August 31, 2025 • 31 mins
Amy & T.J. just flew thousands of miles to run 13.1 miles in the Stockholm Half Marathon… hear the story behind WHY and what it was actually like to run with the Swedes.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey that folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Sunday, August thirty first, and picture this Amy
and TJ sitting in a hotel room and Stockholm, Sweden,
in white robes, a cup of coffee in robox, hand,
a metal around my neck.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Now with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
I just described to you the exact scene. And there's
a reason we are sitting like this looking like this.
There's a metal, a cup of coffee, and two folks
in robes because we just actually did something robes we
should maybe be a little more proud of and not
just say all, wait, runner, it's no big deal. We
just completed the Stockholm half marathon yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You know, it is pretty cool. And I was it's
one of those things where I think, whatever you do
in life, sometimes you have to remind yourself when you're
doing it that it's actually pretty cool that you're doing it,
especially when it's a struggle. But I was actively thinking
about that yesterday. I was like, I'm in Sweden and
I'm running a half marathon right now, that's a kind
of awesome and random. Yes, everyone has been asking questions
(01:07):
and are puzzled when they say, oh, you're running a
half marathon where and then just casually drop Stockholm and we'll.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Explain that's a very good reason why we end up
in random places. But as we sit here, Rodes is
doing great, great, great, great physically, how are you feeling?
You had to tell there's always something.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I actually, for the first time, there's nothing. I am
fine head to toe.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And we say this. Marathons are the ones that do
us in at least physically. We're not usually too bad
off after a half marathon. We've been doing this a
while and that's great, and we're blessed to have that.
This was a tougher half marat the toughest half marathon
for me because I've been injured, and we'll get into
the aftermath of that, which was ugly and nasty and
involved the toilet. We'll explain that. But my feet are
(01:50):
actually killing me. But we made it through. But we
the rose. This was one that we set a goal
in May of doing this random and it was random
because you and I these days, as much as we travel,
we don't travel by ourselves as much anymore.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
No, we usually have at least one daughter tagging along,
sometimes all three, and then sometimes some of their friends
come with them as well, so we usually have a
gaggle of teens and young adults with us.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So this was an opportunity where we were looking at
the schedule earlier this year and we were like, Okay,
we're going here with Ava, We're going here with Sabine,
and Lisa is going to roll here and then we're
going to see anal. So we're planning all these things
and we realized, ah, we haven't done a lot for ourselves.
We look up for something to do and this was random.
(02:41):
We get into a you can explain as best and
however you want to how we get into these moods
where I say, babe, just book it. I'll go wherever
you want to go. And we were having one of
those days.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Look your look and I have I've admired this in you,
and I've it's attractive to me. You have. I've joked
about it. But you do have some OCD and it's
a serious disorder for some, but you're low on the spectrum,
but you have it enough where you like things a
certain way, and so sometimes when you get in these
more relaxed moods, you're like, you know what I'm not
(03:11):
I'm not going to say, just book it, just wherever
you want to go, let's just go. So I kind
of wait for these moods that I'm like, all right,
I pull out the computer and I just start looking
at playing tickets where.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We ended up because of that.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Oh it's rome me really, And then the next day
I will say, you know, I actually booked that that trip,
and you're like, did you? I was like, no, Like,
the tickets are booked. I found the hotel because sometimes
also with we like to do airbnbs or hotels, but
you just painstaking all the choices, all the options, and
(03:43):
so you kind of almost you have to get into
this mood where you're just like ropes picket and so
then I feel free to go ahead and do it
because otherwise there's so much overthinking going on about well
this place is that, and that place is this, from
the location to the hotel to what airline we're traveling on.
It's just sometimes it's overwhelming. So I wait for you
to get into these moods and then I just book it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Now, this is what you have to know about this one, folks.
I was in that mindset. But we were both looking
around for things, and I gave you option. I think
we were actually getting frustrated with being unable to find
something that timing didn't work out. I sent you probably
no more than three, but maybe two real options, and
one of them and this was, Hey, we were looking
for a half marathon of something to do. It happens
(04:27):
to be one on the weekend that we can get away,
and it happens to be in Stockholm.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Right. So I was laughing because the places we've gone
have been well, very white, and we were talking about
maybe going to a place that had more diversity, just
some you know, black folks, some black folks. And then
when one of your options was Stockholm, I started laughing.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Why it's a diverse country.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Everyone looks like me.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's so funny, so weird. Look my whole life career.
I mean, I'm used to being around and being the
only black guy. I'm not that's in a room, not
usually being the only black guy in a country in
a seventeen block area. As we walk around and we
talked about, look, that's fine. I am twenty five thousand,
(05:19):
ran this half marathon yesterday. I can remember the four
black people I saw, and if you put them in
a lineup, I could pick them out.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I actually could too.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The two brothers that were running together, that was one sister.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
With them a lot for the whole time. I feel
like I was in between them half the time I
was running.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I couldn't figure them out how they were running. But
then there was a sister that looked like Amanda Gorman
to me. She had the long brands. Yeah, and then
there was another system. Yeah, that's all. I remember.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
You just nailed all four who I saw twenty five
thousand people and me, right, so you gave me. I
forgot what the other options were. But when you said
half marathon, that was the hook. And I have been struggling.
I think if anyone has been listening to this podcast,
they know that I the last my last couple of
marathons have been really, really tough and have actually really
(06:09):
shaken my confidence as a runner because I just felt
like I couldn't trust my body. I didn't know what
it was going to do. I just have been I've
had major issues with my stomach. I just could not
stop vomiting. It was just and it's so wretching that
it doesn't stop for like the rest of the day,
like it to the point where I don't want to
run another marathon. I just felt so terrible, and even
(06:31):
the half marathon thing like long runs, I just I
was nervous. I just I was shaken. So for me,
the opportunity to try and reclaim my confidence, I wanted to.
I wanted to do it. So that's what sold me
on Stockholm.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And then we always look at for somewhere to go,
something new, something neither of us have ever been to,
So Stockholm made sense. And yes, half marathon, I'm trying
to get ready for the New York City Marathon in November,
so this all made perfect, perfect sense. Now we get here,
here's one thing, we haven't stopped working. By the way, folks,
have you all been keeping up? We have been. Yes,
(07:07):
we have been putting out the same schedule the podcast
the whole time we're here, which happens to be six
hours ahead of New York, which has called some frustrations.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Right, so it's nice because we actually get to sleep in,
but then we did not account for the fact that
we would be having to work all throughout the day,
where normally you would want to be sightseeing and going
around and looking at stuff. So what we've done is
we go out for a couple hours, then we come
back and work. Then we go out for a couple hours,
can we come back and work. So the first day
where we actually we got ahead of ourselves. We tape
(07:40):
some podcasts ahead of time so we could have a
nice weekend, and then we realized the first free day
we had, well, we just casually ran a half marathon.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That was our free day.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's our free day where we had already recorded some
podcasts so we didn't have to work on Saturday. But
then we worked our bodies for two hours straight.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And while Robes has been struggling with your stomach that
you've talked about those well documented incidents, my issue has
been my foot. First the achilles, which I finally got better,
and then I had a foot sprain that hit me
last year. Was it August?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, because you were overcompensating for your achilles, But that
was August, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So yes, Okay, So you all remember that I ended
up in an ambulance at the end of the Chicago Marathon.
