Top American Marathoner Susanna Sullivan Talks Balancing Teaching and Training

Episode Transcript
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Susanna Sullivan (00:00):
I didn't actually realize that I was in the lead
American spot until very, very late in the race, maybe
a mile ago. I started to have suspicions of it
at about the halfway because I feel like I heard somebody say
top American, and I was like, " No, surely I must
have missed somebody with all the chaos at the start,
somebody must be still further ahead." But then with about

(00:23):
a mile to go in Chicago, one of the motorcycles
pulled up alongside me and was yelling to other people like, "
lead American."

Rob Simmelkjaer (00:35):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Set the Pace, the official
podcast of New York Roadrunners presented by Peloton. I'm your
host, Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of New York Roadrunners back
on video for a second week in a row with
Becs Gentry who's joining us from her homeland in London,
England, United Kingdom. Becs, it's great to see you. We're

(00:56):
not in person this week, we're separated by a little
ocean, but it's great to see your face.

Becs Gentry (01:00):
It's very different. Yes, side by side, literally in person last week
to being separated by the Atlantic Ocean. But we're here.
I'm back home for a couple of weeks in London.
Well, I can't really call it home anymore. My original
home here with Peloton whilst our studios are having a
little bit of a revamp in New York and then, yeah, it's

(01:21):
fun. It's great to be back.

So they sent you to London to teach because there's
a studio over there and you're using that and getting
a little trip home as well out of it. Not bad.

Yeah. Yeah. No one's here. Well, my sister is here. Well, she's in Norfolk.

Yeah, because your parents moved, right?

Yeah.

So you're kind of like a Londoner without family in
London anymore, but of course Austin and your child are
back in the States, Tallulah. What's it feel like to
be home, but maybe not feeling so at home with
all your family in different places?

Yeah, it's strange. I think once I see my sister
in a couple of days, I'm going to go to
Norfolk, which is the east coast of England, to see her
for 24 hours or so, and I think I'll feel
more like I'm home in that respect. But yeah, right
now I do feel a little bit like an American
in New York walking around like, " Ooh, this is such

(02:17):
a sweet city. It's so small." And I just walked
across London. You don't just do that in New York, you don't
just hop out of your house and you walk everywhere.
So it's been very nice, very, very fun. But I'm
definitely going to be missing my little family by the
time I get home. Right now I'm still like, " Mom's having

(02:37):
a bit of a break."

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure it's nice, but I'm sure
they miss you and we get a little time with you, which
is awesome. So Becs, we have some excitement to announce
this week. It's crazy, Becs, I really don't consider myself
a marathoner. I ran the New York City Marathon as

(03:00):
you know when I was graduating from law school back
in 1997 to date myself a little bit here, and that
was going to be kind of like a bucket list experience,
and it was incredible. And then something got in me
to do it again 16 years later in 2013 when
I was just about to move out of the city
with our family, and that was incredible, a beautiful day

(03:24):
and achieve my goals and all that. And then I was pretty
sure I was done running marathons, of course, getting back
to New York Roadrunners now and working around them all
the time, something has happened to me and I find myself
doing this now, running marathons over and over. And I
think what it is that I go to these marathons.

(03:45):
I went to the London Marathon the first year I
was here at Roadrunners and I wasn't running it. I just
went to be there. I'm on board of the Abbott World Marathon
Majors, so of course I go to a lot of the other majors, and
I found that being at a marathon, I wasn't running.
I just didn't enjoy that. It was hard for me
to be in the scene and in the mix and

(04:05):
not run it. And so other than New York, which
of course I'm around every year, but don't run it,
can't run it because I've got way too much going
on. I'm way too busy. But other than that, I
haven't been to a major since then that I haven't run.
So as you all know, I ran Berlin last fall.
I ran Tokyo in March, that left me halfway to

(04:26):
the six stars of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. And so
I've just decided to keep this party going, Becs, and I'm going
to run the 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on
October 12. So excited.

Yay. That is incredible. Well, congratulations first of all on
taking the hardest step, which I think is committing to
doing well, not the hardest, but it is very daunting for
most people to commit to a marathon, any race, knowing
that you've got a big bulk of training between you and

(05:04):
the race day, and then tough run between you and
the finish line. But how wonderful, because you get to
take yourself on another adventure, both physically, mentally, and you
get a nice big shiny medal at the end of
it. And as you say, you're one step closer to
that elusive six star of the World Marathon Majors medal.

(05:26):
I mean, so cool. So cool.

Becs know, listen, I'm super lucky. I realize how lucky
I am because of my role I get to get
into these marathons. It's a lot easier for me than
it is for the average person to get in, and
I am very appreciative of that. And I want to thank
Carey Pinkowski, Mike Nishi, the amazing team out in Chicago
for inviting me to run this year. So Chicago is

(05:49):
such a beautiful city and I'm just excited to be
a part of it. In addition to it being my
four star, I also really decided, Becs, that if I'm
going to go for this sixth thing, it lines up
well schedule- wise for me because London is next spring.
If I come out of this feeling, well, that would
be a good time to go for that. And then

(06:10):
of course there's Boston and I can run Boston, of
course I can get a bib. I know I can
get a bib and they'll kindly give me one. But
there's something about Boston, Becs, that makes me want to
take on the challenge of qualifying. And it just turns out

(06:31):
that the way that the Boston Marathon qualifying cycle works,
when you qualify for the Boston Marathon, the time that
counts, it's not the age that you are when you
run the qualifying race. It's the age you are on
the day of the Boston Marathon that you're qualifying for.
I just learned this by talking to my friend Jack

(06:51):
Fleming, the race director of the Boston Marathon. So it
turns out Becs that I can qualify for the 2027 Boston
Marathon, which is the cycle that we would be in
in October for the Chicago Marathon. And I will be,
I'm just going to put my ages out there. I'll
be 55 on the day of that Boston Marathon, but

(07:12):
I'll only be 53 on the day of the Chicago
Marathon that I would be running to try to qualify for.

Is it a different qualifying time bracket?

It's a different bracket. So I, at the age of 53, which I will be on October 12th because my
birthday is October 21st, I will be 53 trying to
qualify for the 55 to 59 age bracket at the Boston Marathon.

Fantastic.

And for me, that's a good thing because I'm not
getting a lot faster. The magic of my running career, Becs, is that
I've managed not to get slower, but I also haven't
gotten a lot faster. But the qualifying times are getting
slower, so that time to hit for me will be
three hours and 30 minutes. As you know, I ran 327

(07:58):
in Berlin last year, so I clearly got that in me.
I'd like to run a couple minutes faster to create
a little bit more buffer. Because everybody knows you need
that buffer time a lot of the time to actually
get into Boston. So yeah, that's my goal. Becs, is to
run 325 or better to try to qualify for Boston
in 2027.

So many twists, so many wonderful, wonderful things that you
will be able to celebrate.

