The Running Community - Amuse Bouche #3

Welcome to Amoose Boosh, where you're getting just a little bit of Bridget before our weekly dinner plus drinks. This week we're talking about running. You get Bridget with a slightly less scratchy voice, a little more stuffy. Thank you for sticking it out with me. So back to running. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you to go run a full marathon, unless you really want to, but let's dive right in and hear what I do have to say about running. Well, I just experienced my first technological glitch. I recorded an entire Amus Bouche and it wasn't recording. So we're gonna try this again. Um last week at Lake Geneva Country Meets, we had the opportunity to sponsor the post-race party, so the food for the runners, after a new half marathon to the area. In my previous job, I was working to bring this race back to Lake Geneva. There used to be a marathon in Lake Geneva and it's gone by the wayside. And we just have such a great environment, uh, very hilly, but a really fun opportunity to have a race a race here. Umurance athletes, distance athletes, runners are a really great group of people. And having, if you've not been a part of that, you don't really know. So getting city officials to understand, hey, this is a great economic impact on the area. Uh, there's hotel rooms often, runners will finish a race and then want to go into the town they're in and explore it, etc., etc. Getting people to understand that is hard if you've not experienced it. So the post-race party and races in general, finish lines, really cool environment. Um, I just think they're the most one like sect of society that's the most uplifting area. I would say the finish line at a race and a delivery room. Two of the times I have felt incredibly uplifted and supported and encouraged. So I've had the opportunity to learn a whole lot about myself through running. Um, and I owe a lot of that to a friend of mine, um Anthony, who back in 2012 got my sister and I into running. Uh we, I will speak for Shannon a little bit. Uh I would say yeah, neither of us would say we were runners. Um we've been athletes our whole life, uh, but never runners. Uh we played volleyball a lot. That does not require a lot of running. So we were like, yeah, I don't think we're ever gonna be able to do this, man. But he's an excellent runner. Uh he introduced us to a program called Determination, and it's run through American Cancer Society. You know, I hope it's still happening. I'm not even sure, but um, determination through American Cancer Society. There's another one called Team Challenge that's partnered with another nonprofit. And you join a running team essentially and get a running coach. Uh, I know that sounds silly, but if you're a new runner, specifically a new distance runner, having a coach is really helpful to just walk you through what you should be eating, what you should be doing. If something hurts, maybe don't go in a hot tub but ice it. One time he told me that. I was like, I'm going in the hot tub. He said, Nope, that's gonna hurt your muscles more than it's gonna help. Um, so having a running coach on race day, we had our own bathrooms, we had our own area. So what we did was raise a thousand dollars each for American Cancer Society, and then we ran our first half marathon and we ran it in Madison and it was 95 degrees out, and it was terrifying and exciting and amazing. And I think I cried at the finish line, which sounds nuts, but it's it is such a proud moment. Even like I am not a I'm not running six minute miles, guys. I'm not a fast runner, I'm not the slowest runner, I'm just average, and I I so enjoy it. Um, I've run seven half marathons since that, but what I've learned about myself through all of this is I'm in a very different spot in my life now. I've had two kids, I own a home, I work full-time, I'm just trying to keep it all together. So I ran a half marathon. My last half marathon I ran was in 2019 in September. And it I like to run a race around my birthday every year, just kind of, I don't know, it's kind of like a present to myself. Um, and that one was gonna be the last half marathon I ran until, you know, and then the plan was to get pregnant and have our second child. And um I'm looking back, we think perhaps I was pregnant already at that race. Um, but either way, the race was terrible. I did not want to be there. I running is incredibly mental, as you as you probably know if you've run any kind of distance at all, um, even just a couple miles. Um, you're fighting with yourself, uh, telling, you know, I can't do it, I can't do it. And I often use a marker, like, I'm just gonna run to that stop sign, I'm just gonna run to that tree. Well, this race was around a lake in Lake Delavin, and I just didn't want to be there. I felt like, why am I spending my time doing this? I don't even enjoy this. Uh blah blah blah. And so I was fighting with myself. My sister, um Brittany, came in town and and cheered me on. My best friend Hillary and Shannon were both there. They were both pregnant, so they couldn't run with me, but Britney jumped in and ran um the last like half of the race with me, which was so sweet, but I didn't enjoy it. Um, I wasn't proud of myself when I finished, and which is silly. I still, I still ran and walked 13 miles. So um this year for my birthday, two years later, I'm just gonna run a 5K. And I'm okay with that. It took me a long time um to stop beating myself up about it. Um, but running a 5K is still an accomplishment. So I just um the environment of runners, racers, race day, the cheerleaders are just as important. Uh, if you ask me. Part of the problem with this race I ran in um last two years ago, there was not a lot of support on the course. And uh, I mean, of course, uh you can't force people to come cheer on runners at your race, but it's really uh because it's so mental, when you have people there cheering you on and watching you, you feel like, okay, yeah, I could do this, I could do this. So anyway, that's a little bit about my running and how it's kind of shaped me. Um, it's made me feel really proud, like some of the highest highs and some of uh some pretty lows because I've beat myself up about it. So if you need further proof of runners and their character, um, one of the reasons we developed a moose boosh was to share some of the things that didn't make the cut from our Dinner Plus Drinks outline. And I had an article that I really felt it was important to share, but it didn't quite fit in with Dinner Plus Drinks, so I'm sharing it here. Um, in Runner's World, there was an article about Mary Kane who uh is a she signed with Nike right out of high school as a pro athlete, uh, didn't have a great experience, needless to say, and now has decided to um be to form her own