Episode 23: Jay Eiteljorge - Every Damn Day

Episodes

Sep 8

Listener note: This episode includes a brief discussion of veteran suicide and post-traumatic stress.

Jay Eiteljorge has run at least a mile outside every single day for almost 10 years. We talk about how he keeps the streak alive through subzero windchills, plantar fasciitis and everything in between.

Listen on Apple Podcasts · Listen on Spotify

About this episode

Jay Eiteljorge is a Fishers, Indiana runner I first met on Instagram, and when we recorded his run streak was at 3,567 days and closing in on 10 years. His running started with the 1997 Indy Mini, which he has now run 26 times, and he has run every Geist Half Marathon since it began in 2008. It took him 15 years to go from his first half to his first full, at Monumental in 2012.

We talk about how the streak started with a Runner's World holiday challenge and the United States Running Streak Association, his early days on the Fishers Running Club board, and his 2020 that included 2,400 miles and a 105-lap marathon on a track. Jay also shares how he gives back through Mission 22 and Team RWB, why he's running Berlin, and why he quit running with music.

In this episode, we discuss

Being introverts who love people but get drained by them
Growing up in St. Louis and Indiana and getting cut from basketball
Running his first Indy Mini in 1997 without training
Missing only one Indy Mini since 1997, because of a refrigerator leak
Running every Geist Half Marathon since 2008
Waiting 15 years to run his first marathon, Monumental in 2012
Running the Goofy and Dopey challenges at Disney and meeting Sean Astin
Starting his streak in 2013 through a Runner's World holiday challenge and the United States Running Streak Association
Running after midnight in a minus-15 windchill to keep the streak alive
Helping start the Fishers Running Club in 2017 and serving on its board
How following a training plan led to four PRs in five marathons over 13 months
Running 2,400 miles in 2020 and a 105-lap marathon on a track when Go! St. Louis was canceled
Managing plantar fasciitis with StretchLab, chiropractic care and physical therapy
Volunteering as a Mission 22 state leader and carrying flags with Team RWB
Fundraising for Team RWB to run the Berlin Marathon and chasing a Boston qualifier at 50

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
05:00 · 42 races in a year and a 3,567-day streak
06:00 · Growing up between St. Louis and Indiana
10:00 · The 1997 Indy Mini
12:00 · 26 Indy Minis and every Geist Half
16:00 · First marathon at Monumental in 2012
18:00 · Goofy, Dopey and meeting Sean Astin
22:00 · How the run streak started
31:00 · Helping start the Fishers Running Club
37:00 · Training plans and five marathons in 13 months
40:00 · 2,400 miles in 2020 and a 105-lap track marathon
47:00 · Working with a coach through plantar fasciitis
55:00 · Volunteering with Mission 22
1:02:00 · Team RWB, flag running and Berlin
1:11:00 · Fall races and the Boston qualifier goal
1:15:00 · No music, a dog bite and "Why not?"

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, Geist Half Marathon, CNO Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend (Goofy Challenge, Dopey Challenge), Chicago Marathon, Mill Race Marathon, Kentucky Derby Marathon, Go! St. Louis Marathon, Kiss the Bricks Double Dare Ultra, BQ.2 Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Women's Half Marathon, Monumental Mile, Mission 22 Run for Hope 5K
Organizations and charities: United States Running Streak Association, Fishers Running Club, Mission 22, Team RWB, Wounded Warrior Project, Coburn Place, Runner's World
Other: Sean Astin, Strava, StretchLab, Hal Higdon training plans, Duolingo, Eliud Kipchoge, Oktoberfest, "Unstoppable" by Sia

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

How long is Jay Eiteljorge's run streak?

When Jay Eiteljorge joined Finish Lines & Milestones in September 2023, he had run at least one mile outside every day for 3,567 days and was set to reach 10 years that Thanksgiving.

How many times has Jay Eiteljorge run the Indy Mini?

Jay Eiteljorge has run the Indy Mini 26 times since his first in 1997, missing only 2004 because of a water leak at home.

Did Jay Eiteljorge run a marathon on a track?

Yes. When the 2020 Go! St. Louis Marathon was canceled, Jay Eiteljorge ran 105 laps on a track for a 10-minute marathon PR, with friends joining him for laps.

Support this show

Transcript

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

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones with Ally Brettnacher incredible stories and tales of triumphs with everyday people achieving their goals in fitness. This podcast brought to you by Athlete Bouquets. Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting athlete bouquets.com.

Hello and welcome to episode 23. It's almost time to taper for Berlin. If not, you've probably started tapering, if you're listening to this when it comes out on September 8th. The Berlin Marathon is September 24th, so it's coming up. And then just like that, all the other fall marathons are gonna be here, which is just blows my mind because yesterday it was 90 degrees.

So hopefully everybody's training has gone really well. I am kind of jealous this time of year when I'm not training for a full marathon, but hopefully there'll be plenty of other opportunities for me to do that. I have plans to do. You'll hear in this episode, four marathons here local to where I live before the end of the year.

Correction, that is four half marathons. I don't know why I said four marathons and I am hoping to pr, which for me in the half is 1 44 and some change. I actually don't know the seconds off the top of my head, but that was down a mountain and that was before kids. And so I don't know. I'm freaked out a little bit.

I don't know if that's too big of a goal, but I'm having coffee with my running coach next week to talk about plans for the races. 'cause clearly I cannot race all of them. So trying to get a strategy there. But this week's episode's great. This is my friend Jay Ejo, who I originally met on Instagram.

We've now met in person twice. If you count the recording of this interview, and he is. Incredibly humble and so inspiring. You can find him on Instagram at every dayco, JJAY 22. And we talk about a little bit about his background. We talk about and joke about how both of us are introverts, which when I tell people that they're really surprised because yes, I am friendly and can talk to people, but it drains me, which is the definition of an introvert.

They don't get energy from people which extroverts do. So I love people for the most part, but it can be exhausting for me and for Jay. So we both made it through this interview. We talked about how he got started in running, which he attributes to the 1997 Indie Mini. We talk about how many Indie minis he's done.

It's a lot. Same with the Geist half marathon, which is now in September this year, and we'll be next weekend instead of in May. We talk about how he went from the half marathon to the full marathon and then the fact that it took him 15 years to do that, to really want to do that. I should say, we talk about Disney, he's done goofy, and the dopey, we talk about his running streak, which is nuts.

Guys, today, if you listen to it, this episode, the day that it comes out will be his three, 3000th 570th day. He's coming up on 10 years of running every single day, or as I'm naming this episode every damn day. And we talk about the ins and outs of that, like what does it mean to be a streaker? How do you get set up?

There's actually an official organization, the United States Running Streak Association, and what has Jay done to actually get a run in? It's just, it's pretty interesting to me because I've never. So really, really cool. We talk about the Fisher's running club. He was a part of it kind of from the very beginning.

Uh, just re resigned from the board late last year. He talks about how at first he didn't really train very well and now he's gotten into using a running coach and just training better, which I think if any of you listening have done that, made that leap, like I have myself, you really understand the difference in training the right way.

We talk about 2020. He ran 2,400 miles in a year and he did a virtual marathon on a track. So we talk about that because that's nuts. We talk about plantar fascitis, how he's tried to deal with that and thankfully hasn't had to miss a day of running yet. Talk about philanthropy. Him and I actually first kind of got connected through an organization he works with called Mission 22, which helps veterans.

And he is running Berlin for team RWB. So I'm so jealous because he's actually going to Berlin and then October Fest, which will be a marathon in itself if you listen to last episode. That's what I said to our guests, but I'm so jealous. It'll be so much fun. And we also talk about, at the end, we talk about music like we do, and you'll hear why he doesn't listen to music anymore.

It's nuts. Crazy story. So anyway, I really hope that everybody enjoys this conversation with Jay. Okay, I think it's gone. I think we're here. I think we're doing it. Welcome Jay. Thank you, Allie. I'm so happy to be here with you today. I'm, I'm just thrilled and grateful that you've even considered me. Oh, for this.

Are you kidding? I'm reading through some of the stuff you shared with me and I'm just so excited for everybody to hear more about your I appreciate it. Running story. You've run a lot of races. Yeah, there was one year, not too long ago, I ended up doing 42 or 43 races. Geez. Just, you know, when you feel good, you just wanna keep going.

Yeah. Amen to that. And your run streak. What is today for your run streak? I just looked, 'cause I can never remember. That's why I used Strava, so I can put that in there. But it's 3,567. 3,567. That's a lot. That's over 10 years. Correct. Close to 10 years. Close to 10 years. What do you have you calculated which day it's gonna be that you'll hit that 10 year mark?

