May 21, 2025 • 35 mins
We visit with the most delightful Curler, Singer, Motivational Speaker, Philanthropist, Exercise influencer, Regan Birr about her organization that supports Lupus research. Remember when George Costanza thought he had Lupus? We address this on today's KC.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:15):
Welcome.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world.
Please don't do that.
Hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
We got Steve Brown in thestudio.
Hey.
Hey, Jeff Hoffman.
Hey, everyone.
Intern and then we got KG on theline.
Where are we calling you attoday?
(00:36):
Kg.
I'm on the shores of.
Murky Tuesday.
Always good to get near thewater and, uh, and join being a
part of the show with you guystonight.
And we have a very specialguest.
A couple of weeks ago I was atthe, Johnny Clueless, concert at
(00:56):
the dugout, and, and a young mancame up to me, not so young.
He's about our age and.
He, uh, tracked me down andsaid, Hey, I got an idea for a
guest for you.
And I'm like, okay, who the hellare you?
And Steve?
You know this man?
Yes.
His name is Troy Polis and he'sbeen a, a fan of the band and
I've, I've gotten to know himover the years.
He's, he, he is a Johnny Lewisfan page on, uh, on Facebook.
(01:19):
So he kinda runs that, but heOh, he does.
He's just a.
He's just a great guy, good guy.
He was telling me he, I know heis a listener'cause he started,
he said, where's kg, where'sJohn Schitz?
I don't know how he knew who youwere when he saw you.
Probably'cause you had a suit onand, well, I have an aura.
You walked in with a, you know,a, a power suit.
Uh, but he wanted to meet KG andall that.
And so.
I think he just found you and Ididn't even know that you guys
(01:41):
were talking about it, but he'sa, a great dude and he's
introduced you to some greatpeople and he mentioned that
he's a big time curler.
He loves curling.
Yes, he does.
And I said, your biceps don'tlook as big as I thought they
would be for a curler.
And he said, not that kind ofcurl, not that kind of curling
dumb ass.
But he said he has somebody thathe would like for us to
interview.
And that person, Regan Burr, iswith us tonight.
(02:01):
Hello Regan.
How are you?
Hello.
I'm awesome.
And you guys sound amazing.
It's so great to meet you.
I've heard so much about thepodcast.
I'm so happy to be included.
Thank you.
Well, we are so pleased to haveyou.
We have Kevin Gorg on with us,and Kevin is probably most
acquainted with sportingactivities that happen on ice.
(02:22):
Yeah.
But, uh, Kevin, do you have anyquestions for Regan, first and
foremost regarding, uh, curlingin general?
Well, I've, I've tried it and Iwill tell you it's a lot harder
than it looks.
Um, yeah.
And I, I get worried, uh, thatI'm gonna pull something and I
don't crouch down like I usedto.
(02:42):
I used to be a catcher, Regan asa kid, and a goalie.
Goalie.
But, uh, you know, I approach60, um, not as easy to do.
And I, I, there is an art to it,I guess, for people that are
maybe listening to the podcast.
You know, we've got curlingclubs all over the Twin Cities
here.
I would urge to give it a trybecause when you watch it.
That's easy.
Well, it's, it's anything buteasy and I just would love to
(03:03):
know your, uh, perspective oninjuries that might pop up that
people would never see comingfrom curling.
Oh, that's so funny.
It's so true.
We always say to people whenwe're teaching'em how to curl,
you're gonna be sore in placestomorrow.
You never knew you had.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
I've been curling forever too,and I.
Still, you know, you, you fightwith yourself.
(03:24):
Um, you wanna do better.
It's one of those things that'skind of addicting.
That's probably why Troy lovesit.
We love Troy.
He does love it though.
Troy's so awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it's, I think it's thegreatest sport in the world and
I'm glad you tried it.
If you guys wanna come back out,you know, anytime, come to Four
Seasons Curling Club, we'll getyou out there.
Um, we'll make sure you don'tfeel sliding.
(03:51):
It involves a lot of muscles.
It involves patience as well.
Uh, something I struggle with.
But, um, it, it's, it's sorewarding and the people you
meet are wonderful and talkabout Minnesota nice.
I mean, the greatest group ofpeople in the world.
It's curlers in my opinion.
So, uh, we've been so blessed tobe around such great people and,
(04:13):
uh, it's one of the, one of themain, blessings in my life.
I even met my husband curling,which is even the bigger
blessing.
So it Oh, that's really cool.
Yeah.
So I have a, a quick questionbefore we get more into who you
are.
Um, is it possible to cheat incurling because I, you know,
like I, when I golf I like tofluff up the ball.
I like, you know, nobody'slooking at, oh, kick.
(04:35):
Everyone's watching though,John.
People can see that.
So is is, is, we call it thejudge SCHs.
Yeah.
But I understand curling is sortof a, um.
Forgive me for having my, uh,gender situation, but it's kind
of a gentlemanly sport or a,yeah.
Whatever the female version ofgentlemanly is.
What would that be?
Yeah.
I don't even know.
Well, it's etiquette based.
(04:55):
It's, uh, call your own fos.
Be gracious towards youropponents.
Yeah.
You know, if you're runningshort on time and you notice
their clock, you might say like,come on, let's go, or whatever.
Oh, I wouldn't do that.
Maybe I took it.
(05:20):
The first round.
I love it.
That kind of sport.
Yeah, it's cool.
So we're gonna be talking aboutsomething called the lupus
spiel.
I wanted to say lupus spiel'cause it just sounds cool.
But where are you from Regan?
I, oh, you can probably hear myaccent.
Uh, I am from NorthernSaskatchewan.
I got curling probably 11 yearsold when I started, but yes.
(05:40):
Uh, so it's the Minnesota accentmixed with Canada and beautiful.
It's what?
It's Oh, beautiful.
Yes.
Um, nobody has described it.
Well, you're on the kindchronicles.
This is how we operate.
Yeah.
Well, you're beautiful forsaying that.
It's very nice.
Well, Chris is a love fast.
Thank you.
Oh boy.
you had mentioned the FourSeasons Curling Club.
(06:01):
Where is that?
Yeah, so it's right um, on thecorner basically of 10 and 65 in
Fogerty Arena.
Oh, wow.
So you guys are familiar withFogerty, right?
Oh, absolutely.
That's one of the more famousice houses in the, uh, in the
metro area.
That's right.
(06:22):
Nick donated a hockey stick tous a few years ago.
Um, we, we get a lot of supportfrom Fogerty Arena.
We're very grateful that theyhave provided us as home to the
lupus field and, um, the boardof directors is fantastic, but
yeah, my husband Todd is thedirector of curling there.
And.
So there's a great ice, lots offun.
(06:44):
Um, Todd is a world bronzemedalist, actually himself.
What?
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's really good.
Which joint?
He's really good.
Yeah.
When we curl, we curl togetherand, uh, he likes to remind me,
don't embarrass me, so I, I trynot to.
Todd Burr an American, or is heone of them Canadians?
Yes.
He's one of us.
(07:05):
You, however you wanna word it.
The world is my home.
I'm kidding.
No, he was born and raised inMankato.
Oh.
And his dad basically got him,uh, learning how to curl and
make ice.
And his family is a curlingfamily.
Did you two, all his siblings,did you two meet?
Curling?
That's what she said.
Oh, that's okay.
Sorry.
Missed that part.
(07:25):
You started, you started, youstarted at age 11.
Regan, when did you meet yourhusband?
Age.
Um, so a, a long time afterthat, um, I was singing the, the
Anthem and volunteering at, atan Olympic trials.
And, uh, this is back in ohnine.
Todd was playing.
He ended up coming in third,made the playoffs, but that's
(07:48):
how we initially met.
And a couple years after that,we just started dating And, uh,
things went pretty quickly.
You know, when, you know, youknow, and, and, uh.
That, that, that's that.
He moved me out to Minnesota andI've been so glad to be here
ever since.
It, it's been really uniqueliving here.
I, I love it.
That's awesome.
(08:08):
Uh, this is Jeff, the intern.
I'm not supposed to do a lot ofresearch.
I, but I did a little bit ofreading and did I read correctly
that you and Todd compete asmixed doubles?
Yeah.
Was sweet.
So my question is, what's itlike competing as a married
couple and how do you balanceteamwork on and off the ice?
Oh God.
Did you write that?