That was one year ago this month as well.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
No, that was early October was the Chicago's early.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So that injury, which is almost a full year ago
now is the same issue giving me a problem here?
And this is a race, and we got going, and
we will take it in chronological order of the day
when we the race, first of all, wasn't until three
in the afternoon, which is bizarre any runner listening has
done a race, Like what the hell I was?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I was spiraling about what to eat and maybe more importantly,
what not to eat, because yes, all those stomach issues
I just talked about, like that's a huge concern for
any run, and so I just thought, what is one?
I know me and I need food, So there's no
way I could just fast all day and then run
a half marathon. But normally when you wake up and
(09:11):
you run a half marathon, which is what I've always done,
I'll take a banana and some peanut butter and that
gets me through and you know, maybe some little gummies
along the way. But I was like, what am I
supposed to eat or not eat? You didn't really eat
anything yesterday.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
No, I wasn't a big I wasn't. I don't do
that even in the morning, no matter.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
When you have boundless energy. I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I don't know what that. I just don't like stuff
on my stomach when I'm running like that. I didn't
stop at all for water station yesterday during the race.
I don't think you stop.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I stopped at one and I just I literally just
took a small sweag. Look what I have to say.
The weather not perfect for you for summer vacation, but
perfect for running. It was mid sixties overcast, so I
couldn't have asked for better weather. That has a huge
impact on my physical being, and so it's true for
(10:01):
just about any runners. So that was ideal conditions.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
That was an adjustment for folks like us because you
actually have to go to bed so early the night
before usually because you're getting up at three four am
to try to maybe travel over to get to an area.
So for us to not have to be somewhere until three,
we happen to have a place where staying a hotel.
Literally we could walk out the door, make a left,
(10:27):
and within five minutes we were at our starting corral.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It was remarks, that was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Now you found this out. The reason they started so late,
I kind of applaud them for it. It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
They don't want to disrupt the city. So the fact
is if they when they do it later. They truncate
the amount of time they allow runners to run, so
basically and they were like clockwork. I mean when they
say the start time was for each corral, basically you
get a corral number or a corral letter. It was
right on time. And and so I think the first
(11:01):
gral was at three thirty. We ended up running at
three fifty and at seven pm it's done. It's over.
If you have not finished the race, bye, too bad,
you just are a non finisher. And so they keep
it really truncated, and in the afternoon they can just
keep it into a small amount of disruptions for the
rest of the city. And that's how they did it.
When you start out early, people linger, it goes on it.
(11:24):
It's very disruptive to the traffic flow.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And this isn't a New York city, right that spread
out the way we are that has all of the
public trends that we have where people can still get around. Hell,
every Saturday in August they shut down what fittety streets?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah it's Park Avenue.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, they shut it down, and the city functions just fine.
Here it's a little different. Two and a half million people.
You got a few main arteries where this race is running.
You shut those down, the city's going to shut down, right,
So I thought that was all. I didn't think about that.
We were thinking, well they do that. They have a.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Verious The Scandinavians are efficient, they really are. And you
really get a sense of the culture. And when you
see even how people run in the race, you get
a sense of how different cities and different cultures are.
So it was kind of interesting running. And by the way,
when we went to go get our bibs the day before,
which is what runners do, you go and you get
your your number and your packet so that you're official
(12:12):
for the race we had. This was the second day
and almost at the end of the day and the
guy who was giving me my bib said, Wow, you're
the first American I've met today. How did you guys?
Why are you guys coming all the way here to
run this race? So we this was a very local race.
I did not see one other America. Did you see
another American there? No, So you really get a sense
(12:35):
of the culture and the people who you're running with,
and it's a very different experience. It was a different
experience we had.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
The one the only American reference saw was a guy
who had a tag on the back of his shirt
that said fuck Trump. Yes, even but that could have
been from anywhere. Yes, that was I don't know why,
and I'm saying because against the President, I'm saying something
about that made it feel like home. As crazy as
that's not, I was like, Oh, I'm used to seeing
(13:01):
that sentiment. That's okay.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
But what was really interesting is that when you run
American races, and granted we're running races in New York
and Chicago, where you've got serious runners who are really
caring about their about pring getting a personal record, and
I was like thinking, hey, I'm feeling pretty good. And
the moment I started off, I was like, I'm feeling
really good. I could maybe best my best. The problem was,
(13:24):
it's a very different experience running here in Sweden. It
seemed as though nobody was out to run fast, no
one was out to beat any record or to make
it to the finish line. It a certain so everyone
was slow and casual, and it was tight and it
was narrow, and I bet you, I think the best
(13:44):
way for me to describe this I ran it about
eighty percent of what I could have run, and that
was frustrating to me as the competitive American that I am.
I wanted and I could not get past people period.
For almost the entirety of the race. There were a
couple stretches where it opened up. Did you see me
the one time? I opened my arms like a like
an eagle because I was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Finally I had to hit that lady in the face.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I did well. She came around. I was like, maybe
I shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She came around what she was running, having.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Real space for her. Then I realized I won't do
that again. But I was just so excited to actually
be in my actual gait, to be running at the
pace I wanted to be running at. It was a
short little sprint over the bridge, but I was so
happy to be running. I felt like I was holding
back the entire run.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So our excitement about this race was the fact that
we got a tour of Stockholm the way most people can't,
because we literally ran thirteen miles around the city. So
we were very excited about that. It was I will
say this might be the most polite race I've ever run,
in that the people around were not pushing and shoving
(14:51):
and being asses like we have often seen in raising.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Nobody cared about their time, and I guess.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
We ran most of our races in New York, but
it was that part of the experience I liked. This
might be a close second or competitor for first of
the worst runs I've ever had and experiences I've ever
had running, and that had to do not with necessarily
the people the temperature, but it had to do with
(15:22):
the course in particular. And even though we finished, the
weather was great, the people were great and had a
great experience. Why in God's name did I spend so
much of my evening at the toilet?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
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(15:58):
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(16:21):
Head to tonaactive dot com and use code iHeart for
twenty percent off and free shipping. Welcome back to this
half marathon edition of Amy and TJ, coming to you
(16:41):
from Stockholm, Sweden, where we just completed. Do you have
account of how many half marathons you've done?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Some seven eight nine?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Maybe I actually don't have account I mean official half marathons,
because when you're training for every marathon that we've run,
you run at least I don't know, the equip run
at least two, and then you do beyond it. So
I have absolutely lost count.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I think that's right. I should know because of the
metal count we have at the house, But I think
seven eight or nine.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
We do keep all of our medals displayed, so we
should go back and count because I really don't know
how many half marathons I've run.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
We'll go through all this and not keep your metal
We have them displayed, folks. Yes, they are up on
the wall.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
We bought as I packed. Nikki is the one who
showed me this very cool, my friend Nikki, who also
is a runner, how you can put a metal rod
up on your wall and just display your medals. My
daughters came in and made fun of me, like really, mom,
are you like eight years old with your gymnastics medals?
