7 Marathons on 7 Continents in SIX days! A Father's Journey

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Juan Uro (00:00):
Many people are putting a lot of emphasis on whether they
can achieve something or not. But I would say that
the pursuit of excellence or the pursuit of something extraordinary
sometimes can be much more rewarding than the achievement of
something extraordinary.

Rob Simmelkjaer (00:16):
Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Set the
Pace, the official podcast of New York Road Runners presented
by Peloton. I'm your host, Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of
New York Road Runners, my friend and partner, Becs Gentry.
She's on her way back from a trip to Los
Angeles so we'll be missing her today, but looking forward

(00:38):
to a reunion with Becs and me on the show
next week. In the meantime, what a weekend we had
last weekend at New York Road Runners, the largest ever
MasterCard New York Mini 10K in Central Park with 9, 973
women athletes finishing that race on a muggy but runnable

(01:01):
day in Central Park. It was such a special day,
man, we just love that race at New York Road
Runners. There's nothing like seeing 10,000 women streaming down Central
Park West into the park and finishing that race. I
know for all of them, all of you out there
who run that race, I hear it year in and

(01:22):
year out, it is one of the most special running
experiences that you have. And so, so happy that it
was such a great day for all of our great
women out there running the MasterCard New York Mini 10K.
The winner, Hellen Obiri, the 2023 United Airlines NYC Half and TCS
New York City Marathon champ, she captured the open division

(01:42):
title with a blazing time of 30 minutes and 44
seconds. The runner- up may have been just as big
a story, Weini Kelati ran a new American event record at
30 minutes and 49 seconds. She was right there with
Hellen Obiri all the way until about the last say
quarter mile. She really gave Hellen a run for her

(02:04):
money. Susannah Scaroni won a record- breaking six MasterCard New
York Mini 10K title in the Wheelchair Division with a
new event record. And it was the largest girls run
in history, that's right, the biggest attendance we've ever had
for the mini kids run, more than 508 to eight to 18- year- old
girls took to the streets to run on Saturday. It

(02:27):
was well, it was a really, really special day. All
right, coming up on this week's episode, it's Father's Day
week and boy, there's no holiday I love more than
Father's Day. I always say fatherhood it's the toughest but
best job I've ever had so Happy Father's Day to
all of the fellow dads out there listening. Really appreciate

(02:49):
you and hopefully all the people in your life give
you a special, special day this coming weekend. We've got
a very special Father's Day conversation with one of our
New York Road Runners board members, Juan Uro, who like
Becs recently completed seven marathons on seven continents in seven
days. Juan and I will talk about some of the

(03:11):
meaning behind his running those marathons and countless other marathons
over the course of his life. All so much of
it really done in honor of the son that he
lost, Bautista. We'll talk about that and fatherhood and everything
that Juan has learned from a life of running and
his incredible accomplishment in the World Marathon Challenge. And then,

(03:34):
later on in the show we'll have New York Road
Runners member and non- binary champion Galo Vasquez, and then
coming up with this weekend's Flushing Meadows Kids run at
the Citizens Queens 10K, that's all coming up on Saturday.
We've got a special Med Minute with HSS, that's the
hospital for special surgery and we're going to feature a
sports physical therapist for young athletes, Yukiko Matsuzaki will join us as well.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
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(04:21):
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Today on Set the Pace. I'm joined by my friend
and one of our New York Road Runners board members,
Juan Uro. Juan is a partner at EY- Parthenon advising
global CFOs and CEOs on strategy and finance, but he's
also a passionate marathoner, so passionate that earlier this year
he channeled a little Becs Gentry magic by completing the

(05:01):
World Marathon Challenge running yes, seven marathons on seven continents
in seven days. Juan races in memory of his late
son Bautista and he now shares finish line moments with
his wife, Mariela and daughter Isabella and we're so glad
to have Juan here on the show. Juan, welcome to

(05:21):
set the pace and congratulations on being yet another person
to complete this unbelievable challenge of seven marathons on seven
continents in seven days.

Juan Uro (05:32):
Thank you Rob, so great to be with you today. And you think there were only one
crazy person with Becs, but there's many of us I guess, or at least a handful.

There's enough to keep a couple of these races going
every year. I was fortunate enough to follow along with
your races. We had a little chat, some board members,
some former Road Runners executives there cheering you on. And
I guess I just have to ask first and foremost,
what drove you to do that? I always have to

(06:06):
ask the question of what drives someone to sign up
for a challenge like that?

Juan Uro (06:15):
Interesting. I think there wasn't necessarily one trigger event but
a multiplicity of factors. I will start with, Rob probably
you don't know but you have a big part and NYRR
have a big part because the first time I found
out about this seven marathons in seven continents in seven

(06:36):
days was in the New York Marathon Expo in 2023. And
literally in my role in the board I always pay
special attention for partners and activation and how good people
are having experiences in the Expo so I literally visit
all the stands. And I saw this booth about this

(06:58):
challenge and it's always free T- shirts are a good thing
so they gave me the T- shirt, they got my
email address and I left the Expo thinking, " Okay, you
never know. That's a crazy idea, I couldn't do it."
I put that idea to sleep, I wore the T-

(07:19):
shirt a couple of times. But then in April of
'24 I was going to run the Boston Marathon and
my company had an off- site in London the week
after, full week. So, in talking with my wife, it
was her birthday, we said, " Hey, why don't we go

(07:40):
to London for the weekend? By the way, we can
celebrate your birthday and by the way, there is this
small race called the London Marathon. If you're okay, I'm
going to try to run it." So, I asked NYRR to see
if there was a possibility and I ended up getting
into the London Marathon. So, without really thinking too much,