Well, I need one thing though, Becs, if I'm going
to accomplish this and I want to run a good time in Chicago,
I need a coach. I need some help. I've had
some great help along the way the last couple of
years I've used Runna, the terrific app that we have at
New York Roadrunners and I continue to use that. I've been
using that to build my base. This summer I used
that for Berlin. Of course, I've had Roberto Mandje who

(08:48):
people know paced me and helped coach me in Berlin, and he
was amazing. But I was thinking, Becs, who do I
know who's really good at running marathons, who's got an
incredible track record, who's a teacher who could help me
get ready for Chicago? And I thought, " Gee, there's somebody I
speak to just about every week who I know is

(09:10):
really good at this." And so I thought maybe Becs
would help me. So, Becs, I'm here to ask, would
you consider coaching me to get me ready for the
Chicago Marathon because I think it'd be great for me to have
your help. I know you're not a coach in this
way, you're obviously an incredible coach for all your Peloton
followers, but this is not really what you do. But

(09:31):
I know you know what to do.

I do.

So would you help get me ready for this and
maybe our listeners can go along for the ride as
you coach and hopefully don't torture me too much to
get ready for the marathon this October?

I would be honored too. I'd absolutely be honored too.
I think that will be very funny. And if it's
okay with you, I think we should talk about it
on a weekly basis how I'm not torturing you. I know a lot of my-

You can torture me a little if it's going to make me you faster.
Yeah, just a look.

I will. You know I will. All of our listeners who know me know I will. And
that will be awesome and we should definitely make sure
we get you into a Peloton class at some point
during this time period as well. So I can actually see you
running and check it out, but I'd be honored to
come on this journey with you.

Check on my form a little bit because you and I, as
much as we've talked about running, you and I have
actually never run together. There's a good reason for that,
which is that I can't stay anywhere near you.

We're both normally working with these races.

Yes, there's the work thing, but there's also the fact
that you would be walking and I'd be running. But
other than that, we just haven't had a chance to
do it. But yes, that would be great if I came
to one of your classes and you can yell at
me for not picking up my knees and that sort
of thing.

Absolutely. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. Well, thank you for picking me.

Coach Becs. Great. So we'll keep everybody in the loop. This'll be
fun. The next 12 weeks or so, we'll do some
updates. You know what I'll do? Maybe we'll put on social some of the things, Becs, that you're asking me to do every week
and then I can come back and report on how
that went, how the workouts went, how I felt-

Sounds good.

... what Becs asked me to do. So thank you very much, Rebecca.
I appreciate that and I'm excited to run Chicago with you
as my coach. So should be a lot of fun.
Well, looking back to New York for a second, Becs,
we've got a couple races coming up this weekend. We
have a new event coming up in New York this
Saturday. It's the first time event, it's called the Start

(11:34):
Line Series, and this is a brand new two and
a half mile fun run. It's going to be out
in Queens and it's part of New York City's Department
of Transportation summer streets. So New Yorkers know that the
city's been shutting down streets around the city during the summer
on weekends to give people a chance to just walk

(11:55):
and enjoy the streets. And so we're getting a chance
to run a little bit of a race early on
those closed streets. And so it's really for beginners, it's going
to be a lot of fun. It's not competitive, it's
not a nine plus one. It's not all of the
kind of challenge that so many people have getting into our
races. It's open, it's free, it is unscored, it's untimed.

(12:17):
And so it's a great opportunity for anyone out there
listening or if you know someone who just wants to
get into running, to come out and feel a little
bit of what it's like to run a race. So
come join us. We still have spots left as we
tape our podcast today. You can go to nyrr. org,
create an account, sign up, you can even sign up
on the day of the race, by the way. So

(12:38):
there's that opportunity as well. But hopefully folks will come
out and join us at the Start Line Series. Hope
to see some new runners out there on Saturday. And then, Becs,
on Sunday we are back in Central Park for one
of my favorite events of the year, the New York
Roadrunners Team Championships event. It's a five miler, super competitive,
runner favorite for all those club runners out there. The

(13:00):
clubs are super competitive trying to get their team points
and all that, and it's double the point for the team championships.

Oh, it's exciting. Very exciting.

Absolutely. Oh, so we have the men, the women, non- binary club points, races,
all worth double and, Becs, I don't know if you've been to
that event. The best thing about it, the food. The
food is incredible. So many of the clubs come out
and bring picnics and they party after the race. So
unfortunately I'll miss it this year, but I wish everybody
a great time on Sunday.

Yeah, absolutely. Best of luck to all of them and all the teams because
I know how much this community will come together and
just have a lot of fun. And also, I just
have to say I do love the NYC Department of
Transport Summer Streets. It is one of my most favorite
times of the year. I adore the fact that the streets are

(13:49):
just closed and people can move, ride their bikes, walk,
run, whatever you want, and in the different locations around,
it's not just Manhattan, it's everywhere. So if you can't make
it to Long Island, then don't fear. There are other places
you can do this. So thank you to the city of New York to doing this because

(14:12):
it really does entice people to move and that's what
we're here for. That is what we're all here for.

Yeah, it's a special thing. It's been a really nice
initiative in New York over the last few summers. Well, Becs,
we've been talking about Chicago and my run though. We're
going to talk to someone today who ran Chicago just
a little bit faster than I am going to be
running Chicago this fall. Susanna Sullivan, who was the top

(14:39):
American finisher in Chicago last year, ran a blazing personal
record time of just over 221 and she will be
representing the United at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
this summer. She's an incredible runner. She's also a school

(14:59):
teacher. She's a sixth grade math teacher. It's actually to
me, the perfect combination of being a teacher and being
a runner. She's going to talk to us about how
she did what she did in Chicago last year, how
she's planning to attack the world Championships in Tokyo, which
promises to be hot and hilly this summer, and how
she balances all that with teaching sixth graders pre- algebra.

(15:23):
So Susanna's coming up in just a minute. So excited for
that conversation. And then later on today's member moment, our
friend Meb Keflezighi will be here with a runner who
after two knee replacements ran his first marathon at the
age of 75.

Wow.

Incredible. That's unbelievable. So that will put all of our
complaints right where they belong, which is in a basket
far, far away because that's an incredible achievement. So we'll
hear about that. And then today's Meb minute, we'll be
here to help those of you who are training for
fall races and that includes me, stay in shape, beat

(16:00):
the heat. It's been a struggle, Becs, the last couple
of weeks and get ready for running in the fall
even if you're taking some vacation time. So stay tuned
for that.

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On weekdays she's Ms. Sullivan, a sixth- grade math teacher
in Virginia. But on race day, Susanna Sullivan has proven
herself to be one of the fastest American women on
the roads. Sullivan was the top American finisher at the
2024 Chicago Marathon, a blazing 221 56, making her the

(17:11):
10th fastest US woman in history for the marathon. She
then went on to be the top American finisher at the
2025 London Marathon, all while juggling lesson plans and grading
homework. And Susanna Sullivan is here to tell us what
it's like to go from teaching pre- algebra on Friday
to competing against world- class runners on a Sunday. Susanna

(17:34):
Sullivan, it is great to see you and great to
have you on Set the Pace. Welcome.

