like teenager answers like how do you feel fine? But but that's where I'm at and I'm good with that. I feel really good as long as it nothing is negative Like strongly negative you know things are, things are growing great.

Speaker 1: 9:48

So would you say this isn't kind of a neutral feeling.

Speaker 2: 9:51

That's what I'm aiming for, which is is super big. You know, think of, if you've done like a 5k, there's always like that DJ at the line. They get the pump-up music going. They bring in the fitness club and for some reason they're doing some weird cardio warm-up for you. We're doing like burpees on the line. That's nuts, and then the music is going crazy. There's a DJ bump in it. That's fine if your race is gonna be in the ballpark of 20 minutes.

Speaker 2: 10:17

But I'm running a hundred miles. So if you roll into the starting line of a hundred mile and you're like super amped up for the race, you're gonna crash pretty quickly in the race. So I'm really I'm trying to avoid getting too high Because I feel like if I get really really high at any point, that's gonna have to get balanced out somewhere, like there's got to be a balance. So the more even keel I can be this week, the more even keel I can be really all Saturday. That's the goal is try and keep it as even as possible. You know, enjoy the positives but don't get so fired up and excited because they're probably gonna get balanced out on the other side. And if the highs are appreciated, but not like super excited than the lows. You're gonna be like alright, I can get through this because it's gonna swing back to a positive also.

Speaker 1: 11:04

Yeah, I really, really think that that is so powerful because I Agree, it is a law that there has to be a balance right.

Speaker 1: 11:13

The they're good, there's good and there is bad, there is high and there is low, so the closer you can stay to neutral, I think is gonna be very beneficial for you, and when you said that the other day and I was just listening to you talk it just hit me as yes, that is such a powerful way to Enter into this race especially.

Speaker 1: 11:33

I think it's a great way to enter into any race really, and we talk a lot about trusting the process and trusting your training and when you go to the line, it's your Victory lap right and it's not just about the race, it's about everything that led up to it and that's all. That's well and good. It's also very hard to not get caught up in the race atmosphere and Like to your point right a lot of times when people, when there is that DJ and the pump up and all of that, they go out too fast and that often time leads to some sort of crash at some point in the race, and so if you can just stay at that neutral level and just go out more even keel, whether that's both physically and mentally and energetically. You're gonna be able to maintain that for a longer period of time. So I really like your thought about going into the race that way.

Speaker 2: 12:26

I've run a 5k where I've taken it out too fast. It'll be honest, I've run a lot of 5k's where I've taken it out too fast and you pay for it for the next two miles if you take up and that's painful, it's super painful, but at the pace I'm running that means I'm gonna pay for it for less than 12 minutes. If I take a hundred out too fast, I'm gonna be paying for it for For hours, like for like the entire afternoon and evening, and that that is beyond painful, like it's a different pain because you know it's a different fatigue that you're getting. It's not that like a cute 5k burning sensation, it's just this cumulative buildup of oh man, this is uncomfortable.

Speaker 1: 13:11

Yeah. So I think that's a kind of a good lead-in to my next question of you know, is that Kind of what happened to you in your first attempt at a hundred miles is taking it out too fast, Like do you think that that's part of what led to the results in the way that they happened?

Speaker 2: 13:32

It's definitely part of it. They said go, and I tried to race right, okay, so let's do a little recap.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Okay, so, for anybody that might be new to the podcast and new to us welcome. We're super glad you're here. Make sure you hit follow on the real life runners podcast so you can make sure to catch all of our New and updated episodes and follow us on instagram so you can catch the updates from this Saturday as well.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Yes, follow us on instagram at real life runners. We are at real life runners on all the platforms. So Kevin attempted his first 100 mile race last year, in may of 2022. He ran the keys 100 and made it about 65 miles and then decided that he was done, and so I want to talk to you a little bit about Just your journey to 100 miles in general and then also what that last year and a half has kind of looked like for you, because I want the focus of this episode to Not only be on Kevin's journey, which all of us are very much invested in.

Speaker 1: 14:36

So I definitely want to make sure we Update everybody on how how it's going and how he's feeling and all of that. And I also want to be able to Look at this through the lens of big goals, because this is something that Will benefit all of us. And as we look ahead we know it's December right now we look ahead to 2024. There are some Open it's. It's a completely new start and a fresh start, a clean slate that people would like to say right, I mean, I am one that doesn't really like to set new year's resolutions. I've always said why wait till the new year? But I also at the same time recognize that A new month, a new week, a new day, a new year are also these Times that our brain just naturally likes to start thinking about the future.