(08:02):
it became two marathons in one week. And then, I
came back to that seven and said, " Hey, this was
difficult but not impossible so who knows? Two marathons in
one week is very different than seven marathons." But I
started to take it a little bit more seriously. And along
the summer of 2024, yeah, 2024, I decide to really

(08:28):
learn more about what it will take to do the race. So,
a couple of people who have done it before, they
gave me a couple of hints. So, I was supposed
to try at least a week of multiple runs of 15 to
20 miles. Guess what? The second day that I tried
that first day 20 miles, second day I was in

(08:51):
Central Park and I ran into this guy that was running
seven marathons in seven days for climate advocacy. I have
run in Central Park for 20 years I never saw
a guy trying seven marathons in seven days so it

(09:12):
was like, " There's too much serendipity here, there's too many
connecting aspects." So, I ended up catching up with the
fellow, asked him a little bit of a couple of tips how he prepared,
and then when I shared a little bit of my
running resume, which is not impressive but at least there's
a lot of miles certainly, he said, " You are ready."

(09:36):
So, I committed to do it. I was supposed to
run the race that actually Becs ran because there's two
different organizations that do that but because of-

Yeah, back in November.

Juan Uro (09:47):
Yeah, exactly November. But because of work I couldn't really
get off and take a week off in November to do
that. So, the other company that organized it was sold
out in 2025 so I was going to do it in 2026. So again, put a

(10:09):
little bit the commitment to rest because who knows it
will be 12 months from the time being, I ended
up running New York and the Philly Marathon. And after
I ran Philly was like tough year, put a lot
of miles to prepare for this and there's still 12
months to do it. So, we ended up going to

(10:33):
Argentina where I was born for Thanksgiving break. And after I
landed into Argentina I got a note saying, " Hey, one
of the runners got hurt. There's an opening in five
weeks, will you think about it?"

Wow.

Juan Uro (10:47):
And I said to my wife, " It cannot get better than
that." It's like after 12 hours moving from cold weather
to hot weather, that's the whole experience so I committed to
do it. So again, it was a little bit of
a process of signal, so to speak, between the Expo,
the fact that again, Boston and London became a little

(11:09):
bit of a fortress, running into a person in Central
Park and gave me a little bit of the confidence,
and then again this trip to Argentina and it was
exactly the perfect day to get a note like that. So, it
doesn't speak necessarily of the underlying factors but it was

(11:31):
not a dream come true that I wake up one
day, it was a little bit of a series of, as I said,
signals that moved me into that.

Yeah, signal followed by the fateful email that had you
up and ready to do it in five weeks, which
is impressive. So, before we get into those seven races,
I want to take a step way back, Juan like
a flashback at a movie to the origins of your
running and how it all really started for you. Your

(12:00):
bio on the World Marathon Challenge webpage talks about the
fact that you began running a little later in life.
What was it that really got you running in the
first place?

Juan Uro (12:13):
Yeah, I think I should edit that because probably what
I would consider these days as more cold running I
took it very late in life. But it started back
in high school year and it was not really running
it was a little bit of jogging, but I think in my

(12:34):
senior year in high school I had a pretty severe
foot sprain and I needed to use a cast for
a couple of months. And look, I played different sports
as a kid, only recreational but nothing competitive but I
wasn't good at any of those.

You're from Argentina so soccer must've been in the mix somewhere.

Juan Uro (12:53):
Yeah, soccer is a must but definitely I was pretty bad. But I was
very consistent in being bad at tennis, at basketball, at
rugby so I tried everything and confirmed that I was bad at
everything. But anyway, after that injury I probably gained like
15 or 20 pounds and you are in your late teenager years. So,

(13:16):
running became, I think I remember it was three loops
into a square of half a mile, so a mile and a half and
I was doing it two or three times per week
and just to be in shape or to look better,
honestly. It was a simple physical health aspect in my

(13:41):
early 20s and as I said, only two or three
times per week, but it was still running. Then with
my wife, we got married, emigrated to New York in the early
2000s and I heard about this small race called the
New Year Marathon. So, at that point it was like, "

(14:03):
Hey, we may be in New York only for two
or three years, what an interesting challenge." A, to do
a marathon, never in my life I did more than
maybe 10K at that point. And if you are going
to do a marathon, do the marathon, the New Year one. So, it became a little
bit of less about physical looks or physical wellbeing but

(14:30):
more a little bit of goal setting for yourself a
challenge, an opportunity of something that maybe I was going
to do only once in my lifetime. So, I did a
little bit of the preparation. Looking back to the plan
that I did, it was completely unprepared, maybe 16 or 17

(14:53):
miles was my longest run, 30 miles in total. If
at some point you go to the archives and you
see some of the photos in the village in 2004
I was frozen, I didn't know about wearing layers. My
running shoes were all tennis shoes, I couldn't afford, honestly,
we were students and living on very basic means. But

(15:19):
I did it. And I had an amazing time, not
in terms of clock time but in terms of fulfilling
a personal goal. And as you know once you run
a marathon some people are very happy, some people say, "
I could have done a little bit better," so tried
the lottery many times. I think after three times of

(15:43):
declining there was a little bit of the policy of getting there in four
years so in 2008 I did the marathon again. But
that second phase overall, Rob it was casual 30 miles
per week and as I said more as a way
to relieve stress from work and as a way to have work-

(16:07):
life balance and good sense of accomplishing something. So, a
little bit more of a mind and a spiritual wellbeing.

Yeah. And your time in New York one ended up
not just being a short time, you stayed in New
York quite a while and obviously you ended up in
a third phase of running, which is the one I
think in which we currently find you as a really
serious runner. And I know part of that relates to some
tragic things that happened in your life with your son

(16:42):
Bautista and losing him.

Juan Uro (16:46):
Yeah, so you are spot on. I think the third maybe
I'm still in that phase of running was we were
blessed with a son Bautista, we call him Bauti in 2004.

