Ep. 42: How Your Child's Ambition Can Push You to Do Hard Things | Jim LeRoux

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And so I had gotten to the point where in my early 40s, I was 200 pounds. I wasn't ever, you know, crazy unhealthy, but it was to the point where my doctor was like, hey man, you need to uh lose some weight, you need to, we meant push some blood pressure medication. My blood straw was getting high, blood pressure was not healthy. And I need to give a shout out to Dr. Ramsey because he was my first doctor when I moved back to the hook country and he goes, Jim, you need to lose 40 pounds. And I was insulted. I was like, You're crazy.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

What are you talking about? 40 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Like I was I was literally insulted to the point where I was like, I need a new doctor. Yeah, this guy's crazy, 40 pounds, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And so I actually saw him recently would do my whole journey. I've lost 40 pounds. And so I went from 200 pounds down to about 160, which is and then losing the 40 pounds, blood pressure is great, plus every all my values are just great. And so I just saw him recently and I said, Hey, remember when you told me I'd lose 40 pounds? And I kind of was insulted and he was like, Well, and I was like, Well, I've lost 40 pounds.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

In high school, Jim raced competitively in cross-country and track and field and was pretty good at it. But through his studies in college, building a family, and just life getting in the way, he fell into some bad habits as an adult. But after he started seeing his daughter flourish in the sport, he fell in love with it again and is now clocking respectable times of sub-195Ks, sub-40, 10Ks, and even a marathon PR of 3148. This is a story about how one special thing or person can bring you back to the person you always wanted to be. I was so excited for you to hear this one. And without further ado, let's get into it. Okay, well, we are rolling. So welcome to another episode of Through Their Stride here out in the Texas Hill Country on some beautiful land with Jim Leraux. So, Jim, thank you so much for joining me. Absolutely. Yeah, thanks for having me. Thanks for the five mile run. That was uh that was a lot of fun. My five, like I told you, my long run this week was five miles. So that was perfect.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

That's a great route.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah. Awesome. So um we talked a little bit while we were while we were out and uh and running, but I didn't really ask you a whole lot of about your running journey. So um I guess my first question is so how did you kind of get started running? What did what did it happen you when you were out living in in Wisconsin, or was that uh did it kind of happen later?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Uh more high school. So I was uh eighth grade, seventh, eighth grade year. So I was I went to high school in Hawaii, and uh that was the start of my journey. My dad was a runner, so that's kind of how I got into. So he used to do like local road races back in Wisconsin, and so he would take us to the races, and so I've always knew that kind of sounded fun and going to a race and the excitement and all that. That's I knew someday I wanted to do that. So in Wisconsin, you uh you could play hockey and swim, were kind of two big sports and baseball a little bit, and so did a little bit of that. Uh didn't get into the running, but got into high school, seventh grade year, cross country. And so I got the bug, did cross-country track, and then all through high school, I I ran pretty, pretty seriously. We're cross-country track, and that was probably the start of the kickstart of the whole running, yeah, the running bug.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Awesome. And then were you more of a track or cross-country guy? Which one was your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Uh I love cross country. That was always my jam. It was just so much fun. Uh, we would run on golf courses in Hawaii, and so it was just some of the most beautiful places you could run. Our coach would take us on these long runs in the valleys in Hawaii, and we'd go on these long trail runs, and it was just so, so pretty. Yeah. Our reward was also we would go to at the end of the long run, our reward was a slurpee. Love it. So we would go for a long run, and then he'd take the whole team. We back, this is back in the 90s, and he'd throw us in the back of the space truck, we'd drive to 7-Eleven, and he'd buy us all slurpees. I spoke was like our sugar reward for uh for those long runs. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Um, I gotta say, like, obviously, running in a hill country is beautiful, but I could can't imagine Hawaii. I mean, that would be that would be phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

I think I'd a little jealous of that. It was fun and with in Hawaii. So we I lived on Oahu. And so for the state cross-country meets, I was very blessed that um I was decent at it where I made varsity my freshman year. So every year the state meets would be on a different island. So our state cross-country trip was getting on a plane, flying to Kauai, Maui or the Big Island for the state meets. And again, it was also at these beautiful resort places, and it was just it was really neat. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Um, okay. And so uh did you run competitively in college too? Did that kind of translate into I did not.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

