Episode 103: Jake Hostetler - They Thought He'd Never Be Able to Run

Episodes

Apr 4

As a kid, Jake Hostetler walked on his toes and doctors doubted he would ever run. Now he works at Athletic Annex, ran 50 miles at a backyard ultra, and made my new podcast music.

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About this episode

Jake Hostetler was a toe walker whose calves were so tight that, around age four or five, he needed Botox injections and a series of casts, and his parents were told running and physical activity would be a struggle. Running found him in eighth grade at Creekside Middle School, helped him focus with ADHD, and led to Carmel High School cross country teams that won state twice. He studied music at Ball State, has worked in run specialty for nearly a decade, and opened the Clay Terrace location of Athletic Annex in Carmel.

We talk about the work ethic Carmel cross country built, the performance anxiety that steered him from trumpet performance to music production, and keeping a running store alive through COVID by selling shoes over the phone and hand-delivering them. Jake ran his first half, marathon and ultra so he could relate to his customers, including a 3:11 top-10 finish at the Mill Race Marathon and 50 miles at Prairie on Fire. He also produced the new Finish Lines & Milestones intro music.

In this episode, we discuss

Growing up a toe walker and getting Botox injections and leg casts as a young kid
Earning a second-degree black belt in karate
How eighth-grade cross country helped him with ADHD, grades and friendships
A musical family of Butler music majors and his dad's Carmel business, Piano Solutions
Carmel High School cross country, 100-runner teams, two state titles and Nike Cross Nationals
Choosing Ball State for jazz trumpet and dealing with severe performance anxiety
Switching to music production and finding joy in performing again
Nearly a decade in run specialty, from Blue Mile to Jackrabbit to Athletic Annex
Selling shoes by phone and hand-delivering them to bring furloughed staff back during COVID
Why getting fitted matters and how 3D foot scanners help
Returning to running with a 1:28 at the 2019 Monumental half
A 3:11 top-10 finish in his first marathon at the Mill Race Marathon
Training with triple 4.2-mile runs and going 50 miles at the Prairie on Fire backyard ultra
The Chasing 100 documentary and why ultras feel so different at the start line
Producing music, making my new podcast intro, and running to ambient music

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
06:00 · Carmel High School
07:00 · Toe walking, Botox and casts
10:00 · Karate, ADHD and finding running
14:00 · A musical family
17:00 · Carmel cross country and two state titles
22:00 · Ball State and performance anxiety
29:00 · Getting into run specialty
34:00 · Running a store through COVID
37:00 · Athletic Annex and getting fitted
42:00 · Back to running at the Monumental half
45:00 · A first marathon at Mill Race
51:00 · 50 miles at Prairie on Fire
1:00:00 · The Chasing 100 documentary
1:04:00 · Making music
1:16:00 · Running to ambient music and what's next

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Mentioned in this episode

Races: Prairie on Fire Backyard Ultra, Mill Race Marathon, CNO Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Carmel Marathon, Indy Mini, Nike Cross Nationals, Zionsville 5K
Organizations and charities: Athletic Annex, Carmel High School, Ball State University, Butler University, Piano Solutions, Jackrabbit, Blue Mile, Fleet Feet, Sandy Boy Productions
Other: Chasing 100 (documentary), Tycho, Logic Pro X

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

Who is Jake Hostetler?

Jake Hostetler opened the Athletic Annex Clay Terrace store in Carmel, Indiana and is a former Carmel High School cross country runner and Ball State music graduate who produces music on the side.

What is the Prairie on Fire backyard ultra?

Prairie on Fire is TJ Dailey's backyard ultra in Indiana, where runners complete a 4.2-mile loop every hour until one is left; Jake Hostetler ran 50 miles there in his first ultramarathon.

Why couldn't Jake Hostetler run as a child?

Jake Hostetler was a toe walker whose calves were too tight to put his feet flat, so he needed Botox injections and casts as a young child, and doctors expected physical activity to be a struggle for him.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically, so it may contain errors.

Ally Brettnacher: this is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast. This episode is brought to you by Previnex. Previnex offers clinically effective supplements that promote longevity, performance, and everyday health. I'm so lucky to be working with Previnex. I've been taking their products since January. What I loved the most was that their founder, David Block, well he's local, so I've met him twice, but he said, here, try the product and let's not do anything until after you've tried it for 30 days. Give me your feedback. Then we'll talk, and I really liked that approach first of all, because I feel like there's a lot of shady brands out there in this space.

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So I take a slew of other products in the Previnex product line, but the Gut and Greens Superfood is one that's really low hanging fruit for you, especially if you're already using a different brand. You can upgrade your greens and spend less than you're probably spending now as well. And you can use Code ALLY15 at checkout. That is ALLY15 at Previnex.com, P-R-E-V-I-N-E x.com. And Previnex is also a sponsor of our upcoming event. Thank you so much to them for supporting this podcast. Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast that celebrates the everyday runner. I'm your host, Ally Brettnacher and if you run, you are a runner and every runner has a story, which is why I started this show.

If you're new here, welcome. If you've been around for a while, you certainly notice the new podcast music. This is my first time recording with it, i'll tell you a little bit more about how this new music came about. It actually is all thanks to my guest this week, Jake Hostettler. So in a moment I'll introduce you to him, but I decided that I just needed something that felt more like me, less cheesy. Anyway, you'll hear us talk about that, but I am fresh off of an airplane home from spring break. It is almost 11:00 PM I'm trying to get this episode out. That's what I get for not doing a lot of work on vacation, which I shouldn't, but it doesn't feel like work, so this is fine.

I'm fine. For spring break, we went to Florida. We did Saturday through Thursday, and we went to Naples, Florida primarily. So we flew into Punta Gorda 'cause flights were cheaper. Saw my aunt who spends her winters in Venice Beach for lunch. Then we went to ----Bonita Springs, which is just north of Naples where my parents are in the wintertime. And then Zach and I, my husband, we snuck away for Anight to Key West, which is where we got engaged 12 years ago. And I booked us a room at the same exact place where we got engaged and so we could kind of relive that. And it was awesome.

We really needed the time away. I didn't really realize how long it had been since Zach and I did just a. Trip, just the two of us. So kind of embarrassed for how long that is actually. But it was great. We're home. Happy to be home ready for spring. And speaking of spring, that means running. I'm so pumped that we're into race season. The Carmel marathon is in nine days, or I guess. Eight by the time you listen to this on April 19th, and I will have a cheer zone at mile 20 for the marathon. I will also have a booth at the expo for my business athlete bouquets.

So I am so excited next week to just get all ready for that and I can't wait to see so many familiar faces, both at the expo and on the course. It's gonna be a blast. And then we have the Indie Mini, which is on May 3rd, and the event that I'm co-hosting with Lindsay Hein, who is. The host of the All have another podcast with Lindsay Hein and also the founder of Sandy Boy Productions, which is the podcast network that I am so lucky to be a part of now, so. We have an event that night, and it's the night before the race. It's gonna be amazing.

It's gonna be a live podcast. We're gonna sell out, so make sure you get your ticket. 25 bucks. Well worth it for just the stuff that's gonna be in the goodie bag. And we're doing onsite giveaways. We just finished up our social media giveaway, which was a. Weekend getaway giveaway and our lucky winner was Abby Prentice, who actually is local to Indianapolis, so she will have an amazing staycation. Thanks to the Bottleworks, thanks to our incredible event sponsors. Really excited for her. So congrats again, Abby. oh, I will have you know that even though I went to Florida for spring break, even though I went to Key West, I am still 36 days alcohol free.

So I am very proud of myself. It feels really good. I'm not gonna lie. My body feels great. I get better sleep. I'm starting to wonder if I will really drink much at all anymore, which is just so weird to admit. Anyway, so Jake Hostettler. He made this music, he's very into music. Jake also opened the Clay Terrace location of our local running store athletic Annex a couple years ago. So he does music on the side, and I'm so happy that I got to support somebody in our local running community. , In this podcast and Jake is a runner. He has done a full marathon, an ultra marathon ultimately to get to know his clientele, which I think is really cool and inspiring.

And then, you know, obviously it's snowballed from there because now he's doing an ultra again this year and hopes to up his distance. And I really just loved finally getting a chance to sit down with Jake and get to know him a little bit better, and I know all of you will too. So please enjoy this episode. With Jake Hostler. Ally Brettnacher: Welcome Jake Hostetler. Jake Hostetler: How's it going? Ally Brettnacher: I got that right. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Killed it. Excellent. Ally Brettnacher: I didn't add an extra like ettr or anything. It's great. I hear, Jake Hostetler: I hear everything, so Ally Brettnacher: Me too, Brett.

I'm Brett Naer. Yeah, it's, it's ' hard 'cause Jake Hostetler: what is it? Brett? Knocker. Knocker. Okay. Ally Brettnacher: Which, you know, it's tough for Americans. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. well thanks so much for finally doing this with me. I feel like you've been on my list from the beginning, really, because I've known that you're in the running space and you're, you know, very plugged in with your work with Athletic Annex and now you're an ultra marathoner and all the things. So I'm just really happy to finally get a chance to get to know you versus our like, quick conversations here and there at events.

So thanks. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Thanks for having me. This is cool. Ally Brettnacher: And we were just chatting about how you went to high school at Carmel and we are currently recording in the Carmel Library. Mm-hmm. So not too far from. Where he used to run. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: Quite a bit. Jake Hostetler: Across the street. Ally Brettnacher: Across the street, How big was Carmel when you graduated? Jake Hostetler: the school itself had about 5,000 kids in my graduating class, I believe was around 1200. Ally Brettnacher: That's crazy. So Jake Hostetler: yeah. I'll never forget during graduation, I sat down next to two people I'd never seen before and I was a pretty social person.

I knew a lot of people, but I was just like, I literally have no, I have no idea who these Ally Brettnacher: people are, who you. You might not even go here. I have no idea. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Who knows? Ally Brettnacher: That is kind of weird to think about. It's wild. Yeah. I went to Westfield High School and graduated in oh four and we had like 250 kids. Yeah. So that's a size where I feel like I knew everyone's face probably, but not necessarily everybody's name. But it felt pretty small, obviously compared to Carmel. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And I have no idea what the class sizes are now, but probably even bigger than that.

Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Massive. Yeah, I'm sure Ally Brettnacher: it's nuts. So you ran as a kid. When did you first start? Actually, let's just talk about what you already mentioned to me before this. Let's just talk about that. As a kid, your parents thought you'd never run and doctors thought you would never run. Correct. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. And, and, physical activity in general would've been a struggle. Yeah. Which is Ally Brettnacher: crazy. I would've never, ever guessed that. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I mean, nobody would, so, Yeah. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Exactly. Ally Brettnacher: How old were you when your parents knew that you had issues with your walking?

Jake Hostetler: So basically, I I don't have the exact timeframe. I think it was when I was about four or five years old. Okay. Ally Brettnacher: Um, Jake Hostetler: I was a toe walker and basically my calves were so stiff and locked up that I could not, flex my foot flat on the ground. So that, that made things really tough. I walked like that all the time, And had to go through a long, a long process of, first getting Botox injections into my, I. Calves, Ally Brettnacher: which is a 5-year-old. Sounds so traumatic. Oh my Jake Hostetler: gosh. And they were huge needles. Like, I can't handle that.

Holy crap. I mean, Ally Brettnacher: the idea of doing that, like wearing your, just like right in the middle of your calf Jake Hostetler: y Yeah. Yeah. And, and I'll, I'll never forget 'cause it was, they had to hold the needle in there, like 10 seconds to get all of it in. And as a kid, that's brutal. Ally Brettnacher: Oh. Um, Jake Hostetler: and then, um, I went through a series of calfs that would just slowly kinda wrench my foot back into, kind of a neutral position. And yeah, so, So, I, so what Ally Brettnacher: is it both feet though? So would you have to like, wear It was both Jake Hostetler: sides.

Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: And how many injections did you get over time? How often do you have to do that? Do you remember? I, I Jake Hostetler: don't remember. I, I think that may have just been once or twice that I had to go through that. Thank God. Luckily. But the, the cast. we're traumatizing in themselves. 'cause ' you know, it's, it's summer or, or spring and you're, you're at school. I have two casts on my feet. Like Yeah. That is wild. Ally Brettnacher: That is wild. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. I mean, I probably didn't care at that point. I was too young to like, Ally Brettnacher: really know.

Yeah. But still like, yeah. That's hard on your parents too. Sure. And you have One sibling, Jake Hostetler: One sibling, yep. Ally Brettnacher: Brother? Jake Hostetler: Yep. Got a little brother named Carl. Little brother. Okay. So he's younger. He's way taller than me though. He is like six foot five, so. Ally Brettnacher: And did he have any issues? Jake Hostetler: Nope. Ally Brettnacher: No. Is it genetic? They think or do you have any idea? No. just often in your toes and I Jake Hostetler: have no clue. Yeah. I mean that's, that's, crazy. It's, it's not terribly uncommon, but Right. I was telling you that, seen other kids was telling that Ally Brettnacher: I have a friend who, her kid does it sometimes, um, not all the time, but a lot of times.

And she's, I remember her just trying to like. Get him not to do it. Like, Hey, you need to walk normally because you don't know what that's gonna do. And clearly . If your calves are like that, that's crazy. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Yeah. There's no way to un unex him. And I've still had, I've still had issues where, I'll get massive cramps while I'm trying to sleep. Like that's, that's been calf cramps . Ally Brettnacher: Are probably the worst Jake Hostetler: pain. Oh yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I mean, I'm saying this to somebody who's given birth. Mm-hmm. And calf cramps are a special kind of pain.

Jake Hostetler: There's no way to compare that right there. Yeah. For you, you're like, Ally Brettnacher: I'm not gonna say anything about that. Yeah. No, no, no. But it hurts, let me tell you. Yeah, yeah. I mean, holy cow. Anybody who's not had a calf cramp is so lucky. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. And, I've had calf cramps for like over 10 minutes long before No where I'm just like, they're just like, oh my God. Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Jake Hostetler: So, yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's, I'm sorry. That sucks. Jake Hostetler: No, it's, I mean, it's all good. You're like, well, Ally Brettnacher: at least I can run.

Jake Hostetler: Yeah. I can, I can, run and, do a lot of things. So Ally Brettnacher: what is your earliest memory of running. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. So for me, running really started, ,in eighth grade. Okay. Um, at Creekside Middle School. I, at that point. I had done karate, for a while. okay. Probably around, I started when I was six, so I'd done it. I did karate a little over 10 years. You still do Ally Brettnacher: it? Jake Hostetler: No. No. No. Okay. The, , I was at Adamson's karate studio, got my second degree black belt. That's kind of where my athletics. Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. What does second degree more focused mean?

Jake Hostetler: Um, ba basically there's different stages of, okay. Once you get a black belt, there's obviously a lot more to learn after that. So there's, , is there, I Ally Brettnacher: have no idea. Jake. Oh, Jake Hostetler: yeah, Ally Brettnacher: yeah, Oh Jake Hostetler: yeah. Yeah. There's, okay. Yeah, there's a, there's a time. What's the Ally Brettnacher: highest level you can possibly be in karate? Jake Hostetler: I can't I can't even tell you. I mean, I probably Ally Brettnacher: have to Google that because I'm curious now. So a second degree black belt. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Yep. So I did that. I competed on the competition team.

, we, competed all all over the country and it was kind of cool. Ally Brettnacher: You competed all over the country. Mm-hmm. Jake Hostetler: For karate We did through a a u. That's cool. So that was cool. , but that's where it has started and the transition into running, . When I was in middle school, you know, like a lot of people having issues, just kind of fitting in socially, focusing Mm. Making terrible grades. , struggled really bad with a DHD. Oh. , and basically my mom, , kept driving by the school and seeing all the, you know, kids out there running and having, you know, good social interactions.

I can picture that Ally Brettnacher: because I, that's the campus that my kid goes to elementary school. Jake Hostetler: Oh really? Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so I see all the kids running Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: On that campus and I can visualize what your mom saw and was like, this is, Jake needs to be doing that. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. She's like, let's try it. , never thought of running. I hated it. , I think in gym, I think I ran like an eight minute mile or something, and that was me, like, going as hard as I could. Didn't like how it felt, , but just really was able to create a good social atmosphere for myself there.

And met some, some of my closest friends still to this day , from running there. Um, that's, it's cool because my, my grades went from like. I was making really bad grades, , to, actually being able to be on honor roll and, and you know, Get my act together. Wow. 'cause that was a good release after school. Then I actually was able to focus when I got home to do my homework. Ally Brettnacher: Mm. Jake Hostetler: , and then from there, besides the social setting, having a goal to work for, it kind of just, it helped me, , have a release for my, , hyperactivity and, Helped me focus.

So. Ally Brettnacher: yeah. And so did you do both track and cross country in eighth grade? Jake Hostetler: I did. In eighth grade, yep. Okay. Yep. In high school I only did cross country. Only cross. Okay. Yep. Ally Brettnacher: And is that typical at Carmel? 'cause, for anybody who's not local, like Carmel, our school district is super competitive as you can, I mean, as we just said, it's a humongous school. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: And so it's really competitive. So is it typical for an athlete just to do one of those sports? Jake Hostetler: No. Actually at Carmel, um, I mean, yes. But if you're a serious runner, you, you wanna stack your seasons, obviously.

Yeah. Yeah. , especially with the sort of training that we were doing there is, is really important to consistently , build, your mileage and, Keep the same workouts consistent. Yeah. Throughout the entire year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I guess, I couldn't do track, but it's because I was really involved in the music program. Okay. Yeah, I was in, also, I was in, you know, jazz band, the, uh, top orchestra bands, all, all that stuff. So there was just a ton of time commitment there where I could not do both Right. , going into the spring. So I would just train on my own and, My coach over at the, , high school coach Altevogt, would, he'd help write out my training over the, Off season, which helped me come back where I was, yeah.

The season before. Ally Brettnacher: Wow. So does music run in your family? Jake Hostetler: Oh, yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Tell me about that. Yep. Jake Hostetler: My, my mom and dad both were, . Music majors at Butler University. Okay. Uh, my mom is a super gifted clarinet player. , she went to Michigan to Northwestern, to pursue postgraduate degrees from there. And Wow. Uh, played some pro gigs and then my dad. Ally Brettnacher: what kind of pro gigs do you play when you play clarinet? Jake Hostetler: I, I I, mean all, all sorts of things. With the symphony there's, you know, there's operas and all sorts of things and she so interesting.

She played, she played cell in front of, Her orchestra at, at Butler and. know, it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of opportunity. Can you play the Ally Brettnacher: clarinet? Jake Hostetler: No. No. way. No I'm trumpet player. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Okay. Jake Hostetler: and then my dad was a jazz guitar player. and then he actually started a music company called Piano Solutions That's right here in Carmel. Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah. I totally can picture that. Is it still in that triangle building off of mm-hmm. Car Drive? Yeah. Yep. The, Jake Hostetler: the old gymnastics studio there Off Car Drive. Yeah. And I used to, Ally Brettnacher: embarrassingly enough, I took a dance class there, like a hip hop dance class in high school at that building.

Yeah, that's cool. And played it off the wall Sports Indoor soccer right next to there. Oh yeah. I Jake Hostetler: played there too. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: But I totally picture where piano solutions. It's okay. What a silly question. I guess that just goes to show how well I know you. No, it's, no, it's cool. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, Jake Hostetler: But no music steep in the family. My little brother was a really accomplished trombone player. Tro wow. At coi. Ally Brettnacher: two. You guys really span the gamut in terms of instruments here. Yeah. Yeah. I got a full Jake Hostetler: band in there. Yeah, Ally Brettnacher: you do.

Jake Hostetler: Yeah, , but I play guitar as well. That's mm-hmm. Trumpet, and trumpet is what I ended up going to, college for as a music major. But I've played guitar since I was probably like 10 or 11 years old and Wow. That's been kind of my fun instrument. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. I wish I could play an instrument. I wish I had. Well, I mean, I guess it could, could, you can always start. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what a silly thing to say. I encouraged my oldest daughter, , , to do keyboard. So we've done some of that, but she then, loses interest and I'm like, okay, well I don't wanna make you do this, but I really wish that I knew how to read music yeah.

Anyway, I digress. Jake Hostetler: Sure. Ally Brettnacher: So your family is really musically inclined. So at what age did you start like, learning to play instruments ish. Jake Hostetler: that's, that's kind of hard 'cause I mean, we always. Had our hands on something musical since my brother and I since we were really young. Ally Brettnacher: Probably like, probably since you could like hold things. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, Yeah, Pretty much. Um, yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, , in sixth grade during the summer band programs. Okay. Um, I picked up trumpet and basically just went from there and ended up being something I was able to, have some success with.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Which all instruments are so technically frustrating to get past the first couple of hurdles, but, once you have some technical facility, , then things start getting more fun. Yeah. And you can see the progress just like running, you know? Right. You gotta build a base and then just refine from there. Ally Brettnacher: That was a pretty good pun too. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Right. Ally Brettnacher: Yep. Yeah. It all, Jake Hostetler: it's all related. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: It is all related. How, what drew you to the trumpet? Jake Hostetler: I have no idea. I remember I went to, uh, I went to the audition tryouts.

And I really wanted to be a drummer, and I, I'm pretty decent at the drums, but, I wanted that so bad. But, the trumpet was just so natural and I'm pretty sure my mom was there and, my mom was a band director and, Ally Brettnacher: okay. You Jake Hostetler: know, obviously really experienced musician, so she was like, no, you're, you're way more talented at this. And I think that kind of, I, I was just like, yeah, let's try this. And glad I went that direction. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: It's nice to have some expertise in the family to steer you in the right direction too. She's like, wait, this is where you're good.

Yeah. Jake Hostetler: And, and you wanna pursue what, what comes naturally to you. Sure. 'cause it, it's already really hard getting good at an instrument. You, you need something on your side. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. As far Jake Hostetler: as natural ability to make that work. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I wanna keep talking about music, but like chronologically. Yeah. I wanna hear a little bit more about your high school running days. Sure. Especially in such a competitive environment as caramel. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: So what were the events that you ran or for cross country? It's just, you just do the, just 5K. Yeah, it's just 5K.

I always forget that. I never did cross country clearly. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: But Okay. Just the 5K. So what was that like? Jake Hostetler: It, it was, it was crazy, uh, getting there, especially because I came in as an eighth grader having never ran before, so I only had one year of running under my belt. How Ally Brettnacher: did you get on the team? Jake Hostetler: well, typically, I think at that point, if you're a freshman and you showed up to summer practices, you were pretty much on the team. Okay. There was some sort of time cutoff, but , it wasn't eighth, anything crazy.

Okay. It may have been like a 22 minute 5K or something. Yeah. So like, as long as you had good base cardio . Mm-hmm. That was pretty doable. But I was not a quick runner at all. I was towards the back of the pack, through middle school and coming into Carmel, obviously the competition is insane. Yeah. I mean, we had around a hundred runners on the team even with cuts the whole time I was there. Ally Brettnacher: What's the, I wonder what the average size of like a cross country team would be? Jake Hostetler: Yeah. I, I couldn't really tell you In Indiana. I mean, but not a hundred.

Yeah. It'd probably be be half of that or Okay. Or maybe even a little bit less. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But that was with cuts. I mean, there, there were more kids that would come out during the summer. But quickly, that first summer, Ally Brettnacher: it Jake Hostetler: was tough , to figure everything out 'cause the mileage was a little higher, than what I was used to, obviously. Yeah. I went from, the furthest I ran at that point was probably three miles to, I remember the first time I ran six miles in a practice. Like all the parents had left already and the coaches were looking for us 'cause we took so long.