(08:28):
Did I read that somewhere?
Good.
Good question though.
Good question.
That is an excellent questionand I look, we're, we're working
on that answer every day, youknow?
Seriously though.
Well, yeah.
That's when you have, you know,a sports relationship with your
spouse, basically.
I.
I learned so much curling withhim.
I wish I could repeat those twoawesome seasons.
(08:50):
Um, you know, we, we were luckyenough to make it to nationals
twice, and then it was achallenge there.
I, uh, you know, I, he's such agood curler and I struggled,
especially the second timearound, and he was patient with
me and just some of the thingsyou learned from.
A high caliber curler like thatand plus he's got a really calm
(09:12):
demeanor.
It was so worth the experience.
But basically it's like don'tmake assumptions.
Don't think you're gonna win orlose.
Don't start hanging points onthe board in your mind.
Just focus on one thing at atime and he doesn't focus on
making the shot.
So I apply this in life as well.
Smart.
It's so good eye opening.
He like I at the broom and I tryto hit the B and right weight.
(09:36):
Focus and visualization at atime.
Sooner or later, whether you'reworking on a project or getting
through a curling game, itreduces emotions and sooner or
later you can get work done.
Except for the times when Toddwould get frustrated with me.
You know, like sometimes he sayTodd gets the, when he, I'm
(09:58):
kidding.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, I thinkpeople who know him think, you
know, ice cubes are in his veinsand they are, but he, he can
get, uh, very invested ineverything he does.
So I, I learned about that too.
(10:18):
Like, I, I, I'm like.
You know, I got high energy.
I'm always excited to meetpeople.
It's hard to tell Curl well youguys, you guys have high energy.
I love it.
Well, but in curling you gottarein it in, you know, and that's
part of the secret of the game.
Well, we have one guy in thestudio that has high energy as
well.
He is, uh.
A professional singer.
Ah, and when the professionalsinger heard you mention that,
(10:41):
you sang the, uh, the nationalanthem.
Here we go.
His eyes lit up.
I just waited to ask thatquestion.
That's really fascinating.
What a, what an interestingcharacter you are.
Exactly.
Regan, tell us about, just alittle bit about your singing,
like you've been singing sinceyou were young as well, and how,
what level did you get to andwhat.
Tell us about that.
She sang at the thing.
Oh, well, I know.
What else?
Well, thank you.
And your singing, you don't.
(11:09):
Yeah, our small town was only1100 people, but that's how it
started.
And then I did WHL games for,uh, the Saskatoon Blades when I
went to, uh, wow.
Sweet school up there.
Yeah.
And then, you know, I, I've gotone NHL game under my belt.
What?
And then otherwise, yeah, HarlemGlobetrotters, major League
Soccer, uh, the Denver Nuggets,um, over 200 stadium.
(11:32):
Uh, John singing a singer.
Re wait a second.
So, so we can YouTube you.
Yeah, there's a couple up there.
That's a real thing.
I just look, I just try to do agood job.
You know, I, there's no vibratoto my voice, so it's just
(11:53):
straight.
I try to hit the notes.
Love, love that.
I love, want people to be happyand sing along.
But how about you?
Where, where do you sing?
And, uh, here's the thing.
I'm a rock and roll singer.
I, I, I can barely remember mywords.
Yes.
I'm a rhythm guitar player.
I'm a lead.
I'm a, I'm a goofball on stage.
He's front man, man.
I'm a, I'm a performer.
I don't sing like you.
Like, just, you guys understand?
(12:14):
I learned You're awesome.
Look, I haven't seen you liveyet, but I, we should do it.
We should have a date.
Hang on now.
Just like curling, you know?
Yeah.
G rated fun, family friendly.
You guys come Curl and Todd andI and Troy will come out and
watch you sing again.
(12:34):
Okay.
So perform this song, uh, theNational Anthem is not something
I would ever try to tacklebecause I'm not that kind of a
singer.
That's, I've heard.
That's a tough one.
That's really impressive thatshe's a different echelon.
I know you guys all know I, Ineed to please let me get my
question in here.
Okay.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Kg You've been to plenty ofhockey games.
Yeah.
As much as I like the AmericanNational Anthem.
(12:56):
The Canadian national anthem.
Oh, Canada is way better.
It's better greatest.
It's beautiful.
So I assume that's where youstarted was with Oh, Canada.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, what a beautiful, both ofthem.
I just love, it's a privilege.
Um, occasionally I'll do it whenI go back home, but, um, here
it's been mostly the Americans,sometimes Canadian, Canada.
(13:18):
Depends who's playing where.
It should be both.
Wow.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing, Reagan.
That's cool.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, it's an honor.
Well, playing out live, you knowwhat that's like.
I mean, that's kind of an honorof course every time as well.
Not to a stadium full of people.
That's a different, it's gottabe a little bit nerve wracking
though, honestly.
Oh yeah.
(13:39):
How do you get your nerves liketo a place of comfort in, in
front of.
19,000, 20,000 people in arena.
Yeah, dude, I don't, I don't,you know what, I'll, I'll ask
myself every time I'm like, whatam I doing?
It's nerve wracking.
Oh, I know.
Just like curling sometimes too.
You get nervous.
But, uh, I just come to realizenerves are part of the game and
(14:02):
accept it.
And you know what, just.
Technically, I think to myself,okay, the reverb is gonna hide
any nervousness in my voice, soI'm just gonna sing it.
Okay.
And you sweat and you sing itand you get through it.
But again, with my goal is sothat the veterans in the crowd
are happy.
Yeah, man.
Well, when I sang it that night,I just wanna do a good job,
focus on them.
(14:22):
It's good when I'm listening ata game or on TV or something.
I, I feel for the person thatthat's doing that, oh God,
please do good.
I know.
And when you see someone whodelivers it from the heart,
it's, it's, it shows.
And I, I think that's whereyou're coming from.
You're trying, you're not tryingto be the greatest thing in the
world.
You're really trying to deliverthat message.
And, um, if you're doing itstraight without a lot of
vibrato and like, you're just,I, I'm so excited to hear you do
(14:45):
that, because that's important.
It's a, it's a very importantsong and do it wrong sometimes
when they do it right, it's,it's heartfelt.
Okay.
Real quick, before we get to thelupus spiel.
What's your favorite nationalanthem that you've ever
witnessed?
Of course, I'm gonna start'causethe, the Whitney Houston Super
Bowl Anthem.
Yep.
There's only one anthem answer.
(15:05):
There's only, yeah.
Yeah.
There's only one answer.
Yeah, totally.
Totally.
Oh, and she, she, what a talent.
Incredible, natural, powerfulvoice and.
Just beautiful.
And I love that one too.
And, and hey, I stay in my lane,like I can't do the runs.
I've tried it and it went offOkay.
(15:27):
But it's like you do it once ortwice and try to make it fancy.
I gotta stay in my lane, stickit, stick to the notes.
Yeah, do it.
Do it where it comes from you.
Yeah.
That's, that's more important.
Yeah.
How about Chris Stapleton?
But I do love that one too.
Chris Stapleton was, that wasthe national anthem, right?
Or did he do the, okay.
He did.
Uh.
Didn't he do America thebeautiful?
(15:47):
I don't know, but I don't know.
But he's fabulous.
A hidden voice.
That roughness to his voice.
I love that too.
That grit.
It's awesome.
Yes.
Again, something I don't have,but you know what?
Rock on those people.
Do what you got.
Yeah.
Okay.
Just for fun.
The worst national anthem.
How about Carl Lewis, RoseanneBarr, Rose Barr?
Yeah.
(16:07):
That's Carl Lewis.
How about, uh, Fergie from theBlack-Eyed Peas?
Yes.
Oh my God.
That was, see that her, thatembarrasses me.
I can't watch it.
It makes me feel so like FaithHill many years back at the
Super Bowl was bad.
Her favorite?
Yeah, she did a great job.
Your favorite?
My favorite?
Well, we were just talking aboutworst ones and then you bring up
Faith Hill.
Oh, on man.
I was say Faith.
(16:28):
I thought you were, I thought wewere still on favorites.
Faith was good.
What's your bad one, Jeff?
Oh, um, did we already sayRoseanne Barr?
Yeah.
Yeah, that was the one.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the lupusspiel.
Yeah.
The reason that we're talking toyou is because your pal wanted
us to, to learn about the lupusspiel.