Thank you so much for having me.

I've had a chance to see you from time to
time around events, but we've never really had a chance
to chat. I know you're meeting Becs for the first
time, but it's really great to have you. And I
guess I would start by asking you how you got
here, how did you get to this point, Susanna, of
being a competitor at this level at the marathon distance?

(18:05):
Is this where you thought you'd find yourself at 35
years old?

Not at all. The last several years have really just
been such a dream. I mean, as many distance runners
do. I started out in soccer as a little kid
and got involved in cross country and track when I was
in middle school. My sister is two years older and

(18:30):
she showed some promise in cross country, in track. And so
with sibling rivalry, I wanted a shot at it and
I just really enjoyed it. I love that there's always
something you can do better to improve. There's something you
can focus on whether that's strength work or nutrition or

(18:52):
hydration. And I just found that showing up every day
and putting forth my best effort was resulting in me
making progress. And so I just loved that about the
sport and so headed off to Notre Dame for college,
had a kind of underwhelming college career. I've learned so much

(19:15):
about the mental side of the sport in the year
since graduating. And I really do think I just put
a lot of pressure on myself and I didn't think
I communicated with my coaches as well as I could
have about how much the training day in and day
out was beating me up. So when I graduated, I
headed back to the DC area, that's where I went to

(19:35):
high school and linked up with a running club there
and was on that team for eight years and made
some progress. I qualified for two Olympic trials with capital
area runners. And then during the pandemic when I was
teaching into my computer, I was slipping out at lunchtime

(19:59):
and I didn't have a commute on either end and
I was just finding pockets of time to get outside
and get really active. And I think that being able
to increase my mileage in a deliberate way 2020, 2021
kind of just really helped me to see that if

(20:21):
I could stay healthy, I actually could put together, string
together a lot of good workouts. And I started to make
a lot of progress in 2020 after I started working
with my current coach, Andrew Gerard. He's at George Mason
University. And since working with him, I went from running
235 in the marathon, was my PR when we first
started working together and now it's 221. So working with

(20:41):
him really I think has been the catalyst for so
much of the progress that I've made in the last
five years or so. We didn't completely revamp my training,
but I feel like the communication, the trust there is
just like I couldn't ask for more. We've really increased

(21:03):
my strength training. So that is one element of things
that I think was a big change from what I
was doing before.

That's so interesting to hear that, Becs, to make that
big of a jump that is no joke, 235 to 221 and, Becs, to
hear the strength component of that and what that's done as well.

It's so true, isn't it? I mean you see these big jumps throughout professional
and non- professional careers, but the more people I talk
to, the more people who honestly say, " Yes, I was running a
lot more. Yes, I was doing some slightly different speed
work," for example, but the vast majority of people really

(21:46):
do contribute that big change in PR time to strengthening
their body, their bones, their muscles, their joints. And just
feeling strong, especially over the marathon distance because boy do
we all know that we need that support for 26. 2, right?

Right. I mean, I think we've all known it for
a while that consistency is so critical and I think
for me, having that strength training base so that I
can stay healthy so that I can string together weeks
and months of training has just been huge. And I
really credit my coach in figuring out how to gradually

(22:26):
get me to a place where I can be doing several
hours of isometric work, which really wears you out. But managing
to balance cross- training and the running work and the
strength training work so that I'm able to handle it
at this point. And it's now just a regular part

(22:47):
of the week's training.

Yeah, it's part of your life. So the past 2024 to 2025
has been another kind of roller coaster really for you.
Rewind back to February '24 with the US Olympic trials in
February, and you unfortunately had an injury that meant that

(23:09):
you couldn't compete that day. In hindsight, I bet the
weather you were like, " Well, it was a pretty rough
day down there." But your, for want of a better word,
comeback was October that year where you went to Chicago,
the amazing Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and you ran 221 56,

(23:31):
which was the PR that you've mentioned. Seventh overall, first American, and
then we're going to talk about that in a second.
But fast- forwarding to now or June, a few weeks,
it's just been announced that you're representing the USA in the marathon
at the World Athletics Champs in Japan. And so definitely

(23:54):
want to come back to Chicago and the PR, but
this is so fresh and so incredibly exciting. Huge congratulations
by the way to you and to Jess McLean there
at the camp. But how does it feel to be like, "
I'm going to Japan, I'm going to be there with
Team USA," seen as you missed the chance for Paris?

Yeah, no, I'm super excited. The injury that ended up keeping
me out of the trials, it was an injury and
I got COVID the week of the race. So it
was pretty clear that going to Orlando was not going
to make any sense, but I got that injury at
the World Championships in Budapest, and so when I limped

(24:38):
away from the course in Budapest, I just wanted another
chance. And these things are never guaranteed and you can
wish it and want it. And I remember walking away
thinking, I hope that we can find a way to
get back and have another shot at Team USA and

(24:59):
put my... and just have a day that I can
really feel satisfied with and feel like it reflected all
the work that I had put into it and all
the work that the team around me had helped prepare
me for. And so yeah, then fast forwarding to the
trials, we had kind of gotten the knee cap to
a place... I had fractured my knee cap at the

(25:23):
World Championships. Heading into it, about a week before the
race I started to have some knee pain, but I
kind of felt it go at 5K. There was a
girl that got her foot underneath my heel, and it
lifted up my heel and I think I just hiked
my hip enough that just, I (inaudible)

What does that feel like, Susanna?

I'm not sure how I made it to the finish line because
it didn't stop hurting just walking around for months. So
yeah, it was a lot. But then we got to
a place where I felt like you never know what'll
happen in a marathon. So we felt like heading into
Orlando, maybe there was a chance. I definitely wasn't as

(26:10):
fit as I wanted to be, and I was kind
of having to contend with the emotional strife of knowing
that I was capable of more than what I was
going to be able to put together on that day.
And then I think it was the Monday of that
week I was at work, and that was still when
the school office had stockpiles of COVID tests and I

(26:33):
just started, I really wasn't feeling well and I went
to the school office and said, " Can I borrow a COVID
test?" And they said, " Yeah, sure." And I took it and they said, " You
need to go home." And I thought, " Yeah, and also
Saturday's the Olympic trial, so I guess that's off too."
But maybe in retrospect, maybe it was... I think running

(26:56):
on COVID or with COVID on a not a hundred
percent kneecap probably would've meant that Chicago wasn't as magical a day as it
ended up being. So everything happens for a reason. And
so I was so excited that Chicago went as well
as it did. It was the first marathon that my

(27:17):
coach ever was there in person for, and I feel
like having him there before just as a calming presence
and then out along the course just to remind me
to calm down, just visualize the training that we had
done to get to that point. It was just really special.

