April 22, 2024 • 52 mins
Do you know what’s humbling? Having your brother run the Boston Marathon. Do you know what’s even more humbling? Being part of a podcast with your brother and two of his friends who also ran the Boston Marathon last Monday. Today’s episode is a special one, though, and I hope you’ll listen in to hear Harry and his friends talk about their experience running one of the most prestigious marathons in the world, their race strategy versus their race reality, and their future running plans. Please join me in congratulating Harry and his friends Riley and Ethan on completing this accomplishment! Im so proud of all of them! (The most humbling, of course, if when people look you up and down and then have the gall to ask if you also ran… no).
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Episode Transcript
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Harry Weidner (00:03):
All right.
Welcome back to our tangledminds.
Jack Weidner (00:08):
Welcome to our tangled vines.
Harry Weidner (00:10):
I'm Harry Weidner.
Jack Weidner (00:11):
I'm Jack by
Riley Geason (00:12):
matto.
Harry Weidner (00:13):
And today, Episode 27, we have a very
special episode. I justcompleted the Boston Marathon
this past Monday, April 15. Andtoday's episode we're going to
call the Boston Marathon. And Ibrought along two of my friends
Riley and Ethan. And we alltrained for the marathon
(00:34):
together, and we didn't run ittogether. And so, just wanted to
put together a quick episodeabout the Boston Marathon. So,
Riley, Ethan, you want tointroduce yourselves?
Riley Geason (00:46):
Sure, yeah. My name is Riley. I'm a longtime
friend of Harry's. And I guesswe could say it after like, I've
known this kid for a while, wentto school with him. Once a
payment to be usph with atraining partner, he kind of got
me into running. Sign up for myfirst 10k And then that a half
(01:06):
and graduated, the next step wasa marathon. Yeah, excited to be
on on the pod and see sort ofexcited to share my race
experience. You guys, will youguys are gonna get a taste of
it. So glad to be here.
Ethan Leef (01:21):
Thanks for coming.
Yeah, and my name is Ethan. I'mfrom Charleston, West Virginia.
But I've been in Boston foralmost two years now. I wouldn't
say I'm a longtime runner, but Igrew up running, you know, cross
country in high school and thatsort of thing. And then bumped
into these two guys, whiletraining for Boston pretty
randomly. And we became fastfriends. And here we are.
Harry Weidner (01:48):
Yeah. So that's, that's a little bit of our
story, how we met the how Rileyand I, like you said went to
school together. And we've beentraining for a couple races. For
the past. I guess about a yearwe've been training for some
sort of race.
Riley Geason (02:05):
Yeah, it's probably been like, six to eight
months, I was thinking aboutI've only been running for about
less than a year still. Or Iguess maybe about a year now.
Yeah. So when you just did
Harry Weidner (02:18):
your first marathon, which is wild? Could
it turn around, but anyway, wewere running and how we met
Ethan is we would go in thesegroup runs with. There's an
organizer who sort of trainssome of the charity teams and
Riley and I would go on theseruns and not really talk to
anyone. And at some point, Ethanwas to our my right. And he just
(02:42):
looked over and we just sparkedup a conversation. And when
you're rotting next to someonefor so long, you got 10 plus
miles to get to know Him. And wejust got to got to know Ethan
and we trained for the rest ofthe training block together. So
now we're all here. Now we'veall run the race. So just
Jack Weidner (03:01):
for people that don't know, little background, I
don't know why I'm here, exceptto tell you this exact piece of
information. My understanding isthere are two ways to run the
Boston Marathon. You get aqualifying time in one of the
qualifying races, which isessentially less less than a
three hour marathon. It's beenHarry's told me that it's been
(03:22):
decreasing in time becausepeople are getting faster and
faster. But that's about thebenchmark that you need to be
at. And you could also run forcharity, where you raise a
certain amount of money. And Ithink correct me if I'm wrong
here the three people that arehere all ran for Boston Medical
Center charity. No. And you guyswere also a lot of Oh, wrong.
(03:44):
Okay. So who did eat the run for
Harry Weidner (03:47):
Riley and I ran for BMC and II then you ran for
Spaulding
Ethan Leef (03:52):
rehab?
Rehabilitation Hospital inMassachusetts. Cool.
Harry Weidner (03:58):
So we all ran sir some sort of medical entity. And
that's not true Jack. That's notthe only reason that you're
here. I wanted to hear yourperspective as like a spectator.
Okay, love the ring.
Jack Weidner (04:11):
I I told Harry just so you guys know like i
Harry said, I'll get I'll getRiley on and we could bring our
buddy Easton on and we'll talkabout running and I was like, I
don't have to be there. Ihaven't good not been. I've been
telling people this week thatthere is nothing more humbling
(04:31):
than your brother running theBoston Marathon. And people
looking at you standing next tohim being like, oh, did you also
run were they like 99%? Sure. Ididn't run based on how I
looked. But they wanted to bepolite. And that was a fun
experience to so sorry.
Riley Geason (04:51):
My sister said the exact same thing.
Jack Weidner (04:54):
No, yeah. Okay.
It's a shared experience. Yeah.
Riley Geason (05:00):
My mom might as well actually.
Jack Weidner (05:03):
Yeah, it's like we're proud of you. But it makes
us feel worse about ourselves Ithink is kind of where that's
at. So anyways, Harry, so yeah,yeah,
Harry Weidner (05:16):
I mean, I let's just talk a lot. I just want to
talk through race day. And Iespecially want to hear from
Ethan because because I didn'tsee him much race day or hear
about his race day experience. Iwas with Riley for most of the
day, but so what time did wewake up? What time did we have
to be at the commons to getbused out? What was the bus ride
(05:37):
out? Like? And how are youfeeling for the morning before
the race?
Ethan Leef (05:43):
This me? Yeah. I think I woke up at like 630
chillin, like a little bitanxious. Definitely pretty amped
up, but also anxious and got upearly, so that I could, like,
you know, probably like you guyseat a big meal without having to
worry about it. Like coming uplater, anything like that. And
(06:06):
then I I was totally jamming outat like headphones on my
roommates. Were both sleeping. Iwas like dancing in the kitchen
making eggs. And then what wereyou listening to? Oh, I go all
over. I was doing what did iWhat did I send you, Riley? I
think the star bubble startedoff at like six times, probably
(06:29):
some Taylor's lift up. And thenI actually got dressed and
everything in that. And I tookthe train with my friend baggy.
It was also on team sport. Andshe lives like a block away. We
probably got to the Commons atlike nine and we're on the bus
(06:49):
by like 915 Is that what youguys beat me there? I think
Riley Geason (06:56):
yeah, I could tell a little more I think so I got
up around six. I think I wastelling her this probably but
when I woke up, it felt like anormal Monday almost because I'm
a routine guy and I had to wakeup at six every Monday anyway,
so it was kind of just weirdwaking up at the normal time
(07:19):
didn't really feel like raceday. Because I think usually
advisable on race day, you know,you're getting up much earlier
than usual. Like four or fiveand preparing usually dark out.
But anyway, I I mean, I got upstarted stretching a little
start eating a little bit.
didn't really I didn't eat eggsor anything. Nothing huge. We're
(07:41):
gonna have had some grahamcrackers had some just bite and
pasta, had some electrolytes,not enough electrolytes, but add
some electrolytes that I think Ithink Harry came over to my
place around a 15. And then wehang out here for 1520 minutes
(08:02):
and then my mom who was in townwatching likely had a rental
car. So she picked us up fromour place or from my place. And
we probably we probably were atthe bus area around like 850. So
on a bus, maybe arounds I had 15rdrd really lucky about that.
Harry Weidner (08:30):
And my morning was much like Riley is like I
woke up by 15 business as usual.
Got a cup of coffee, ate somefood had a banana, and an orange
and a little old bar. Just forsome quick carbs. I had one of
the honey Stinger waffle thingsjust for more carbs. And then I
stretched but on but on myoutfit and headed over to your
(08:55):
place Riley so it wasn't like itdidn't. It didn't feel like race
day honestly that it felt like anormal Monday. And then I think
when we were being driven overto the commons and I saw like
the 1000s of people being busedfrom the commons over to
Hopkinton. That's when it reallysunk in for me. But of course,
(09:16):
then we sat on the bus for 45minutes. And it just kind of
lost its appeal. What was yourbus ride like even
Ethan Leef (09:34):
help? I don't think it lost its appeal for me. I
mean, it was definitely a longbus ride. And I was sitting. I'm
so terrible. I don't rememberthe name of the woman I was
sitting beside. But it was alovely woman from Atlanta who
had run Boston like 10 years agoand she was coming back to do it
again. Well, so I chatted withher and then mostly just like
(09:56):
stared at the window and likethought about kind of like tried
to set my intentions for therace. But my boss had a lot of
energy. Like there was a groupof people that all knew each
other in the back. And likeperiodically, they would start
like chants and stuff like that.
So it was like, the closer wegot, the louder the bots got,
which was kind of cool.
Harry Weidner (10:21):
Nothing
Riley Geason (10:25):
that Harry and I were probably the loudest people
on our bus. We were justlaughing, like, stupid shit the
whole time. But like, it didn'tseem like anyone else was really
like, there were a couple peoplein the front. Laughing talking,
but other than that, I was kindof just like, Why didn't let's
let's get there. And nobody
Harry Weidner (10:46):
was talking. The weirdest part about the bus for
me was realizing that it's sucha long bus ride back. And I
thought, Oh, shit, we got to runthis. We got to run all the way
back to Boston.
Ethan Leef (11:01):
That for sure crossed my mind. I also thought
it was hilarious that it wasjust a line of yellow school
buses on the interstate. Likelooking out the front window of
the bus you could see like 10buses ahead of you. Just so many
runners our money
Harry Weidner (11:17):
was passing other buses
Ethan Leef (11:20):
bus was literally just like sat in its place and
followed the line.
Jack Weidner (11:27):
What was that? So they bus you guys using school
buses? I always pictured likecharters, new school buses.
Riley Geason (11:34):
yellow yellow school buses.