And I said to them, you run a half marathon,
(17:41):
you run a marathon, and then you tell me what
you want to do with those medals.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And yeah, I got tattoos to commemorate because I ain't
ever gonna forget and stop reminding y'all, but I ran
a marathon. At some point, you talked about bid pick up. Now,
this is something we kind of were grading or judging
Stockholm half Marathon by New York City half marathon and
marathon standards, and there were some things we saw is
that hey, New York can learn from this, like hey,
Stockholm can learn from New York. One thing we loved
(18:07):
they put the names on the bibs. Everybody's first name
was on their bib. Now, they don't do this for
the marathon. They don't do it for the half either,
right now, No.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
You so, I know that you can get them printed
out for the for the like put it on your back.
But the fact that everyone's bib looked the same and
everyone had their first name, what it made it seem
for me was just intimate and communal. I felt like
I knew the people I was running with. When you
see someone's name and you put it to their face,
you feel like you know them, you're with friends. It
created a much different atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
And the only things I've understood that people have said
to me in Swedish this week was TJ when they
said my name. You know, I'm saying. When we were running,
I hear them and then they say my name. I
know they're rooting for me. That's the only to hear
someone from Stockholm yell out my name to it was Lo.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
It was Lou, you had Lou on your eye.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
But to hear that as you're going to your point
of it being personal, that was very cool. The thing
that they absolutely got wrong was the bip pick up
situation that you mentioned. There was a line that's longer
than you can imagine that we actually left and came
back later and it was gone. But there was some
kind of a mishap, if you will, to where they
tell everybody come between opening and three o'clock because after
(19:22):
that it's going to be busy. Well, when they tell
everybody that, everybody showed up at the time they told
them to, which made it a ridiculous line and amount
of time. That was a I don't know how they
messed up.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Well, well, the funny thing was I didn't look at
the directive. So it was open from eleven to eight,
and they said after three pm it gets really busy,
so try to get here before then. So we got
there at noon, not knowing I hadn't read that it
was hours long. The line. We got there at what
four five, and there was no one there, and that's
when the guy said, you're the first American I've seen.
(19:56):
But I said, when did it stop getting busy? Because
the line was insane, because it stopped getting busy around
three pm. And then I went back and looked and
laughed and said, they actually created that backlog because they
told people a very finite window and everybody went and
did exactly as they were told.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
I guess that's a little inside baseball, but the way
these things are set up. Usually have these big expo
centers where you know shoe companies and sock company. Company
related to running has these booth set up you can
go in and buy stuff. Usually you can just go
into that and then go get your bib when you
feel like it in the correct line. This time you
had to get your bib before you go into the expo.
(20:34):
I've never seen one set up like that. It was awful.
Didn't appreciate it. Nice self out Stockholm. You know what
you're doing. Don't listen to us. This was the first race,
certainly half marathon. I have never seen this many people
walking so early in a race.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Again, I just think this was It's a different vibe
here and I think it was more casual and I
appreciate the fact that people have different running skill sets,
but I was frustrated because it was narrow and if
you were somebody who wanted to run and who had
trained to run the whole race, which is what I
would think you normally would do when you say you're
going to run a half marathon, when people start walking
(21:09):
at two miles and more and more and more, and
by the time we were at ten miles. I mean
I was flying past everyone. It was very obvious that
there wasn't a lot of seriousness or training for a
lot of people. And that's okay, but I just wish
there was a designated area for people who wanted to walk,
because it makes it really hard when you're a runner.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You're going walk two miles. In two miles now, people
have injuries. Sometimes you just stretch it out totally again,
and we have seen that, and we know what that
looks like.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
And we've been that. Not in two miles, no, but yes,
but twenty two miles.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
If that was your issue. At two miles, people just
don't move over, get out the way. They still think
this is an experience for them as a walker. In
the middle of the race, there was a couple of
women just walking almost casually, as if it was just
a hanging out and a walk in the park. So
some of that was obviously difficult for folks who have
flown thousands of miles and train for months to come
(22:01):
here and do this thing. I get that that was
a problem. The bottlenecks killed me. The bottlenecks and folks,
if you've seen these right look in New York you're
talking three, four or five like wide wide lanes sometimes
that you get to run through pretty good legs of
the race. That's in New York. Here you have that
in short spurts, and then it goes down literally to
(22:25):
almost a running path through a park, to where now
you have twenty four thousand people on a wide lane
have to shrink down to this two or three person
wide thing and try to get through for a guy
that's injured and for a person that needs to be
in stride to not be in such pain. This was
an awful run for me.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, And there were a lot of twists and turns
which were actually beautiful and cool, and there were a
lot of hills that I wasn't expecting that were actually
really I thought, gorgeous. But to your point, it's those bottlenecks.
I mean, if you can envision in basically a a
bike lane with two lanes coming and going, it got
that narrow. It was I was like, how is this possible?
(23:08):
It was almost like I felt like we were on
a running path in Central Park, except for we're in
the middle of a major race with tens of thousands
of people. It was wild to me that it got
that I almost there were times where I almost had
to stop running because it was so it got backed up.
Oh yeah, and I just that was again, you don't
come here. You come here for the experience, for the culture,
(23:29):
but you don't come here for a pr because you're
not going to get it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And even on some of those bottlenecks you just mentioned
those walkers that we just mentioned, we're still on those,
so now you have people walking taking up lanes that
you don't even have anymore. That was so so frustrating,
it was killer. It was. And then of course the
one lady, and this was I don't know sometimes what
people are thinking or they're not and whatever experience they're having,
(23:56):
but we're running pretty tight together. And the only space
sometimes you have between you and the person in front
of you is just whatever your stride length is, so
whatever as far as you could put your foot to
not kick the other person as you're running sometimes is
the best you can do. And somebody's behind you, so
you all cramped together. And that was a young lady.