(27:39):
And so I was just so relieved that it came together on that
day because there had been a lot of hours in the pool
and the comeback from the kneecap injury that my husband
and my coach, I feel like were kind of playing
tag team to kind of keep my spirits up for
months. And so I felt like I needed to do

(27:59):
my part to stay on it in the weight room
and physical therapy and all the things I was doing
to recover and really stay on it in cross- training
and trying to build a base so that when I
could get back to running that it would build something
like Chicago. So it was just such a relief that
it came together because I mean, as we all know,

(28:21):
lots can happen on Marathon day and you don't always get
the day you prepared for.

Yeah, I mean you talk about it coming together and
that really is it, isn't it? I mean, a lot
of things kind of have to align sometimes to have
a day like the day you had in Chicago. And
you talked about your college career injuries, I know were
a part of that, and that held you back from

(28:47):
maybe accomplishing what you wanted to accomplish in college. You
talked about the injuries you had as a pro, and
so what did it feel like for you to just
have it all come together that way and cross the
finish line and have the realization of the changes you'd
made in your training, the changes you'd made in your

(29:07):
body, everything that you'd done kind of all come together
on that day. And then when it does, how do
you feel about, okay, can you make it come together
again, right? Because it's almost like you feel like lightning
strikes in a good way and then you're trying to
make it strike again.

Yeah, I mean I feel like I was just living a dream for the
week or two after it, and then I feel like
I've been around the sport long enough. I read everything,
books all these elite athletes, especially in the last couple
of years, a lot of books have come out. And

(29:46):
I've read a lot about that understanding that it's nice
to be able to learn from other people's mistakes and
you obviously have to learn from your own as well,
but a lot of people say that they have a
big performance and then they think that they have to
do something bigger and greater in order to get to
higher heights. And I think that I've learned from enough

(30:08):
people who've gone before me and have kind of shared
their story that it's really about consistency and you don't
have to do something. You don't have to run significantly
more miles or do significantly more cross- training or lift
heavier weights or completely change your diet or whatever it
is. It's a matter of just continuing to stack bricks.

(30:30):
And so I think that that was something that my
coach and I reflected on after the race that I didn't
need to do anything drastic to feel like I could
continue to improve. And so I think just checking in
on that and remembering that every once in a while,
that if I just keep doing what I'm doing and

(30:53):
focus on the things that have worked for me in
the past and don't pay attention to what everybody else
is doing, and if it's different from mine, not second
guessing my approach to training, and that's probably going to
be what serves me best and is going to make
it more likely that lightning can strike again.

Absolutely. So talking about doing what you do best as
well as running, you are also a second grade math
teacher, is that right?

Sixth.

Sixth grade, I've been in the US long enough I
should know, but I have no idea about the school
system as my daughter's about to enter it, and I'm like, "
What?" Sixth grade math teacher. So what age is that?
What age are they?

They're 11 and 12.

Oh geez. Okay. So really you have-

Tweens as we call them.

... full on days. Yes, there's attitude, there's probably a lot of patience being
taken from you. What is your typical day?

Yeah, yeah, I mean it is a fun age and I
started out with little, little kids when I first started
teaching. I did pre- K and kindergarten.

I know that one, that's why she is. And then

I then made the jump to fifth grade, was fifth grade for nine years
and then have been in sixth grade the last three-

That's a big jump by the way. As someone who's had two girls
go through all those ages, that's a big change.

I feel like people told me I'd find the things
that I didn't like and that I liked about each
age group, and I do like that, I mean, I
love the relationship building part of that age. I have
girls in my sixth grade class who really got into
the running thing and their mothers would shoot me emails

(32:47):
just letting me know they're having a really hard time
building up the nerve, but they really want to have
lunch with you. And they're going to say it's about
math, but they really just want to talk about running. And
so it's just a cool time in their lives where the relationships
that they build with the people outside of their family
are starting to have more and more of an impact
on them, and they're seeking out relationships with the people

(33:10):
outside of their families, which is just kind of cool.
So a typical day, my school, I just started working
last year at the Langley School in McLean, Virginia. And
before that I had been at a public school for
nine years, and then before that I was actually at
Langley. That's where I started my teaching career and that's
when I was with the little people. I like pre-

(33:33):
K kindergarten age. And so I am back at Langley.
It starts earlier than my old school and that was
an adjustment last year. I have to be on campus
at 7
I'm working on it. We are actually in Maine now where
the sun comes up in the morning, in the summer, so like 4:

(33:55):
30 or five. So we're working on it. So we'll
see if I can transition back at the start of
the school year to maybe being a morning person all
of a sudden. But I usually try to do something
in the morning, whether that's a strength training thing or cross-
training thing. I try not to do my heavier run

(34:19):
in the morning during the school year just because I'm
hardly awake. And then I'll do my longer workouts in
the afternoon after school. In the summer, it's completely different,
I could do almost all my volume in the morning.
But yeah, so I am usually up around six, 6:

(34:44):
30 and I try to get in 45 minutes to
an hour of something, whether that's a strength training session or
some cross- training and then head off to school. Because
I'm in a middle school, I do have breaks throughout
the day. At my old school I was with kids

(35:04):
from the moment I arrived until the moment I left.
And there are opportunities in a middle school model for
me to have meetings with my colleagues about kids and
upcoming things and have time to grade. So I do
get a little bit of time to breathe and maybe
have a snack throughout the day, which was a really
nice change last year just in terms of lifestyle, get

(35:27):
a moment to breathe. But yeah, I've usually got four
sections of math throughout the day and each of those
classes has about 15 kids in it. And then we
have an advisory period or an elective. So sometimes that's
just helping the kids with executive functioning things, getting them

(35:49):
organized, just making sure that they are building good habits
when they head off to high school. And having a consistent
adult check- in, making sure that homework is turned in
and that they've taken care of things they need to take care of. The school does a
really great job at getting the kids to advocate for
themselves and communicate via email with their teachers. So oftentimes

(36:12):
that's just sitting down with the kids and making sure
that we've made a checklist and we've emailed the people we
need to email. And so I think that's just a
great life skill that they're learning in middle school. And
then sometimes I teach an elective and that's the last
class period of the day and they have a lot
of really cool choices for the kids to just have fun.

So that's not math, that's something fun.

It could be anything. So we have girls in STEM,
we have puzzling, we have robotics, we have all sorts
of interesting, sometimes there are more sports oriented ones in the school
newspaper, things like that. So we've got that during the day and
then as soon as school is over, I head off
to George Mason University. That's where my coach, he's the

(36:57):
director of the program there. He's been there close to
20 years now, and the men's team there, there's just
a lot of guys that I can overlap with and
work as I'm a volunteer assistant there in the afternoons.
And it's just a great team. The men and the
women, they work really hard. They've got a lot of

(37:18):
passion for the sport, and so it's really, no matter
how the day has gone at school, no matter how
draining it's been or whatever, going there and being surrounded
by people who are 18 to 24 years old and
are just super excited and are oftentimes kind of immersed in

(37:39):
that upward trajectory in their running journey, it just gives
me a lot of energy. It's a great team. They've
got great coaches, they're improving, and so to just be
around that and to be around their excitement, it's just
really cool. And they help me out too because it's

(38:00):
awesome to have company for warm up or a cool down and
then occasionally an interval or two. I usually get there
a little too late to really be able to overlap
a lot in workouts. But yeah, it's been a win-
win I think, I hope.