Oh. and and now, now that's like a no brainer run. Right. But, It was really my sophomore year where I really started to see progress. And that was with, coach Altevogt, who's the, Carmel cross country coach. He was assistant coach at the time and, , Started a new training program for us, called Pavo, which basically, you'd have two consistent workouts working on building your threshold. It was higher mileage than any of us were used to. But I just locked into that 'cause I liked having a consistent day to day Ally Brettnacher: mm-hmm. Uh, Jake Hostetler: where it was the same every week. But I had a goal towards the end of the summer and I just, I remember my summer of my sophomore year, just, , I just put everything into running that summer, hit my workouts so hard, got my mileage up over 45 miles a week for the first time.

and and the results were amazing from there. And obviously, I mean, it's very exhausting to run like that, but that helped me establish a work ethic that I've taken, past high school and college. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, sure. So where would you run Mon Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. we did a lot of our running on the Monon. There's the upper and lower loops, On, carmel's campus here. which one of those had a pretty severe hill called Agony Hill? Oh, is what it's, I've never heard of that. Okay. It's just straight up. I mean, it's not very long, but we would crush that hill pretty hard. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Jake Hostetler: Especially, if we were doing intervals. But yeah, it was great having the Monon. We did a, workout called A PPM, which was pretty much like a max effort, tempo run. I can't even really call it a tempo run. It's a little harder effort than that, , for an extended period of time. And that would set your threshold for the season of how your workouts were, were built out. So that's what we'd be doing all through the summer. Just running really, really, hard miles on the Monon. And it was an absolute grind. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Oh, I bet. Jake Hostetler: But, But, we took it seriously.

I mean, everyone on the team was super locked in, and that sophomore year and my junior year, we won state both years and, both years made it to NXN. NXN Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Is National? Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. That's national championship. Okay. In, in my junior, I didn't run on the, I wasn't on the squad. I mean, I was a good runner, but I I wasn't on the, the seven that ran, but we got fifth my junior year, so. Wow. So, yeah, we had a, a team that really bought in and just ran their ass. That's really Ally Brettnacher: fun. Jake Hostetler: it was it was awesome.

Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Take us through the, like, winning state experience for those years. Jake Hostetler: Sure. It's kind of weird for me to say it 'cause I didn't actually run, but you know, I, I ran with all these guys, right? It's your team. I mean, I trained with that top group. Mm-hmm. Especially my senior year pretty consistently. And yeah, it's just a whole nother mindset. I mean, everyone is working as hard as they possibly can work. Everyone's eating healthy. We'd have double updates where we'd come meet at the high school beforehand, at, Ally Brettnacher: like, Jake Hostetler: some of us had to meet at the high school at like five or, 6:00 AM And, and I know a lot of teams do that, but it, it was just cool to see that collective mentality of Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Well, at a such a young age. Yeah. Really. I mean, high Jake Hostetler: school. Ally Brettnacher: in high school I was just getting into trouble. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Right. I, I, I still got in some trouble too. Okay. But I, I think the most, interesting thing with Carmel in particular is just that feeling of if you slack off, get injured, whatever the case is, there's literally like 10 or 15 people in your talent. Range that are ready for your spot. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Right there. So like you, you have to, I felt when I was training just to get recognized or to not get surpassed Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Jake Hostetler: I always felt that pressure, you know, holding me to that standard where it's like, if I wake up and it's really cold and it's January and I'm not even running track, I still was out running, A really hard tempo run, in one degree, weather, whatever the case was. 'cause I was like, these guys were out running track. Someone's gonna pass me up if I don't do this. Yeah. So We were all just grinding. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: And then after high school, you went to Ball State. Jake Hostetler: Mm-hmm. Ally Brettnacher: Music major. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: I don't know anything about the music programs in the state, so.

Sure. But I'm assuming that Ball State has a good program. Yeah. If that's Jake Hostetler: where you went. Yeah, for sure. And there's different facets to each mm-hmm. Program, music program. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Because why not Butler where your parents went, right? Yeah. right. I Jake Hostetler: right. And, and I auditioned at, Jacob School n IU and Butler and, Louisville and Ball State. Okay. Those were, those were all mine. I actually was a jazz, jazz trumpet player, so that, that was my kind of, where my, Niche was at Carmel. Okay. Where I really found some success and would go to summer camps but yeah, that, that was one thing where I was like, okay, if I want scholarship money and want to go into music, this is what I need to look at.

And a bunch of great jazz programs in Indiana actually. But Ball State, just kind of, it seemed like the right move. 'cause somewhere like iu, you know, there's so many talented musicians there mm-hmm. That you get buried. Yeah. And I didn't want to get stuck with a grad student as my teacher for the first, you know, however many years I was there. where if I went to Ball State, I could have direct access to really high level, , professors and I'm sure the same deal as Butler Yeah. As well in these, in these other schools. But that's, that's where I was like, this school's big enough, the jazz department's really good here.

I'm gonna learn a ton and I'll actually have individual, attention here. Yeah. So, majoring in music's scary. I mean, a a lot of parents would kind of shy away from their kids doing that. Sure. But I mean, my dad's had a lot of success in the music industry. Yeah. My, my mom has had success in music and there's, it's more, just being able to finish something and really refine a skill that you're passionate about. Mm-hmm. I think it's gonna really enhance my adult life now. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Being able to, you know, have some more ability with that. Ally Brettnacher: Well, and to your point earlier, talking about the parallels of running and music, right?

Mm-hmm. Like the consistency, the practice Yeah. The training. Like, it's all kind of, The same in a way. Yeah. And so it sets you up for a lot of success in other areas too. I mean, not just running in music. So when you were in college, what was your dream or what still perhaps is your dream when it comes to music? Jake Hostetler: Sure. So going into college, my whole thing and, and it's, it's really hard because you don't have any perspective yet coming outta school. Totally. You have no clue what you're looking for. But I was like, I'm gonna go to college. I'm gonna get insanely good at trumpet, and then I'm gonna be a famous trumpet player.

And I was like, yeah, that's gonna happen. Jake Hostetler: Which is kind of an arrogant thing to think, but you know, at that point. I just thought, well, this is my greatest talent at this point. Yeah. I need to just pursue this. I quickly realized when I got there, I, I, have always had extreme performance anxiety where I basically would shake so bad. I could barely even play my instrument at times, even though I was a, I was a, you know, talented musician. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I can relate to that. Yeah. I used to sing and Oh, yeah. in like church choir. And I remember when I would have a solo, I would have to like stand so that my knees wouldn't shake so hard that you could hear it.

Oh, yeah. In my voice. Yeah. So I couldn't relate to that. Jake Hostetler: It's, it is terrifying. Yeah. And it's amplified so much more. We, we had these things at the end of the semester called juries, where basically you had to play, you know, a selection of classical music in front of all of the professors, all the classical professors, which wasn't even my niche. Yeah. and they would just. Sit there, stone cold faces grading you while you play in sight. Read through these. And I'm just like, you know what? I don't like this at all. And I remember having, a talk with my jazz trumpet professor, mark Buselli, Who's the head of the jazz program there.

He's a really notable player in Indy here. He was just like, you know, why, why are you doing this yourself? You clearly don't like performing in front of people. It's, it's super uncomfortable. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: In, in my brain, I was like, I just need to push through discomfort to make this work. Right. Like, I Ally Brettnacher: can Yeah. Figure this out. Jake Hostetler: And, I, I remember having one phone call with him really late at night after I found out I hadn't passed through my jury , you know, I, I had to pass through a jury to, to get my jazz performance degree Yeah.

On the classical side. And I just couldn't mentally get through it, Without shaking. And he's like, and at the time I was in music production, Major, which is called MMP there. Okay. Until I could get into the performance side of things. And he's just like, you, should just, keep doing all of the jazz classes to learn, but finish out this music production or audio engineering major so that, you have more, applicable skills in the industry. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So Jake Hostetler: I was like, you know what, I'll just do that. And, and that's what's turned into now my side business and Yeah. And kind of where my music career's going, which is So it all, it all works out.

You always have this vision of how it's gonna be and You gotta know when to let go or pivot and Yeah. Something great can come out of that too. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's good advice. And when you think about music, you think about somebody on a stage. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. A Ally Brettnacher: lot, you know, and performing. But when it comes to producing and being like on the audio side, you can be In a room like we're in now. Yeah. And do it all and then you share it with people, but you never really have to Perform. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, that's it. Ally Brettnacher: So it seems pretty ideal based on, yep.

. What you described the performance anxiety. I could go down a whole tangent of that. I still will take Benadryl before public speaking. Jake Hostetler: Oh really? Ally Brettnacher: Swear. That doesn't make you too sleepy. cause I'll, I will break out in hives. I can fight through it with the adrenaline in terms of the sleepiness. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Movie on 3-17-25 at 12.26 PM: But Ally Brettnacher: But yeah. I don't like it. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But it is brutal. Ally Brettnacher: It's like the nature of it. And yeah, more and more I find myself in situations where I'm speaking and I'm like, what the hell is this about?

I don't know one. have you found Jake Hostetler: that repetition has helped you? Ally Brettnacher: It does. Like I think the more you do something, the more comfortable you get. I don't think it'll ever be something I enjoy necessarily. I mean, maybe, but yeah, it's, yeah. Jake Hostetler: That's brutal. And, and it's funny going back to that last story when I made the switch to, in, in my head, realize, okay, I'm not gonna be a professional performer. I still performed live all the time, through my major and just gigging. And my performance anxiety vanished 'cause I didn't have anything to prove to anyone anymore, and I could just enjoy the music at that point.

Right. And and that's what it's all about. Yeah. And, and you realize most of it is just pressure you're putting on yourself. Like just, Yeah, just like running, just like, it's just like, it really is just like running seriously. Like if you're Ally Brettnacher: going for PR and you're like pressuring yourself and like having to perform. You tend to fall apart more frequently than if you're just running for fun. Yeah. There's no, you're sleeping the Jake Hostetler: night before either, right? Exactly. Yeah, Ally Brettnacher: exactly. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: which if only it was so easy to like, just tell yourself to shut it off.

Yeah. But you, I mean, it's not easy. Jake Hostetler: That's not how your brain works. It's just Ally Brettnacher: not how it works. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: If only, And so what did you do right after college? Jake Hostetler: Yeah, so right after college, , I, so first off, I had been working in run specialty through college, um, which I did not know. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah. So you've been in the run specialty industry for Jake Hostetler: a while. Yeah. This next year will be a decade. A decade. Which is wild. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. cause I'm, ' I'm 27, so that's not even, I know, right?

I'm like, you're not Ally Brettnacher: that old. Jake Hostetler: So, um, I came and worked at, it was Blue Mile at the time mm-hmm. In Carmel. I kind of wanted to, to get into sales in general. Yeah. Because I, I was, I like talking to people. I have a, a ton of fun just engaging with people all the time. Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Jake Hostetler: Um, so why not at the piano store then? Well, yeah. exactly. Or do that too. Did you I, I worked at the piano store through, or at my dad's store, through, high school and a little bit of college. Okay. I got a great work ethic from that.

Yeah. Um, I mean, I was doing, you know, a lot of that was, physical labor and, making sure the store was presentable, which was great. Like I, yeah. I, I worked really hard there. Yeah. And, and, but, with the sales for that, I would've needed probably some more experience too. Yeah. And I just, I kind of wanted to go into the running industry, just 'cause I, I enjoyed it so much. Absolutely. As one of my hobbies. And at that point everything I was doing was music, including college. So I, I kind of needed something that was just, just different where I could kind of escape.