Yeah. Uh, November 27th. Okay. Like Thanksgiving of this year. Cool. Wow. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to dig into that because I have so many questions about the logistics of running at least one mile every day. But before we do, I wanna give you a chance to introduce yourself and let everybody know kind of where you're from.

And then we will go from there. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think it's pretty basic. Nothing too exciting. I was born in St. Louis, uh, or actually fluorescent, which is I guess a suburb of St. Louis. Moved around a little bit because my dad worked in insurance. So we, we traveled, you know, my sister was born in New Hampshire.

My brother's born in Iowa. He's from Indiana. My mom's from New Hampshire, so obviously moving around a quite a bit. And I only lived in St. Louis till I was about three. And then we moved to Indiana and pretty much I've been here ever since. That was the mid eighties, but I've always felt kind of a connection to St.

Louis. Just, I don't know why, just being that young, I don't know how you can develop that, but I've always liked going back there as much as we can. But yeah, I never ran track or anything. Just my focus was basketball when I was younger. And the only running I did was to condition for that or gym class where we had to.

Yeah. Um, we always had a charity run at the high school and I just remember it 'cause basketball tryouts always started right after that run. So we'd have to go run six miles and then go try out for basketball. I did, I made the freshman team, but it seemed like everybody makes the freshman team. Um, then I just kept getting cut, but I kept trying out 'cause I liked the coach.

I like, I just wanted to play and excuse I had to play. Mm-hmm. And then, yeah, just been working in customer service forever. Uh, mostly retail until the last five or six years. Right now I'm at a MRI and ultrasound company, customer service, just like a mile from my house. Oh, that's really nice. I was gonna ask if you're remote, do you work remote or are you going to office?

Um, two days a week we get to work from home. Okay. That's nice. Obviously we were remote for quite a bit during the pandemic. Yep. And. I just remember our bosses were maybe a little surprised. I think most bosses were not knowing how it's gonna go. But yeah, it went well for us. So it'd be nice to work from home every day, but I don't mind going in Yeah.

Seeing other bodies. I feel like that's actually the perfect balance. Yeah. Is, you know, having that flexibility, but also getting to be around humans. Yeah. But you're an introvert like I am. So it's like being around people. It's, I can take it in smaller doses. Exactly. But it drains me. Exactly. Like, usually after these interviews I'm just like, okay. Oh yeah. I'm sure you'll be the same. Yeah, probably. Yeah. You can appreciate that. But yeah, no, I'm, I appreciate you doing this. I, I, like I said, I, I think I told you earlier, I've been, I've been caught up to your podcast. I just haven't listened to your latest one yet. Excited to hear that one though. But yeah, I think you're doing awesome.

I think it's. Something popped in my head the other day was Ally. The Ally. Oh, that's so nice. I think you're, you're just an ally for runners and running community I think. I think you doing this is awesome and I hope as you continue more and more people get the word on it and listen to it. Well, thank you.

That's so nice. Yeah, and it's really nice to be able to do it in person. Oh, sure. Yeah. You came over here from Fishers. Where did you go to high school? In the area? Did you go to, are you like Fishers Ard High School? Shard? That's right. Okay. I forget if you said that. Yeah. Already or not Ard. Okay. So I've only been in Fishers, I don't know, 10, 12 years, something like that.

Not, not too crazy long, but long enough that I don't plan to leave basically. Yeah. And you have two adult kids that are here, correct? Yeah, they're still in town. They're 21 and 23, which is. Just, I, I can't even describe how crazy that is. Yeah. I mean, even just with a 6-year-old in kindergarten now, I'm like, oh sure.

Oh man, it's gone by so fast. I know. But then I know that in the blink of an eye and I see all these first day back to school pictures, Uhhuh. And I remember our boys going through all that and it just feels like it was yesterday, literally. Oh man. It's, it's crazy. But it's, but it's cool too. Yeah, for sure.

For sure. And so you didn't really run in school with the exception of Jim, which is, I can appreciate that. When did you get the bug? When did you start running? Yeah, I was kind of think, I think the 1997 mini, I think that might've been my first race. And I have a friend who ran cross country in high school and there a couple years he was trying to get me to run the mini with him.

And it just, running 13 miles just did not sound like fun at all. 'cause especially for someone who just didn't run except maybe sporadically a few times a month, if that. So I finally did it. I actually finished better than him, but I didn't train. I didn't really know what I was doing. I just, I just ran it, got through it.

I'm sure it took me two and a half hours or longer, but I think after that I realized, you know, maybe I, maybe I can get better that at this. It was just kind of nice being in that environment. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then, yeah, and then it just kind of continued from there. I think pretty much the mini was the only race.

I was doing a couple other small races, 10 Ks, five Ks, but I always would just go to the race, start in the middle of the pack, finish race, go home. It, it just, I didn't know much about the running Commi community at that time. I just thought it sounded cool to go run some races, get some cool finisher swag and, and go on from there.

And. Isn't that funny to think about now? It is, it is. I, I just, I had zero connection with the running community, even with running these races. I just, I didn't, never knew anybody for years. Yeah. And I, I, I think it's crazy too, just thinking about how social media has changed. Oh, for sure. Everything where it's like, you know, if you can't tell everybody that you ran a race Yeah.

Like, what's the point kind of thing. Yeah. Right. But back, you know, when you start running, there was no ability to do that. Yeah. Unless you actually saw somebody. Right. They wouldn't know. You ran a race that, that day. Yeah. Yeah. And how many times have you done the Indie Mini now? This year was number 26.

26. I missed one year in 2004 when we had a water leak at the house. But I've done 'em all since 97, except for that one one year. Man, that's stupid water leak. I know. Is that that? I know. I keep thinking that too. We're like, could I have just left? What was it, like water pouring down the walls or? No, it was just with the refrigerator.

Just the family didn't, wasn't comfortable with me leaving. Yeah. That morning. So, yeah. Yeah. I just thought it'd be easier to just skip it and I never trained for these things, so it's not like I really missed it at that point. Right. And I didn't really think about any kind of streak or, Hey, I wanna do this every year for the rest of my life, kind of thing.

Yeah. Just, and now you look back and you're like, well, I know. I know. Like had I known that, that would be like the only year I didn't run it. I know, but, but I have guys half and I, this is the 15th year for it and I've done all of those so far. That's really neat. Do they do something special for you? They did at 10.

I don't know if they will, if 15, the City of Fishers took is taking it over for this year. So things are a little different. Okay. Yeah, I knew that it was change. I didn't know that the City of Fishers, I guess I didn't know that they took it over, but I knew obviously it was a different time of year, so yeah.

Yeah. Usually in May, two weeks after the Indie Mini, now's it September. Did they change the course too? I haven't even looked. No. Same course. Okay, good. Because I do like the course. Yeah, actually around the reservoir and all the neighborhoods. And for the, for people who aren't local to Indiana, it's this, this big reservoir we have that's not too far from the burbs.

Maybe 20 minutes for you? For you It's probably, yeah. A lot closer. It's a couple minutes, five minutes. Yeah. Jealous that that's, and that's why I've done it. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And that's why I do it. 'cause it is so close. It's like, how can I not, can you like walk or run from your doorstep? I usually drive, um, yeah, like I said, it's five minute drive.

It's just nice having a vehicle after the race too. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Not having to walk back a couple miles, three miles, whatever it is. Yeah. Well now they've changed it so much too, where it was like you had to, you used to have to take the bus at the end. Yeah, it always started at the marina. But you had to get bus there and then either find, either walk back or get bus back.

Yeah. Everybody would park at the high schools and all the schools that are in eo. But yeah, they changed it. So that now starts on the bridge, basically on audio. And finishes there too. Yes. Right. Yeah. So I'm, I've, I took a hiatus from Running Geist for whatever reason. I don't know. And now I've run it last two years, or just last year was my first time back in a while.

I can't remember. But I remember when they first started it, the, like, how they did the flyover. Do you remember that? When they would do that? Yeah. Yeah. Do they still, they don't do that anymore, do they? They, I think that's usually, I'm trying to remember. I think they usually have, like some of the local pilots fly airplanes.

Yeah. You know, some of the smaller things Uhhuh fly over. I just remember it was something really cool about that. Yeah. Over the, like by the water and Yeah. It's, yeah, it's a great course. It, you know, being a may, it was always more often warm or hot. Mm-hmm. And always humid. Yep. So hopefully it'll be a little nicer.

Good Lord. This whole like back and forth with the fake fall, you're like, okay, yeah. As we record this, it's like 8 million degrees outside and then Yeah, I was, I was running yesterday in St. Louis. Uh, at the Arch National Park and all their trees are losing their leaves already. Yeah. I mean, it looked like fall running through there.

Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. That has to be so hard to just run outside every single day no matter what. No matter if it's 90 degrees, no matter if it's freezing. Like Sub-Zero temps. I remember when we were had, was it last year, the year before we had like super, super cold. What, what year was the first Geist?

Half marathon? 2008. 2008. So in between there you did quite a bit too. After that first mini, what, what made you then end up doing a full marathon? Like how did you graduate from the half that you did? Maybe once a year to doing a full, I don't really know how to answer that. 'cause like you, you know, we said that 97 was my first half.

I didn't run a full until 2012. I think, yeah. Wow. Yeah. I know. It's, again, looking back at what I've done in the last 10 years compared to what I did in the first 15. 15, yeah. I, I don't know why. I think I just finally decided, let's do it now. Let's try it, see what happens. And that was November, 2012. I did Okay.

I, and again, even at that time, I still didn't know about training plans. Mm-hmm. I just kind of had talked to people and I remember somebody said, oh, I think most people do like a 20 mile run three weeks before. So I did that. I did that in about three hours. Like, okay, maybe I can do this in four hours.

But all the other runs outside that I just kind of did what I thought I could do or had to do. I just really didn't know. But I finished it in, I think around 4 45 or a little under, which I thought was okay. It wasn't, yeah, quite what I hoped, but. Probably the best I could expect. Yeah, that's for not really training.

That's about my first marathon was just under five, actually, my first two. I did Chicago two years in a row I think. And it was just, yeah, I didn't train as well or properly. What, what race was it your first marathon? Uh, the monumental. Okay. The monumental. Oh no, say that. Oh, sorry. I don't remember if you did or not.

Okay. Yeah. Monumental. 2012 was my first, and then for some reason I decided to run another one, my second marathon in January. 'cause I had a friend. Who had a friend that worked for Cigna. Okay. Which was a sponsor of the Disney World Marathon Weekend. Yeah. And they had, being a sponsor, I guess they get bibs, so they were looking for people to take up these bibs.

He put it out there and said, sure, I'll take one. We had family living in, living down there, so I just had to buy a plane ticket, which at that time was 200 bucks. Yeah. Round trip. Go down there Friday. Come back Monday. And this was for the Dope Beach or the, sorry, the goofy challenge, which was the half on Saturday and then the full on Sunday.

And that was my second marathon ever. I'm already doing a, a half the day before. Yeah. Yeah. It's, how'd that go? The half went great. I think it was around two hours, but the marathon was a little over five. Yeah. It was just fun being in Disney. Just that was a cool experience. Yeah. I have, as you know, you've probably heard me talk about wanting to do one, 'cause I've never done a Disney race, and so I'm definitely intrigued by the culture of Yeah.

It's different with the marathon, you go through all four parks, that's the only one that goes through all four parks, so you kind of get a little bit behind the scenes. Yeah. Of all those. Yeah. I need to, it's, I'll get in so much trouble if I go and do a marathon before I take my 6-year-old to Disney. Oh yeah.

It's So have to, yeah. Do that first probably. Yeah. Or I've seen some people do that in conjunction with, and I'm like, I don't know how I don't Makes for a long day. Yeah. That would be a long day. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because those racists start at five. I know you've had a couple people on who've Oh yeah.

Done those. But I heard that the sh like the shuttle buses from the hotels all start like around three o'clock in the morning, so best to get on the road by that time. Yeah. So you're not caught up in all that traffic. Yeah. So it's, it's a very early start mm-hmm. To the day. But like I said, you know, it's Disney.

Yeah. Can't go wrong. Yeah. And you've done, you've done the dopey as well? Yeah, I did that in 15, uh, which was the 5K, 10 K half in full consecutive days. And that was my, actually, the second time I had run a race with Sean Aston. Yeah. I had to, I must admit, I had to Google Oh, okay. His name. And then when I saw him I was like, well, yeah, yeah, I know who it is, but I just, I guess I didn't really know his last name, so That's pretty cool.

Yeah, it was cool. 'cause I think the rings, wait, tell the people who don't know who Sean asked is. Yeah. He's Rudy in the movie Rudy. Mm-hmm. The Notre Dame football player. Uh, Lord of the Rings. Mm-hmm. I can't remember his character was name of that. I was like, is he, I don't know. I'm gonna embarra like Yeahm people who are like really into that, like I'm not sure either.

Dunno anything but yeah. But he was in, was it Stranger Things? Oh yeah, he was the dad first season or two. Uhhuh of that. I forgot about that. Yeah, he's been in all kinds of stuff. So he was there and you got to meet him? Yeah, I ran into him. I think it was after the 10 k, I just happened to see him just kind of chatted with him briefly just to kind of see how he had interact.

And he was super cool while I'm talking to him, like, you know, asking him for a selfie and another guy walks by and sees this and the guy was like, Hey, can I get a selfie? But I've never taken a selfie before. So Sean shows him how to Oh, that's funny. Take a selfie and yeah, super, super great interaction.

And I think, was he dressed up? No, just, yeah, he just, can you imagine it be like, was Lord to the room? Like I don't know that that's not related to Disney and all, but it'd be pretty funny. But yeah, everybody else dresses up. Yeah. Did you? No, no, no. I. Yeah. I didn't know that was a thing really. Until, yeah, after.

I forget who it was that said they thought they were, they had to dress up, so they did. Maybe that was Bailey. I can't remember which, which of my friends said that. But she was like, yeah, I, I I thought you were supposed to, oh, you had to do it. Oh yeah. Do you remember hearing? Yeah. Yeah. Which is funny.

That's another thing I can't imagine running in costume. Oh, I can't either. I have a hard enough time just of making sure I don't chafe anywhere. I know exactly. I just, or like I wear the same stuff all the time. I try to keep it as simple as possible. Yes. Super simple. Because I don't want to have to worry about things falling off or No.

Yeah. Yeah. I can't. People are nuts. So have you done Disney since your dopey? Mm-hmm. No. No. And that remind me of year. I was 15. That was 15. Yeah. Okay. 15. So I was there 13 and then 15. Okay. And then the streak began when? 2013. 13. Okay. How did that start? Was it just, oh, you said it was around the holidays?

Yeah. Runner's World every year has this challenge to kind of keep people motivated through the winter, where they kind of challenge people to run at least a mile a day from Thanksgiving Day till New Year's Day, I think. Mm-hmm. Again, just to 'cause the winter's the toughest time, you know, for people to get out there.

And somewhere during that challenge in 2013, I had heard of the United States Running Streak Association. I'd never even heard of that until I saw that that was, yeah. Until you, so I Googled it to see what this was about, and it just said that you have to run at least a mile every day for a year just to get on their registry.

Okay. And it has to be outside, is that right? No, it doesn't. It can be on a treadmill. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. I've just, I just chose to do all of mine outside. Okay. So you're just an extra level because pre streak I'd run outta the treadmill a few times and I just, I just couldn't do it. Yeah.

Especially knowing long runs coming up, there's just no way I could get through. Yeah. A treadmill run. Yeah. So, yeah, I just thought I'd go for that year and see what happens after that. And then it's just been, yeah, and almost 10 years in the meeting and people ask me, well, what's your goal? I was like, my goal was a year.

I mean, that's, that's, I don't, I don't know. Yeah. That was just, it was just a year. It just, I've been fortunate to not have any major injury or illness to prevent me from running. What are some stories you have from, like, how you had to get it done? Like have you run at like 11:00 PM before? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

There's, there's a few times I thought I'd be kind of tricky with it and run at like 11 45, 11 50 to get that. Days mile done. Yeah. And then start the next one right after midnight. Right. Just to get 'em two down. Yeah. And then I can not have to worry about the rest of the day, but did a, did that a few times, had a couple calls, close calls, so I said, I'm not doing that anymore.

Yeah. It's just that was more stressful than having to worry about getting your run in. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, there've been days. There was one day halfway through the streak or so, I was running with my youngest. We were just gonna do a two mile loop around the neighborhood and I had a really sharp, sharp pain in my knee.

I don't know where it came from, but I just told him, I'm just gonna finish this smile and wa I gotta walk back. I was like, go ahead. But then the next day that was gone. No issue's. Weird. So I weird. I've had things like that pop up every once in a while. Yeah. But again, nothing. Nothing too serious. That's pretty cool.

It's, I've been very fortunate for sure. What's the worst weather that you've run in? I mean, I guess you've probably run in all kinds 'cause it's 10 years. Yeah. I think there was one day, two or three years ago, I think the projected low was like 30 below with the windshield. Right. Oh, not too long ago. And I saw that midnight was the warmest part of the day.

It was like 15 below or or something with the windshield and it was just gonna get cold. It was, the day went on. Yeah. So I just ran after midnight to get it done. Just Wow. Just layer up like crazy. Yeah. And get out there and get it done. But yeah, snow, ice. Snow's tough. You might as well be running through sand, right?