(17:06):
And that's also the reason why I was only running 20, 30
miles, you have a kid, you have work responsibilities but
it was still part of my life. But in 2010,
Bauti passed away when he was six years old. And he was our
only child, he was the focus of our entire lives

(17:27):
so it was truly, truly devastating for both my wife
and for me. We each cope in a different way,
we all grieve in a different way, but for me
it was honestly very difficult to get off bed and
keep living. So, in running I found almost an excuse,

(17:51):
a reason at least almost every morning to get off
bed and move forward. I heard once life is a little
bit of like riding a bicycle, to stay on balance
you just need to move forward. And even in the
darkest days honestly Rob, lacing my shoes, getting outside even

(18:14):
for a couple of miles was helping me find the
motivation to stay alive. So, from that moment on became
a little bit of a habit, a spiritual habit of
making me continue living and trying to pursue a good life, a

(18:35):
worthy life. I always go back to this point of
connecting with Bauti through my running but I always go back
when I'm in tough situations of saying, " I need to
live a life that is worth his memory and his
honor." And I think part of running has been of
that, of finding a healthy life, physical balance but also

(19:01):
mental balance. And a couple of folks were able to
gave me a spot in the 2010 New Year Marathon,
our common friend, Mary Wittenberg was very gracious of not

(19:22):
knowing me understanding the story and she gave me a
spot. And that's the first run that I did with
his name and his image on his face, not seeking
anything, purely feeling like he was going to be along

(19:42):
with me on that run. And the amount of cheering
that it was along the way of, "Go Bauti," made me
realize this is much more than just having him in
my chest for my own benefit like listening, and many
people will never hear his story but even seeing his

(20:05):
face and naming his name. The majority of the parents
they have very proud moments throughout every day or every
week, and to me that continues to be one of
my proud moments of people cheering him and finding that
connection. So, that first race was very special. I think

(20:25):
I truly burst in tears when I crossed that finish
line versus in 2004 it was just a marathon and this was a signal for life. And
from that moment on almost every marathon I run with
the same shirt. Of course it's getting pretty washed out
already so I think we need to find a new

(20:46):
one. But it became a signal and a way to
connect with him through those moments.

It must be incredible for you to hear that, to
experience that while you're running a marathon. I have never
lived through what you and your wife have lived through,
I can only imagine what that's like. But to hear
those cheers for him, it must make you feel for

(21:14):
a moment that he's there, that he is alive, that
he's with you. And you talked about having him with
you in this World Marathon Challenge as well and the
challenge that you took, you spoke about feeling like he
was there running those races with you.

Juan Uro (21:33):
Yeah, I'll tell you, I know when I'm in pain
in a marathon, I feel it's nothing compared to the
pain that he endured during the last moment in his
life. It's pretty sad to say it but breaks me
a little bit of again, honoring him. He went through

(21:56):
a lot and it may sound dark but I don't
mind going through the same and feeling that connection. When
I have no more energy in a marathon, here comes Go Bauti at
the right time and it's almost like maybe his way
of giving me energy. I'll tell you that I have

(22:18):
two low points in the seven marathons in the seven continents
and you will find how strange life is but the
first one was in Dubai. And in many cases when
I'm a little bit lost, I play a little bit
of an exercise of asking him for some advice. And
I pick the first word that I see in my

(22:40):
eyes and I pick the first letter to see if
he's going to send me a message. And then I
pick the second word and I try to find almost like
a sentence or at least a couple of words by
forming the first letter. Usually nothing is set, it's random
letter so to speak. But here was in the middle of

(23:02):
Dubai and the five letters was G- O- D- A-
D, go Dad. So, what's part of me I'm saying
it cannot be as random as that, it's a little
bit of his way to stay spiritually with me. So
again, maybe it's serendipity and lucky, but I like to

(23:24):
think and I have no problem of thinking that there may be
other ways that he's still with me giving me energy
and force.

Yeah, no, I like to think that too. I think
so. When I first heard that you were doing this
World Marathon Challenge for some reason I wasn't that surprised
because I know how you run. I mean, you definitely
our number one on the New York Road Runners board

(23:54):
I think in terms of weekly mileage. I see you
in the park, I see your marathon finishes. I think
since I've been here, I think you've done minimum two,
maybe three marathons a year. You've had these short turnaround
marathons like the Boston to London turn or you just

(24:14):
mentioned New York to Philadelphia, so it was clearly in
your legs the mileage that you needed. So, talk about
showing up for the first one that was Antarctica I assume, right, the
similar challenge to what Becs did?

Juan Uro (24:28):
Yep.

Showing up at that first one, how did you feel?
Did you feel that you had it in you confident
given the short notice of five weeks that you had
and would love to hear you kind of take us
through the journey over those seven days?

Juan Uro (24:44):
Yeah, I felt a little bit unprepared but I don't
think necessarily it's a fair comment. In fact, even when
I got the five- week notice, if I would have had five-
month notice, my preparation would have been exactly the same
because I literally ran that year up to again, Thanksgiving

(25:06):
and I was going to, I promised my wife, " We
arrive to Argentina, we will eat a lot of steaks,
we'll have a lot of ice cream and a couple
of good wines." And here we arrive and nothing was
fulfilled because I ended up being pretty healthy. But I
knew I was prepared enough. But the week before I

(25:31):
had two doubts. First is what time I could really
make. Lately I have been, I don't know, three hours
and 30- minute marathon and I thought I was going
to be at best for 30 in each. And the second one
while I put 130 miles in two or three weeks and basically

(25:52):
the totality of seven marathons is 180 miles or whatever
the math is, call it 180, let's give or take.
I still was into the unknown so I didn't know
what to expect from that point of view and whether
the body will be resilient enough for the last few

