Spiders, Teeth, Bats, & Paddleboards OH MY! Special Guest Coach John Harris

Welcome to a another episode of Comfortably Uncomfortable: Not Another Running Story.

In this episode, we discuss the experiences of being an athlete and the surprising injuries that come with it. John Harris, an experienced podcaster and athlete, steps in to fill for our co-host Sean Meehan's unexpected absence. Sean's unfortunate skiing accident sparks an emotional dialogue on personal experiences of injury, recovery, self-care and resilience.

Join us as we reminisce on a unique 12-hour old-school ultra race, as we share a laughter about banana spiders and a casual feline that stunned Meghan mid-trail race. Get a glimpse of our personal lives as we chat about recent life updates; from John's recent wedding to his experiences on dental surgery and how it led to a dialogue about dental fears and coping mechanisms.

Tune in to the podcast to gain some delightful insights into the love for outdoor activities, the complex realities of physical injuries, and the challenges and joys of personal and professional life transitions.

Check out all things Coach John Harris at https://www.teame4e.com/

Outtake Song: "Late in the Evening," Paul Simon

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:10):
Hey, you found us. Welcome to Comfortably Uncomfortable, Not Another Running Story.
I'm Megan Fanning, and I'm joined by Sean Meehan. We created this podcast to
continue the real conversations that we have when we get outside to run,
bike, surf, climb, or whatever it is that you do.
We love the real conversations when boundaries come down, because really,
that's when it gets interesting.

(00:35):
Hey, wait, you're not Sean.
No. What did you do with my Shawnee?
Where is Sean? Who are you? Why are you on my screen? I sent him on a ski trip. Oh, no.
Oh. Well, hello, everybody.

(00:56):
As you can see and hear, I do not have Sean with me today, which is really sad,
but we do have a lovely replacement that's stepping in for him for today.
We have John Harris, and you may recall from, you know, I always should check.
I should do my research and be like, episode number blah, blah, blah.

(01:18):
But yeah, it was March 26th of last year. John was on our podcast.
John is a seasoned podcaster, and he's an athlete, and he can talk. So what the heck?
Why not? I can talk.
Welcome to the podcast. Thanks. It's been a while.

(01:40):
So it's like, I was like trying to go in my head, like all the stuff that's
happened between the last time we spoke like this. So yeah, it's been a lot.
Well, we'll have to, we'll get caught up on you. But just to let everybody know,
I did mention at the beginning of the last podcast, Sean had an incident with a tree.

(02:00):
So Sean hit a tree while skiing, and he broke his...
Lower leg. I was trying to remember which bone is fibula. Yes.
I was like, I was going through, yeah, the bigger one.
Yeah. He, he did have to, he did have to have surgery. So he's,
he's going to be slightly bionic, you know, as, as many of us are by now,

(02:22):
but Sean is doing well for everybody, you know, that that's concerned.
And if you're not concerned, then fuck off because because Sean's awesome, bitch.
Boy, look at, with him not here, I have all this aggression.
Like, I was like, where'd that come from?
No, this is a whole new thing. I know.

(02:42):
Well, Sean is doing well. He had his surgery. His leg is repaired.
He's just taking a little time. I do believe he's in Vermont with his family
this weekend. So it was just a little chaotic.
And he's going to have another week of rest. And then we're going to bebop into,
you know, the rest of our podcasts. and we'll keep Sean away from the trees

(03:02):
that jump out in front of him.
Because when you're skiing, they do. They legit jump out in front of you.
Well, you said this is like the first injury he's really ever had, right?
I think it's the first surgery he's had. Yeah.
Well, I mean, I know he had a hernia repair years ago.
When did he say years ago? A couple years ago. Two or three years ago.

(03:23):
But fortunately, Sean has never had any, as far as I know, you know,
I don't think it would have come up, any big, you know, athletic type accidents
where he's had to be repaired.
So it's welcome to the club. It sucks. And the t-shirt blows.
The older you get, the older you get.
Yeah. Well, and it's also, no, he's, you know, and he's not.

(03:45):
But with the pace that we move, you know, I imagine I've never skied with Sean.
Because I don't downhill ski.
But I imagine he skis pretty hard and pretty fast. Yeah, he skis a lot of time. Yeah.
Yeah, and it's like the way we all go, it kind of, you know,

(04:07):
sometimes shit happens.
I hope, kind listener, that it never happens to you and you don't have to be part of this crowd.
Yeah, well, you don't want us to be bono anything, you know? Right, exactly.
Exactly. It scares me about it. I know.
Really, when I used to ski, I was such a bad skier, and I learned how to fall very well.

(04:32):
Because I just felt out of control the entire time, and I always felt like I
was going too fast, and I was going over.
I mean, I would do jumps that I didn't realize I was doing until after I did them.
And also, it's cold. Right.
It's cold. Yeah. I've never been on a pair of skis in my life.

(04:53):
Yeah. I mean. Not a lot of skiing in Florida.
No. No. Well, I don't know.
The one race I did in Florida, what did we have? I learned about banana spiders.
Yes, you did. Those were freaking scary on the ground. Thousands of.
I got hit by a bat in my neck. And I actually mean. I forgot about that. A bat. A bat.

(05:18):
Yeah a bird bat yeah not a bat and then
and then i saw and then i saw
did you say a bird bat well yeah like
as opposed to a baseball bat a bird i don't know because i don't want people
thinking like i mean it is florida i could like turn the corner and get hit
in the neck with a bat i mean that would happen in florida especially if i was

(05:42):
like wearing some political t-shirt or or something. Not that I would ever wear one of those racing.
And then, and then also during that same race, that was the one where I saw
the cat walking on the trail.
Yeah. So you said, I know, I swear to God, it was the weirdest thing.
I thought I was hallucinating, but I'm like, I'm not running that hard.
And, and it was only 12 hours.

(06:03):
So, and I was like, there's a damn cat walking down the trail.
And I just stood there kind of like looking back and forth, like what What the hell?
And then these two people walked out of one of the little trailheads where I was.
And I was like, did you see that cat?
They're like, oh, yeah, he's our cat. He comes with us. He hikes with us. This is normal.

(06:28):
There's a few of these cats in this neighborhood that not only show up,
they just follow their owners around outside. I've never seen them.
Yeah, but on trails and stuff? Never seen them.
It's weird. You're freaking, freaking Florida, man. That's just,
and especially like, you know, I do have a history of hallucinations while running.

(06:49):
So, so when I first saw it, I legit did think I was hallucinating,
but it was the middle of the day. I was fine. I actually felt fine.
It wasn't that far into it, wasn't it?
I don't, I don't remember. I mean, I don't remember where we were in the race,
but I know it was still daytime and we started, we started first thing in the morning.
So and yeah and only the last because that was a 12-hour race so only the last

(07:12):
couple hours i think maybe the last hour or two was in the dark anyway so that's
when i noticed all the glowing banana spiders on the ground yeah that's when
they that's when you can see them they were there before,
ew god what would have happened if i sat down oh you would have known it you.

(07:35):
Oh god well what was the name of that race
oh god not even uh it's
in the inverness yeah yeah the the
yeah the inverness the inverness forest but
it was like this it was a 12-hour old school you had to send your up yeah you
had to send your application in by mail there was no there was no cost i don't

(07:59):
think after donations yeah i i think it's still going on but That was a fun race.
Yeah. It's usually around a Valentine's Day. Yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, the other thing, I remember two things about that race.
Like, it was, I love the old school ultra feeling of that race.

(08:23):
Yeah. It was very, everybody brought food and they just kind of stuck it in that little place.
Yeah. And the other funny thing was, God, I can't remember how long eating was.
Whispering Pines. Whispering pines. Whispering pines. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's say each loop was five or six miles, maybe. I don't know.
Something like that. But there was like a little bump, maybe right when you're starting the loop.

(08:47):
And all these people are like, oh, we got to prep for the hill.
We got to prep for the hills. And I'm like, there's the hill. I know.
That's a hill in Florida. I was like, there's hills here? Although we went to
visit Kim's dad in Tallahassee.
There are some serious hills up there, but that's really Georgia.
Oh, yeah, true. There's some hills up there. Yeah, that's true.

(09:10):
You know how it is when you're driving around. You're always sizing up hills
when you're driving. You say, well, I can go up there. I can go up there.
I still do it. Yeah, I do. I do.
Well, thank you for covering Prashanth today.
It's it's a it's a pleasure to have you here and we've

(09:30):
talked a little bit i mean we talk you know on and off you know
but but it may be it may be a good so if
you if you didn't hear the previous john harris podcast it's always it's always
good to listen to and we will we will post the link for that but yeah just to
get us caught up so so you got married i did congratulations yeah new house That was the thing.

