Ep. 413 — Beyond Fast with Chris Lear: Newbury Park XC, Running with the Buffaloes & Sub 4:00 - Airey Bros.'s Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio, be There or B
Square because it's all killer.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
No filler.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
This is Chris Lear and you're listening to Airy Brothers Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Ladies and gentlemen, how do you know? Loha? We are here,
you were there and you were now rocking with the best,
and we appreciate you tuning in for another episode of
Airy Bros. Radio. Tonight, we are joined by Chris Lear,
co author of the new book Beyond Fast, How a
renegade coaching his unlikely high school team revolutionized distance running,
co written with Andrew Grief and Sean Brosnan. But before

(00:39):
we get rolling, y'all know the drill. Make sure you
hammer that like button and are subscribed on YouTube. Drop
a comment, everyview, review and share helps us grow and
get back to the sports we love. And as always,
this episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance for all
your ultra marathon and nutrition coaching needs. And let's not
forget why we're here. We're here to shine a light
on the programs, athletes and storytellers we wish we had

(01:00):
access to growing up. So if you love running, coaching, culture,
and the process behind greatness, this one is for you.
On to tonight's guest, Chris Lear. He is the co author,
as I mentioned, of Beyond Fast, chronicling how Newbury Park
cross country and track and Field reshaped high school distance running.
He's also the author of Running with the Buffalo is

(01:21):
the cult classes look into Mark Webber's nineteen ninety eight
Colorado team, and he also authored Sub four, Alan Webb
and The Quest for the Fastest Mile, Capturing a teen
phoenops Pursuit of Greatness. Chris's athletic accomplishments. While he was
at Pingree he was a four h nine miler and
a New Jersey state champion and a cross country standout

(01:41):
as well, and then he matriculated to Princeton University where
he was a two time captain All Ivy and All East.
Without further Ado, is an honor pleasure to have you
joining us this evening. We do greatly appreciate your time.
Chris Lear. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Hey, thanks, guys, appreciate being here. And I love to
focus on the stories that might not get the mainstream covers,
especially the Juco angle. I don't know if you guys
are fans of Last Chance to you.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, big time but yeah, I love
that program and keep hoping there's another season around the band.
But you know, Jimmy, I don't know if you guys
when you talk, Jimmy told you he's a graduate of
UC Denver Film School, And so our thought was that
we should do a last chance you with like a

(02:27):
cross country program or with a wrestling team in the
junior college system and kind of give a different approach
and an outlook to what those sports are like for
those athletes.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
That'd be fantastic. I would love to see that.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
So and it's been cool because we've connected with a
lot of coaches and athletic directors in the Jayhall Conference,
which is you know, the Big One, season three and
season four, and some of the coaches and athletic directors
that we talked to had had some interactions with coach
Jason Brown, So it was fun to kind of talk
about that stuff because I think he was a fan

(02:59):
favorite for for different reasons.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah. Yeah, and on cameo too, So it's easy.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, Chris, before we get too far into it anywhere,
you would like us to direct the fans either to
find you online or find the book where they can
purchase it. The floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, thank you, thanks for the opportunity beyond fast running
the buffalo's up for They're really all sold wherever books
are sold. So whatever works for you works for us.
So whether it be Amazon or right through Simon and
Schuster for ben Fastly, really whatever works for you is
fine with us and great with us. Thank you for
supporting it.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Awesome. We'll put all that stuff in the show notes
for you as well, Chris, Probably the most two most
important questions we're going to ask you all, even being
a Jersey guy, we asked all our Jersey people that
get this question. I think we know the answer, but
we're going to ask anyway. Is it pork roll or
tailor Ham for you?

Speaker 1 (03:55):
That's a great question. You know. I did grow up
in a Jersey however, at elementary school lunch once a
week we have pork orl sandwiches. We got one rich,
so for me, it's always in parkl Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
That's that's awesome, and me especially as as an Ivy
League guy, Jim, you know those Ivy League coaches they
love to call Taylor Ham. And then the other one
we got for you, Chris, being a North Jersey guy,
but having spent some time at Princeton. Is Central Jersey
a real place.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Oh that is a great question, because you do have
a geographical north south split. It's pretty pretty clear. Is
it different culturally? I'm gonna go with yes.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Okay, all right, two for two.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Sweet and then Chris. We like to present through lines
to our guests, so our fans kind of know how
we make the world a little bit smaller over here.
I went to Jimmy and I both went to Ploint
peasant Borough High School and h someone that was a
little bit older than me. You and your brother tangled
with quite a bit. I can remember. There was a
picture in the Star Ledger. I think after the nineteen
ninety two Media Champions. It might have been your brother

(05:08):
in the thirty two hundred. But I ran with Terrence
Fagan growing up, So oh yeah, there's a little through
line for you and making the world a little bit
smaller and having a New Jersey connection there.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, I remember him. He was a real tough competitor,
and yet I do think he was more of a
longer distance out. My brother do most of the work there,
and so he probably I also struggled with the longer stuff,
so Terrence would have been way ahead of me most races.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, even to this day, he's one of the most
mentally tough runners that I've ever encountered as a competitors.
It's just being as often injured as he was, but
then to be able to step on the track and
do some of the things he did, it was just
a testament to how tough he really was as a runner,

(05:57):
just because it's like, these other guys are doing a
lot more than you are, but you're just tough.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Seeing Yeah, he always struck me as that I was
having that toughness not knowing him well at all. So
that rings true to me from my experience.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
And I can remember there was a cross country I
think Rich Morris had beat him at the county meet
maybe or short conference, one of the two, but he
had held onto that and we had a dual meet
and track in like early March, and he just went
out and ran nine thirty six and ran Rich Morris
into the ground. Rich was probably not taking it too seriously,
but Terrence was like, I'm gonna get vengeance, and yeah,

(06:32):
in a dual meet in March in the wind, he
went out and ran nine thirty six, like it was nothing.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
But nowadays nine thirty six isn't really that fast anymore, though,
is it amazing?