pro-women's running team. So she's CEO and president of Atalanta, New York. And like I said, pro pro-women's running team. I don't know why that's so hard to say. And she's running it out of her home for now. Um, hopefully it continues to grow and she uh doesn't have to run it out of her house. But Atalanta, I mean it's a Greek word, uh, refers to a speedy mortal. So that's great. And what is so cool about this pro-women's running team is that all of the runners are being treated as employees. So they get benefits, uh, they have insurance, healthcare. They will earn a salary of $60,000 starting. So if you are a young high school or even even collegiate athlete that goes pro, a $60,000 salary for a starting job, I know it's different in New York, but I think that's a pretty decent place to start with benefits. Um, but even better than pay and benefits and supporting the female running community. Atalanta is a nonprofit service organization. So the runners will train in the morning, which is what a lot of elite athletes do, and then in the afternoons on weekends, they're working for the nonprofit. So the idea is that these athletes, a lot of times you see athletes like, oh, I'm retiring at age 28. I'm too old to do this anymore, which blows my mind. Um, but the hope is then once they've aged out of their sport, I suppose you say, they will have the skills to work in the real world. Um, you've probably seen or heard a million times about athletes that have retired from their sport. And okay, you can become an analyst, you can work for ESPN, you can be an announcer, but a lot of times I feel like athletes kind of get lost after they've retired. Um, unless you're the, you know, top 5%, right? What do you do? You waste away your millions, or you what do you do you just like go work at Home Depot? I'm not sure. So the idea is now this person has skills. Um, this person that was a pro athlete on her running team has the skills developed uh to put on a resume and they will be able to get a job at any number of places uh after their running career is over. So wanted to share that. I think it's a cool thing happening, and it's it was a very specific, um, you know, if you're not a runner, you're probably not looking at runner's world. Um, so there you go. Now you know. Um, the other piece of this was sportsmanship and and kind of the uplifting nature of athletes. Um, I think that sports have shaped who I am in a huge way. Uh that I don't mean for that to sound shallow, although for some reason I feel like it does. Um, but sports were really incredibly important to me. We are, my husband and I are talking a lot about our kids as they are growing up about what sports will they will play. Will they play sports? Will they not? And Tyler's right, and you know, telling me, like, don't, we're not gonna force it. But in my head, I'm like, I do want to force it. Sports were, sports shaped everything I know, you know. They taught me to be a teammate. I got to travel with sports, they taught me balance to try and figure out how I can balance. Sometimes I was doing varsity sports in high school and club volleyball at the same time, and stand on the honor roll. So, how did you do that? And and to this day, I'm able to balance a lot of crazy things because I learned how to do that at a young age. Um, so we're going through all of that right now, but it there's a there's an image that circulates a lot, I feel like once a year, or particularly in Olympic years like this year, um, there was a Spanish runner uh that was racing against a, I mean, racing against a number of people, but there was a it was a race in 2012 in Spain, and there was a Spanish runner and a Kenyan, and the Kenyan was clearly going to win the race. Um, but he thought just before the finish line, he thought he had already crossed the finish line. So he kind of pulled up, started walking. The Spanish runner could have easily blown right past him, won the race. But he, of course, was like, what kind of gold medal would that be? Like, I would be winning on a fluke, I shouldn't have won, I didn't deserve it. So he helped the Kenyan across the finish line instead and was like, hey man, keep going. And and that kind of sportsmanship across running the running community specifically, I know it exists in other sports. Um I just particularly see them the most uplifting people on races, um on race days. And I I see it now that the Olympics are coming around. Kudos to the marketing team for the Olympics. Um, I can't even imagine how many people are on that team, but they always kind of hit me, hit me in the feels with all of their marketing, and they show all these. I'm I'm sure this image is circulating on some Olympic station or channel. Um, they show all of the great pieces of athletics. And I for a moment hope that we can see all of those great pieces instead of like the crap we're used to seeing with many, many sporting events, which is like even at Pee-Wee T-ball, like mean parents yelling at volunteer coaches, or up to the professional the Bucks game I just watched the other night, with which, if you're not watching this championship series right now, you need to be watching it. Um, it's in the the last game was incredible. Uh, but you know, you're seeing people yell at refs, you're seeing people yell at each other and uh, etc. etc. I think that this is just a really the running community is a great place to go if you need to kind of refresh your sportsmanship. Um, I just feel like it's go find a local 5K, do the couch to 5K program, and walk the 5K and just experience how encouraging people are around you. So many times you see people jump in and run the like finish the race with you, like my sister did for me, or just scream your way into the finish line because they're so excited for you. It almost just made me tear up. Um, it's an amazing community, and I would just love if if everybody could experience some part of it. Or you know what? Go out and just cheer someone on at a race. Uh, it's a beautiful summer day, there's races everywhere all the time. Go cheer someone on and see what that whole community is about. Uh, it's a really awesome way to to kind of exemplify sportsmanship and um have a lovely time out in the weather while you're at it. So with the Olympics coming up, I'm just feeling all that team spirit and like just very excited about athletic careers and and watching all of these people at like the the prime stage of their life and they're 15 years younger than me. So it just reminds me how much uh sports can shape someone's life like it did mine, and wanted to just pour my heart out about sports this week and hope that you will listen in to our full dinner plus drinks, which will be released on Sunday right on schedule. Thanks so much for listening to Amose Bouche. Have an awesome weekend.