Speaker 1: 15:25

Yeah, your brain just naturally triggers hey, it's a starting line, it's time to do something, it's time to plan out exactly, and so if you are Looking ahead to 2024 and you're not quite sure, maybe, what your goal is yet, or if you have a goal in mind and you're not sure how you're going to get there, I would love to invite you to come to our academy December workshop. It's going to be all about goal setting and I'm going to walk you through a process of Setting the right goal for you, based on where you are right now and based on what you want to accomplish, because I am both of us. We are both of the belief that you can accomplish anything you want to as long as you have the right plan and the right timeline, and so I want to help you look at your goals, both your small goals and your big goals, and help you figure out how am I going to take that big goal and reverse engineer it to? What do I need to do right now? What do I need to do in the next three months in order to set me up to achieve bigger goals later in the year? Or maybe you have a goal for earlier in the year and you just need a plan for that.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Any way you look at it, I would love to help you inside the Academy. So if you wanna join our December workshop in the Academy, head over to realliferunnerscom, forward slash Academy. On that page you're gonna notice that there is probably still a wait list up. Put your name on that, because if your name is on the wait list I'm gonna be sending out an email either this week or early next week to give you a chance to sign up for that workshop. So if you wanna be a part of the December workshop, head over to realliferunnerscom, forward slash Academy and make sure you give us your name and your email address and I will email you with the information for you to join us in that workshop next week.

Speaker 2: 17:13

Yeah, possibly that email is coming early next week. There's a bit of another focus this Saturday.

Speaker 1: 17:18

I might be able to get it out tomorrow, but even so. Even so, there definitely will be other emails next week, okay, so you can get that out tomorrow.

Speaker 2: 17:26

I'm gonna be busy eating carbs.

Speaker 1: 17:27

Right, the goal setting workshop is on December 15th at noon Eastern time. Okay, and if you are not able to join us live, I would highly recommend you try to join us live, because then you can get all of your questions answered and I can coach you in real time. And if you're not able to join us live, that's fine, you will get the recording afterwards and then you can email me if you have questions. Okay, so head over to realliferunnerscom forward slash Academy for that goal setting workshop, if you wanna sign up, okay. Now let's talk about this 100 mile goal that you've had. This is a very big goal that most runners would never even fathom having. So where did it originally come from?

Speaker 2: 18:08

All right. So I have like a way back connection to ultra running of my neighbor used to run ultras. Like when I was a little kid, the guy that lived at the end of the street ran ultras and so this has always been a thing that I knew existed. Like there are some runners that don't even realize this word existed Currently it's kind of getting a little bit more notoriety out there in the running community at least. But I knew that running ridiculously long distances was a thing back in the 80s, Whereas most people knew like running was a thing, but running absurd distances might not have been. And then jump way forward to 2017, 18, when the series of seizures in 2017. And one of the guys who helped drive me to school had run multiple ultramarathons. He had actually run the keys 100. And he was like you should totally do this, you could win the keys 100. That was his suggestion. He goes, you look like the guys.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Bill put that in your head 100% it's Bill's fault.

Speaker 2: 19:13

He goes. You look like the guy who wins it. You should go win it. And I knew eventually I was like I like marathoning, I like the half marathon, I like running. But the excitement of running just really like absurdly far distances has always excited me. On road trips when I was a kid we'd drive down the highway and I'd see like mountains off in the distance. I'd be like I wonder what it would be like to just run up and down those mountains. That was like a thought I used to have as a kid. I don't know if that's a normal thought. I don't know if other people had that thought.

Speaker 1: 19:45

No, probably not.

Speaker 2: 19:47

No, okay, see, I thought it was like a normal thought to like see the mountains off in the distance and be like that'd be cool to go running those, and I mean that's like even further in the future Big goal of other ultras that I would love to do that are more trail based.

Speaker 2: 20:03

But here in Florida, hopping on a trail in South Florida is not as easy, and so this leads to the Keys 100, which is probably like the closest super long, like 100 mile ultra that we have, and then the Daytona 100 that I'm going for this weekend is also in the state of Florida, but both of them are road races, like it's down bike paths and sidewalks and stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:29

So it's the environment that I'm used to training in. Like to go and say I'm gonna sign up and do this super crazy trail ultra, I would have to train differently because it's all on dirt and there's like rocks and stuff and that's not what we train with. I'm on bike paths and sidewalks all the time. So there's certainly runners out there that are like that sounds awful to run that far on a sidewalk and I'm like that's all I do, like that's my running world. So this it makes sense to me, like. The excitement of running through mountains is cool, but that's not the world that I currently live in, so running absurd distances down like a bike path also sounds pretty fantastic.