Jack Weidner (11:37):
Did you also explain Oh, and I didn't know
this that the Boston Marathon isdifferent than a lot of other
marathons where they just drawthe start line is 26.2 miles
away from the finish line whichis in Boston. So you're in a
town I wouldn't it's not even asuburb considered right like
it's far enough away that it's aseparate town and then you just
(11:59):
run into Boston? Yeah, ratherthan looping you around the
city, which sounds that soundsmiserable 45 minute drive out
there's like oh god Brewster runback.
Harry Weidner (12:14):
Yeah, that's that's what got me. So we get to
athlete's village which is whatthey call the school in
Hopkinton. And it's just 1000sof people but the races already
started for us or the raciststarted for others and we're
just kind of there still. And Ithink priority number one for me
was find a porta potty I had topee so badly when we got there.
(12:37):
And luckily I was with Riley andwe had access to the charity
area and somehow you camewalking in ething because I
never thought I would see youthe whole day because I know
that my phone but that wasawesome to be able to see you
Ethan Leef (12:52):
there was in you guys helped me out because I
also really had to be and likethe lines were crazy and I was
feeling a little bit overwhelmedand then like one of you like
tapped me on the shoulder orsomething I was like alright,
let's cut the line a little bitthe nerves
Harry Weidner (13:10):
so he P stretch hang out for a little bit and
then what like what how are youguys feeling at athletes
village?
Riley Geason (13:23):
I feel like I feel like we had a year that we
started stretching. And then wekind of went back outside. And
that's when like the sun hadreally started hitting a search
for like I feel like when weread the Porta Potty line I was
like wow, it's kind of hot.
That's That's what I feel likethe realization I'm like,
(13:43):
whether actually hit butotherwise was like pizza parlor.
Ethan Leef (13:54):
Right you Ethan I felt pretty good. I was I think
I was most surprised by howlittle time we spent in
athlete's village. Which now Iknow is because you have like a
half mile walk to the startingline. Right? I feel like we were
stretching and like crackingjokes and getting loose inside
the high school you know in theshade. And then suddenly we
(14:16):
looked around and everyone hadcleared out and we were like Oh
should I guess it's time to dothis thing. So I felt like
almost rushed in that regard.
But then it was still some timebefore we actually started. So I
thought that was kind ofinteresting.
Harry Weidner (14:32):
And then you put the word on me also is that you
pulled out where you bring theselittle plastic bags to athletes
and athletes village and you canput kind of food and drink in
whatever you want for the busride and while you're there to
prep, and you pull out threecooked breakfast sausages
(14:53):
prepared and just offered themto us and I was good on on
breakfast sauce At that point, Ithink I would have thrown it
out. Yeah, I appreciated theoffer of the breakfast sausage.
Ethan Leef (15:06):
Those are my go to man. I didn't have any either.
Unfortunately, I had one on thebus, but not in the village. And
then go there. They'll be
Harry Weidner (15:20):
and then we're walking to the Star Line. And
that's when it started to hitme. That one it's hot as shit
outside. The sun was justbeating down. And they were
handing out sunscreen. And Ithought, oh, boy, it's gonna be
it's gonna be a toasty warmoutside. And we were all I was
just antsy at that point. I wasjust ready to start moving. And,
(15:46):
and not be sort of corralled inwith all of these people. baking
in the sun. I just kind ofwanted to get going. There. Did
you guys feel the same?
Riley Geason (15:56):
Yeah, I mean, it was like, I don't know. It was
weird, because I did feelrushed. Kind of like Ethan said.
But then when you like, actuallystarted walking over there, you
realize like, there's like solike, a ton of time, but like
you're just walking over there.
Russia made me super antsy,because I feel like we probably
(16:18):
walk probably took what, like2030 minutes to walk to the
finish line and start. And like,I was just like, can we just
start already?
Harry Weidner (16:30):
Yeah, seemingly, everything was like bothering
me. For those 20 to 30 minutes,like people would be running
down the side where everyoneelse was walking. And I was
just, I was just bothered. Ithink just because I wanted to
get started and get move. And
Ethan Leef (16:45):
yeah, and that's also when we separated. I went
and found some Spalding people.
And I was I paced the race withplum. My friend Nolan, who's on
my charity team. Did you guysstop at the bathrooms that were
right before the starting line,like you walk? Then there's like
a parking lot with more Parkporta potties than it's like the
corrals. You just go straight tothe curls? Yeah, we
Riley Geason (17:08):
were I remember seeing that. But we did stop. We
just kept going. Because wedidn't have to go or anything.
Ethan Leef (17:15):
Did you? Yeah. We, we ended up being like, somehow
just we, you know, stopped andput on sunscreen. And we were
stretching and kind of takingour time. And then we were like,
Oh, we definitely missed ourcorral. And then that made us
like, even less in a rush. So wewe use the bathroom, we
(17:35):
stretched a little bit more. Andwe ended up just getting lumped
in with like, I think it wasgroup seven. Starting with those
guys. Okay,
Harry Weidner (17:43):
and Riley and I were up in corral, up in corral
to run. Yeah. So we started alittle early. And now we start
the race. So you pass the thething that takes your chip time
and it starts your time. So Iwant to hear your experience,
even as you were going throughthe race, like walk me through
(18:06):
the race, how you felt early onhow you felt in the middle. How
you felt in the end. how youfelt about your pacing?
Ethan Leef (18:13):
Yeah. No, I feel like I'm still still processing
honestly. The beginning I was itwas so jam packed. I'm sure you
guys felt the same way. Well, Iguess first I should start. My
friend Nolan and I were facedwith the couple of nights before
we like wrote on a piece ofpaper. We drew the elevation of
(18:35):
the course and marked each mile.
And we've segmented into fivesegments of like our pay schools
per segment. Just so we couldlike compartmentalize, you know,
when we hit this landmark, weshould be at this pace to help
us on race day. So right out ofthe gates we knew that we were
already running behind schedulebecause it was so packed that we
(18:55):
couldn't hit our pace. So likeour first two miles we had
planned to do them at eightminutes flat. We're hitting like
830s but we kind of realizedit's not worth dodging between
all these people and expendingenergy just like go with the
flow enjoy it to the thing andthen I feel like around the
(19:16):
three four mile market andloosened up we kind of sped up a
little bit and our plan was tohit like a 730 pace for miles
six through 16 roughly and wenever dialed it in that for I
think mostly because the heat sowe were like checking in with
(19:39):
each other like Alright, let'sdo a system check. Like how are
your ankles? How are you? Howare you feeling any cramps and
we both felt good but we wereboth a little bit ahead of our
or behind our goal pace. Thingmostly for this year and then I
don't know, it's a lot to gothrough the whole race. seeming
(20:02):
like the crowds were sospectacular too. But yeah, you
Harry Weidner (20:07):
don't have to get through the whole race. But I,
Ethan Leef (20:09):
yeah, I think I'll just quickly speak to the rest I
struggled most in the middleweirdly. Like I was like, aware
of how far I had left to go tolike the hardest part for me was
like mile. Probably 15 1617,which, as you guys know, is
right before the hills, Ithought, on the bills. And then
afterwards, I was reallystruggling, and just having to
(20:32):
like, talk myself into holdingwhatever pace I cut to get to
the rest of the way.
Harry Weidner (20:41):
Yeah, were you tracking any, like your heart
rate throughout the race? I knowyou had just gotten a Garmin
before the race. But were youpaying attention to that? No, I
Ethan Leef (20:50):
try not to look at that. Huh? That's,
Harry Weidner (20:54):
that's how I knew I was doing bad.
Ethan Leef (20:56):
Really? Mostly bass.
And we weren't. I mean, I didn'thave an awful race. We were
usually just 10 or 15 secondsoff, but we wanted to be, but it
was still like it felt like abattle, especially those last
three, four miles.
Harry Weidner (21:15):
In where were on the course. Did you feel the
best?
Ethan Leef (21:20):
The best probably?
Probably like the first 10 firstfirst half, honestly. Okay.
Those were
Jack Weidner (21:29):
really impressive.
I'm like, Well, I have all yourall of your numbers in front of
me. And your your understandingof your times were like exact.
It was really, but yeah, yourfirst what's really impressive.
Thank you. Yeah,
Ethan Leef (21:44):
I feel like that's to like, struggle with the
marathon. Right? Like, you goout. And then when you get like
halfway, you're like, Oh, shit.
I slept to do this much. And youget kind of hit that wall.
Right? How
Jack Weidner (21:57):
much of that did for you at least was mentally
were you like, were youphysically tired? Or did you
kind of allow yourself to hit amental wall that you have to get
over where you realize how muchwas ahead of you? Or was your
body hurting as well? Kind ofboth.
Ethan Leef (22:17):
And I'm curious Perry and Riley she felt this
way. But like, Mike was stillpretty tired. Earlier than I
expected them to. And I hadheard like, that's the Boston
Marathon like, it eats up yourquads. But I was like, yeah,
that won't happen to me. So thenwhen it did happen, it was a
(22:37):
mental battle to be like, youknow, just calm down.
Everything's fine. Take it onemile at a time. So I guess both.
Harry Weidner (22:48):
Yeah, my did go ahead, right
Jack Weidner (22:50):
there. No, I was just gonna ask, Did you run with
the person that you paced outthe race with the whole time? Or
did you guys split off at acertain pace at a time?
Ethan Leef (23:01):
Almost, we made it?
What do you for together? Whoa.
And we were, we were bothstruggling. And it was like,
they have Gatorade stops andwater stops every mile. And
somewhere and like both of usgetting Gatorade we separated
and I was the head of him. Andwe had made the understanding
(23:23):
that if one of us got ahead ofthe other like, game on to stop
and just keep going. So that wasa
Jack Weidner (23:30):
did you find that comforting to have someone with
you the whole time? Because Iknow they didn't. So I'd be
interested to see what it waslike running alone, but
Ethan Leef (23:39):
it helped me a lot, I think yeah. Just having
someone to check in with andlike push the pace. There are
definitely times and same withlike training too. I think we
all probably notice that butthere's times when like, you
know climbing the hill. You feellike you're lagging but the
person behind beside you isn'tthat kind of keeps you where you
(24:00):
need to be.
Harry Weidner (24:04):
And how do you feel crossing the finish line?
Like did you feel good? Or wereyou in pain?
