Episode 9: Larry Coblentz - Punk Rock Music, Tattoos and Colored Hair

Episodes

Jun 2

Listener note: This episode includes discussion of alcohol addiction, depression and recovery.

Larry Coblentz went from craft beer to running shoes, found his people in Running Punks, and is coming up on three years sober. Live fast, run slow.

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About this episode

Larry Coblentz and I met at Fleet Feet in Indianapolis, where he managed the Broad Ripple and Carmel stores before becoming the marketing director. He grew up in Richmond, Indiana, hated running as a baseball kid, and got hooked on the sport through the shoes. Today he rotates through about 35 pairs.

We talk about how he left a decade in craft beer distribution, how an online community called Running Punks led him to running and to sobriety, and why he is coming up on three years sober. We also get into his colored hair, his tattoos, non-alcoholic drinks, and his goal of a sub-two-hour half marathon.

In this episode, we discuss

How Larry and I met at Fleet Feet and why I thought he didn't like me
Getting into running through shoes, starting with a rainbow Nike Free
Storing and rotating about 35 pairs of running shoes and donating old pairs
Running shoe jargon: uppers, midsoles, colorways and the runner's knot
Leaving craft beer distribution to manage a Jackrabbit store that became Fleet Feet
His new role as marketing director and the Make It a Mile program for new runners
Why nobody cares about your pace and comparing yourself on Strava
Advice for beginners: get properly fitted and buy last year's model on sale
Finding Running Punks on Instagram and its founders Jimmy Watkins and Rod Morgan
Running Punks virtual run clubs and the first Midwest meetup
Blue, green, purple, pink and orange hair inspired by the movie SLC Punk
His six tattoos, his Nashville artist and getting tattooed at conventions
His last day drinking and quitting on his own
Tracking more than 1,000 sober days and favorite non-alcoholic drinks
His mantra "live fast, run slow" and his sub-two-hour half marathon goal

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
01:00 · How we met at Fleet Feet
03:00 · Falling for running shoes
06:00 · A 35-pair shoe rotation
09:00 · From craft beer to running store manager
14:00 · Marketing director and Make It a Mile
17:00 · If you run, you're a runner
21:00 · Advice for new runners
26:00 · Discovering Running Punks
29:00 · Running Punks meetups and community
33:00 · Colored hair and SLC Punk
37:00 · Tattoos and tattoo conventions
45:00 · Getting sober
51:00 · Non-alcoholic beer and drinks
59:00 · Mantra: live fast, run slow
1:02:00 · Next milestone

Where to find Larry

Instagram: @larry21cob

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations and charities: Fleet Feet, Jackrabbit, Running Punks, Carmel Running Club, QX
Other: SLC Punk, Good Dye Young, Paramore, I Am Sober app, Athletic Brewing, Heineken 0.0, Ghia, Tailwind, Eliud Kipchoge, Colin McCourt, Jimmy Watkins

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

What is Running Punks?

Running Punks is a global online running community founded in the UK by Jimmy Watkins and Rod Morgan for people who love running and music; Larry Coblentz says all it takes to be a member is to post a run and tag the group.

How did Larry Coblentz get into running?

Larry Coblentz got into running through running shoes, dabbled starting in 2017 and committed in 2019, and later became a Fleet Feet store manager and marketing director in Indianapolis.

What is Larry Coblentz's running mantra?

Larry Coblentz's mantra is "live fast, run slow," which comes from the Running Punks community and fits his love of punk rock, tattoos, colored hair and easy running.

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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.

Thank you to my friend Rachel for that wonderful introduction. She is on the radio up in Grand Rapids. I am your host, ally Brettnacher, and welcome to episode nine of Finish Lines and Milestones. Speaking of radio, my guest this week used to be on the radio himself, which is probably why he was so good at this, although we didn't actually talk about his time in radio.

Larry Koblin and I talk about as the title of this podcast, may suggest punk rock music. Tattoos, colored hair among other things. Um, one of the most impressive being that Larry is almost three years sober. So we talk about how he got into running, run and run specialty, which is how we met and a bunch of other stuff.

So enjoy this conversation with Larry. Hello and welcome to episode nine of Finish Lines and Milestones. I am here with Larry. Larry, how do you say your last name? Koblin. Koblin? Yeah. It's German. Oh, mine too. Brettnacher. Yours a little more aggressive. Lee German than mine. It's true, but so aggressive.

But that's the German language for you. Uh, yes. So Larry is wearing his Fleet Feet shirt, I'm sure in honor of how we met. Yes indeed. And uh, you know, I will be honest, I didn't think you liked me the first time we met. I didn't. That's not a shock to me. Just No, I Well, you were really stressed the first time I met you.

I was, we were a little short staffed and things were going a hundred miles an hour, but, um, we got that sorted out and I think now we're friends. No, now I really like you. Just so clear. No, same. And I'm here. I'm in the top 10. Top 10. Top 10. Yeah, you are. So, uh, that's, you know, that's an accomplishment Absolutely.

For the 10 people that listen. Well, we can, we'll do what we can to make this a great episode. Okay. To get more people to listen. Perfect. We will. So, so Larry and I met at Fleet Fee and for those of you who do not know who are in the running world and live under a rock, fleet fee is the largest run specialty store in the world or in the United States in the world.

Um, yeah. We have a very strong presence. Um. I want to say upwards of like 250 stores between company owned stores and franchise stores. So yeah, it's, it's a wonderfully large, beautiful community of like-minded individuals. Yes. And I worked there for part-time for a year. Loved it. Uh, although I recently left mainly just to have more time in the summer and do this and whatever else.

But who knows? I never say never. I may be back at some point, but, um, I learned so much from Larry. Larry knows so much about running shoes that you'll, we can talk about that later 'cause we don't wanna, yeah. Um, that might be a whole episode in and of itself. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it could be. Um, that is actually what got me into running, were the shoes really not running at all.

Hated it. Still kind of not loving it. Um, that first mile is always like, oh, what am I doing? Um, but the shoes, man, that was, that was where it was at for me. The shoes. Okay. So back, back it up. Are you from Indy? Are you from, not originally, so Richmond, Indiana. Yeah. Yeah. Um, went to high school in Richmond most of my life there, and then moved to Indy in 2010.

Okay. Um, my now wife, girlfriend at the time was going to IUPY for education. Mm-hmm. Um, so moved over here. Nice. Yeah. And what, so. Did you grow up running at all? You hated running? Did you play sports when you were a kid? Any of that? Um, yeah, so I did play sports. I played soccer for like two seasons, but baseball was the sport of choice for me.

Okay. Um, and running in baseball is a punishment. So anytime you had to run more than, say from first to second or you know, first to third, it was brutal. It was awful. Um, because it was just a punishment. Go run foul polls. Um, awful. Yeah. That's how I felt about soccer a little bit growing up, is that I hated the, like, I mean, soccer, you run a lot.