(09:55):
It's like the last time we were on, I hadn't even met Ken yet.
Right. I'm still a month away from meeting her.
Yeah. Yeah. I got married in September. Yeah.
Had all my teeth pulled about in January. God, yeah.
He did have them replaced, just so you know. By the way, this is a good moment

(10:15):
to remind everybody that this video will be on YouTube as well.
So please check out our Zendurance Now YouTube station.
Yeah, that was an experience. Oh, God. I hate the dentist.
I do too. And luckily, I mean, they said, no, it'll be fine.
They'll put you out, you know, when they pull them all, they'll bring you back in.

(10:39):
Wait a minute. Did you get to keep your teeth? You know what?
I should have asked. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt you. I know.
It would be, I remember my brother's wisdom tooth. I'm holding my fingers up, but it's long.
Yeah. I still have all my wisdom teeth.
Oh, really? They left those? I still have, not now, but I still have.

(11:03):
So they had to cut all those out.
But they had to bring me out of the anesthesia like halfway through because
I was going too deep, I guess.
Yeah. I was like really getting deep in. So they brought me out.
So when I woke up, I still didn't feel anything. But when I woke up,
I'm hearing the cracking.
So apparently you have no redheaded genes in you. you.

(11:26):
So for those who don't know, people that are natural redheads or have really
light hair and light eyes, we take more anesthesia and we tend to bleed more.
So I've been asked a number of times going into surgery, are you a natural redhead?
Which the first time somebody asked me that, I thought it was weird.

(11:46):
And then the anesthesiologist explained, and over my years in medicine. I've learned this.
Also, redheads metabolize drugs differently.
Because you're from the devil, right? Because what's that? Because you're from
the devil. It's like left-handed people. You're all evil. Well, it depends.
I mean, I'm going to claim to being a witch, but whether I'm on the side of
the devil or Glinda, the good witch, it just depends on my mood.

(12:10):
So just don't cross me and you won't find out. Are you a good witch or a bad
witch? Depends on the day.
Depends if you did something to Sean. Maybe that's what happened to me when
When I found out that you potentially hurt Sean, what did you do?
I wanted to come on a podcast so badly.
Yeah, you threw a tree in front of Sean. Oh, that's cruel. I miracle the tree in front.

(12:33):
So you're recovered in your teeth. Look lovely.
I still have to get my, these are still the temporaries. Oh, okay.
So I still, I have to go in this week to get fitted for the permits because
they have to let everything heal first.
But one of the temporaries broke off Saturday, last Saturday.
I was like a bit into a waffle.
And I was like, I'm starting to feel something. Wait, what is that?

(12:56):
And I just pull it out. Oh, the little tooth. And it was like,
there's one on the back, so.
I had one year at Christmas. Christmas, I had a cap come off my teeth when I
was eating a Tootsie Roll.
You know, you get that candy in your Christmas stocking, like,
ooh, I mean, how, I don't really eat Tootsie Rolls. Happened to me when I was like 12.
And I was like chewing the Tootsie Roll and all of a sudden something started scratching in my mouth.

(13:22):
I was like, what is this? And I spit the Tootsie Roll off. I'm like, oh my God, my tooth.
I was just thinking, just like, God, what if this had broken off in my sleep?
You would have been pooping it out. Yeah. yeah yeah that's jeez
i could be choked on it too you could
have um but yeah they i mean
it was sharp so they they actually got me on monday and kind of

(13:43):
filed it down so it's like smoothing us that's good
so and they're all anchored in they're like yeah they're in your it's in your
bone yeah yeah yes um so i have a fear of the dentist i just hate the dentist
so much but what What it makes me do is I am at the dentist every six months, like clockwork.

(14:04):
And I have this belief that if I take care of my teeth, like I have really nice teeth.
If I brush them, if I floss them, if I do all the right things,
nothing will ever happen to my teeth.
Now, I wish I could tell you that this was true, that it's worked for me because,
you know, I did have a root canal when I was pregnant.
I've had a couple minor things, but every time I go to the dentist,

(14:25):
I just have this like fantasy in my mind that I'm going to open my mouth.
And the dentist is going to go, oh, there's no scraping to do, Meg.
You're good. You're good. You're good. Just let me just do a little rinse and you get to go home.
That's what I'm waiting for. Someone's going to say that one day.
Well, they're going to say it to me now because, you know, they're all fake. Yeah. Yeah.

(14:47):
The weird thing is that it's hard to get used to because you don't realize how
much you feel through your teeth when you're eating. Right.
It's like I haven't, like, been drinking cold or anything like that.
I don't feel it when it hits my teeth. I don't feel it.
God, and my teeth are so sensitive, too. Mine usually were, too.
So even when you're biting, like, a nacho, it's like you're chomping on things

(15:10):
that really aren't there. You're just feeling through the motions.
Wow, it's a little existential in nature, huh? Not that I eat nachos, of course.
Oh, my God, nachos are my favorite. Are you kidding me? That's,
like, one of my favorite foods.
I can neither confirm nor deny that I love nachos. Oh, I love nachos.
And it's also kind of a comfort food. Like we had a giant snow day.

(15:35):
Actually, a couple of snow days, two snow days.
But like on a snow day or a day that we're all home, I'll make a big,
big, big plate of nachos. And I put beans on it and tomatoes.
And I get the works.
And then I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's totally a comfort food. Are you vegetarian
or vegan or anything like that?
You know, so I'm mainly vegetarian. And I like to just say plant-based.

(16:01):
I've been vegan. I've been full-on vegetarian.
What I've done over the years, and I want to say maybe the past three years,
is because I tend to get really thinned, right? That's my issue.
And not in a good way. Not in the way people are going to hate me.
I'm like, oh, you know, don't hate me. I'm beautiful. No, no.

(16:22):
I get thin. So I hate you. Yeah.
And I get thin and I lose muscle tone, right?
So, and especially as I'm getting older and at my age, like I'm 50, you know? I remember 50.
Yeah, I need, yeah, I need my muscle. So, so what I try to do is eat what my body needs. Okay.

(16:44):
Right. And so, you know, I'm mainly plant based.
But, you know, if I'm, you know, like last night, you know, we cooked a little
bit of chicken up. I ate some of that.
If I'm at the fire department, a lot of times when we're at the fire department,
you know, we cook for each other.
Well, I can't say we. I don't really cook. I clean. I clean because my cooking is not good.
But, you know, my partners will make something, and I eat what my partners make.

(17:08):
So it's just being more relaxed. Like, I don't have rules.
I just eat what's going to work best for my body.
That's the change in me. Yeah. You know how I was, and you know very well that
I used to be well over 300 pounds. And I got down, what, in 2021, I got down to 190.

(17:32):
And I'm around 240 now, which is heavy for me. I'd rather be around than 200, 210.
John, I wonder, if you got to 200, 210, I think you'd still be...
I don't know that you'd be like, I need to be 180. I don't know that you would

(17:52):
be saying that. No, I didn't like what I looked like at 190.
Right, right. I mean, but I'm wondering if you would ever be happy with it.
You think? I don't know. I mean, I was kind of, I felt good at 210.
Yeah. I felt good. But what I was going to say is that during,
because I couldn't eat any solid foods for three months.

(18:14):
So we kind of got on this like vegetarian thing where we weren't eating meat.
So eating, I never ate tofu in my life.
So he kept starting making like things. And so with me, like making tofu with
it. And actually it worked really well. I started dropping weight again.
But, you know, I was eating soups. And I don't know if you've ever tried this thing, Philly Harvest.

(18:37):
Oh, I've seen it. I've seen it. Really good stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All natural food, but it's like really, really tasty stuff. And very easy to
make. And, you know, so kind of got on that for a while.
Yeah, I get it. I do struggle. I do struggle with food.
And just, I'm one of those people that forgets to eat, doesn't eat,

(18:57):
doesn't think I need to eat.
And yeah, just for, you know, what I've been doing lately is making sure that
I eat three times a day, which most people don't have to do that.
But when you, especially when you're doing shift work, you know, it's easy.
You know, sometimes I don't have time to go to the bathroom, you know if

(19:17):
it's a busy shift but making sure
i eat three times a day and then and then snacks all
day and i make sure i get enough protein and
enough fruit and vegetables the carbs the carbs come in there you know i don't
know no matter what and if your body needs carbs it's going to make the carbs
you need anyway so i don't really i try to stay a little lower carb but i'm

(19:38):
not i mean i had pasta last night so i mean yeah so did we but my pasta last
night is almost like a side dish.
It's not like my main, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. You're only supposed to have like a handful of pasta and not a big plate of it. Right, yeah.
Yeah, we went out last night and I had pasta with,

(19:59):
shrimp and pistachio pesto
thing oh yeah so i was gonna yeah i'm
heard from friends from tennessee are down
for the weekend so oh okay so we took them out to a restaurant out here so nice
yeah and something else that's happened well i had to stop doing triathlons

(20:21):
that just that's recent though yeah and that's what i was gonna that's what
i was gonna bring up is that that you,
because we were, you know, we were talking on the phone the other day,
so we'll clue everybody in, but we were talking about, you know,
working with our limitations.
And, you know, I've been talking, well, actually, I've been talking it through
on the pod, like working it through, you know, what can I do?