I I took so after high school, I wasn't really ready for college, so I took a year off and just kind of worked, kind of trying to find my way.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Uh worked a couple of weird jobs, did a did a restaurant, did a a uh like a like a furniture warehouse. Kind of a weird thing, but it was uh just wanted to find when it was the time was right. And so by the time I got into college, it was just study. This the goal was just to graduate and to study. So I did not run. I did a little bit on my own. So I still loved to run. So I would do like I still would train, do occasional 5Ks, but nothing competitively.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah. And then after college, you told me uh when we were at the uh the wildflower run a few weeks ago that you had kind of an interesting story where you were pretty competitive and you loved running, and then you kind of fell out of it and maybe kind of lost, lost your fitness, lost your your uh your way a little bit, and you kind of found found back later on. So can you tell me a little bit about that story?

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Sure. Yeah, so my 20s were kind of college, still doing fitness, still staying fairly fit. And then uh you meet a girl, got married, we started having kids, and then you become dad. And so then I was in dad mode, and uh just your priority shifted. So I went from whenever I had free time, it was like my family was my priority. So it was like hikes with the family. We still were somewhat active, but it wasn't like a training devoted to running goals, that kind of thing. So uh family dad was basically all of my 30s, and we had a good part into my early 40s was just being a dad. So I was taking care of the kids, helping coach soccer, doing some baseball, coaching, and I just kind of let myself go. And so I had gotten to the point where in my early 40s, I was 200 pounds. I wasn't ever, you know, crazy uh unhealthy, but it was to the point where my doctor was like, hey man, you need to uh lose some weight, you need to, we may push on some blood pressure medication. My cholesterol was getting high, blood pressure was not healthy, and I need to give a shout out to Dr. Ramsey because uh he was my first doctor when I moved back to the hill country and he goes, Jim, you need to lose 40 pounds. And I was insulted. I was like, You're crazy. What are you talking about? 40 pounds? Like I was I was literally insulted to the point where I was like, I've I need a new doctor. Yeah, this guy's crazy, 40 pounds, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And so I actually saw him recently because I essentially jokingly fired him. Um, but would do my whole journey, I've lost 40 pounds. And so I went from 200 pounds down to about 160.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Yeah, which is perfect.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Uh, which is and at losing the 40 pounds, blood pressure is great, cholesterol, every all my values are just great. And so I just saw him recently and it said, Hey, remember when you told me I had to lose 40 pounds? And I kind of was insulted and he was like, Well, and I was like, Well, I've lost 40 pounds. You were exactly right. So I gave him all the praise to say, you know what, you hit the nut nail on the head, man, like it was exactly right. Yeah. Um, but what ended up happening and kick-started me was, of course, the doctor was a humbling thing where you're like, okay, my gosh, like your dad, you want to be around for your kids and um enjoy life. And so I started just walking. So started to walk, trying to get healthy. My daughter, right around that same time, this is right with COVID, she started, she joined cross-country August of 2020, seventh grade cross-country with Fredericksburg, and just seeing her start to get the bug, and she started to have early success, which is helpful that she was able, hey, I'm pretty good at this. And so she just started taking to it. And I was like, okay, well, I love running too. And so I wanted to say, if I can get healthy, I can run with my daughter.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

So it was that was my main motivation was wanting to run with her. And so it was a wildflower run in like 2021, just after COVID. Yeah. And we ran it together. She won the race. So she would have been overall female. I was losing weight, but still pretty, pretty big.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I was struggle busing to like finish the race. At one point in the race, there was this little kid, she couldn't have been like seven or eight, and she was like passing me. And I'm like, I'm not gonna let this little girl be. So the whole race, I'm going back and forth, and I finished it, and I think it was like, I don't know, 30 minutes or something, where it was like, I was just trying my best to finish and not die. And then after that race, seeing her win it and having her just being being like a proud dad, like, oh, my daughter like won this race, like, how cool is that? So I was like even more motivated to want to get better so I could run with her.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

And so then my goal shifted to rather than just being fit, I want to be able to run with my daughter. So that was the motivation was run, walk, run, walk to the point where I could get running with her. And then I got to the point where I could then pace her.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