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Right? Yeah, it's a whole different sport now really.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
So, Chris, what's your origin story to the sport? You know,
we all have our origin stories how we got into it.
We're curious how did you and your brother find running,
and you know, how did that leads you down the
road of becoming an author.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, my brother Tim and I are twins. You know,
I think he had grown up grew up in Summit,
and we played all all the sports, the mainstream sports
I guess right, like baseball, tennis, soccer, we ran, But
I think running was the first where we had some success,
like a city championship one mile race all the public

(07:25):
elementary schools and I think in the fourth grade and
we went one two in that and we had a
gym teacher, Ken Keebler, I'll always remember him, who or
whatever even was like a running fanatic, and we had
a bunch of kids at the elementary school that we
went to that happened also like like running, and he

(07:47):
would have a morning gym before school. And I think
by the time we were in sixth grade, you could
go early to school and like run laps around the
soccer field and he had run for your Life I
think it was called, but you would have like a
fifty mile or no, it was a sub eight minute club,

(08:08):
sub seven minute, sub six minute, and you'd get a
T shirt that had like the wing foot, like sub
six minute clubs and those things. I remember really wanting
to add one of those, and he was just really
you know, I think that was probably the first way
to introduced to it. Is mister Keeler was just really
enthusiastic about it. And then running in the town race,

(08:29):
and I think, like a lot of things, if you
have a little bit of early success, you want to
keep going. And so yeah, we never really did much
beyond that. Didn't do club running or anything. Just that
was the race we would do. And then come middle school,
I tried other sports. My brother went right to running,
and I played football in seventh grade on the worst

(08:50):
team in school history. I kept the bench warm, and
I saw him on the cross country course out there
winning and beating kids, and I was like, Okay, it
was like a little more fun than what I'm doing here,
So uh, you know, I still was not committed to running,
and and uh, you know, end of middle school in

(09:11):
the spring, Uh, I didn't didn't run track. To high school,
I played baseball, played tennis. I you know, didn't know
what's wort I was going to do. And then uh,
eventually in high school I was going to play tennis
my freshman year and but I was like, look, if
I'm gonna do it, I want to be good. And
uh there was a local tennis club near us, and
I had my mom take me. But uh, as you know,

(09:33):
I didn't really know, but the good kids would do
with junior tennis circuit and whatnot. And so I went
to the first practice and they have me playing with
kids that were like third grade, fourth grade, and I
quickly got the sense like I wasn't gonna get a chance.
Even so I was like, you know what, there's no
politics in track. I'm going to run track. And that
was that right on?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Was one more Jim, Sorry, were you and your brothers
you get his feet off of each other? Was it
a healthy competitive environment as brothers, Jumy and I know
that sometimes things can get a little heated, maybe more
so on the wrestling mat. Maybe sometimes there's some some
tears shed on the track after an interval session. How
was that for you at all?

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah? You know Tim, uh and Tim's still in Jersey, Tims.
Tim's the head of school at pingrein now. And uh, yeah,
we we were. He was always better at the longer stuff.
I was better at the shorter stuff. But we met
at the mile, and the mile we were always kind
of neck and neck, and so we Uh. I think

(10:36):
I remember being kind of frustrated because you know, my
initial experience is running, and like I was trying to
remember today, I think I ran cross country in eighth grade.
I had to say, I'm not. I don't have many
distinct memories, but I remember is is like my freshman
year in high school, my brother finishing a good you
know one two minutes ahead of me, and that's frustrating,

(10:58):
right is Uh? So I was known and was like
the slow twin and he was a good twit and uh,
you know, comes spring, you know, he couldn't He was close,
but he could never get me in a mile. So
we would run duel meets and whatnot, and like I
would run the short stuff, he would run the long stuff.
And then, uh, I think it was the end of
my freshman year, he was sick, and so they said, Chris,

(11:21):
whant you jump up to the mile because I started
out as a quarter miler, And uh, I remember my
first ever mile in high school. I just snuck on
her five minutes. And I remember going to school the
next day being like telling my friends, like, you know what,
I ran so five you know that was fun and
uh and yeah, so it was competitive, competitive, but healthy.

(11:43):
And then you know, we really uh as we got older,
we were able to push one another. And in college,
you know, we ran ran together and just unfortunately we
both struggled a lot with injury, and so it was
like very rare that we had the chance we were
both healthy and compete and at the same time. But
but yeah, it was a it was a fun, healthy dynamic.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I'd say, Chris, did you always know you wanted to
be an author?

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (12:14):
You know, I think when I start getting into it, right,
like my sophomore year in high school and in track,
I said, like, I just broke five minutes as a freshman.
And we had a great head coach for the track
team in Victna's Areo, and he brought in a woman
named Meg Waldron to be the distance coach, and she
was one of the greatest runners in usually high school history.

(12:36):
And we had a team meeting being a spring, you know,
my brother and I played basketball in the winter, and
then we remember going, I'll never forget it, sitting in
a classroom and he introduced her to the team and
she was up at the front of the room and
she said, you know when I was in high school
around two o eight and four forty four and ten
low for two miles, And I remember sitting there thinking

(12:58):
she's better than me in every single one of those races.
And I was like, I better pay attention to what
she has to say. And you know, we went up
to her at the end of that meeting, my brother
and I and I remember being like, I think maybe
we can break four fifty this year, maybe run four
forty five. She was like, you can know, you guys

(13:19):
are can run four thirty. And at the time in
New Jersey, you know, the stick me to champions was
being one to round four fifteen and I was like, wow,
that seems really too fast, Like how am I gonna
do that? And then she told me, you know, she
had three high school teammates in the early eighties at
Bernard's High School who ran under four ten and there
was a kid who ran in four nineteen and it
couldn't make the varsity. And I remember being super struck

(13:43):
by that, right because I was like, every decade she
was about a decade older, everyone get faster, better, right,
and uh, and so what happens and so then that's
where you know, over the next couple of years, I
got to learn about the story tradition that they had
a Bernard High scho and I just got really into

(14:03):
the sport. And so I started reading everything I could,
and so I didn't know that I was going to
be an author one day, but I was the kid
who would grab read every copy track and field news,
you know, read the few stories that were there, and
that if there was something to read about it, I
read it. And uh, I think, if anything, I just