Yeah. But I hated the like, running part of soccer where you had to like, get into conditioned shape to play soccer. I just wanted to play. Yeah. And I'll be honest, I'm surprised that like some famous premier league soccer player or something hasn't gone out and done a marathon. And done really, really well.

Right. Because I think there's translation there. Um, just the, the aerobic endurance part of it has to be through the roof for those guys. Yeah, for sure. 'cause you run like, I don't know how many miles during a soccer game anyway. Um, okay, so the running shoes, what intrigued you about running shoes? You know, and like a lot of people, you know, Nike was kind of my first foray into running shoes.

And at the time they were just like on the precipice of coming out with like the, the original 4%. Um, so they were doing really good things with different textile uppers. So fly knit was becoming more and more popular and in use. Um, so they were just making really cool looking shoes. And I think one of the, one of the first pairs that I had that was one of my favorites, was like a brightly color.

It's kind of rainbowy looking, fly knit. Um, Nike free. Okay. Um, so not the greatest running shoe, but like, I loved it until I was out for a run and a piece of mulch went through the bottom of the shoe into my foot. Um, so I retired those pretty shortly after. Oh. But that was like the first that makes me so, um, you know, I just, the shoes for me and still is, you know, I've got a pretty decent collection at this point.

Oh boy. What is pretty decent, uh, right now, like upwards of 35 pairs of shoes that I run in. But, um, they're a mixture of kind of, you know, alpha flies, vapor flies. Mm-hmm. You know, super shoes as it were. Alpha flies. Yeah. And the clouds. Yep. Um, so wait, 35 right now that you rot are rotating running through.

Yep. So how many do you have? Do you have a closet? How do you organize those? Um, so right now they're organized. I bought some little storage boxes. They're clear, they look like little lockers for your shoes. So I have those kind of stacked up. Okay. Um, neatly on display in a spare bedroom. So like one pair per box?

Yep. Oh yeah. I'd like to see a picture of that. Yeah. Well I have one. Okay, I'll, let's, I wanna see that. Okay, so 35 pairs you run in and then others are on display. And then do you donate old pairs too? Yep. So I have them just in a tub right now and my intent is, is to work with, um, some local high schools for, you know, kids that may be in need but not.

In a spot to spend 140. Right. 150, $160 on a pair of running shoes. Yeah. But let's get them something good and I would rather they go to somebody in need or somebody that's going to use them. I give a lot away. I, I've given some to staff members. Mm-hmm. Because I don't run, you know, I don't do three to 500 miles.

I get to about a hundred miles in a pair of shoes, and usually I'm like, Hmm, I'm bored. Let's get something new. Get a new color colorway. Yeah. There's a lot of jargon that I've learned now through working at a running store, like you've already mentioned, upper, which is like basically the upper part of the shoe.

Right. Makes sense. Um, colorway is what they call the color. So it's not a color of a shoe, it's the colorway. Yep. And then what other, other, then give us some more buzzwords. I mean, you got the midsole Midsole, um, you've got the outsole. I mean Yeah, you've got the eyelets. Which is the little holes where the laces go through.

Yeah, I learned that. Well, another one that blows people mind is heel lock lacing or the runner's knob. Oh, right. That is a, that is an interesting trick. If you've never tried it. If you have any heel slippage, just Google Runner's knob. Yeah. And there's plenty of videos out there on YouTube that can walk you through it as well.

And then from Whitney, that was on, oh yeah, on the podcast earlier. I learned several different leasing techniques from her as far as relieving pressure on the top of the foot and and that sort of thing. So I use that 'cause I have a really high in step, which means, I don't know, your foot takes up a lot of the shoe.

Yeah. The fat foot, a high foot. I dunno. No, my feet are relatively normal except for my toes. Uh, I mean, if you're a runner, you probably have toe issues. Let's be real. Yeah, I know. I have finger toes. My middle toe's the longest toe. Same. That's weird. Really? Same. Yep. Well, finger. Finger toe. Friends. Yay. Jesus.

So the shoes, how long have you been in the fleet feet, like the world of running specialty? So I started in September of 21. Okay. Um, I previously had spent a decade in craft beard distribution. Um, oh, that's right. In operations management. I left that, uh, and took a job with another warehousing company, but it was garage doors.

Um, so nothing like really, it, it was very mindless. It was, it was, you know, a little stressful, but fairly mindless. Um. They had gotten shut down, just kind of, we'll, we'll blame COVID. Um, but it really, you know, was kind of past the brunt of the whole, what was really happening with COVID. It was more supply chain, um, driven.

Okay. And I had been walking around the house for a while just saying, I wish I had my own running store. I wish I could own a running store and saw the opportunity. And at the time it was jackrabbit. Um, and I saw a job posting and I was like, you know, if I were the manager of a running store, I could essentially have my own running store, but not the financial Right.

Burden of burden. Right. The stresses that come with that. So, um, I applied and, you know, interviewed and got hired as the manager of the Broad Ripple location. And shortly after we got bought out by Fleet Feet and here we are now. And so I managed the Broad Ripple store for just almost a full year, and then I moved to the Carmel location.

Um, and now here since March I've been the marketing director. Yeah. Um, before we talk about that, 'cause I actually wanna hear more about what that what you're doing now. Yeah. 'cause I don't know. Um, but when we first met, we joked at the beginning, like, you're like, I didn't think you liked me. And I was like, I didn't 'cause you were so stressed out.

Mm-hmm. The life of a running store manager just for anybody who shops at Run Specialty, which you should and not online because you have to really go in and truly get fit for a shoe that is meant for you, not just a brand that other people are wearing. Um, but there was like, not all the college kids had just gone back to school.

There's like only a handful of employees in the store. It's really hard to find reliable people in retail. Certainly. And yeah, you were working. Like nonstop, like no days off. Yeah. Seven days a week for like the first three or four weeks that I was there. And, you know, very grateful. There were some employees that really stepped up and, and were willing to help.

Mm-hmm. Um, once you got to know me a little bit better, um, you know, you definitely were a big part of that. Like, Hey, you know, if you need help, let me know. Um, but yeah, it was tough at first. I mean, you're coming into a situation where it's a, it's a high volume store and all of a sudden you don't have staff.

But like, it's still August, it's the busiest month in run specialty really truly is, is August. And, you know, it was crazy for that first month that I was there, but Great. Like a good kind of crazy, it's just, it's easy to let your guard down, um, when you're in the back room and mm-hmm. You know, let that stress out because you don't get to do that when you're out on the sales floor.

Yeah. Well I just thought you hated me. I remember Whitney. And I'd be like, is Larry mad at me? Did I do something to make Larry mad? And then we just realized we're just making this up as you know. I think that's a women tendency too. It's like if somebody like says something weird, you're like, oh, they hate me and now they're mad at me and I haven't talked to you in an hour or so.

Clearly it's gotta be me. Yeah. And that, you know, we won't delve into the societal norms. Yeah. We won't that play out for women. Um, I sometimes I'm not the best at letting people know that, hey, it is not you. This is me. I'm dealing with my own things. Mm-hmm. Um. That's kind of a man thing. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll gloss over that.