Yeah. Just 'cause your, obviously your foot's sinking in and then trying to lift your foot back out, ice is manageable, you know, wear some yak tracks. Okay. I was wondering. But even that, you can, I usually, if I'm, if there's paths, then I'll just run in the grass. Mm-hmm. Because that would kind of give a little bit mm-hmm.

Rather than that hard service surface that has ice on it underneath. So I've, I've been able to find ways to get it done. And so as part of that, I forget the name already of the United States Running Running Streets Association, do they have a directory of people so you can see like who holds the longest streak?

Oh yeah. They've, they have a list of, uh, United States and then they have a international list. Um, when I started, or a few years after I started, uh, Dr. Ron. Had the longest streak. Um, I think he ended it at 52 years. Mm-hmm. And he had, I think he was an Olympic marathoner. Mm-hmm. And just, you know, pretty successful in the sport.

And he had quit 'cause he started having some heart issues late and he was obviously an older gentleman, so it was probably good to not put that stress on the body anyway. Yeah. But I think the current one's in the 40 year range Wow. For the longest to win. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm Are you, are you competitive?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. For me it'd be so hard. I, this is not the same, but I had a Duolingo streak going, do you know what Duolingo is? It's a language app. Oh, okay. So it sounds familiar. So I'm trying to learn Spanish and so I had a streak going for over a year and I was so. Proud of that. I was so excited.

Okay. I made it over a year and then somehow I messed it up and then I'm like, but now I'm a day like 25 of restarting. So I finally kind of was like, okay, I guess, you know, unless I restart, I'll never, yeah, yeah. Do you know, get there again. And so, but it, I felt it was, it was really hard and so, and I've talked to people years into a streak, just forgot to run.

They either took a nap that day or fell asleep early that evening and or just simply forgot, which doesn't seem possible, but on the other side it does seem possible. Yeah. Right, right. You just, yeah. I mean, you probably, you're pro and I've had days like that where I'll run in the morning, it's like halfway through the day.

Did I run that mor this morning? You have to look at your Strava to make sure I know. What was that today? It's, it's crazy. I could see that. I think you just get so used to doing it. Mm-hmm. I could totally see how someone would just forget. Forget. Yeah. I had a friend, Danielle, I don't know if she listens to this, but she had, I think it was at least over five years, maybe six years, and she ended up getting injured.

Oh yeah. That's so, and that just, you know, it's like, well not much you can Yeah, exactly. Do about that. Yeah. And that's, I think that's the point where I'd like to say I'm at where I want, keep going until I just can't, can't, yeah. 'cause at this point it's like, I mean, I guess making it to 10 years and you maybe you decide, but Yeah.

Right. But like, why would you, I, I know that's stop then. 'cause you could have 15 or 20 or, you know, that's, that's a debate that I have fairly often with myself. Yeah. I'm sure. 'cause I, I would be the same way. But yeah. I've also had a couple friends that have been on street long streaks and just got heard step off a curb wrong or, you know, something not even running.

Yeah. That's frustrating. So, yeah. And that's, yeah, that's just, like I said, just. Makes me feel even more fortunate and grateful. Mm-hmm. To have avoided all of that. Yeah. In the last 10 years. Right. I feel like you should like knock on the wood on the door. Yeah. It's like, where are we? Knock on? I don't know.

It's like, not that I necessarily believe in that. Just because you said it. Right. Just 'cause I said it. Then it's like, well, if you didn't do it, man. So, and then, so that has been going forever. That's crazy. I just can't, I can't really wrap my head around that every day. Yeah. And I tell people, I mean, it's, it's crazy to me too.

Yeah. I mean, that's a long freaking time to do anything. Yeah. Every day. Shit. I probably haven't brushed my teeth every single day. I know, right? Yeah. I mean, really. Yeah. You know, like things like that you forget somehow. Yeah. I don't know. Like, especially with kids, it's like, what day is it? Sure. Yeah. Wow.

So do you have a community of fellow streakers that you ever run with or talk to? Not really. Every once in a while I'll run into somebody who's on a streak. Um, but there's like nobody specific that I've sought out. There are, I have looked at the list before. There are a few, at least a couple that are in Fisher specifically, but there's, there's a handful that are in the state of Indiana, connected with a few on Instagram, but most of them aren't in central Indiana, further north or south.

But we'll look, em, look up each other if, obviously when they're run in those areas. Yeah. To try to get the meet open speaker selfie. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Do they have any, they should have races specifically. Specifically. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be kind of cool. It would be, I didn't, about like a badge of honor to be able to participate in a race.

That's just for anybody who's. Year and there may some out there, and I just haven't found it yet. Yet. I don't know. Right. Well now we'll have to Google that after this, or you can start one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then you are part of the Fisher's Running Club here locally. Yes. But you were very beginning, correct?

Yes. Like when it started? Yeah. How did that come about? I just remember seeing a Facebook, it wasn't even really a post, it was just like a logo for Fisher's Running Club, and that's it. At the time, the first time I saw it, and this was in January, I think, maybe December of 2017, when this first started seeing this.

So I thought maybe it's just a hoax scam, something. So I just didn't do anything with it. And then I saw a post later about the first. Meetup, um, in Fisher's on hundred 16th Street, there was a cupcake store called Nerdy Girl Cupcake. Oh, I've never even heard of that. It was just there for a few years. But she was great.

She'd always let us get there and started, runs early a little bit before she, uh, opened up the store. And the first time we had a club run, there was, there was probably 30 people. Wow. Which was pretty promising. But, you know, I'd even before that, I'd have conversations with people, you know, we need a, we need a run club in Fishers.

'cause car. At the time Carmel had one, they were at least a couple years older than us. Yeah. 2017 seems like, I mean, that's not very long. I know it's not six years ago, it's not. It seems like they would've had one. I know at least when the Geist Marathon started. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. But I think it just took some people, and that's partly how it started.

It was geist half think a couple people from the board, from the geist half. That lived in Fishers just said it's time to do this. Mm-hmm. And yeah, and I got on the board later that year. I wasn't on the board initially 'cause I was hesitant. I was like, I don't know what, what you would expect of me. I don't want to mess this up.

I'll let you guys start it. And somebody left for due to time constraints or whatever later in the year. And I just said, sure, I'll just hop on. And, and that was on, that was like I said, later in 2017 and I just resigned from it this past December just because we've got a whole new group of runners in the club and Yeah.

People that wanted to be on the board. And so you're like, okay, yeah, that's fine. Definitely pass it on. Obviously lots of great people to keep us headed in the right direction. How many members now? Pretty sure we're over 200. I don't know exactly how many. It, but I, I'm pretty sure it's over 200. And they, you just pay a fee for the year and then you can go to all the events and runs and stuff or?

Yeah. We have some people that, I think it's 45 a year, which includes, you know, water stops at the club runs, which are Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Uh, and then we have different events throughout the year. We'll have like a holiday party, things like that. Uh, and then, uh, partnerships with race directors mm-hmm.

To give us discounts mm-hmm. To offer to our club members. Um, we do a lot of philanthropy. We just started scholarship program for local high school students. I think Carmel's been doing that for a while, so we, we got some help from them to kind of help get the base for that, figure out what to do for that.

Yeah. So it's, that's cool. Yeah, and we do, like I said, a lot of charity drives for different groups. Like, uh, one of our sponsors will host a charity drive for, uh, Coburn Place. Mm-hmm. So we will obviously encourage runners, our runners to donate to that, and then the dentist would offer some kind of prize, like a free cleaning or something mm-hmm.

As a drawing. So, yeah, it's, it's been really great. That is really cool. I've actually never been part of a running club ever. I don't know why really necessarily. I guess I had an unofficial running club, which just a few friends we'd meet, you know? So then didn't really, I don't know. Not need isn't the right, but I know.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'd love to be a part of Carmel at some point, but just with young kids. Sure. You know, making the time and going for the runs and being like, you know, Hey, hey husband who worked all day at a nine to five corporate job. Can you watch the girls while I go run? Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's like when I can do it whenever, but maybe at some point I would like to be a part of it.

Yeah. I'm sure they'll welcome, welcome you. I mean, you don't necessarily have to sign up, just join 'em for a run or two and Yeah. I mean, that's how most of us are. If you wanna just join us, check us out, you know what I mean? Join for a run, check us out. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, but we have people who have been with the club for the be from the beginning.

Also people who kind of dropped off before the pandemic and kind of taken their time coming back. I mean, it's just, it's just a great community. People from beginners, people who are getting back at it after a life of kids. Mm-hmm. And, and we have coaches. I mean, it's Boston qualifiers, it's the whole range.