(14:25):
remember being frustrated at the lack of good stories. So
I love nonfiction sports, Friday Night Lights, Season on the Brink,
things like that, And I was like, Wisner, doesn't this
exist for running? You know, you go to the bookstore
back then, you'd see you know how to run your
fastest five kble eating donuts and sipping coffee. You know,

(14:47):
none of that had any appeal to a high school kid,
and so like once a Runner, it was the first
book that really sparked my imagination and I was like, Okay,
this is pretty cool, and so yeah, I'd say that
the spark was lit. My interest was there, but I
didn't have a conscious plan to be an author really

(15:08):
until I had the idea to write my first book,
which ended up being in Colorado, Running with the Buffaloes.
You know, that was I did a ton of writing
in college, but not with end goal of being an author.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
So, with Running with the Buffaloes being your first book,
and you say you did a ton of writing in college,
did you find after you wrote it or dorm right
in it you had some issues just based on writing
stories and not being educated per se.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
And writing I didn't. I mean I was, I guess
in terms of being an author, I was kind of
self taught. I mean I had written a thesis that
was very highly reviewed, and I think that planted the seed.
You know. My advisor said to me and after I
graduated that it was up for consideration for best Thesis,

(15:59):
which I didn't know, and she felt like if I
put a little more work into it, I could publish it.
And I was kind of blown away by that because
that just wasn't a thought. It was really an academic
kind of exercise, right, But I guess that kind of
plane of the seed having gone through that process, you know,
one hundred some page paper, and that's really independent work.

(16:22):
So I think that kind of planet of the seed
and prepared me somewhat. And then when I decided I
was going to do it, I just I read all
those great sports books, every single one that was out
there that was good. I read it, and I read
it and not just just to read them, to see like, okay,
what I liked about it, and then I'll kind of
deconstruct it, figure out, you know, what is it that

(16:46):
I like about how author's doing it, what makes me
want to turn the page. And then that's kind of
how I prepared so problem maybe unconventional, but that's what
worked for me.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
We had a former guest on New Jersey, guy Martin Rooney,
and he's read writing a bunch of books, and he said,
in order to write a book, you got to read
a hundred books. You don't quote me on that. He
might have said more, but do you do you feel
that that's the case. You gotta you gotta read a
lot to see what the other people are doing.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
I totally agree with that. I think, you know, great
great readers, big readers make good writers, right and uh,
because you know, eventually you find your own style. But
I think reading things and reading a lot of things,
reading these critically, ultimately figuring out what you like what
you don't like, is a big part of the process.

(17:37):
And uh, it certainly was for me. It was interesting
because I wasn't like a voracious reader outside of the
niche that I that I enjoyed. But uh, you know,
once I graduated college, especially I lived out in California
for a few years before I moved to Colorado and
kind of free from the constraints of having to study
and do all the stuff for school. Uh, that was

(17:58):
where like I really even dove in further and just
I read and read and read and so that. But yes,
I agree with that assessment wholeheartedly.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Chris, what was your major at Princeton.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
The least financial rewarding major. I think sociology and that
did like a certificate in American studies. You know, I
remember as there wasn't anything pretty professional back then. He
couldn't be a business major or a law major. So
it was I remember just flipping a coin. Honestly, it
was like history, English, sociology, and I really you know,

(18:38):
my sophomore year, I guess we had to decide what
to do. And you know, back then, I was the
thing I really cared about was running and in school,
I was like, well, I didn't think it really mattered
which of those avenues I went down, And it was
really all about kind of learning how to how to

(18:58):
analyze information, right, you know, I read all that and
so so yeah, so it wasn't something that I thought.
I was overally concerned about it too much thought and
for better or worse, like I John mcpee was best considered,
widely considered one of the best non fiction writers ever.
He was a professor of Princeton, and like, that's one
of the things I regret, right, Like I could have

(19:20):
had the opportunity to take a class with him, and
I didn't, and uh that was a big miss on
my part.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Okay, so I'm curious, you know, when you did running
with the Buffalo, is like in real time you were
with the team, and when you wrote sub four you
were you were with Alan and those guys in Michigan.
So was that the same case with Beyond Fast?

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, totally different, right, Yeah, I wasn't there at all.
And uh, you know, I really felt like that kind
of participatory journalism, like like a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson,
and uh, you know that when I was young covering running,
you know, in each of those instances, like I got
I got back in shape somewhat. When I went to Michigan.

(20:07):
Alan was on the best runners in the world at
that point, but I quit competing, but I was able
to get fit enough to run with him on his
easy days, and I really felt like that was the
best way to kind of cover the story and capture
the story. Obviously, twenty some years later, physically, no way
I could do that. And I really had no plans

(20:30):
on doing another book. I've had opportunities through the years,
and you know, I have respect for the process and
how much work is involved. And Sean approached me, and
you know, we had a lot of conversations and I
was aware, well aware, primarily through letch run dot com,

(20:52):
which was founded by one of my roommates from college.
One of my good friends Robert Johnson through their website. Primarily,
you know, I knew what they had done. You know,
I still followed the sport and I was amazed at
what they did. And so, you know, getting to know
Sean and seeing you know, I was like, listen, just

(21:12):
tell me the story, man like, and I'm curious, and
I think that curiosity eventually we were like, yeah, let's
do this thing. And we also were working on a
tight time frame for for giving him and his where
he was in his life and what he wanted to
do and uh. And so we also recruited Andrew Brife,

(21:34):
great writer to do to to do it, and the
three of us got it done and got Sean's story done.
So yeah, intellectually that was part of the appeal for
me was this is going to be totally different. And
you know, Andrew covered it covered Newbury Park when he
was when he was at the La Times, and so
he was he had that firsthand knowledge of it. And

(21:58):
the way that I looked at it was I thought
this was a real asset to have someone coming in
having been there and someone coming in having not been
there and having any the naivete to be like Sean
I need to know more about this. I need to
know more about this, like I want to flesh this out.
And so so yeah, totally different and obviously collaborative effort

(22:20):
between the three of us. So it was fun. It
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
What what did that collaborative effort look like? You know,
because in comparison to the previous two you're you're doing
solo and you're with the teams and stuff like that
was obviously that was a new experience. What was that like?