Ethan Leef (24:12):
I felt good, but I don't know. I honestly feel like
I blacked out.
Like a real blackout. But yeah,like a little bit euphoric.
Mostly just like, thank God. Youknow, you can stop moving. It's
hard to encapsulate. But yeah,it's a pretty awesome feeling.
(24:38):
Yeah.
Harry Weidner (24:40):
What about you abuse? Me through your race man.
Riley Geason (24:45):
Dude, I mean, I was I was thinking about the
past few days like, I think toif I had one word to describe my
race, just survival dude bike. Ithink I don't know. Like I've
told people that the past coupleof days like, it honestly felt
(25:06):
like I like didn't know how torun out at certain points. I was
like, This is crazy. But I mean,my race like I think just
started out so, so poorly. Like,we started out and like within
the first mile or two, like, oneit was so crowded into my heart.
(25:30):
It was like incredibly high. Andjust like even at the end of
like, mile two, even into likethree and four, I already felt
like not like dead, obviously.
But I was like, I feel way worsethan I should after, like three
or four miles. And yeah, I mean,I don't think at any point in
(25:51):
the race, I was like, Oh, I feelI feel good. I got Oh, no, I
just it was just a bad it wasjust a bad day, I guess. But I
guess in terms of like, mile bymile, like, again, my wanting to
harried I were kind of together.
I was trying to pull back alittle just because again, I was
(26:12):
feeling kind of crappy and myheart rate was high. We kind of
just naturally split off I feellike at one point, which I think
I was glad I was glad that hedid because I was like I just
don't think it's gonna be a youknow, a long term thing for us
to be doing in this race. Butthey got to be I don't know by
(26:37):
Maya so Maya for us were like somy family and friends were I was
feeling okay then still thinkpacing was decent. But I also
had sort of a pacing plansimilar to what Ethan had
because he sent his like he saidto us and I kind of tried to
mimic something like that, but Ithink I probably threw my pacing
(26:59):
out the window by mile floor soyeah, I saw them at mile four.
And a just I want to say I wastrying to keep somewhere in like
a nine for 930 days. I'm like, Ireally need to know or to nine
(27:21):
because I was like let's justagain, it was just a bet it just
felt like a battle even if likeat the beginning and so I was
like let's just get the nine andthen you know we'll reassess how
we feel. But I also feel like Ikind of just that literally
blacked out like the whole racewas just now hard to remember
(27:44):
but I just like I was so out ofit. I feel like I was just so
drained but yeah, I mean, Idon't even know like I want to
say about like mile 10 I waslike how like how do I feel like
this after running seven miles Iwas stopping at every single aid
(28:05):
station. Boring water I mean Iwas soaking wet by a mouth that
drop exhausts pouring well I gotat least two cups of water every
station poured water on myself.
I probably I had a had a waterbottle I think like 1000
milligrams of sodium I drinkthat entire water bottle but
like mile eight which obviouslywas not the plan so yeah, I
(28:28):
guess got to be mild said I wasalready struggling and then I
don't know I honestly can'tremember like when my pace
really dropped off I feel likemy pace ended up just being all
over the place but around aroundlike mild 14 shifting my I've
been nursing an injury the pastcouple of months to that started
(28:54):
flaring up at like 15 justbecause all the hills which was
actually pretty good I waspretty happy that it didn't
happen before that so 15 wasactually decent but again by
that point I was shot so thatdidn't help but at that I think
I get like halfway point at likemile 50 And I was trying to just
swallow the fact that it waswhat it was was not going to be
(29:21):
a fun race per se or like it wasgoing to be in my like goal day
but from there on out it waskind of just continue surviving.
The hills were awful my quadslike Ethan was say destroyed
absolutely destroyed. I meanI've always said I've got some
(29:44):
chicken legs I've got I've gotsome work to do and in the gym
that x couple of ones but Ithink I had also pulled off
running hills the past couple ofmonths just because my lag and I
don't think that helped much butIt, quads were destroyed. The
last six miles are definitelybrutal, absolutely brutal.
(30:06):
crossing the finish line. Idon't know how to I can't even
say I felt like I was readyagain. I think like Ethan had
said, ready to just like, stopmoving. Like, I was in shambles,
like, crossing the finish linefelt so out of it. But yeah, so
was a day of survival for me.
(30:30):
Definitely a cool experience.
And I definitely, definitelyhave some redemption. I guess
that was a long summary of kindof randomness, but that's how I
like race. Well, I'm
Jack Weidner (30:44):
just so impressed that you started feeling pain at
like mile five. And you knew youhad 20 miles to go. And you just
toughed it out. Like I don't, Idon't think you have given
yourself enough credit. But likeso many people that couldn't
even do that. That's insane,that you were like, You were
hurting it five miles. Andyou're like, Well, what's why
(31:06):
anymore? That's nuts. Yeah, I
Riley Geason (31:09):
mean, again, running is also a thing where I
think Harry and Ethan wouldagree that like, you kind of
hold on to this hope that like,you start feeling better out of
my life one of the milesbecause, like, literally, like,
going into it. I was like, I'mnot even gonna, like, you know,
start thinking anything untillike minus six or seven about,
(31:31):
like, how I'm feeling like,because in most of my long runs,
I don't feel good until likeminus six anyway. So I was kind
of hanging on to that. But itgot to the point where I was
like, I don't even have anythingI don't have enough. Like, I
just didn't feel like I don'tknow if she'll I was just
sweating too much andoverheated, but I've also just
(31:53):
way too, way too competitivewith myself. So that's part of
it. But you're
Jack Weidner (31:58):
like a mile from the finish line. You're like
shit, I don't think I don'tthink I'm gonna feel better.
Harry Weidner (32:08):
Yeah, I had a similar experience to you, Riley
where I knew going out. It wasmy heart rate was just too high.
And so I was paying attention tomy heart rate the entire race,
that was really the metric thatI was going off of, for my
pacing. I too, had a plan thatwent out the window by mile
(32:30):
four, because my heart rate wasjust way too high. And I
thought, yeah, I'm not gonna hitmy time. And, and I just had to
sort of swallow that pill earlyon. And just say, I was playing
damage control. I think when Ilooked down in my heart, it was
186 at mile for now, let's do itan 830 pace. I was like, this is
(32:52):
just as not, this isn't all byrace, how do I get my heart rate
down. And so I was, I wasplaying games with myself and in
my head about, like, I need toslow down, I don't want to slow
down. But if I keep my heartrate, this high for the whole
race, bad things are gonnahappen. So there was there was a
point where I really appreciatedthe shaded parts of the course,
(33:13):
where I got my heart rate downto 160. And that was the lowest
that it went at the entire race.
And after that, after mile, Ithink 12 It was above 180 For
the rest of the time. And so itwas it was just me trying to
balance like the high heart ratewith with the heat. And how fast
can I go, while trying to keepmy heart rate low enough, I, I
(33:39):
didn't have any point where my,like, my quads weren't too bad.
And my feet were, my feet wereterrible. My feet were
definitely the most sore. But itreally was just like me battling
my high heart rate, the entirerace. I would look down and it
would say 190 And I thought yougot to slow down kid. And, and
(33:59):
that was the hardest part forme. Just the the heart rate. I
did have some points in the racewhere I felt really good. I felt
I felt really great. Again,where the shade was happening. I
felt good at the fire station,the firehouse right in Newton.
Right as he turned the corner. Iwas learning that it was a great
(34:23):
turn. And and I wanted to askyou, Ethan, if you had run a
majority of the course if notall of the course in total
before. Right, you started atthe start? Not
Ethan Leef (34:38):
Yeah, all of it in different segments. But yes,
right. And so
Harry Weidner (34:42):
do you think that helped? You know, the first half
like I had no idea what thefirst 15 miles were gonna look
like.
Ethan Leef (34:50):
You know, probably a little bit. I mean, I only ran.
I ran the first 16 No, I ran thefirst one. have miles once, and
then everything after that I'drun more than once. Okay, so I
don't know, I only seen thefirst half or so you know that
one time, but I think it helpeda little bit.
Harry Weidner (35:10):
Did you feel more comfortable when you got to the
firehouse and you hit thatcorner and you knew the course?
Super well from BIOSs to end? 11miles or so?
Ethan Leef (35:23):
Yes. No. Like, it definitely helps. Naturally,
that's the part that we all werewe're more familiar with. But it
also, like I was saying earlier,because you know it, you know
exactly where you are. So it'slike, I know that I still have
this distance left. But it didhelp kind of strategize a little
bit. Like, part of me was, waslike, okay, hold on. Try to hold
(35:49):
this space until we get to likeCoolidge corner, which is what,
like, three miles to go. Yeah.
Then then I knew like, okay,when I hit that landmark, you
know, just try to read a bit ifyou can, like, a little bit
faster. So you like trying touse the course to your
advantage? Like, that helps alittle bit. But
Harry Weidner (36:13):
what do I really
Riley Geason (36:17):
know? Yeah.
They're like, and I don't thinklike there was a I don't know. I
don't think for me, like when Igot to the firehouse, I think I
was telling you, like, I wasexpecting to be like, like, I
don't know, it gets some sort ofjolt of energy find something.
Nothing, then they're not I justI think for me, I was probably
(36:44):
on a similar pages. As Ethan aswhere it almost like hurt.
Because I knew how like, thewhole way, like how much more I
had. Because again, I justcouldn't find anything. It was
really just, I need to get tothe finish. Think for me, one of
(37:05):
the one of the parts that Ifound. To be funny, slash
challenging was just like,getting to like Fenway, and
like, feeling like you're soclose, but the finish line was
still like, so like, because Ihadn't ever run from like, send
(37:27):
one to the finish ever. Like wewould up basically like finish
our runs at Fenway. And I wasalways like, oh, okay, like, you
know, you're, I mean, it is onlylike a mile. But that mile was
like, felt like, I mean, milesstill, but seven anywhere from
(37:47):
seven to 10 minutes. I don'tknow how fast you guys run in
the last mile. But that's stilla lot of time. And I was just
like, wow, like, I also didn'trealize I was I was going under
that bridge.