I understand it's coming up acouple weekends from now.
(16:48):
Yeah, that's right.
May 30th through June 1st.
So what was the motivation fordoing the lupus spiel and uh,
tell us a little bit about howthat all works.
Thank you for asking.
So I have lupus and when I wasfirst diagnosed, you know, you
when something like this happensto you, like whether you guys
have had a diagnosis or yourlisteners, uh, can relate to
(17:10):
somebody who has, or, or you'vejust been dealt with a pretty
significant challenge that youknow is gonna change your life.
I didn't know then what I coulddo.
You know, in, in general to helpother people, to help myself to,
to look into, well, is there acure for this thing?
Uh, so I, I searched forsomething like that, that we
(17:34):
could do.
It really wasn't, I, I had theidea to run a ProAm.
Initially I thought I wanted todo ladies of curling for lupus.
I still may wanna do that.
I think it'd be really fun.
But then eventually I thought,well, let's do.
Open ProAm and I, I didn't knowhow to put together something
like that or have the budget forit at the time.
(17:55):
So it wasn't until Todd moved meto Minnesota that I said to him
like, I, I wanna do this.
Um, and he's like, okay.
I can you help, you know, andwith being his, uh, competitive
career, which is so long, and,and he is met so many people, he
helped connect me with a bunchof wonderful curlers here in
(18:16):
Minnesota who wanted to be apart of it and wanted to help,
help me run it.
And how, how they wanted to helpshape it and participate, which
they have for all these years.
So that's how it started.
It was so successful that, um,shortly thereafter, we, we
formed a foundation and thelupus spiel became our flagship
(18:37):
event.
Wow.
And as I understand it, you havesome pretty famous curlers that
participate in this each year.
Yeah.
This year we're gonna have sixOlympic medalist.
And four of them are goldmedals.
Is that, so we have John Guyfrom up north.
Is he part of this?
John Schuster is wonderful.
(18:58):
He is one of the people whohelped me from music to telling
me I could do this.
Wow.
Um, he can't make it this year,but he did come the first year
and he won the thing.
Oh, of course he did what?
I took it, took it home.
Yeah.
But he always helps.
He always donates.
Um, and his teammate, TylerGeorge, who played third, which
(19:19):
is Vice Skip, he's curling in itagain this year and Tyler's
curled in it multiple times andhe's phenomenal.
And actually, so is his sister,Courtney George.
Courtney Benson, who's anOlympian herself.
But yeah, Tyler's got a goldOlympic medal, so that's pretty
cool.
Um, and then we have EveMuirhead from Scotland.
(19:39):
Uh, Kevin Martin from Canada,and Brad Jacobs from Canada.
All of those folks have a gold.
And then we have Shannon Cbrfrom Canada who has a bronze and
Sean Rodsky from the Iron Rangewho has a bronze.
So as I understand it, it's apretty nice mix.
No kidding.
You, you, you connect, uh, uh,one of these pros with an
(19:59):
amateur.
Team.
Is that how that works?
Yeah.
Like everybody has a, a ringer,so to speak on their team.
Yeah.
You you got it.
I love that.
Yeah, exactly.
And uh, the ams, they can pay orbring sponsorship or fundraise
to be able to bid on thesecelebrities gifts in the
auction.
Love that idea.
(20:21):
Yeah, great idea.
Can you tell us what is lupus?
Sure.
I just have to tell you that atsome point during this, we are
gonna have a Seinfeld reference.
I don't mean for it to be, uh,ir, irreverent, or uh, whatever
the word is I'm looking for, butevery show we have a Seinfeld
reference.
(20:42):
And there's a really good onerelated to lupus, unfortunately.
Tell us what lupus is.
Sure, sure.
Yeah, yeah.
You can't offend me, you know,uh, like I said, Todd.
Oh, I bet we could easygoing andyou can't offend him.
You can try.
You can try.
Um, well, I've been trying togive Lupus to Todd for many
years to no avail.
I'm kidding.
That joke's not.
(21:11):
Because we fund a person who, agenist and a researcher, also a
rheumatologist.
But anyway, you've thisoveractive immune system.
You get a flare.
And a flare could be joint painor it could be like, what
happened to me?
It affects your organs.
Oh, so in systemic lupus Yeah.
(21:31):
It can affect, you know, yourheart, lungs.
For me, it was my kidneys.
Oh boy.
So yeah, the goal is to tacklethe flares and or look at the
genetic component and or look attreatment or preventative
medication kg.
Do you wanna use, tell us aboutlupus on Seinfeld, or do you
want me to.
(21:52):
I, I, I think it was jaundice onSeinfeld.
No, no.
Don't you remember that Georgehad the thing on his face?
Oh, and he was concerned whatit's, and he says to the doctor,
is it lupus?
And what?
Come on.
That's right.
That's ridiculous.
So anyways, when I think aboutlupus and you talk about the,
(22:12):
the, the joint pains and stufflike that, the idea to me when I
watch curling, I have curledbefore me and too, and it is
difficult.
It's like you don't realize howuncoordinated.
What was that word I just said?
Uncoordinated.
You wanted to say, I must behaving a stroke here.
Yeah, maybe.
Do I have lupus?
Maybe.
No.
Why would I say something?
I don't know why you said that.
(22:33):
No, but there we go.
Oh God.
Offended.
Everyone's offended.
This is the OffensiveChronicles.
I apologize.
Great, great.
It's funny.
If he can't laugh, he's a funny,yeah, no, he's a funny guy.
He's, he's that guy.
I like it.
No, it's fun.
I would think that, the jointpain, when I watch curling, I
think, my God, those people mustbe stiff in the morning.
(22:56):
Right?
Honest to God.
So, yeah, you get so low andYeah, I know.
And people curl like into theireighties, there's that.
Mm-hmm.
But then I thought, you know,maybe it helps from a
therapeutic perspective, ofcourse, because you're all
stretching your tissues a littlebit.
I mean, I've done it and it'slike kind of you get a good
stretch when you go, you'restretching.
I wondered Yep.
About that.
(23:16):
So, and it's cold.
Well, there's ice.
Yeah.
Excellent.
You know, we, I, I actually alsowork with people.
Um, I have an exercise programthat's low torque, low impact
for people with chronicconditions, and we always say,
do what you can, when you can.
Motion is lotion.
Any movement that you do counts.
(23:36):
Yeah.
And I think curling is perfectfor that because you're sliding.
So there's.
Um, unless you run into somebodyby accident, but, uh, no.
And it's really greatcardiovascular activity for when
you're sleeping and you, youhave to build up your muscle
strength to be able to, well,hey, I remember when I had to
(23:57):
work hard just to be able tostand for two hours.
Yeah.
In the house.
But when you're throwing astone, you know, have that
muscle.
Strength to be able to push offfrom the, and then hold your
position, have good corestrength and leg strength and
arms for when you're sliding.
It's a wonderful sport.
I was at Shields the other day.
And they, oh, cool.
(24:18):
They're one of our sponsors.
They sell curling stones.
How much do those suckers weigh?
They look very heavy.
42 and a half pounds.
Oh, 42 approximately.
Yeah.
And are is, I hate to say this,but is there a, do, do we all
push the same stone or is therea, a smaller version for
children, for example, or women?
(24:40):
Well, yeah.
Why would I, God, what is wrongwith me today?
Just unkind, unkind, John.
It's, it's, it's all the samefor competition, but for kids
who wanna learn.
Some clubs do have little rockerstones that are are lighter.
Those are a good way to learn.
Um, cool.
I, I learned with the heavierstones and it, it's, it's a lot
when you're little, but thereare techniques you can use.
(25:03):
Uh, we also do curling clinicsto help people with this, to get
more power to come outta thehat.
You know, I'm, I'm not a verytall person.
Uh, so those things have reallyhelped me.
There's, there's ways you can.
Help yourself help if you havea, a chronic condition as well.
Um, and you can even curl with astick from a position.
You just walk out and you pushthing kind of like, you know
(25:25):
when people play shuffleboard?
Shuffleboard.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a very accessiblesport.
So, real quick, going back toyour, your exercise program.
Tell us about that.
I heard low impact, lowsomething, and I thought that
sounds like something I might beinterested in.
Oh, that's good.
Yeah.
Well, low tor, so if you reduceyour lever or your weight,
(25:47):
you're reducing that, uh,bending moment on your joints.