Speaker 1 (22:38):
It was great. It ended up just being like really seamless.
I mean, it's it really starts and as with with Sean,
right and and for Andrew and I figuring out how
to best communicate his story and you know, so I think,
uh uh, you know, it's his story, it's his voice,
and you know, the the biggest challenge was for Andrew

(23:03):
and I to figure out how how to structure it
and how to flesh it out, how to do it.
Andrew lived in La look around the corner from him.
I live across the country, so it was really beneficial
for him to be there and also be able to
kind of get get first firsthand from Sean stuff when
we needed it, and then go back to him and say, hey,
we want to flesh to South flash that out. But uh,

(23:27):
it just it just worked unconventional. But I think it's
uh the book is way better off because Andrew's a
stud writer and he was able to do a ton
of work with this, and uh, we each kind of
brought something different to the table. But ultimately, you know,
the biggest I think the biggest judge kind of in

(23:49):
this case of how we did is is Sean his
his story and you know, he's he's really really psyched
with how everything turned out. And so and then the
kids too, and some of the kids, you know, I've
read it and I've talked to them and they were like, man,
it was really cool to read about it. There are
stories in there that they didn't know about hearing it
from Sean for the first time. So I feel pretty

(24:12):
good that that we hit the mark at the end
of the day.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, I would agree. It's a it's a great book.
I finished up the last chapter last night. But again,
just like the previous two books, and I'm a geek
running geek as well, so I devour running books. So
whenever I can get my hands on something that I
like them too, because it kind of gets me back
into the flow of my daily reading practice. Like I

(24:38):
could pick up a book and I know I'm not
going to want to put it down, and then once
I finished it, then I can dive into another book.
So you got me back up and rolling into my
reading practice. So I do greatly appreciate it. And I
really enjoyed the story.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Thank you, thank you. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, and just to throw you some more flowers at
on to what Rich said, I listened to the book
in less than forty eight hours, and I was a
little hesitant because I'm not as big as running geek
is Rich. I have it in my blood, but I
tend to push it away. Sometimes I loved it. I
couldn't stop listening to it. And I found a lot

(25:16):
of similarities with Sean, just on his journey of going
to train with some of the best people and not
questioning should I be here or I shouldn't be running
with these people or learning from these people. Rich and
I have have done that in our lives, so I
was right in from the get go of that. And
then how he coached a team, talked to the team.

(25:39):
I just couldn't get enough of it, so really good job.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Thank you. Yeah. No, I think Sean's journey was you know,
as we we got to know the story, you know,
his story, you know, we really felt like that was
integral to it, right, and his path and you know,
he's really kind of a one on one and how

(26:04):
he came to doing what he did. And I think
all the great coaches and I just listened to an
interview you guys had on your podcast with the Drew
University coach, right, and and everyone is to a degree
of product of their mentors. And a lot of people, uh,
you know, they've they've coached the way that they have
one or two mentors in their life that they can

(26:25):
draw from. And certainly there's a lot of books and
places where you can learn, you can you can learn
especially not more than ever. Right, it's that kind of
out your fingertips. But you know, Sean really to have
such diverse experiences from such successful coaches, some of the
best in the world, and to really see that interpersonal

(26:46):
dynamic the way he coaches, that one on one interaction
with the athlete is kind of fundamental to to what
he've used as as something that really separates him from
the rest and and I agree with with it. So
I think, you know, as we got to know Sean
and the story, we really felt like, hey, this is

(27:07):
this is a big part of it because that that
wouldn't have happened without him, and uh, you know, he
was really I think there's some of all his experiences.
And I mean, like you guys, I did not make
the top level of the sport, right, I loved it,
didn't make it. And I think part of the reason
I became an author was to satisfy my own curiosity,

(27:29):
right seeing Goucher back in the day and seeing these
guys and being like, man, like, what do they have
that I don't have? Why why did I not make it?
And what do they do? And I think Sean was
right there on the cusp of being really good, but
he wasn't. And I think that oftentimes the best coaches
come from that that background, right, They're not necessary. It's
not assarily Garreteter, but maybe it's the fringe player that

(27:52):
goes on to be the great manager because they've had
to really struggle and learn in so many different ways.
And you know that you can really use to your
advantage with with young athletes as as we found out
with Sean.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
What parallels did you see with the University of Colorado
Allen Web in Newbury Park and what differences did you see?

Speaker 1 (28:16):
You know, it's a good question, I think, Uh, I
think in terms of similarities, you know, creating a culture
where you're totally bought into what you're doing, and uh,
you know that certainly is part of it. And ultimately
think part of why with Web leaving was the right

(28:40):
It's probably the right decision because I think he was
really kind of tormented in some ways a bit during
his time there as to he really had such a
special connection with his high school coach, not necessarily knowing
if this was the right environment for him, So I should,
I guess to distill it further, the kids that really
thrive and all those environments have total faith and trust

(29:03):
in what they're doing. And I think that's a massive asset,
right you when you have that different styles with with
all the coaches. But I think at the end of
the day, they had they created environments where it wasn't
a chore and it was cool to try to see

(29:28):
how good you could be. And I think a lot
of kids are creating that and they would love to
be a part of something that feels like it's bigger
than themselves and when you can, when you can do that,
it's amazing what can happen. And so I think that's
probably the kind of one unifying thing about about the

(29:52):
three programs. And then in terms of the differences, I mean,
I think it's like the they're very different people and
it's just this one thing in the beauty is about
I'm sure about wrestling too, and running like there's more
than one way to do it and you know, there

(30:12):
is no one recipe, and I saw it firsthand with
all these guys. They all go about it differently, but
they've all had tremendous success. And I think, to you know,
probably something that was really re emphasized with me with
Sean As, I think the magic comes from that interpersonal
connection between the athlete and the coach and believing that

(30:34):
this is this is where you're going to thrive. And
I think he had examples of that in all three
of those places.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
One thing I had a good chuckle about is when
he would tell the kids they were running a certain distance,
but he would market so they would run faster or
get the desired response that he wanted that they weren't
given him. Was there anything about his coaching style or
how he talked to the kids that kind of surprised
you or shocked you?