Speaker 1: 21:04

Okay, so this idea of running absurdly long distances and you actually having a desire to do that, where does that come from? Because I think that even you're even putting the word absurd in the title as an adjective here, right?

Speaker 2: 21:21

So I don't think that as a positive as a positive thing, right?

Speaker 1: 21:25

I don't think that that's something that most people think that would be fun, right? A lot of people. What is it? 1% of all runners actually do a marathon.

Speaker 2: 21:35

Something like that.

Speaker 1: 21:36

Right, and then runners make up like a very small, like 1% of the total population, so it's actually like 0.1% of all people ever do a marathon or something ridiculous, right?

Speaker 2: 21:47

Yeah, it just the number keeps getting really small.

Speaker 1: 21:48

It just keeps getting really, really small, and so marathon 26 miles seems ridiculously absurd for a lot of people and in your mind that's just like a starting point, right yeah?

Speaker 2: 22:02

that's a possible aid station along the way.

Speaker 1: 22:04

And so what? I guess, where did this 100 miles? What makes you think, yes, that's what I wanna do?

Speaker 2: 22:13

All right. So post 2017, where I wasn't really sure what my running was going to look like anymore, of what my training, what my racing, what anything was gonna look like, of how much I was going to be able to run, post seizures, post diagnosis epileptic I was not really sure what it looked like and I totally overhauled training. I'm like I don't wanna have these limitations on myself from some diagnosis that I've received, but I also can't train and do what I've been doing. So I need to somehow figure out how to run, kind of like how I've been doing, but in a more long-term, healthy, sustainable way, and so I can do it. And I did it.

Speaker 2: 22:59

I did it and trained for a half marathon, because you're like maybe you start with a half I believe that was your phrase I think you put out there maybe you should start with a half. And I did. And then you knew it, I didn't even say it, we didn't have the conversation, but my mileage just kept getting longer and longer and I had never signed up for a race but the long weekend longer and just kept getting a little longer. And you're like you're gonna do a marathon, aren't you? And then I did a marathon and then 2020 hit and it was like, well, work is weird, coaching is weird. I've got this extra time and so I just started running more, and that's when I ran my first Ultra around our neighborhood. Like it was this time where people were doing crazy running things, but in really small confined areas, and so I did the loop of our neighborhood, which is like 0.8 miles, and I did 40 of them to make a 50K, which is insane.

Speaker 2: 23:56

But I had a blast doing it.

Speaker 1: 23:58

Yeah, but most people again, going back 31 miles just sounds insane. And then when you tell people that you did 40 loops of a 0.8 mile loop, that's even on like another level of insanity for a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 24:14

I was like this is gonna be the most convenient because I could just set up a table in our driveway and keep coming back to get water and snacks and whatever I need along the way. Like to me it made the most logical sense, rather than like do a big giant out in back or like a huge winding looper around the city. I was like no, why don't I just keep doing small loops and then I can get water any time I need it? So to me, like that was just the logical answer. And then once I did a 50K, the next logical answer seemed to be a 50 miler. Like that just made the most sense to me Of course it did.

Speaker 2: 24:52

And like this is how I got to 100 is. I was like what's the next distance I should do? And I skipped one. I skipped 100K. Technically I didn't, because when I ran the Keys 100, I ran essentially 100K.

Speaker 1: 25:05

Right just over.

Speaker 2: 25:06

Yeah, and at one point in time, once I had cleared 50 miles, I was like I really I gotta get to 100K, like I'm gonna get to 62 miles, and then that's why it was the stop was what? Somewhere around 64, 65.

Speaker 1: 25:20

Yeah, it was almost 65. I think it was like 64.9.

Speaker 2: 25:23

But honestly, once I hit 62, it was just a matter of like, when am I gonna get back to the car?

Speaker 1: 25:28

Because mentally Where's the next stop? It was because there was that bridge in there.

Speaker 2: 25:31

There was a bridge in there and but mentally I was done Like I had passed 50, so the next, the next like milestone is 100K, so 62 miles, and once I hit 62, I was like I have put in a lot of stuff and I don't know if I can go another 30 plus miles. You could have, I could have, but I could have probably physically cranked it out, but mentally I was not ready to do it that day.

Speaker 1: 25:59

Yeah, and why do you think that was?

Speaker 2: 26:01

Oh, so many reasons, but one of them you highlighted earlier is I definitely started faster than I should have.

Speaker 1: 26:09

Um and what was your goal going into that race, like kind of to tie it back to?