Ethan Leef (38:06):
Underneath massive Yeah,
Riley Geason (38:08):
right there. And I was like, how are we going to
get to boil? I got it realizedthere was another turn. I was
like that you're gonna have toturn because I was like, oh,
like we're on Commonwealth. So Ijust was like, very unfamiliar
with that whole end of End Ofcourse. Which I don't know I
kind of just got to the end andwas like are so close but it was
(38:31):
actually so far so
Ethan Leef (38:34):
was Was there a point when you guys felt like
the crowds like super duperhelped you? Like did you have
like a favorite crowd moment ora moment when you were like
being cheered for and then likelooked down and you really sped
up or anything like that?
Harry Weidner (38:50):
Yeah, I think I I have a good one. Because it was
right after we you crest thatheartbreak. You get into BC. And
the crowds at BC really got megoing. There were just beautiful
women lining the street. And Ithink I think that's where I I
(39:13):
sped up too much at that point,because I was like, I can't look
like a fool here. But I will saylike, having that at the top of
heartbreak after you justfinished the huge hill. That
helped me a lot. Like just wantto say you're blown the girls.
Oh, yeah, I was blown girlskisses at the Wellesley scream
(39:33):
tunnel. But that was before thatwas like my Oh, wow. Okay, and
that was fun, too. But yeah, thethe crowds definitely helped me
a lot. But I would also say thatthey hurt me because much like
our training runs where like, ifwe were around people, we tended
(39:54):
to speed up. If their crowdswere yelling and the crowds were
big, I would speed up too. Andthen my heart rate would peak
and that would be bad. It waslike, I couldn't separate crowds
and energy from controlling mypace. And I don't know how you
felt about that.
Ethan Leef (40:14):
No, that is a good point. There were there were
definitely moments when I feltlike I was being sped up by the
crowds. And you know, kind ofhad to getting in check a little
bit. Those were also kind oflike fun moments that I think
that was definitely worth worthit any exerted energy, they're
like, giving out high fives orwhat have you is worth it. Is
(40:36):
that that's part of what madefor me anyway, like the race
special was having so muchsupport.
Harry Weidner (40:45):
What about you, right?
Riley Geason (40:50):
I think the first half marathon, maybe I was
interested in crowns, but I feellike after that, I was just
like, like, I don't know. Ithink I asked her that it almost
like was stressing the app. Likeit was like wasting my energy
almost like even just like, likehearing it. I don't know, I was,
(41:13):
I think, I don't remember thetowns, but there were definitely
some towns from like, I don'tknow, maybe like eight to 15
that had some pretty big crowdsthat I enjoyed Wellesley and
yeah, I mean, Wellesley wasdefinitely one of them. But I
feel like there was some maybeeven like Ashlyn, I want to say
like Ashton was one of them. Butyeah, I think I think Wellesley
(41:36):
baby, I had a little bit of aboost. There was so loud that I
feel like, but other than that,I couldn't get it going off the
crowd, fortunately. I thinkthat's the moral of the story
for me. But I mean, obviously,it was super cool. And, like
getting to see and I haven'tstopped a few times along the
(41:59):
way just to interact withpeople, because I knew it
wasn't, you know, live day oranything. But so that was fun.
But yeah, it was more I think oflike interaction with the crowd,
instead of like, getting gettingme going, if that makes sense.
Jack Weidner (42:16):
Yeah. Did seeing your family made you feel any
better? Riley? Yeah, no,
Riley Geason (42:21):
it did for the first like, two stops. And then
after that, I was just, I mean,it. I guess it kind of did,
because I would, you know, in myhead be like, okay, they're
gonna be at this mile. You know,in my head. I was like, I just
have to get there. I just haveto get to the next one. So maybe
a little bit, but I think got toa certain point where I was just
(42:43):
like, I don't know, headed down.
It's under still thing. Yeah. Iwas almost just like, you know,
beat me at the finish. Like,I'll see you at the finish type
thing. Because I also feel likeI one thing I did a very bad job
of was, like, just runningstraight on one side or the
other. I was going all over theplace, which was very stupid of
(43:06):
me. But I feel like my problemwas like, I would move to the
right, because I like, so Iguess early on in the race, I
didn't realize there were twofuel stations, like one on the
right one on the left side,always veer to the right. First
one, like in the first like, shewas stopped because I was like,
(43:29):
oh, like, I have, like, I needto get something. And I don't
know if there's gonna be anotherone. And then I started
realizing that they were all inboth sides, everywhere. But the
one on the left was just moredelayed than the one on the
right. It
Ethan Leef (43:43):
took me like six miles to realize that Riley, I
was doing the same. Yeah, I wasrunning to the right side, like,
oh, I need Gatorade. And thenfeeling like an idiot when it
popped up on the left.
Riley Geason (43:54):
Yeah. And it was frustrating because my family
and friends would be on theleft. So that's I had been
regarding on the left, and thenI was veering to the right and
every time and eventually I Irealized, you know, there on the
left, too, butthat was one thing. I also did a
pretty poor job of the wholerace, I think. added a couple of
miles to this Java, that kind oflike 26.7 or something like
(44:19):
that. So yeah,
Harry Weidner (44:24):
I definitely did some veering to i i don't know i
don't know what my thoughtprocess was. I don't think I
really had a plan for eightstations. I was just like, if I
needed something in that moment,I would just walk to the closest
or you know, run to the closestone. I guess last question is
what's next for you guys? Likewhat what any big plans for any,
(44:47):
any future endurance events orin how has the marathon that we
just did influenced what youwill be doing to prepare for
that? I know you guys Have somefun things coming up that you
want to do.
Ethan Leef (45:06):
I can go, I actually signed up for this in February.
So we're in the middle oftraining for Boston. But I'll be
doing the New York City Marathonin November. And I'm already
getting pretty stoked for that.
I think, to answer the secondpart of your question, one thing
that I will do after having doneBoston is stick to a training
(45:27):
program. So my the firstmarathon I ever did was last
April. And I just kind of likeran net. Like I did like a
little bit of training. Butthere was like night and day
difference training for Bostonversus just doing the other one
kind of for fun, almost. Sothat's my big takeaway from from
(45:48):
this race is that training isreal.
Riley Geason (45:54):
Yeah, so my, I guess so I feel like last fall,
was kind of getting intotriathlon, that was kind of like
cool. And then harried I don'tknow, we always talked about
doing a marathon after we did ahalf marathon and all that. So
we had been talking about maybedoing a marathon in the spring.
(46:17):
We obviously ended up doingBoston. All that to say my next
step is to finally do thattriathlon, because that was kind
of my, I would say, the marathonwas kind of a pitstop on the way
there definitely ready to bedone running very long distances
for the next few months.
Definitely will be indulging insome running. But my next plan
(46:40):
would be to do a half Ironman,somewhere in between August and
November, probably in September,October would be ideal. Along
the way, I guess we'll say.
(47:01):
Definitely, after running this,definitely. I think there's a
lot of things I learned, I guessone of them may be, I feel like
maybe did a little bit too muchtraining. I just think I had a
couple of injuries throughoutthe block that that have been
(47:23):
avoided, either by not having asmuch running by or supplementing
with strength training or otherthings. So that was one thing.
And then I think the other thingwas, I don't know, I'm
forgetting now. So I guess we'llwe'll end on that note for me,
(47:45):
or whatever your
Harry Weidner (47:47):
I don't know, I would love I think after doing
Boston, I would love to comeback. And I would love to come
back as a BBQ. Hitting aqualifying time. In a different
race. I think that is somethingthat I really want to be able to
say that I've done after doingall charity thing. I love the
(48:08):
charity thing, but I think a BBQis I have my sights on that at
some point that it's going totake a long time and a lot of
running to get there. In themeantime, I would love to be
able to train for a triathlonwith you. I think that would be
so fun. I do have to get my assin the pool.
Riley Geason (48:29):
But I get to use that jam or that yeah, I
Harry Weidner (48:33):
bought I bought a jammer a couple months ago. It's
yeah, it's got the tags on itstill. So we gotta get that
sucker wet.
Jack Weidner (48:44):
Good. I swim this summer. And it it just kicks
your ass in a different way. Idon't know, Riley if you've been
swimming, but like, oh my gosh,I was swimming with my
girlfriend this summer and itwas just kicking my ass in a
whole different way.
Harry Weidner (49:02):
Yeah, I'm all looking forward to that. I think
it's gonna I think it's gonnabeat me to death. But luckily
swimming is low impact. So Ithink I want to train for a try.
I don't know if it's quite halfIronman. I mean, I I would love
to be able to do that. But Ithink the big goal that I'm
(49:23):
focused on now is is hitting theBQ within a year and a half. And
COVID back for Boston. 26. Don'tthink Boston 25 is a is a
realistic goal. But I think theone high school got one it well,
no, because then I would have toI would have to run a DQ by
(49:43):
September. And I live inSeptember is in May. Gotcha. But
I think CI m this year couldhappen if if I played it well
enough But that's it thanks guysfor coming out I really
(50:05):
appreciated you you both makingthe time and coming out and
telling the story and Iappreciate it both of you during
the training I had an absoluteblast training with with both of
you that definitely made thewhole process so much more
enjoyable. I think if it werejust me training and running I
would have had a significantlyworse time you know, it was
(50:27):
those Wednesday mornings runningaround the commons the Saturday
long runs even the Mondaymorning track sessions with with
Riley and you came a couple oftimes he didn't like those were
those were those were the bestrounds. And being able to go
through the whole process withyou guys has been just awesome.
So really appreciate you guys.
Riley Geason (50:50):
Yeah, I definitely agree. Thanks for having us on
here. You know, thanks forrunning with me or along the
way.
Ethan Leef (50:59):
Yeah, like was sorry, more
Harry Weidner (51:05):
than Jackie want to roll this out.
Jack Weidner (51:07):
Oh, yeah. I do want to say you should have said
at the beginning that the reasonyou guys kept talking about
temperature just for people thatdon't know they all three of
these guys trained in Boston inlike 30 to 45 degree weather
that was what they were doingtheir runs in. And race day was
about 70 when it at its heightso it was hot and humid and even
(51:33):
standing there it was hot. So Icame about to run. But thank you
so much for listening.