(20:43):
Well, I mean, and you know, it's interesting.
I can run. I can run relatively quickly.
I've always had a little bit of
speed, right? But when I run over double digits, I start to get back pain.
Because again, I broke two vertebrae in my sacrum.

(21:06):
So I'm starting to feel that a little bit. So I'm trying to just sort of figure out my life.
Well, hold on. We got to stop the press for this one. I just don't want to hurt anymore.
Yeah, that's what you have to with me too. Yeah, I'm tired of being in pain.
I'm not having fun doing this anymore.
And then you just have to start thinking about it. It's like,

(21:28):
what's the reason I'm still trying to do this?
Wouldn't it be easier to just kind of do what you want to do?
So what's the limitation for you in triathlons?
It's the training is bad because I'm doing back-to-back-to-back stuff.
Up so i noticed like you know you know i have psoriatic arthritis and all this

(21:49):
you know that came you know it was due to the cancer i have and what's and then
just the only way i get onto wearing down you know i'm 60. you know so.
It was i found that okay i go out for a run like when i first started training
my first run was great i said oh i can still do this went out for my second
one well okay now my ankles are hurting,

(22:11):
you know and i'm not always the one running two and a half miles
but it's the fact it's the day after
day after day and then when i tried to do a
like a brick you know i went out there and and rode for 10 miles and then just
trying to get off the bike and then run and it's like my ankles are not having
it they were just and usually it would like you know 10 years ago when it would

(22:35):
hurt but it would loosen up you know it's not loosening up and then i felt it for days afterwards,
i was like i talked to i talked to my uh rheumatologist and she goes yeah you're
just gonna have to pull back on this so you know you're just not your body's
just not gonna let you do it find something else can you ride i can ride yeah
so that's the same right it's still right i can still swim. Yep.

(22:58):
It's just, it's the training, the back-to-back training. It's like,
I can ride and then, and I'll feel it the next day, but if I wait a day and
then ride again, then I'm fine. It's fun, you know?
So I've adopted the Sam Farnsworth method of training, and he's talked about
this. I don't know which podcast.
We'd need to have somebody producing our podcast to help me me with all these numbers.

(23:22):
But, you know, what Sam does and he's talked about is he has his key workouts
that he wants to do for the week, right?
You know, maybe one or two big days. And then he just sort of figures it out as he goes every week.
And that's kind of what I've been doing.

(23:43):
My, I really have to train around work because sometimes work just, sometimes work is easy.
It's a fire department. Sometimes, you know, the last time I was there,
oh no, no, that's not true.
I had one shift a couple weeks ago where we had nothing. I, you know,
where, where we slept through the night. I was like, huh?

(24:04):
And then other shifts where, you know, you're up, we were up at a car explosion
at three o'clock in the morning, my partner and I. And, you know,
and I'm just a paramedic. I am not a firefighter.
So, so what does, there's really not much for a paramedic to do,
you know, if there's no victim for a car explosion,
I just have to make sure that, you know, the firefighters, you know,

(24:26):
aren't working themselves too hard and, you know, any coverage for other types of medical stuff.
But, but yeah, so, you know, but after that, you know, I have to come home,
I have to come home and take a nap, you know, I mean.
And I'm not a napper, so I don't nap. Me neither. Me neither.
Me neither. And really, if I'm taking a nap, it's usually because I'm sick.

(24:46):
Yeah. Like, if I can sleep during the day, it's because I'm sick or it's because
I worked the night before. Yeah.
How do you overnight? You're an old shifter. So I have, you know,
have a regular, you know, have a regular day paramedic job.
But the fire department that I work, I'm at, like, I'm at per diem.
Oh, okay. So I pick shifts and I really, I like the night shifts.

(25:07):
I always liked them when I was in the military. I always knew.
Yeah, I do it. I like it. Stuff like that. I just did.
Because it was usually slower, usually not a lot of exercises and training going on.
It's Russian roulette with me. Yeah.
And also, I've said this for years.

(25:31):
Since my 30s, I think I've realized this. but I'm a night person in a day person's life, right?
So I have kids in a family and I live with day people that I love and I want to spend time with.
I can't work all nights because I would just,
I would never see them. You know, we'd have opposite lives. That would be hard, yeah.

(25:55):
And also, my house is always busy. You know, I mean, people just coming and going, dogs, cats.
So even if I do take a nap after shift, it's not for long because there's always
a dog or somebody or something.
I just can't sleep. I'm just learning how to deal with a dog now.
We just got the puppy two weeks ago. Well, that's like having a baby.

(26:18):
Oh, my God. Yeah. It's exactly like that. How old is your puppy? 12 weeks?
He just turned 12 weeks, yeah. Yeah, I saw the picture, yeah.
He was 11, 11 and a half pounds when we got him.
Aw. Three weeks ago, and now he's over 20.
Yep. What kind of dog is it? A Labrador.
Okay, Labrador. We got him from a breeder over here in St. Pete.

(26:40):
Yeah. And yeah, this dog, he's going to be like 50, 60 pounds probably.
Yeah. I think he's going to be even bigger, but he's growing like a weed.
But it gets easier it gets easier
yeah i know that's what we're trying to get through but you know when he he's
a stubborn little when he's on though
he's a smart little guy but when he doesn't want
to do something well you know the smarter

(27:03):
the dog is the harder they are to train and i
have i have one of my dogs is like that you just
kind of got to work with what you have it takes a lot of of
patience no he took like four days he sleeps through the night
now oh nice i mean they said
you're gonna be getting up two or three times a night no i put him in the crate
maybe around 10 30 and six o'clock i go down and take him for a walk and sleep

(27:26):
all the way through it he's sitting there waiting for me when i come down though
but a good boy yeah you know i think,
I'm hearing Sean's voice in my head because I think he said a couple episodes
ago that it's interesting.
He said, Meg, he said, you're riding your bike so much. It's interesting that

(27:47):
the thing that took you out is the thing that you're doing. I thought about that also.
That's coma. And I don't know if you remember when I was doing triathlons,
but I always said my bike was the weakest.
Bike was my is the top
quarter with swimming and i and i

(28:08):
felt like i'd lose places i'd go back in in the bike people would pass me and
then when i ran i'd catch up that's almost the opposite like swimming was always
it's a fear of mine but i'm good at it you
know it's the most anxiety The diving-provoking part of the race for me,
I could swim really well, though, once I get out of my head.

(28:31):
I don't like getting jostled. I don't know where it comes from,
but I have this huge fear of drowning.
And because of my breathing issues with the cancer and injuries and stuff,
some of the breathing, I think it's just where it comes from.
How is it that you have a fear of drowning and you were in the Navy?
No fear, right? Right? I guess that falls into the category of me...

(28:55):
Not being able to, almost dying on a bike, and now I ride my bike.
Yeah. We had people in boot camp that couldn't swim.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you're part of boot camp, part of your training is you
have to jump off a 20-foot, I don't know if they still do this,
but you had to jump off a 20-foot platform, hit the water.

(29:18):
Take your pants off. Make a light preserver out of it.
And while you're, like, that's why there are bell-bottoms in the Navy.
So, you know, off over your boots.
When I was doing, like, you know, Tough Mudders and Spartans and stuff like that.
So, I was doing those because I was coaching people.

(29:40):
So, in a sense, I was basically paid to do those races. Okay?
I never had to pay for my entry fee. You know, I got it. But when,
you know, and I remember in the Tough Mudder, there's a, you jump off a platform
at one, at one point, you know, into, you know, into some pond or something. I hate heights.
I hate heights. I'm not, I'm not the one that's ever going to jump off a cliff.