Susanna, I'm curious about being a math teacher and a
runner at the same time. It sounds like the two
lifestyles probably go really well together in terms of the
time you have to run, especially in the afternoons, it
makes sense and then summers it's perfect. Do you use
your math knowledge in your running at all? Do you look

(38:39):
at your times, look at your training, look at the
way you're approaching it, because there's a lot of numbers
in running, there's a lot of numbers in the whole
buildup and all of that. Do you ever find yourself making
a little formula for your training or your running or
throwing a variable or two in there when you're starting

(39:01):
to think about how you can run?

Yeah, I mean there's so much data available to us in
running, and I do love to look at numbers and
just, I like to see patterns and things and it's
so easy to compare things and I feel like I
try to strike that balance between being interested in the
data and noticing things, but not getting too compulsive about
it because I mean, I know a lot of distance

(39:24):
runners can tend to get a bit compulsive about their
training. One of the things that I really love about the curriculum
we have at my school and for sixth grade is that
being pre- algebra, a ton of rates and ratios and
proportions and almost all the word problems in the book
that they have are based on running, and they're actually

(39:45):
fairly realistic. There have been some workbooks and textbooks that I've
encountered over the years where it's like Sally ran 85
miles in whatever, and you're like, " What? Okay." Or Sally
ran three miles in 47 hours and you're like, " No."

(40:08):
So this book is great because the curriculum that we
use, there's a lot of sports word problems and application
in there, and a lot of the kids in the
grade that I just had. We'll see what happens with
this next group, but there's a lot of sports fans

(40:31):
and so it was very easy to kind of connect
proportions and ratios to the math that was relevant and
that they were learning at the time. Yeah, so there's
a lot of crossover there, and it's cool to be
able to show them, " Okay, so if I wanted to

(40:52):
average X pace and I was at the four- mile
mark at 20 minutes and let's say 54 seconds, how
fast do I need to run this next mile?" And
so having them kind of figure those things out like, "
How fast do I need to run the next mile
in order to average what I wanted to average?" It's

(41:14):
just really interesting and they get more invested in it
if they think that you care about it. And so
yeah, there is a good crossover. My mother was an English
teacher and grading essays just takes a really, really long
time, but I feel like grading math stuff doesn't usually

(41:35):
take... it shouldn't take as long, but then I love
to look at their work and figure out if the
train went off the tracks, where it went off the
tracks so that I can give feedback. So it does
take a substantial amount of time, but it's interesting to
me when I'm grading papers, it's kind of like a
nice brain break from running. And so I tend to

(41:58):
do that in the evening, so after I leave Mason
in the afternoon, to kind of get back to your
question about what a day looks like. After I leave
Mason, I usually hit the pool on the way home.
We're really fortunate in this area that there's quite a
few pools that I can get to pretty quickly on
the way home, and I usually do about an hour

(42:18):
of cross- training. And so depending on what I've done
in the morning, I'll finish it off in the evening
and then after that, usually I try to get dinner right
away after that and then usually do a little bit
of grading, maybe like 30 to 45 minutes. I feel like as

(42:40):
I've gotten older in the last couple of years, I've found more
and more that I need kind of a buffer to
decompress between the running and the schoolwork and being ready
to go to sleep. So I've been trying to find
opportunities to just relax at the end of the day,

(43:01):
but sleep is so important that it really is just during
the week, I have to be pretty disciplined in order
to make sure that I have everything ready to go
and I can get to sleep so that I can recover.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Random rumor, do you actually run with your
kids at school ever?

At my old school used to go for a walk
in the woods every day. We had a park behind
the school and sometimes we would jog a little bit.
The school that I'm at now has a turf field
that's pretty close to my classroom and it has painted track
laps on it, so I like to get outside for

(43:44):
things that are active. I don't tend to go for real
runs with them just because our campus is fairly small.
But yeah, there's a lot of local races in the
area, and so it's fun to see them at... The
school is a fairly active community. There's a 5K in

(44:05):
McLean that schools or a lot of kids from the
school do, so it's cool to just see them at running events
and a lot of them like to do local 5Ks
and things like that.

Yeah. I'm sure they love seeing you too. They're like, " Ms.
Sullivan, she's winning." That's so inspiring for them. I love
it. I really hope my daughter has a teacher like that, selfishly, who's a runner, obviously.

Susanna, I want to talk about Tokyo a little bit
and your approach to running in the world Championships there.
It's an interesting event, the World Championships, we had a
group talking about this after the MasterCard Mini- 10K in
New York, and the approaches that people take to that
race. It's coming into the fall. There's fall major marathons

(44:49):
that are happening. You got some folks who choose to
run the champion the world championships, some who don't. What's
your approach going to be going into that race? How
are you thinking about it? Are you really focused on
getting on the podium? Are you just trying to have
a good day? Are there other fall marathons that you're
thinking about as well? How are you thinking about the world

(45:10):
championships and what it means for you and your progression?

Yeah, I mean, we're definitely making it the priority in
the training for the fall. We know that it's going
to be hot and humid and hilly, and with having
an all- Brooks team, it has just given me such
an opportunity to learn more about training for humidity and

(45:37):
hills. We were out, the three of us and others,
but Jess and Erica and I were out in Seattle
a couple of weeks ago and we were meeting with
all sorts of people on the Brooks campus, but we
met with their exercise physiologist and a couple other people

(45:58):
who work in their research lab. And they've been helping us
to understand our individualized sweat rates and just kind the
way that we handle heat and humidity. And I just think
that's just felt a lot of support and I feel
like Brooks is putting a lot of their energy into

(46:24):
helping us be as prepared as we can be. And
so I'm just super excited for this opportunity to work together
with Erica and Jess and hopefully, I think all of
us have aspirations to be close to medaling as we
can. And we've been saying so many things can happen

(46:48):
in the marathon. I think that with it being a
course that is hot and humid and has a lot
of hills, it gives, those things can be equalizers depending
on how well you've prepared and what kind of day
you're having. So when I train, I'm training with those

(47:10):
things in mind that I want to make sure that
I am leaving no stone unturned in terms of preparing
for just acclimatizing to the heat and making sure that we're
going in mentally prepared for any kind of scenario. And
if that means that we find ourselves in striking position

(47:32):
of a medal, being able to respond and not count
yourself out because I've been working really hard and training's
going well. So yeah, I'm super excited for the opportunity
because with every country only being able to send three
athletes, that actually is kind of an opportunity for just

(47:59):
looking at the rankings. There's quite a few Ethiopians and
Kenyans that are ranked ahead of me on the world
rankings list, but they can only send three each. And
so it does get you thinking, " Okay, so why not
a medal." If you have a good day, the field
is not-

Quite as deep as it might be in a Boston
or in New York. Yeah, exactly. It makes sense.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited that you are all getting
to actually go and run in the stadium in Japan with people being able to cheer you on because obviously
when athletes were there for the games, it was fake
people in seats in COVID. And so now I think

(48:47):
I read that the course was two laps of the
stadium to start with, potentially.