Right. Yeah. You wanna burn out? Yeah. Yeah. It was just, it was a little much. so yeah, I went in, asked for a job, and I, I'm pretty sure I'm the first college kid they ever hired, At that company. You know, college. employees are great. They know a ton about running, they have a bunch of energy. It's really easy to teach and you can, you can learn a ton. Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. But Jake Hostetler: yeah, I went from there and, I'd worked there through, through college, was a key holder or a sales manager there. And then when I left college I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do.

Cause ' we had just played with our top band in Ball State. We went to Costa Rica and toured around, played the national theater, played at the jazz kitchen, just had a bunch of gigs back to back. I played in a couple studio sessions for money, just to kind of see what the. What a gigging life would look like and yeah. What Ally Brettnacher: does that mean? Playing a studio for money? Jake Hostetler: So for example, one of them, there's a jazz singer, and basically went and played a trumpet solo on one song, the album. And then I did one more studio session, for another local musician.

And th those are crazy 'cause it's, you walk in and you, sometimes you have an idea what you're playing, but last second the singer could be like, oh, this is in the wrong key. I need it in this key. And then they count it off and you have to make up a solo in another key. And it takes a really high level of, of skill. And, and I was getting there, but I was like, I don't know if I want to have to rely on this for my income, my income at, at this point. Yeah. Um, yeah. Which is just, it's a lot of pressure.

Yeah. So after college I was like, okay, I'm, I'm gonna go back to the run store while I find a job. Right. And. I, Went over to be an assistant manager at it. It then was called Jackrabbit. Ally Brettnacher: Yep. Um, Jake Hostetler: and I went over to the Broad Ripple store, and that's where I met Luke. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Had never met Luke before. Who's, one of my closest friends. Mm-hmm. Him and I, Have worked at Athletic Annex for years now. Yeah. Um, but yeah, him and I developed a good besides friendship, a really good working relationship where we just both were just on each other's ass all the time, Trying to make each other better.

Yeah. That's the best. And, and he really, i. He expected a lot outta me as far as setting up community events, working on sales metrics, recruiting staff, you know, training staff. And I was like, you know what? Maybe I need to stay in this industry. and then that Carmel store opened up, the store manager position opened up. I was like, I'll, I'll try this out. And oh my God, I learned so much in that position. Ally Brettnacher: So you were a manager at Jack Rabbit Carmel? Mm-hmm. Okay. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Yep. So I was, yeah, I was there for, I managed that store for about three years.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: Before moving over to Athletic Annex. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah. 'cause I worked at, it was the running company, blue Mile. Yep. Jack Rabbit, then Fleet Feet. Mm-hmm. And so I worked at it was Jackrabbit when I started It was Jackrabbit. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Or no, they had been acquired, but the signage hadn't changed. Yeah. So I worked for Fleet Feet the whole time, but it was for a year. But anyway, That was the only experience I've had in Run Specialty was for a year. Yeah. And that was my store Jake Hostetler: for seven years. That's crazy. So, yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow. And then what made you join Annex? I mean, they are locally owned. Yeah. And, as somebody who's worked in a very corporate environment and run specialty Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Like, you can totally see the difference now that I've had that experience. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Totally different. And, we did some really great things at Jack Rabbit and we had, we had a good, good team and good community, but, I was just ready for a change. And I really, really liked the energy from Athletic Annex. Yeah. Luke had been recruiting me for a while. ~The, ~the owners,~ um, at,~ at that time, ~um,~ Bob, Gareth, Justin, ~um,~ I met all of them and was instantly like, okay, this is, this is totally different energy.

Mm. I've never met anyone who treats their employees like this and just ~gives,~ ~um, you ~ ~know, kind ~ ~of~ lets people run with ideas and, ~and~ ~it's, ~ it was just, I, I needed a change. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Great. I can't believe that you, that that was your store for seven years back at Jacker because Sure. From what I saw with like store managers, I mean it, talk about it grind. Jake Hostetler: Oh yeah. Ally Brettnacher: And thankless. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: and I just, I mean, So how, maybe just paint a picture for people who don't necessarily understand retail Yeah. Like what your life was like then, and maybe how it's different now.

Jake Hostetler: Sure. In a lot of, a lot of why it was that way then too, we taking into account was we were going through Covid, which was, Oh God. very, very tough in graduating out of college, taking over a store of a bunch of, employees who were older than me who didn't necessarily. You know, didn't really know me or trust me yet. Yeah. So I I, gained their trust, got sales going, Hired, on staff, and then Covid hit, we had to furlough everyone. And the, yeah, we were in the back, packing orders day after day after day, and to get our company, off the ground so that we could hire back our staff Yeah.

That were, you know, relied on that money. We needed to make a certain threshold of sales per day. So Luke and I in general aren't, we've never been people who can just sit around when Ally Brettnacher: Right. Jake Hostetler: When it's slow. So what we did is we started, just picking up phones and making sales over the phone. So that was a how cool experience. Exactly. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. What, like, tell me about that. Yeah, honestly, Jake Hostetler: just, just would call customer. I, I would just pull up reports of customers that we've, we'd had in the past and, and I, you know, good rapport and had met a lot of.

customers over, over the last year and a half of that time, and I'd just call them, thank them for supporting the business. And, I'd look at their account, see what shoes they bought, and then be like, Hey, It's probably time for some new shoes. If you want this, I'll personally drive this to your house. And, Luke and I both did that. Luke actually biked the shoes around Broad Ripple. And we started making, A daily sales average where we could start hiring our staff back. And we presented it to our district manager and our company and, and kind of got a little, you know, we just picked up phones and just made it happen.

Jake. Ally Brettnacher: That's amazing. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. That was a grind. Ally Brettnacher: That is a grind. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow, that's really amazing. Jake Hostetler: But, But, the really big challenge after that was coming out of Covid, a lot of retail, you know, restaurants, retail shops, experienced, You know, really tough staffing issues from people who either didn't want to come back to work. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Were, were afraid to come back to work for health reasons. I mean, all the reasons made sense with how much disruption was happening. But, It left us in a place where we, we had stores where we, we just didn't have any staff and we're talking like, no store manager, nobody.

And at this point, Luke had left over to Annex. Mm-hmm. And, we just had to plug gaps. I remember, driving down to Nashville, Tennessee, working a store. By myself, my district manager was doing it too. And I would get people to come down and interview. I'd go up and knock on the apartment buildings on top and I got a couple part-timers to come in for interviews. But, but yeah, just staffing's really tough, 'cause it's a super fun job to work in Run specialty. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But I think that period of time for every company was really difficult. Yeah. And obviously, you know, Jackrabbit got off the ground again with staffing and Yeah.

Was able to make it work and, Yeah. It, it's just, it, it's a big hustle, you know, lots of 70, huge hustle, lots of 70 hour weeks over there. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But, I learned a ton. I'm grateful for the experience. Mm-hmm. It was great helping the community and, we had a good team over there. But yeah, it's been a huge difference coming over here. Ally Brettnacher: And how long have you been with Athletic Annex? Jake Hostetler: I've been with Athletic Annex for, a little over three years. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: Now I think, yeah. Yeah. That, that sounds right. Ally Brettnacher: That's right.

Yeah. You, you know, even if it's not, nobody else knows. Yeah. Well maybe some people now listening, but Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. It's, that's great. It's, It's, flying by though. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: How many locations does Annex have? So we, we Jake Hostetler: have 3, 3, 3 locations now. and we recently have added, a, outside sales location or workplace fit where, and Luke helped get this off the ground where basically we've gone out and done corporate fittings or gone to hospitals with a bunch of shoes. Ally Brettnacher: That's smart. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Set up shelves and yeah. Just, helped fit all the employees there, made it really convenient for them.

Mm-hmm. So that's been a big focus of ours this last year. Ally Brettnacher: And what's Luke's last name for people listening who might not know who he is? Tormoehlen Jake Hostetler: yep. Ally Brettnacher: So that's really interesting. And for people who also don't know, like going into a hospital be like, why the hell are you gonna a hospital run specialty people? Sure. It's because like Hokas and Brooks and a lot of brands have these shoes that are great for people who are on their feet all day too. Oh, absolutely. Not just for running. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yep. And, You can get pigeonholed into the, the sort of store you are when people come in and they're like, I'm not a runner, this is a running store.

Yeah. It's like we, we are a running store, but like a huge portion of our customer base are people who just need supportive shoes. Yeah. For, walking around work, rehabbing and injury, whatever the case is. Yeah. And we want to be the store where you're gonna come in and get a really detailed experience for people who know their stuff. Yeah. Because we, we take that super seriously. There's so much to know on the footwear wall. The, technologies, Using these shoes are ever changing. It's so Ally Brettnacher: overwhelming. Oh, yeah. As somebody who's tried, like, yeah, yeah. You've been in the industry, you Jake Hostetler: get it.

Ally Brettnacher: I've been in the industry. I feel like I know nothing still. Like I know. Yeah. I'm like a little bit more knowledgeable now. but it's hard because even going through training, then the next year everything changes again. Got the new models, new technology, whatever. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: And a lot of it's baseline's Pretty similar, but I still felt like it's a lot to know. Jake Hostetler: It's a ton to know. And, where else are you gonna come in and get inexperience like that, where people understand, the footwear to that detail. Right. And that's where I, I think the services industry is even more important right now.

Mm-hmm. Because of, how successful online Ally Brettnacher: right Jake Hostetler: business is for everyone. You, you need to come in, and have someone who cares and understands the product. mm-hmm. Walk you through it. Mm-hmm. And that's something I think run specialty will, will keep really consistent going forward. Yeah. And will be what keeps the motor rolling. Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Well, I always see, unlike face in Facebook groups, people will be like, oh, like what kind of shoes should I get? Just asking people and it's, and now having been in run specialty, I'm like, wow. Yeah, you have, you really can't just be like, Hey, what shoes should I have?

Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Definitely not. Ally Brettnacher: You can't do that. You have to go in and have somebody watch you walk, watch you run, look at your feet. Yeah. Understand what you're using these shoes for, what surfaces you run on. All the things that, all that. I just had no idea. I remember just picking shoes. Cause they were comfortable, but then I would be like, okay, what color do I want? Uh Right. Uhhuh, like pe and you get those people still that come in. Oh, for sure. For sure. Well, and that's Jake Hostetler: important too, you know, you know you Ally Brettnacher: want pretty shoes.

Yeah. But it's like, no, you need the shoes that are right for your feet. Jake Hostetler: Yep. and and that's gonna be different for everyone. Whi which is always hilarious when someone comes in and I know, Ally Brettnacher: they're Jake Hostetler: like, I want these three shoes. 'cause I, because Ally Brettnacher: I Jake Hostetler: Google said, these are the best three running shoes. And I'm like, this may be a, a shoe that doesn't fit your foot at all. Right. Um, and something that's really helped us in the last couple years here. We, we got in, the 3D scanners. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which Ally Brettnacher: is so cool.

Jake Hostetler: Oh, yeah. And those have helped a ton. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because, , with the three dimensional, view, you can see the instep in the arch of your foot. Yeah. Which, associates with shoes really closely. And all sorts of issues can be alleviated by us just putting you in the right category. Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Jake Hostetler: Uh, making sure your foot's not squeezed. You have good blood flow. Yeah. Which is super important in running. Yeah. The amount of people that run who have numb feet just because they're in the wrong, they, I've experienced that fit in the shoe, it's like mm-hmm. If you come in , we'll make sure that that's not a problem.

Yeah. We can take care of that and go down to detail with that now. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: And sometimes it's not even a new shoe, it's just tie your laces different. Exactly. Exactly. I learned that in run specialty as well. Yep. There's certain tricks to like, Hey, it's not just that. It's that You can skip this hole here and It alleviates the pressure that you had or whatever that may be. Jake Hostetler: That's exactly it. And, and that's what helps with our staff and with like, someone like you who's, who's a runner that's worked and run specially. Mm-hmm. It's like you're working with people who've been through the injuries, the setbacks mm-hmm.