(26:15):
marathons. So, I literally tried to approach it off from
conservative to more risk- taker. And Antarctica being the first
one I said, " Whatever time, it doesn't matter, just go
and have fun." And in fact, it was 10 loops
of 2. 6 kilometers and I broke it into three

(26:40):
loops. And the last one was the victory lap, so
to speak. So, the first third was okay, the second
one it was enjoying the sightseeing and the third one,
I was literally thinking, " This is most likely the last
time that I will ever be in this continent so
just enjoy it." And from that point of view, I

(27:05):
ended up four hour and 15 or 16, slow but
I didn't care, literally I had an amazing time. Again,
not from a clock perspective, what a rewarding experience. So
many people may be dreaming of at some point going
to Antarctica, a few may have the opportunity and even fewer

(27:27):
may actually realize that chance, and for me to run even a marathon,
which I love, what an amazing moment. So, it was
okay from a time perspective, the time of my life
from being there and from that moment it started to
move into a little bit better times up to the point

(27:51):
in Dubai. So, that's a little bit of the preparation
and call it the first Antarctica time.

So, take me through the end, take me through, and
to me the travel is always the thing that I
just can't fathom how people are able to do this
to run these marathons, take these flights, get back, recover
from them, do it again. I just don't know how
the body can withstand that combination of things. Which was

(28:25):
the hardest one for you, Dubai, was that your low point?

Juan Uro (28:30):
That was the first low point because Dubai was marathon
number four and literally from Antarctica we went to Cape
Town, that was marathon number two, but nobody was able
to sleep almost in that flight. So, most people ended up
with two marathons in call it 36 hours with no sleep in between.

(28:53):
But then we went to Australia, we slept a lot
and then back to Middle East and Dubai and people slept a
lot. But I was placing myself pretty nice until I
did a mistake in the course, get pretty upset with
myself, came back, lost a little bit with the group
that I was running. And then, I felt a little

(29:13):
bit depleted, not physically but I was not eating well
between the marathons. So, the body really realized at that
point that I wasn't having fuel enough. And even mentally
it was like, " Holy cow, I have done already three
marathons, but I'm just half of the full journey." So,

(29:35):
if I feel tired, I just literally only have done
half of what I'm supposed to do. So, I think between
that mental aspect, the lack of food, it wasn't lack
of sleep on that one, it brought me down in
the last couple of loops. I ended up being four
hours or four hours and one minute, so it wasn't-

4:02, 4:02 pretty good. Yeah.

Juan Uro (29:54):
Yeah, but I was pacing at 3
time was marathon six in Brazil, we were at 90
or 95 degrees, it was four loops. And the third
loop, I was feeling pretty good until I didn't have
it anymore, I was overheated. I literally called my wife,

(30:17):
it was five o'clock Brazil time, seven o'clock I think
New York or something or the other way around. I
called her pretty early and I said, " I'm done." And
she was like, "What do you mean you are done? You are going to finish this thing." She's an amazing in
terms of giving me corrections and support when I need
it. And I was like, " Yeah, no, I'm going to walk

(30:39):
at least," but it was the first time that I
couldn't really even jog like I was toasted. And one
of the doctors, we have two doctors through the journey,
and for some reason they ended up connecting with me and
a couple of other folks that we run together so they
were always doing at least one loop with us. So,

(31:00):
one of these doctors from Boston, he saw me in
one of the mid- points and he said, " Let's do
it, let's go." He carried me a little bit in
the last loop but as I said, I was totally,
totally exhausted, depleted, emotionally, physically, I couldn't have any more

(31:23):
of energy to do that one.

Yeah, it seems like that South American one can be
tough for a lot of people. You were in Brazil,
Becs did hers in Columbia also on a very hot
day. And we all know heat is difficult to deal
with when you're running marathons at all, when you're running
your sixth marathon in six days, I just cannot even

(31:48):
fathom. But you bounced back nicely for the final leg
in the United States. Was that Miami?

Juan Uro (31:55):
That was Miami, yeah.

Yeah.

Juan Uro (31:57):
We started at-

4:14, pretty good.

Juan Uro (31:59):
One o'clock in the morning or something like that it
was supposed to be six o'clock or seven in the morning.
That's the thing is we ended up being so ahead
of schedule that I think the person that was the
fastest, Tomomi, a Japanese runner, I think she crushed the
world record if I'm not mistaken of from the first

(32:21):
marathon to the last one, she ended up in five
days and 19 hours. So, for me being one hour
slower, I did five days and 20 hours, but literally
we save one full day. And I could tell you
I could have had a couple of nice dinners and sleep
a couple more hours in those. But yeah, we started
midnight or something like that and by four or five

(32:44):
o'clock in the morning I finished, called my wife and said, "
I just booked a flight, I should be there in
five hours." There was a little bit of a reunion and a little
bit of celebration and I had an amazing time with
many runners. But after 10 days, I was missing the
family so much that jumped on the first flight back
to New York and I was midday back in the city.

So, what have you learned from doing this? What did
you learn as a runner, Juan in terms of you
as a runner and what you can do and what
you want to accomplish in your running life? And then
more importantly, what have you learned as a human from
taking this on?