Oh, yeah. I think that's right.

Like a hurrah, a couple of laps to see people, which is super cool. How does
that make you feel of like, " Oh, wow, this was for the Olympics"?

Yeah, I think it's not going to really hit... I mean,
we've looked at the thing like the Google Earth maps
and things like that where you can go stand on
the street corner, and I'm really appreciative to all the
folks who've kind of sent along data mapping the course
and route maps that show elevation and things like that.

(49:23):
I definitely think that we are prepared with intel for
what the course is going to be like, but my
husband is a Marine officer and goes to Okinawa a
lot and has spent a bit of time in Tokyo.
And he says, once you're on the ground in Japan,
it's going to feel like you're on a different planet.
So I'm super excited for the experience of just being

(49:48):
somewhere new, and I think it really is going to
just hit me that like, " Wow, this is very, very cool."

It's really, really cool. I've run in a lot of
places around the world and running in Tokyo was totally,
just like your husband says, I was just like, " It's
bizarre. It's so bizarre." And I stayed in the hotel
right opposite the stadium and just the hills, the humidity,

(50:18):
as you say, even just, you guys I'm sure will
have your own food that's suitable for your training. But I mean,
I was just running the world majors races, so getting
used to different diets, different food, different everything was just
so cool as well. I nerd out over the body,

(50:38):
obviously in my profession, but how we react to things
like that as well as the nerves that you're going to have, but
oh, it's going to be a breeze of adventure all
the way.

Yeah, I'm super excited.

Yay. Okay. With looking ahead, obviously focus is right now
world champs, but there is so much anticipation of 2028 LA Olympics.
I know you're not probably putting too much out there, but
is that on your radar? Are you thinking this is

(51:11):
a goal for me in two years time? Two and a bit.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I feel like I have
this conversation occasionally with my husband that I'll see my
name in something and I just like, " Oh wait, I
did run really fast in Chicago and I really shouldn't
be counting myself out for '28." So yeah, I'm super

(51:41):
excited. I feel like there's still more to give. I mean, I
feel like the 221 in Chicago, I feel like I learned
a lot from it. I feel like running my own race
was a huge thing there. I didn't actually realize that
I was in the lead American spot until very, very

(52:03):
late in the race, maybe a mile to ago. I started
to have suspicions of it at about the halfway, because I
feel like I heard somebody say Top American, and I
was like, " No, surely I must have missed somebody with
all the chaos at the start, somebody must be still
further ahead." But then with about a mile to go

(52:26):
in Chicago, one of the motorcycles pulled up alongside me
and was yelling to other people lead American, and I
was like, " Oh. Oh, okay." And so I think I just learned a lot about you just
prepare the best that you can and you run your
race and see where (inaudible)

Ready you are.

... put you. Yeah. And so I mean, that was just such
a big surprise for me, not the time. I just
didn't think the time would put me in that place
with all the talk before it about an American record
and everything I thought I could run. We really did

(53:07):
think 221 high, 222 low was a realistic goal, but
with all the talk about the American record, I thought, "
Okay, there's going to be three people that run 218, 219,
220." And we knew that my training had gone really
well, but we also knew that it was the first
time that I was going to have finished a marathon

(53:30):
in a year or even attempted a marathon in a
year. So I just knew that there was potential, that things
could go sideways even though preparations had gone really well.
And so I think I learned a lot from that.
I feel like training has gone well since then. I've

(53:52):
been feeling good. I mean, like I was saying before,
I just have so much trust in my coach, and
I feel like we are continuing to progress, and I
think our communication is really solid. And after every marathon
we have a conversation, well and periodically throughout the cycle,
just kind of what's going well, what could be improved

(54:15):
upon. And so I feel like we still have plenty of ideas with regard
to nutrition and hydration and getting more sleep, which is
always a challenge in the school year. And so I
do feel like there's more to give, and so when
I stop to think, " Okay, well if there's more to
give, and you're already in this space in the American

(54:38):
marathoning scene, yeah, 2028 should be a realistic goal." So
we'll just see. I mean, so much can happen in
three years, but yeah, definitely planning on going for it.

Definitely out there. Sorry, go ahead.

I've run a couple of flat fast courses recently, and
so I'm excited for the challenge of running Tokyo. I
think that the training that's been involved in running this, it's
been different from what I've done the last couple of
cycles, and that's just kind of an exciting prospect in
terms of continuing to develop as an athlete, is that

(55:21):
I am having to train a lot on hills, and
I'm having to pay a lot more attention to nutrition
and hydration because like I was saying before, Brooks is
putting a lot of energy into making sure that we
are prepared. And so we've been actually learning a lot about what I sweat
out and how much I sweat, and that's been kind of

(55:41):
surprising to me.

So cool.

And so that's definitely changed my understanding about what I should
be taking in along the course in terms of electrolytes
and carbohydrates, it's significantly higher than what I had been
doing. And so we're starting to do the training involved
with preparing in that regard. And so I just feel
like there's... Brooks has given me all these opportunities to

(56:08):
kind of recognize what I need as an athlete, and
so I'm excited to see what that yields. If I'm
stronger on hydration, stronger nutrition, just being forced to run
a million hills to get ready for Tokyo.

That's pretty interesting. Sweat analysis. I like that. So you're
actually learning what's coming out of your body when you
sweat, which makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, apparently I'm a really salty sweater, which I never would've known because I'm
not a crusty sweater. I've seen people have rings of
salt on them.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm with you. I did it as well.

How would any of us know? Yeah, how would you know if you're a salty
sweater or not? You only know your own sweat, so
it's kind of good for somebody to tell you that.
That's pretty interesting.

Yeah, it's been fascinating.

Speaking of nutrition, can we talk about something much more
important than the race in Tokyo, which is what are
you going to eat in Japan? When I went to
Japan, Becs, knows I was so focused on the food
and what am I going eat? I mean, of course
there's nutrition for the race. So I don't know, are you going to be looking
for pasta carbs over there? Are you going to make

(57:17):
the move to rice. Because rice, rice is fantastic and
there's obviously so many opportunities. There's Ramen as well as
another great carb option. What do you think, are there foods you're excited
to eat when you're in Japan, both before and after
the race?

There are, I have been told that I absolutely must
go to the fish market and that it's just an out
of this world experience. So I think I'll probably save
that for after the race.

Yes, I would.

So I'm allergic to shellfish, so I'm just in the
states, I just don't generally have a lot of sushi
because I've just been kind of leery of cross contamination. I've also
been told that the Japanese are a very conscientious society.

They're very careful. Yeah, they're very careful about things.