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Well, I knew. I went into it just with that
curiosity that I think you guys have, right, Like, you know,
you see four different boys running innder four minutes in
the mile in high school's one public high school, it's like,
you know, what, what are you doing? Like clearly when
you're a standard deviation better than anyone ever in the
history of the sport, Like there's something different and and

(31:28):
sure enough when you look at even how they structure
training at the beginning of the summer, how they do
it with this you know, continual emphasis and development speed.
You know, the way they structured their training was different
than any high school program I've ever seen. And so
I think that was part of it. And part of
it was also that kind of continually helping the ANNIE

(31:50):
from year over year, right kind of like squeezing, squeezing
it down a little bit, asking for a little more,
a little more commitment. So yeah, so I can't say
like it wasn't necessarily a surprise. It was more of
a ah, I get it like, Okay, this is very different,
you know. And I really feel like there's a lot

(32:11):
of coaches and programs out there that could read this
book and that I could really it could really change things.
You know. I had one coach telling me like, this
could change the sport in America, and I think it
could with you know, when people start emulating what they do,
because that's for me, that's part of it, right. It's
just once once you understand there's there's gonna be that

(32:36):
kid out there that will find out about five years
from now who is just so hungry to be good
and wants to you know, get his hands on everything
to read it. And now you have a template of
like this is what it takes, and they're gonna read it.
They're gonna see it, and they're gonna be like, Okay,
now the path is laid out. And I think it's
that makes it a lot. It facilitates the next generation

(33:00):
of growing. So that was a big motivation for me
personally doing this. I was like, I think these stories
are critical, They're really important to know. I mean, you
guys remember the high school team in Indiana, like that a
couple of sub nine minute guys in the seventies, like
Rooney Chappa, right, but it was all like legends and
you hear like bits and pieces and you knew nothing

(33:21):
about it, and it would be like, wow, that would
have been great to have that story and to really understand,
you know, how these these guys are total outliers in
their time and so you know, hopefully we have you know,
we've created something and Sean, I mean Sean, they did
it right, those kids did it. Sean did it. And
hopefully with the book, we've you know, kind of honored

(33:41):
that and uh, and then it'll have that if it
has that kind of impact. I know that for the
three of us, that would be amazing to see. That
would be like the ultimate gift from.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
This when you saw, you know, Niko just ran at
the World Championships. You ran in Paris at the Olympics
as well too, and Lex and Leo or at Stanford.
Right now, how are the other boys doing? Are they
still I think the two brothers went to n AU.
Are they still there?

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Oh? Yeah? Yeah. Colin was the second fastest collegiate of
all time in the fifteen hundred as a junior, and
then last year he made the USA Final eight hundred meters.
I think he I think it was a a little
bit more of a challenging season. His brother Aaron is
on the team with him at Northern Arizona as well.

(34:33):
A lot of those kids went on to run in college.
You know, one of one of the boys ran to
Colorad School of Mines. Chase Ashburner ran for Colorado, had
a nice running career in twenty to thirty in Colorado,
And that also was something that is you guys thinking
about as you guys asked these questions. But one of
the reasons that I want to do it is that

(34:55):
as I got to understand Sean and you see the
kid's success going for forward. This isn't a story of
a coach who squeezes everything out of these kids and
they go to college and they just regress, and it's like, man,
they just left. He didn't leave anything else in the tank.
Virtually every one of these kids goes to college and

(35:17):
does better, and that to me is really a testament
to like he did it the right way and certainly
the commitment they put into it just I find a
mind boggling right for like a high school coach to
be that obsessed and to put that kind of work
in and that's my AND's just so I should say
like as much as this kind of I think lays

(35:40):
out of template, it doesn't mean it's easy to do.
You know. Me and Mark whatmore did that with Colorado
run the Buffalo. It's like he didn't there was nothing.
He didn't put any limits on me. And so like
you can't write about this, You can't write about that.
There's there's no secret, Like there's no secret training where
he's like, oh, you can't share that. You know, the
secret workout. He put it out there and it gets

(36:00):
because it's one thing to know what to do, it's
another thing to execute it all together.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, and it's another thing to get everyone to buy
into doing it as well too. I'm down here in
South Carolina now coaching cross country and you know, we're
little by little we're getting to buy in. You know,
it's my first season with the team and changing the
habits from the previous years, and you can see, you know,
it's a beautiful thing when you start to see that
buy in and you're getting them to believe in themselves.

(36:28):
You know when in the beginning, maybe you know, like
same with Sean telling them. You know, in this amount
of time we're going to be state champions and kids
and parents are like, who is this crazy person? But
you know, little by little you start making progress and
you know, I've never seen it before. But the last cross,
the last five K that we ran, I had seventeen
kids running. Seventeen kids ran prs.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
That's amazing. That's awesome. That must have been, Like, what
a great experience for you.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah, I mean it's it's great for me. I'm just like, hey, guys,
we did awesome, but we can do even better. Like,
so let's not rest here, Like this is great that
we I've never seen it before in my life, seventeen
out of seventeen prs. But let's keep let's keep improving,
and let's keep shaving time off of our personal records.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
So yeah, and then what you're doing where you're at
in the process right is like you're building that culture.
And I think that's the another thing that really stood
out for me from Sean is you're experiencing it right.
Just to build it from nothing, it is very very difficult.
It's not easy. You have everything has to come together
sustaining it. I would argue, like once the plane has

(37:35):
reached thirty thousand feet. You know, it's it's it's easier
to sustain something than it is to kind of get
there in the first place. But not very easy. But
I think especially taking it from nothing and building it.
And that's one thing that you know, we've gotten to

(37:57):
know the story and perceptions about Newbury Parking. You know,
you'll see detractors and be like, oh, you just got
lucky with these just like these great kids. You know,
if you saw pictures of Nico and Jason, they're a freshman.
I mean, it's this isn't basketball where you've got a
six foot five eighth grader who's doing three sixty docs.
Like you to look at any of those kids, and
there's nothing that would have told you all this kid's