Juan Uro (33:25):
Yeah, I'll start with the human one and at work,
many people that work with me, I always said nothing is
impossible. And I know it sounds like a little bit
of a cliche but the reality is there's very little
things that are truly, truly impossible. I think encountering a

(33:49):
challenge like this the first thing will be, " Yeah, it's
impossible." And as I said, when I saw it in
the Expo it was like, " Ah, interesting idea, I don't think
I can do it." But then, it may be lingering
in your mind and then you start thinking about it
and become a little bit less impossible and eventually a

(34:10):
little bit less impossible. So, point being, if you put
your heart, if you put your mind, if you put your
dedication, it's unbelievable how much you can accomplish professionally or personally,
whether it's in a sport, in endurance or whether it's in
any capacity that you want to do. And the second thing I

(34:35):
would say even from that learning is even if you
don't accomplish it, I think you come up as a
better person or at least with personal growth. And that's
the whole point of any of these attempts like many

(34:56):
people are putting a lot of emphasis on where they
can achieve something or not, but I would say that
the pursuit of excellence or the pursuit of something extraordinary
sometimes can be much more rewarding than the achievement of
something extraordinary. So, that to me is the lesson almost

(35:17):
at the personal level. In terms of running, I don't know, I don't
have goals on running. For example, I don't count the
number of marathons that I have done incredibly enough, literally I

(35:37):
don't know how many I have.

I was going to ask you because it's got to
be up there. I mean, I was wondering if you
had that count, but you don't even know.

Juan Uro (35:44):
No, I always say I answer in Spanish and I say
cincuenta and cincuenta means 50 but also means sin cuenta,
without counting. So, it's kind of a funny way to
answer that. I know it's more than 50, I know it's
less than 100. At some point probably I will be
doing the clinical analysis to see if I ever dare

(36:07):
to do 100, but it's not part of necessarily a challenge
that I need to set for myself. But as I
said, look, I think the thing that I have learned
is no matter the weather, no matter the conditions, when

(36:29):
you put the mind into it and when you put
the heart into it, literally I was finishing marathons and I was like
I couldn't move. I looked like the Mummy, like I
was walking so funny.

(inaudible) Yeah.

Juan Uro (36:43):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then, you jump on the plane
and you have the compression socks and you may start
feeling a little bit better. And then, you arrive to
immigrations and you can walk a little bit better and
then you get to the starting line and you start
running. And it's incredible how 16 hours before you said,
my body cannot take it anymore but again, the spirit.

(37:07):
So, going back to dark times in a race or
in a marathon, you may be suffering but you can
still do it so that's the learning.

It's Father's Day week and it's so great to say
that you're a father again, you have a daughter, Isabella.
Talk about your role as a father now, the role
that running plays even with your family. I don't know

(37:44):
how big your wife, your daughter, and I know you've
run maybe some 5Ks together, what does it mean to
you just to have that opportunity to A, run with
her, but also set the example that you set for
her in running these races?

Juan Uro (38:02):
Yeah, I think she's proud, I haven't done this to
make her proud per se. Running is in a way
selfish to me and I go back to if I
dedicated this to my son. But interesting, I think it
was a few years ago that she came to me

(38:23):
and literally asked me the question, " Why do you always run
with Bauti's picture, why you are not having my picture?"
And it was an interesting question, literally should I have
a little bit of her picture? And I said, " Well,
because I can run with you and I wish we would

(38:43):
have a chance to run." And I think that get
her to at least do one race. So, we ended
up doing the Dash to the Finish two or three
years ago and then she enjoyed. And again, she may
feel excluded of the marathons in a way. I think

(39:04):
we bond together on many sports, she plays tennis and I
love going to watch almost all her matches and we
play together and we bond on other activities. But at
least she's still part of that running so she does
a couple of those races. But also I think she

(39:24):
understood how special was that time for me with my
son, so to speak, because even when she's not sharing
time with her brother, she knows about her brother. And
by the way, she lives an amazing honorable life because
I think my wife and I probably without necessarily putting

(39:48):
pressure, she understood that she needs to live a life
worth living, so to speak. So again, it's special when
we do it once or twice a year, but she
also is respectful of my time with her brother, so

(40:11):
to speak.

That's a pretty amazing Father's Day story, no question about
it. And fatherhood can take a lot of different forms,
everybody's got a different journey as a father. Yours has
been one that's been difficult at times for sure, but
really fulfilling as well and running has been a big
part of it. Well, I have to ask you the

(40:36):
board member question at the end of course, Juan, you're
one of our board members, you devote a lot of
your hours, resources, time, commitment to our organization helping us
be the best that we can be. Why do you
do it? What makes you want to give back to

(40:58):
the organization? And your running journey, what do you think
our members and others out there can learn about the
role that Road Runners can play in their running journey?

Juan Uro (41:11):
Yeah, look, I think if I will have the chance to
serve in any organization in the entire world and I
need to choose one, this is the organization. So, in
a way lucky me that I was able to play
that role. Number one, 10 years ago I became an

(41:31):
American but 25 years ago became a New Yorker so
it's my city. I have lived here most of my
life and I love the city and any opportunity to give
back to the city is incredible. Number two, running Half
saved my life along the journey, it make me from

(41:51):
the early days as I said, just to look better
as a teenager to the days of finding a challenge
to the days of just staying alive. And I think
that that's for many people that maybe listen to the
podcast or people that run our events, some they do
it for physical wellness, some for mental wellness, some for

(42:14):
spiritual. And the role that we have in making those
communities accessible, our open runs, what we do for kids,
it's almost an obligation to pay back to the next
generation what some of us were lucky enough to live.
So, that's the reason why I do it and I appreciate

(42:39):
the opportunity of being invited by George many years ago
into the board and try to make a difference every
day or every week in giving back to the community
in sport that has made me a better person.

Juan, thank you for a great conversation, a meaningful conversation.
I really appreciate your sharing it with me, with our
listeners and everybody out there. Congratulations to you for everything
you've done and Happy Father's Day.

Juan Uro (43:18):
Happy Father's Day to you as well, Rob and thanks
for inviting me.