The discomfort, Getting a wrong pair of shoes, getting sold into the wrong setup in the frustration of it. And everyone just knows, like you can skip All the Bs and get right to the point because, you know, it's people who understand what the industry and,, the running com. Yeah. Community and walkers too. I mean, have a ton of walkers. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: Well, let's, Let's back away from Athletic Annex, 'cause I know that's like who you work for, but obviously not who you are. Mm-hmm. but I do have to thank them for supporting this event that's happening before the Indy Mini too.

Oh yeah. Because they're sponsoring our event. Yeah. Which will be at the Bottleworks Hotel before. So you should come, well, you're gonna be at the booth probably. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yep. I will have a booth for athlete bouquets at the mini expo. And I made sure that when I looked at the map, I'm like, okay, where's Athletic Annex? I wanna make sure I am around there. Yep. So I am, so I'll see you there. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, that's good. Ally Brettnacher: Anyway, well, I wanna go back to you and your racing stories. So your first half was in 2019. Yep. And so how, you know, obviously as a runner in high school, How did you get back into to running?

Jake Hostetler: Sure. Part of getting back into running was working at a running store. I just started managing, that Jack Rabbit and . Right, right. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: And when you're around all, all these people talking about running, like it's, and you're getting free shoes from reps or whatever the case is. Of course, of course you're gonna dabble in it. , I took a four year break in college from running completely. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. I Jake Hostetler: was just really burnt out from, from my training, And just, I just needed a break 'cause it, it wasn't fun anymore at that point. And sometimes the good had just put something down for a while and then kind of fall in love with it again.

Well said. So I got really, outta shape in college. I was in a fraternity, had a lot of fun. Ally Brettnacher: Freshman 15 and then there Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. I, I definitely, uh, was not good to my body for four years. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: No, I, What fraternity? Jake Hostetler: I was a phidel. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Great. I, I learned a bunch. It was a great fraternity and all that. But yeah, I, I, I had a ton of fun. Um, yeah. and basically was in pretty poor shape as far as respiratory and just general cardiovascular fitness was not top tier, especially coming from where I was.

I mean, I was a machine Right. Uh, as a, you know, at the end of high school. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: , but I, I decided, you know what, I'm gonna run the monumental half marathon. And I just, I wrote out my own training plan, didn't really know what I was doing. I knew enough about training where I could kind of scale my long runs, have the right sort of rest weeks to recover. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. At least you knew that much. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ki kind of, I never Ally Brettnacher: knew about rest really, but, but Jake Hostetler: I, I just basically forced myself back into shape, which was really tough.

'cause I was used to, a mileage run for me in high school would be at like a six 30 to 6 45. Pace would be like my, you know, just my daily run. And then I was like struggling to run like a seven, like 15 or seven flat. Yeah. But I just suffered through it and somehow I ran, I think I ran like a 1 28 40 or something. Huge struggle. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But, but, but it got, got the ball rolling again with distance running and I, I had a great time. Yeah. Yeah. Freezing cold day. Brutal. That was kind of, I was trying to think.

2019 was so windy. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I joined the board in 21 and so I had run the monumental before like a handful of times, the half before I joined the board, but I had taken a break for a while, so I did not run in 2019. I know that. Jake Hostetler: Sure. Ally Brettnacher: But yeah. What made you pick monumental out of the local races? Jake Hostetler: I just random. yeah. You yeah. You like, this is coming up. I did train for this. I, I think one of my friends, wanted to run it and I just. I ran it with her and, or, I went, went to the race to run it and It, seemed like the one with the best attendance and all, all my customers had been talking about it.

Right. I'm sure I'm like, I, and, and there was a point where I was like, I haven't even ran a half. I, if I'm selling people shoes that are running marathons, like I need to do this event so I can relate to them. And then that was the same deal with my marathon. And then ultra it was like, I I don't want to talk to customers without being able to see eye to eye about certain things. Right. And it makes a huge difference helping people once obviously it does. Like Ally Brettnacher: you've been there and Sure. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Right. Yeah, I can I can totally see that.

So you did the monumental half 2019 and then again in 21? Yep. And then when was your first full? Jake Hostetler: My first full was in 2023. Three, I believe. Yeah. I ran the mill, I think. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: You ran the mill race? I ran the mill Jake Hostetler: race? Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I've never done that one. Where is that? Jake Hostetler: that? one's in Columbus, Indiana. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Okay. Jake Hostetler: Not a huge race. Mm-hmm. I think there were like 300. People that did the marathon. Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Yeah. Super Jake Hostetler: small pool. The reason I ran that one, I was working with, Rachel Sinders.

Mm-hmm. She was my run coach, for that training block and got me through without injury. It was great. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: With at Annex, obviously we, we sponsored the big races where, you know, title sponsor of the Brooks of the Monumental. Mm-hmm. So that week is like blocked off for Yeah. For, you know, management obviously. Yeah. 'cause we're, We're grinding that week out. Um, so I was like, I want a fall race that's kind of in the middle of everything. Yeah. And it was a beautiful race. I will say I was by myself for probably. Like 40 to 50 minutes of the race. Ally Brettnacher: And for you, that's a big chunk.

Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Well, and that was my first, like, yeah, that was my first marathon ever. Right. So I was just like, but luckily I did done most of my training runs all by myself in, in my long run. So that Ally Brettnacher: surprises me actually. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. I love running in the group. I like running with people, but I talk to so many people all day. My run is where I can just be, be all by myself. Yeah. No, I, I like the long run solo. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, Jake Hostetler: yeah, Ally Brettnacher: yeah. I, I can see that. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Jake Hostetler: The, the last five miles of that race. So I was like, it'd be nice if there was a bigger crash here for sure. Anybody Ally Brettnacher: here to talk? But, But, it was, Jake Hostetler: the course was great. It was ran really smooth and Yeah, it was, it was. You got a top Ally Brettnacher: 10 finish in your first marathon. Yeah. That's so cool. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, Ally Brettnacher: What was your finish time? Jake Hostetler: I ran a three 11 something. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: That's amazing. Which, Jake Hostetler: yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. I mean, yeah. I can't, can't be mad with finishing it and I wasn't going for anything crazy fast, but I was just happy to, it was just glad I finished it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's so great. Congratulations. And I was, I was able Jake Hostetler: to race a little bit then, 'cause I was, there was a part where you kind of loop back around and you can count the people in front of you. Oh. I was like that kind of, and at the time I was like, oh shoot, I'm in 11th. Like, I need to, I Ally Brettnacher: can, I can crack this. Yeah. I was Jake Hostetler: about to like lay down. I was like, this sucks. I, I can't do this last four miles. And I was like, no, no, we're racing now. So yeah, I was able to lock in and, and Pick some people off which made, which, which made the last mile go by Ally Brettnacher: faster.

Oh my gosh. Which is always helpful. My, Jake Hostetler: those, no one can prepare you for the, until you do it the last, uh, you know, five, six miles of marathon. Hard. I'd always heard about it. That wall is, can make the most experienced runner want to just sit down and quit. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Right. It's insane. Well, it's like I go back and forth between like the wall is complete bullshit Movie on 3-17-25 at 12.26 PM: and Ally Brettnacher: also not, it's because you have to practice this, like whole men, it's like such a mental block of like, you know, but at some point, I mean, for me, last year at Monumental Full, it was like Mile, I don't know, it was the last four miles, like mile 22.

I just all of a sudden was like, oh my God, yeah. I don't know if I can do this Uhhuh. And then you're like, no, shut up. Just suck it up and just, I mean, yeah. It's always gonna be tough. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Your body's crying out for help. Yeah. And you, you have to, and, and it's in the marathon. It's crazy. 'cause it's, You know, it's, it's not like every mile you're having to reset. It's like every couple steps. It's like, no, no, no, you can do this. Right. Keep going, keep going. You're right. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: It's like Jake Hostetler: we're, we're in a 5K.

It's like you got, you know, three more minutes of hell and then you're good. Yeah, Ally Brettnacher: yeah. But, but Jake Hostetler: like, which five Ks are the most painful race ever for me. Still. I hate, I I'm terrified of them. Oh my gosh. They're, they're so painful. Yeah. If, I mean, if you're running all out. Ally Brettnacher: Right, exactly. Um, Jake Hostetler: but, but yeah, at the end of the marathon, it's, it's crazy how much you have to just coach and coach yourself to just get your, get your ass across the line. Yes. Ally Brettnacher: Absolutely. Yeah. And so have you done another full marathon?

Jake Hostetler: That's it. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. So then you're like, okay, I'm gonna get to know my customers. I'm gonna run a half marathon Jake Hostetler: Uhhuh, Ally Brettnacher: then I'm gonna run a full marathon. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: And then I'm gonna run an ultra marathon. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, that was, that was random. So you're just like, I'm just gonna Ally Brettnacher: like progress into this and do it all. Jake Hostetler: Yep. Ally Brettnacher: This episode is brought to you by Bitch Sticks. Bitch Sticks is sold in over 5,000 stores nationwide. But was founded in Indiana, Zionsville, Indiana to be exact. And Bitch Sticks is a self-care brand that cares about people, communities, and the world.

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Jake Hostetler: I did. Ally Brettnacher: Which is so cool. I can't believe it's sold out. Well, I can, oh. But I was like, dang Jake Hostetler: coolest race ever. Oh Ally Brettnacher: cool. It's a backyard Ultra. So tell people what a Backyard Ultra is. Jake Hostetler: So basically, first off, It's TJ Daley's race, with, , I Mica Mic, Michigan Mission. There we go. I practiced that. I know how to say that. That's good. 'cause I messed it up at some events every Ally Brettnacher: time. Jake Hostetler: But yeah, shout out TJ Daley. He, he pushed on me to join the race and it was just kind of one random day in, At the beginning of the summer, and he's like, dude, just sign up.

Like, what are you doing? Sign up. Because I was like, I don't really know what I wanna race next. Yeah. And I just, yeah. I signed up that day and I was like, all right. And I just had, had a number in my head. I was just like, let's just do, I'm gonna go for 12 loops. And, sorry, back to what you were saying. Yeah. The, The backyard alters basically a format where you have a 4.2 mile loop and you need to run it every hour, and then you need to be back on the start line by the start of the next hour to continue.

So it's a last man standing race. Yeah. Man or woman. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. yeah. Jake Hostetler: Standing race, because we, I, I feel like this year's gonna be Yeah. We, we have some women that are gonna blow open the field here. Yeah. So this is gonna Exciting. Exciting. but, but anyway, last person standing race. And there's a lot of strategy to it because if you run the loop too fast, you have more downtime, which sounds good, but then it's harder to get back up and your legs will start recovering or getting tight. Um, yeah. But if you run it really slow or if you walk, jog it and you miss the, the cut, you're out.

So you really have to figure out a, a mental strategy of how to keep making it to the start line. Making it around, yeah. With how bad your joints are hurting. Ally Brettnacher: did you practice for that? Yeah. Did you train in the, because I know Rachel Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Did, , when she did it, she would go out and do a 4.2 mile loop and like kind of plan for that. So how did you Yeah. And ra Rachel Jake Hostetler: trained way more seriously and a lot of people did. I basically, I was working a ton of hours that summer. , we were just really busy.

Yeah. Which is a great, so I, never ran over 10 miles leading up to that race for a full calendar year. Going into that race, gee. Which is ridiculous. Yeah. That's ridiculous. That's kind of boneheaded. But, my coach, he knew my schedule. Yeah. He works right next to Kegan. And he, had me run 4.2 miles three times in a day where in the morning I'd run it in the afternoon, I'd run it, and in the evening I'd run it. So I would triple. So instead of doubling for mileage once a week, I would triple once a week and then maybe double a second time in the week.