Yeah. We're gonna get outta that. You're not, you're not wrong. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, trying to racal practice a little bit more mindfulness, I think I've gotten a little bit better in the year that is almost, you know, comes since then, but yeah. It's always an ongoing battle. It's true. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, so now you are the marketing director. Yeah. And this is a new role that was kind of created. It was, um, so it exists in the Fleet Feet world. Okay. Um, it just did not exist for us, for all intents and purposes. While Jackrabbit and Fleet Feet existed in the same space, they operated very differently.

Um, fleet Feet is more like, Hey, let's do a little bit of grassroots. Let's get somebody out there. Let's make a face to events and partnerships. Mm-hmm. And so that's now essentially what I am. So, um. Looking to bring people in, um, in the store, you know, getting out in the com community a little bit more. Um, you know, we're doing more demo runs, we're being involved in more races in the community.

We're looking for ways to kind of benefit those in need or kind of that there is a, I think to some degree, like a lot of sports, um, if you don't do it, it feels like there's a, not a clear way, a clear direction to begin doing it. Um, and I relate this to like, if you start playing golf, um, the first time you go into a golf store is overwhelming, you know, with you and I being runners and it's kind of.

Not that way. Right? When, when you go into a running store, you kind of know what you, what you need. I think people that work in run specialty make the worst run specialty customers because we already know what we want, we know what we need. Yeah. Um, but there's a process to it and it's, it can be intimidating.

So finding ways that we can kind of ease that for people. Right. Um, one of the things that we will be doing here very soon is make it a mile. So, um, I like that. Whether you want to be able to walk a mile, run a mile or a combination thereof, that's, that's what we want to do. So we wanna bring people in that, that are truly new to the sport and have them fall in love with it.

Um. You know, I think that there is an underserved segment of the, the community that wants to be involved more, be more active. Mm-hmm. So how do we reach them? Right. So we make it a little more inclusive. Yeah. Um, and I don't feel like I, I think it's, I think it's really easy to carry the latest and the greatest and the best and go after that established runner.

Right? Like those, those folks. Again, they also know what they want. Mm-hmm. What they need, how much they're willing to spend the benefits of a super shoe or, you know, a multi shoe rotation or, um, socks and souls, that sort of thing. But let's educate those that don't and give them an opportunity to experience the, the love and the joy that comes from being outside and running.

Whether, whether you're running a 14 minute mile or a five minute mile, right? Mm-hmm. It doesn't matter. You're still out there. And, and we need to let people know that it's okay. It doesn't matter. Like you, your speed. Nobody, nobody cares. Nobody cares. You think that people care because you see people on Strava or on Instagram posting their runs and their paces, but nobody, nobody cares.

Yeah. It's the best. Nobody cares. It's freeing. Really. It is. If you run, you're a runner. Right, exactly. And for a long time, I struggled with it. If I was out on a run. You know, oh, they saw me walking. I'm, I am. Oh no. They think I'm in bummed that I can't do anything. Yeah. I'm not a real runner now, but then, then you realize it's like you don't, they don't know.

I could just be finishing 30 miles. I know. Yeah. They don't know. They don't care. And they, yeah, they couldn't care less. I have never had one negative thought about I, anybody I've seen out walking, walking or running, it's always, man, I wish I could be doing that right now. Right. Yeah. It's just so funny how you get like that.

Totally. Mm-hmm. And so it's all relative too, because people will be like, oh, I'm not very fast. Well. Okay. Like it's, but it's all relative. Yeah. Age. I mean, it's just so crazy how people, and for running too, you, you think everybody can run at, at some point. Everybody is run around, whether it be a little kid or not, but there's still some natural talent that goes into course.

So even trying to judge somebody that, you know, on paper, a height, weight, fitness level, everything looks the same. Yeah. One person could be ridiculously faster than the other and it's just down to natural talent. Yeah. Um, you know, I was out with some guys running a couple weeks ago, uh, as part of kind of work related activities.

We did a track day and I'm running with, um, kind of local legend, John Mascar. Oh yeah. The qx. Shout out to qx. Um, you know, one of the guys that works for QX is like a three time Olympic trials. Guy. And so he goes fast. Yeah. Just a little bit. Mm-hmm. Um, so I set a PR in the 400 and I should be ecstatic about that, but I look at that time and I think, well, that's what Steven did in, he ran like four laps and that seems, well his 800 time is faster than my 400 time.

Like that's crazy. Yeah. That's, it's nuts. That's ridiculous. Speed. Yeah. Um, but at the end of the day, they were so excited when I told them that I had a pr they, you know, it was Yeah. They didn't care. And that's what makes the running community great, so Great. That's what Fleet Feet at the end of the day, like that's what we want.

We wanna celebrate everybody Yeah. Uh, in their running accomplishments and it doesn't matter. Right. And I love the tagline that fleet fee has too running changes everything. Yeah. It, because it really does. I think people, and I actually, I know at least my neighbor told me she listens to this. She doesn't run, she's just like.

I don't know why, Sarah. I don't know why you listen, but, but I appreciate it. And I just love the idea that I hope somebody listening is like, I'm not really a runner. And it's like, no, you are. And you should just, you gotta start somewhere. How the hell are you otherwise gonna ever get anywhere? Yeah, exactly.

And you're right. You have to start somewhere. And it doesn't matter if it's, you know. I'm gonna run for as long as I can, and maybe that's 30 seconds. Mm-hmm. And then you have to walk. Yeah. You, you will get better with anything. It just, it takes practice and running is not easy, regardless of what it looks like on tv, um, or people posting on Instagram.

It is not easy. It is, it is not just physically hard. It is mentally hard. Yeah. Um, my run last night was one of the hardest, easy runs I've had in a long time. And you know, if I really think about it, I had eaten a big dinner. It was 800 degrees. It was very hot. Um, yeah. There are so many factors that go into it.

Yeah. And there's no point in being discouraged mm-hmm. Because of it. Like you still went out Yeah. Still lived four miles better than no miles. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Um, so in this topic, what, what advice would you give a beginner runner or maybe somebody who's run before, but they don't really know anything about, like, what they need?

Like what would you say to that person? Yeah, I think, you know, at the end of the day you, this maybe goes against kind of the ethos, but you don't need to spend a ton of money on shoes. I think getting properly fitted mm-hmm. Is the most important thing. Don't be afraid to, you know, depending on your budget, like maybe shopping from the sale area is.

Is good for you. Those shoes were good last year. Just because they're a year old doesn't make them not good shoes. Yeah. Yeah. It just means that they've been updated to some degree. Yeah. Um, but getting fit properly for shoes. Mm-hmm. Most people wear the incorrect shoe size. I did for a very long time. Um, and I tell people that come into the store this, um, I wore like a nine, nine and a half.

I am an 11. That's a big difference. Wow. Yeah. But I think to some degree we think our gloves fit tightly. Our socks fit tightly. Our shoes should fit tightly. That's loosen up. Yeah. Right. And they don't, modern materials don't have that break-in period anymore. Um, we're using a lot of, um, woven or kind of.