What mile was it, baby?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
She It was like around mile nine, eight or nine.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
She stopped cold in front of me. Imagine driving forty
miles an hour behind somebody half a car link and
they just stop and just throwing the brakes. She stopped.
She didn't slow, she didn't look around, she just stopped running.
And to keep from running over her, I had to
adjust in a very awkward way with my feet once again,
(24:41):
ended up probably what fifteen feet off the course, off
in the.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Grass, screaming from my air pods. And I was and
I turned around and I saw you flying off the course,
and I was like, oh my god, what just happened?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
So this is all for me. You come all this way,
and you do all this training, and I'm already have
a bad foot, and something like that happened. I was
furious at that woman. She doesn't no, obviously, but those
things added up. If this was a training run, I
told you, I probably would have stopped at mile seven
to eight, certainly.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Nine, and said, yeah, when that happened, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Can't go any farther. I'm done. I would have, but
because of this, and who knows what damage I do
to my foot now. But here we are. We finished,
got to the end. I think after was at the
New York Marathon. You immediately went to the right, put
your head down because you were abut to start puking,
so which I did, comes over and starts talking to
you and wants to say how are you doing and
(25:33):
all this. It's the last thing you want. And at
that time it was an older guy, and I'll say, hey, man,
we got it. Just step off, yep, I got her.
We're gonna be okay. Stop talking. There was a woman
that came over to me and was trying to help
the volunteer and I looked at you. I said, handle this.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, because you were I mean, you were in significant
pain and you just needed a beat. And I was like,
he's fine, he's injured. Does he need a wheelchair? Does he?
I was like, no, he does not. He will be
all right. We just need a second, please just a second.
Just please give him some space.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I love, and I've done that to you several times.
I look at you in certain situations, you know, either
handle it not well, or I pissed or I'm about
to get Please just take care of this. But we
make it out of there very slowly. I can barely really,
I could barely walk it that you. Yeah, Well, we
get up to it and I can't calm down. I
can't get to go down. I got total shakes, chills,
My stomach is jecked and nothing's in it. By the way,
(26:26):
I started drinking a little water. But this was very
familiar to you and very familiar to me because we
all just went through this recently. But you go through
this all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I do, and I know that feeling of just that
unbelievable nausea when you've your body is in trauma. Your
body has been taxed for whether whether it's an injury
or whether it was just putting itself through so much
with the run itself you were. I know that's exactly
how I felt at mile twenty two all the way
until we like I puked at a final time at
(26:57):
the Fulton subway station. So I know, your body just
has to get it out, and so sure enough, you
had to get it out.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
And that's what we were again. It was fresh on
our minds, and I felt confident about what was wrong
because I was in an ambulance with a nurse who
was explaining it to me in Chicago. He said, your
body is in trauma. It is trying to fight it off.
That's why you have the fever. It's fighting That's why
you have the chills, and that's why you feel like
you got a puke. But that's she was saying. That's
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
It's a good sign because your body is healing it
your body.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Is reacting and healing. And sure enough, on the back
of that ambulance, I was up chucking, and sure enough
in here because we were getting dressed and getting ready.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
For we had dinner at eight fau.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I said, Babs, give me a few momentutes, just give
me a few moments, and I was I wanted to
be in fetal position and not walking around.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It was awful, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And it wasn't even the feeling anymore. It was the
stomach that hadn't settled down from the trauma and the
whole thing going on.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And I told you the way you felt, I was like,
that is why I am so afraid to run another marathon,
because it is the worst feeling in the world. But yes,
I know that that you know. And we always have
said this. We wish we remembered her name, the kind
woman in the ambulance and ch But saying that to
you is such a reassurance because you actually feel like
you're gonna die and you're like okay, this is my
body healing itself. This is my body is supposed to do.
(28:10):
And it just makes you feel better in the moment,
knowing you're gonna be okay, and this is the path
to get out of it. You have to puke.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
So this was we finished the race at what time? Baby?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Six?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Around six? So? And I remember this particular because the
dinner reservation was for eight. And I yelled in and said, babe,
what because we have you had? You were sitting there,
sitting dressed, waiting.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I think rose in my hand.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Now, I think you had your personal on yours. You
were ready to go. So she's waiting on me. And
I yelled out, what time is it? And you told
me it was seven forty eight and the reservation was
around the corner, so that wasn't any issue. And I said, babe,
let me have these last seven minutes. So I was
thinking it was going to be seven fifty five.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
You said, I'll be out and seven to fifty five ready.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
To go, all right? And then I walked in here
to say that to you, and I remember that the
time had changed by one minute and it was now
seven forty nine. I said, oh, now, I only got
six minutes to get this worked out. And I go
back to the back and I'm just waiting. I think
I was actually posting something on Instagram. I was just waiting,
and sure enough the moment came, and I mean everything
(29:16):
came out.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
You felt so much better.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Well the first thing I said when I came out, well, baby,
I certainly feel better.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, you had a sparkle back in your eye.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
The freshman teeth twenty two times. And we went out
to dinner and have good night last night. But that's
our experience here. But really, baby, I think we do.
We don't appreciate enough, but we get to do the
fact that we got to come here, the fact that
we're healthy enough, the ages we are to run. I
have marathon and the whole experience to do it with you,
working with you and being in a relationship with everything
(29:49):
happened this week, So it's cool, and I do I
think we skipped over sometimes how blessed we are. Did
I just have things, would be able to do things.
The guy yesterday will chair Yah did the half marathon
and we talked about those hills. They weren't huge hills.
You're running up huge inclines, but still slight Inclind, I
would feel. But it was a guy in a wheelchair
(30:11):
doing this thing. And the time I passed him was
on a hill.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Same and everybody on that.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Hill gave him a round of applause as we were
running by him. That was just that's fucking.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Awesome, it really and it's just it's a testament to
the human spirit. You see people struggling, even those folks walking,
they were out there doing something, trying to do something
maybe they had never done before. And that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So appreciate the experience. Always appreciate you all coming along
with us for the literal or figurative morning runs Mondays
through Friday. But I always appreciated folks for by Yeah you
don't stand out here, you blend.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, it's just like everyone else. Yes, we all look alike.
Don't wet blondes around him.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
But folks for my blonde blue Roebuck TJ. Holmes will
see also
Speaker 3 (31:00):
That token
Hey that folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Sunday, August thirty first, and picture this Amy
and TJ sitting in a hotel room and Stockholm, Sweden,
in white robes, a cup of coffee in robox, hand,
a metal around my neck.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Now with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
I just described to you the exact scene. And there's
a reason we are sitting like this looking like this.