Speaker 2: 26:13

stated goal or unstated goal?

Speaker 1: 26:15

I want you to tell both.

Speaker 2: 26:16

So the stated goal was to successfully cross the finish line.

Speaker 1: 26:22

But we both know that that wasn't actually what your goal was. You're you're hidden, unspoken goal.

Speaker 2: 26:29

I mean, let's be honest, so like we we put this out there a lot, especially for people that are like running a marathon or half marathon for the first time that your big goal should be successfully crossing the finish line. Yes, and you can ask a lot of runners and they will tell you no, no, I want to successfully cross the finish line, but somewhere in their head there's a number and they may not be saying it a lot, but somewhere in the in their head there's a number that they they have. And I had a range, cause I had new idea. You know it's a hundred miles, it's hours upon hours, but I had a range of times that I thought I would be able to cross the finish line in and once those times started rapidly slipping away, I could not readjust my goal, even though I had said the answer was crossing the finish line. It was really crossing the finish line. I mean, ideally I wanted to put it under 20 hours, but under 24 would have been better.

Speaker 1: 27:25

And ideally, ideally, you wanted to win Well yeah, but I was leading.

Speaker 2: 27:32

At one point that guy looked over at me like oh, he's going to break. Like I could see it in his eyes. He was like this kid has no no idea what's going on, like the guy who ended up winning. This was not his, this was not his first rodeo and he saw me come up next to him. He didn't even try to keep up. He was just like nah, that's funny. Like he knew this was not going to go well for me.

Speaker 2: 27:54

But one of my biggest things is they staggered the start and so I at no point in time knew like, was I in the front? Was I like well, behind the leaders? I wasn't really sure. So once they said go, I just kind of kept moving until I thought I think I've caught the first person and now we can run with them. And I have totally changed that for this race.

Speaker 2: 28:15

I am running my race for this race and we'll see where that puts me, but I'm running my race. There are three different start times this time. There's like a 530 is six and a 630 start time. I'm starting with everybody who's starting at six o'clock and I have like a fueling plan and a hydration plan. We're going to get together and figure out exactly where we're probably going to stop and meet up. I have the plan that I think will most successfully get me to the finish line, and if I can most successfully get to the finish line, the times will be a byproduct. Last time I was like here's what I should do and my fueling strategy is lined up with the time I'm aiming for, and that doesn't. It's not going to work, because then you're you're so caught up in that number on the clock and when the numbers start slipping, you're like I'd like to readjust my goal. But after you've been running for 12 hours, it's hard to have the mental strength to readjust your goal.

Speaker 1: 29:11

Yeah, and I want to also highlight here those of you that listen to the podcast, that are in our academy.

Speaker 1: 29:17

You can hear that we are humans too, that we are coaches yes, and we coach on best practices, but and we follow our own advice a lot. And then there are times that our human brains like to kick in and we tell ourselves that, well, maybe I'm an exception to this rule, maybe I can set a time goal, maybe I can have a goal or should have a goal that's more than just completion. And so I point this out because I don't want you to think that we're being hypocritical in any way. We're just humans, and I think that this is a trap that all of us fall into when, especially when, we have high expectations of ourselves and high goals and big goals and we're trying to shoot for big things and challenge ourselves. Kevin found himself in this trap and found himself setting goals other than just completion, but not actually speaking those out loud. So they were kind of these under this underlying current that was driving some of his decisions during the race. That didn't make sense with his stated goal, and that disconnect led to some problems.

Speaker 2: 30:27

Yeah, so that was one of the issues. The other one was just complete lack of understanding of my pacing Like that was another one. The third one was hydration, because it was a billion degrees and I didn't plan for how hot it was and handle that, but that's, that's some like details on the mental side. Like the other one was I started trying to race like an hour into the race, maybe even less than an hour into the race, instead of realizing how long I was going to be out there and just get yourself going before you start trying to actually compete, like just be in the thing for a while. Like even in a 5k, you have to like start before you can actually be. Like all right now, how's this thing going to play out? Like watch the Olympics in? Like elite 5k on the track in the Olympics, they I mean they, the announcers say that it's jogging, they're moving unbelievably fast, but they're all in this big tight-knit pack that the announcer like look at them, they're just jogging around, they're running like 430.

Speaker 1: 31:28

I know that that just kills me every time.

Speaker 2: 31:30

But they're in one big giant pack, all relatively comfortable for them until the last like two laps, and that's that's the best of the best out there. They essentially jog for 10 laps and then they're like all right, now let's see what happens. No one takes it out from the gun and says all right, I'm just going to drive it all the way to finish. That's just not how the races go like in in the most part.