Congratulate the three of theseguys on this incredible
accomplishment really proud ofHarry because I know I'm the
most but you know not we're wayI'm proud of the both of you to
you guys are super cool. Andthat's amazing that you did
that. I'm also happy birthdayCAMI just a little plug. April
(51:55):
21 is our mom's birthday. Sohappy birthday. And we'll see
you in two weeks. And thanks forsticking around and seeing how
this mess unraveled.
All right.
Welcome back to our tangledminds.
Jack Weidner (00:08):
Welcome to our tangled vines.
Harry Weidner (00:10):
I'm Harry Weidner.
Jack Weidner (00:11):
I'm Jack by
Riley Geason (00:12):
matto.
Harry Weidner (00:13):
And today, Episode 27, we have a very
special episode. I justcompleted the Boston Marathon
this past Monday, April 15. Andtoday's episode we're going to
call the Boston Marathon. And Ibrought along two of my friends
Riley and Ethan. And we alltrained for the marathon
(00:34):
together, and we didn't run ittogether. And so, just wanted to
put together a quick episodeabout the Boston Marathon. So,
Riley, Ethan, you want tointroduce yourselves?
Riley Geason (00:46):
Sure, yeah. My name is Riley. I'm a longtime
friend of Harry's. And I guesswe could say it after like, I've
known this kid for a while, wentto school with him. Once a
payment to be usph with atraining partner, he kind of got
me into running. Sign up for myfirst 10k And then that a half
(01:06):
and graduated, the next step wasa marathon. Yeah, excited to be
on on the pod and see sort ofexcited to share my race
experience. You guys, will youguys are gonna get a taste of
it. So glad to be here.
Ethan Leef (01:21):
Thanks for coming.
Yeah, and my name is Ethan. I'mfrom Charleston, West Virginia.
But I've been in Boston foralmost two years now. I wouldn't
say I'm a longtime runner, but Igrew up running, you know, cross
country in high school and thatsort of thing. And then bumped
into these two guys, whiletraining for Boston pretty
randomly. And we became fastfriends. And here we are.
Harry Weidner (01:48):
Yeah. So that's, that's a little bit of our
story, how we met the how Rileyand I, like you said went to
school together. And we've beentraining for a couple races. For
the past. I guess about a yearwe've been training for some
sort of race.
Riley Geason (02:05):
Yeah, it's probably been like, six to eight
months, I was thinking aboutI've only been running for about
less than a year still. Or Iguess maybe about a year now.
Yeah. So when you just did
Harry Weidner (02:18):
your first marathon, which is wild? Could
it turn around, but anyway, wewere running and how we met
Ethan is we would go in thesegroup runs with. There's an
organizer who sort of trainssome of the charity teams and
Riley and I would go on theseruns and not really talk to
anyone. And at some point, Ethanwas to our my right. And he just
(02:42):
looked over and we just sparkedup a conversation. And when
you're rotting next to someonefor so long, you got 10 plus
miles to get to know Him. And wejust got to got to know Ethan
and we trained for the rest ofthe training block together. So
now we're all here. Now we'veall run the race. So just
Jack Weidner (03:01):
for people that don't know, little background, I
don't know why I'm here, exceptto tell you this exact piece of
information. My understanding isthere are two ways to run the
Boston Marathon. You get aqualifying time in one of the
qualifying races, which isessentially less less than a
three hour marathon. It's beenHarry's told me that it's been
(03:22):
decreasing in time becausepeople are getting faster and
faster. But that's about thebenchmark that you need to be
at. And you could also run forcharity, where you raise a
certain amount of money. And Ithink correct me if I'm wrong
here the three people that arehere all ran for Boston Medical
Center charity. No. And you guyswere also a lot of Oh, wrong.
(03:44):
Okay. So who did eat the run for
Harry Weidner (03:47):
Riley and I ran for BMC and II then you ran for
Spaulding
Ethan Leef (03:52):
rehab?
Rehabilitation Hospital inMassachusetts. Cool.
Harry Weidner (03:58):
So we all ran sir some sort of medical entity. And
that's not true Jack. That's notthe only reason that you're
here. I wanted to hear yourperspective as like a spectator.
Okay, love the ring.
Jack Weidner (04:11):
I I told Harry just so you guys know like i
Harry said, I'll get I'll getRiley on and we could bring our
buddy Easton on and we'll talkabout running and I was like, I
don't have to be there. Ihaven't good not been. I've been
telling people this week thatthere is nothing more humbling
(04:31):
than your brother running theBoston Marathon. And people
looking at you standing next tohim being like, oh, did you also
run were they like 99%? Sure. Ididn't run based on how I
looked. But they wanted to bepolite. And that was a fun
experience to so sorry.
Riley Geason (04:51):
My sister said the exact same thing.
Jack Weidner (04:54):
No, yeah. Okay.
It's a shared experience. Yeah.
Riley Geason (05:00):
My mom might as well actually.
Jack Weidner (05:03):
Yeah, it's like we're proud of you. But it makes
us feel worse about ourselves Ithink is kind of where that's
at. So anyways, Harry, so yeah,yeah,
Harry Weidner (05:16):
I mean, I let's just talk a lot. I just want to
talk through race day. And Iespecially want to hear from
Ethan because because I didn'tsee him much race day or hear
about his race day experience. Iwas with Riley for most of the
day, but so what time did wewake up? What time did we have
to be at the commons to getbused out? What was the bus ride
(05:37):
out? Like? And how are youfeeling for the morning before
the race?
Ethan Leef (05:43):
This me? Yeah. I think I woke up at like 630
chillin, like a little bitanxious. Definitely pretty amped
up, but also anxious and got upearly, so that I could, like,
you know, probably like you guyseat a big meal without having to
worry about it. Like coming uplater, anything like that. And
(06:06):
then I I was totally jamming outat like headphones on my
roommates. Were both sleeping. Iwas like dancing in the kitchen
making eggs. And then what wereyou listening to? Oh, I go all
over. I was doing what did iWhat did I send you, Riley? I
think the star bubble startedoff at like six times, probably
(06:29):
some Taylor's lift up. And thenI actually got dressed and
everything in that. And I tookthe train with my friend baggy.
It was also on team sport. Andshe lives like a block away. We
probably got to the Commons atlike nine and we're on the bus
(06:49):
by like 915 Is that what youguys beat me there? I think
Riley Geason (06:56):
yeah, I could tell a little more I think so I got
up around six. I think I wastelling her this probably but
when I woke up, it felt like anormal Monday almost because I'm
a routine guy and I had to wakeup at six every Monday anyway,
so it was kind of just weirdwaking up at the normal time
(07:19):
didn't really feel like raceday. Because I think usually
advisable on race day, you know,you're getting up much earlier
than usual. Like four or fiveand preparing usually dark out.
But anyway, I I mean, I got upstarted stretching a little
start eating a little bit.
didn't really I didn't eat eggsor anything. Nothing huge. We're
(07:41):
gonna have had some grahamcrackers had some just bite and
pasta, had some electrolytes,not enough electrolytes, but add
some electrolytes that I think Ithink Harry came over to my
place around a 15. And then wehang out here for 1520 minutes
(08:02):
and then my mom who was in townwatching likely had a rental
car. So she picked us up fromour place or from my place. And
we probably we probably were atthe bus area around like 850. So
on a bus, maybe arounds I had 15rdrd really lucky about that.
Harry Weidner (08:30):
And my morning was much like Riley is like I
woke up by 15 business as usual.
Got a cup of coffee, ate somefood had a banana, and an orange
and a little old bar. Just forsome quick carbs. I had one of
the honey Stinger waffle thingsjust for more carbs. And then I
stretched but on but on myoutfit and headed over to your
(08:55):
place Riley so it wasn't like itdidn't. It didn't feel like race
day honestly that it felt like anormal Monday. And then I think
when we were being driven overto the commons and I saw like
the 1000s of people being busedfrom the commons over to
Hopkinton. That's when it reallysunk in for me. But of course,
(09:16):
then we sat on the bus for 45minutes. And it just kind of
lost its appeal. What was yourbus ride like even
Ethan Leef (09:34):
help? I don't think it lost its appeal for me. I
mean, it was definitely a longbus ride. And I was sitting. I'm
so terrible. I don't rememberthe name of the woman I was
sitting beside. But it was alovely woman from Atlanta who
had run Boston like 10 years agoand she was coming back to do it
again. Well, so I chatted withher and then mostly just like
(09:56):
stared at the window and likethought about kind of like tried
to set my intentions for therace. But my boss had a lot of
energy. Like there was a groupof people that all knew each
other in the back. And likeperiodically, they would start
like chants and stuff like that.
So it was like, the closer wegot, the louder the bots got,
which was kind of cool.
Harry Weidner (10:21):
Nothing
Riley Geason (10:25):
that Harry and I were probably the loudest people
on our bus. We were justlaughing, like, stupid shit the
whole time. But like, it didn'tseem like anyone else was really
like, there were a couple peoplein the front. Laughing talking,
but other than that, I was kindof just like, Why didn't let's
let's get there. And nobody
Harry Weidner (10:46):
was talking. The weirdest part about the bus for
me was realizing that it's sucha long bus ride back. And I
thought, Oh, shit, we got to runthis. We got to run all the way
back to Boston.
Ethan Leef (11:01):
That for sure crossed my mind. I also thought
it was hilarious that it wasjust a line of yellow school
buses on the interstate. Likelooking out the front window of
the bus you could see like 10buses ahead of you. Just so many
runners our money
Harry Weidner (11:17):
was passing other buses
Ethan Leef (11:20):
bus was literally just like sat in its place and
followed the line.
Jack Weidner (11:27):
What was that? So they bus you guys using school
buses? I always pictured likecharters, new school buses.
Riley Geason (11:34):
yellow yellow school buses.
Jack Weidner (11:37):
Did you also explain Oh, and I didn't know
this that the Boston Marathon isdifferent than a lot of other
marathons where they just drawthe start line is 26.2 miles
away from the finish line whichis in Boston. So you're in a
town I wouldn't it's not even asuburb considered right like
it's far enough away that it's aseparate town and then you just
(11:59):
run into Boston? Yeah, ratherthan looping you around the
city, which sounds that soundsmiserable 45 minute drive out
there's like oh god Brewster runback.