(30:04):
Like, ooh, this is fun. Let's jump off a cliff and do it. I don't get it.
No. I don't get the skydiving thing either.
But with that said, I'm the coach.
So I'm doing it. So literally, I just go into the zone.
And actually, what I remember to one particular race, I, I jumped off and then
I had one athlete that was standing at the top of the platform and she just

(30:26):
couldn't do it. She just was so scared.
So I actually climbed back up there. So and I jumped again with her and I was
like, okay, we're going to hold hands and we're going to do this.
And, and she stood there. My God, it was a while.
It took her like five or 10 minutes to jump. But I, you know,
I just stood there with her.
I was like, it's okay. She did, and you don't have to. You know,

(30:46):
she could have climbed down.
Excuse me. Frog in my throat. So, and it was really nice because when she finally
did jump, the entire, you know, the people, because, you know,
they have people swimming in the water, you know, just for safety.
They have other people watching. The place went nuts.
Everybody cheered her on. Yeah, it's usually a very supportive community.

(31:09):
But, you know, fun trail running is like that, too. Very supportive.
But I'll just tell the story of the first trail run I ever did. I had a night stop.
And it was like it wasn't even a man station it was just a table with
stuff on it yeah and i had stopped and it was starting to
rain and i was taking my poncho out of my backpack and a guy came out skinny
guy long beard stood there for five minutes talking to me about you know this

(31:34):
is my first race and you know kind of strategies and stuff and he said okay
i'll see you see out there and he took off and he's the one that ended up winning
the race and that's what i always say it's like, no,
you never see that in the triathlon or run.
Nobody, the leader of the race would never stop and talk to you. They'd be going.
Right. And in that feeling, that's why we have this podcast, right?

(31:58):
Because like for you and I to be able to catch up like this,
we would need to be on a run or a bike or, you know what I mean?
Like it breaks down all those barriers and it is different with triathlon.
And one of the reasons I never fit into the triathlon world is they are so fancy
and like the, you know, the matching kits and shoes and, and, you know, that's not me.

(32:24):
Even before I was, I mean, I, I've always been a trail runner because that's
basically, I was just raised like go play in the woods, you know,
but like if I'm cold, like I'd put a garbage bag on me if I didn't.
Like i just i just don't care you
know i just yeah you're right about triathletes though

(32:44):
they have to have you know all matchy matchy their
helmets have to match your bikes and have to match your shoes and have to you
know things like that and the other thing that blew me away is there was this
one triathlon series i did every week and they would they i don't know why they
did it like this but they'd start the women and then they'd start the men so

(33:04):
what happened is is towards the end of the bike ride,
the first men would be, the first couple men would be catching me.
And I'd look at these bikes and I'm like, damn, these bikes cost more than my car does.
Well, I mean, I can't speak to that. Because at the time when I bought my bike,
and I was three years old now, but the car I had in my bike was worth more than my car. Yeah.

(33:28):
Yeah, I spent over three grand on the bike and my car was worth maybe two at that time.
Oh, no, I'm talking, no, no, no. No, I mean, I'm talking about $10,000 bikes. Yes, yes.
And I would love, I mean, I have a Cervelo that I've been eyeing.
Like, you know, sure, if Cervelo wants to sponsor me and give me this $15,000

(33:50):
bike so I can ride my segment three seconds faster, well, damn, I would take it.
But right now, the rider that I am, it really doesn't matter.
And before my crash, I was on this,
clunker of an aluminum bike for years and i
i knew what i was riding like because i kind of

(34:12):
figure that i ride this clunker bike and by
the time i hit the race and you know and i'm on a good
bike then i'm gonna fly yeah well speaking of bikes like that my my father-in-law
right after we got married we were up there visiting him he has he had a bike
in his garage that he had bought 30 years ago 40 50 years ago that was just

(34:33):
hanging in his garage now i just mentioned And I said,
that's an interesting bike you have out there.
And he goes, yeah, do you want it? So I said, yeah, I'll take it.
And so I got it and finally got it, put it into the shop a couple of weeks ago
just to get it looked over.
And like every mechanic in that shop was over there looking at that bike. Where did you get this?

(34:55):
What kind of bike is it? It's a Schwinn Latour 1975.
Oh, damn. In good shape. Did you ride it?
Huh? Did you ride it yet? Oh, yeah. I took it out. Kim has a bike,
so we took it out on the trail. You know, she wanted to ride.
Oh, is it a gravel? Or is it, what's it? Is it a gravel bike?

(35:15):
It's a 10-speed on the tree.
Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The brakes are like this, you know? Yeah.
But I guess they were telling me the whole, they were looking it up.
It's like, you need to take care of this bike because this is like a vintage bike. bike.
So it's a yellow bike.

(35:36):
So all I had to do was put new tape on it, and they messed with the brakes a
little, and that was it. It was like, he still has me at me.
Wow. Do you know what? My dad's like that, too. My dad saves all the manuals.
And honestly, I've never read a manual in my entire life.
And every time, if I open up something that has a manual, my dad's like,
you put this in a safe place.

(35:58):
Here you go. And I'm like, Like, yeah, dad, I will.
I've never. It's the exact opposite. We just like redid the kitchen.
So we have all new, like, you know, smart refrigerator and smart, you know, gas range.
And then with the convention oven and stuff like that, you get all the fancy stuff.
And I'm like saying, well, it's got to be in the manual somewhere.

(36:19):
She goes, well, we'll just play with it.
That's what I do. We'll figure it out. That's what I do. We couldn't figure
out how to make toast. So we had to buy a toaster.
Because we usually have the the small one like a the emerald little oven and
you can make toasted so it's like we can't be toast will we no you need a toaster
needed so we had to buy a toaster so.

(36:43):
So i know it's it's yeah like i said you know i got you know i'm getting married
it's like getting it's been nice though,
It is. It is. It's if you're with the right person is it is.
And it's also a lot of work.
And I don't mean that like, like, like, I mean, well, sometimes it's good work.

(37:04):
Sometimes it's bad work. But if you're going to commit to being with somebody
like that, people change, you know, you're going to change, you're going to
go through things and the ability to just work things out with that other with that other person.
And there are some days where I don't like my husband very much,

(37:25):
and I kind of just want to strangle him, but I still love him.
You know, I mean, and that doesn't...
Well, yeah, we just celebrated our 14th anniversary, but we've been together
for 18 years. Yeah. So, yeah.
And we've been through a lot. Yeah. You know, a lot. I do.

(37:46):
Well, I've always said it's like, you know, I got married at how old? I just turned 60.
Yeah. And I've been single for five, six years at that point.
So it's almost like at this age, you kind of figure out what you don't want more than this.
Well, yeah. I mean, and you know who you are.

(38:09):
You know who you are. I mean, you know who you are. Yeah. Yeah,
and it's just like there are some things you're just not willing to put up with.
My roommate used to joke with me that I don't give people grace that I did when I was dating.
It's like, if you do something, I say, okay, that's done. We're done.
And you don't give anybody any grace. It's like, because I know that's going

(38:30):
to drive me crazy. If it's driving me crazy now, it's been driving me more crazy your feet.
That's probably a smart thing to realize. Yeah. And it's just like I was not
willing to accept things, certain things. Yeah.
And, you know, I don't know. I don't think that's not giving people grace.
It's just like, I know what I want and what I don't want from the past. You know what?

(38:53):
Boundaries. We could reframe that. That's what this therapist Megan talked about. Yeah.
It's just, you know, setting boundaries. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. And I knew what I did. And so when I met Kim, it's like, oh, okay.
This is what you were waiting for, you know? Mm-hmm. So. Mm-hmm.
Well, we, I am trying to bring Bill over to the dark side of gravel bikes.

(39:20):
You haven't, yeah. So, because again, remember, you know, I'm in New Hampshire.
It is really tough to ride a road bike around here. Yeah. I mean, the roads are not good.
You know, and he has this super fancy road bike that he is now selling. Yeah.
I would actually take it if it fit me, but he's a 58, you know,

(39:42):
so. Well, he's bigger than I am.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, that's, I go between 54 and 56,
just depending on the bike. Yeah, I think we are.
But Bill's over six, you know, Bill's over six feet tall, so.
He's bigger than I am now. Yeah, so we're, he's finally selling his road bike.
We went shopping for gravel bikes and, God, it was like, it was like a shake

(40:06):
my head moment Because he's like,
you know, they have the, I mean, they have really expensive gravel bikes now
with like, you know, the hydraulic front, you know, the front.
So you can take impact and go off jumps.
And I was like, I said to him, I was like, Bill, stop.
We are, you do not do that on a gravel bike. That is what mountain bikes are for.