There's a metal, a cup of coffee, and two folks
in robes because we just actually did something robes we
should maybe be a little more proud of and not
just say all, wait, runner, it's no big deal. We
just completed the Stockholm half marathon yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You know, it is pretty cool. And I was it's
one of those things where I think, whatever you do
in life, sometimes you have to remind yourself when you're
doing it that it's actually pretty cool that you're doing it,
especially when it's a struggle. But I was actively thinking
about that yesterday. I was like, I'm in Sweden and
I'm running a half marathon right now, that's a kind
of awesome and random. Yes, everyone has been asking questions
(01:07):
and are puzzled when they say, oh, you're running a
half marathon where and then just casually drop Stockholm and we'll.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Explain that's a very good reason why we end up
in random places. But as we sit here, Rodes is
doing great, great, great, great physically, how are you feeling?
You had to tell there's always something.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I actually, for the first time, there's nothing. I am
fine head to toe.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And we say this. Marathons are the ones that do
us in at least physically. We're not usually too bad
off after a half marathon. We've been doing this a
while and that's great, and we're blessed to have that.
This was a tougher half marat the toughest half marathon
for me because I've been injured, and we'll get into
the aftermath of that, which was ugly and nasty and
involved the toilet. We'll explain that. But my feet are
(01:50):
actually killing me. But we made it through. But we
the rose. This was one that we set a goal
in May of doing this random and it was random
because you and I these days, as much as we travel,
we don't travel by ourselves as much anymore.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
No, we usually have at least one daughter tagging along,
sometimes all three, and then sometimes some of their friends
come with them as well, so we usually have a
gaggle of teens and young adults with us.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So this was an opportunity where we were looking at
the schedule earlier this year and we were like, Okay,
we're going here with Ava, We're going here with Sabine,
and Lisa is going to roll here and then we're
going to see anal. So we're planning all these things
and we realized, ah, we haven't done a lot for ourselves.
We look up for something to do and this was random.
(02:41):
We get into a you can explain as best and
however you want to how we get into these moods
where I say, babe, just book it. I'll go wherever
you want to go. And we were having one of
those days.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Look your look and I have I've admired this in you,
and I've it's attractive to me. You have. I've joked
about it. But you do have some OCD and it's
a serious disorder for some, but you're low on the spectrum,
but you have it enough where you like things a
certain way, and so sometimes when you get in these
more relaxed moods, you're like, you know what I'm not
(03:11):
I'm not going to say, just book it, just wherever
you want to go, let's just go. So I kind
of wait for these moods that I'm like, all right,
I pull out the computer and I just start looking
at playing tickets where.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We ended up because of that.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Oh it's rome me really, And then the next day
I will say, you know, I actually booked that that trip,
and you're like, did you? I was like, no, Like,
the tickets are booked. I found the hotel because sometimes
also with we like to do airbnbs or hotels, but
you just painstaking all the choices, all the options, and
(03:43):
so you kind of almost you have to get into
this mood where you're just like ropes picket and so
then I feel free to go ahead and do it
because otherwise there's so much overthinking going on about well
this place is that, and that place is this, from
the location to the hotel to what airline we're traveling on.
It's just sometimes it's overwhelming. So I wait for you
to get into these moods and then I just book it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Now, this is what you have to know about this one, folks.
I was in that mindset. But we were both looking
around for things, and I gave you option. I think
we were actually getting frustrated with being unable to find
something that timing didn't work out. I sent you probably
no more than three, but maybe two real options, and
one of them and this was, Hey, we were looking
for a half marathon of something to do. It happens
(04:27):
to be one on the weekend that we can get away,
and it happens to be in Stockholm.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Right. So I was laughing because the places we've gone
have been well, very white, and we were talking about
maybe going to a place that had more diversity, just
some you know, black folks, some black folks. And then
when one of your options was Stockholm, I started laughing.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Why it's a diverse country.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Everyone looks like me.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's so funny, so weird. Look my whole life career.
I mean, I'm used to being around and being the
only black guy. I'm not that's in a room, not
usually being the only black guy in a country in
a seventeen block area. As we walk around and we
talked about, look, that's fine. I am twenty five thousand,
(05:19):
ran this half marathon yesterday. I can remember the four
black people I saw, and if you put them in
a lineup, I could pick them out.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I actually could too.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The two brothers that were running together, that was one sister.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
With them a lot for the whole time. I feel
like I was in between them half the time I
was running.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I couldn't figure them out how they were running. But
then there was a sister that looked like Amanda Gorman
to me. She had the long brands. Yeah, and then
there was another system. Yeah, that's all. I remember.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
You just nailed all four who I saw twenty five
thousand people and me, right, so you gave me. I
forgot what the other options were. But when you said
half marathon, that was the hook. And I have been struggling.
I think if anyone has been listening to this podcast,
they know that I the last my last couple of
marathons have been really, really tough and have actually really
(06:09):
shaken my confidence as a runner because I just felt
like I couldn't trust my body. I didn't know what
it was going to do. I just have been I've
had major issues with my stomach. I just could not
stop vomiting. It was just and it's so wretching that
it doesn't stop for like the rest of the day,
like it to the point where I don't want to
run another marathon. I just felt so terrible, and even
(06:31):
the half marathon thing like long runs, I just I
was nervous. I just I was shaken. So for me,
the opportunity to try and reclaim my confidence, I wanted to.
I wanted to do it. So that's what sold me
on Stockholm.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And then we always look at for somewhere to go,
something new, something neither of us have ever been to,
So Stockholm made sense. And yes, half marathon, I'm trying
to get ready for the New York City Marathon in November,
so this all made perfect, perfect sense. Now we get here,
here's one thing, we haven't stopped working. By the way, folks,
have you all been keeping up? We have been. Yes,
(07:07):
we have been putting out the same schedule the podcast
the whole time we're here, which happens to be six
hours ahead of New York, which has called some frustrations.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Right, so it's nice because we actually get to sleep in,
but then we did not account for the fact that
we would be having to work all throughout the day,
where normally you would want to be sightseeing and going
around and looking at stuff. So what we've done is
we go out for a couple hours, then we come
back and work. Then we go out for a couple hours,
can we come back and work. So the first day
where we actually we got ahead of ourselves. We tape
(07:40):
some podcasts ahead of time so we could have a
nice weekend, and then we realized the first free day
we had, well, we just casually ran a half marathon.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That was our free day.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's our free day where we had already recorded some
podcasts so we didn't have to work on Saturday. But
then we worked our bodies for two hours straight.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And while Robes has been struggling with your stomach that
you've talked about those well documented incidents, my issue has
been my foot. First the achilles, which I finally got better,
and then I had a foot sprain that hit me
last year. Was it August?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, because you were overcompensating for your achilles, But that
was August, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So yes, Okay, So you all remember that I ended
up in an ambulance at the end of the Chicago Marathon.