And so I just over the like the next four or five years, I just stay consistent, started losing the weight, started feeling good. We would go on runs together. I would go to her cross-country and track meets and just get more motivated. Like, oh my gosh, it's so it's so cool as a as a dad to see your kids like have success and just uh enjoy something. And so just the joy I would get watching her run was just like it's the absolute best thing. Yeah. And so we went, we did races together, we did like the cap techs, we did wildfire runs, we would just, it was like our thing. We kind of ran together. And so that was that was that was it, man. That kind of got my fire, you know, started. And who else has been history? Because I've just taken that then. And I won't, I won't tell her that now I've kind of surpassed her to where she is. Now I'll kind of run with her to pace her to yeah. So yeah, that's the she still runs. She uh she's so she graduates this year, she graduates in a few days. Okay. It's crazy. But so she had did not run her senior year. She just was like, I want to just focus on school. And so that kind of broke my heart. Uh I was like, You're cheating me out of watching you run. But you know, I she still she still does run, but I'm trying to guilt her into hey, come on, Ella, let's get back and let's do it more runs. And so I tried to get her. I thought I was gonna get her to run this last wildflower. Yeah, but she wasn't ready. It's like hey, next year we're gonna do it together.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

So oh man, but that's so cool though. It's like, you know, like it's almost like your kid and seeing your kid doing the hard things and doing the things that you love and doing so well at it kind of awoke something in you, and it awoke that childhood, like the talent that you had, you know, to like chase it again. And now here you are. Like every time I see you on Athlete Guild or you know, the local racism on Strava, you're like one of the top five overall in the 5K's and 10ks. And I'm like, man, like Jim's quit. So um it's been fun for sure. So what's um, you know, since then and since finding it in you, uh you obviously you've had a lot of like 18 minute, I think I've seen some like 17 minutes and like some fast 10ks as well. Um, what are your goals kind of as a runner?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Good question. So I've stopped thinking about like the PRs when I was a younger man. And so now it's like I kind of jokingly say it's my old man PRs. Like you're gonna reframe your goals. And so I'm trying to uh like when I go to a race, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try to win my age group. Uh and then some some races, depending on who who's there, I can I can kind of like maybe I'll go for top three, like overall, some of these web races, depending on what high school kids are there. And um, but right now I just I want to be healthy. So I want to be healthy, I want to have this be a sustainable hobby. I love running. Um, I would love to be able to do this throughout my 50s and in my 60s. And so I'm trying, well, I still have some speed, I'm trying to capitalize on still trying to run fast at times, but do it in a smart way where I don't get injured.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Because when I s a couple years ago, I started really just doing too much and I got some overuse injuries. Oh, yeah. So I'm trying with wisdom, and I work in a PT clinic, so I'm like, okay, listen to the experts. Uh, let's have some goals that are more sustainable. Um, so right now I'm trying to train for a marathon, and I have a very crazy lot. My initial goal was to try to do sub three.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

So three years ago I ran a marathon and I did go with sub three, and it was great, going great until it did it. And so it was one of those things where it was going great, and then mile like 18 or 19, it kind of got off the tracks, and I ended up finishing three, 15 something. Okay. So still decent. Yeah, I guess. I was happy with it for an old guy to get that kind of a time, but I felt like it was unfinished business. I was like, you know, I feel like I can still do a little better than that. So I'm running grandma's marathon, June 20th. The goal was sub-three, but I had a few things pop up during the training block. So now I'm either gonna shoot for that or more realistically, and my age group now it's 320 as a Boston qualifying. So if I can get close to where I got last time, yeah, I'll be happy.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Yeah, I mean, like 315, like I feel like that's totally in the cards from for you, like looking at your times and your your training. So I'm excited to see that that happened.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

I hope so. That the first one I was real, I didn't have a smart nutrition plan. Yeah. And I was just kind of getting back into running and I was like, I can do this. And so I had very little uh education on like sodium and carbohydrates. So I have been educating myself on nutrition as a huge that tells us one of the huge components of of long distance running. So especially now with all the advanced, all the fancy gels and the salt sticks and the carbon shoes. So I'm hoping that I'll be a little smarter with more sodium and better nutrition. Yeah, I follow this guy, Eric Flowberg.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Love Eric Florberg.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And so he just did uh he ran like 229 in Boston. Yeah. And he's he goes through in detail like his plan. I think he said he did like a hundred carbs the first hour. And I was like, huh. So he's like, you should think about front loading your carbohydrates. And so I'm like, hmm, well, I don't know if I'll be able to get that aggressive, but I definitely have been training with on my long runs with taking the gels, doing more sodium, yeah, uh doing stuff like element and trying to keep that up because that's I think that's where I crashed was I didn't have the gels I had were no sodium, it was just the carbohydrate, and I had drink drinking water, so I was like, I think I can do better.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