(40:29):
He's like, but yeah, if you, I was like, no, that's not what we do.
I mean, imagine you're riding on the road to get to the trail,
and we're riding on dirt roads.
I mean, and sometimes it gets gnarly. I mean, you know, it does get gnarly.
But I'm like, you want your gravel bike to be as light as possible,
especially the distances that we're trying to cover.

(40:49):
You want your gravel bike to be comfortable in that heavy.
And plus, this mountain bike that he was looking at was like $8,000.
So, yeah. And I'm like, scale it back.
You do not need titanium you know you do not need oh god yeah so we had to have,
and and the bike guy is like she's right and i'm

(41:12):
like of course i'm right well that's good it's good oh no
no and it was funny because i'm talking to the bike guy and i still to this
day say i'm not a cyclist i'm not a cyclist that's i just because i'm a runner
that's where i've come from and i feel that in my car i still don't feel like
a cyclist and and so you know we're talking i was like yeah you know i'm not

(41:32):
a cyclist but you know this is what i do and blah blah blah
and then you know a couple minutes later i was like oh
yeah i did that race and i did that and you know this and the guy's like wait.
A minute he's like you said you weren't a cyclist he's like you're doing you're
doing gravel bike races and he said well yeah because well i think you're a
cyclist then i was like you identify you identify as a runner so what are your

(41:56):
pronouns downs. I know. Yeah.
I don't know. It's, it's, and I don't know at what point will I feel like.
A cyclist. I mean, I feel like a surfer. I can tell you that.
Yeah. I've never identified as a triathlete. I've done Ironmans.

(42:16):
Right, right. I mean, I've had Ironmans, but I've never identified as... Yeah.
And I don't consider myself a very good surfer. If the waves are over four or
five feet, that's enough for me. You're much too cold up there.
I don't know how you do that.
Well, my winter wetsuit is seven millimeters.
Okay. And I don't know if you've ever... I don't know if you've...
I'll have to post a picture now.

(42:36):
But my winter wetsuit, I have a full face hood, the gloves, I'm making Spock
hands for those who can't see, booties, I'm covered.
And also when we're surfing during the winter, I don't surf on rough days because I'm not that good.

(42:57):
And the really good surfers, they can be riding five foot waves and they don't go underwater.
Water you know but but if if i go
underwater and the wind and you know it's it's
it takes the fun yeah i'm just not that good
yet i mean maybe maybe at some point i'll be that good but yeah no the i'm totally
warm in my wetsuit and then in the summer mave and i are surfing our wets our

(43:23):
summer wetsuits are three millimeters the water out there is still cold right
oh yeah yeah it's cold It's like the Atlantic over here.
It's like the Gulf is like 100 degrees.
Right. The Atlantic is usually in the 70s. But what's weird is,
you know, you could be surfing one day, you know, during the summer, and the water is frigid.

(43:45):
I mean, and, you know, so you have to have the wetsuit on, especially if you're
going to be, because, you know, just in there for, you know, more than an hour.
And then other days I'm putting my wetsuit on and I'm like sweating in the water.
You know, you just, so it really, the water temp will fluctuate,
you know, anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees.
So, but the last time, so I have a, I have a elbow injury and,

(44:09):
but before I had this injury,
I was stand up paddle boarding and I had my 7 millimeter wetsuit on because
the ocean was flat that day. Just pancake flat.
So I was like, you know, let's take out the paddleboard.
And here's the thing. I don't fall off the paddleboard.
I have fallen off the paddleboard twice in my life. And I've been paddleboarding for...

(44:31):
I don't know, let's say 10 years. I just literally don't fall.
So prior to this incident, it had only been one, one other time that I fell.
And so I'm paddle boarding and, and I was at the beach with Bill and I,
you know, I kind of go back and forth, you know, sort of following the shore
and I went a little too far and it got, you know, it got rocky and it got, well, it's fine.

(44:55):
You know, it's like, but you know, when it gets rocky, the surf kind of meets
there. And I was like, I've gone a little too far, but I got hit by a big wave.
And Bill said, my God, I wish I had video of that.
He said, because he was standing on the shore. And he said, all of a sudden,
I looked up at you and I see your feet in the air. I see the paddle flying.

(45:16):
And I was like, yeah, it was a little, I'm really not that skilled.
But I laughed. Hey, if you're going to fall, make it memorable.
Yeah, exactly. Just sway out.
Well, okay. So I will tell you the other story of when I fell,
because this seemed like a good idea at the time. Okay.
So anytime we're on vacation, I always bring my stand-up paddleboard.

(45:41):
I love it. It's just my favorite thing. And we had a vacation house at a lake.
Is it inflatable or is it...
No, it's solid. Yeah, it's solid. It's inflatable.
Yeah. It's pretty good. Yeah, they are. They really are.
Yeah. Yeah, so I'm doing my paddleboard and the girls at the house we were renting,

(46:01):
the girls found, oh God, what was it?
It's like a little teeny, a little teeny like baby kayak that both of them could fit in, right?
So the girls were, I don't know, I'm going to say Shay was 16 and let's say Maeve was 12 at the time.
So what we would do is we all go out together. So I paddle, they paddle,

(46:26):
we go out to the middle of the lake.
We stop and swim, you know, having fun, right? So we get this great idea.
Wouldn't it be fun if I towed them? Okay. Now, for those who know physics can see where this is going.
So I give them the.
Cord that goes on my ankle. Okay. So that cord is about, yeah, this is a disaster.

(46:54):
So that cord's about Six to eight feet long? It's pretty long. Maybe six feet long.
And so I give it to one of the girls, and I start paddling. And I'm pulling this kayak in my mind.
So I'm paddling, I'm paddling. Then all of a sudden, the weight...
And I'm getting a good vibe going.

(47:15):
The weight of the two of them hit me.
And I... Superman. I mean, you know when you're in slow motion, I'm like...
And I literally just dove. I mean, the board stayed still. I kept moving.
I banged the side of my leg on the paddleboard so hard.

(47:39):
And honestly, it was, it was so funny.
I mean, when I finally popped my head up, I could tell the girls were laughing,
but they didn't know if I was hurt.
So they were, and then they saw me laughing and then the rest, we just died.
I mean, we just, they're like, oh, they're like, oh my God, mom.

(47:59):
Oh my God. You just flew. You flew. You flew so fast.
And I did. I literally, and I don't know why that seemed like a good idea.
And in hindsight that that was all kinds of wrong, right?
No. And I'm smart and I'm, I know physics.
I was a science major, I just get up a good rhythm and I'm going and I'm going.

(48:24):
Then all of a sudden, donk.
Yeah. Yeah. You kept going. So I did.
I kept going and I flew and I had this massive bruise on my thigh,
but it was worth it. My God.
I mean, we still talk about that to this day. That's a memory, right? Yeah. Remember?
Remember, Mom, when you Superman flew off the paddleboard? So there I am in

(48:44):
my- That's something your grandkids are going to hear about. Yeah.
Yeah. Yep. In my little bikini, I have my hat on, my sunglasses.
Do it with style. I did. I did. So if you're going to fall, just go big or go home.
And I think we all have that going for us.

(49:04):
Yeah. Yeah. But I love that Stano paddleboard. I love it.
I've been riding it a while. I mean, I haven't been on it in like two years.
Oh, God, if I was you, I'd be on that every day.
It's, I find it so it's the, well, that in rock climbing. Okay.
It's something that I can do that just I go into the zone.

(49:26):
I'm not trying to work hard. I'm just having fun.
And I have no ownership over what I'm doing. There's no, I'm not looking at
my watch going, God, I'm only sub 10.
You know, I got to go a little faster. You know, I never think that.
That I just am able to zone out and just be happy.

(49:47):
Rock climbing does that for me, too. Yeah, I remember my, well,
I'm too heavy, I think, but my arthritis and my missing fingers and stuff,
I would never be able to do that.
Yeah. I mean, it's something I would like to have done in my youth,
but spent all my youth in the military.
So I just did away, racing away.
Not a lot of rock climbing in the Navy, huh? No, not a lot of rocks out there.

(50:14):
So yeah well I wanted to tell you that you know talking about the the like re-figuring
out what you can do was like I found this place I don't know if they're up in
their area called the exercise coach,
It's like a studio thing, but their whole process is isometric exercises.

(50:35):
So your time under tension is constant.
Okay. Isn't that what What's-His-Face does? The football player?
I know nothing about football.
The big, the 40-year-old guy. Yeah, what's his name?
No, say it again. Who? That's the big guy, right? The big football player.
The one that he just retired. He was married to the supermodel? Oh, Brady.