(38:18):
gonna be a World vieier one day. And it took years,
as you saw in the book, right, it didn't. It's
not like all of a sudden first year they're out
there winning. No, it was a process, and uh yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
It was good. It's good to read that, you know,
because sometimes, like you said, it's hard to build that
culture and sometimes as a coach you can be frustrating,
like you're like sometimes you almost feel like you want
it more than the kids do. And to read, you know,
reading the book in real time as we're going through
a cross country season, it's like kind of just reassuring, like, Okay,

(38:50):
it's not Rome wasn't built in the day. Like we're
making progress. Kids are running faster, like they're buying in
little by little. You just got to be patient with it.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, that's right, and that's you know, ultimately, it's I mean,
I'm a parent myself with a couple of teenagers and right,
and so that's yeah, you realize that as a parent too,
like you can't want it more than they can. Like ultimately,
there has to be that group of kids that one
kid and then a couple of kids whatever that they

(39:21):
they want in and and then uh and then it
kind of goes from there.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
You got some runners.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Uh, my daughter's just getting into it and uh you know,
and then and my son has kind of dabbled a
little bit, so not so much, but uh, you know,
we'll we'll we'll, well, we'll see. I think it's gonna
be uh be interesting with my younger ones, a freshmen
and uh, you know, it's it's fun, but it's after
doing this, I was really motivated to try to get

(39:51):
back in shape. So it's been five or six months
for me, you know, getting back at it, getting to
it and starting to feel like running and because I
would really love to to be able to participate, you know,
and link run with them. And it's a yeah, and
also just a little motivated by you know, it's the
approach is so different now than what I knew, and uh,

(40:16):
and so I'm curious with myself kind of I want
to try some of these things and and you know,
see what kind of effect it has so obviously old man, right,
but yeah, to a degree, I think, I'm I'm I'm
kind of learning with myself. So it's fun.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
You got some double threshold workouts in your future.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Start I'll start with eight threshold, you know. Uh. But yeah,
it's just uh, you know, I think like the biggest
difference I see from from Web's time from Gout's time,
uh is uh, you know, the rest days are truly rest,
you know, capping that heart rate super low, and there's

(41:08):
a purpose and it's not just recovery but kind of
building that that that metabolism, that aerobic metabolism and your
body learning how to you know, there's there's a real
purpose to going really slow, and I think that's it's
not necessarily that that new. I mean the ten man
group and the coach, you know, the coach there. I remember,
you know, hearing some guys saying that, look, these guys

(41:30):
will post their stuff online and you know, you look
at the fastest kids and them might be running seven
thirty or seven, you know, eight minutes a mile on
our easy days. That was not the case with Terrence Fagan.
I bet nope, right then you.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Have prs will run on easy days early on for sure.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Yeah. So it's uh, you know, I think that's where
just some of the sport is just it's it's so
different now and between the technolog g the shoes, the knowledge.
But still at the end of the day, I think
the great the great pro like, why are the great
programs consistently great when everyone has, you know, to a degree,

(42:11):
has access this information And that's the X factor, right,
that's that's the culture and all all that and uh,
and that's I'm sorry I'm wandering a little bit, but
like one of the things that I was super appreciated
about Sean and seeing him and just I was like, look, this,

(42:32):
I think parallels you know, what I'd like to do
in my own life now. And if you're going to
do it, like why not make it epic? You know
what you would do around the state meets with the
with the kids and the tent, like make it memorable,
make it fun, make it you know, and and uh,
I think there's a lot of lessons there that don't.

(42:54):
It's that go beyond running, right, that you can kind
of take a look. And I spend most of my
time in the business world, and I look at it.
I'm like, yeah, I can learn from that.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Christ You said when you went to write the book
on Alan Webb, you started getting back and run in
shape so you could run with him. And you said,
after writing this book, you got running again. Do you
feel when you dive into projects like this you don't
come out the same person?

Speaker 1 (43:21):
That's a good question. Yeah, I mean I think that's
probably a fair I think he's probably fair to say,
you know that, you know, it's my first first goal
is really to to just to honor the truth of

(43:44):
what happened, right, it's not fiction. And like having the
people that you're writing about say like, yeah, man, you
captured it. But I think you know these you learn, yeah,
you learn, you learn news and like for me, it
honestly this is that was the spark that you know,

(44:04):
I finished this and it was like and horrible. You know,
I had a really really busy year doing this on
top of my day job and family and I needed
to get my physical house in order and was motivated
to do it and was like, well I could just
go out and job every day and try to do

(44:25):
that and be satisfied with that. Maybe I can do more.
And you know, I think that really is one of
the things that that now it's it's my own thing,
but I've made that commitment to myself. Like you know,
it's up at three o'clock this morning because I had
a flight that left the board out of five fifteen.
I was like, well, I am I get my run in
before I go. Never would have happened prior to doing this,

(44:47):
but I think it kind of did a light light
a spark in that sense with me. And so so yeah,
I do think you come out on the other side,
and it could be any thing that you really kind
of commit to that come out at a little bit different.
And for me, I think That's the thing is it's
kind of reinvigorated, revigorated me in a sense where I'm

(45:12):
you know, challenging myself to say, how do I take
it to the next level? Not just that, but uh
so and I'm happier as a result.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
So you said you had a day job, but I
know when you're writing, you probably become obsessed and consumed.
How do you manage everything?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
I meny secrets. Uh you know, there's it's you know,
my family. I kind have done it without their their
support because my my job is you know, that's my
primary role and responsibility. And this is a very small company.
And that's that that nothing got sacrificed there. And then

(45:56):
if anything, it was sleep you know, was took a toll,
that took a hit, and it was really having the
understanding for my family that hey is uh, there's there's
we're gonna I'm gonna need some time to focus on
this in the weekend, you know, late at night, early
in the morning, and having you know, their support made

(46:21):
all the difference. So I think that's this was a
true team effort. And ever since, like between Andrew and
uh and Sean myself and then for me I'm on
the home front. I couldn't have done it without that.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Do you have any times that you I write in
the morning, I write at night, or do you get
it in when you can get it in? Do you
have any rituals or you invoke in the meuse anything
like that?