Speaker 1: 31:53

Pre-used to.

Speaker 2: 31:54

Yeah, I mean there are random exceptions to this rule, but most people do not just take it from the gun and say I'm just going to grind this thing into the ground.

Speaker 1: 32:01

Yeah, or that guy from the Boston marathon a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2: 32:05

He's done it every time. He's done it multiple years in a row.

Speaker 1: 32:07

Right, but I mean like that's when a couple of years ago is when he did it the first time, and shocked everybody. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:12

He's going to get caught so quickly. And he got caught halfway through and then he showed up again the next year, cause he lives in Boston.

Speaker 1: 32:18

Didn't the first time he got caught like five miles in he led for a while, but not not that long, and then he kept like extending how long he was able to sustain that.

Speaker 2: 32:27

Yes, he keeps getting caught and I heard a podcast with him and they were like, are you going to like change your style? He goes no, I just need to be able to hold that pace for longer.

Speaker 1: 32:37

Yeah, he's just going to double down.

Speaker 2: 32:38

Like that's like, that's all that he's doing His. His takeaway from it is never adjust my racing style. His takeaway is I need to fix my body so that I can hold that pace for longer, so they don't catch me until we've crossed the finish line yeah, just not there yet.

Speaker 1: 32:52

Yeah, like that's.

Speaker 2: 32:53

It's a great time.

Speaker 1: 32:53

Yeah, okay. So after your hundred K plus in the keys 100 last May, when you ran about 65 miles but did not accomplish the 100 mile goal during that race, what is the last year and a half looked like for you mentally? Let's talk about the mental side first. Like, how did you recuperate? And kind of like pull yourself back up from a quote unquote failure, right, like it's not. We could argue that it's not a failure because you learned a heck of a lot, right, but you did not achieve that goal that you had set for yourself. So how did you kind of pull yourself out of that and then move forward to the new goal this year?

Speaker 2: 33:40

I don't remember the details of right afterwards, but in general, like I didn't get to the goal. So I was pretty bummed, pretty down. But the answer is you're gonna keep running like I didn't cross the finish line. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to run anymore. Like that doesn't make any sense. I'm going to have to keep running.

Speaker 2: 34:01

So I Kept running, I got back into it. I started running without a goal in sight, like I really, when I started back up, I'm like I'm just going to run Just so that I can get out and run. Is it gonna be an easy day? Maybe is it gonna be a day where I push the pace? Maybe, like I just got back into it by Starting to run and I did a lot of. Like you know it, the watch was going but there weren't workouts. There wasn't anything very specific about what I was doing. It was a lot of like I'm gonna pick up the pace till I get to that light post and Now that's it for my workout today. Like there wasn't that much structure to it. I just got back into running just so that I could be out there and be moving.

Speaker 1: 34:45

Okay, and so then, when did you decide to set your next goal?

Speaker 2: 34:49

the next week, I Probably relatively soon thereafter, like I knew I wasn't done. Like that's the thing is. I didn't make it to that finish line. I want to get to the finish line, so let's go for it, and I don't remember exactly why I didn't just go for the keys the next year. I don't remember. I feel like there was a scheduling issue. There was a reason like there was a valid reason. Yeah, something else was going that I couldn't try to repeat the same race.

Speaker 1: 35:16

Yeah, I can't remember offhand like we could probably pull up the calendar and figure it out, but there was, there was something that weekend, I think. Yeah, it wasn't graduation that weekend possibly yeah. I'm pretty sure that high school graduation was that weekend.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Yeah, because it's always right around graduation and Mother's Day and and our kid graduating eighth grade.

Speaker 1: 35:35

It's always that they're all next year.

Speaker 2: 35:36

They're all right in the same timeline. Yeah, so there's a whole bunch of stuff, so it could have been graduation. And so, because that race was off the calendar, I looked around for other races that were nearby. And the same company that puts on the keys, the same race director, puts on Daytona. I'm like, well, puts on a lovely race, let's, let's look into this guy and see how it goes. And they didn't sign up for it. But I had a race that I was then essentially aiming for. I had a time, I had a date and and, essentially, the big goal Well over a year out in front of me, which I think was, is a good timeline for training for something this big okay.

Speaker 1: 36:17

So when did you pick Daytona and when did you register? And I kind of know these answers, but I want people to know, because you registered later than I would have thought it took you, I mean you. You registered just what, maybe two months ago.

Speaker 2: 36:35

I feel like I registered last week, but I was longer than that.