Um, manufactured, um, mesh or even 3D printed with, with string and things like that. So there's not a lot of give and stretch, and that's on purpose because you don't want a shoe loosening up as you run. You want it to stay tightly tied and snug around your foot, but you still need room to wiggle your toes, um, and, and be able to have your foot splay out.

That's, that's how your body cushions itself, your arch being able to flex and your foot spreading out. Um, so if you're not doing those things, um, that's gonna lead to pain, lead to injury that can be avoided. Mm-hmm. So getting properly fit, I think is, is number one and number two, just until you feel comfortable with being able to run, whether that be for a set amount of time or a set distance, kind of stay away from.

Poking around and peeking at what other people are doing. It can be very discouraging. Mm-hmm. Um, I got this way, you know, there was somebody that I was friends with that was new to running and you know, they're going out and all of a sudden they're, they're faster than me. Like, they just started running, I've been running for how long, but then all you start to look at, and he is like, well, they, they are like 12 years younger than me, and they also do more things that would be considered cross training, right?

Yeah. Um, which I do zero of. Um, so, you know, it's, you can really, really bum yourself out and get discouraged and not want to go out and do things when you, when you put that much pressure on yourself. Yeah. So do it for yourself. And you know, I think a lot of people will say, well, getting into running to lose weight is the wrong reason.

It's not as long as you're doing it healthy. That, that's the other thing that came from this for me was, yeah, I like the shoes. Um, but. I also found that I lost weight and it's like, man, I kind of like that aspect of it too. Yeah. Yeah. I, I run, I mean, I run for a lot of different reasons, but one of the reasons I run is that I don't have to care as much about what I eat.

Yeah. Like, I'm not a slob by any means, but I, you know, I eat fairly healthy, but I don't wanna have to like, worry about that, be like, oh, should I have this pizza? You know? Yeah. And who cares anyway? You can have the pizza even if you're not Yeah. But I just wanna be healthy and so I think that helps me feel more well-rounded as a result.

Yeah. I think for me it's not, it's more about like just maintaining, which I have been doing, like having two kids and being able to just maintain is a pretty big win. Yeah. Huge win. Yeah. Um, and for you finding time to continue to run with two kids. Mm-hmm. You know, that's a lot of people and we, we see customers that, well, I'm just getting back into running.

Yeah. You know, I had two kids and then you really start chatting with 'em and they haven't run in like. 10, 11 years. Right. Um, so for you to still have two young kids mm-hmm. And out running, that's, that's great. But I think that's the, the power of running right. Um, yeah. You can still do it. You can still find time.

Yep. So you have been a runner for how long then, would you say? Uh, I would say really since probably 2017. 2017. Kind of dabbling in, it didn't really kind of jump in until 2019. In reality, I started dabbling with sobriety and came across, uh, kind of an online group called Running Punks, um, based in the uk um, founded by.

Two guys that were kind of like-minded in, in their love of music. Um, one was, uh, a professional runner for Great Britain, Jimmy Watkins. Oh, at one point I think he was like the fastest Welshman in the 800. Um, and, um, rod Morgan, um, they met kind of during a marathon. They were, they had been friends previously, kind of re-met up during a marathon.

Um, but got together and kind of formed this, the, you know, idea of the running punks. And at the end of the day, it was like they just wanted some cool stuff to wear, but now it's grown into this global, like-minded community of people that want inclusion, um, love running, love music, and, um. You know, I have friends kind of all over the place now because of it.

And you know, I talk with a lot of people just on Instagram, gotten to know them through this running community of running punks. And is that where you first found it was Instagram or is it Yep. Do they have Facebook like presence? So really it was like Instagram. Okay. Um, I saw it from another guy that I followed, Colin McCourt, who, uh, some people may be familiar with his story.

He was a, also a runner for Great Britain. Um, but after leaving, running, got, you know, gained a bunch of weight, then his buddies bet him, you know, like a really crappy tattoo or something that he couldn't get in shape to run a sub 15 minute. Um. 5K. Um, so he kind of got back into shape. So his story was kind of really cool.

But, um, I saw on his Instagram he had a running punks mug and I was like, what's the running punks? 'cause I like punk music and I like running. What is this all about? So kind of just finding them that way. Yeah. A little more organically. They, it's not like they, they promote their, their clothing and things like that.

It's available to purchase and it's more for the, the members we'll call it like Right. Really to be a member, all you gotta do is post a run and tag running punks. Yeah. Um. You don't have to buy anything. You don't have to spend any money. You just, you wanna be a running punk? Be a running punk. The biggest thing is, is you've gotta be respectful of others.

Um, you know, there is a big movement to, um, you know, not harassing women, especially out on your run. Um, you know, so there's a lot of things like that that, that I think are a important to be a good human. Yes. Um, but more so like, that's, that's just what the running punks are like. Let's enjoy some really cool music and go for runs.

That's cool. Did they do any events as running punks? So again, it started out all virtually. Yeah. Um, so meetups were kind of not a thing, I think, because again, they really took off during COVID. So we did, uh, virtual run clubs on Sundays. So really you go run by yourself and post your run, and then they compiled the pictures and Oh, that's cool.

Would we post them? Yeah. Um, but now, yeah, we're starting to have more meetups. They're, they're, we did one the first, uh, Midwest punk meetup back in January. Oh. Oh, cool. Um, so we had, we had some people, a couple punks come down from like Northern Indiana, the Chicago area. There's a couple local running punks.

Um, you know, so. Kind of organized by one of the members that was originally from Indiana, but now lives in Tokyo. So, oh. She was in town and put this together, and we, we went out and we just had a good time and, and went for a run. Um, so it was really cool. And now there's, there's a chapter in New York City, um, of running punks.

So I know some of the, uh, English folks that come over and visit New York City have run with them. So it's really, really cool. Like, it's Oh, that's really cool. It's just really cools. Yeah. I'm a big fan of community. Yeah. Like, I mean, clearly that's, that's what I'm trying to find. Mm-hmm. You know, it's just having like-minded people who can support you and, you know, I, I find so much value in that, so that's really cool.

Yeah. Well, and for a long time I ran by myself. Mm-hmm. Because the, I didn't feel like I was worthy enough to run with a group. You know, just crazy to hear you say that. Well, um, it just, you know, I not feeling fast enough or good enough. Mm-hmm. But the more I run with other people, especially, so our, we do run club Monday nights Yeah.

At the, the Carmel store. And, you know, running with a lot of those folks, we get a lot of, uh, Carmel Running Club members out and, you know, running with them, they also just don't care. Um, and there are plenty of people that they'll go for a walk because Monday's their rest day. Yeah. Okay. And there are people that are like, have a certain workout in mind and they'll go run.

And it's still about the community in, in uplifting one another. Mm-hmm. And it's like, wow, you, you can run with other people and then, then you realize that. Yeah. Fast people, for the most part, they don't care. They can run slow too. Yeah. Um, you know, I read somewhere that Kipchoge starts all of his runs at like a 10 minute pace.