Harry Weidner (12:14):
Yeah, that's that's what got me. So we get to
athlete's village which is whatthey call the school in
Hopkinton. And it's just 1000sof people but the races already
started for us or the raciststarted for others and we're
just kind of there still. And Ithink priority number one for me
was find a porta potty I had topee so badly when we got there.
(12:37):
And luckily I was with Riley andwe had access to the charity
area and somehow you camewalking in ething because I
never thought I would see youthe whole day because I know
that my phone but that wasawesome to be able to see you
Ethan Leef (12:52):
there was in you guys helped me out because I
also really had to be and likethe lines were crazy and I was
feeling a little bit overwhelmedand then like one of you like
tapped me on the shoulder orsomething I was like alright,
let's cut the line a little bitthe nerves
Harry Weidner (13:10):
so he P stretch hang out for a little bit and
then what like what how are youguys feeling at athletes
village?
Riley Geason (13:23):
I feel like I feel like we had a year that we
started stretching. And then wekind of went back outside. And
that's when like the sun hadreally started hitting a search
for like I feel like when weread the Porta Potty line I was
like wow, it's kind of hot.
That's That's what I feel likethe realization I'm like,
(13:43):
whether actually hit butotherwise was like pizza parlor.
Ethan Leef (13:54):
Right you Ethan I felt pretty good. I was I think
I was most surprised by howlittle time we spent in
athlete's village. Which now Iknow is because you have like a
half mile walk to the startingline. Right? I feel like we were
stretching and like crackingjokes and getting loose inside
the high school you know in theshade. And then suddenly we
(14:16):
looked around and everyone hadcleared out and we were like Oh
should I guess it's time to dothis thing. So I felt like
almost rushed in that regard.
But then it was still some timebefore we actually started. So I
thought that was kind ofinteresting.
Harry Weidner (14:32):
And then you put the word on me also is that you
pulled out where you bring theselittle plastic bags to athletes
and athletes village and you canput kind of food and drink in
whatever you want for the busride and while you're there to
prep, and you pull out threecooked breakfast sausages
(14:53):
prepared and just offered themto us and I was good on on
breakfast sauce At that point, Ithink I would have thrown it
out. Yeah, I appreciated theoffer of the breakfast sausage.
Ethan Leef (15:06):
Those are my go to man. I didn't have any either.
Unfortunately, I had one on thebus, but not in the village. And
then go there. They'll be
Harry Weidner (15:20):
and then we're walking to the Star Line. And
that's when it started to hitme. That one it's hot as shit
outside. The sun was justbeating down. And they were
handing out sunscreen. And Ithought, oh, boy, it's gonna be
it's gonna be a toasty warmoutside. And we were all I was
just antsy at that point. I wasjust ready to start moving. And,
(15:46):
and not be sort of corralled inwith all of these people. baking
in the sun. I just kind ofwanted to get going. There. Did
you guys feel the same?
Riley Geason (15:56):
Yeah, I mean, it was like, I don't know. It was
weird, because I did feelrushed. Kind of like Ethan said.
But then when you like, actuallystarted walking over there, you
realize like, there's like solike, a ton of time, but like
you're just walking over there.
Russia made me super antsy,because I feel like we probably
(16:18):
walk probably took what, like2030 minutes to walk to the
finish line and start. And like,I was just like, can we just
start already?
Harry Weidner (16:30):
Yeah, seemingly, everything was like bothering
me. For those 20 to 30 minutes,like people would be running
down the side where everyoneelse was walking. And I was
just, I was just bothered. Ithink just because I wanted to
get started and get move. And
Ethan Leef (16:45):
yeah, and that's also when we separated. I went
and found some Spalding people.
And I was I paced the race withplum. My friend Nolan, who's on
my charity team. Did you guysstop at the bathrooms that were
right before the starting line,like you walk? Then there's like
a parking lot with more Parkporta potties than it's like the
corrals. You just go straight tothe curls? Yeah, we
Riley Geason (17:08):
were I remember seeing that. But we did stop. We
just kept going. Because wedidn't have to go or anything.
Ethan Leef (17:15):
Did you? Yeah. We, we ended up being like, somehow
just we, you know, stopped andput on sunscreen. And we were
stretching and kind of takingour time. And then we were like,
Oh, we definitely missed ourcorral. And then that made us
like, even less in a rush. So wewe use the bathroom, we
(17:35):
stretched a little bit more. Andwe ended up just getting lumped
in with like, I think it wasgroup seven. Starting with those
guys. Okay,
Harry Weidner (17:43):
and Riley and I were up in corral, up in corral
to run. Yeah. So we started alittle early. And now we start
the race. So you pass the thething that takes your chip time
and it starts your time. So Iwant to hear your experience,
even as you were going throughthe race, like walk me through
(18:06):
the race, how you felt early onhow you felt in the middle. How
you felt in the end. how youfelt about your pacing?
Ethan Leef (18:13):
Yeah. No, I feel like I'm still still processing
honestly. The beginning I was itwas so jam packed. I'm sure you
guys felt the same way. Well, Iguess first I should start. My
friend Nolan and I were facedwith the couple of nights before
we like wrote on a piece ofpaper. We drew the elevation of
(18:35):
the course and marked each mile.
And we've segmented into fivesegments of like our pay schools
per segment. Just so we couldlike compartmentalize, you know,
when we hit this landmark, weshould be at this pace to help
us on race day. So right out ofthe gates we knew that we were
already running behind schedulebecause it was so packed that we
(18:55):
couldn't hit our pace. So likeour first two miles we had
planned to do them at eightminutes flat. We're hitting like
830s but we kind of realizedit's not worth dodging between
all these people and expendingenergy just like go with the
flow enjoy it to the thing andthen I feel like around the
(19:16):
three four mile market andloosened up we kind of sped up a
little bit and our plan was tohit like a 730 pace for miles
six through 16 roughly and wenever dialed it in that for I
think mostly because the heat sowe were like checking in with
(19:39):
each other like Alright, let'sdo a system check. Like how are
your ankles? How are you? Howare you feeling any cramps and
we both felt good but we wereboth a little bit ahead of our
or behind our goal pace. Thingmostly for this year and then I
don't know, it's a lot to gothrough the whole race. seeming
(20:02):
like the crowds were sospectacular too. But yeah, you
Harry Weidner (20:07):
don't have to get through the whole race. But I,
Ethan Leef (20:09):
yeah, I think I'll just quickly speak to the rest I
struggled most in the middleweirdly. Like I was like, aware
of how far I had left to go tolike the hardest part for me was
like mile. Probably 15 1617,which, as you guys know, is
right before the hills, Ithought, on the bills. And then
afterwards, I was reallystruggling, and just having to
(20:32):
like, talk myself into holdingwhatever pace I cut to get to
the rest of the way.
Harry Weidner (20:41):
Yeah, were you tracking any, like your heart
rate throughout the race? I knowyou had just gotten a Garmin
before the race. But were youpaying attention to that? No, I
Ethan Leef (20:50):
try not to look at that. Huh? That's,
Harry Weidner (20:54):
that's how I knew I was doing bad.
Ethan Leef (20:56):
Really? Mostly bass.
And we weren't. I mean, I didn'thave an awful race. We were
usually just 10 or 15 secondsoff, but we wanted to be, but it
was still like it felt like abattle, especially those last
three, four miles.
Harry Weidner (21:15):
In where were on the course. Did you feel the
best?
Ethan Leef (21:20):
The best probably?
Probably like the first 10 firstfirst half, honestly. Okay.
Those were
Jack Weidner (21:29):
really impressive.
I'm like, Well, I have all yourall of your numbers in front of
me. And your your understandingof your times were like exact.
It was really, but yeah, yourfirst what's really impressive.
Thank you. Yeah,
Ethan Leef (21:44):
I feel like that's to like, struggle with the
marathon. Right? Like, you goout. And then when you get like
halfway, you're like, Oh, shit.
I slept to do this much. And youget kind of hit that wall.
Right? How
Jack Weidner (21:57):
much of that did for you at least was mentally
were you like, were youphysically tired? Or did you
kind of allow yourself to hit amental wall that you have to get
over where you realize how muchwas ahead of you? Or was your
body hurting as well? Kind ofboth.
Ethan Leef (22:17):
And I'm curious Perry and Riley she felt this
way. But like, Mike was stillpretty tired. Earlier than I
expected them to. And I hadheard like, that's the Boston
Marathon like, it eats up yourquads. But I was like, yeah,
that won't happen to me. So thenwhen it did happen, it was a
(22:37):
mental battle to be like, youknow, just calm down.
Everything's fine. Take it onemile at a time. So I guess both.
Harry Weidner (22:48):
Yeah, my did go ahead, right
Jack Weidner (22:50):
there. No, I was just gonna ask, Did you run with
the person that you paced outthe race with the whole time? Or
did you guys split off at acertain pace at a time?
Ethan Leef (23:01):
Almost, we made it?
What do you for together? Whoa.
And we were, we were bothstruggling. And it was like,
they have Gatorade stops andwater stops every mile. And
somewhere and like both of usgetting Gatorade we separated
and I was the head of him. Andwe had made the understanding
(23:23):
that if one of us got ahead ofthe other like, game on to stop
and just keep going. So that wasa
Jack Weidner (23:30):
did you find that comforting to have someone with
you the whole time? Because Iknow they didn't. So I'd be
interested to see what it waslike running alone, but
Ethan Leef (23:39):
it helped me a lot, I think yeah. Just having
someone to check in with andlike push the pace. There are
definitely times and same withlike training too. I think we
all probably notice that butthere's times when like, you
know climbing the hill. You feellike you're lagging but the
person behind beside you isn'tthat kind of keeps you where you
(24:00):
need to be.
Harry Weidner (24:04):
And how do you feel crossing the finish line?
Like did you feel good? Or wereyou in pain?
Ethan Leef (24:12):
I felt good, but I don't know. I honestly feel like
I blacked out.
Like a real blackout. But yeah,like a little bit euphoric.
Mostly just like, thank God. Youknow, you can stop moving. It's
hard to encapsulate. But yeah,it's a pretty awesome feeling.
(24:38):
Yeah.