Speaker 1: 36:38

Yeah, and so like in your head when did you actually commit to this race? Was it after the 40-miler that you did in September?

Speaker 2: 36:45

Yeah, so I I was gonna do the 40-miler, and as long as that went well I was going to sign up. And then I got sick that week.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Yeah, and that I think we talked about this on one of our previous episode, our mini series.

Speaker 2: 36:57

Yeah, but I got sick that week. That's why I did not immediately sign up. Why didn't I sign up like in the spring? Yeah, I don't know. Like it's a hundred miles, so many things can happen between like over the course of those months.

Speaker 1: 37:10

What was your confidence level like, where you feeling Kind of a lack of confidence because of the last experience?

Speaker 2: 37:18

Maybe, like I feel like the, the answer for why I didn't do it is you're not really sure what's gonna show up. But, like, sickness, injury, like, is my training gonna go well? There's a lot of things that kind of have to work well. This is my first Like this would be on my second attempt, but I crossed the finish line. This would be the first time I've run a hundred miles. So there's a lot of training to try and transform me from what I was into what I am now to get to be able to Successfully cross this finish line. So, like there was a lot of training trying to get through the summer make sure that you know you can get through the heat of the summer down here and then cross-country season gets going. How am I going to be able to train during cross-country season?

Speaker 1: 37:58

Right, so there's. So there's always questions of course, and there's always schedules and there's always real life, but you decided to sign up anyway.

Speaker 2: 38:07

Yes, because Because the start of cross-country season went, went well, like I've taken in like a thousand miles in the last four months, like that.

Speaker 1: 38:16

That's been helpful and I was on track that it was gonna go the process that you were undergoing like we often talk a lot about process versus outcome goals. Yeah your process was going well. Your training was going well.

Speaker 2: 38:29

The training was going well for long enough that I'm like all right, I've got I. I would have signed up, you know, way back after I did the 40, and I think that was like four months out. I would have immediately signed up right then. But I got sick. So then I had to figure out, like, can I get back from this thing? Because I felt sick for so long and it was taking me weeks to feel I feel fully better. And then, once I felt fully better, I think I was just apprehensive about doing it. I think that was that was the fear of Once I put money down, I'm gonna have to show up and run a hundred miles. And I think at that point it was less Fear, like I'm gonna get sick, I'm gonna get hurt. I think it was more of oh god, if I sign up for it, I have to go run a hundred miles because, you know it's cool to have the big, giant scary goals that we say yeah, but eventually you have to do it.

Speaker 2: 39:20

And that's also big and scary because now it's come time to do so. You know it's not just talking about a big scary goal, it's eventually doing the big scary goal because you've done all the stuff to get you to the point where it's like All right, and now it's time for this thing. Yeah, oh, we've made it there.

Speaker 1: 39:36

It's go time. Yeah, all right. So now, as we wrap this up, how are you feeling going into this weekend? I know we already talked about the neutral thinking and and all of that. I guess we already kind of addressed this earlier in the episode. Um, do you have any kind of final thoughts on how your training went and how you're feeling going in here?

Speaker 2: 39:56

I mean at this point I'm really just I'm very analytical about it of check up on some boxes, make sure that we have all the equipment that we need For the rate like there's so much stuff that you have to bring for the race and for all of these different Possible things that could come up during the race.

Speaker 2: 40:14

So I'm less worried about, you know, trying to cover the distance, which is weird, because you'd think that that would be the most like mentally straining thing of how am I going to run a hundred miles. But it's, and and it's probably just an avoidance. I'm sure my brain is literally just trying to avoid the big scary thought, but I'm able to focus on, like, well, we just have to make sure that the car gets packed and that I have enough fuel to cover it all of these different possibilities, and then probably 50, 50 percent more fuel in case things go slow, and make sure that I have this, that and the other thing Of just checking the boxes to make sure I have all the equipment. And then, in an effort to probably to avoid thinking about running hundred miles, I'll double check all the boxes to make sure we have all the equipment.

Speaker 1: 40:59

Well, it is. I mean and I think that that's actually helpful at this point to be honest with you, because I think that you can Definitely get to the point where you're overthinking things and that can end up being a negative thing- If you're standing at the starting line of a hundred mile and you're thinking about running a hundred miles, I think you're going to struggle to do it. Okay, so what do you do have kind of an idea of what your mental strategy is going to be during the race aid?

Speaker 2: 41:23

station to aid station.

Speaker 1: 41:24

Okay, so you're only focusing on just getting to the next aid station?