No, the fueling these days, I mean the science behind it has come like come so far. And like, you know, when I first ran my first marathon back in 2023, I knew nothing about the about fueling at all. I didn't take any carbs. All I did was drink like electrolytes that were on course, which were like noon electrolytes, and so they were not not quality and paid for it. But then ever since then, I've been trying the carbs and like trying gels, different kinds of gels. I think Morton has been my favorite. Um, but yeah, it's like it's amazing what carbs will do for you and like salt and everything. So what what's what is your feeling?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

What do you use? Uh right now I'm using this called goo, uh Rokotan, yeah, gel. My father-in-law.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

We come by and stop and say hi to us. Uh so the let's see if he says hi to us. Good, how are you? We're enjoying the view. Yeah. Um, so the I've tried the this Rokatan jagu. It's a little bit more expensive, Gujo, but it has sodium, uh, amino acids and carbohydrate.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

And it's I think it's close to 20 something grams of carbohydrate per packet. So my goal is to try to shoot six or six or seven uh for the race, like one every four-ish miles.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

And then I'll be taking a bunch of sodium additions. I've got a bunch of these like salt stick chews you can do. Yep. I did a triathlon in Kerbil. Well, it wasn't this two years ago because it was canceled last year because of the flood. Right. Um, but the curb tries always in end of September. And the last several times, it's been like 90 degrees when you hit the run course. So the last one I started doing those salt, and I thought that was like a level up game changer where I could just take that sodium and when you feel the cramp coming on.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Let me suck down some of those, that salt, and I knocked on wood, it uh it helped. So I'm hoping with the marathon that'll help me. Yeah, and I'm also praying that in Minnesota in June, it won't be 80 degrees. It should be hopefully 50s. I ran the race three years ago, and it was when we were having that crazy heat wave, and there's a bunch of fires in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

So it was just it was an uncommon hot day where end of the race, it was like 85 degrees. People were just having a hard time. Yeah. I'm hoping this year it's a little cooler.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah. That's one of my dream races, is uh grandma's. I see a lot of good things about it, and it's a beautiful course.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

So you can't find a prettier course. Um, I think it's on like the top six for if you're gonna try into PR for a marathon for like a flat point-to-point. It's not a net negative, but it's because I think now Boston, you have to have some, you can't have a net negative for a Boston qualifier. So it's I don't think it's three or four hundred feet, something like that. So it's still pretty pretty good. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Um, and then as far as training goes, you know, um between your previous marathon when you were at 315 and now, what has changed? What have you adapted and uh what's been working?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Uh so I got a little bit more aggressive with the cross training. Uh the first marathon build, I went with like an out-of-the-book kind of a cookie cutter kind of an intermediate marathon training plan.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

And it would uh had run and rest. And when I did the triathlon cross training, one of the things I think was a game changer level up for fitness was the pool. Oh yeah. And so I swam a lot when I was a kid, and so I've always been a decent swimmer. But when I thought I was fit, I jumped in the pool and I realized how fit I was now. Oh gosh, yeah. And it's like you start swimming and you're working muscles that you didn't know you had. And so I started swimming, and so now I've been trying to do one or two days a week of the wall in the center. I'll go to the 25-yard pool. Um, most nights you can go and have the whole pool to yourself. And so I've been trying to do one day a week with that, and I just feel like that just kicked my my fitness up where I feel you can still get in the endurance work, you're not putting stress on these old knees and hips, and then I'll do a day of bike. So I'm doing four or five days of running, and then if it's a day of swimming and maybe a bike day. So those are like my rest days.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Yeah, that's all that's awesome. Yeah, the swimming is insane how much it humbles you. Like I jump, I've jumped in the pool at the wellness center a couple of times and I've tried to do a few laps, and I'm like, good lord, like I I'm not fit at all.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Like I promise you, I've tell I tell people like that's it's a game changer. Like, if you want to really kick up your fitness, it took me years to get back into swimming. It was kind of like my running journey. I didn't run for a long time. I didn't swim forever. Got back in the pool. It took me a long time to get to the point where now I can swim almost a mile with without stopping.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