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Uh, you know. And and again this this was such
a different process, right than uh than the others. But uh,
you know, I think I was definitely kind of a
d D and totally undiagnosed when I was a kid
and through through you know, college and whatnot. And so
I found that most of my that that I would

(47:11):
do most of my writing when it was like my
full time thing late at night and into the early hours,
and uh, you know that was that was just my routine,
was to get headphones on and you know, have a
playlist that would kind of helped dial me in and

(47:32):
uh that rarely deviated, and and then just having the
physical sense of calm and whatnot to to get into it.
But uh, yeah, I'm just always that's it's a for me,
Like doing this with these guys was an opportunity to
kind of tap into something that really brought me a
lot of fulfillment. And uh, you know, this was a

(47:54):
passion project. Did not do it for the for for
the money, for any other reason than like, man, this
story needs to be told. And there's a part of
me that really, uh enjoys that process. And that was like, yeah,
you know, I wanted to experience that again.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Chris, I'm curious going back to running with the Buffalo's
when you were in the process of doing that and everything,
did you think it was going to turn into like
a cult following in the same mentioned in the same
regards as a book like Once a Runner.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
No, but you know, I was so young and naive
that you know, I considered other places, of other schools,
and and you know, I remember I was literally stuck
in traffic one day and on the Bay Bridge in California,
and I read everything, and I had been pondering and like, man,
I wouldn't be cool to read something like this, and uh,
and then I internally made the decision like I'm gonna

(48:55):
do it, Like why not? Why not me? I got
nothing to lose and gave it a go, and it
saved up my money. And you know, I think I
moved out there at four or five grand in the
bank in my bank account and did not have a
contract and just was committed, like I'm going to see
this thing through. And I ultimately was out of money

(49:15):
at the end of the the end of the season,
and took a couple jobs waiting tables, teaching computer classes
and you know, enough that would allow me to have
blocks of time to write. And it was like a
year and a half. So no, so I just you know,
when one of the characters dies in the book, I
think for me, the Andie was upped pretty substantially, because

(49:38):
then I was like, I felt that I was not
it was not just for for me, for the guys.
It was like commemorating his memory in a sense, and
so I felt I kind of took that personally, you know,
like Okay, I need to do this and uh. And
then I had the reality check when I finished the

(49:59):
manuscript and I I did not bother to play the game.
I didn't you know, know, how the game was played,
and I just submitted the manuscript blindly to publishers or
the books I liked that I read was most of
them have you know, the very they have no solicitation
kind of policies, right, so most of them will returned

(50:21):
to me and just like unread. But a few of
them read it and rejected it and said, you know,
we think this is really good, we don't think it's
a market for it. So initially I had to self
publish it to get the publishing deal. And I was like, okay,
well they gave me some hope and then that that
it was worth pursuing and and then I think the

(50:48):
but I still didn't know if I just spent a
year and a half of my life and that was it, right?
And then I gave the manuscript to the guys that
I wrote about, and I was like, listen, I'm a
big boy, like if this sucks, tell me, you know.
And they read it and they were like, dude, you
captured it, like this was this is it, this is
what we live through. So that also gave me and

(51:13):
emboldened me, right, like, Okay, I might have something here,
but did I think it would you know, become what
it is today? Like no? But I think maybe the
important thing, you know, for any of like aspiring writers
out there is that I never thought about that. I
just thought about I was committed to telling the story

(51:33):
as best I could, and I didn't worry about anything else.
I didn't worry about publishing dealer how much money I
would make. And you know, when I meet aspiring authors
and want to talk shop about it, I'll say that
when when the first few things people ask about is
the money or ex then I'm like, man, I don't
know if this is if you're going to see if
it's it's hard, I don't know if you're going to

(51:54):
see it through. You know what I'd love to hear
is like, there's just this story that I just have
to tell. It's just I got I have, I gotta,
I gotta do it. I think it has to be
kind of that level of conviction. But uh, it's just
you know, again my anecdotal experience. But uh, yeah, no,

(52:14):
it's it's been awesome. It's really fun to see it's
still being picked up and read for the first time
today by people. Uh it's pretty wild and uh but
I'm really I'm really thankful that it's been able to
inspire a lot of people along the way. That's really cool.
That makes me really happy.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Yeah, we had coach Bradley Satter on last week and
we were talking to him and we were telling the
fans that you were coming on this week and one
of his things, he said that when he has athletes
that are going through an injury or having to take
some time away from the sport, he always has them
read so for all right on, he says, it's you know,

(52:56):
they need to read that so they you know, see that.
What it's like, people go through those sorts of things
and it helps them overcome and stay focused and locked
in on what they need to do while they're recovering
and going through that injury process.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
Very cool, that's neat. Yeah. I think it's the intersection
that you guys have with wrestling and running too is
I mean, they're very similar in a lot of ways, right,
And I think, uh, you know, with wrestling living in Colorado,
I remember that did sell at the Pepsi Center for
the state wrestling championships, and uh, you know you have
also that that subculture is like so rabid and devoted

(53:33):
to it that it's it's pretty neat. It's pretty neat
to see. Like no surprise for me that Mark Floriani,
the founder of flow Track right, was a runner Texas.
His brother was a wrestler, so similar similar to you guys,
and I see the overlap of the cultures.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Yeah, and for us too. It is one of those
things where you know, being being five to four, you know, football, basketball, baseball,
those sorts of things were never really on the menu
growing up up. So you know, running is definitely one
of those things where people come in all shapes and sizes,
and wrestling you have your own weight class. So it
was kind of built for us. And you know, you
come off for a cross country season and there's a

(54:13):
lot of people. I don't want to speak for Jimmy,
but there was definitely a lot of people that I
beat that I shouldn't have just because I was in
better shape than them.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean I was right there
where basketball I loved it, right, but I'm five to seven.
Not too many not too many spots. You know, you go,
I'm a self experience that there's this guy's a Thomas
played for the Celis for every years and you know,
it's five eight and for my money, he's like one
of the great athletes ever just to be able to

(54:42):
do what he did. But you're right, and it's one
of the great things about running is there's guys are
six foot four that are awesome. There's al Geber Selassi's
five for three.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
I will say I tried not to get too offended
when Sean would say about the old coach, He's just
a wrestling coach. What does he know.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
We've all known those those wrestling coaches you have.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Yeah, Chris, is there anything that you got your eyes on,
anything you're working on?