Speaker 2: 41:28

Yeah, and then if things start going poorly, then you can go from like Snack to snack to snack, which is an even smaller window because they have aid stations set up roughly every 10 miles it's not precise, but roughly every 10 miles. So you're like get to the aid station, get to the aid station and the last race I saw you all the time but there were no actual formal aid stations, so it was like I saw you all the time. Get to the next aid station is like a long enough window that I feel like I've I've broken off a chunk of the race.

Speaker 1: 42:00

Right, but you're gonna see us mean the girls that are crewing the race in between every aid station.

Speaker 2: 42:06

Yes, yeah, I get to see you as often as we set up a plan to see each other right, and probably even more than that, because what else am I gonna be doing?

Speaker 1: 42:13

I'm gonna be driving. I'm gonna be driving along the road at a much faster pace than you and just parking and cheering, and parking and cheering, so that if you need anything I'm there and available. And then also, what else are we gonna be doing? Yeah, I mean, that's what. We're here for you, so it's, it's one of those things that I can't drive like right next to you, obviously, but we're gonna can't.

Speaker 2: 42:35

That's against the rules. It says so. Yeah, no crewing from a moving vehicle.

Speaker 1: 42:38

No we're not doing that, but we're gonna be like essentially just kind of hopping down the course and, like you know, driving to the next point and waiting for you To cheer and then moving on to the next point. So I guess you can also use the time that you get to see us as mental checkpoints in your head too.

Speaker 2: 42:54

Yeah, 100%, and I mean that's also one of the benefits of doing a race like this is I get to see you all the time. Like on some of these other, like trail races, you're like there's aid stations along the way, but to see your actual crew. You might see your crew three, maybe four times over the course of a hundred miles and one of those times might be the finish line. So, like you can see them and it has to be like a big, important crew. Stop that you're changing equipment out and getting food and whatever it is. But in this race I can see you guys all the time, like keys. I don't even know how many times we met up. I got to see you guys all the time and that really helps move you down the road when you can see your loved ones cheering for you and you know how much that you guys are doing. Like it's not Super exciting to drive down the highway either. Like it's.

Speaker 1: 43:41

I can't wait. It's much better than running down the highway.

Speaker 2: 43:47

That's the thing is neither one of us complain when we get there is like man, this is really hard and I'm like you're driving with the kids for hours, like both of us have a very difficult task.

Speaker 1: 43:57

Well, and also a wonderful task very true both of us are blessed to be able to have.

Speaker 2: 44:02

Yeah, the tasks that we're undertaking.

Speaker 1: 44:04

Yeah, and I think that's such an important thing into having a support system. I was just in California last week to attend a business event that was Unbelievable and transformational for me and I just had so much gratitude because Kevin stayed home with with our girls. Well, I attended that conference and I texted him or no, I called you. We were when we were talking on the phone and I just said thank you so much for always supporting me and all of my goals. Oh, I texted you with this and you responded you're driving a hundred miles to support me next week. I think we support each other's goals.

Speaker 2: 44:43

Yeah, I mean that's what it is. It's, it's. The balance of the couple here is is we both fully support the other person and whatever it is we're trying to do.

Speaker 1: 44:50

Yeah, even when it seems a little crazy, it's a little crazy.

Speaker 2: 44:54

That's what the big goals are. They're supposed to seem a little crazy. What's makes them so exciting?

Speaker 1: 44:59

Yeah, you've got the big physical goals for yourself and I've got the big business goals for myself and for us, and we Understand that, even though our goals aren't the same, we're both shootings for some really big things, which is fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. So what big goals do you have in your life that you need help with? Again, I'm running that goal setting workshop on Friday, december 15th real life runnerscom forward slash Academy. Put your name on that list and I will email you with more information. So when you go to that page real life runnerscom forward slash Academy you will notice that that is the waitlist page or the interest list page for the Academy, because this is a members only workshop that I am inviting you to Next week and if you want to have access to that, I'm gonna invite you. I'm gonna show you how to sign up for that workshop. If you want to get access to the workshop and then some of our other member resources, I'm going to include in that as well. So head over to real life runnerscom forward slash Academy to get your name on that list so that I can email you next week with Details on how to join us for the workshop. And, as always, guys, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1: 46:11

If you want to follow along live with Kevin's journey, make sure that you are following us on Instagram at real life runners. I will be going live throughout the weekend. Well, through, yeah, throughout the weekend. We'll probably do a live on Friday with you and then he will be racing on Saturday, december 9th, and I will be posting both live to the feed and also to Instagram stories. So make sure that you follow us at real life runners on Instagram. And if you go over to Instagram and you click on our profile, so click on the profile on Instagram and then you're gonna go to the top right corner. There's a picture of a little bell and that's gonna be where you control all of your Instagram notifications so you can enable notifications for posts, stories, reels and live videos. So if you want to get a notification on your phone when I make a post this weekend, make sure you just go over, tap on that little bell and then enable Whatever notifications you want to pop up on your phone so that you can catch us in live time.