Today as part of our Pride Month celebrations, we're talking
with a truly inspiring runner. Galo Vasquez is a SUNY
New Paltz alum who has dominated New York Road Runners non-
binary division. Just this year, Galo won the non- binary
title at both the United Airlines NYC Half and the
RBC Brooklyn Half and they hold the school record for

(43:55):
the 8K at New Paltz. Galo trains with the Westchester
Track Club and also coaches so they bring a wealth
of experience to the sports.

Meb Keflezighi (44:04):
Thanks, Rob. Galo, welcome to the Set the Pace podcast.
How's it going today?

Galo Vasquez (44:09):
Hey, it's going pretty well.

What a year you had. You were the top non- binary finisher
at the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half and then broke
the tape at the 2025 RBC Brooklyn Half. What do those back- to-
back victories means to you personally?

I got to summarize it, I just enjoy doing it. I
just really love going out there and stringing together those
13 miles. And when I come away with a victory it's
always like a bonus, but I just love getting out
there, I love racing. So, having just the opportunity is

(44:49):
really just to show up and give it my best, it
really means everything to me. And then, the win is
nice, a little extra, and I get to fortunately have
a pretty stable job up here so I get to
do some donations and stuff to different LGBTQ organizations and

(45:13):
just humanitarian age for so many things that are going on
with that little extra bonus that I get from the victories.

Great. We'll go into that a little bit more deeper, but
how do you prepare for each race for the NYC
Half and Brooklyn?

How do I prepare? Let's see. So, for a while
all through during college and stuff, I was doing a
lot of mileage. But in recent years, in the past
two to three years, I've been doing some pretty steady 30-
mile weeks and just letting my body really how I

(45:51):
feel take charge of my training. So, when I was
maybe four years ago I was doing 80, 90 miles, but
now I'm just doing two workouts a week, always doing
strides almost every day, a lot of some calisthenics but
nothing out there. Most of my runs are, or at

(46:16):
least my workouts, are repeats of two minutes or something
and sometimes some four- mile tempos, maybe some two- mile
tempo repeats, yeah, and then just getting good rest

From competing from 8K to the Half Marathon US SUNY
New Paltz profile notes that you had the school record for the 8K, 25:
03. How was the college experience running cross country and track
and field influencing training for the competitive as a road
racer now up to 13. 1 miles?

Yeah, I mean, I think I learned a lot about
racing and about patience because when you're in the collegiate
level, I had so many people around me, it was
very, very competitive and you're always kind of keeping track
of who's where and what teams are coming up. But

(47:10):
honestly, in a way running outside the college it's a
little less intense in terms of being aware of who's
there and who's not and all that stuff. So, you get to
kind of focus a little bit more on yourself. So,
I think I got used to that level of intensity
early on and then it became I think a lot
easier to say, " Okay, I'm going to show up to

(47:31):
the race." There might be a lot more people at
these big road races, you have thousands and thousands of
people, but the race itself felt a little more relaxed like, "
All right, I'm going to go out here, I'm going to hit my pace. I'm not
really looking to, I don't know where I'm going to
end up scoring or whatever, but I'm just going to do

(47:54):
my best." So, it definitely prepared me and then now it
feels a lot easier.

No, it's all about being balanced but as a full-
time employee and trying to get some mileage, I know
you say you're not running as many miles but how do you balance
work and trying to have your own peak performance and
winning those big races?

Yeah, I would say work and my training really ... Work,
my training and volunteering really frame everything I do so
when I'm scheduling stuff, that's really what I'm thinking about.
But I try to work here at the school, at
the high school I work at I've had an assistant coaching

(48:36):
job, and so I'll end up running with the kids after school
sometimes or they'll see me right outside after the bell
rings on the grass I'm doing a workout. So, I just
try to make things mesh with each other as much
as possible, integrate them together so that I make time

(48:58):
for myself so I can get all my things done.
Yeah, that's it, just make things integrate together. Everybody kind
of knows what I'm up to around here, they know
that I'm dedicated to what I do and that I take
time out of my day after school to get it done. And
I see people in the community, everyone's super supportive so

(49:20):
it makes staying on the path pretty easy.

No, I know you alluded to as volunteering or as
a visible non- binary athlete and a coach, how do you think your
success and visibility helps the LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented runners?

I would say it's a tough time for a lot
of groups of people right now to feel comfortable, to
feel brave, to feel like they can pursue the things
they want to do in life and not be kind
of overwhelmed by the barriers that come. So, I think
it's really awesome to have these big races that do

(50:01):
put some spotlights on the LGBT community that have non-
binary categories 'cause it reminds people that beyond maybe one
piece of your identity, you are a whole person. You
have all these things to, you could be an educator,
you could be a runner, you could be activist, you

(50:22):
could be, I don't know, a small business owner. So, to learn about
these people and people's stories, I think it really makes
people feel like, " Oh, I can balance these things and
I don't have to just be this one thing," so
it's awesome, I think it really helps that.

Well, we're grateful for the New Yorker runs for giving
us a platform to shine our talent, but do you
engage in any advocacy or mentorship outside of the competition?

Yeah, I'm a part of the Transcenders, which is a
trans and non- binary running team that organizes up here.
Let's see, I guess we're, it was like Ulster County
area but we have a lot of members from a
lot of different places. And now it's kind of hopefully
becoming a tradition. We're having this track meet I think

(51:18):
it's August and it happens up here, last year it
happened in Dutchess County in Poughkeepsie. So, it was great
to get people together who are people in LGBT community who
just want to compete and want to feel comfortable, want
to feel safe and want to come out here and

(51:40):
get to know each other, but all for the love
of competing and moving around and just having a joyful
atmosphere. So, doing stuff like that is really important. And
then, like I said before just when I run, it's
a place for my physical freedom but I'm thinking about
everything that's going on in the world. So, while I'm thinking

(52:04):
about my races, my pace and stuff, I'm also thinking
about my family, my friends and what's going on in the
world where I can donate some money that I have
living around, especially with the wars are going on, the
blockade in Gaza, things like that, people are in a
lot of need. So, that's kind of how I organize.