Oh my gosh. That would just look weird to watch the run. Yeah. So, and there was, there was another story, like there was a group of people down to run with, uh, the team in Kenya. Mm-hmm. And, um, there was one lady that was rehabbing an injury and needed to run like a 10 minute Yeah. Pace. And they were taking volunteers and Kipchoge's the one that volunteered to run a 10 minute pace with them.

That's, that's so cool. You know? Yeah. His world record pace was like, what, 4 38 a mile. So for him, yeah. He's like the greatest marathoner in the world for anybody who doesn't know that name, um, to slow down that much. Like, uh, it's still about running, it's still about community and we, yeah, I think it's easy because running is a very solitary thing that mm-hmm.

You know, there are people that, that care. Not about what you're doing and more about just being a part of what you're doing. Yeah. Yes. That's such a well said, well said. I wanna get back to the sobriety piece, but first, because we're on the topic of running punks and we talk about punk music, I think it's a good time to point out the fact that you currently have blue hair.

I do. And many tattoos. So can you tell us a little bit about the hair color changing thing and tattoos? I loved, I'm so fascinated by people's tattoos. Yeah. So let's start with the hair color. Um, I, back in high school, I, I dabbled in some different colors. Um, the main reason is I, I fell in love with the movie SLC Punk, with Matthew Lillard?

No, um, just kind of. Um, a cool little slice of eighties punk life in like Salt Lake City. Okay. Um, but he had blue hair and I was like, that's so cool. So I did blue hair and like green hair in high school, um, and then just kind of got out of it. Mm-hmm. Um, for a number of reasons. It's not necessarily even to this day, like socially acceptable, at least for men, I would say to have colored hair.

Um, I think think it, like people see women with colored hair and it's like, oh, that's cool. Your hair's really neat. Um, but you just don't see a lot of guys. Yeah. And I think that a lot of that's the toxic masculinity. Right. Um, and then I worked in a warehouse, like it was kind of a. A manly man's kind of, you know, again, that toxic masculinity.

Yeah. So I never felt like I could could. Yeah. Um, but now being in run specialty and kind of, you know, oh, well she is part of Fleet Feet and she does all of our training stuff and she's got colored hair. Like I could do colored hair, like I really want to. So I just did it and it's crazy. Um, had a couple friends that, that also were, that I had hired at Fleet Feet, they were getting married and I texted, texted, um, both of them was like, Hey Cam, and um, are you going to be mad if I show up at your wedding with blue hair?

And both of them were like, no, do it. Please do it. So yeah, so I did it and now I've just been doing it ever since and we've been blue and green and purple. Yeah. I was trying to think of the first color I saw that you had. So blue was the first. The first, okay. And then. And then I think purple was after that.

And then we did pink. Um, so I've done a lot of different colors. Yeah. And that was just, was you Orange? Orange recently? Yeah. Orange. Yeah. Uh, that was back in like January. Um, do you have to do a specific order depending on the colors, because they're like darker or lighter? No. So I do have darker natural hair, so I do have to bleach it.

Oh yeah. Each time. Um, so my hair is kind of like a brown, like a brownish, reddish color. Okay. Um, so I do bleach it and then color it. Do you do it yourself? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Um, Haley Williams. Where do you buy this stuff? Well, so Haley Williams from Paramore has a brand called Good Die Young.

That's amazing. Um, but, and it's now available at many, many places. But, um, you know, again, being a punk rock music fan and also being a fan of Paramore since their, before their first album came out. Yeah. Um. You know, I was like, ah, that's the hair dye for me. Mm-hmm. Um, so that's, that's what I use. Okay. And it's, it's cruelty free vegan.

Re it's very nourishing. Like I've never felt like bleaching can sounds Yeah. Be terrible for your hair. And I remembered when I did it in high school, like just a lot of hair breaking and just brittle. I don't feel that way with this. So it's really easy to do for yourself, you know, just apply the bleach, leave it on.

Is it like, is there special bleach or is it like just straight up bleach? No, it, so it's a mixture. It's, it's like a powder and then like a, I don't know what it's called, but like a goopy liquid that kind of gets it ready. Yeah. And then you, you just apply it to your hair and you can put a shower cap on.

I just use saran wrap and you just let it sit for half hour, 40 minutes and then rinse it out, let your hair dry, and then that's go for the color. That's cool. Well, you, you need to make like a how to video. The next time you change your color, it'd be cool. I'm interested. Yeah, I would watch that. Alright, well maybe we'll do it for you then.

Yeah. Thank you. Um, my neighbor actually the one who mentioned that she listens, her daughter Quinn, just dyed her hair this like beautiful fuchsia color. Okay. It's amazing. Yeah. I wonder what she used. I don't know. But yeah, I highly recommend it. Life's more fun with colored hair. Colored hair. Yeah. And then the tattoos.

Yeah. So what's your newest, is that one your newest in your thigh? Yeah, so my thigh, um, is, is the newest, I got that in OC August of last year. Okay. I think. Um, so yeah, it started with, um, my first one was the Gemini Constellation. I got it shortly after my grandmother passed because that was her, um, astrological sign.

She was a Gemini, so I got that. Um, definitely was of the mindset like. It's gotta mean something. Mm-hmm. It's gotta be important to you, but then you get that first one, it's like, hmm, I liked that. That was a, that was fun. Um, so you kind of get into it. Yeah. Um, so, and then got some mountains on my other arm and got a paper airplane and then we got some flowers and a pin up and yeah.

So, um, I found an artist in Nashville. Um. Tennessee that, uh, really like English cousins is her name. Um, so cool name for a really cool individual who does really good art and is a really good artist. But, um, my last two tattoos have gotten at different conventions, which is Oh, a wild way to get tattooed at a tattoo convention.

Yep. So what, so think of in the Running World, you go to the expo for Oh boy, a marathon. Yeah. It's booths set up with different tattoo artists. Tattoo artists, and you just get tattooed in a booth with people walking around and stopping to watch your artist work. It's, I think it's a really cool way to get tattoo.

That's actually, that's really neat. Um, when you go into a shop, it's very quiet and maybe they have music playing. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's definitely an intimate feeling. Um, which is cool. Yeah. Um. But I, I like getting tattooed at conventions. She's been, she was in Chicago, um, a few years ago, and then this past year she was in the Fort Wayne.

Okay. Uh, tattoo convention. And what's really cool, the, the shop that she works at in Nashville, um, safe House tattoo, the owner, Ian is also a big runner, so while she's tattooing my leg, I sat and we talked about running together. Oh, that would be a great distraction. Yeah. So we just, I would love that for like an hour.

We talked about running. Um, yeah. So it was really, really cool. That is cool. How many tattoos do you have total? Um, what, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6 at the moment. I've got six. Okay. I've another one scheduled for, um, September. Okay. Is that gonna be in Nashville or at a convention? Nope. So I'm going to a different artist, actually his shop's in, um, Louisville.