That shouldn't really be a concern. And so I think I will be having some sushi while I'm over there. Yeah,
I've heard the food is fantastic. There will be kind
of an American dining hall, so I suspect that they'll
have a lot of pasta. But generally before any kind

(58:27):
of race, I tend to be pretty flexible about the
carbohydrate source. I like potatoes, I like rice, and so
I suspect I'll be having a lot of rice over there.
But yeah, I am excited to be a little more
adventurous on the back side of the race. Initially I
thought I would be heading back right after the race

(58:48):
to head back to school. And back to school night
is the following Thursday, so I do have to be
back in Virginia by then. But I say I'm going to stay,
I think two days after the race. And I know
Brooks has some excursions planned for me and Jess and
CJ, because CJ is competing on the men's side. So
Brooks has four of the six marathoners, and apparently we're going

(59:10):
to go gallivanting around Tokyo after.

Fantastic.

Don't sleep on the Ramen. Susanna, I don't know if you're a Ramen fan, but
you've to get to a couple of good Ramen shops.

It doesn't even have to be good ones. I mean,
good, hole in the wall.

Yeah. The hole the walls spots in Tokyo that are just out
of this world and are card sources, but-

Yeah. We'll be out there far enough in advance too, that I
feel like the first day or two if I had
something that was a little adventurous. I mean Ramen isn't
that exotic, but something like that where probably I would
be fine, but I think I'll save the sushi and anything really

(59:51):
different that I don't have here that often, I'll save
that for after the race.

Yeah, save the sea urchin for after the race. I
would recommend that.

Okay, Susanna-

Rob Simmelkjaer (01:00:01):
Or not at all, since you're allergic. Yeah.

Becs Gentry (01:00:03):
... we have something to ask for you, which is
not something we normally do here on Set the Pace.
We don't normally get our guests to give advice personally,
but seen as you were the top American winner in 2024
at the Chicago Marathon. Wonderful Rob here has just today

(01:00:28):
on the top of the show, announced that he is
going to be running the Chicago marathon this October.

Susanna Sullivan (01:00:33):
Nice.

Becs Gentry (01:00:33):
Yay, Rob. So what advice have you got for Rob
for his first ever Chicago marathon? And yes, you should
be scared he's coming for your 221 56.

I'd be thrilled at 321 Susanna, so don't worry. Yeah.

That's tricky. Wow, you've run New York, I would assume?

A couple of times, yes.

I mean, I have not yet run the New York City Marathon.

We know we're paying attention.

Yeah, it's on my bucket list.

Good. That's good to know.

But I feel like the energy in Chicago just standing
at the starting line and looking around which is just
a shot of adrenaline. So I would just say, just
soak up the crowds. I feel like the first couple

(01:01:36):
of miles, I didn't look at my watch and I've
heard that if I had, I mean I was kind
of looking at it, but then I was like, "No, that can't
be right." So I would say don't bother, just kind of
trust your trust yourself.

Is that just because the watches aren't accurate there with the tall buildings
and everything?

Yeah. You go on a tunnel and then there's just a lot of
taller buildings. I mean, not unlike New York, but yeah,
I would say just maybe soak up the energy of the
crowd but also recognize that first 5K that it's so,

(01:02:15):
so easy to go out too fast.

It's a little downhill at the start. Is that it?

Yeah, I think so. Definitely when you head through the tunnel right at
the beginning, it's definitely downhill and I feel like that's
probably true for a lot of the majors, but I
feel like it's particularly important there because it is so
fast and flat that you just want to be comfortable,

(01:02:45):
not comfortable, but you have legs under you the last
10K or so. So I think just being cautious early on. I feel like in
New York I've heard, and I don't know this from
experience, but I feel like everybody cautions people to remember that
the hills in Central Park will be there for you

(01:03:06):
and you're going to place under you. But I feel
like nobody really talks about that in Chicago because there
isn't an element like that where you're just, " Something is
looming and if you make a mistake early, you will
absolutely pay." I feel like no one talks about that
in Chicago because there isn't a feature like that. But I think it's
still important what with it being 26.22 miles.

It's still 26.22 months miles. That's the thing, don't get
too excited in mile four or five. Yeah, that's good.
That's good advice.

That's great advice.

I appreciate that. I'm so excited about it, Susanna, it's
a great city. It's such amazing energy. The architecture in
Chicago is so beautiful. You see so many beautiful buildings when
you're walking around that city. So I'm excited and I
will eagerly follow in your footsteps. You had such a
great day there, so I'm hoping for a good day

(01:03:59):
for me too. Hopefully it'll be one I'll remember as I know you've
remembered your race. Well, it's been great talking to you
and we wish you all the luck as you get
ready for Tokyo this summer. It's going to be incredible
to watch you there carrying the Stars and Stripes for
us and have a great, great day over there. And

(01:04:19):
then let us know when you're ready to come to
New York to tackle the TCS New York City Marathon. I'm guessing maybe not
this year, but you never know. People have done it.
People do all kinds of things so you never know,
but we definitely eagerly await your debut at the New York City Marathon,
one of these years.

Thank you so much.

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(01:05:15):
and contribute at nyrr. org/ donate. In 2024, Udai Jariwala ran his
first marathon ever at the age of 75, just a
few years after moving from Hillsborough, New Jersey to New
York City and joining the November project. Since that time,
Udai has become a familiar face in the New York City

(01:05:35):
running community, participating in Roadrunners races despite facing significant setbacks
including severe knee arthritis and two knee replacement surgeries. He
completed his first race, the Kurt Steiner Cross Country 5K
back in 2019. And even after a right knee replacement
in 2021 and then a partial left knee replacement in

(01:05:57):
2023, he returned each time to group training determined to
stay active. Now 76 years old, Udai is a proud
team for kids marathon finisher with 32 Roadrunners races under
his belt, including seven 10Ks, six half- marathons, and his
first marathon in 2024, which he calls the best experience

(01:06:20):
of his life.

Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
Thanks, Rob. Wow, Udai, welcome to the Set the Pace
podcast. It's great to have you. How are you doing today?

Udai Jariwala (01:06:29):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 5 (01:06:31):
Great. What was going through your mind at the start
of your first marathon last year, knowing you have already
overcome so much just to get to the starting line?

Oh, a lot of things, but mainly it was to,
I was telling myself the goal is to finish. This
is your first marathon and the goal is to finish.
Indeed, just getting to the start line itself was an

(01:07:03):
achievement because the 16, 18 weeks of training itself to prepare
for the marathon is the marathon and then running the
marathon was just to get the medal in across the finish
line. So yes, I was just telling myself, you have your
plan, the goal is to finish, stay comfortable and just

(01:07:31):
go slow.

Speaker 5 (01:07:33):
Well, you did get to that finish, but at the age
of 75. What was that finish line? Some of us
started my do I was 27 when I did my
first marathon, but for youth to be an example for
people getting to that finish line and run your personal best
basically as long as you get to the finish line, that's a personal best. What was that
moment for you?

Oh, unbelievable. I was crying. I cannot forget that moment.
It was just everything came out.

Speaker 5 (01:08:08):
It was the emotion.

Yeah, emotions just take over me.