So we just teach people, youknow, how to do a friendlier on
the joint squat, shoulder press,and so on.
You know, those importantmovements and then that can help
'em functionally in life aswell.
But yeah, my program is stillaggressive.
You know, we're doing weights,cardio weights, cardio weights,
(26:07):
cardio, finish with someabdominals.
It's online and pretty soon, youknow, it can help people regain
strength or just build from andfrom where they are.
Yeah.
Regan, again, I'm not supposedto do research, but I did a
little bit.
Um, this is Jeff again and, uh,I really liked your mantra.
Lotion.
Lotion is lotion or, yeah.
(26:29):
I think John would resonate withanother one that I heard.
Easy is effective or done isbetter than perfect.
So cool.
On, on the topic of kindness,um.
One person can change a life.
I heard you say again, verylimited research.
Mm-hmm.
But is there a story there?
Um, I heard a, a little videoand you were talking about that,
(26:51):
and it sounded like you weregoing through some difficulty.
And is there a story of kindnessthat you can share in your
journey with lupus that, uh,could inspire anyone else who
might hear this?
Oh, thank you.
That's, that's, uh, oh, you'regonna make me cry.
That's wonderful.
Thank, it's gonna make us allcry.
Good guy.
What a good intern.
Oh, it'll keep them, but truly,uh, yes.
(27:15):
So, you know, I, I struggled fora couple years when I was
diagnosed, even though themedication started to work for
me and my blood work turnedaround, uh, clinically, I still
felt awful.
You know?
Pain that would wake you up atnight?
Couldn't walk very far.
Had to use a cane.
Uh, very fatigued.
Uh, my thinking wasn't great.
(27:36):
You're just tired, you feel low,and my emotional health looking
back was, was pretty low.
And, uh, finally someone said tome, why don't you go get some
help?
So I, I did, I, I took thatadvice and I went to see a very
kind counselor.
And she said to me two thingsthat absolutely changed my life.
(28:01):
She said, number one, you're indenial and that's okay.
And I love that because I wasn'tin denial about having lupus,
but I did not wanna accept theway other people were telling me
that I should think about it.
So she gave me power and made methink, okay, I can approach this
however it makes sense to me.
(28:22):
Kind of gave me some controlback, some power.
And then the other thing shesaid to me was, it's not your
fault.
And like a weight was releasedoff of my shoulders that night.
I walked in through the door andI realized in my apartment I'm
happy.
So in that one meeting with her.
She changed everything.
(28:43):
She empowered me and it'samazing and a constant reminder
of how much we can all affectother people.
If we take the time sit, bitelip, or whatever we have to do.
Sometimes I have, listen to whatthey're saying, make the
decision to listen.
And then be encouraging for themrealistically.
And you never know who needs tohear it or if you need to hear
(29:05):
it from someone else.
But I will never forget that andalways appreciate what she did
for me.
You should do motivationalspeaking.
My She does.
She's a keynote speaker.
She's, yes.
Oh, well she, Regan, what don'tyou do?
Oh, makes that Holy, holy Cow.
Kg.
I have to ask you, when shesaid, uh, it's not your fault,
did any movie pop into yourmind?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
(29:27):
Oh, that's a good movie.
Is that your favorite movie?
Movie Hunting?
It's, it's one of them.
It's uh, it's number one,Goodwill Hunting, one of my
favorites.
That was, uh, the wholetherapist thing.
I'm sorry I had to do, it'squoted often on this podcasts.
Yeah.
That, that got.
Some great lines.
Yeah, it does.
It's a great movie.
Yeah.
She was like him, you know, and,and it was the right person at
(29:48):
the right time, except withoutthe beard.
So let's just, yes.
So, so let's go through this.
So you're a, a keynote speaker,motivational speaker.
You're this curling person.
You have a.
Uh, a nonprofit that I just sawyou raised over a million
dollars for lupus research.
Mm-hmm.
Over the years.
Singer, singer.
(30:08):
And a workout program.
Workout program.
What else is there?
Come on.
Do you have time for anythingelse?
That's it.
No, I mean, hey, it, you,everybody is busy.
I, uh, you know, I, we're allbusy, but it's fun to have stuff
in your life that all relates toa goal.
And, and, you know, I'm blessed.
It, it was many years before Ihad a clue as to how we could do
(30:30):
anything to help people, uh,with this disease.
And we don't wanna see anotherperson suffer like I did with,
with the heavy duty meds I wason.
So this is a blessing and, andto be able to work on a lot of
things, most of them tie to whatour goals are.
It, it's really a blessing.
And the people here inMinnesota, I mean, the first
spiel that we ran.
(30:52):
Um, Carrie Benton made a quiltfor us and Minnesotans, we love
quilts.
They're beautiful.
Yes, we do.
Yeah.
And they take a long time tomake, and somebody has to put
the thought into figuring out,well, what colors would work for
this.
Mm-hmm.
And she did that.
And she does that for everyspiel.
And I mean, that, that's whatthe most donation of all those.
(31:22):
For that Quil because beautifulquil.
But the effort to put in intothat is, is to me, that's what
the is.
And Minnesota and Minnesotanshave made that possible.
That's awesome.
Um, I have a quick questionbefore we wrap up with you.
I bet it won't be quick.
We don't wanna stop talking'cause we just, we love talking
(31:43):
to you.
You're an inspiration.
Um, how's Troy at, uh, curling?
Is he any good?
You can tell us.
Yes.
Nobody's listen.
Troy's awesome.
We love him.
Uh, so Troy hasn't been curlinga long time.
He's new, he's new to it, to it.
Yeah, he, he, oh my gosh.
He has just taken to it and he'shelping us, like he's been a
supporter of the lupus field inour clinics and of me and Todd,
(32:08):
and he helps with juniorcurling.
So he has been an absoluteinspiration carrying on his love
of the game to, to kids who,like curling, has so many
lessons.
It's so good for, for all of uslessons.
And he embodying all of that.
That's good to hear.
He gem have, um.
(32:32):
He has been hammering me withtext messages, not as many as
Jeff, but, uh, hammering me withtext messages about Have you got
her on?
And I'm like, I keep texting herand she's not responding.
So I looked and I got the lastdigit in your phone number
wrong.
Oh, I tried to do it, please.
Classic mistake.
(32:53):
Well, so there's.
Somebody out there that's,that's two digits off of yours
that sing thinking, what is thisweirdo trying to get me on?
I don't know about what thehell's a lupus spiel.
Yeah.
So I, I may uh, send that persona final text message.
Yeah.
Sorry about that.
Said, we really enjoyed havingyou on the podcast.
Um, yep.
(33:14):
But I gotta tell you, uh, that'sgood.
This, Regan, this has been adelight to have you on with us.
Yeah.
To learn about the Lu Lu spiel.
To know somebody that's that, Imean, you're an actual singer.
I'm like, she's amazing.
Yeah.
I can tell already.
I can't wait to hear and theenergy and I, you've got YouTube
videos and you know, it makes mealmost, she's wanna get off the
couch and do something.
(33:35):
Yes.
Almost inspirational.
Motion is lotion.
Yeah, motion is lotion.
I'm just gonna go straight tothe lotion.
I love it.
Yeah, we're, Hey, if we're doingsomething like this, you gotta
be creative with everythingyou're doing with the podcast
that counts.
Everything we do counts.
So, there you go, John.
I think you guys are winners,champions.
(33:56):
Oh my.
Yeah.
Well, I got one last thing,John, before we go, I, I travel
for work to all kinds of greatcities throughout North America,
but I will tell you, the peoplenorth of the border, I, I've
said this before on the, on thepodcast, Canadians are
different.
They are so out of their way.
Nice.
They're so incredibly sweet totalk to, and when you're up
there, they're so happy you arewith them, even though they know
(34:18):
you're from the states.
And I love going to Vancouverbecause when you walk in the
arena, when the wild, they'replaying the Canucks, there's
this giant, giant banner behindone of the nets and above it, it
says, we are all Canucks.
And to have you all today, Ifeel like because it's the
Chronicles and you're some ofCanadian kindness to our show
today, at least for one time.
(34:42):
We're all, I got goosebumps.
I'm so much Thank you.
One kg, one last thing.
However, they didn't seem tooenthusiastic about being the
51st state.
No, they did not.
You know, let's blame.
That's our guys fault.