And everybody's more than willing to provide advice to help you on your journey. It's, yeah. And that, and I'm the same way. I usually just ran with a couple friends in the neighborhood. Mm-hmm. Until I heard about this, I was like, I should probably check this out. At what point did you actually get into more official training?

Like speaking of kind of the coaches and stuff like that, did you, how many marathons did you run without, without knowing what you were doing to starting to kind of be more diligent? I ran Chicago in 2017 with a friend because she was training for monumental her first full in 2016. So I ran a lot of her long runs.

And she was following a plan. She ended up with a 3 52 for her first full. And that kind of got me thinking. Wow. So a training plan, huh? Yeah. This sounds like a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. So from that point on, I would really just searched online. 'cause again, I didn't know the whole thing about mm-hmm. Coaches.

But yeah, there were some good plans online. Like Hal Higdon, that's what I used that at some point, oh, well I even started signing up for the, uh, the mill race marathon. Mm-hmm. I'd run that a few times and they would put out a training plan. So I would just follow that one, which seemed to fit well for me.

'cause that one ended up being a, a PR race for me. Uh, but yeah, training plans after that point were a part of my training. Mm-hmm. And. From October, I have to see what year that was. I ran like five, five marathons in 13 months. Five marathons in 13 months. Yeah, starting with October in 20 or with, uh, Chicago in 2017.

And then I ran the mill race Chicago in 2017, and then Mill, uh, monumental, sorry, in November of that year. And then the Kentucky Derby in April the following year, and then the mill race that September. And those four races were all prs, even running them that short of time because like I said, you're finally training properly or Yeah.

Yeah. It makes huge difference not to just train, but to have recovery. And even with the streak. I would just run an easy mile or two. Yeah. And I, and honestly I think that helped me to recover, you know, active recovery. I think it just kind of helped. Mm-hmm. Just make, keep everything kinda Yeah. Instead of just going home, stretching or whatever, I, I still feel like I would still just stiffen up and mm-hmm.

Not wanna do anything. That's a good point. So, for the streak, obviously some of your runs are longer than a mile. Yeah. But what percentage are a mile versus kind of your normal runs? Uh, uh, I'd say a, at least two days. At least two days a week. Or the, a mile to two mile. But there was a time, I think it was about almost two years long, near the last, I don't know, eight year, eight or so of the streak.

I did about two years where I was running at least two miles a day. Just Okay. Just, just for the heck of it. Just to see if I could Yeah. Right. Um, yeah. 'cause that was, I think, yeah, I think that was 2020. 'cause that was the year I ended up running 2,400 miles that year. Right. That's nuts. Let's talk about that.

And that's, that's the crazy year. Yeah. That was, yeah, the crazy year for the COVID year. All of us. Yeah. Yeah. 2,400 miles. Yeah. I was at 2000 in October. And that's where that all, and so you ran. Okay, let me see. What is that? There were four of us that ran pretty much all through COVID because everybody, I wish you guys could see this. I'll post a picture of it. That's so cool. It says, what does 2000 miles in one year look like? And we met, oh, was that 300? That's funny. The, yeah, that was she trying to be the shape of the number?

Yeah. How many miles? That was in May of 20, 20, 300 miles. Oh, cool.

Yeah. And this had to be, I mean, okay, there's some masks. I was gonna say in 2020 people were so just hit or like just, yeah. Depending on your level of comfort with Yeah, exactly. Running, like being outside. Even some people were still freaked out by that. Like I remember seeing, did you ever run a race in a mask?

Yeah, there's a 5K didn't actually Oh, so okay. Run with it. But I always had it like this before band or after band or after. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we could pull it up or down at the start of the race or after. So these pictures are from different years, but that's from the finish. 2000 of the Of my track marathon.

Right. That was interesting too. So that was fun. Jay ran an entire marathon on a track. That's nuts. That's enough to make you go. Absolutely insane. Run like you would think six miles on a track recently. 'cause I've been trying to get back at dabbling in the track workout, like on an actual track. Yeah.

Yeah. So talk about that. Yeah. It kind of came up, you know, again, this was during the pandemic and I had heard of people running laps around their driveway or on their apartment balconies, just, oh, you know, 'cause they couldn't go anywhere. They was locked down and this go St. Louis Marathon in 2020 was canceled, I think exactly two weeks before the race.

Yeah. Where I'm thinking, well, I've done all this work, I'm not gonna just not do it. Not do it. Yeah. So, for days, I'm trying to figure out a course through the roads, but, you know, thinking traffic lights and traffic. Yeah. I, I just didn't want to have all those stop and starts. Mm-hmm. I wanted to see what I could actually do.

Mm-hmm. And then I just thought, well, I'll just do it on the track. And I told a, a few friends just. To let 'em know that. 'cause I think they'd asked, well, what are you doing? Said it's canceled. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, well, I'm not putting this training to the, to waste. Yeah. 'cause it was, it was probably the best training cycle I'd had to date.

So, like I said, I just wanted to see what I could do. So yeah, I was, I think I started about six o'clock in the morning and friends would kind of come out and run some laps. I was gonna say, it'd be nice to have some company for some laps. I, I wasn't expecting that. I, I mean, I think one or two said I might come out and run a couple laps, but I think ended up being about six or eight people throughout the course of the morning came out and ran some laps and then they gave me a banana, chocolate milk, even a little metal when I got it done.

That's great. And that was a 10 minute PR for me for the marathon. Wow. But yeah, that was 105 laps. I was gonna ask you, how many is that? Yeah, 105. 105. But it was fun. I mean, you know, it's a softer surface. Yeah. The weather was good. 'cause like you get all the fuel you need right there anytime you need it.

Like, yeah. I, I even brought, yeah, I brought, there's a little bench there. Mm-hmm. I brought food and hydration. Yeah. But honestly, I took a few drinks. I mean, I didn't have to eat anything. I just, I just felt good. Wow. Yeah. It was, that's memorable. That's a memorable marathon for me, for many reasons. Not just doing something off the wall, but Right.

Just how I felt. Wow. Yeah. And that, I mean, I, yeah. That year just was brought out some, obviously just different things for everybody during that time. So a marathon on a track. And then how did you get the rest of the miles? What, what did that look like throughout the year? Yeah. Virtual races started becoming more popular.

Mm-hmm. Even. Live events that weren't normally virtual, were going virtual. But there was a, I think race maker put it on, uh, it was Kiss the Bricks Double Dare Ultra. Okay. Or he just picked the distance and go for it. I think this was in, it might've been May. Also, my goal was to run I think 60 miles in a weekend.

I ended up getting 40 on a Saturday. 'cause I want, I really wanted to try and do four half marathons on a Saturday. Just why? I don't know. Why. Just why not? I guess, yeah, why not? I got the first two done and then I ran with a friend, I think for my third one. 'cause she had just a few miles and I think I got to seven miles when we ended up back at her house.

And I guess I was looking pretty bad. So she's like, lemme go get you some water. It's like, ah, thanks, and I'm just gonna walk home. She's like, you want me to drive you home? I was like, no, I'll just walk. I'll be fine. It'll be good to walk. So I got that seven miles in and then I did another seven later that day.

So I ended up with 40 for that day, and then I just ran three miles on Sunday. I was looking back through my strub, I was like, man, I must have really been feeling bad to only do three on Sunday. Mm-hmm. But then I ended up doing, I broke it up into two, a 10 and a seven on Monday. Wow. To get me 60 for the, the weekend.

Wow. That's a lot. That's a lot of miles. I have a hard time mentally thinking about doing an ultra. I just think like, you know, with how. Although I will say my most recent marathon was the monumental last November, and I felt really good and I think it was all thanks to finally training with a, with the actual coach.

Mm-hmm. And it was the first time I'd ever done that leading up to a marathon. And so at the end I was, yes, I'd given it everything, but I didn't feel as horrible as I imagined. So I'm like, Hmm, maybe then it's not as daunting because my other marathons, I've just thought I was gonna die at the end. And then was, couldn't even fathom going a step further any further.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, that's what people have to say about half marathons or other distances. Oh yeah. For, theyre kind of like, how could I ever run a marathon? Well, it's like, well, that's not how you train. You don't train for a marathon by just doing what you would do for a half. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And that's evidenced by me, you know, first half in 97, and then took me 15 years to finally pull the trigger on a full.

Yeah. Did you, so you started using training plans. Have you, to this day, have you used a coach before? Uh, not until, let's see, what year are you in 23? I think it's been about a year and a half. Or so where I have had a coach now. Okay. Is it somebody local that you work with? He's in Lafayette. Okay. So not too far, but that's nice.

The, I guess the issue I had was that when I signed up with him, I had just been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I, and, and he's been great. You know, he's obviously had plans to help help me get through that as well as train me. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of put him in a tough spot, but, you know, he obviously, we chat, we talk about it, talk it out.