No way.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

And then that again, it just your heart rate, like my wretched heart rate goes down. Your fitness, it just it translates really well to the running.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

I need to get back in because I love swimming and like I I know it would bring me a lot of joy and like give me a lot of fitness.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

So I mean you might have inspired me to do that. Check it out because I'm I'm not a treadmill guy. And when those winters in Texas winters and it's it's cold uh or it's wet, I just I just hate and I know it's good. I'm not a fan of the treadmill. And so when those days I'll jump in the pool instead. I feel like they say that like swimming a mile can equate to running four miles.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 19:37

So it really can be in a short amount of time, you can still get the the benefit.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

So as a as someone who does know much about swimming, how many like back and forth is a mile?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

So I did I swim on Saturday. I did 84 laps and it was like 1.7 miles. So yeah, I guess you could do the math, but I mean it's 1650 or so, 17 something hundred yards. Uh-huh. So it's probably 75 laps, something like that. And that's out and back. Yeah. Okay. So that is that so they're negative of the cool just for the people listening to it. It's uh it's not the most fun thing either. Like treadmills are boring, and staring at a black line for 30 minutes is also boring because some of you're just kind of and I don't have the waterproof headphones, but some people have. Yeah. I don't have that. So it's just inner piece. Uh yeah, you're just doing like with running. So you just kind of self-talk, but yeah, swimming back and forth. Maybe it's not the most fun thing, but it the fitness benefits are are great.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah. And it's not, I mean, thing obviously this is a running podcast, so we love running. Right, exactly. But running is pounding that pavement, right? Pounding those roads. So like it's a lot less intensity on your body than uh uh swimming is.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

So and that's the wisdom part that I try to talk about is where I'm 49. And so, you know, you I have been very fortunate not to have anything major wrong. And I've had some MRIs recently, and my knees are so great, hips are good, but I want to maintain that, like I said earlier. I want this to be a sustainable hobby that I absolutely love, love running. I want to do it for the rest of my life if I can. And so if I can substitute a day by swimming and still maintain my fitness, well, it's worth it. Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Well, awesome. And then, you know, your story has been super inspiring to me just hearing it now about like how you were able to bring yourself back to, you know, where you once were and be able to chase your passion again and chase, you know, chase running and chase big, big marathons. Um, as like if you could go back and tell yourself when when you were kind of losing it, you losing your fitness and uh obviously probably having a lot of fun as a dad, but just losing a lot of your your your dream. What would you tell your your past self if you could go back in time?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Uh stop listening to all the excuses. Because I remember I would joke with my boss at the time when I was in my like mid thirties. I'd always say, you know what, I'm gonna get back to running. I've always loved running. I just always wanted to, but I had every excuse in the book. It was Like, you know, this is gonna be the year, Sam. And I'd be like, I'd tell my boss, I'm gonna get back into running. And then I just wouldn't do it. And I'd have this excuse or that excuse. And there's always gonna be some kind of an excuse. But you have to have that intrinsic motivation. And so for whatever reason, it wasn't right. I didn't have the right motivation. I just needed that thing to tell me, like, hey, this is going. So I would say, listen to your body and listen to find that motivator that's important to you. Once you find it, I mean, that the rest is history. Like once I had that moment where it was my health scare, and then it was my what the enjoy watching my daughter and me wanting to run with my daughter. Yeah. That was all it took. Don't look back. Um, and then I would say too, just try to try to be healthy. Cause I mean, I um you can you can make some unhealthy choices in life too. It can get really easy to get home from work and be like, oh, that couch looks really comfortable. I'm just gonna sit on the couch and have a coke or have some Doritos. And that was kind of my life for a long time. You get home from work, I'm exhausted. Yeah, but what I try to tell people is you don't realize, like once you start doing things actively, you get more energy.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

And so now I get home from work, I'll go for a run. Yeah. Today we got home from work, we did a run, I feel great. And it's like I feel like I can just, you know, what time is it? 725. I'm good for another several hours. Like I hit that couch. And so it just like it's it's until you do it, you don't, you don't realize it. But once you can find that motive, find something you love, number one. If you don't love running, find something else. Yeah, whether that's cycling or hiking or rollerblading, swimming, whatever. It's gotta be something that you love. Pickleball. Pickleball, right? Tennis. I mean, golf. People love golf, just something that can get you active.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Um, for me, I was very fortunate that I I loved running. I had the right motivation at the right time.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, I um, you know, I think there's a lot of people out there who say they want to get into it, you know what I mean? And they they maybe do it for a couple of days, and it's like, you know, oh, I'm tired now. I'm sore. I'm I'm, you know, busy. I'm, you know, what whatever it is. And it's that habit building, right? Like how and how did you say, how did you help, what helped you to build that habit and get back into those rhythms?