That's our guys fault.
We'll excuse ourselves there.
(35:03):
So let's not go down that road.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
No politics on this show.
And with that, off we go.
Welcome.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world.
Please don't do that.
Hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
We got Steve Brown in thestudio.
Hey.
Hey, Jeff Hoffman.
Hey, everyone.
Intern and then we got KG on theline.
Where are we calling you attoday?
(00:36):
Kg.
I'm on the shores of.
Murky Tuesday.
Always good to get near thewater and, uh, and join being a
part of the show with you guystonight.
And we have a very specialguest.
A couple of weeks ago I was atthe, Johnny Clueless, concert at
(00:56):
the dugout, and, and a young mancame up to me, not so young.
He's about our age and.
He, uh, tracked me down andsaid, Hey, I got an idea for a
guest for you.
And I'm like, okay, who the hellare you?
And Steve?
You know this man?
Yes.
His name is Troy Polis and he'sbeen a, a fan of the band and
I've, I've gotten to know himover the years.
He's, he, he is a Johnny Lewisfan page on, uh, on Facebook.
(01:19):
So he kinda runs that, but heOh, he does.
He's just a.
He's just a great guy, good guy.
He was telling me he, I know heis a listener'cause he started,
he said, where's kg, where'sJohn Schitz?
I don't know how he knew who youwere when he saw you.
Probably'cause you had a suit onand, well, I have an aura.
You walked in with a, you know,a, a power suit.
Uh, but he wanted to meet KG andall that.
And so.
I think he just found you and Ididn't even know that you guys
(01:41):
were talking about it, but he'sa, a great dude and he's
introduced you to some greatpeople and he mentioned that
he's a big time curler.
He loves curling.
Yes, he does.
And I said, your biceps don'tlook as big as I thought they
would be for a curler.
And he said, not that kind ofcurl, not that kind of curling
dumb ass.
But he said he has somebody thathe would like for us to
interview.
And that person, Regan Burr, iswith us tonight.
(02:01):
Hello Regan.
How are you?
Hello.
I'm awesome.
And you guys sound amazing.
It's so great to meet you.
I've heard so much about thepodcast.
I'm so happy to be included.
Thank you.
Well, we are so pleased to haveyou.
We have Kevin Gorg on with us,and Kevin is probably most
acquainted with sportingactivities that happen on ice.
(02:22):
Yeah.
But, uh, Kevin, do you have anyquestions for Regan, first and
foremost regarding, uh, curlingin general?
Well, I've, I've tried it and Iwill tell you it's a lot harder
than it looks.
Um, yeah.
And I, I get worried, uh, thatI'm gonna pull something and I
don't crouch down like I usedto.
(02:42):
I used to be a catcher, Regan asa kid, and a goalie.
Goalie.
But, uh, you know, I approach60, um, not as easy to do.
And I, I, there is an art to it,I guess, for people that are
maybe listening to the podcast.
You know, we've got curlingclubs all over the Twin Cities
here.
I would urge to give it a trybecause when you watch it.
That's easy.
Well, it's, it's anything buteasy and I just would love to
(03:03):
know your, uh, perspective oninjuries that might pop up that
people would never see comingfrom curling.
Oh, that's so funny.
It's so true.
We always say to people whenwe're teaching'em how to curl,
you're gonna be sore in placestomorrow.
You never knew you had.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
I've been curling forever too,and I.
Still, you know, you, you fightwith yourself.
(03:24):
Um, you wanna do better.
It's one of those things that'skind of addicting.
That's probably why Troy lovesit.
We love Troy.
He does love it though.
Troy's so awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it's, I think it's thegreatest sport in the world and
I'm glad you tried it.
If you guys wanna come back out,you know, anytime, come to Four
Seasons Curling Club, we'll getyou out there.
Um, we'll make sure you don'tfeel sliding.
(03:51):
It involves a lot of muscles.
It involves patience as well.
Uh, something I struggle with.
But, um, it, it's, it's sorewarding and the people you
meet are wonderful and talkabout Minnesota nice.
I mean, the greatest group ofpeople in the world.
It's curlers in my opinion.
So, uh, we've been so blessed tobe around such great people and,
(04:13):
uh, it's one of the, one of themain, blessings in my life.
I even met my husband curling,which is even the bigger
blessing.
So it Oh, that's really cool.
Yeah.
So I have a, a quick questionbefore we get more into who you
are.
Um, is it possible to cheat incurling because I, you know,
like I, when I golf I like tofluff up the ball.
I like, you know, nobody'slooking at, oh, kick.
(04:35):
Everyone's watching though,John.
People can see that.
So is is, is, we call it thejudge SCHs.
Yeah.
But I understand curling is sortof a, um.
Forgive me for having my, uh,gender situation, but it's kind
of a gentlemanly sport or a,yeah.
Whatever the female version ofgentlemanly is.
What would that be?
Yeah.
I don't even know.
Well, it's etiquette based.
(04:55):
It's, uh, call your own fos.
Be gracious towards youropponents.
Yeah.
You know, if you're runningshort on time and you notice
their clock, you might say like,come on, let's go, or whatever.
Oh, I wouldn't do that.
Maybe I took it.
(05:20):
The first round.
I love it.
That kind of sport.
Yeah, it's cool.
So we're gonna be talking aboutsomething called the lupus
spiel.
I wanted to say lupus spiel'cause it just sounds cool.
But where are you from Regan?
I, oh, you can probably hear myaccent.
Uh, I am from NorthernSaskatchewan.
I got curling probably 11 yearsold when I started, but yes.
(05:40):
Uh, so it's the Minnesota accentmixed with Canada and beautiful.
It's what?
It's Oh, beautiful.
Yes.
Um, nobody has described it.
Well, you're on the kindchronicles.
This is how we operate.
Yeah.
Well, you're beautiful forsaying that.
It's very nice.
Well, Chris is a love fast.
Thank you.
Oh boy.
you had mentioned the FourSeasons Curling Club.
(06:01):
Where is that?
Yeah, so it's right um, on thecorner basically of 10 and 65 in
Fogerty Arena.
Oh, wow.
So you guys are familiar withFogerty, right?
Oh, absolutely.
That's one of the more famousice houses in the, uh, in the
metro area.
That's right.
(06:22):
Nick donated a hockey stick tous a few years ago.
Um, we, we get a lot of supportfrom Fogerty Arena.
We're very grateful that theyhave provided us as home to the
lupus field and, um, the boardof directors is fantastic, but
yeah, my husband Todd is thedirector of curling there.
And.
So there's a great ice, lots offun.
(06:44):
Um, Todd is a world bronzemedalist, actually himself.
What?
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's really good.
Which joint?
He's really good.
Yeah.
When we curl, we curl togetherand, uh, he likes to remind me,
don't embarrass me, so I, I trynot to.
Todd Burr an American, or is heone of them Canadians?
Yes.
He's one of us.
(07:05):
You, however you wanna word it.
The world is my home.
I'm kidding.
No, he was born and raised inMankato.
Oh.
And his dad basically got him,uh, learning how to curl and
make ice.
And his family is a curlingfamily.
Did you two, all his siblings,did you two meet?
Curling?
That's what she said.
Oh, that's okay.
Sorry.
Missed that part.
(07:25):
You started, you started, youstarted at age 11.
Regan, when did you meet yourhusband?
Age.
Um, so a, a long time afterthat, um, I was singing the, the
Anthem and volunteering at, atan Olympic trials.
And, uh, this is back in ohnine.
Todd was playing.
He ended up coming in third,made the playoffs, but that's
(07:48):
how we initially met.
And a couple years after that,we just started dating And, uh,
things went pretty quickly.
You know, when, you know, youknow, and, and, uh.
That, that, that's that.
He moved me out to Minnesota andI've been so glad to be here
ever since.
It, it's been really uniqueliving here.
I, I love it.
That's awesome.
(08:08):
Uh, this is Jeff, the intern.
I'm not supposed to do a lot ofresearch.
I, but I did a little bit ofreading and did I read correctly
that you and Todd compete asmixed doubles?
Yeah.
Was sweet.
So my question is, what's itlike competing as a married
couple and how do you balanceteamwork on and off the ice?
Oh God.
Did you write that?
(08:28):
Did I read that somewhere?
Good.
Good question though.
Good question.
That is an excellent questionand I look, we're, we're working
on that answer every day, youknow?