Cool. Um. Do you just find him on Instagram or, yeah, and, and I've got a friend, she's gotten a couple tattoos from him and kind of turned me onto his artwork. Um, he does a lot of like single needle stuff. More the good kind of fine line tattoos. Yeah. Not the, the real trendy kind. I think. Um, yeah. He's just a much higher quality artist than all, you know, and not to, I don't wanna talk bad about anybody, but Fine line tattoo has become very much kind of what all Instagram people want to get because they look really cool, but they don't always keep the best.

Yeah. Um, he does his really, really well, more traditionally single needle. Um. So he's got some really cool like western themed stuff, stuff that I really, really like. He does like dead cowboys and stuff like that, and it's just really cool kind of vibe to what he does. And he's also a really good human being.

And um, so I'm, I'm really excited to go down and see him. Nice. I don't even remember the names of the people that did my tattoos because mine took like three minutes. Yeah, yeah. 'cause I got this one Yeah. On my foot that says Ally and Ty or asshole. That's always my joke. Like it might say Ally might say asshole.

Yeah. And then I have, you never know. You never know. Except when Zach actually made me put my foot on the table at a Thai restaurant and she was like, ally, well that's, that's how you spell my name. Perfect. And now I have some temporary tattoo remnants. I saw those on my arm. A bunch of strawberries. And what was a soccer ball?

I was trying to scrub them off yesterday. 'cause. I just obviously didn't try very hard. And then I have Zach and Sydney's name on my forearm, which I remember when you showed me that. And I thought that that was the coolest, because that is in their handwriting. Yep. Yeah. And that's really cool to me.

Thanks. Um, you know, so I always really liked that one. Yeah. So we'll see. And I told Zach obviously can't leave me now because I have his name, or I'll have to find another Zach. Another Zach. Right. Another Zach. And then makes, and then Sloane's gotta learn how to write her name. And I'll probably get something for Doug when he gets my dog, who is nine.

Probably get something for him at some point. Yeah. But I love Whitney's, um, who is again on this podcast. Mm-hmm. Her tattoos, um, the Cardinal and like the Pine. And that one has done really, really well. Yeah. It's beautiful. Great artwork there. Yeah. So I'm intrigued by some of, I, those are much bigger, obviously than like the little black tattoos that I have.

So, but it's something that I, I've. Thought about. Yeah. So who shall see? I think the best advice I can give somebody that is looking to get a tattoo is, sure. Maybe you have something in mind that you want. I think the best thing to do is find an artist that does the type of thing. Mm-hmm. You want, because you're going to have a better experience and a better tattoo.

Yeah. That's good advice. I just stumbled upon English. She had just not too long before had moved to Nashville, so she didn't have a lot of clients and my first tattoo from her was a paper airplane that took no time at all. Mm-hmm. Um, and, you know, I have since told her, I was like, I feel really bad. Like, my first tattoo from you was so, like, I don't wanna say anybody could do it, but like yeah.

It just, it didn't take very long at all. Yeah. Um, but. Find an artist that you like their artwork. Mm-hmm. And let them do their artwork. Um, you know, just have it fit kind of your vibe, what you like. Yeah. What you like. But let them do their artwork. I'm a huge fan of like, doing the artist's flash tattoo as well, because that's stuff that they wanna do and they're gonna put more time into it and they're gonna do a better job for you.

Hmm. Um, you know, the, the one I got on my leg and, and she was like, yeah, I don't normally let people come to conventions without an idea in mind, but I've tattooed you enough that I know what you like. Yeah. And so I just showed up, but we not had talked nothing about. It's so crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. It was like, you know what, I'll do that.

That looks really cool. And she's like, yeah, the colors are amazing too. Yeah. Uh, very bright. Lots of oranges and reds and greens. Um, so, you know. Yeah. Just find an artist, fall in love with their artwork and then let them do that. Um, I think that, that, you know, you don't need a reason to get a tattoo other than wanting to care around artwork.

Yeah. That's good. Now, uh, I'm gonna try to make this a segue into sobriety, which you mentioned earlier. Yeah. Did you ever get any tattoos while you were drunk? No. Uh, that's good. In fact, good artists should never tattoo you. If you've been drinking, you've been drinking. Um, I bet they won't. They're like, no.

It, it still happens. Yeah. But they should not, um, because you'll bleed more and it's just not, it won't be a good experience. Yeah. Um, for anyone. But no, that was not one of the dumb things I did. Well, drinking, thankfully. Um, but yeah, so again, along with the running punks, uh, I, I remember, and I don't know how I remember because I drank a lot, but the last day I drank, I went out and did a five mile run.

And I think it was the first time I had felt comfortable posting on Instagram in my Running Punks shirt. I didn't really use Instagram much back then, um, but it was the first time I felt comfortable posting to Instagram. So I went out five Mile Run, posted about running bunks, and then I spent the rest of the day drinking, um, lots and lots of beer.

Um, woke up the next day with the worst hangover I've ever had. Um, and I was like, I'm, I'm done. Like I had, I had dabbled in it before I had tried to quit and always like, oh, just, it's okay. I'll just have a beer with dinner. But that always just led to more and more. Yeah. And then, you know, depression, anxiety, those things kind of make you feel like you wanna drink, but drinking also makes, makes it worse.

Those things worse. Yeah. So weird. Um, so it's a double-edged sword. It, it's a lose lose battle and nothing against the people that can go out and have a beer mm-hmm. Or half a beer with dinner. Like, that's great. I I can't do that. Yeah. It turns into 12 beers on a Tuesday night, um, very, very quickly for me.

Um, but Jimmy, um, who's one of the founders of Running Punks, as I said he had recently, um, I wanna say he's like six or eight months ahead of me in his sobriety. Um, he had recently quit drinking. And so it's like, you know what if. If he can do it, you know, I can do it. And um, so yeah, I'm coming up on three years in July of being sober.

So amazing. Um, which is, which is crazy because, you know, I worked in craft beer and Right. So your life, like you have a company meeting, there's beer in the corner, like help yourself or Yeah. Going on a work trip, it's to a brewery, so you're gonna drink. Um, so it becomes very normal. It becomes like a part of your life.

Yeah. But that carries over into, to other areas and then you just, it's, it's not a good thing. Um, for me. Yeah. Again, those that can control it, like good on you. Yeah. Um, it's just not, not. Um, in my realm. Um, which again, kind of, you know, I, I would say I've replaced the one addiction with something different that being, you know, now I buy too many running shoes.

Um, you know, but I, I think just having that addictive personality and, and dealing with mental health drinking is not where it's at for me. So, yeah. Um, getting sober is one of the best things that, that I could have done for myself. And frankly, you know, drinking a lot leads to eating a lot. I was, before I really started running it was like 230 pounds.

Mm-hmm. So, you know, I fluctuate now a little bit, but I've not been more than 200 pounds in quite some time. And again, not to make weight the whole end all be all. There's plenty of. People lighter and heavier that are running just as much or, or more and faster and all of that. Or, you know, playing sports.