Harry Weidner (24:40):
What about you abuse? Me through your race man.
Riley Geason (24:45):
Dude, I mean, I was I was thinking about the
past few days like, I think toif I had one word to describe my
race, just survival dude bike. Ithink I don't know. Like I've
told people that the past coupleof days like, it honestly felt
(25:06):
like I like didn't know how torun out at certain points. I was
like, This is crazy. But I mean,my race like I think just
started out so, so poorly. Like,we started out and like within
the first mile or two, like, oneit was so crowded into my heart.
(25:30):
It was like incredibly high. Andjust like even at the end of
like, mile two, even into likethree and four, I already felt
like not like dead, obviously.
But I was like, I feel way worsethan I should after, like three
or four miles. And yeah, I mean,I don't think at any point in
(25:51):
the race, I was like, Oh, I feelI feel good. I got Oh, no, I
just it was just a bad it wasjust a bad day, I guess. But I
guess in terms of like, mile bymile, like, again, my wanting to
harried I were kind of together.
I was trying to pull back alittle just because again, I was
(26:12):
feeling kind of crappy and myheart rate was high. We kind of
just naturally split off I feellike at one point, which I think
I was glad I was glad that hedid because I was like I just
don't think it's gonna be a youknow, a long term thing for us
to be doing in this race. Butthey got to be I don't know by
(26:37):
Maya so Maya for us were like somy family and friends were I was
feeling okay then still thinkpacing was decent. But I also
had sort of a pacing plansimilar to what Ethan had
because he sent his like he saidto us and I kind of tried to
mimic something like that, but Ithink I probably threw my pacing
(26:59):
out the window by mile floor soyeah, I saw them at mile four.
And a just I want to say I wastrying to keep somewhere in like
a nine for 930 days. I'm like, Ireally need to know or to nine
(27:21):
because I was like let's justagain, it was just a bet it just
felt like a battle even if likeat the beginning and so I was
like let's just get the nine andthen you know we'll reassess how
we feel. But I also feel like Ikind of just that literally
blacked out like the whole racewas just now hard to remember
(27:44):
but I just like I was so out ofit. I feel like I was just so
drained but yeah, I mean, Idon't even know like I want to
say about like mile 10 I waslike how like how do I feel like
this after running seven miles Iwas stopping at every single aid
(28:05):
station. Boring water I mean Iwas soaking wet by a mouth that
drop exhausts pouring well I gotat least two cups of water every
station poured water on myself.
I probably I had a had a waterbottle I think like 1000
milligrams of sodium I drinkthat entire water bottle but
like mile eight which obviouslywas not the plan so yeah, I
(28:28):
guess got to be mild said I wasalready struggling and then I
don't know I honestly can'tremember like when my pace
really dropped off I feel likemy pace ended up just being all
over the place but around aroundlike mild 14 shifting my I've
been nursing an injury the pastcouple of months to that started
(28:54):
flaring up at like 15 justbecause all the hills which was
actually pretty good I waspretty happy that it didn't
happen before that so 15 wasactually decent but again by
that point I was shot so thatdidn't help but at that I think
I get like halfway point at likemile 50 And I was trying to just
swallow the fact that it waswhat it was was not going to be
(29:21):
a fun race per se or like it wasgoing to be in my like goal day
but from there on out it waskind of just continue surviving.
The hills were awful my quadslike Ethan was say destroyed
absolutely destroyed. I meanI've always said I've got some
(29:44):
chicken legs I've got I've gotsome work to do and in the gym
that x couple of ones but Ithink I had also pulled off
running hills the past couple ofmonths just because my lag and I
don't think that helped much butIt, quads were destroyed. The
last six miles are definitelybrutal, absolutely brutal.
(30:06):
crossing the finish line. Idon't know how to I can't even
say I felt like I was readyagain. I think like Ethan had
said, ready to just like, stopmoving. Like, I was in shambles,
like, crossing the finish linefelt so out of it. But yeah, so
was a day of survival for me.
(30:30):
Definitely a cool experience.
And I definitely, definitelyhave some redemption. I guess
that was a long summary of kindof randomness, but that's how I
like race. Well, I'm
Jack Weidner (30:44):
just so impressed that you started feeling pain at
like mile five. And you knew youhad 20 miles to go. And you just
toughed it out. Like I don't, Idon't think you have given
yourself enough credit. But likeso many people that couldn't
even do that. That's insane,that you were like, You were
hurting it five miles. Andyou're like, Well, what's why
(31:06):
anymore? That's nuts. Yeah, I
Riley Geason (31:09):
mean, again, running is also a thing where I
think Harry and Ethan wouldagree that like, you kind of
hold on to this hope that like,you start feeling better out of
my life one of the milesbecause, like, literally, like,
going into it. I was like, I'mnot even gonna, like, you know,
start thinking anything untillike minus six or seven about,
(31:31):
like, how I'm feeling like,because in most of my long runs,
I don't feel good until likeminus six anyway. So I was kind
of hanging on to that. But itgot to the point where I was
like, I don't even have anythingI don't have enough. Like, I
just didn't feel like I don'tknow if she'll I was just
sweating too much andoverheated, but I've also just
(31:53):
way too, way too competitivewith myself. So that's part of
it. But you're
Jack Weidner (31:58):
like a mile from the finish line. You're like
shit, I don't think I don'tthink I'm gonna feel better.
Harry Weidner (32:08):
Yeah, I had a similar experience to you, Riley
where I knew going out. It wasmy heart rate was just too high.
And so I was paying attention tomy heart rate the entire race,
that was really the metric thatI was going off of, for my
pacing. I too, had a plan thatwent out the window by mile
(32:30):
four, because my heart rate wasjust way too high. And I
thought, yeah, I'm not gonna hitmy time. And, and I just had to
sort of swallow that pill earlyon. And just say, I was playing
damage control. I think when Ilooked down in my heart, it was
186 at mile for now, let's do itan 830 pace. I was like, this is
(32:52):
just as not, this isn't all byrace, how do I get my heart rate
down. And so I was, I wasplaying games with myself and in
my head about, like, I need toslow down, I don't want to slow
down. But if I keep my heartrate, this high for the whole
race, bad things are gonnahappen. So there was there was a
point where I really appreciatedthe shaded parts of the course,
(33:13):
where I got my heart rate downto 160. And that was the lowest
that it went at the entire race.
And after that, after mile, Ithink 12 It was above 180 For
the rest of the time. And so itwas it was just me trying to
balance like the high heart ratewith with the heat. And how fast
can I go, while trying to keepmy heart rate low enough, I, I
(33:39):
didn't have any point where my,like, my quads weren't too bad.
And my feet were, my feet wereterrible. My feet were
definitely the most sore. But itreally was just like me battling
my high heart rate, the entirerace. I would look down and it
would say 190 And I thought yougot to slow down kid. And, and
(33:59):
that was the hardest part forme. Just the the heart rate. I
did have some points in the racewhere I felt really good. I felt
I felt really great. Again,where the shade was happening. I
felt good at the fire station,the firehouse right in Newton.
Right as he turned the corner. Iwas learning that it was a great
(34:23):
turn. And and I wanted to askyou, Ethan, if you had run a
majority of the course if notall of the course in total
before. Right, you started atthe start? Not
Ethan Leef (34:38):
Yeah, all of it in different segments. But yes,
right. And so
Harry Weidner (34:42):
do you think that helped? You know, the first half
like I had no idea what thefirst 15 miles were gonna look
like.
Ethan Leef (34:50):
You know, probably a little bit. I mean, I only ran.
I ran the first 16 No, I ran thefirst one. have miles once, and
then everything after that I'drun more than once. Okay, so I
don't know, I only seen thefirst half or so you know that
one time, but I think it helpeda little bit.
Harry Weidner (35:10):
Did you feel more comfortable when you got to the
firehouse and you hit thatcorner and you knew the course?
Super well from BIOSs to end? 11miles or so?
Ethan Leef (35:23):
Yes. No. Like, it definitely helps. Naturally,
that's the part that we all werewe're more familiar with. But it
also, like I was saying earlier,because you know it, you know
exactly where you are. So it'slike, I know that I still have
this distance left. But it didhelp kind of strategize a little
bit. Like, part of me was, waslike, okay, hold on. Try to hold
(35:49):
this space until we get to likeCoolidge corner, which is what,
like, three miles to go. Yeah.
Then then I knew like, okay,when I hit that landmark, you
know, just try to read a bit ifyou can, like, a little bit
faster. So you like trying touse the course to your
advantage? Like, that helps alittle bit. But
Harry Weidner (36:13):
what do I really
Riley Geason (36:17):
know? Yeah.
They're like, and I don't thinklike there was a I don't know. I
don't think for me, like when Igot to the firehouse, I think I
was telling you, like, I wasexpecting to be like, like, I
don't know, it gets some sort ofjolt of energy find something.
Nothing, then they're not I justI think for me, I was probably
(36:44):
on a similar pages. As Ethan aswhere it almost like hurt.
Because I knew how like, thewhole way, like how much more I
had. Because again, I justcouldn't find anything. It was
really just, I need to get tothe finish. Think for me, one of
(37:05):
the one of the parts that Ifound. To be funny, slash
challenging was just like,getting to like Fenway, and
like, feeling like you're soclose, but the finish line was
still like, so like, because Ihadn't ever run from like, send
(37:27):
one to the finish ever. Like wewould up basically like finish
our runs at Fenway. And I wasalways like, oh, okay, like, you
know, you're, I mean, it is onlylike a mile. But that mile was
like, felt like, I mean, milesstill, but seven anywhere from
(37:47):
seven to 10 minutes. I don'tknow how fast you guys run in
the last mile. But that's stilla lot of time. And I was just
like, wow, like, I also didn'trealize I was I was going under
that bridge.
Ethan Leef (38:06):
Underneath massive Yeah,
Riley Geason (38:08):
right there. And I was like, how are we going to
get to boil? I got it realizedthere was another turn. I was
like that you're gonna have toturn because I was like, oh,
like we're on Commonwealth. So Ijust was like, very unfamiliar
with that whole end of End Ofcourse. Which I don't know I
kind of just got to the end andwas like are so close but it was
(38:31):
actually so far so
Ethan Leef (38:34):
was Was there a point when you guys felt like
the crowds like super duperhelped you? Like did you have
like a favorite crowd moment ora moment when you were like
being cheered for and then likelooked down and you really sped
up or anything like that?