That was one year ago this month as well.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
No, that was early October was the Chicago's early.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So that injury, which is almost a full year ago
now is the same issue giving me a problem here?
And this is a race, and we got going, and
we will take it in chronological order of the day
when we the race, first of all, wasn't until three
in the afternoon, which is bizarre any runner listening has
done a race, Like what the hell I was?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I was spiraling about what to eat and maybe more importantly,
what not to eat, because yes, all those stomach issues
I just talked about, like that's a huge concern for
any run, and so I just thought, what is one?
I know me and I need food, So there's no
way I could just fast all day and then run
a half marathon. But normally when you wake up and
(09:11):
you run a half marathon, which is what I've always done,
I'll take a banana and some peanut butter and that
gets me through and you know, maybe some little gummies
along the way. But I was like, what am I
supposed to eat or not eat? You didn't really eat
anything yesterday.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
No, I wasn't a big I wasn't. I don't do
that even in the morning, no matter.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
When you have boundless energy. I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I don't know what that. I just don't like stuff
on my stomach when I'm running like that. I didn't
stop at all for water station yesterday during the race.
I don't think you stop.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I stopped at one and I just I literally just
took a small sweag. Look what I have to say.
The weather not perfect for you for summer vacation, but
perfect for running. It was mid sixties overcast, so I
couldn't have asked for better weather. That has a huge
impact on my physical being, and so it's true for
(10:01):
just about any runners. So that was ideal conditions.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
That was an adjustment for folks like us because you
actually have to go to bed so early the night
before usually because you're getting up at three four am
to try to maybe travel over to get to an area.
So for us to not have to be somewhere until three,
we happen to have a place where staying a hotel.
Literally we could walk out the door, make a left,
(10:27):
and within five minutes we were at our starting corral.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It was remarks, that was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Now you found this out. The reason they started so late,
I kind of applaud them for it. It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
They don't want to disrupt the city. So the fact
is if they when they do it later. They truncate
the amount of time they allow runners to run, so
basically and they were like clockwork. I mean when they
say the start time was for each corral, basically you
get a corral number or a corral letter. It was
right on time. And and so I think the first
(11:01):
gral was at three thirty. We ended up running at
three fifty and at seven pm it's done. It's over.
If you have not finished the race, bye, too bad,
you just are a non finisher. And so they keep
it really truncated, and in the afternoon they can just
keep it into a small amount of disruptions for the
rest of the city. And that's how they did it.
When you start out early, people linger, it goes on it.
(11:24):
It's very disruptive to the traffic flow.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And this isn't a New York city, right that spread
out the way we are that has all of the
public trends that we have where people can still get around. Hell,
every Saturday in August they shut down what fittety streets?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah it's Park Avenue.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, they shut it down, and the city functions just fine.
Here it's a little different. Two and a half million people.
You got a few main arteries where this race is running.
You shut those down, the city's going to shut down, right,
So I thought that was all. I didn't think about that.
We were thinking, well they do that. They have a.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Verious The Scandinavians are efficient, they really are. And you
really get a sense of the culture. And when you
see even how people run in the race, you get
a sense of how different cities and different cultures are.
So it was kind of interesting running. And by the way,
when we went to go get our bibs the day before,
which is what runners do, you go and you get
your your number and your packet so that you're official
(12:12):
for the race we had. This was the second day
and almost at the end of the day and the
guy who was giving me my bib said, Wow, you're
the first American I've met today. How did you guys?
Why are you guys coming all the way here to
run this race? So we this was a very local race.
I did not see one other America. Did you see
another American there? No, So you really get a sense
(12:35):
of the culture and the people who you're running with,
and it's a very different experience. It was a different
experience we had.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
The one the only American reference saw was a guy
who had a tag on the back of his shirt
that said fuck Trump. Yes, even but that could have
been from anywhere. Yes, that was I don't know why,
and I'm saying because against the President, I'm saying something
about that made it feel like home. As crazy as
that's not, I was like, Oh, I'm used to seeing
(13:01):
that sentiment. That's okay.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
But what was really interesting is that when you run
American races, and granted we're running races in New York
and Chicago, where you've got serious runners who are really
caring about their about pring getting a personal record, and
I was like thinking, hey, I'm feeling pretty good. And
the moment I started off, I was like, I'm feeling
really good. I could maybe best my best. The problem was,
(13:24):
it's a very different experience running here in Sweden. It
seemed as though nobody was out to run fast, no
one was out to beat any record or to make
it to the finish line. It a certain so everyone
was slow and casual, and it was tight and it
was narrow, and I bet you, I think the best
(13:44):
way for me to describe this I ran it about
eighty percent of what I could have run, and that
was frustrating to me as the competitive American that I am.
I wanted and I could not get past people period.
For almost the entirety of the race. There were a
couple stretches where it opened up. Did you see me
the one time? I opened my arms like a like
an eagle because I was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Finally I had to hit that lady in the face.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I did well. She came around. I was like, maybe
I shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She came around what she was running, having.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Real space for her. Then I realized I won't do
that again. But I was just so excited to actually
be in my actual gait, to be running at the
pace I wanted to be running at. It was a
short little sprint over the bridge, but I was so
happy to be running. I felt like I was holding
back the entire run.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So our excitement about this race was the fact that
we got a tour of Stockholm the way most people can't,
because we literally ran thirteen miles around the city. So
we were very excited about that. It was I will
say this might be the most polite race I've ever run,
in that the people around were not pushing and shoving
(14:51):
and being asses like we have often seen in raising.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Nobody cared about their time, and I guess.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
We ran most of our races in New York, but
it was that part of the experience I liked. This
might be a close second or competitor for first of
the worst runs I've ever had and experiences I've ever
had running, and that had to do not with necessarily
the people the temperature, but it had to do with
(15:22):
the course in particular. And even though we finished, the
weather was great, the people were great and had a
great experience. Why in God's name did I spend so
much of my evening at the toilet?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Before we go to break, I have to tell you
about new leggings I've been living in lately. They're from
this brand called Tona, and fun fact here, they were
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that alone, you already know they're going to be pretty good.
These leggings feel like a second skin. They're super flattering,
super comfortable, and somehow still supportive. I've been wearing them
(15:58):
on my warning runs and they I've quickly become my
everyday lounging leggings too. And here's what makes them even better.