Like that's not the end all, be all for everybody. But for me it was, you know, feeling good about myself. Mm-hmm. Um, plays a lot into it. And just having your wits, you know, again, you do less dumb things when you're not drinking. Yeah. Yeah. How did you stop? I just quit. I, I, you know, some people need to do aa right.

And that's great if that, if that's what they need to help them. Like, I encourage that. But, um, typically if I'm really set in doing something, I'm very, very stubborn in that regard. I, I will just quit. So I just quit and I was like, I'm just not doing this anymore. And when did you get, 'cause you showed me like the number, you keep track of the number of days.

Mm-hmm. And so what is that? Is that an app did you like? Yeah, it's uh, and I think it's an app that is used a lot in Alcoholics Anonymous. Yeah. Um, the app is called I Am Sober. Okay. Um, and it, it's to help you in your journey. Um, I think there's a social element to it potentially. I've not really played around with it.

I was just more curious like days, how long has it been? I'd like to see that number. Um, I think it's really cool. You know, so I had a buddy that sent me a screenshot of like his sobriety. Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh, what app is that? So I downloaded that. Yeah. Just to use, I think I was, you know, three months in at that point or so when I got the app.

But now I just keep it because it's a nice little reminder. Yeah. And I don't get a lot of like, oh, I really want to drink. It's, it's kind of normal to me at this point. Yeah. I don't crave it. There, there are occasions where it'd be like, man, a nice cold beer would be good right now. Yeah. But it's not, it's not the same.

Like, oh, I had a long day. I really need to drink. Yeah. Um, it's just sometimes it's nice to pop that open and it's a nice little reminder like, Hey, you've come a really long way. Over a thousand days. Yeah. Um, well over probably now. Yeah. It's about a math. Um, I knew the number 'cause I looked at it last night, but I don't remember.

It's like 1,046 I think is the, is the number. So yeah, that's like now at this point, it's like, I don't wanna. You're not gonna reset that, ruin that. Yeah, exactly. No way. That's crazy to me. Yeah. Do you, um, do you ever drink non-alcoholic beer? I do. Um, not super often. Uh, the latest one that I've, I've actually really, really like, I saw, I think on an Instagram ad, a Rick's Near Beer.

Oh. Um, I haven't heard of that brand. It's relatively new. What I, what really was kind of the, the push for me to go ahead and buy it is you can buy it fairly inexpensively by the six pack. You don't have to buy a full case. Okay. Yeah. Um, which a lot of places you can buy by the six pack, but they're, it's fairly expensive.

Yeah. Usually non-alcoholic beer sits again, things, you know, when you work in the industry, right. They'll sit there forever and they're hops, uh, you know, that are used, that's used in all beer making tend to kind of fall out what we call in the, in the beer industry. So they taste. Not so great. Great. Yeah.

Um, so, uh, that's something I've retained from the beer industry mm-hmm. Is a little bit of that snobbishness when it comes to the, to the taste. So if you can buy from them directly, you get a little bit better, um, quality at the time just because it's a little fresher. But, um, athletic brewing makes some really, really good non-alcoholic stuff and they do a lot more, um, styles than I think other people.

Um, it's just hard to find fresh around here. It's still not super popular. It's non-alcoholic cocktails and beer and all that mm-hmm. Is much more popular overseas. There are full bars, quote unquote Yeah. Dedicated to non alcoholics. Um, so you still have that experience of like, Hey, I wanna, I wanna have a fund drink, I don't wanna just drink water.

Right. Um, right now in the United States, like it is hard to, and I get it, it's a brewery. I'm not gonna name the brewery, but. I asked if they had any non-alcoholic Yeah. And kind of somewhat condescendingly. Oh gosh. The waiter was like, well, we have Pepsi. And it's like, bro, seriously, right now? It's not even Coke.

It's fucking Pepsi. No. Um, like, bro, I said, do you have non-alcoholic beer? And you're giving me this answer. A no. Would've sufficed. Yeah. First of all, like, I'm sorry. No, we don't, sir. Um, it's hard to, to get a non-alcoholic Heineken's done really well with their, their zero proof. Yeah. I like it. Tastes like Heineken.

Yeah, Heineken. It really does. So, you know, I, I think it's a little more available. Budweiser isn't even has one, but, you know, I don't drink it often, but the Ricks near beer, that's good. Tastes really good. Yeah. Sam Adams has an IPA that's pretty decent actually now. Okay. It's newer. I've, I've not tried that one.

So I have started to dabble. Not with completely cutting out drinking, but like my husband and I, especially during COVID, it just was like a habit, like every mm-hmm. Every day was fucking hard. We had a little girl and we're trying to work and it was just, we just felt like, oh, we need to have an outlet.

Right? And yeah, so we just like, oh, we drink wine every night, or we have, and it's just like, okay, this, we gotta stop this. This is not healthy. Like this is not, and so I really don't drink at all during the week anymore. For the most part. Summer now makes it tougher because we're seeing people like doing more things during the week outside.

And of course it's nice, but, um, there's actually a new. Um, location for a local non-alcoholic al like liquor store called Laurens, L-O-R-E-N-S. Yeah, I've heard of that. And I'm not, again, because I'm, I'm just not drinking a ton of it. I know. But for people who Yeah. Are also sober curious as they say, like it's a good place to go.

Like see a bunch of different brands. I mean, there's just so much more than I thought there ever was, and there because of the, the focus on it. Like the, the product is getting better because of it. Yeah. Thank goodness time. Because wine is still gross. Wine is global. Yeah. You know, it's hard to translate.

Especially I'm like a wine snub, like you said, beer, wine. Like if you like a really good, you know, cabernet or mm-hmm. You know, you know, some fancy Italian, like an Amarone or something, like you cannot replicate that because of the process that it goes through. Yeah, yeah. Um, but you know, things have definitely gotten better in.

Non alcoholics. Um, there are, now you and I have talked, um, non-alcoholic cocktails out there and mixers and AEs. Oh yeah. We talked about Gia. Yeah. Gia. It's so expensive, but it is so good. Really expensive. But it is so good to just, it's 'cause it's got that little bit of Yeah. Bitterness to it that, that kind of, you have in a lot of cocktails and I think it mixes really well with a wide variety of things.

Yeah. Um, so feels a little fancy. I should mix it to make it last longer, but I just love the taste of it so much. Yeah. Yeah. I limit myself to one because I'm like, yeah, it's like $5 for like a little time can Yeah. And they're small cans. Yeah. It's tough. Um, and then if you like the full size, like bottle of appit mixer, like it's.

It's like $60 or something. Yeah. It's, it's expensive. But, you know, being realistic, like what's the real market for this? Like, if they're going to make a profit as a company, they have to charge a little bit more because they don't have the, the, the demand scale. Yeah. Make the supply, yeah. Um, basic economics.

Yeah. Makes sense. Um, yeah, it's really, really good. Makes, and you can drink at any time now. 'cause it's like, which I don't, I try to like make it mm-hmm. It's a cocktail, like a special, I try to make it like a special thing. Right. To kind of replace that habit of, well, and you know, for me, that's how I treat like, you know, a Coke or a Pepsi or something of that nature.