But he's been great. Yeah. I mean, he, and that's what I needed was somebody to kind of reel me in. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 'cause the focus is Boston. I mean, I think that's. The main focus. So who knows winter if I'll qualify for that. But if I'm hoping sooner than later, and then after I do that, then I can go back and do some of this.

Mm-hmm. Crazy stuff. Yeah. How old are you now? I'll be 50 in January. Oh, are you gonna run like 50 miles on your birthday? Not on my birthday because it's in January. Yeah. I don't wanna do 50 miles. Yeah. In the middle of winter. Yeah. But I am looking at doing a 50 miler race. Okay. Sometime that year while you're 50.

Probably later. Later in the year. That's, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Nice. Wow. Back to the plantar fascitis. So I've, I've had issues with that like very, very, very seldom, but I have had some pain like that. What's, how have you managed that? What's been helping? A lot of things. I've been going to stretch lab. I've been going, oh, that's right.

Tell us about what Stretch Lab is. Uh, they have what they call ologists. It's people who are, uh, different backgrounds. They could be yoga instructors, personal trainers, physical therapists. A couple I've had recently, um, I'm drawing a blank kinesiologist. Oh, sure. Yeah. And some of them even have like nutrition or dietician backgrounds as well.

But basically go there, tell them what your issues are and they'll help work 'em out. I mean, it's, I think it's a lot. Think how often you do that? I go twice a month. Okay. Yeah. I hate stretching so much. Like the cliche runner. Yeah. Right. It's like, nope, I don't wanna stretch. I'm not good about it either.

But when I did the mini this year and stayed in Bottleworks, they hooked me up with a, the first stretch at the stretch lab down there. And my first one that I'd done and it was awesome. And I was kinda like, huh. Maybe I could do that. 'cause I, you know, but it's hard to choose stretches, massages. Yeah. Like, you know, it's like, well I can't do all of these things.

Yeah. I know. That's, but I, yeah, like when I first started going, I was going I think four times a month for like six months just because the planner mm-hmm. Had just been mm-hmm. An issue. I've got to the point where I think twice a month's good. But yeah, it's, it's different. You know, it's, it stretches you can't quite do on your own.

Mm-hmm. Because you're getting different angles. Yep. Different pressure applied. Mm-hmm. 'cause you may not be quite as hard on yourself as you should be. Yeah. Absolutely. Could be effective. So true. 'cause I was like, yeah, I'm not very flexible. So it's like, no. Yeah. It's, but I, it's, it's helped me a lot. Yeah.

That's cool. Okay. And so what else? Uh, yeah, I've been to chiropractors, a couple different ones. One chiropractor has physical therapist, so I was doing that for like six months, going in there for different. Physical therapy appointments. Yeah. Massage therapy. I do stretches at home. I've got a little massage ball that I roll.

Yeah. My foot over, you know, one of those, I don't know, what'd you call it? Contraptions. That locks your foot so it keeps it straight. So like when you sleep. Yeah. I had a sock once. Yeah, there's, I dunno. Yeah. Supposed to be, I was like, I don't know if this does anything, but it's supposed to keep it like, keep some tension in there.

Keep it like keep it, keep, yeah. Keep it stretched. Yeah. Yeah. Well that's good. That can be so frustrating of an injury. 'cause there's not like a cure. Yeah. I hear people who had it for a couple months and then it just disappears. That's how mine's been. Like I, and I won't even knock on wood, deal with it for very long, but it'll just like hurt and it's, oh, I had a stress fracture in college and so I always am paranoid that like mm-hmm.

Something like that. That's what it is. But then it'll just dissipate. I don't know. I don't know why. It's weird. And with me, I think it's, at least now, it's more of always feeling tight. Mm-hmm. Um, there is occasionally pain, but the pain is usually on the heel underneath the foot. Mm-hmm. Where Yeah. You can't avoid running there.

Yeah. But for the most part, it's like I said, and it's not been bad enough to keep me from running. Right. So that's good. And I've, and I've talked to people who had, it took a month or two off of running and no change. Right. I know. So it's, it's like, what's the point? I don't wanna Yeah. So it's, yeah.

Exactly. I don't want to give that up if it's not gonna Exactly. Make any worse, then if you can't guarantee me this is gonna fix it. Right. I'm not doing it. Yeah. And if when you're running, it's not like getting worse and worse and worse, it's like, well, just gonna, yeah. That's exactly, it's def it's definitely not getting worse and it's definitely better than when it was at first.

I mean, there were days I'd wake up in the morning, put my foot down. On the ground and it just, so much pain. Yeah. Just hobbling around for a while until I guess the blood gets flowing. Yeah. And then it's warms up. Were there ever those days you're like, Ooh, am I not gonna run today? Yeah. Yeah. That'd be kinda, you're like, Ugh, can I hobble down the street?

Doesn't, that's, is there what qualifies as like the run versus a walk? Like what, you know, do you just kind of have to be moving a c at a certain pace, I guess? Like, no, there's no, there's no pace requirements. Okay. And they, they try to keep it, there is a, an official definition, but it's actually changed over the years because people are like, does it have to be a continuous smile?

Right. Well, no. If you have to stop at a stoplight or if you have to stop and tie your shoe. Right. It's not, yeah, yeah. It's not gonna count against you, but you have to run, I mean, I, I, it's the point. I think it's mostly honor system, right? Yeah. I mean, people who run. There are people who run a 13 minute pace.

Yeah. Right. Like I was thinking, you know, you run, you can run slow enough to Yeah, exactly. But that almost, I feel like would hurt worse in your case too. Yeah. Yes. Get it done. Yes. Because I ran Geist recently and it took me like three hours and just being out there, it was rough. Yeah. But for the most part, it honestly usually feels a little better when I'm running.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's so, it's crazy. I know. It's so crazy. Uh, so I, well you had mentioned this earlier, I wanna make sure we talk about philanthropy a little bit more. Um, and Mission 22. 'cause that's kind of how you and I got more connected, I would say, was when I did the awards, athlete Bouquets did the awards for the, remind me the name of it.

Blank. Mission 22. Run for Hope. Run For Hope. 5K. 5K. Yeah. Yep. So how did you get involved with Mission 22? What do they do? Yeah, I can thank the Run Club for that too. Fisher's Run Club. Um, it was, we have runs during the week and this one fell right around Veteran's Day. So we had, uh, Sarah Sparks, who was a state leader for Mission 22, come and talk to the run club and she hung out to speak a little bit before and then hung out afterwards for any questions.

So she was telling us about it and sounded good. And then afterwards I went to talk to her a little bit more about it and about volunteering and 'cause before that I had, I guess, a connection with, uh, wounded Warrior Project. Mm-hmm. Yeah, but they don't have volunteer opportunities. They're pretty much just fundraising.

Gotcha. So I did fundraise for them at one point and raised like 700 bucks, which I thought was good for my first effort at that. But after talking to Sarah, you know, it's volunteer at different events, either Mission 22 hosted or created events or other events that are benefiting Mission 22. It's like, well, that's what I wanna do, where I can actually go to these places and talk to people about what Mission 22 does.

Yeah. Which is provides programs at no cost to veterans, uh, who are suffering from post traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and Mission 22 has even developed more programs recently to help families and kids, not just the veterans. Oh. And yeah, so this was 2018 that I talked to Sarah. And then, uh, about a year within a year after that, I became a state leader, which means you can be basically trusted to go host events or be at events, you know, or there's money exchange.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just a little more trusting position and lead, and lead, uh, events. So, yeah, and my dad served in the Navy. Uh, he passed away in 2019. Um, but yeah, he was in, uh, the Navy during the Vietnam era and I had plenty of, uh, uncles, friends from high school who served in the military. I didn't serve, so I was looking for ways to kind of support them any way I could. Yeah. Good for you. So with your dad, did you see, you saw a lot of the, the post-traumatic stress, I would imagine, given that, I wonder because he, his, I don't, I don't want this to sound bad, but he drank a lot. I mean, he wasn't, I don't, I don't think he was violent, you know, nothing like that. Yeah. Just, I think, but I think that's maybe what helped, just trying to find ways to cope.

Yeah. Him, because he didn't talk about it too much. Every once in a while he'd, he'd mentioned something about his experience, but he was pretty quiet about it. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's, to me, other, other than that, it seemed like he lived a pretty normal life. Mm-hmm. So I don't think he or at least hit it. Maybe he just hit it.

Well, I don't know. Yeah. And that, and I think that's the biggest thing with Mission 22 is. Letting these veterans know that there is something out there to help 'cause and, and to let their families know because the veteran themselves may be too proud mm-hmm. To reach out for help themselves. Yeah. So if the families know, then they can maybe nudge 'em or just say, Hey, just check this out.