Okay. Just for, just to get in my head. We're running now we're running again. And it was actually even better spaced out 'cause I wasn't dedicating the day to it. It was more throughout my day every week mm-hmm. Where I was just like, oh shit. Now we're, I gotta go out and run 4.2 miles. Yeah. Again, in the midst of me doing everything. Yeah. And I think that got my head in the kind of cadence of. Just get back on the line. Go. I know. It sucks. Yeah. And then I realize like, okay, after about, you know, four or five minutes of running, I'm back in the zone.

Mm-hmm. It's gonna be okay. Mm-hmm. Because during an ultra marathon, you gotta constantly reset your brain and understand, like, I may feel like I'm about to die right now, but in 20 minutes if I just keep my head up, I may catch a second wind. It'd be fine for, you know, 15 more miles. It's crazy how that works. So, so it's just a constant, like, you just gotta trust that you have Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That Jake Hostetler: there's some light at the end of the tunnel. Absolutely. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. A couple quotes to share from previous guests of this podcast, one would be of course, TJ Daley.

Yeah. And he said, don't quit in the chair. Like, no matter what, just get your ass up Get to the starting line. Yep. Get to the starting line. Start moving, then you can quit. But , don't just sit on your ass and give up. Yeah. And then the other one is, it never always gets worse, which is, Shea Aquilano shared that on the podcast. It's, that's nice. You know, and at first I was like, excuse me, come again. Like, I don't understand. But it made sense. , it's not gonna keep getting worse. At some point it's gonna get better. So if you can just suffer a little longer, you might get that second wind to your point.

So I think about both of those things a lot. It's good advice. , especially when it comes to ultras. I have not run an ultra, at least not yet, but I, I would like to. I think now at, at first, like when I started this podcast, I was like, I'm never gonna do that. That's insane. And now I'm kind of like, Ooh, Jake Hostetler: yeah, Ally Brettnacher: I wanna do that. You Jake Hostetler: totally should. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, what if, I mean, 'cause like somebody told you, Hey, you're gonna go run 50 miles. What would you, I mean, you're like, yeah, Jake Hostetler: well when, and I did that to myself.

I was like, I'm gonna, I was like, 50 sounds cool. Yeah. And I was like, oh, shit. That's a lot of miles. Like, yeah. But the best part of the ultra is the terrible anxiety that I feel before a marathon, 5K, whatever the case is. Mm-hmm. you just show up at an ultra, everyone's just hanging out. no one has stressful energy. Everyone's there for the day. And they're there for an experience. Yeah. And you really can feel that at the beginning of the race. whi which was just different than anything I'd ever experienced. I wasn't nervous at all. I was excited, smiling. it was it was just an amazing vibe the whole time.

What a difference. Yeah. And, everyone thinks that ultra runners are crazy. It actually is such a good metaphor for the challenges you go through in your life because of that, that sort of thing where it's like you gotta keep going back to the start line and trying again. And things actually do get better even when you think you can't move anymore. Yeah. So like, physically, it's, it's, you, your physical body will, will kind of show you the, the metaphor of it. 'cause it's, I can get past this. you you know, and I can keep going and then all of a sudden you're at 50 miles.

It's like, I just ran 50 miles. That's insane. Ally Brettnacher: Insane. Jake Hostetler: Well, like I never would've thought I could do that. Especially Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: As a kid who didn't think he could run at Ally Brettnacher: all. Jake Hostetler: But you, you end up there and you're like, this, this is just consistency and, and not stopping. Right. Just keeping in motion. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: It's good. Ally Brettnacher: Have you recruited your family to run? Jake Hostetler: No. Ally Brettnacher: Nope. I'm thinking like, what does your mom think about this? Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: She's like, you're nuts.

Jake Hostetler: No, they're, as I said, yeah, they're, they're on the music side. They, you know, they all lead healthy lifestyles. But yeah. The, running thing is just me and my cousin's the head coach at Ben Davis. Oh, cool. For cross country. Okay. My, my aunt coaches there too, so there's running in my family. But yeah, I'm the, I'm kind of the lone in your lone runner here. In your immediate Ally Brettnacher: family. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: so for prayer on fire, what did you do when you sat down in the chair? Like when you were, okay, you're finished with the loop. Yeah, , bring us to the experience of what you would do between, what is it called?

They're, what are they called? Jake Hostetler: Uh, yards, yard. Yards between yards. Yep. , so I, I ran all of my legs a little faster. , just, I don't know why. It just felt better to get it done a little quicker. Yeah. , so I had a lot of time. I didn't really sit down that much. I tried to kind of keep my legs moving a bit. I'd roll out my legs. I ate a ton of Chick-fil-A. So much Chick-fil-A. That's awesome. Oh my gosh. Because I mean, you just eat anything in front of eat. I always love talking about Ally Brettnacher: the food at, because I think that's what'll get me Jake Hostetler: Sure.

Ally Brettnacher: To do it. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. No, it's, it's good. And, and, you know, you just gotta stay ahead of your calories. Right. You don't wanna be catching up. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But yeah, and I think the most interesting thing, and this is where experience and running comes in and understanding your body, And the problems really started after the marathon where I started to feel like, oh my gosh, my Achilles tendon feels like it's going to tear. Or like, I'm getting severe it band pain. It's getting worse every five minutes. Yeah. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to walk to the start line again, but out of my, , experience with athletic annex, working with, PTs, whatever the case is.

Yeah. I know the sort of things I need to do. So sometimes it would be, , I'd be doing, you know, mobility things for my ankle or be stretching out my hips. Mm-hmm. Or um, be doing glute exercises just to make sure I'm like, I know this is happening 'cause. My glues aren't firing evenly right now, or my calf is working too hard right now. And even, , the runners there will help you a ton. Like my, , quads were getting incredibly tired. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Um, or no, my hamstrings were getting tired. Yeah. And running up that last hill was really painful.

And I saw some runners running backwards up the hill, and I was like, why are you running backwards? They're like, , you need to use different muscle groups. You have unused muscles. And I was like, oh, I didn't even think of that. That's wild. So, so that, that saved my butt on a bunch of stuff because then you're, Engaging different muscles, letting that muscle, uh, rest. I would Ally Brettnacher: fall on my ass trying to run backwards up Jake Hostetler: a hill. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I, I'm sure, I'm sure someone did, but Yeah. But we just all started doing that and it, it worked.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow. And we did, we had Jake Hostetler: such a good group. So many people went over a hundred miles. Ally Brettnacher: It's, I it's wild. It's, Jake Hostetler: yeah. I, I think everyone was just trying to help each other and you know, you go and talk to someone, be like, I'm having a lot of pain here. They're like, here, try this. I have icy hot back. The place. , I think I, I drank a couple high noons in there, here and there towards the end just to be like, you know, I just need to get my mind off of this. Right. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Jake Hostetler: And, get my legs to feel better. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That stop, stop worrying so much. 'cause then the more relaxed I ran, the better. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: The better I did. Ally Brettnacher: Right. Right. I, I Jake Hostetler: don't, I don't condone drinking on it, but Right. But, But, but, in the moment you just kind of do what you Well, in Ally Brettnacher: a high noon is not like, it's not like you're Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Doing shots of tequila, which would kill me. Yeah. I'm, Jake Hostetler: I'm not, I'm not going. Ally Brettnacher: I've done Jake Hostetler: full octane.

I was Ally Brettnacher: gonna say, have I done, I think I've done a fire, I've done a fireball shot for sure. Yeah. During a half marathon and uh, what was it? I think it was Carmel. Was it Carmel? They had, the Fisher's Running Club was out there. Maybe it was Sam Costa. I don't know. But they were like little margaritas and I did that once. Yeah. And it does it like, in a way, like kind of just gives you a little bit of relief. Sure. And, , Yeah. de Jake Hostetler: de Definitely not for everyone, but not for everybody, but you know, you know, in the, in the, like, it's an experience you're going through.

Right. You kind of just you just gotta try things Right. And see what works Ally Brettnacher: exactly. And what does not, so what doesn't work. Yeah. There's been moments where I've like, oh, that was a really bad idea. Yeah. That was A Jake Hostetler: dumb idea. But, you know, you learn and Yeah. Go from there. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. . There was a film made. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about that? Jake Hostetler: , Yeah. So they made a documentary mm-hmm. Called Chasing 100, , John Coon, in tj, uh, kind of co made the film. , And John, , shot all the film and, and pieced it together.

, But it basically was just to kind of cover, The athletes going for a hundred miles and passing it. I, I, was one of the people , that they featured in the film, , which was just kind of random. I mean, I wasn't going for a hundred, but, um. Yeah. It, it was cool to see that and I, I think that's a great marketing tool to be able to physically see what you're getting into. Yes. And, and just to be able to see, oh, everyone is, these are all just normal people. Like, I can do this. Yes. And you don't know you can do it until you just sign out for one and go try it out.

Right. So I I think that helped fill up that race quick in , the, uh, Kawi Park where it's at. It's beautiful. Oh yeah. it's like, it's like perfect for that event. Ally Brettnacher: It, it looks absolutely incredible. And so if, if you have not watched the film, go watch it. It's on YouTube. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Almost at a a hundred thousand views. It's geez. Yeah. Yeah. It's popped off. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And John is on my list to interview on this podcast. He has not been on here yet. I have not met him in person. I did run by him one time. Yeah. It was crazy.

Like just, we were out on a, like in Westfield of all places. And I've seen him and he's just so talented. Jake Hostetler: Oh, he's, great. Yeah. And I'm, I'm so glad that tj, TJ and him can work together. Yes. 'cause 'cause it's, I really think the ultra marathons are such a like a hidden, this is just people who go out in the forest and it's, el knows it's elusive. Like people don't, Ally Brettnacher: can't really like understand. I think these have helped. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. This has totally opened it up to the public where it's like, like, no, anyone can do this. Yeah. I never would've thought I would run an ultra marathon.

Now it's like, okay, I, I want to double my distance next year. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think I can do it right. So it's Ally Brettnacher: cool. I mean, I know you can do it. So, and Kaylyn TJ's daughter. Yeah. Yeah. Who was just like crushing it Jake Hostetler: insane. Ally Brettnacher: I'm like, holy cow. I remember at the, uh, event at Annex, um, that Christy D helped put on for safety. Yep. I brought my girls there and I remember introducing my daughter Sydney to Kaylyn and being like, Kaylyn ran like 30 some miles in a day. Yeah. That's insane. Or like insane, you know, and Sydney insane.

just kind of like what? Insane. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Okay. So now, , congratulations on becoming an ultra marathoner. Yeah. Thanks. It's so Jake Hostetler: freaking cool. It's weird to hear that, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I mean, , It's crazy being it immersed in running because I feel like it's harder to accept some of those compliments. Because in the running world there's always somebody crazier, there's always somebody faster, but like in the normal everyday world, it's insane. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. It's Ally Brettnacher: so insane. Jake Hostetler: And that's how everything is, Ally Brettnacher: right? Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Yes. Until you do it, it's just like, Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Jake Hostetler: Some unattainable or really cool thing. Scary. Yeah. And then once you do it, you're like, what's next? You're like, Ally Brettnacher: wow, okay. So like, I'm gonna go for it. So to that end, what do you have on the race calendar for this year? Jake Hostetler: Yeah, so I just started, I lifted through the winter, just started getting, kind of putting together a training block. Um, IJ I'm just gonna get, get into kind of general fitness hopefully do a, trying to run a fast half towards the fall and then, uh, prayer on fire again. Yeah. Um, and yeah, I would love to go at least a hundred k but also setting a distance is stupid.

I didn't just go in and go as long as I can. Right. That's the weird thing that. because I limit myself with that. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: So, Ally Brettnacher: yeah, the mental game there. When you run a half or you run a marathon, it's like, you know when the finishes Yeah. But like the idea that you walk into it, not necessarily knowing what you're capable of that day Sure. Is pretty cool. And if Jake Hostetler: you're having a terrible day, you can just stop. You know, it's, That takes so much pressure off it and that actually makes you go further. Which, which is funny.