Speaker 5 (01:08:14):
Well, you fought through 26. 2 miles and to get to
that finish line was magical and we're so proud of
you. But your first NYR was the Kurt Steiner Cross
Country. What did that race teach you about running?

I really wanted to. I had just started running and wanted to run
the NY. I joined NYRR membership, wanted to run a race, so
I went on the site, signed up for this Kurt
Steiner I saw, 5K, which is a good start, I
said. Then I realized that, " Oh, this is a cross

(01:08:50):
country in Portland and Portland Park, so it's different. Okay." So anyway, I
had no idea. We start on the grass and we
run and being the first race, I had no clue
about pacing or anything. When everybody started running, I started
running. And by the end of the grassy field even

(01:09:14):
before I got on the trail, I was pooped basically,
I was tired. I said, " This is not going to
work." I took a breather, started walking a little bit.
Once I got my breath under control, I finished the
race very well and there is a kicker at the end of

(01:09:35):
finish. They stopped me. They said, " Wait, wait, wait." I said, "
What happened?" They said, " You are first in your age group."
I said, " How come?" So the lessons basically I learned
was run your own race, run at your own pace
and basically start slow, finish strong.

Speaker 5 (01:09:58):
Sounds perfect. And no matter what age, what the experience
you have getting into the (inaudible) and healthy and finish strong is
amazing. And you did that. How did joining the November
project and the NYRR group training change your approach to
running or even life in New York?

November project is a free fitness group and they focus mainly
on the strength training, body weight exercise. So when I
started with them, I learned about NYRR also and I
got into running because a lot of people in NP,

(01:10:40):
November project ran races. So at that point I did
not understand the connection between the strength training and the running.
I was just doing the workout with them and once

(01:11:01):
I joined the NYRR group training, I learned the importance
of warm up, cool down, I had some structured training
and running, how to improve running form and running by
RPE rate of perceived exertion. And that's what I like. I

(01:11:26):
run by feel, how I'm feeling. And the speed work
and the hill workouts, I could not have done without
joining the NYRR group training. And of course the group support
that we have in NYRR training, so both of them

(01:11:46):
and November project and NYRR, they have become sort of integral
part of my life in New York City. I mean
that's what I look forward to every day.

Speaker 5 (01:11:58):
Absolutely. The New Yorker runners do an amazing job not
only on race day, but getting you running the sideline healthy
and strong.

Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (01:12:06):
Looking back now at your 32 races, is there one
that stands out, the toughest or the most memorable and
what did you take away from that?

The toughest and the most memorable. I will go most
memorable first because undoubtedly that is the New York City Marathon. I mean it
will always remain as my most memorable race. No doubt.

(01:12:39):
The toughest one. I would say this was prior to
my knee replacements, I was running all the races with
a lot of pain in my knee, but I just
wanted to get it done and any one of those
races that I ran prior to my surgery were tough

(01:13:00):
in itself. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:13:02):
Absolutely. And I can also relate to my first memorable
one was a New York City Marathon in 2002. What to
do, what not to do. It sticks to like it was yesterday,
still there. The first marathon is always memorable. What's the
most unexpected thing that you have learned about yourself or
about running since you started this journey in your seventies?

About myself, I learned that I can do hard things
even if I started so late in my life running.
I wish I had started earlier, but it's never too
late. And as far as running what I learned that

(01:13:52):
what was unexpected was that running slow makes you run
faster. And really that was so unexpected, but so true is
that finally I realized that running slow builds my endurance

(01:14:12):
and once I build my endurance, it gives me the
opportunity to run faster. And that's how I have slowly,
gradually and really I have become faster over over time. It
took long time, but I can see the improvement in
my... so that was something unexpected when people say running

(01:14:37):
slow makes you run faster.

Speaker 5 (01:14:40):
I can agree with that because I always tell people,
my athlete, that you can build stamina and when you
have stamina you could turn into speed, but you can't turn
speed into stamina. But what advice would you have for
those people that are contemplating running is I can't do,
it's not for me, but people think the misperception is,

(01:15:02):
people think you have to sprint the whole way, but
as we just heard you, run slow, get to the finish line
and start building up. But what advice would you give the
people that are on the fence of, " Should I, should I
not?" And especially when you start in your seventies.

One more thing I would like to say unexpected that
I realized that running could be so much fun. I
had not realized until now that it could be so
much fun. I find so much joy and peace when
I run. And as I said earlier, I wish I

(01:15:36):
had started earlier in my life, but I'm okay with
it. I enjoy it now and I will continue to enjoy it.

Speaker 5 (01:15:46):
You savor in every mile, keep doing what you're doing
and you'll be fine. It's great. So thank you for being on
the podcast and looking forward to seeing you on the road.

Well, thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for joining us, Udai, and for being
a member of New York Roadrunners. Now it's time for
today's Med Minutes.

Speaker 5 (01:16:05):
Vacationing. When you go on vacation doesn't mean you need to stop
running. It just means to adjust and your mindset. Think about
the maintenance, not the mileage. 20 to 30 minutes every other day
is enough to keep your rhythm going. Explore new route,
run without a watch. I like to have a watch, but sometimes

(01:16:25):
ignore the pace you're just going on for having fun
and find a local group. Sometimes when you're on vacation,
you're going to run into somebody and just ask them
what they're training for and go a mile with them
or teams with them. And I've done that myself when
I'm running Hawaii and be able to just enjoy the
camaraderie because sometimes I tell them, "Hey, can you take a picture of me just for

(01:16:47):
social media?" And then when you come back they want
to start running with you because they Googled you and
things like that. But effort is important when you are on a
vacation, progressive run. Think about quality workout instead of quantity.
Just be able to put a little run in is
important. Not to worry about I have to run seven
miles or eight miles. Just think about just getting a

(01:17:08):
good quality in and spend quality time with your family.
And if you have to skip a day or so,
not a problem because rest is equally as important. At
the end of the day, you are still on vacation.

Well that does it for another episode of Set the
Pace. I want to thank our great guest today, Susanna Sullivan
and Udai Jariwala. And one more thank you for today's show,
our terrific audio engineer, producer, editor, the man who has
made Set the Pace as good as it can possibly
be given the hosts over the last couple of years.

(01:17:41):
Lou Pellegrino, today is his last day working on the show.
Lou has been a huge part of making this show what
it has been. When we were first starting Set the
Pace, we really didn't quite know really what we were
doing at all in fact. We really needed help in
terms of getting this show set up. That great open
that you hear on Set the Pace, all the things

(01:18:04):
that have made this hopefully a fun listen for all
of you out there, Lou's been a huge part of
making all of that happen and we cannot thank Lou
enough for his tremendous work on Set the Pace. We're
going to miss him. He's been awesome. So, Lou, thank
you. Happy trails. I know we'll see you down the
road, but you've been a huge part of Set the
Pace and we all thank you from New York Roadrunners.

(01:18:25):
All right folks, well I hope you have a great
week. Enjoy the miles. We'll see you next week.

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