SPEAKER_01 24:08

For me, it was being consistent. So when I first started, I couldn't run a mile. Like I was not fit enough to run a mile. So I was lucky enough where in Kerrville, where I work, they have a river trail. They just kind of got the river trail going at the time that I started getting back into fitness. So I would, we're where my where my clinic is, we're not far from the river trail. So I would go at lunch break, go for a walk. And so it was every day. I was 10,000 steps. I bought an Apple Watch. Yeah. And I was like, this Apple Watch, and I was like oh yeah, you can do the little goals. You want my circles to close. And so I was like, I'm 10,000 steps every day was my goal. And I was determined, didn't matter what, Sam, I was gonna get my 10,000 steps. And so I would either at lunch I'd walk or I'd come home. I've got a golden retriever. That thing is a crazy love energy, he loves to walk. He is another motivation buddy where you come home and he's like, let's go for a walk.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

And so if I didn't have my steps in, I would walk out here. I'm very blessed. I live in the place in an area where I'm beautiful, beautiful walks. So that's where I was started. It was every day, it was a walk, 10,000 steps. And then I started getting towards, I was fitting up where I could maybe do a half mile. So maybe it was a run walk for a little bit, and then I just kind of build up on that. So I would tell folks like don't let the fact that you can't run stop you either. Yeah. Like walking is one of the best things you can do. Like I've had surgeons, back surgeons say walking is the best exercise. Yes. Because it's you know relatively low impact, you can still get the fitness, you're moving, moving the human body. Right, you're outside, nature. So that's how it started was consistency. So every day was walking. And then as I was getting more, as I started losing some weight, and I just lost weight by walking, really. It was like I always kind of ate pretty healthy. I maybe drank a few too many beers. So I kind of cut down a little bit about that, cut out some of the midnight snack kind of stuff. Yep. As the weight started going down, yeah. I just walk, run, and then I got to point where I could run a mile. Yep. And then it was like 5K. Let's get back and do a 5K. So that's how it started. And now it just consists when every day I try to do something fitness, whether it's the gym, swimming, biking, running, every day I'm trying to do something. Yep. So awesome.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

And and the like when you're getting back into it, it's also important not to do too much too soon. Cause like, you know, you can go out and like rip a huge workout at the gym and like lift all these weights, and you're like, man, like and I'm gonna do this again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day you're like, you know, sore, can't get out of bed, and then you're like, then you don't go back for a month. So like exactly it's it's finding the little things that you can do that you can slowly build upon.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

You have to have balance. And in my profession, too, physical therapy, and it's you, those are our customers too. So the overuse injuries and those things start popping up. So you've got to do it smart, not you'd smart. So I I you know you talk about you know, I should preach. And so for many years, I just would like I would ask a colleague about this or that, and like, what should I do? And kind of like these little side, like water cooler consults about running, and I've got this going on. And for this build, I was like, I'm gonna do things the right way. So one thing I would say, switching just has been great for me, is I actually got in a full official PT eval to see like what was going on because I want to be do things the right way, check up my muscles, like let's try to prevent an injury. Right. And so I did that. And the first in my eval, the PT that did my eval, she tried to have me do these sit-to-stand things, the single leg sit stands. And she was just like, she looked at me and I I couldn't do it. I I cut I could do a couple of them, and she was like, Your glutes are really weak. Yeah. I was like, What? And she's like, Yeah, you are an extremely efficient runner, but your glutes do not activate. And if you want to be more durable, you need to get your glutes going. So she put me on this exercise routine where I started activating the glutes, and it's just amazing now how I don't say I want to say I'm a more a better runner, but I'm like I'm more durable. And it's just amazing. So you think you might think that everything's good, yeah, but until you get a professional to look at you and do an analysis, look, yeah, look under the hood. I would never have known that. And so now I've incorporated a lot of glute stuff and single-leg things in the gym that before I was getting that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