(52:28):
I have some groups here too in Hudson Valley that
I work with together. A lot of educational stuff, putting
on just information to bring people to a center so that
we can all get on the same page and work together.

Well, Galo, you're doing an amazing work leading the pace
and then also doing some advocacy work and then they
are very admired what you are doing and breaking barriers.
So, keep up the great work, we're grateful for you
to be here and be able to just be advocacy
for this less fortunate one so keep up the great work.

Well, thank you so much for the opportunity to have
a chat.

Thank you, Galo, for joining us and for being a
member of New York Road Runners. New York Road Runners
is a nonprofit organization with a vision to build healthier
lives and stronger communities through the transformative power of running.
The support of members and donors like you helps us
achieve our mission to transform the health and wellbeing of
our communities through inclusive and accessible running experiences empowering all

(53:31):
to achieve their potential. Learn more and contribute at nyrr. org/
donate. Yukiko Matsuzaki is a board- certified clinical specialist at
Hospital for Special Surgery. She treats children and adolescents with
a range of orthopedic and sports- related injuries, both surgical
and non- surgical. Yukiko works closely with physicians and performance

(53:54):
specialists to help young athletes recover safely and return to
sport with a lower risk of future injury. She's published
a handful of research papers on topics of youth runner
biomechanics, knee surgeries and pediatric sports medicine.

Thanks Rob. Yukiko, welcome to the Set the Pace podcast,
how's it going today?

Yukiko Matsuzaki (54:14):
Good, good. Thanks for having me, Meb. It's so exciting to be here.

Delighted to have you. You specialize in treating pediatric adolescent
athletes, what are some of the most common running related
injuries you see at that age group?

Yeah, sure. So, basically what makes this pediatric and adolescent
athletes unique compared to the adults is that their bodies
are constantly changing, meaning their bones, their muscles, their nervous
system, their hormone levels, their bone density, they're all changing
until they become an adult. Now, all kids go through

(54:52):
periods of steady state growth and really fast rates of
growth, which we call growth spurts, and this is really
the time where a lot of kids are most vulnerable
to injury. And the bones are getting longer but the
tendons and the muscles which attach to the bones don't
stretch out naturally. So, now we have a taller kid

(55:15):
with tight muscles like hamstrings and calf muscles, and just
because you're taller doesn't mean you're naturally stronger. So, now
we have a tall kid with tight muscles and relatively
weaker muscles. Sometimes these tight muscles can cause what we
call growing pains, these can be what we call Osgood-

(55:37):
Schlatter disease or Sever's disease, they're at the knee or
the heel. They're called disease but not really a disease.
And there's also some similar kind of injuries at the
pelvis and hips that don't have very special names. And
then, other times it's a combination of tight muscles and

(55:59):
weak muscles that can result in things like front of
the knee pain. And then, finally in kids, the bones
are naturally softer than they are in adults, which is
why we see more bone- related injuries, things like stress
fractures and avulsion fractures in this population. The avulsion fractures

(56:19):
at the pelvis and the hips is kind of commonly
seen in the sprinters, not so much in the long-
distance runners. I hope I answered that question.

Oh, you did, you did great. And how does working
with a 14- year- old cross- country runner differ from
treating an adult marathoner? I know you already answered it,
but what should parents and coaches be aware? Because I
have a 15- year- old daughter and she plays contact
soccer and she still has the growth bone injury, not

(56:48):
injury but when it impacts she feels like in pain
or feel like, if it's an adult it would've been
a disaster, but because it's still growing, how do you see
that development or science be able to just be okay
with the kids? If it was an adult, it would've been
probably a fracture.

Yeah, so this is great. So, I'll talk about the
runner specifically but it doesn't always have to just apply
to runners. It can apply to any young athletes that play
soccer or basketball. Basically, the bone like I said, is
the most vulnerable in growing kids. So, cross- country runners
and even soccer players who run a lot are more

(57:25):
likely to suffer bone stress injuries. So, we have to
be mindful about the overall training load, which in runners
that would be mileage, in soccer players, it could be
like minutes. And when we talk about overall training load,
we want to look at the week of how much
they're playing in a week or running in a week. So,

(57:46):
these things are very easily trackable with an Apple Watch
or a Garmin watch, Strava, there's also the coaches are
keeping track or they should keep track of how much
soccer players are playing in minutes. And while we all
think like weight- bearing exercises are things that are like
running or standing up exercises are good for bone health,

(58:09):
excessive amounts are not actually great, can lead to injuries.
So, super important to look at the overall training program
and make sure that we have number one, rest and
recovery, right? As a pro runner yourself I'm sure you
had rest and recovery days. You probably had cross- training

(58:32):
days where you didn't do that sport. If you're a
soccer player, you may do something else. If you're a
runner, maybe you go cycling or you do swimming. It's
still training your body just in different ways. Strength and
conditioning is something that a lot of young athletes are
missing. And then finally, sleep. How many hours of sleep

(58:54):
you get a night is super important in young athletes'
growing bodies similar to the rest and recovery. Sleep is
not like a passive state of rest, it's very active
in their bodies or getting rest, but things are being
repaired and restored. And then finally, nutrition is super important.

(59:16):
Again, whatever sport you play, we don't want a deficit
too much of the sport with too little nutrition that
it's going to lead to a deficit and something that
can lead to injuries. And then finally, when the kid
is going through an active period of growth, like the
parents are buying new shoes every few months, new pants,

(59:39):
they're getting taller every single night, this is when we
need to modify their training program. So, less is more
during this time. So, less running or less soccer, less
basketball, whatever it is. But substitute like one or two
days a week of that training with conditioning exercises, mobility

(01:00:01):
exercises, foam rolling, stretching, whatever it is, cross- training, that
can really lead to decreasing the risk of injury and
also probably improved performance.