Seriously though.
Well, yeah.
That's when you have, you know,a sports relationship with your
spouse, basically.
I.
I learned so much curling withhim.
I wish I could repeat those twoawesome seasons.
(08:50):
Um, you know, we, we were luckyenough to make it to nationals
twice, and then it was achallenge there.
I, uh, you know, I, he's such agood curler and I struggled,
especially the second timearound, and he was patient with
me and just some of the thingsyou learned from.
A high caliber curler like thatand plus he's got a really calm
(09:12):
demeanor.
It was so worth the experience.
But basically it's like don'tmake assumptions.
Don't think you're gonna win orlose.
Don't start hanging points onthe board in your mind.
Just focus on one thing at atime and he doesn't focus on
making the shot.
So I apply this in life as well.
Smart.
It's so good eye opening.
He like I at the broom and I tryto hit the B and right weight.
(09:36):
Focus and visualization at atime.
Sooner or later, whether you'reworking on a project or getting
through a curling game, itreduces emotions and sooner or
later you can get work done.
Except for the times when Toddwould get frustrated with me.
You know, like sometimes he sayTodd gets the, when he, I'm
(09:58):
kidding.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, I thinkpeople who know him think, you
know, ice cubes are in his veinsand they are, but he, he can
get, uh, very invested ineverything he does.
So I, I learned about that too.
(10:18):
Like, I, I, I'm like.
You know, I got high energy.
I'm always excited to meetpeople.
It's hard to tell Curl well youguys, you guys have high energy.
I love it.
Well, but in curling you gottarein it in, you know, and that's
part of the secret of the game.
Well, we have one guy in thestudio that has high energy as
well.
He is, uh.
A professional singer.
Ah, and when the professionalsinger heard you mention that,
(10:41):
you sang the, uh, the nationalanthem.
Here we go.
His eyes lit up.
I just waited to ask thatquestion.
That's really fascinating.
What a, what an interestingcharacter you are.
Exactly.
Regan, tell us about, just alittle bit about your singing,
like you've been singing sinceyou were young as well, and how,
what level did you get to andwhat.
Tell us about that.
She sang at the thing.
Oh, well, I know.
What else?
Well, thank you.
And your singing, you don't.
(11:09):
Yeah, our small town was only1100 people, but that's how it
started.
And then I did WHL games for,uh, the Saskatoon Blades when I
went to, uh, wow.
Sweet school up there.
Yeah.
And then, you know, I, I've gotone NHL game under my belt.
What?
And then otherwise, yeah, HarlemGlobetrotters, major League
Soccer, uh, the Denver Nuggets,um, over 200 stadium.
(11:32):
Uh, John singing a singer.
Re wait a second.
So, so we can YouTube you.
Yeah, there's a couple up there.
That's a real thing.
I just look, I just try to do agood job.
You know, I, there's no vibratoto my voice, so it's just
(11:53):
straight.
I try to hit the notes.
Love, love that.
I love, want people to be happyand sing along.
But how about you?
Where, where do you sing?
And, uh, here's the thing.
I'm a rock and roll singer.
I, I, I can barely remember mywords.
Yes.
I'm a rhythm guitar player.
I'm a lead.
I'm a, I'm a goofball on stage.
He's front man, man.
I'm a, I'm a performer.
I don't sing like you.
Like, just, you guys understand?
(12:14):
I learned You're awesome.
Look, I haven't seen you liveyet, but I, we should do it.
We should have a date.
Hang on now.
Just like curling, you know?
Yeah.
G rated fun, family friendly.
You guys come Curl and Todd andI and Troy will come out and
watch you sing again.
(12:34):
Okay.
So perform this song, uh, theNational Anthem is not something
I would ever try to tacklebecause I'm not that kind of a
singer.
That's, I've heard.
That's a tough one.
That's really impressive thatshe's a different echelon.
I know you guys all know I, Ineed to please let me get my
question in here.
Okay.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Kg You've been to plenty ofhockey games.
Yeah.
As much as I like the AmericanNational Anthem.
(12:56):
The Canadian national anthem.
Oh, Canada is way better.
It's better greatest.
It's beautiful.
So I assume that's where youstarted was with Oh, Canada.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, what a beautiful, both ofthem.
I just love, it's a privilege.
Um, occasionally I'll do it whenI go back home, but, um, here
it's been mostly the Americans,sometimes Canadian, Canada.
(13:18):
Depends who's playing where.
It should be both.
Wow.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing, Reagan.
That's cool.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, it's an honor.
Well, playing out live, you knowwhat that's like.
I mean, that's kind of an honorof course every time as well.
Not to a stadium full of people.
That's a different, it's gottabe a little bit nerve wracking
though, honestly.
Oh yeah.
(13:39):
How do you get your nerves liketo a place of comfort in, in
front of.
19,000, 20,000 people in arena.
Yeah, dude, I don't, I don't,you know what, I'll, I'll ask
myself every time I'm like, whatam I doing?
It's nerve wracking.
Oh, I know.
Just like curling sometimes too.
You get nervous.
But, uh, I just come to realizenerves are part of the game and
(14:02):
accept it.
And you know what, just.
Technically, I think to myself,okay, the reverb is gonna hide
any nervousness in my voice, soI'm just gonna sing it.
Okay.
And you sweat and you sing itand you get through it.
But again, with my goal is sothat the veterans in the crowd
are happy.
Yeah, man.
Well, when I sang it that night,I just wanna do a good job,
focus on them.
(14:22):
It's good when I'm listening ata game or on TV or something.
I, I feel for the person thatthat's doing that, oh God,
please do good.
I know.
And when you see someone whodelivers it from the heart,
it's, it's, it shows.
And I, I think that's whereyou're coming from.
You're trying, you're not tryingto be the greatest thing in the
world.
You're really trying to deliverthat message.
And, um, if you're doing itstraight without a lot of
vibrato and like, you're just,I, I'm so excited to hear you do
(14:45):
that, because that's important.
It's a, it's a very importantsong and do it wrong sometimes
when they do it right, it's,it's heartfelt.
Okay.
Real quick, before we get to thelupus spiel.
What's your favorite nationalanthem that you've ever
witnessed?
Of course, I'm gonna start'causethe, the Whitney Houston Super
Bowl Anthem.
Yep.
There's only one anthem answer.
(15:05):
There's only, yeah.
Yeah.
There's only one answer.
Yeah, totally.
Totally.
Oh, and she, she, what a talent.
Incredible, natural, powerfulvoice and.
Just beautiful.
And I love that one too.
And, and hey, I stay in my lane,like I can't do the runs.
I've tried it and it went offOkay.
(15:27):
But it's like you do it once ortwice and try to make it fancy.
I gotta stay in my lane, stickit, stick to the notes.
Yeah, do it.
Do it where it comes from you.
Yeah.
That's, that's more important.
Yeah.
How about Chris Stapleton?
But I do love that one too.
Chris Stapleton was, that wasthe national anthem, right?
Or did he do the, okay.
He did.
Uh.
Didn't he do America thebeautiful?
(15:47):
I don't know, but I don't know.
But he's fabulous.
A hidden voice.
That roughness to his voice.
I love that too.
That grit.
It's awesome.
Yes.
Again, something I don't have,but you know what?
Rock on those people.
Do what you got.
Yeah.
Okay.
Just for fun.
The worst national anthem.
How about Carl Lewis, RoseanneBarr, Rose Barr?
Yeah.
(16:07):
That's Carl Lewis.
How about, uh, Fergie from theBlack-Eyed Peas?
Yes.
Oh my God.
That was, see that her, thatembarrasses me.
I can't watch it.
It makes me feel so like FaithHill many years back at the
Super Bowl was bad.
Her favorite?
Yeah, she did a great job.
Your favorite?
My favorite?
Well, we were just talking aboutworst ones and then you bring up
Faith Hill.
Oh, on man.
I was say Faith.
(16:28):
I thought you were, I thought wewere still on favorites.
Faith was good.
What's your bad one, Jeff?
Oh, um, did we already sayRoseanne Barr?
Yeah.
Yeah, that was the one.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the lupusspiel.
Yeah.
The reason that we're talking toyou is because your pal wanted
us to, to learn about the lupusspiel.
I understand it's coming up acouple weekends from now.
(16:48):
Yeah, that's right.
May 30th through June 1st.