You know, whatever we need to do. Yeah. And so Mission 22 is, is national? Yes. They, since you represent Indiana? Yes. It actually was started in Nashville, Indiana. Oh, okay. Brown County. There's a sculpture there called Sorin. Okay. I don't know if you've ever been down there, but it's a huge leaf sculpture, like leaves blowing in the wind.

That was where veterans, politicians and civilians basically came together to put this memorial. Uh. There, and that's kind of the foundation of Mission 22, is to help get veterans back into society, let them know that they still have value. Mm-hmm. They can still have good jobs, raise families just like everybody else.

But being veterans, I think we owe a little more to them, obviously not just for their sacrifice, but the family sacrifices. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For them being gone or, yeah. Or paying the ultimate price. Mm-hmm. What does the 22 represent? That's generally an average of 22 veterans per day that commits suicide.

Oh, geez. Yeah. And they actually think that number is low because some states report suicides differently. Or don't. Or not at all. Gotcha. So they think it's probably actually a lot higher than that. Mm. Yeah, but everybody, I Mission 22 has not been around too terribly long. I wanna say 2015, sorry if I'm wrong on that, but they've had a hundred percent success rate of everybody that's gone through the programs and completed the programs.

I mean, I know people personally who have gone through it and they'll tell you without hesitation that it's, it's a life changer for them and their families. And so the raising Hope 5K was in October, right? Last year. And this year you're not having it, right? Yeah. I think we had it three of the last four years.

Uh, me being a runner, you know, Sarah had asked me to try to start up a 5K event. Yeah. Which I thought was a great idea. It's just got to the point where we're raising all this money, but it's so expensive. To put on an event like that on Yeah. That just so little was able to be put into the hands of Mission 22.

Yeah. I I, I just kind of came to the realization that we need to do something different. Yeah. I mean, it's just, you know, grateful for everybody that sponsored it and you for giving the awards. Mm-hmm. I mean, everybody loved those, but it's just, yeah. It's, I hate to say it's a waste. It's not a waste, that's not the word I'm Right.

Trying to use, but it energies can be put somewhere else. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Especially, and make a big difference. Yeah. Well, and people are doing the race thinking they're making a difference and in reality it's not as big of a difference as it could be. Yeah. If they were just giving, giving a donation time.

And I, and I've always said that, you know, raising money is a part of it, but we want people there, you know, who are gonna wear the, the event shirts later around town. Right. You know, to help, you know, get more visibility on the mission. And so for. For your next race coming up, you are fundraising for team RWB?

Yes. What and what is that organization? It's another veteran organization. I became a member of that two or three years ago. It's more of a bringing together veterans and civilians via social and physical activity. So every once in a while they'll have meetups at a restaurant on some Wednesday evening, just hang out, chat.

A lot of what I've done is what they call flag runners. Yeah. Some events will give us entries and we'll have six or eight of us carrying the the American flag and that's cool flags of the branches of the military. And then if there's room, I would carry the Mission 22 flag if you could Yeah. Carry 'em all.

But yeah, we'd have the, uh. Team, RWB shirt. So kind of helped spread awareness for that group. And then I have a couple friends who were raising money for a charity bib for Berlin. Mm-hmm. And they're talking to me about it and I was like, man, I can't, I just can't do that. And I think I finally came to the decision that, well, I know people that are going, if I'm ever gonna do it, this is the time.

Right? Yes. Yeah. I understand that. I mean, the fundraising didn't really scare me or bother me, but we had to raise, I think about $2,600. Okay. $2,500. But I got it done in a month. Geez. Which I was pretty thrilled about. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. A lot of, some of the people I even shared at work and where I work, we're in a small office in Fishers.

There's maybe 10, 15 people there, but, but we have. Field service engineers all over the country and mm-hmm. Other employees. So I would get some pretty nice donations from some of these people that I've never actually met in person or maybe very briefly. Yeah. That's so nice. I think just, just the fact that it was a veteran organization, they wanted to contribute to support.

Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah, so I was really grateful for that. And like I said, to get it done that quickly was a nice relief. Yeah. But also, like I said, just great for the organization. Great to have that support. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Back to the flag thing. I remember I told you, I think on Instagram I told you, I saw you at the mini this year, you had the Mission 22 flag.

Yeah. And I couldn't catch you for the life of me. Oh, I was trying so hard. I probably followed you for the last half a mile. I bet. Maybe less than that. It felt like longer, but I could see up in the distance, the flag, and I was like. Is that a mission? And I then I was like, that has to be Jay. Mm-hmm. And you and I hadn't met in person at that point.

Right. But I just couldn't catch you. And then afterwards I didn't see you. And so anyway, but I actually carried an American flag this year. Oh, a small one, so, oh, yeah. Yeah. I saw a picture. Yeah. The guy, there was a guy handing him out and I just, without thinking, grabbed one. And then I thought, oh, well I guess I'm gonna be carrying this the whole time.

Oh yeah. Because I, I didn't really think about it. Not that I really cared. 'cause I saw then along the route where people had kind of. You know, I didn't see anywhere like tossed in the ground, but I did see some like, people stuck in like, oh, nice. Yeah, there's like a fence. They like stuck them in the fence, but I was kind of like, why I can't put this down now.

Yeah. And it's kind of got me thinking through the sacrifice, right. And it's like, well the, the least I can do is carry this tiny ass flag. And, um, and it made the um, is it the golden mile? Yes. That made it that much more special too for me to be holding an American flag in front of all the families whose family had given their lives.

It's just really, really special. So This's really cool that you carry carry flags. Yeah, I've done Have you done that for a, you've done that for a full marathon? I've, I've not done it for a full yet. Okay. 'cause that seems. Yeah, because these are big flags. We're not talking about the little handheld flag I held.

You're talking about Yeah, this one's large. This one's, yeah. I don't even know how big it is. Floor base, nah. Yeah. I don't know. It's at least four feet long, like, but it's has some weight to it too. Yeah. And a PVC pipe. Mm. For a flag post, it's a little lighter, but still it's a few pounds. Especially if you're getting 10, 20 mile an hour winds.

Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. I didn't really think about that aspect of it. Yeah. But yeah, primarily half marathons, a couple five Ks. Yeah. Again, with the marathon, just I have enough of me to worry about. Yeah. That's, it's, I, I don't want to, I don't know. I guess in my head, disrespect the flag if I just show poorly during the race.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, you know, it goes back to the no one cares thing. Right. But it's like, oh, are you gonna walk? Like, oh, you're, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know again, nobody, nobody's gonna, no one really cares. You're out there with the flag. Nobody's gonna say, Hey, what do you, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it just, but still. Yeah. Yeah. And so you got roped into going to Berlin. Are there, are they friends from Fisher's running club? Yeah. Actually traveling with and staying with two other friends that are from the Fisher's Running Club. Okay. We have another member from the club that's going as far as I know, that's it from the club.

Oh, I'm so jealous. But I know Jamica is going. Yeah, Jamica, who was the most recent episode. So funny. Yeah. She should be there. The coach is going, my coach is going. I feel like I'm just, Ugh. I have severe fomo. Have you been to Europe before? No. Oh, cool. Yeah, so we, there's a, another friend of mine that's going, he made a reservation the night before at some battalion restaurant and I had connected with Rachel 'cause I saw her post about Berlin.

So I said, Hey, I don't know if you have any plans, but here we're going here for dinner the night before. Yeah. And so she'll be having dinner with us that Saturday. Oh, that's so great. There's gonna be 12 of us. Oh, how fun. And that's, and the, that's not even everybody I know that's going to Berlin to run.

I mean, it's crazy. It, it seems like, and of course, you know, we're in the running community, so for me I'm like, it feels like everybody's going. I know, right. That's like kind of how it felt after Boston this year. I'm like, am I the only person on earth that didn't run the Boston Marathon? Know? Do you have time goals for Berlin?

Are you going for the experience? Yeah. More for the experience. I just want to get through it. Feeling okay? Mm-hmm. Take lots, lots of pictures. Well, especially not having been to Europe, have you traveled internationally? Outside of a cruise? No. Ooh. Which I don't count that as international travel necessarily.

Yeah. It's, I mean, I've been to Right. Canada and Mexico, but again, not Right. Yeah. Not the same. So outside of North. Yeah, outside of North America. So, yeah. So this will be, it's incredible. A complete experience. I love Europe. I just, especially ever af since the pandemic. I just have this travel itch. It's just like, I wanna go do everything.

But then again, I have small kids, so it doesn't work out so great. But we went to Germany actually in last December for the Christmas markets. So we were there for less than a week. So it was a pretty quick, quick trip. But it's just, it's, I love Germany. It's a wonderful country food, like the pretzels and beer.