Meb Keflezighi (01:00:14):
You're absolutely right. I know moderation in everything and our
overall, whether it's mileage or minutes is so crucial. Sometimes
but the kids the love is running or the love
is soccer, I think the coaches have to step up
to say, " Hey, you need to do cross- training or you need to
rest," but sometimes difficult to do. But you are currently

(01:00:34):
leading a research, adults and runners, can you share what
you are exploring in the search and why it matters
for young athlete's long- term health?

Yukiko Matsuzaki (01:00:43):
Sure. Yes. So. In this study I looked at healthy
uninjured runners and I just took a look at how they
run. And what we found was that their running form
were kind of consistent with weak hip or core muscles.
They all had overstriding striking posture and a lot of the kids had

(01:01:05):
pronated ankles or like an inward collapse or the ankle
and the foot. Now, these things are associated with injuries
in adult runners. Since in this study we did not
compare the group to injured athletes, I can't say that
a certain running form is related to an injury in
this adolescent running group. So, that would be really the

(01:01:28):
next step. So, the main finding with that was that the
healthy youth runners ran differently compared to what we know
is what healthy adult runners run. So, what we don't
want to do as healthcare providers or someone who's doing
a running analysis is to use some of these norms
and numbers from what we found in the adult running

(01:01:50):
literature, and I'll kind of simply apply them to the
youth runners. I don't think that really would work really
well and there's so many different pieces of the puzzles
to kind of put together to make a youth athlete
healthy. So, just looking at numbers can be really tricky.
So, that's the bottom line.

Most importantly make them have fun so they can develop
to be an adult and engage so they don't lose
their passion.

Yep.

And then, for young runners training for their first big
race, what are some of the warning signs that we may see doing too much or too soon?

So, too much too soon frequently happens during preseason or
right after the preseason begins. Let's take cross- country as
an example so that's a fall sport. So, sometime around mid-
August, preseason begins. All the students are coming back from
the summer, sometimes they've gone to summer camp and done
completely different sports. Maybe they've been working all summer, maybe

(01:02:54):
they've just kind of been lazy and hanging out over
the summer. A lot of them are not in shape
even for preseason. Now, preseason is pretty tough, it's meant
to be pretty tough. The coaches want to get these
athletes in shape so that they have a good season.
So, I think it's really important that these athletes are
ready for preseason. So, you almost have to have a

(01:03:17):
baseline, right? You've got good sleep, you have baseline mileage
for runners or fitness for soccer players, whatever, and you're
just in shape. Your strength is good, you've worked out
all summer. I think having a consistent schedule like you
worked out throughout let's say June or July, you went

(01:03:39):
to the gym and then you're ready for the preseason
so that you don't crash during that course. And then,
some of the main symptoms and the signs and symptoms
of overtraining would be like fatigue. You're tired all the
time regardless of the number of hours you're sleeping, you're
tired during the day at school. We also see kids

(01:04:01):
who keep getting injured or they're just not performing really
well despite the amount of practice. So, those are big
red flags of overtraining. So, like I said before, sometimes
less is more so less running, less sports, but more
time spent on rest and recovery, cross- training, conditioning, making

(01:04:22):
your body ready for the sport I think is really key.

It is important even as an elite athlete when you
bring into preseason you like you hate it because, well,
you took some time off, the muscles are sore, you
feel a little bit lethargic, but let the fitness come
to you instead of rushing into it.

Yes.

So, your points on very well taken. What are some
of the changes you wish more youth running program would
make to better support the injury prevention and long- term success?

Yes. So, I think one thing that youth athletes need
to incorporate is strength and conditioning. And we're talking about
basic stuff like one- legged balance. Can you balance on
one leg with your eyes open for 30 seconds, right?
Can you do a nice squat, two- legged squat, nothing

(01:05:15):
fancy, no loaded, no squat rack, crazy stuff. Can you
do single- leg exercises, right? Remember, running is a single-
legged workout. If you cannot balance and stabilize your body
over one leg, you're not going to be a good
runner. And obviously this does not go for just youth runners
and will go for any runner. But I think sometimes

(01:05:37):
we all focus on the sport too much and we're
missing out on the basic foundation, core strength, balance, mobility,
how your joints move, your ankles, your knees, your hips
and then strength, so stability. Like I said, they all
kind of fit together to provide a nice stable running

(01:06:00):
form. And I think that's really what makes a difference,
not just muscling through these races. I think the simple
things really make the biggest change or the difference in
your performance and how you feel.

Yukiko, these are amazing knowledge that you shared with us, especially
with kids. They're fun contents to have, on a pillow or single-
leg squat or one eye closed trying to reach for
the ground and then back up, it's phenomenal. And I
talk about that in Meb For Mortals is the strengthening. Sometimes we
all want to do efficient running, but we forget about

(01:06:37):
the small increment that helps you be a well- balanced athlete
to help you carry on single- leg from 5K to the 10K to the half-
marathon, full marathon. So, great job and showing this research
and able to share with us. So, it means a
lot and keep up the great work and thank you for being
with us.

Thank you, Meb.

Rob Simmelkjaer (01:06:57):
That does it for our Father's Day edition of Set
the Pace. We want to thank our guests today, Juan
Uro, New York Road Runners member, Galo Vasquez and HSS's
Yukiko Matsuzaki. If you liked the episode, please make sure
you subscribe, leave us a rating, five stars of course.
Send us a comment wherever you listen, this will help
us and help others find the show too. Happy Father's

(01:07:20):
Day everybody, we'll see you next week.

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