Speaker 1: 47:13

And if you haven't sponsored the race yet, if you would like to support Kevin, you can head over to Kevin 100 comm and donate any amount that you like.

Speaker 1: 47:23

The Money that we were raising is going to be benefiting the epilepsy foundation because, like you guys know now from Kevin's story, epilepsy is a part of his journey and he wants to show people that you don't have to be limited by a Diagnosis and that you still can do really big things and dream big and do amazing things Regardless of a diagnosis.

Speaker 1: 47:44

So we are also raising money and awareness and education For epilepsy. So if you would like to donate, that's where the donation money will be going, the proceeds from from all of the donations. And right now I would like to do a little shout out to some of the people that have already sponsored Kevin's race, because we appreciate you all so much and it just means so much when we see your name pop up and you know Some people donate ten dollars, some people donate two hundred dollars like it's amazing and it's every single person that pops up is just. We get this huge sense of gratitude for Knowing that you're here and you're supporting us, and Kevin is going to be holding all of you in his in his heart and his mind as he runs the race.

Speaker 2: 48:33

Yeah, I can't believe we have so many people that have pitched into sponsor like I feel, so much support running down. I know last time I ran like you were live Livestreaming and broadcasts and you're like you got, and every time I would hit a stopping point. You're like this person's cheering for you and this person's cheering for you. So it's it is amazing to feel all this support coming in and it's phenomenal, and you already have it now, beforehand, too.

Speaker 2: 48:56

Yes, which just I mean it helps me feel real strong at this starting line. Like I, really I feel good about this race. Like I, I'm getting too excited about the race I got to bring myself down, bring it back down to neutral, but I am really excited about this race.

Speaker 1: 49:11

Yeah, so thank you guys for anybody that's that's donated. Do you want to read these names? We can kind of do them. We can do them five at a time.

Speaker 2: 49:18

What do you think I should read? Just first names for privacy here. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:21

I think let's just do first names, or we could do like first name and last initial, sure, okay, all right.

Speaker 2: 49:26

So there you go. Thank you to Jen C and Monica M and I'm just gonna say that's my Aunt Molly and Meg J and Jill G.

Speaker 1: 49:38

Thank you to Chris and Lauren and Sue and Erin and Lori. Thank you to a Dina and Diana and your mother and my mother-in-law and Alicia, and Natalie and Katie and to Rocio and Amara, becky, beth, dana and Ellen, and there's some more people that have Donated just today, in the last couple of days, that I don't have on my list quite yet. So here's a couple. Thank you to Tina and your aunt.

Speaker 1: 50:11

Oh, excellent, that's my aunt Maureen other aunt, maureen, also donated, which is amazing and to Joe and Rebecca and John and we're gonna be continuing to add people and doing shout outs because we're gonna be doing a recap episode Next week for you guys to let you all know how his race went and we went awesome. Yeah, and we will. We're definitely gonna speak that into existence and we'll definitely let you guys know, or continue to to give those shout outs to everybody on the podcast who has supported us.

Speaker 2: 50:42

So and a couple more. Thank you to Jocelyn Darren and Cindy.

Speaker 1: 50:47

You guys are all amazing. Thank you so much, and we will. We're looking forward to connecting with you guys over the weekend. I'm just gonna be bored and I'm not gonna be driving and I'll be on Instagram, but I'm gonna be pulling over a lot on the side of the road and checking social media, so send us putting it out there.

Speaker 2: 51:05

Slide into her DMs.

Speaker 1: 51:06

So Connect with us over at real life runners on Instagram. Send us messages. Oh, and if you want to wear purple, purple is the color for epilepsy awareness, so if you would love to wear purple on Saturday and send me a photo on Instagram, I will show Kevin. At every time that I see him, I'll get to show him pictures of people that are out there supporting us posted on your stories. Tag us at real life runners so that I can share it on our stories as well. And let's just like spread more awareness, spread more love and support, because, as runners, we can do more when we do it together, and we are so grateful for all of you as our listeners and and all of you that are supporting Kevin in this amazing journey that he is taking us all on and, as always, thanks for joining us. This has been the real life runners podcast, episode number 336. Now get out there and run your life.