(50:59):
Brady, isn't that how he trains? Right. But I guess they're proprietary machines
that they use. They're all branded, Cut Your Size Coach.
But you go in and it's like, so the bench press is like, then you have like
the screen in front of you and it's showing your weight.
But you're pressing like, so when you're pressing out, you're trying to stay on this line.

(51:20):
But then when it's coming back, you're actually pressing against it to try to
stay on the line. So your time under tension is constant.
And you know why that also seems cool because i imagine
you can probably see the difference between sides yeah and it's
um it's very i i had
my doubts kim was going to it so i said well i'll come

(51:40):
with you let me see what it's doing i said well
this looks interesting i think it might be easier on my joint you
and i have seen so many exercise fads that yeah i know
i've said so i you know i jumped on the package with
her and i i'm feeling it today and it's like
you're only doing eight reps of one exercise
but it's like i was pushing on

(52:00):
the leg press 540 pounds jesus
yeah that's what she said i've always
been strong in my life yeah you've always had strong by the time it gets to
that sixth and seventh and eighth rep when you're fighting it back that's like
four of me oh it's only two of me i don't know if i did the math you are my

(52:22):
legs are shaking so Okay.
So you know what I've been doing for strength, which is very humbling.
I can't lift weights right now, literally, because I can't lift a weight with
my left arm, right? Yeah.
So I have to do some strength training. That's all. I mean, I need it.

(52:43):
And so I tried Pilates. I've been doing Pilates.
As a yoga teacher, you would think I did a lot. I've never done Pilates.
It kicked my ass because it works muscles that you didn't know that you had.
Right. It's like a whole body type thing, right?
Yes. So I've been doing that and I get bored.

(53:06):
I get bored with Pilates. I got to say, it's just a little too slow for me.
So I tried barre. Now, R is like Pilates, a little faster, a little more up-tempo.
So, I tend to like the bar a little better just because I think it suits my
nervous system, just kind of keeping me engaged. But R...

(53:26):
It's also kind of doing that for me. Like my abs, I did some ab work and I was
sore, like right underneath, like my solar plexus. Oh my God.
Like, I'm like, why is that sore? What did I do? You know, I'll have some weird,
weird muscle in my legs sore or just.
That's what I mean. That's how this was. I woke up this morning and I had my

(53:48):
second workout yesterday.
I was like, I feel sore. Yep. Yeah.
I didn't, Because, I mean, yeah, it felt like, I mean, I was definitely sweating by the end. Yeah.
But. Well, yeah, it's, I do my strength when I get off the bike.
And, oh, my God, I'm like, I'm dying.
I mean, it's, and most of the workouts, I can't do it all.

(54:14):
You know, it's because it's so different from anything that I've ever done.
You're in the studio for this, right?
No, you know what I use? No, I use Peloton.
So again, not sponsored by Peloton, but more than willing to be.
No, we have a Peloton bike. So it comes with all those classes.
Bill likes the bike. I ride the Zwift a lot more. I like the Peloton.

(54:36):
I mean, I don't have my Peloton anymore. I got rid of it when I bought the house.
The yoga. I love the yoga.
And I am a yoga snob. Okay? Because, I mean, not only am I a teacher,
I've been doing it for 20 years.
I'm a huge snob. I like what I like.
But I found an instructor on Peloton, Ross Braeburn, and he is really into biomechanics

(55:03):
and just like yoga for nerds.
And he also does blend the Zen part of it, you know, but teaching your body
when to engage and when not to engage.
And that's been really, really, really helpful for me. I used to like the meditation on Peloton also.

(55:24):
You know, it's funny that you say that because I just did one of his sleep meditations,
same guy, just last week for the first time.
And all I remember is the very beginning. I was like, welcome,
welcome to your Peloton sleep meditation.
And dude, I was out. I don't know what happened.
Because I suffer from wicked insomnia. I always have. Again,

(55:46):
night person on a day person's schedule. Yeah.
I sleep, but my Garmin tracks your sleep on your watch. And my scores always suck.
I'm so jealous of Kim. She'll wake up and it's like two and a half hours of
REM sleep. And mine, I had like 32 minutes.
Yeah. No, that's... And mine was always at the end. But my REM is always at the end.

(56:10):
Versus like as soon as she falls asleep, she'll have this huge REM. Yeah.
You know, what's weird is sometimes at the fire department,
I'll fall asleep for like an hour and I fall into that REM sleep and then the
tone will go off for a call and I wake up and I'm like, who,

(56:30):
who, who, where, what, who am I? Yeah.
And I'm like, dude, I'm like, I don't know what's going on.
I'm like, do I have pants on? like it's like it's like that it's like that scene
in uh stepbrothers and the mom's like the mom's like what are you two dreaming about,

(56:53):
but but the thing that's and that rarely happens at work just because we sleep
with the radios on so it's hard to sleep through that but when it does happen
like i'm a paramedic i gotta get my I shit together really fast and our drive times are not that long.
So realistically, I have about five minutes to just get myself in gear and get

(57:14):
an autopilot in case what we're dealing with is very serious.
So usually I'm just, you know, talking to my partner on the way there like,
where are we going? Yeah.
What happened? How old are they? What happened?
No, we don't need mutual aid. No, no, we don't need extra ALS.
No, no. Okay, I got this. I got this. We're good.

(57:35):
Obviously, your partner wakes up faster.
You know what? Fortunately, it happens to all of us, but typically doesn't happen
to both of us at the same time. Okay.
Where one person is in a deep sleep. I think about this. It's like,
even though I've been out of the Navy for about 40 years now.
Yeah. Yeah, close to 40 years now. I just think being in it 10 years and having

(57:58):
to wake up and work like that.
Yep. It's like, you know, like Desert Storm. We know when the one went off for
Joe Gorders, you know, this is not a drill.
When that hits you, you come down to the rack and you're on watch,
controlling the aircraft, you know, coming off the carrier.
That's like, you get in that mode. I don't think that ever leaves you.
Yeah. So I think that's part of it. yeah and that's

(58:21):
me you know whether somebody's in a cardiac arrest or it's
an accident or you know god how many times i've been on the side of the highway
you know at two o'clock in the morning you know standing next to a dead deer
or something like you're somebody that's hit something awful or you know yeah
yep yep it's it's it's definitely a weird it's a weird thing one of the things i do,

(58:45):
To orient. I do this, it's not just to orient, but if we have a big call coming
in, something that is going to be really hard, on the way there,
I talked to my partner and I was like, okay, this is what we're going to do.
You're going to go and do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to get this med ready.
Blah, blah, blah. You know, we actually make a plan. And that's really helpful,

(59:09):
even if I'm not tired, just because you got to know where everybody's going to be.
So, yeah, hope for the best. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
But also, parenting is like that, too. Parenting, I've had to wake up,
and all of a sudden you have a kid standing over your bed throwing up.

(59:32):
What's going on? Parenting is a lot like that.
Like just going into the zone, you know, a kid standing next to the side of
your bed going, I think I'm going to throw up.
And like, hold on. And then you then literally jump out of bed,
pick up the kid. You're running with.
Remember that old movie, Parenthood with Steve Martin? Yes.
Remember that scene when the little girl's not feeling well and he goes,

(59:55):
do you want to throw up? She goes, okay. Yep.
You know, that's when you take your kid and you run into the bathroom and then
both of you are half asleep, like, what's going on?
What's going on? Yeah.
Or when I remember my daughter, God, I don't know, she was, maybe she was 12,

(01:00:18):
Shay, when she had pneumonia.
Oh, God, waking up in the middle of the night to her not being able to breathe.
You know, those kind of things. Like, oh God, okay, get your head together.
I don't know what's going on, but you just go into the zone and you just do it. Yeah.
Well, you get conditioned for it, you know, as a parent. I don't miss it.

(01:00:40):
Yeah. I don't miss it. Well, no. I've had a child when I grew up.
Jeez, our youngest is now 14.
I was going to ask you. I don't know what she was. I remember she was.
Yeah, so our girls are 14, 18, and our boys are 21, 23.
Three and so we're just like

(01:01:01):
at we're seeing glimpses of
mc of empty nest we see glimpses of what
it might be like have you seen that
comedian that's from tennessee she's like an old i want
to say an old woman but she's probably in her 50s i mean she's
i don't think she's old like she's hilarious but she
talks about that that these i had my four babies you

(01:01:23):
know her son and then her three date were two baby girls
or whatever they are she goes and those girls grew up and left
me alone with their father yeah that's that's
pretty much that's pretty much what's going to happen so you have to go to communication
classes because we didn't know how to talk to each other yeah i can't i yeah
those who have led the way before me and then i will be leaning heavily on you

(01:01:47):
when we get i mean so we have we have quite a while i mean I mean, Maeve's 14,
but I mean, she's definitely going to go to college.
Maeve has been obsessed with being a, she wants to be a trauma neurosurgeon.
That's what she was since about 10 years old. So we know she's going to college.