Like, I used to like many kids in the eighties. Right. You grow up drinking soda. Yeah. That's what you do. Yeah. It was because of, of the marketing and things like, um, Coke, Pepsi, what have yous where. Mm-hmm. That's what you drink. Um, now I hardly drink any, but it's more on like special occasions, right? Or, you know, maybe there's a new limited edition flavor and I'm curious about it.

So we'll get one and mm-hmm. It'll take three or four days to drink that 20 ounce. It's just, you know, I am at a point where I just prefer water. Yeah. Yeah. Look at my, I got my giant half gallon. I'm behind on my. Time right now I have a, like a, it's a half gallon glass water bottle that has the, has the time on it.

So I try to, try to be better, but, um, I also say, I don't know if you follow Tracy Hunter, Indiana Runner girl. Yeah. But she always has a big fountain coke after her long runs. Yeah. And I've not ever done that, but I, I do like a Fountain Coke u usually it would be when I was hung, when I hungover, which thankfully not have had.

She's, she's a big fan of Fountain Cokes and Donatos pizza as we call. Yeah. Um, which again, high mileage runner. I, I think those things are great, honestly, because they do contain things that you need to put back in your body. And if you look at some of this runner's nutrition, man, I'm a big fan of Tailwind, but.

Just to do a tailwind. If you weren't running, you would have to be crazy. Yeah. 'cause it's like 50 grams of sugar. Sugar. Yeah. And then you do the recovery and it's like pretty densely caloric. Yeah. And again, loads of sugar. But when you're an endurance athlete, right. It's, you need that, need that stuff.

Stuff. Yeah. That's a whole nother topic. If you're interested in fuel. Just hit Larry up on Instagram. Yeah. What's your Instagram handle? Uh, Larry two one COB. Okay. Um, I've had the same Instagram handle since I got the app, like short, like I was an early adopter like three months after Instagram launched.

I had it. And it was a really cool place to post pictures with a fun filter. Yeah. I love, I Yeah, I remember. And now, now it's a little, now it's different. It's, it is just slightly. To be successful, you have to. Post at least one video a week, a reel, and it's like, ah, I just wanna take a picture. Yeah. I just wanna hear and post it.

Yeah. And maybe write three words about it. Yeah. Um, but th those days are long gone. If you, you're not, if you're not in the, the long caption game with your 30 hashtags, you're doing it wrong. Oh, it's hard. Alright. Um, two questions to wrap it up. Yeah. One is like mantra or song, and then I have a mantra that whether or not you know, it, you've given me Okay.

That I use. So what is your, what is your favorite mantra or song? I was talking about the hardest question. Um, let's do mantra because it plays very well into running punks, which is live, fast, run, slow. Okay. I like that. Um, you know, your definition of living fast can be whatever you make it to be. For me, it's some punk rock music, tattoos and colored hair, and I just absolutely love running slow, especially right now, I have no desire to run really fast.

So, yeah. That's good. I like that. The one you gave me that you say a lot is it's not that deep. Okay. Which I feel like translates pretty well with. Like no one cares. Yeah. Like, I just really love that you're like, it's not that deep, like it's just not that big a deal. Yeah. It's really, you're overthinking.

Like I think it's the perfect mantra for the overthinker, which I am, you know, I'm always in my head, it's like it's not that deep. Just relax. Like, yeah. And at the end of the day, it's really not that deep and it's not, it's everything we do right now, it's really not that deep. We've, the only reason we have jobs is 'cause we need money.

And the only reason we need money is because we're. Don't get me started on late stage capitalism, but oh boy. Um, you know, but at the end of the day, your job, yeah, it may stress you out, but it's just a job. Right. And a lot of people get stuck in thinking like, guess what? There are other jobs out there.

And I say that knowing full well that I spent, you know, a very long time at a job that was just draining and stressful. Mm-hmm. And didn't make me a good version of myself thinking that, well, I have to work. And, and it's that fear of trying to go out. But then when you realize it's really not that deep, it's just a job.

There are other jobs out there, you know? Yeah. They may not be the job that I wanna do forever, but at the end of the day, if you really need something, there's plenty. Yeah. There's plenty out there. Yeah. You just have to let things go a little bit and Yeah. And maybe it's just a transitional period, but yeah, I just, I tend to not let things.

I try, I say, right, well, you're human. Um, I try not to let things bother me that much because it's really just not that deep. Yeah. It's not. That's such a, it's a really good one. I like a, a lot. Thank you very much. And then, um, next finish line or milestone, which now we know July three years sober. Yep.

That's a huge milestone. Yes. Um, I think for me, I still would love to have a sub two hour, half marathon. Um, it's definitely more mental for me than anything. And I know that I just, I get to a point in running where I feel tired, so why, like, I'm doing this for myself. I'm not gonna win money or Right. You know, glory or anything.

You know, I, why am I going to push myself this hard? But I would still like to have a sub two hour half, you know. It's not, I, I could probably do it. It's just gonna hurt a little bit. Yeah. Right. And that's the thing that's like, I just, I'm not there right now. I'm not in that mindset again. Right. I wanna run slow.

I wanna enjoy it. There was a rainbow last night on my run. It was a rainbow last night. I saw it. I was actually waiting to find the rainbow because I knew it was rainbow weather. Yeah. So I finally did find it. Yeah. Yeah. That's special. And I just, did you get rained on, on your run? No, because it poured by my house.

Okay. So it didn't rain at all by my house. Okay. Weird. Yeah. Um, it like very lightly sprinkled enough that I diverted my run back home to bring in, uh, the fire pit. Um, because when you spend stupid amount of money on the fancy fire pit, you don't want it to get rained on. So, yeah. You a solo stove, don't you?

Yes, I know it. There you go. Uh, yeah. Um, it's great. It's just, it's also a burden because now you have to, you have this thing you have to take care of because you. Way too much money. Money on it. Oh yeah. But um, so I went home and then of course I did nothing. If I left that out, it would've poured. Right.

That's how works. And I would've been pissed. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like how you said, you know, right before we get ready to interview, you're like, somebody now somebody needs me. Yeah. It's just how it works. It's true. This was so fun. I love it. Thank you for doing this. You're very welcome. Thank you for having me on.

Absolutely. Thank you for making me part of the, the, the first 10. Yes. Um, for you. I think this is spectacular. Um, that's nice. Thank you. I knew you, but I didn't know you and so that first episode was awesome to me just because I feel like I got to know you. Like I felt a little bad. I was like, why have I not sat down and.

Talk to Allie more one-on-one, but it's tough when you're the quote unquote the boss. Yeah. Um, I try to not get to know people too well because I don't want them to know me too well. Um, because it makes it tough to manage people. Yeah. Um, but you know, you're, you're doing a great job. Thank you. I love it. I appreciate that Larry, and thank you for having me on.

Absolutely. Alright, well thanks everybody for listening and.

Ally Brettnacher