Harry Weidner (38:50):
Yeah, I think I I have a good one. Because it was
right after we you crest thatheartbreak. You get into BC. And
the crowds at BC really got megoing. There were just beautiful
women lining the street. And Ithink I think that's where I I
(39:13):
sped up too much at that point,because I was like, I can't look
like a fool here. But I will saylike, having that at the top of
heartbreak after you justfinished the huge hill. That
helped me a lot. Like just wantto say you're blown the girls.
Oh, yeah, I was blown girlskisses at the Wellesley scream
(39:33):
tunnel. But that was before thatwas like my Oh, wow. Okay, and
that was fun, too. But yeah, thethe crowds definitely helped me
a lot. But I would also say thatthey hurt me because much like
our training runs where like, ifwe were around people, we tended
(39:54):
to speed up. If their crowdswere yelling and the crowds were
big, I would speed up too. Andthen my heart rate would peak
and that would be bad. It waslike, I couldn't separate crowds
and energy from controlling mypace. And I don't know how you
felt about that.
Ethan Leef (40:14):
No, that is a good point. There were there were
definitely moments when I feltlike I was being sped up by the
crowds. And you know, kind ofhad to getting in check a little
bit. Those were also kind oflike fun moments that I think
that was definitely worth worthit any exerted energy, they're
like, giving out high fives orwhat have you is worth it. Is
(40:36):
that that's part of what madefor me anyway, like the race
special was having so muchsupport.
Harry Weidner (40:45):
What about you, right?
Riley Geason (40:50):
I think the first half marathon, maybe I was
interested in crowns, but I feellike after that, I was just
like, like, I don't know. Ithink I asked her that it almost
like was stressing the app. Likeit was like wasting my energy
almost like even just like, likehearing it. I don't know, I was,
(41:13):
I think, I don't remember thetowns, but there were definitely
some towns from like, I don'tknow, maybe like eight to 15
that had some pretty big crowdsthat I enjoyed Wellesley and
yeah, I mean, Wellesley wasdefinitely one of them. But I
feel like there was some maybeeven like Ashlyn, I want to say
like Ashton was one of them. Butyeah, I think I think Wellesley
(41:36):
baby, I had a little bit of aboost. There was so loud that I
feel like, but other than that,I couldn't get it going off the
crowd, fortunately. I thinkthat's the moral of the story
for me. But I mean, obviously,it was super cool. And, like
getting to see and I haven'tstopped a few times along the
(41:59):
way just to interact withpeople, because I knew it
wasn't, you know, live day oranything. But so that was fun.
But yeah, it was more I think oflike interaction with the crowd,
instead of like, getting gettingme going, if that makes sense.
Jack Weidner (42:16):
Yeah. Did seeing your family made you feel any
better? Riley? Yeah, no,
Riley Geason (42:21):
it did for the first like, two stops. And then
after that, I was just, I mean,it. I guess it kind of did,
because I would, you know, in myhead be like, okay, they're
gonna be at this mile. You know,in my head. I was like, I just
have to get there. I just haveto get to the next one. So maybe
a little bit, but I think got toa certain point where I was just
(42:43):
like, I don't know, headed down.
It's under still thing. Yeah. Iwas almost just like, you know,
beat me at the finish. Like,I'll see you at the finish type
thing. Because I also feel likeI one thing I did a very bad job
of was, like, just runningstraight on one side or the
other. I was going all over theplace, which was very stupid of
(43:06):
me. But I feel like my problemwas like, I would move to the
right, because I like, so Iguess early on in the race, I
didn't realize there were twofuel stations, like one on the
right one on the left side,always veer to the right. First
one, like in the first like, shewas stopped because I was like,
(43:29):
oh, like, I have, like, I needto get something. And I don't
know if there's gonna be anotherone. And then I started
realizing that they were all inboth sides, everywhere. But the
one on the left was just moredelayed than the one on the
right. It
Ethan Leef (43:43):
took me like six miles to realize that Riley, I
was doing the same. Yeah, I wasrunning to the right side, like,
oh, I need Gatorade. And thenfeeling like an idiot when it
popped up on the left.
Riley Geason (43:54):
Yeah. And it was frustrating because my family
and friends would be on theleft. So that's I had been
regarding on the left, and thenI was veering to the right and
every time and eventually I Irealized, you know, there on the
left, too, butthat was one thing. I also did a
pretty poor job of the wholerace, I think. added a couple of
miles to this Java, that kind oflike 26.7 or something like
(44:19):
that. So yeah,
Harry Weidner (44:24):
I definitely did some veering to i i don't know i
don't know what my thoughtprocess was. I don't think I
really had a plan for eightstations. I was just like, if I
needed something in that moment,I would just walk to the closest
or you know, run to the closestone. I guess last question is
what's next for you guys? Likewhat what any big plans for any,
(44:47):
any future endurance events orin how has the marathon that we
just did influenced what youwill be doing to prepare for
that? I know you guys Have somefun things coming up that you
want to do.
Ethan Leef (45:06):
I can go, I actually signed up for this in February.
So we're in the middle oftraining for Boston. But I'll be
doing the New York City Marathonin November. And I'm already
getting pretty stoked for that.
I think, to answer the secondpart of your question, one thing
that I will do after having doneBoston is stick to a training
(45:27):
program. So my the firstmarathon I ever did was last
April. And I just kind of likeran net. Like I did like a
little bit of training. Butthere was like night and day
difference training for Bostonversus just doing the other one
kind of for fun, almost. Sothat's my big takeaway from from
(45:48):
this race is that training isreal.
Riley Geason (45:54):
Yeah, so my, I guess so I feel like last fall,
was kind of getting intotriathlon, that was kind of like
cool. And then harried I don'tknow, we always talked about
doing a marathon after we did ahalf marathon and all that. So
we had been talking about maybedoing a marathon in the spring.
(46:17):
We obviously ended up doingBoston. All that to say my next
step is to finally do thattriathlon, because that was kind
of my, I would say, the marathonwas kind of a pitstop on the way
there definitely ready to bedone running very long distances
for the next few months.
Definitely will be indulging insome running. But my next plan
(46:40):
would be to do a half Ironman,somewhere in between August and
November, probably in September,October would be ideal. Along
the way, I guess we'll say.
(47:01):
Definitely, after running this,definitely. I think there's a
lot of things I learned, I guessone of them may be, I feel like
maybe did a little bit too muchtraining. I just think I had a
couple of injuries throughoutthe block that that have been
(47:23):
avoided, either by not having asmuch running by or supplementing
with strength training or otherthings. So that was one thing.
And then I think the other thingwas, I don't know, I'm
forgetting now. So I guess we'llwe'll end on that note for me,
(47:45):
or whatever your
Harry Weidner (47:47):
I don't know, I would love I think after doing
Boston, I would love to comeback. And I would love to come
back as a BBQ. Hitting aqualifying time. In a different
race. I think that is somethingthat I really want to be able to
say that I've done after doingall charity thing. I love the
(48:08):
charity thing, but I think a BBQis I have my sights on that at
some point that it's going totake a long time and a lot of
running to get there. In themeantime, I would love to be
able to train for a triathlonwith you. I think that would be
so fun. I do have to get my assin the pool.
Riley Geason (48:29):
But I get to use that jam or that yeah, I
Harry Weidner (48:33):
bought I bought a jammer a couple months ago. It's
yeah, it's got the tags on itstill. So we gotta get that
sucker wet.
Jack Weidner (48:44):
Good. I swim this summer. And it it just kicks
your ass in a different way. Idon't know, Riley if you've been
swimming, but like, oh my gosh,I was swimming with my
girlfriend this summer and itwas just kicking my ass in a
whole different way.
Harry Weidner (49:02):
Yeah, I'm all looking forward to that. I think
it's gonna I think it's gonnabeat me to death. But luckily
swimming is low impact. So Ithink I want to train for a try.
I don't know if it's quite halfIronman. I mean, I I would love
to be able to do that. But Ithink the big goal that I'm
(49:23):
focused on now is is hitting theBQ within a year and a half. And
COVID back for Boston. 26. Don'tthink Boston 25 is a is a
realistic goal. But I think theone high school got one it well,
no, because then I would have toI would have to run a DQ by
(49:43):
September. And I live inSeptember is in May. Gotcha. But
I think CI m this year couldhappen if if I played it well
enough But that's it thanks guysfor coming out I really
(50:05):
appreciated you you both makingthe time and coming out and
telling the story and Iappreciate it both of you during
the training I had an absoluteblast training with with both of
you that definitely made thewhole process so much more
enjoyable. I think if it werejust me training and running I
would have had a significantlyworse time you know, it was
(50:27):
those Wednesday mornings runningaround the commons the Saturday
long runs even the Mondaymorning track sessions with with
Riley and you came a couple oftimes he didn't like those were
those were those were the bestrounds. And being able to go
through the whole process withyou guys has been just awesome.
So really appreciate you guys.
Riley Geason (50:50):
Yeah, I definitely agree. Thanks for having us on
here. You know, thanks forrunning with me or along the
way.
Ethan Leef (50:59):
Yeah, like was sorry, more
Harry Weidner (51:05):
than Jackie want to roll this out.
Jack Weidner (51:07):
Oh, yeah. I do want to say you should have said
at the beginning that the reasonyou guys kept talking about
temperature just for people thatdon't know they all three of
these guys trained in Boston inlike 30 to 45 degree weather
that was what they were doingtheir runs in. And race day was
about 70 when it at its heightso it was hot and humid and even
(51:33):
standing there it was hot. So Icame about to run. But thank you
so much for listening.
Congratulate the three of theseguys on this incredible
accomplishment really proud ofHarry because I know I'm the
most but you know not we're wayI'm proud of the both of you to
you guys are super cool. Andthat's amazing that you did
that. I'm also happy birthdayCAMI just a little plug. April
(51:55):
21 is our mom's birthday. Sohappy birthday. And we'll see
you in two weeks. And thanks forsticking around and seeing how
this mess unraveled.
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