Oh yeah. Like what could be better for running? I don't know if, right. Yeah. But, um, are you staying or doing anything outside of the race or are you just kind of there for the race and coming back? Well, we leave Wednesday afternoon, but we don't get there till Thursday morning. Sure. And then Thursdays. The expo.

So hoping to knock that out before it gets too crowded. Mm-hmm. Uh, then Friday we'll do some kind of touristy stuff on our own. Saturday will be a pretty more, pretty much laid back day, just not get too many steps for the race. Mm-hmm. And then Monday morning we'll take a train to Munich. Yep. For, uh, October Fest.

Oh, you're gonna October Fest. Uh, you like beer? I hope I I like it enough. Yeah. Especially after the race. Yeah. We're, yeah, I'm pretty, pretty much low key before the race. Okay. I can't believe you're gonna October Fest. Oh my gosh. I, you told me this now that I'm remembering. Yeah. I went in college and it was just nuts.

Absolutely nuts. And so we were in Munich for, when I went to Germany in December, it was, we went to Munich and we went to the grounds of October Fest. They have a Christmas market on the grounds. Yeah. And it, it was insane. Oh, I'm sure. It was so cool. But when I went in college. There's just nothing like it.

It's like the most cultural experience on the face of the earth. Everybody's from a different country at the, like you sit at these long tables, everybody's from a different country. You have these beers, you can, gosh, you'll be able to like barely hold after running a marathon. That's what I've been hearing.

Oh, cool. And I just here that it's just Berlin itself. I've heard from different people who have either lived there, traveled there, that it's just a nice city. Mm-hmm. Itself, it's flat too, right? Flat or flat. Yeah. I mean, that's Kipchoge's. Oh right. Record, duh. Record. And is he there this year? Yes. Oh, that'll be shooting for number five, which is crazy.

That's really cool. Wow. That'll be fun. Too bad you'll be running and not be able to watch him, but Yeah. Yeah. Right. Maybe you'll hear the mutts from people who somehow find out. Oh, sure. Yeah. It's like, yeah, that's what I, yeah. I hope be done well before me. And is that your, is what? What else are you doing this fall? Berlin. And are you doing the monumental fall? Yeah, I'm signed up for the monumental, I was supposed to, and I'm registered for a BQ two this coming weekend. Oh. But I'm not doing that now. Okay. Okay. My 18 miler and my 20 miler were cut pretty short. Just wasn't feeling good. And then I had that Millennium Meadows half in Michigan.

Oh yeah. This last weekend, or, yeah, last weekend. Yeah. Where I was just to run eight miles at Marathon pace and I couldn't hit those. That would've been the deciding factor. If I could at least get eight miles. Yeah. Right. Then, okay, let's give this a shot. Then I probably could've chanced it. Mm-hmm. But I just, I just couldn't get there and I don't know what's been going on.

So I've been trying to change my diet at some protein, a little more protein. I, I don't feel like I'm hurt or mm-hmm. Just exhausted. I, I, I just don't, I can't explain it. Yeah. Well, good for you for listening to your body. I mean, especially you don't want, you don't wanna hurt yourself and then not be able to run at all.

But yeah, it's also really frustrating for sure. And that's the kind of race where it's eight loops. It's not like you're running through some town. Is that the one in Chicago area? Yeah, Geneva. Yeah. But yeah, by Chicago. It's built for BQs. Yeah. It's not, there's no frills. Right. That's what you're there for.

Yeah. You're not there for cheering crowds and Yeah. Sightseeing, right. Yeah. So, I mean, if it would've been. Something more like that then I maybe would've gone suffered through it. Mm-hmm. But it's better to just not go, 'cause I have GE the next week. Right. Which will be easy because that's the week before Berlin.

Right. So you just get to enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be fun. Hopefully we have good weather for that. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully a little cool being in September. Oh yeah. You are running guys, right? That's right. I'm running. Yeah. Good. Yeah, that's what I saw that the other day. Yep. Good. So I'm excited for that.

Yeah. So I'll see you there. Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing yet. Actually, I need to talk to Rachel, my coach about, 'cause I'm signed up for four half marathons and just this fall. Yeah. Oh wow. And so, and they're all local and I'm just trying to figure out which ones I'm gonna race to race. Yeah. And I'm not, I'm doing the women's half Oh.

In October. Um, in October. And I, that one, Christie d who's been on this podcast Yeah. I don't know if you know her, but she is, does blonde runs Uhhuh. Yep, exactly. So she's pacing the two 10 group and so Oh, okay. I am thinking I'll do that. 'cause that's the week before the monumental half, which I Oh yeah.

Would like to go fast at. So we'll see. We shall see. So yeah. Good man. Yeah. So, well thank you so much for coming on this I Oh no, thank you. I really appreciate you, you absolutely extending the invite. Especially I feel like compared to everybody you've had on here, it's, well, are you kidding me? You're so amazing.

10, almost 10 years. I can't wait to hopefully celebrate that milestone with you. And so I'm gonna ask you the last couple questions. Are you ready for that? Did we miss anything? I think we covered it. I mean, there's a lot to cover. Yeah. So many races. So what is a song or mantra for you in running? Yeah. I don't listen to music when I run.

I used to, but I got to the point where running through my neighborhood. Dogs would come out from backyards at night. I had one that actually got my thumb in its mouth. What? While I was chasing me, it didn't break skin or anything. Fortunately, still s nipped at me. That's terrifying. I know. So after that I just kinda, wow.

So did you not hear, because you had news skin, you didn't hear it until it bit you or, yeah. 'cause I remember hearing a dog bark like in the backyard. Figured it was back there. Right. The next thing I know, there's a dog right next to me running down the road. That's terrifying. Yeah. It didn't have time to defend or think.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's a good reason not so yeah, just, and just to be able to hear traffic, but mm-hmm. I think one song that every time I hear kind of gets me going is un, I think it's unstoppable by s Yeah. That is like my, one of my favorite songs. I mean, no matter what I'm doing, it's like, yeah, let's go.

Yeah. I love, I love it too. Um, but mantra, you know, there's all kinds of good ones out there. I, I think for me, with my recent history, I think just Why not? Yeah. I mean especially during COVID, we didn't have races that we were training for. So if you exerted yourself a little more on some runs, you know who cares?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Why not run? Yeah. I think I just took that thousands of miles. Yeah. And ran with it. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Why not? Why'd you do that? Well, why not do it? Yeah, why not? Exactly. I good. Yeah, there's, yeah. Nobody else is running races 'cause there aren't any. Yeah. Yeah. And then we've already talked about your next finish line or milestone.

And so it seems like the big milestone of it for you is a bq. Yeah. Were you able to defer the BQ two or cost 60 bucks to defer. Wow. And again, that's not a race that I. Want to do under any other circumstance. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I think they have one in spring and fall and they would, the 60 bucks would've let you defer to the spring.

Mm-hmm. But if I found a race that I wanna do or that I'm ready for in spring, I'd rather go do Yeah. Actually something that's a little more scenic. Yeah, yeah. Agree. Because this like, you know, like I said, this, you know, good for them to put this race on. Mm-hmm. Give people the opportunity to just focus on running.

Yeah. And get their bq. But yeah. So well you're getting with, with the 50, that's the next age bracket I would imagine. Is that correct? Yes. Yeah. So that's good. Yeah. So I need a sub 3 25 hooey. Yeah. Yeah, that's fast. And like I said, my track PR was 3 38 and some change. Yeah. Wow. So, so yeah, I got some work to do.

I got some work to do on the half too, so, so yeah, I'll get through Berlin, Lynn, and then, uh, monumental, hopefully some kind of progress. Mm-hmm. Maybe not pr but hopefully get close, close to that and look for something in the spring, probably. Nice. Well, thank you Jay. Oh no, thank you. So it's been much, it's really nice to get to know you better.

I appreciate it. I really appreciate your time. Yeah. Yeah. We met at the monumental mile this year. Yeah, we did finally meet this year. That was nice. I love that event. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah. Yeah. So much fun. So Well, and thank you to everyone else listening. Hope everybody has a good weekend for everybody gearing up to go run fall races.

Good luck with the rest of your training. It's almost, when does taper start for Berlin? It's almost taper time. Probably. Yeah, probably now. Geezes. It's crazy. So good luck with that for everybody. 14 days. 14 days I think Shees. Yeah, that's always one of the hardest times is to not. Do anything and then hope you're ready for the marathon.

Yeah. So hopefully everybody can make it through that. I've always embraced the taper. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of a nice reward almost. Yes. Yeah. Leading up to the race, so, oh, perfect. Well, well, no, thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Absolute, my pleasure. Happy running everybody. Yep.

Happy running.

Ally Brettnacher