(01:02:07):
She's been talking. Very specific thing.
I know. Trauma neurosurgeon.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And like, she worries about it to the fact that she'll be
like, mom, how do I know exactly what I want to specialize in?
I was like, sweetie, that's what medical school's for.
I was like, you're going to get to go through the rounds. You get to try them
all out. And I go, you get to see who your people are and where your niche is.

(01:02:31):
And I said, don't worry about it. But that's the type of thing she'll think about now.
But yeah, so, but yeah, so, but that's four years.
Yeah. Think back four years ago. That wasn't that long ago.
No. I know. So I'm like, yeah, it's four years. I got plenty of time,
but... Four years went by.

(01:02:51):
Yeah. Wasn't like the pandemic four years ago? How long? What year is it?
No, the pandemic's only three. That was before the pandemic.
So one year before the pandemic. No, it's been four years because,
yeah, my mom passed from that on April 2nd of 2020.
Oh, wow. So it's just four years. Wow.
Oh, so you just hit the anniversary of her death. Yeah. Wow.

(01:03:14):
Yeah. Wow. So, and the anniversary of Kim's mother's death is shortly, too.
So, we both have the same year.
Her mother's only, her mother's been gone a year now.
Well, one of the things about getting older and hitting 50,
and I feel, I say this all the time, I feel like Murtaugh, Murtaugh,

(01:03:36):
Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon, where I just like look at all the bullshit going
on and I'm like, I'm getting too old for this shit.
I'm getting too old for this shit. I have no tolerance.
I have no tolerance for bullshit.
Well, yeah, I love, yeah, it's like I always say, I don't know what you can
say on there, but, you know. You can say whatever you want.
Okay, so when you're growing up, you're one with all these fucks to give.

(01:04:01):
So you give a fuck about everything, you know, when you're little.
And when you're a teenager, everything, you give a fuck about everything.
It's like, when you get older, the older you get, you run out of fucks to give.
You just don't give a fuck anymore. I don't care about it. I don't care.
If you want to vote for that guy, I don't care. Do your thing. I really don't care.
I'll be dead in 10 years anyway. the episode that

(01:04:23):
sean talked about the exorcist scene
with the cross i can't even go there
when he said that i said holy crap right out of the gun i mean literally like
hey sean what's going on boom i was like yeah we can say anything on this podcast
so we we never edit content ever i never did either i never liked to no online

(01:04:45):
because i ever used to edit but i i would never who do it.
No, I mean, we've had to edit, like, I don't know if one of us had to go to
the bathroom or if one of us lost an internet connection or something like that.
But that's the thing about this podcast.
This is real. And so now, so the people listening to this podcast.
You'll hear, you know, the edited version for sound, right? That's it.

(01:05:10):
I just use the program to do
sound editing but youtube it is right it
is what it is yep youtube it is what it is forgetting that
i'm on camera and doing this yeah yeah yeah you
haven't been picking your nose though just in your defense no you did not but
yeah so no that's the that's the premise we're just we're just putting it all

(01:05:33):
out here and i'm who i am and you're who you are and sean's who he is and and
we when i again when When we start doing, like,
I don't know, endurance stuff or when we get outside or whatever it is,
just those barriers are gone and it's lovely.
And, you know, and I also think that's the other reason I like being in EMS
because we spend so much time, I spend so much time with my partners sometimes

(01:05:58):
that all those walls are gone.
You know, when you've been in a car at,
you know, one o'clock in the morning treating somebody that has cardiac arrest
and, you know, and hypothermia and, you know, you get to know each other really well. You're young.

(01:06:19):
Well, the military is like that. You go through so much crap for 10 years.
Those guys are almost deeper.
It's a deeper relationship than your own family.
Yeah. You know, because, you know, you just see all this crap together.
I said that to Bill. It was a couple years ago because I'd be on a shift with my partners.

(01:06:40):
And let's say I'm on for, I mean, I could do anywhere from like 12 to 48 hours.
Most of the time I'm doing 12s right now. occasionally I'll work
at 24 that's pretty rare right now but so but even
with 12 I spend 12 hours with my partner or partners
we eat together we're literally
sleep we sleep together in the sense that there's cube that you know like cubicle

(01:07:02):
walls in between our beds that's how we sleep so you know we sleep together
we eat together sometimes exercise together what you're just together and then
all of a sudden you get off shift and it's like it feels weird that they're They're not there.
And I'm like, why am I still texting this person?
We're not at work anymore, you know, or whatever it is. Or you have all these,

(01:07:24):
we have a lot of inside jokes that nobody else would get.
And I said that to Bill one day. I go, sometimes it feels weird coming home
after shift, like being here when I've been with the same couple people for
so long. And he goes, oh, yeah.
He goes, the military is just like that, you know. And Bill explained how he'd
be doing something with a group of people for 30 days straight.

(01:07:47):
Or he'd be hiding in the woods.
I say hiding in the woods. He's a sniper, whatever that's called.
I don't think they call it hiding. But setting up in the woods.
And he'd be laying in the same position for hours just with somebody right now.
So he gets it, which is fortunate. A lot of people, a lot of spouses that are

(01:08:07):
not EMS don't get it very hard.
Right. And it's like, you know, it takes a special person to be a Navy man. Yeah. And stay loyal.
Yeah. There's plenty of people that aren't. That's true. You know,
you're with these guys for seven months.
And then you come home and then you're not with these guys anymore. And it's like...

(01:08:28):
I can't imagine that. Yeah. And especially on your boats, ships,
what are they called? Ships. Ships. Boats fit on ships.
Boats fit on ships. Okay. So when you're on air, I'm very clear about what I don't know.
I just, the greatest football player of all time, that's what they call him,
the goat, right? I didn't know his name. I don't know.
I don't think he's the greatest of all time. Come on. Well, that's what they,

(01:08:50):
that's, I can't. That's what they say in New England.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, there are signs.
Oh you don't figure that out no wait bill
had to tell me bill had to tell me what it meant i was like why are they calling the
football player a goat well that's mean yeah so
yeah i i i i i miss popular culture you know i just it goes right over my head

(01:09:16):
you know i'm into a lot of obscure things and you know i'm not normal but you
know hey someone loves you yeah yeah Yeah, when it's important,
I find out what it is, you know?
Tom Brady being the GOAT is not important to you. Oh, God. So it's fake news.
Okay, when what's his name? Oh, shit. Remember the Bronco Chase? The white Bronco Chase?

(01:09:42):
What's his name? OJ Simpson. So I was in my early 20s living in Austin, Texas.
And during that Bronco Chase, I was sitting around with my friends.
Were watching this Bronco chase, I actually said this.
I said, man, I said, I would be a really good jury member to pick for this guy's

(01:10:03):
trial because I've never watched one of his basketball games.
I bet you haven't. In the entire room, the entire room, everybody just went
dead silent and looked at me.
I was like, I haven't. And I was like, I just don't watch a lot of basketball.
And someone's like, Meg. You can watch all the basketball you want.
You just can't watch one of So like, Meg, he doesn't play basketball. He's a football player.

(01:10:27):
Like, was. I was like, oh, okay.
Well, yeah, my point still stands about being a juror because I didn't even,
I wouldn't have known who this guy was from a whole lot of the right choice, right? Right. Yeah.
Until the Bronco chase, until everybody told me. So I, I, you know,
there's, those are key moments in my life where I don't know that I was embarrassed.

(01:10:50):
I don't really get easily embarrassed, but I just, you know,
in the whole room stops and everybody looks at you.
That's funny. It's like, cause I think everybody thought I was joking and I
was like, no, I'd be good.
I don't know who he is yeah you know he was supposed to be he was the first

(01:11:10):
choice to play the terminator yeah whoa schwarzenegger talks about that in a
couple of interviews that they wow thought that oj simpson would be the terminator
and schwarzenegger was going to play reese.
The other guy. Yeah. I know, I know. I'm trying to, like, wrap my head around that.

(01:11:31):
I know. That wouldn't have worked, I don't think, because Schwarzenegger is
more of a robotic. He was perfect for the role. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, and I got to tell you, Linda Hamilton, in the second one... Badass. Yeah.
Well, because the first one, she's kind of annoying because she just screams
all the time. Yeah, she's a little girly girl. But in the second one, she's a badass.