And so that's gonna go towards the sustainability part, right? So like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

And I like what you said there about like you're not necessarily a better runner per se. Like your form hasn't changed, your, you know, your stride, it's all the same, but you can stay in the game mode. Like, because your quads are tighter, you're not gonna get any IT band issues, you're not gonna start overcorrecting late in a race. So it's you know, when when we're looking for like strength training and and cross-training, we're not looking to bulk up as rudders, we're just looking to like make ourselves more durable so that way the last 10k of a marathon feels like the first 10k.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

So exactly. And that was literally the conversation I had today because today was my research where uh I can't I went in just, you know, it had a little bit of knee pain, like runners and stuff. They've kind of fixed all that, and I've got this little foot thing popping up.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

But we talked about that exact same thing. As I said, I want to be strong for from mile 20 to mile 26 to where I can maintain that and my my form won't break down that bad. So she's like, You're doing great. I've made progress from all the things, and so it's just keep what you're doing a couple of days a week. If you can just do these sp running specific things, yeah, and you know, we'll see. But so far, so good. So I would say definitely if you have the ability to do that, go see a professional, whether it's a gate analysis or a full evaluation, see what's going on, it'll pay off in the the long run. Because if you don't do that, and you if you're doing something wrong or you're not activating your glutes, then you say then you're getting an IT band, then you're gonna get runners, then you're gonna get appealing, something going on with your feet. So anyway. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

And then so you're five weeks out from your race from grandma's. Um, what is the feelings right now? Are you nervous, excited, or what's uh you haven't entered the taper yet. So you're basically at the peak right now.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

So I'm building or ramping up. So I I am a always like the worst case scenario kind of a guy. So I did not buy my tickets for the longest time as I kept saying, Well, I'm gonna get injured, or I've got this going on. And um, I was worried if I buy the tickets then that you're really you're all in, right? So this year, grandma's it's the 50th. And so it sold out like in 24 hours. So I got the bib, thinking that okay, well, worst case, I'd lose my bib, no big deal. Um, but because I've been going through all these little things, these little things that popped up where I had a I had a hip thing, I had a knee thing, and I got the split thing. Today I bought the tickets, so I've I'm locked in. I feel good. Um, I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to hit my A goal because of my illness and a thing popped up. But I feel great, I'm super excited. I know the course, I've done it before. I've got my aunt where I'm gonna stay, she lives one mile from the bus pickup. So I'm like, let's do this. Yeah. Yeah, I'm super excited. And I've got to the point to where even if I finish, because even marathon bills, it's like getting to the starting line is the hard part, right? You know, for sure. So if you can get there, then the rest of it's like that's a celebration of what you've done. So I don't know if I'll be completely 100% healthy, but I'm gonna get my best try. And I am definitely excited. So my wife and I are gonna go up there. We're flying in on Wednesday, the race is on a Saturday, and so yeah, we'll see. Yeah, I'm super excited and uh we'll see how it goes. Hope for a good day.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Yeah, well, cool. Yeah, I'm I'm excited for you. I think, you know, I I can foresee a really good personal gas, just like you said, you got to be able to get that look and you know, do those little exercises, and it's those little things that make you the better runner. So yeah, well, cool. Well, uh, before I let you go, I know we're kind of losing our daylight here, but uh um I wanted to go through a few rapid fires. Sure, sure. So my first question is we just ran a really beautiful route, but what are some of your favorite routes in the hill country to run?

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Uh I gotta probably give a shout out to the river trail just because I think it's such an amazing thing for that town. They have that resource, it's so pretty. Even after the flood, um, it has changed and it was a kind of an emotional thing for me. Yes, with all of what happened with with Kerbil and the flood, but that's probably still my number one. Um, the one that we just did today is probably one of my favorite segments. Love that one. I love Enchanted Rock, the loop trail. So I absolutely love doing that one. Uh that's probably those are probably my top three that I'd say I I love doing.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