So what was the motivation fordoing the lupus spiel and uh,
tell us a little bit about howthat all works.
Thank you for asking.
So I have lupus and when I wasfirst diagnosed, you know, you
when something like this happensto you, like whether you guys
have had a diagnosis or yourlisteners, uh, can relate to
(17:10):
somebody who has, or, or you'vejust been dealt with a pretty
significant challenge that youknow is gonna change your life.
I didn't know then what I coulddo.
You know, in, in general to helpother people, to help myself to,
to look into, well, is there acure for this thing?
Uh, so I, I searched forsomething like that, that we
(17:34):
could do.
It really wasn't, I, I had theidea to run a ProAm.
Initially I thought I wanted todo ladies of curling for lupus.
I still may wanna do that.
I think it'd be really fun.
But then eventually I thought,well, let's do.
Open ProAm and I, I didn't knowhow to put together something
like that or have the budget forit at the time.
(17:55):
So it wasn't until Todd moved meto Minnesota that I said to him
like, I, I wanna do this.
Um, and he's like, okay.
I can you help, you know, andwith being his, uh, competitive
career, which is so long, and,and he is met so many people, he
helped connect me with a bunchof wonderful curlers here in
(18:16):
Minnesota who wanted to be apart of it and wanted to help,
help me run it.
And how, how they wanted to helpshape it and participate, which
they have for all these years.
So that's how it started.
It was so successful that, um,shortly thereafter, we, we
formed a foundation and thelupus spiel became our flagship
(18:37):
event.
Wow.
And as I understand it, you havesome pretty famous curlers that
participate in this each year.
Yeah.
This year we're gonna have sixOlympic medalist.
And four of them are goldmedals.
Is that, so we have John Guyfrom up north.
Is he part of this?
John Schuster is wonderful.
(18:58):
He is one of the people whohelped me from music to telling
me I could do this.
Wow.
Um, he can't make it this year,but he did come the first year
and he won the thing.
Oh, of course he did what?
I took it, took it home.
Yeah.
But he always helps.
He always donates.
Um, and his teammate, TylerGeorge, who played third, which
(19:19):
is Vice Skip, he's curling in itagain this year and Tyler's
curled in it multiple times andhe's phenomenal.
And actually, so is his sister,Courtney George.
Courtney Benson, who's anOlympian herself.
But yeah, Tyler's got a goldOlympic medal, so that's pretty
cool.
Um, and then we have EveMuirhead from Scotland.
(19:39):
Uh, Kevin Martin from Canada,and Brad Jacobs from Canada.
All of those folks have a gold.
And then we have Shannon Cbrfrom Canada who has a bronze and
Sean Rodsky from the Iron Rangewho has a bronze.
So as I understand it, it's apretty nice mix.
No kidding.
You, you, you connect, uh, uh,one of these pros with an
(19:59):
amateur.
Team.
Is that how that works?
Yeah.
Like everybody has a, a ringer,so to speak on their team.
Yeah.
You you got it.
I love that.
Yeah, exactly.
And uh, the ams, they can pay orbring sponsorship or fundraise
to be able to bid on thesecelebrities gifts in the
auction.
Love that idea.
(20:21):
Yeah, great idea.
Can you tell us what is lupus?
Sure.
I just have to tell you that atsome point during this, we are
gonna have a Seinfeld reference.
I don't mean for it to be, uh,ir, irreverent, or uh, whatever
the word is I'm looking for, butevery show we have a Seinfeld
reference.
(20:42):
And there's a really good onerelated to lupus, unfortunately.
Tell us what lupus is.
Sure, sure.
Yeah, yeah.
You can't offend me, you know,uh, like I said, Todd.
Oh, I bet we could easygoing andyou can't offend him.
You can try.
You can try.
Um, well, I've been trying togive Lupus to Todd for many
years to no avail.
I'm kidding.
That joke's not.
(21:11):
Because we fund a person who, agenist and a researcher, also a
rheumatologist.
But anyway, you've thisoveractive immune system.
You get a flare.
And a flare could be joint painor it could be like, what
happened to me?
It affects your organs.
Oh, so in systemic lupus Yeah.
(21:31):
It can affect, you know, yourheart, lungs.
For me, it was my kidneys.
Oh boy.
So yeah, the goal is to tacklethe flares and or look at the
genetic component and or look attreatment or preventative
medication kg.
Do you wanna use, tell us aboutlupus on Seinfeld, or do you
want me to.
(21:52):
I, I, I think it was jaundice onSeinfeld.
No, no.
Don't you remember that Georgehad the thing on his face?
Oh, and he was concerned whatit's, and he says to the doctor,
is it lupus?
And what?
Come on.
That's right.
That's ridiculous.
So anyways, when I think aboutlupus and you talk about the,
(22:12):
the, the joint pains and stufflike that, the idea to me when I
watch curling, I have curledbefore me and too, and it is
difficult.
It's like you don't realize howuncoordinated.
What was that word I just said?
Uncoordinated.
You wanted to say, I must behaving a stroke here.
Yeah, maybe.
Do I have lupus?
Maybe.
No.
Why would I say something?
I don't know why you said that.
(22:33):
No, but there we go.
Oh God.
Offended.
Everyone's offended.
This is the OffensiveChronicles.
I apologize.
Great, great.
It's funny.
If he can't laugh, he's a funny,yeah, no, he's a funny guy.
He's, he's that guy.
I like it.
No, it's fun.
I would think that, the jointpain, when I watch curling, I
think, my God, those people mustbe stiff in the morning.
(22:56):
Right?
Honest to God.
So, yeah, you get so low andYeah, I know.
And people curl like into theireighties, there's that.
Mm-hmm.
But then I thought, you know,maybe it helps from a
therapeutic perspective, ofcourse, because you're all
stretching your tissues a littlebit.
I mean, I've done it and it'slike kind of you get a good
stretch when you go, you'restretching.
I wondered Yep.
About that.
(23:16):
So, and it's cold.
Well, there's ice.
Yeah.
Excellent.
You know, we, I, I actually alsowork with people.
Um, I have an exercise programthat's low torque, low impact
for people with chronicconditions, and we always say,
do what you can, when you can.
Motion is lotion.
Any movement that you do counts.
(23:36):
Yeah.
And I think curling is perfectfor that because you're sliding.
So there's.
Um, unless you run into somebodyby accident, but, uh, no.
And it's really greatcardiovascular activity for when
you're sleeping and you, youhave to build up your muscle
strength to be able to, well,hey, I remember when I had to
(23:57):
work hard just to be able tostand for two hours.
Yeah.
In the house.
But when you're throwing astone, you know, have that
muscle.
Strength to be able to push offfrom the, and then hold your
position, have good corestrength and leg strength and
arms for when you're sliding.
It's a wonderful sport.
I was at Shields the other day.
And they, oh, cool.
(24:18):
They're one of our sponsors.
They sell curling stones.
How much do those suckers weigh?
They look very heavy.
42 and a half pounds.
Oh, 42 approximately.
Yeah.
And are is, I hate to say this,but is there a, do, do we all
push the same stone or is therea, a smaller version for
children, for example, or women?
(24:40):
Well, yeah.
Why would I, God, what is wrongwith me today?
Just unkind, unkind, John.
It's, it's, it's all the samefor competition, but for kids
who wanna learn.
Some clubs do have little rockerstones that are are lighter.
Those are a good way to learn.
Um, cool.
I, I learned with the heavierstones and it, it's, it's a lot
when you're little, but thereare techniques you can use.
(25:03):
Uh, we also do curling clinicsto help people with this, to get
more power to come outta thehat.
You know, I'm, I'm not a verytall person.
Uh, so those things have reallyhelped me.
There's, there's ways you can.
Help yourself help if you havea, a chronic condition as well.
Um, and you can even curl with astick from a position.
You just walk out and you pushthing kind of like, you know
(25:25):
when people play shuffleboard?
Shuffleboard.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a very accessiblesport.
So, real quick, going back toyour, your exercise program.
Tell us about that.
I heard low impact, lowsomething, and I thought that
sounds like something I might beinterested in.
Oh, that's good.
Yeah.
Well, low tor, so if you reduceyour lever or your weight,
(25:47):
you're reducing that, uh,bending moment on your joints.
So we just teach people, youknow, how to do a friendlier on
the joint squat, shoulder press,and so on.