I need to use that mentality everywhere. And I think a lot of runners should do that. Right. Show up to the line. don't put pressure on yourself, just see what happens. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: And, and I think everyone would run so much better. Totally. and just have better performances. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. If Jake Hostetler: that's the case, but it's so much easier said than done. But an ultra marathon like that will show you in your head. Okay, this is proven. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: I, I let go expectations and I did something I didn't think my body could do. Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Jake Hostetler: So that, that could be the case for anything. Ally Brettnacher: Right? Absolutely. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So, , good luck. I'll be cheering you on. Thanks. I'm gonna come spectate probably at five It's gonna be a fun year. Yeah. I mean, just watching that film and like bringing it to light, you're like, this is such a cool environment. I wanna be a part of that. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: So let's talk about music. Jake Hostetler: Cool. Ally Brettnacher: I wanna talk about music. I wanna nerd out with you because I know we're good on time. We have enough time. Okay, good.

We do. So obviously we now know how you got into music mm-hmm. And how you got into like the producing side. , But you're doing some really cool stuff. Like you're an artist on Spotify, you've got music mm-hmm. Up there. Like that's so freaking cool. I don't think I know anybody else. Who has music on Spotify. Jake Hostetler: Yeah, it's really cool. It's, it's, it's scary putting out music. It really is. Ally Brettnacher: Right? Jake Hostetler: Yeah. But Ally Brettnacher: I was like listening to some of your stuff and I'm like, man, I can get down to some of this. I need to be playing this while I'm working in my office.

You know, like, it's really great. And so, I guess, I don't know really where to start , but like, can you talk to people about what you're doing now with music? Sure. And, and maybe I should pull up what you made for me and we should listen to, we should listen to it together, and then you can talk to me about how your brain works when it comes to creating. Jake Hostetler: Sure. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So right now in the past, I. Year or so. , Obviously it's tough because with athletic Amex right now, I just opened in a new store two years ago in Carmel.

Yeah. And that takes a ton of time getting a store off the ground. , You just gotta put a lot of hours into it. Yeah. It's in Clay Terrace. Ally Brettnacher: it's amazing if you haven't met Yeah. Right in between Warman Jake Hostetler: Parker, GameStop. Yeah. Where we have a blast there. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: , But building that up takes a lot of time. So, , any of my remaining energy or time's been put into some projects. , It's funny actually, Luke's wife, Akili, um, her, her artist name's Akili Knee Molly, And I met her at Ball State in the jazz program. Ally Brettnacher: Wait, before Jake Hostetler: Luke?

Yeah. I introduced him. Well, kind of like okay. She met him through, um, through you. Through me. Yeah. That's Ally Brettnacher: pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause I noticed that she was married to Luke and then I was like, wait a minute, Uhhuh, what's happening? here? Yeah. I need this story. Yeah. Connecting Jake Hostetler: the dots here. Yeah. Um, but yeah, she, she and I started making, we, we went to, on that Costa Rica. kind of tour, with Ball State's band and, and we started making music together afterwards where I would play all the instruments and produce instrumentals. , And , she's a great songwriter. Writes an amazing vocalist, I mean, really.

Mm-hmm. Really high level vocalist. , But, , she would write songs to beats I made, or, or I'd make a beat based off of her songs. And, uh, we put out an EP or she, she put out an ep and I, I did all the mixing mastering. What Ally Brettnacher: does EP mean? Jake Hostetler: Uh, extended play. So in an ep, like a full length album may be like eight to 10 songs. An EP will be like five to six songs. Ally Brettnacher: Got it. Jake Hostetler: , And I produce a lot of the music on there. And, , Jake Hostetler: , That's actually having a lot of success right now.

I think her top track on there is at like 160,000 streams. That's cool. And, she's having a lot of personal success through, you know, her. , She's a really talented, , actress too. . But basically , Working on that. Right now I'm, we're working on some more music now, and then I've done all sorts of stuff. I've, I made music for, , little Instagram ads, like little 15 second clips. Yeah. Um, I made music for audio books. I've, ghost produced, , beats for House and EDM producers. That's cool. , It's cool. Except if one blows up, I have no rights to it. Yeah. And that, that's, that's my fault.

I I know what to Yeah. I know how to, kind of negotiate with that now. Right. But, yeah. , And yeah, I've, , trying to think and then podcast intros too. Yeah. that's something I've done for, you know, a couple people now. And that's just kind of fun 'cause that, that with my job, I have enough time to do that where I can make, you know, a 32nd snippet versus making a whole album or Right. A piece that takes a lot. That's the way where I still can be creative, you know. you know, make some money on the side and Yeah. And , it's fun.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. What do you, what software do you use to produce? I Jake Hostetler: use Logic Pro X. Mm-hmm. Which is basically, , GarageBand Pro. Okay. So, yeah, it's Apple's version. Got it. Um, it's probably, it's called a DA or Digital Audio Workstation. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Jake Hostetler: , And it's probably one of the most difficult ones to use, , As far as just the interface, but you can do a ton with it. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: So that, that's been a whole journey in itself, learning that. I Ally Brettnacher: can only imagine, as you and I were talking about before this, I was like, so yeah, these are the settings that I used because I googled it and was like, what settings do I need to It's okay to Google Garage Band.

Jake Hostetler: yeah. It's funny, I learned a ton from my degree. The rest I learned from YouTube. Ally Brettnacher: Really? I just grind on Jake Hostetler: YouTube videos. The Ally Brettnacher: amount of YouTube I've watched since starting Athlete Bouquets is astounding. Yeah. Because I've learned lot. It's so helpful. Yeah, it is very helpful. It's, Jake Hostetler: you just, you gotta know the language and vocabulary of whatever you're doing. Percent. And then, ' um. Because if not, you'll get buried in all the videos. But if then you specifically can go and learn from there. So yeah. Ally Brettnacher: yeah. My least favorite thing, my gripe with it, is that you'll start watching something you think is helpful and then it turns into like it's a commercial for a specific software.

Oh Jake Hostetler: yeah, yeah. And you're like, God dammit. It's like, all you need is this thousand dollars and I'm plug money. I just needed Ally Brettnacher: you to tell me how to do it. How did I get suckered into this? Yep. Yeah. It's clever. Yeah. so, okay, So maybe just talk about your process of making music. So you said like with Akili you're sometimes she has a song that she has in her head, and then you produce music alongside of it. But sometimes you have a beat already. Yeah. And then she can put lyrics to that. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. I mean, how does that Ally Brettnacher: work's?

so, interesting. That's actually, Jake Hostetler: that's pretty common in, in kind of the producer space. , I think what kind of makes me unique is usually producers will put out a bunch of beats. Yeah. And artists will buy them, write songs to it. but I can kind of reverse engineer it a little bit. And I've done that with several artists. Yeah. But, but, um, Akili will write a song that she's written on piano or or a guitar, or maybe I've like a kind of basic beat. Or she'll make a base or she'll make a beat to base it off of. Yeah. And then I'll build out the entire soundtrack behind it, and then she'll rerecord vocals to that and mix it all in.

It's so crazy. Ally Brettnacher: Um, Jake Hostetler: so I, I mean, there's so many ways to go around it about it. You just gotta be really creative. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Like, how do you agree that a song is done? That's gotta be the hardest thing. Jake Hostetler: So hard. I mean, you, you just have to, you gotta set deadlines for yourself, honestly. Yeah. And that, that's what'll help. Where, and and she, she does a great job of this. There's, there's other artists I've worked with who, Will want a lot more revisions, but like, Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Jake Hostetler: We, we both will get to a place where like, this thing's ready.

. Can it be mixed more? Can we add more? Sure. But like always then it's just gonna sit, we need this, you know, she needs to put this out to get energy and Right. You know, have, have listeners hear it. Yeah. And, and it's, you know, it's good. And plus you progress as an artist, so. Mm-hmm. You gotta just be honest with where you're at at the time. And it's crazy listening to, like, even the first things we put out to now, it's like the qualities, the change in quality's awesome. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, I'll listen to, A music I made for an ad when, when I was right outta college compared to now.

And I was like, oh my God. How, why did someone buy that? Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: But you just keep getting better. Just, just like running around anything. You just keep consistently work at it and, and you'll see a lot of progress. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Where, what, what's the marketplace for like selling. Your music Jake Hostetler: very difficult. Yeah. I was Ally Brettnacher: like, where do you even do that? Jake Hostetler: Yeah. That's where you gotta get creative. , I mean, a lot of mine is just, connections. I went to music school, , so I have some, you know, I have connections , Through music school, but also for me, it's Like, I meet people at Athletic Annex.

I meet, customers of my dad's, or I'll just, right, I'll be at, you know, out, at a event or at a bar and talk to someone and they're like, oh yeah, , I need audio cleaned up for this, , you know, for this conference we just did and there's this whistling noise. I'm like, I can take care of that. Yeah. Or if someone's like us, , you're like, I heard that you make podcasts, intro music, right from I can do that. Allison, thanks you for Allison. Yeah, yeah. Thanks Allison for the plug. , But things like that, you just get reached out to. And I, I used to use Upwork a lot too.

Ally Brettnacher: That's what I was, I was thinking of places like that because I was trying to think of where I bought. The music that I have right now. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Or who told me about, I don't remember. Or there'll be like, uh, leasing sites where, where, um, there'll be instrumentals that you can lease for exclusive, , exclusive rights. Yeah. Like, that's what I Ally Brettnacher: did. I think I like, then I Yeah, that's, that's probably what you did. Yeah. And I just don't remember which one, but I was like, okay, well I'll just go on here and like, listen to a bunch of 'em.

Sure. See what sounds good. And then, you know, I just am trying to find, as I told you, I'm like, I just want something that sounds more like me. Yep. I don't know if this makes sense, but , what I'm trying to be, I'm like, I don't wanna be this , cheesy motivational speaker that's not at all who I am. Yeah. And so, and I feel like the intro of my podcast is kind of like that. Sure. So I'm like, I gotta mix this up. Jake Hostetler: That's it. Well, and that's where I think something like, that's important because I can I can listen to what you want and then, , kind of tailor it to there.

And then you can make revisions. Yeah. And then once, yeah, you want something that matches, matches your, your vibe and energy and, yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull out the one. Oh oh, I know. Well, this is a Jake Hostetler: very rough one. Ally Brettnacher: Well, I just think it would be, yeah. I think it's so fun. Well, you're like, tell me what to change. Here's my problem. I don't know how to even tell you that. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I mean, I was like, oh, it sounds great.. Jake Hostetler: And, when I, when I make something like this, I'm always thinking of someone talking over it.

So I try to make something, A little bit like, kind of sunnier, kind of like a pop rock vibe, but that I could hear someone's voice being like, welcome to this, you know, under it. Ally Brettnacher: I got it, Jake Hostetler: but very rough demo, Ally Brettnacher: so Cool. Welcome to finish. Let's vote though. yeah, Yeah. right. I can hear, I can hear the Tegan and Sarah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Mi mixed with kind of little bit of U2 course. Yeah. In there. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Like how do you even like the little sounds in the va, like how do you even know how to put all that together?

I just, yeah. Jake Hostetler: I I usually start with a guitar. Ally Brettnacher: Okay. To Jake Hostetler: be honest, that I do, I write on really quickly on a guitar just to get kind of a bass chord progression. and then, yeah, I have a lot of sound plugins where I've created my own sounds already. your own sounds? Oh, yeah. Yes. Basically like any EDM producer, its sound synthesis is what it's called. Where basically, oh my God, I don't even know anything. It's, it's, I, I won't even go. Yeah. I won't go down that rabbit hole, but, but, but you know, you, you learn how to kind of modulate, Ally Brettnacher: You know, Jake Hostetler: certain, certain, sounds or, or, uh, synths to sound exactly how you want.