(01:11:51):
Yeah, but then the opening scene, or I think it was the opening scene of the
second one where she's doing all the pull-ups and she's got all that crazy hair.
It's like that woman in the Marine in Alien, the second Alien movie,
when she's doing those split-shit-ups.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or even Sigourney Weaver when she's like,

(01:12:12):
leave her alone, you bitch.
Remember that? Those are just iconic women's, female scenes.
Like, oh my God, yeah.
The second Alien movie was funny because they had the space marines,
but the girl was the badass.
Yep, she was. The one guy, I can't remember his name now, he's passed away,

(01:12:33):
but he was like the little girl leader. He was like the one scared.
Mm-hmm. Yep. They're going to kill us, man.
Yeah. Who is that? I can't remember his name now. He's in Twister.
Yeah. I know who you're talking about. I know exactly. In science.
Yes. Yeah, yeah. I can never remember those names. But yeah,
yeah. Yeah, those are the badass female characters that I was drawn to.

(01:12:57):
And she's still pretty cool in the last Terminator. She was in the last Terminator.
She's aged very, very well. She still seems really strong.
But, you know, the picture of her there with, is it a rifle?
Or the automatic weapon? I can't remember. She has the automatic weapon over
her shoulder and the cigarette.
And the tank top. Like, yeah. Yeah.

(01:13:21):
Yeah, yeah. You're all gonna die.
You're all gonna die.
Well, I'm gonna have, no, no. And I'm gonna have trouble figuring out what to
name this episode because, God, there's so, the name and the picture,
we're gonna have so many.
Yeah, we kind of went all over the place. Yeah. Which I knew was gonna happen.

(01:13:42):
But that's me this morning. She goes, do you know what you're gonna tell about?
No, we're just gonna talk.
I've talked about, I have learned a lot on this podcast from Sean,
and I am one that prepares.
I am one that researches. I am one that studies.
I prep. And then Sean comes on the podcast and he's like, I'm like, what are we doing?

(01:14:04):
You know, before I'm like, what are we going to talk about? Sean's like,
I don't know. We'll just talk like we always do. I'm like.
Okay, Sean, I'm like, I don't know if you've met me, but I don't really.
I mean, and really, I have learned how to just sort of go with it like we are outside.
The only episode that we really prepped for, and I want to say it was more Sean

(01:14:27):
than me, was the two episode that we did about when I almost died on the bike crash.
Sean did that very, very well.
But I had to tell him like before
that episode i was like you have to have complete
control over this episode because if you don't
then i will take over and what i say is not truthful and

(01:14:50):
it's not that i'm telling lies but i i
i don't i didn't want to talk about
that and try to sound a certain way right
yeah i wanted to just to
just be real so that was the only podcast that
i think he had to change yeah i like those
and do you you want to know something i've

(01:15:11):
never listened to one of our podcasts yeah i know
i edit it i edit them i hear them but
sean's the one that listens to them i don't listen to them post yeah i used
to in the beginning but what near the end when i right before i stopped is like
i stopped listening to them somebody would tell me though you sounded weird
in this one spot then i'll go back and like oh yeah i do oh well well it's if

(01:15:35):
i listen to the the podcast,
I don't want to change what I do.
Because I don't want to listen to myself and go, oh, Meg, you're too fill in the blank, whatever.
You sound too, you're too this, you're too that.
So, I mean, I hear the podcast all the time when I'm editing it,
but I've never listened to one all the way through just because I feel like

(01:15:59):
it just keeps me more genuine.
But I got to tell you The podcasts that need a lot of editing or the music podcasts
that we have Sam on, those are freaking funny. Oh, my God.
I love it. I've been talking about music, so we can do that, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, yeah, some of the music podcasts we've done,
I end up just laughing as I'm editing. Like, oh, my God, this is so funny.

(01:16:25):
Or when you see like or we're all jamming out to like guns and roses or or eric
clapton or the dead or i don't know what what what we were doing but yeah it
so it's all good it keeps me genuine and,
yeah yeah so now you had a chore you had to pick a song i forgot about it yeah

(01:16:50):
so well i'm gonna I'm going to give you two minutes to think because I want
to remind you and everybody that's listening that we need everybody to follow us.
Facebook and Instagram are the two big ones we need. You follow us.
You follow us. So Zendurance now.
The new one, we were going to do the...
We were going to do the YouTube live launch.

(01:17:13):
So our YouTube has launched, but it's been more like a slow sizzle. Yeah.
But because that day, Sean got
really sick. Sean was not feeling well that day. So we canceled the live.
I mean, we'll probably redo it. But with that said, following our YouTube channel,
and we are going to do something.
I have giveaways, and I have stickers, and I have hats, and all this stuff that

(01:17:36):
we're going to do. Stickers. We got stickers. Yeah.
That's and yeah and and so fall and
like and also the other thing that really helps us john
is when people whatever however you listen to
this podcast whatever podcast medium you're using you
know whether it's spotify or apple or google podcasts
we're on all of them follow us follow us

(01:17:57):
just hit that little hit the follow button and then then
if you really love us like really love
us that's when you leave a five-star review you you
haven't gone the patreon route yet no no
hey i know we haven't done that we haven't
done that where that's going to be more work on you because to do the patreon

(01:18:19):
then you got to have special material or whoever does it right now right now
we're all we're all free we're all free you you get us you get us free so all
we ask of you all we need is this chair.
And this lamp.
That's all I need. Yeah, yeah. All I need is this lamp. Yeah.

(01:18:40):
Okay. Those who are young will never get that reference.
It's like that episode where Sean's like, if you don't like Johnny Cash,
fuck off. I know. Everybody likes Johnny Cash. I know.
But yeah, so it really helps us. And Sean and I started this podcast.

(01:19:03):
We know nothing. I still know nothing. I'm doing, you know, this has all been
organic growth and it's been great.
It still amazes me when I look at our downloads. You know, one time I was at
work and at the fire department and people were talking about Sean.
And I was like, and my brain just sort of skipped a beat because I was like, how do you know Sean?

(01:19:24):
And that's what I'm thinking. Why are they talking about Sean?
They're like, oh, the podcast. Oh, God. Yeah. Yes, they know from the podcast.
So I sometimes forget, you know, but, but yeah, it's, and if you haven't done
those things and you're listening to us, please, please do that.
It, it is like the biggest, the biggest help you can give us.
Well, you know, now that I'm on this show, you're going to probably get at least

(01:19:45):
10 more follows. Mm-hmm. I know.
Well, you're, you know, and it's interesting also to see the statistics on which episodes do well.
Yes. Your episode did really well. Phil Carcia was really popular.
And our other most popular episode, oh, God, I don't know why.
And it's titled, oh, God, it was Whale Sounds.

(01:20:09):
Because we talked about whale sounds, Chewbacca, oh, and Civil War reenactments.
Okay. That's literally the title of the podcast.
That episode was through the roof.
Go figure. Don't know why. It was, I'm sure it was a funny episode.
I don't know. But Sean was making fun of me because I was listening to whale

(01:20:32):
sounds when I was studying.
Because it really helped me concentrate, you know?
So, John, thank you. Thank you for coming on the podcast.
We we have been meaning to have you on
again as a guest we didn't know it would end up this
way but it's nice to nice to get caught up with you i'm i miss your podcast

(01:20:53):
because when i when when your podcast was on i was still coaching you and i
would listen to your podcast on my long runs and hear all the stupid shit you
were doing and i'd be like god damn it you weren't supposed to go that that hard.
And you did that run without eating.
And at some, sometimes I had to stop listening to you because I would be like,

(01:21:19):
God damn it. He's not listening.
Well, you know, functions are the hardest people to coach. Oh, we're the worst.
Yeah. We're the worst. We are. But coaches need coaches.
Therapists need therapists. We do. Yeah. Absolutely. All that.
All that sort of stuff. Yeah. do and,
Well, I think it's that level of knowledge that we do have a high level of knowledge,

(01:21:44):
but that's what screws our brains up a little bit.
Just because you're really smart and you know a lot of things does not mean
that you're a smart person, right?
And I do dumb things a lot and I make poor choices that in retrospect,
I should have known better.
Like tying your ankle to a kiner? Yes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

(01:22:07):
Oh, God. God, yes, the science major. The science major did that.
And I loved physics, too.
And, you know, I still do to this day. But I don't know what came over me that
day. But my girls were like, yeah, it's a great idea.
You should do it. Okay. Okay.
So with that little diatribe there, what song are you going to take us out with?

(01:22:33):
Oh, I think I'll do the one that's been in my head all morning, late in the evening.
Late in the evening okay let's do that late in the evening well thank you john
i appreciate your time and hopefully i'll see you soon yep anytime bye.
Music.