You know, those importantmovements and then that can help
'em functionally in life aswell.
But yeah, my program is stillaggressive.
You know, we're doing weights,cardio weights, cardio weights,
(26:07):
cardio, finish with someabdominals.
It's online and pretty soon, youknow, it can help people regain
strength or just build from andfrom where they are.
Yeah.
Regan, again, I'm not supposedto do research, but I did a
little bit.
Um, this is Jeff again and, uh,I really liked your mantra.
Lotion.
Lotion is lotion or, yeah.
(26:29):
I think John would resonate withanother one that I heard.
Easy is effective or done isbetter than perfect.
So cool.
On, on the topic of kindness,um.
One person can change a life.
I heard you say again, verylimited research.
Mm-hmm.
But is there a story there?
Um, I heard a, a little videoand you were talking about that,
(26:51):
and it sounded like you weregoing through some difficulty.
And is there a story of kindnessthat you can share in your
journey with lupus that, uh,could inspire anyone else who
might hear this?
Oh, thank you.
That's, that's, uh, oh, you'regonna make me cry.
That's wonderful.
Thank, it's gonna make us allcry.
Good guy.
What a good intern.
Oh, it'll keep them, but truly,uh, yes.
(27:15):
So, you know, I, I struggled fora couple years when I was
diagnosed, even though themedication started to work for
me and my blood work turnedaround, uh, clinically, I still
felt awful.
You know?
Pain that would wake you up atnight?
Couldn't walk very far.
Had to use a cane.
Uh, very fatigued.
Uh, my thinking wasn't great.
(27:36):
You're just tired, you feel low,and my emotional health looking
back was, was pretty low.
And, uh, finally someone said tome, why don't you go get some
help?
So I, I did, I, I took thatadvice and I went to see a very
kind counselor.
And she said to me two thingsthat absolutely changed my life.
(28:01):
She said, number one, you're indenial and that's okay.
And I love that because I wasn'tin denial about having lupus,
but I did not wanna accept theway other people were telling me
that I should think about it.
So she gave me power and made methink, okay, I can approach this
however it makes sense to me.
(28:22):
Kind of gave me some controlback, some power.
And then the other thing shesaid to me was, it's not your
fault.
And like a weight was releasedoff of my shoulders that night.
I walked in through the door andI realized in my apartment I'm
happy.
So in that one meeting with her.
She changed everything.
(28:43):
She empowered me and it'samazing and a constant reminder
of how much we can all affectother people.
If we take the time sit, bitelip, or whatever we have to do.
Sometimes I have, listen to whatthey're saying, make the
decision to listen.
And then be encouraging for themrealistically.
And you never know who needs tohear it or if you need to hear
(29:05):
it from someone else.
But I will never forget that andalways appreciate what she did
for me.
You should do motivationalspeaking.
My She does.
She's a keynote speaker.
She's, yes.
Oh, well she, Regan, what don'tyou do?
Oh, makes that Holy, holy Cow.
Kg.
I have to ask you, when shesaid, uh, it's not your fault,
did any movie pop into yourmind?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
(29:27):
Oh, that's a good movie.
Is that your favorite movie?
Movie Hunting?
It's, it's one of them.
It's uh, it's number one,Goodwill Hunting, one of my
favorites.
That was, uh, the wholetherapist thing.
I'm sorry I had to do, it'squoted often on this podcasts.
Yeah.
That, that got.
Some great lines.
Yeah, it does.
It's a great movie.
Yeah.
She was like him, you know, and,and it was the right person at
(29:48):
the right time, except withoutthe beard.
So let's just, yes.
So, so let's go through this.
So you're a, a keynote speaker,motivational speaker.
You're this curling person.
You have a.
Uh, a nonprofit that I just sawyou raised over a million
dollars for lupus research.
Mm-hmm.
Over the years.
Singer, singer.
(30:08):
And a workout program.
Workout program.
What else is there?
Come on.
Do you have time for anythingelse?
That's it.
No, I mean, hey, it, you,everybody is busy.
I, uh, you know, I, we're allbusy, but it's fun to have stuff
in your life that all relates toa goal.
And, and, you know, I'm blessed.
It, it was many years before Ihad a clue as to how we could do
(30:30):
anything to help people, uh,with this disease.
And we don't wanna see anotherperson suffer like I did with,
with the heavy duty meds I wason.
So this is a blessing and, andto be able to work on a lot of
things, most of them tie to whatour goals are.
It, it's really a blessing.
And the people here inMinnesota, I mean, the first
spiel that we ran.
(30:52):
Um, Carrie Benton made a quiltfor us and Minnesotans, we love
quilts.
They're beautiful.
Yes, we do.
Yeah.
And they take a long time tomake, and somebody has to put
the thought into figuring out,well, what colors would work for
this.
Mm-hmm.
And she did that.
And she does that for everyspiel.
And I mean, that, that's whatthe most donation of all those.
(31:22):
For that Quil because beautifulquil.
But the effort to put in intothat is, is to me, that's what
the is.
And Minnesota and Minnesotanshave made that possible.
That's awesome.
Um, I have a quick questionbefore we wrap up with you.
I bet it won't be quick.
We don't wanna stop talking'cause we just, we love talking
(31:43):
to you.
You're an inspiration.
Um, how's Troy at, uh, curling?
Is he any good?
You can tell us.
Yes.
Nobody's listen.
Troy's awesome.
We love him.
Uh, so Troy hasn't been curlinga long time.
He's new, he's new to it, to it.
Yeah, he, he, oh my gosh.
He has just taken to it and he'shelping us, like he's been a
supporter of the lupus field inour clinics and of me and Todd,
(32:08):
and he helps with juniorcurling.
So he has been an absoluteinspiration carrying on his love
of the game to, to kids who,like curling, has so many
lessons.
It's so good for, for all of uslessons.
And he embodying all of that.
That's good to hear.
He gem have, um.
(32:32):
He has been hammering me withtext messages, not as many as
Jeff, but, uh, hammering me withtext messages about Have you got
her on?
And I'm like, I keep texting herand she's not responding.
So I looked and I got the lastdigit in your phone number
wrong.
Oh, I tried to do it, please.
Classic mistake.
(32:53):
Well, so there's.
Somebody out there that's,that's two digits off of yours
that sing thinking, what is thisweirdo trying to get me on?
I don't know about what thehell's a lupus spiel.
Yeah.
So I, I may uh, send that persona final text message.
Yeah.
Sorry about that.
Said, we really enjoyed havingyou on the podcast.
Um, yep.
(33:14):
But I gotta tell you, uh, that'sgood.
This, Regan, this has been adelight to have you on with us.
Yeah.
To learn about the Lu Lu spiel.
To know somebody that's that, Imean, you're an actual singer.
I'm like, she's amazing.
Yeah.
I can tell already.
I can't wait to hear and theenergy and I, you've got YouTube
videos and you know, it makes mealmost, she's wanna get off the
couch and do something.
(33:35):
Yes.
Almost inspirational.
Motion is lotion.
Yeah, motion is lotion.
I'm just gonna go straight tothe lotion.
I love it.
Yeah, we're, Hey, if we're doingsomething like this, you gotta
be creative with everythingyou're doing with the podcast
that counts.
Everything we do counts.
So, there you go, John.
I think you guys are winners,champions.
(33:56):
Oh my.
Yeah.
Well, I got one last thing,John, before we go, I, I travel
for work to all kinds of greatcities throughout North America,
but I will tell you, the peoplenorth of the border, I, I've
said this before on the, on thepodcast, Canadians are
different.
They are so out of their way.
Nice.
They're so incredibly sweet totalk to, and when you're up
there, they're so happy you arewith them, even though they know
(34:18):
you're from the states.
And I love going to Vancouverbecause when you walk in the
arena, when the wild, they'replaying the Canucks, there's
this giant, giant banner behindone of the nets and above it, it
says, we are all Canucks.
And to have you all today, Ifeel like because it's the
Chronicles and you're some ofCanadian kindness to our show
today, at least for one time.
(34:42):
We're all, I got goosebumps.
I'm so much Thank you.
One kg, one last thing.
However, they didn't seem tooenthusiastic about being the
51st state.
No, they did not.
You know, let's blame.
That's our guys fault.
That's our guys fault.
We'll excuse ourselves there.
(35:03):
So let's not go down that road.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
No politics on this show.
And with that, off we go.
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