So I have this huge library of sounds I've created, or I'll just, Ally Brettnacher: wow. Jake Hostetler: I'll, I'll kind of get a melody in my head and then I'll just run through. I mean, you would not even believe even trying to find the right drum sound, I'm sure there's a lot of memes on the internet about this, but of just going down the list, trying to find that exact snare sound or whatever. But, but I, I just go, I try to find something that sounds good, but a little different from everything else. Yeah. To make it unique and then uhhuh and then go with it.

And if I send it to someone, they're like, oh, I don't like that sound. That's fine. Yeah. I'm not offended. Right. It's for the person Yeah. Who, who I'm working with. So, Well then Ally Brettnacher: I could see how, like to back to that, I could be like, okay, I like where we're going with this. Let me record an intro. Like I would, and then have you hear the cadence and speed of my voice, because I think that makes a difference Yep. With the one I have now, it's kind of funny. You're like, I'm like trying to. Make it sound good. It's just, it's such an art that I never would've, never would've thought that I'd be trying to master.

Sure. Or not master, but all that's make it sound good. But that's important. 'cause if you think Jake Hostetler: about it, that the intro music is what, that's where you, that moment is when you lose or keep people. Right. and then, , if they like your podcast, they'll associate that music. Ally Brettnacher: Right. Which Jake Hostetler: is cool. 'cause like, you know, there's a lot of famous podcasts where it's like, I hear that intro music. I'm like, oh, I'm about to hear some crazy stuff on this podcast. A hundred percent like it, you know, associates with your brain. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: So Ally Brettnacher: Well, and my friend Lindsay Hein has had her music, I think the same for like all, almost like 600 episodes she had, which is amazing.

And then I'm like, wow, am I too much of a perfectionist? But I don't, you know what, nobody, nobody cares if I change it because I don't think anybody's like married to anything. So I'm like, I want it to be the best I can have it. Oh, a hundred Jake Hostetler: percent. Why not? Why not? Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: That's fun. And not only that, help and support somebody in the local running community. Yeah. Is, appreciate it. It's so cool. That's cool. 'cause then it's like, ' look at us making this like in the Carmel library and then Yeah, that's Jake Hostetler: exactly it. Your Ally Brettnacher: music, it's just so fun.

Jake Hostetler: And that's what's fun about the, I feel like the running community in, in general, yeah. Like people just really try to support each other in whatever they're doing. And you know, you even see it with your business and mm-hmm. Rachel or Chrisy d coaching. Right. Or what, you know, whoever it is, it's like, it's e everything's integrated. Ally Brettnacher: It's so amazing. And I don't know, I'm sure you feel it, but like the energy of like launching into spring race season is just like, oh, it's awesome. The best. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. It's awesome seeing people on the Monon start new train and they're like, I'm finally out here again.

Right. This is why I was feeling sad all winter everything. Exactly. Everything's gonna be good. It's like now Ally Brettnacher: we're outside. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ugh. Ally Brettnacher: Well, let's, let's do the end of the podcast questions. Sure. I can't believe we're here. Yeah. It's like, boom. It happened so fast. Yes. Quick. Yeah. So I guess a good segue, because we just talked about music, but what is your favorite running song and or mantra. Jake Hostetler: Sure. it's funny, I am probably the polar opposite of most people with running music. I listen to incredibly relaxing ambient music when I run. Ally Brettnacher: Ooh. Jake Hostetler: Yeah.

So like, there's an artist called Tyco. Okay. I don't know if you've heard him before, but a lot of people would use that as like study music. Mm-hmm. And I studied all through college to, to, him. But I'll listen to either that I've listened to classical before, but mainly just really slow chill music because, . It helps me zone out. Yeah. And, uh, get my heart rate down and, and get my breathing just really smooth. Like, I, I can't listen to, you know, I mean, I love listening to High pm Yeah. But when I do, but, but yeah, like, like if I'm at the end of the race, I'll listen to, you know, like Schoolboy Q or Lincoln Park or something Yeah.

To, to get me going. But like, you can't do that a whole marathon or you're going to, you're gonna go too hard or That's ' funny. cause ' that's pretty Ally Brettnacher: much, it's like, okay, let me put all my amp up songs in one playlist. Jake Hostetler: No. When I, when I start running, I just, I mean, it sounds corny to get into a flow state, but I really just, I want my mind to just wander and then it's like, oh, I'm 15 miles in street. Right. That's done. So, no, it Ally Brettnacher: sounds smart is what it sounds like. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Uh, random quick question.

What is lo-fi? What does that mean? Jake Hostetler: Yeah, so lo-fi is basically, , . It's kind of based off eq If, I don't know if you've heard of EQ before. What is, I don't Ally Brettnacher: know what that means either. Oh, Jake Hostetler: man, this is hard to explain. Basically, you're rolling, you're rolling off all the high end of an audio signal. Or for example, like if you hear a lo-fi beat, it's, it's more muted. So you're taking all the higher frequencies up here. You're rolling it off and it'll make it sound kind like a, kinda like cozy. Yeah. If that makes sense. And then some people will add some, like, audio crackle to make it sound like it's coming out of like a vinyl player.

Okay. Or something like that. Okay. That, that's like lo-fi beats. But lo-fi in general, just Yeah, kind of like a, a more like muted, warmer. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Kind of style of sound. Okay. And that, that may not, not be right for every lo-fi music, but like for, for what you're doing. Yeah. In most cases that's what it's, I Ally Brettnacher: see, You know, a lot of what you're doing, it's like lo-fi I'm like, what the heck's that? Yeah. Yeah. Like on Jake Hostetler: my YouTube channel. Yeah. That's, those are like study study instrumentals. Okay. And I make those just 'cause like I really, that really helped me when I was in college.

Right. Especially as someone with a DH adhd. Yeah. , Just have something that slows everything down and is kind of a little more repetitive. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: So as I'm trying to make more content on Instagram, can I use your music for reels and stuff like that? Oh, Jake Hostetler: for sure, for sure. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, that's cool. I should go Ally Brettnacher: look and like, prioritize using sounds. I I need to put that stuff Jake Hostetler: on Spotify, but yeah, that's all just on YouTube right now. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. You could just gotta like put a ton of that out there. You, you would not believe it to Jake Hostetler: my, on my computer.

I have, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, you're good. , In my computer I probably have 600 just uncooked songs that are almost there. And in this year I'm like, okay, I need to just crank, I need to crank roll, crank them through all these crank. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. That's so hard. Well, like we were just talking about, it's like, how do you know when it's done? Well, it's like pretty much never done. You just gotta, no, Jake Hostetler: gotta put it out or it's just gonna rot on my computer or I'm gonna lose a hard drive and and God, you know that that'll be, that idea will be gone.

Yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah. Should be out there. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Uh, okay. And then next we already kind of talked about your next finish liner. milestone. Yeah. Because this year fast, half in the fall. Prairie on Fire. What date? What's the date of Prairie on Fire? Jake Hostetler: Uh, put you on the spot. I think it's first week of September. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. Jake Hostetler: So whi which is, which is a lot of, uh, high heat miles. Mm. Which I, I, love, I love running into the heat. You do? Oh, yeah. Because then when it gets cool, like I feel like your heart rate used a little higher stress and then it gets cool.

It's like oxygen overload. Ally Brettnacher: That's, you know, I guess that is somewhat fair. My body just like, it's definitely Jake Hostetler: more suffering. Yeah. Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. But Jake Hostetler: like, I don't know. I like coming back from like a 10 mile run and like 90 degree weather and just being drenched and being like, all right, I did something today. Right. Ally Brettnacher: That does feel really good. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: I have never run a spring marathon. Mm-hmm. For that reason, because I feel like I've trained, I can train really hard in the heat. Yeah. And then do well in the cool environment versus the opposite where you're like always in a cool environment and then all of a sudden your spring race is like 80 degrees.

I mean, I would die. That's it. Jake Hostetler: Well, well, and yeah, then you're, yeah. You're, you're laboring a little bit more right. To, to get the same result. Ally Brettnacher: Yes. 'cause you've been Jake Hostetler: running in cooler weather. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Yeah. Ally Brettnacher: What are some, uh, bucket list lists, like races and stuff that you wanna do? Have you ever done a race outside of Indiana? Jake Hostetler: well, besides in high school? Like in high school? Yeah. Okay. Ram some meets outside. Honestly, for me, it would be great to do destination races. I would love to do one out in California and run through the redwoods.

Mm. That'd be cool. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: , Doing a really difficult trail. Ultra marathon, always been on my list. I, I think right now it's more speed. Yeah. I, I, I know I have a little window here when, where my physical, you know, um. Kind of prime will be with, with speed work. So there's, you know, in the next couple years, it, my kind of goal is I'd love to break one 20 in the half. Okay. which I'm, I'm gonna need to stack a couple years to do that. That's a, you know, that's a tough, yeah. That's a tough standard. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Jake Hostetler: , Be cool to go back and break 17 in the 5K. I was, I was trying to do that. Yeah. , Right after my, , right after my 50 miler, I ran the Zionsville 5K and I think I ran like a 1740. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: And then, then, I, I wanted to keep training, but I was, it got too cold. I was like, oh, I'm done. You're Ally Brettnacher: like, okay. Well, I mean, that's the good thing is that you're young. You got Yeah. All kinds of time. I also feel like, yeah, you got, so you got a lot of time, hopefully, right.

I mean, it's like the masters guys here and women are just incredible too. Oh yeah. so it's just like, oh gosh. Oh, they're crushing Jake Hostetler: it. Oh my gosh. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, yeah. Jake Hostetler: yeah. It's crazy talking to customers who are like. You know, I talk to customers who are obviously quite a bit older than me, but they're, they're so consistent with their training. Yeah. They're so motivated. They know they're gonna get faster, and I'm just like, we, I feel like we just set such limitations on ourself and, and also something I've noticed, these are people who take, take their bodies really seriously.

Yeah. Like, they, um, you know, they do their strength and conditioning. They eat healthy, they do everything to , put their joints and, you know, support their joints. Yeah. You know, and it's like, there, there's no reason to, obviously things happen, but like, you know, I, I want to still be running hard when I'm, you know, my forties and fifties and Yes, me too. And love it. Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, Same. Yeah. But, which Jake Hostetler: I, I know, I know the, the body breaks down a little bit, but, but there's a way to, you know, I, I never wanna make excuses with it. I wanna do what the right thing.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Jake Hostetler: Whi. Which is hard when you get busy. So very hard. Ally Brettnacher: It is so hard. Absolutely. Oh, well I'm so glad that I got to get to know you today, Jake. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, that was super fun. Yeah, Jake Hostetler: First podcast I've been on, so, Ally Brettnacher: which I can't believe. Like, can we talk about this Luke? Like what in the world? Yeah. Come on Jake Hostetler: Luke. Ally Brettnacher: I was, look, I, it's ridiculous. I Googled, I almost texted you to be like, where, why? Where's the podcast episode that Luke had you on? Jake Hostetler: Uhhuh?

Ally Brettnacher: I was, I, Luke, do you hear me? It's okay. It's a, I didn't find, I'm like, it's a competition now. Wait, so I get to be the first, which is the best. I, it's my favorite thing is when people have not ever been on a podcast. cause it's like, it's so, it's such a fun experience and it's also not nearly as terrifying as it seems because Jake Hostetler: Definitely Ally Brettnacher: not. Yeah. Hopefully. Anyway, I guess. No, no. Yes. This is, this is, great. Oh, well thank you. Yeah. And thank you to everybody who has listened and happy running. Jake Hostetler: Absolutely. Ally Brettnacher: Hooray.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Finish Lines and Milestones Podcast from Sandy Boy Productions, please go share, rate and review. It means a lot. It helps other people find this show. And if you don't already, follow me on Instagram. I'm @allytbrett_runs. I will see you next week. Thanks for listening.

Ally Brettnacher