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is so important and incredible, So we've partnered with Tona
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(16:21):
Head to tonaactive dot com and use code iHeart for
twenty percent off and free shipping. Welcome back to this
half marathon edition of Amy and TJ, coming to you
(16:41):
from Stockholm, Sweden, where we just completed. Do you have
account of how many half marathons you've done?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Some seven eight nine?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Maybe I actually don't have account I mean official half marathons,
because when you're training for every marathon that we've run,
you run at least I don't know, the equip run
at least two, and then you do beyond it. So
I have absolutely lost count.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I think that's right. I should know because of the
metal count we have at the house, But I think
seven eight or nine.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
We do keep all of our medals displayed, so we
should go back and count because I really don't know
how many half marathons I've run.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
We'll go through all this and not keep your metal
We have them displayed, folks. Yes, they are up on
the wall.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
We bought as I packed. Nikki is the one who
showed me this very cool, my friend Nikki, who also
is a runner, how you can put a metal rod
up on your wall and just display your medals. My
daughters came in and made fun of me, like really, mom,
are you like eight years old with your gymnastics medals?
And I said to them, you run a half marathon,
(17:41):
you run a marathon, and then you tell me what
you want to do with those medals.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And yeah, I got tattoos to commemorate because I ain't
ever gonna forget and stop reminding y'all, but I ran
a marathon. At some point, you talked about bid pick up. Now,
this is something we kind of were grading or judging
Stockholm half Marathon by New York City half marathon and
marathon standards, and there were some things we saw is
that hey, New York can learn from this, like hey,
Stockholm can learn from New York. One thing we loved
(18:07):
they put the names on the bibs. Everybody's first name
was on their bib. Now, they don't do this for
the marathon. They don't do it for the half either,
right now, No.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
You so, I know that you can get them printed
out for the for the like put it on your back.
But the fact that everyone's bib looked the same and
everyone had their first name, what it made it seem
for me was just intimate and communal. I felt like
I knew the people I was running with. When you
see someone's name and you put it to their face,
you feel like you know them, you're with friends. It
created a much different atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
And the only things I've understood that people have said
to me in Swedish this week was TJ when they
said my name. You know, I'm saying. When we were running,
I hear them and then they say my name. I
know they're rooting for me. That's the only to hear
someone from Stockholm yell out my name to it was Lo.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
It was Lou, you had Lou on your eye.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
But to hear that as you're going to your point
of it being personal, that was very cool. The thing
that they absolutely got wrong was the bip pick up
situation that you mentioned. There was a line that's longer
than you can imagine that we actually left and came
back later and it was gone. But there was some
kind of a mishap, if you will, to where they
tell everybody come between opening and three o'clock because after
(19:22):
that it's going to be busy. Well, when they tell
everybody that, everybody showed up at the time they told
them to, which made it a ridiculous line and amount
of time. That was a I don't know how they
messed up.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Well, well, the funny thing was I didn't look at
the directive. So it was open from eleven to eight,
and they said after three pm it gets really busy,
so try to get here before then. So we got
there at noon, not knowing I hadn't read that it
was hours long. The line. We got there at what
four five, and there was no one there, and that's
when the guy said, you're the first American I've seen.
(19:56):
But I said, when did it stop getting busy? Because
the line was insane, because it stopped getting busy around
three pm. And then I went back and looked and
laughed and said, they actually created that backlog because they
told people a very finite window and everybody went and
did exactly as they were told.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
I guess that's a little inside baseball, but the way
these things are set up. Usually have these big expo
centers where you know shoe companies and sock company. Company
related to running has these booth set up you can
go in and buy stuff. Usually you can just go
into that and then go get your bib when you
feel like it in the correct line. This time you
had to get your bib before you go into the expo.
(20:34):
I've never seen one set up like that. It was awful.
Didn't appreciate it. Nice self out Stockholm. You know what
you're doing. Don't listen to us. This was the first race,
certainly half marathon. I have never seen this many people
walking so early in a race.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Again, I just think this was It's a different vibe
here and I think it was more casual and I
appreciate the fact that people have different running skill sets,
but I was frustrated because it was narrow and if
you were somebody who wanted to run and who had
trained to run the whole race, which is what I
would think you normally would do when you say you're
going to run a half marathon, when people start walking
(21:09):
at two miles and more and more and more, and
by the time we were at ten miles. I mean
I was flying past everyone. It was very obvious that
there wasn't a lot of seriousness or training for a
lot of people. And that's okay, but I just wish
there was a designated area for people who wanted to walk,
because it makes it really hard when you're a runner.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You're going walk two miles. In two miles now, people
have injuries. Sometimes you just stretch it out totally again,
and we have seen that, and we know what that
looks like.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
And we've been that. Not in two miles, no, but yes,
but twenty two miles.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
If that was your issue. At two miles, people just
don't move over, get out the way. They still think
this is an experience for them as a walker. In
the middle of the race, there was a couple of
women just walking almost casually, as if it was just
a hanging out and a walk in the park. So
some of that was obviously difficult for folks who have
flown thousands of miles and train for months to come
(22:01):
here and do this thing. I get that that was
a problem. The bottlenecks killed me. The bottlenecks and folks,
if you've seen these right look in New York you're
talking three, four or five like wide wide lanes sometimes
that you get to run through pretty good legs of
the race. That's in New York. Here you have that
in short spurts, and then it goes down literally to
(22:25):
almost a running path through a park, to where now
you have twenty four thousand people on a wide lane
have to shrink down to this two or three person
wide thing and try to get through for a guy
that's injured and for a person that needs to be
in stride to not be in such pain. This was
an awful run for me.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, And there were a lot of twists and turns
which were actually beautiful and cool, and there were a
lot of hills that I wasn't expecting that were actually
really I thought, gorgeous. But to your point, it's those bottlenecks.
I mean, if you can envision in basically a a
bike lane with two lanes coming and going, it got
that narrow. It was I was like, how is this possible?
(23:08):
It was almost like I felt like we were on
a running path in Central Park, except for we're in
the middle of a major race with tens of thousands
of people. It was wild to me that it got
that I almost there were times where I almost had
to stop running because it was so it got backed up.
Oh yeah, and I just that was again, you don't
come here. You come here for the experience, for the culture,
(23:29):
but you don't come here for a pr because you're
not going to get it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And even on some of those bottlenecks you just mentioned
those walkers that we just mentioned, we're still on those,
so now you have people walking taking up lanes that
you don't even have anymore. That was so so frustrating,
it was killer. It was. And then of course the
one lady, and this was I don't know sometimes what
people are thinking or they're not and whatever experience they're having,
(23:56):
but we're running pretty tight together. And the only space
sometimes you have between you and the person in front
of you is just whatever your stride length is, so
whatever as far as you could put your foot to
not kick the other person as you're running sometimes is
the best you can do. And somebody's behind you, so
you all cramped together. And that was a young lady.