I want to touch on the two to the the river trail. Yeah, I've had that 5k. Uh I guess it was two weekends ago now. Or yeah, two weekends ago. And uh yeah, it's definitely like it was definitely emotional to see it. I mean, like, and just to be out there again. And like the week before that, my wife and I just went out to Kerrville and like touched the water because we were like, I just want to like make peace with it. You know what I mean? Because we hadn't been out there since the flood, and like kind of sitting out there on a park bench, and we're just like, damn, like it's it's it's surreal.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Yeah, you know, it's it's it was an emotional thing for me because I had ran it for so many years, and um, we have had some people that we knew that were affected with the flood, and our foreman were going through a major remodel at the clinic. The foreman actually lost his life in the flood, and so I knew him, and so it was it was rough. And so a lot of us that have been in Kerba for a long time, um, it took us a long time to get back on the trail. So it took me many, many months before I had even reopened to where I was ready. But once I was ready and got back up there, is it different? Yes. Um, but it's still it's still beautiful. And I think we just need to kind of with time, it'll get easier. But um, yeah, it just yeah, it was it was an interesting, rough first run. But um, I ran it yesterday. Uh the trees are coming back. Um, like does it look different? Absolutely, but it's still it's still beautiful. And uh yeah, yeah, back out there and do it. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

And then um what is your go-to like recovery meal of choice?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Hmm, good question. It's like after a after a tough workout, yeah, like a long run or something, or or even after a marathon or something. Probably pizza. Yeah, yeah. I I just love pizza's my favorite food. Um, I don't know if you ever do easy pizza. So the owner, he he goes to St. Mary's and that's just a nice guy. He's a you know, he's a veteran. He's like the nicest guy, and so he's local business, and it's take and bake. And so what I like is I can go get the pizza, bring it home. It's hot. Uh you're supporting local business, it's good carbohydrate. Yeah, he has like this cheeseburger one where it's like uh ground beef, and it's like a white salad. Anyway, it's it's really good. So it'll be that. And he is really good, uh pear salad. So the pear salad with the pizza, that's my job.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Man, I've I met that guy uh when he first got there, and he was doing a uh I did a feature story on when I worked for the paper. He had helped to uh he was like giving free pizzas out to the kids against straight A's. Yeah, yeah. So cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

He puts a picture on the wall.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah, and I thought that was so cool. We we've been there once, so we need to go back because the pizza was delicious.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

But yeah, there was a place in Kerba, it's called Bubba J's years ago, and it was a family business, same kind of a model where it was taken baked, and I went there almost once a week. It's way too much. Uh, but I was running, so I thought it's okay, you're running. I can eat the carbohydrate, right? So um they he retired and his kids didn't want to go to the business, so the business closed down.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

And after that, I was like, okay. And then we tried various, there's some good pizza places in Fredericksburg. Um, but whatever reason, easy pizza is kind of our go-to. We like Prometheus too.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

My daughter loves Prometheus pizza. That one's great. And then uh we also do um Social House sometimes. And uh what's the other one? West End.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Oh, West End, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

I think my yeah, my favorite pizza is probably Prometheus. I used to do a running club with the Prometheus guy. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm hoping to start that up again soon, maybe this summer when I have a little more time.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

So well, yeah, let me know because I know I've heard all these rumors about Freddie's Burgundy Club and the guys used to do that, and I think it's kind of faded off with through the years or whatever, but that's something that it's always better to run with friends when you have a bunch. Like a marathon bills. It's those miles can get lonely. Yeah, for sure. They're on those 20 milers and you're like, okay, I can only listen to podcasts for so long.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

It's awesome. Well, my last question is so um um if you could give anyone a reason to go out for a rent today, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Uh, I guess how important is your health? You know, what I would say. It's just uh it is such a spiritual experience when you're getting out there on the road in nature. Like just today, we we we went for around, we could see deer and there's cows, and it's just we saw a couple of cars. Um it's just one of the neat, the most rewarding things you can do that benefits you in so many different ways. Yeah. Mentally, spiritually. It's just yeah, it's my de-stress, it's my counselor. Yeah, it just it's my my go-to.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Yeah, like I said, it's it's like my fortress of solitude.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Well, Jim, thank you so much for for coming on and for running with me today and talking with me. Uh, I always love whenever I get to have locals on, because I get to do this run and film. We only have to film 10 minutes of it, but it'll be good, good little B roll from some of this. So uh it's always fun to like run on their favorite routes. So this is great. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you so much.