What mile was it, baby?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
She It was like around mile nine, eight or nine.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
She stopped cold in front of me. Imagine driving forty
miles an hour behind somebody half a car link and
they just stop and just throwing the brakes. She stopped.
She didn't slow, she didn't look around, she just stopped running.
And to keep from running over her, I had to
adjust in a very awkward way with my feet once again,
(24:41):
ended up probably what fifteen feet off the course, off
in the.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Grass, screaming from my air pods. And I was and
I turned around and I saw you flying off the course,
and I was like, oh my god, what just happened?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
So this is all for me. You come all this way,
and you do all this training, and I'm already have
a bad foot, and something like that happened. I was
furious at that woman. She doesn't no, obviously, but those
things added up. If this was a training run, I
told you, I probably would have stopped at mile seven
to eight, certainly.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Nine, and said, yeah, when that happened, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Can't go any farther. I'm done. I would have, but
because of this, and who knows what damage I do
to my foot now. But here we are. We finished,
got to the end. I think after was at the
New York Marathon. You immediately went to the right, put
your head down because you were abut to start puking,
so which I did, comes over and starts talking to
you and wants to say how are you doing and
(25:33):
all this. It's the last thing you want. And at
that time it was an older guy, and I'll say, hey, man,
we got it. Just step off, yep, I got her.
We're gonna be okay. Stop talking. There was a woman
that came over to me and was trying to help
the volunteer and I looked at you. I said, handle this.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, because you were I mean, you were in significant
pain and you just needed a beat. And I was like,
he's fine, he's injured. Does he need a wheelchair? Does he?
I was like, no, he does not. He will be
all right. We just need a second, please just a second.
Just please give him some space.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I love, and I've done that to you several times.
I look at you in certain situations, you know, either
handle it not well, or I pissed or I'm about
to get Please just take care of this. But we
make it out of there very slowly. I can barely really,
I could barely walk it that you. Yeah, Well, we
get up to it and I can't calm down. I
can't get to go down. I got total shakes, chills,
My stomach is jecked and nothing's in it. By the way,
(26:26):
I started drinking a little water. But this was very
familiar to you and very familiar to me because we
all just went through this recently. But you go through
this all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I do, and I know that feeling of just that
unbelievable nausea when you've your body is in trauma. Your
body has been taxed for whether whether it's an injury
or whether it was just putting itself through so much
with the run itself you were. I know that's exactly
how I felt at mile twenty two all the way
until we like I puked at a final time at
(26:57):
the Fulton subway station. So I know, your body just
has to get it out, and so sure enough, you
had to get it out.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
And that's what we were again. It was fresh on
our minds, and I felt confident about what was wrong
because I was in an ambulance with a nurse who
was explaining it to me in Chicago. He said, your
body is in trauma. It is trying to fight it off.
That's why you have the fever. It's fighting That's why
you have the chills, and that's why you feel like
you got a puke. But that's she was saying. That's
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
It's a good sign because your body is healing it
your body.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Is reacting and healing. And sure enough, on the back
of that ambulance, I was up chucking, and sure enough
in here because we were getting dressed and getting ready.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
For we had dinner at eight fau.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I said, Babs, give me a few momentutes, just give
me a few moments, and I was I wanted to
be in fetal position and not walking around.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It was awful, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And it wasn't even the feeling anymore. It was the
stomach that hadn't settled down from the trauma and the
whole thing going on.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And I told you the way you felt, I was like,
that is why I am so afraid to run another marathon,
because it is the worst feeling in the world. But yes,
I know that that you know. And we always have
said this. We wish we remembered her name, the kind
woman in the ambulance and ch But saying that to
you is such a reassurance because you actually feel like
you're gonna die and you're like okay, this is my
body healing itself. This is my body is supposed to do.
(28:10):
And it just makes you feel better in the moment,
knowing you're gonna be okay, and this is the path
to get out of it. You have to puke.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
So this was we finished the race at what time? Baby?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Six?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Around six? So? And I remember this particular because the
dinner reservation was for eight. And I yelled in and said, babe,
what because we have you had? You were sitting there,
sitting dressed, waiting.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I think rose in my hand.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Now, I think you had your personal on yours. You
were ready to go. So she's waiting on me. And
I yelled out, what time is it? And you told
me it was seven forty eight and the reservation was
around the corner, so that wasn't any issue. And I said, babe,
let me have these last seven minutes. So I was
thinking it was going to be seven fifty five.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
You said, I'll be out and seven to fifty five ready.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
To go, all right? And then I walked in here
to say that to you, and I remember that the
time had changed by one minute and it was now
seven forty nine. I said, oh, now, I only got
six minutes to get this worked out. And I go
back to the back and I'm just waiting. I think
I was actually posting something on Instagram. I was just waiting,
and sure enough the moment came, and I mean everything
(29:16):
came out.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
You felt so much better.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Well the first thing I said when I came out, well, baby,
I certainly feel better.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, you had a sparkle back in your eye.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
The freshman teeth twenty two times. And we went out
to dinner and have good night last night. But that's
our experience here. But really, baby, I think we do.
We don't appreciate enough, but we get to do the
fact that we got to come here, the fact that
we're healthy enough, the ages we are to run. I
have marathon and the whole experience to do it with you,
working with you and being in a relationship with everything
(29:49):
happened this week, So it's cool, and I do I
think we skipped over sometimes how blessed we are. Did
I just have things, would be able to do things.
The guy yesterday will chair Yah did the half marathon
and we talked about those hills. They weren't huge hills.
You're running up huge inclines, but still slight Inclind, I
would feel. But it was a guy in a wheelchair
(30:11):
doing this thing. And the time I passed him was
on a hill.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Same and everybody on that.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Hill gave him a round of applause as we were
running by him. That was just that's fucking.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Awesome, it really and it's just it's a testament to
the human spirit. You see people struggling, even those folks walking,
they were out there doing something, trying to do something
maybe they had never done before. And that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So appreciate the experience. Always appreciate you all coming along
with us for the literal or figurative morning runs Mondays
through Friday. But I always appreciated folks for by Yeah you
don't stand out here, you blend.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, it's just like everyone else. Yes, we all look alike.
Don't wet blondes around him.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
But folks for my blonde blue Roebuck TJ. Holmes will
see also
Speaker 3 (31:00):
That token
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