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (55:19):
You know, not not now, not not for for writing
writing wise, you know, I think, Uh, I'm really excited
to see you know, how this how this goes, and
to hear from people as as they read it. I mean,
I really feel like the younger readers. You know, it

(55:39):
just came out in September, so it has hardly been
on the market. And you know, you think back to
when you were in high school, and I've met some
high school part of me met some high school kids
recently that are runners, and you know, this came out
when most of them already started high school. And so
you think of it back to you guys or me
when I was that age and just getting into running. Certainly,

(56:00):
you know, you're you have classes, your own academics, and
you're a cross country season. So I don't think a
lot of those kids have had a chance to read
it yet, So I'm thinking, like probably Christmas break and
then the summer is probably when it's gonna start to
take off with the younger audience. So yeah, so I'm
right now, I'm content to see what the future holds

(56:23):
with this, and you know, well we'll see never say never,
uh but uh, but for now, I think it was
great to dip my toe back in the water. And
I'm also content to to to pursue these other things,
Like I'm much more interested in, you know, exploring running
on a personal level right now than than than writing

(56:45):
about it. And uh, there's only so many hours in
the day. But but it was a joy to work
with these guys and to do this.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
So you're sorry, Rich, is there a turkey trot in
your future?

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Maybe? I mean, I think what's interesting is the what
I've found, you know, I think, like old guy running
is not interesting to anyone but the old guys. But
I know a guy, a friend of mine's kind of
a mentor, named Steve who he ran a four to
forty three mile last year at age fifty three, and

(57:20):
he never ran when he was young, I mean, were
a cross country he was a soccer player, cyclist, but
he's super analytical engineer, and I see things like that,
and that to me is super impressive, and so seeing
how he did it, and so one of the things
is especially I mean, I spent years as a just
totally sedentary right so completely deconditioned. My health was really

(57:42):
not in a good place. And part of what he's
what I've learned from him is from the smart approaches,
you can't rush it, and you just got to build
the base and you got to go and it's going
to happen, and you know, you just have to let
your body evolve and take it one step out of time.
And if if I the few times I've made it

(58:03):
aboarded attempts to get back of shape in recent years,
and typically want of me getting hurt when I get
my head would get ahead of my body. And I
tried you And then now I'm out for two months
and I'm starting all over the ground zero. So I'm
adopted an attitude right now I'm just gonna I'm just
really enjoying the process. And I think at one point,
if I can just be consistent, you know, I might

(58:27):
find myself in enough shape where I'm saying like, hey,
let me, let me test it out for nothing else
other than my personal satisfaction. But I'm finding it as
a as I'm moving along, like it's it's fun and
it's you know, just you get into it and to
start thinking like, well, what could I do? And that's
the most interesting thing about it, Like there's nothing in

(58:47):
it for me. I don't necessarily even have goals to compete,
but just uh, but I'm still finding that satisfaction of
like improving. And I think that you could relate to
that with seventeen out of seventeen kids one five K,
I think it's just as meaningful for that kid, the
seventeenth kid to pr in. That sense of satisfaction they

(59:09):
get from doing something that they had done before is invigorating, right,
And so yeah, So I just feel like it's a
it's a it's just a fun process to go through
and trying to learn from other guys. So Turkey Trap,
maybe it might be next in twenty twenty six, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
I'm here for it.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Nice, Rich, Do you have anything else for Chris before
we get in the final four?

Speaker 3 (59:37):
I mean, I could talk all night about running in
books and training and that stuff, but I want to
be respectful of this time and let's getting into the
final four.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
All right, Chris, are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (59:52):
How do you brew your coffee?

Speaker 1 (59:53):
And how'd he take it? Oh? I live in Massachusetts,
Masson Duncan most peer most up here. He's usually iced,
but I prefer hot, hot black dunkin coffee does for me.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
All right, there we go.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Chris. Do you have any daily practices or rituals you
do on a regular basis to show up as the
strongest version of Chris Lear? Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Right now. Yeah, It's just I've made that commitment to
myself that you know, if I have to get up
at three in the morning, you get a jog in.
That's what I'm doing, and I, uh, I find it's
it's like more for my head than my body. But
I found that that, uh, I'm rediscovering how that helps
me show up is the best the best person that

(01:00:39):
I can be.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
Right now, you keep your track of mileage or anything.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Like that, I'm not, you know again, this is my
uh personal journey and putting getting ahead of myself. I've
decided that's kind of the more unstructured approach is, uh, well,
we'll keep me from getting out of myself and allow
me to just keep coming after day.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Chris, what are you listening to right now? Music? Podcast,
audio books? Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Yeah? All of the above, I think, uh uh with podcasts.
I spent a lot of time on the road, and
so I do a lot of audiobooks and uh and
podcasts and a wide variety of stuff. But uh, you know,
some some people turn me on a rich role and uh,
listen to some of his stuff recently. Just listen to

(01:01:32):
your podcast with you at the Customer jew University the
other day. Enjoyed that and uh, you know so, and
then I'm gonna be called cow hurt fan. So that's
you know, his like his podcast. Uh, listen to that
a lot. Music wise, I'm all over the mat and

(01:01:52):
uh it's uh, i'd say that, you know, having a
teenage daughter like Morgan Wallen, get a lot of time
on my playlist these days. And uh yeah, And I
think I've started the books, but not the book I'm
I'm just getting into. Is Danny Hurley's new book is
h you know with uh with Ean O'Connor. So I'm

(01:02:16):
excited to read that. I'm just saying, there's a Jersey
guy I'm a huge, huge and of the Hurleys and
everything they ever do. So and uh, I'm excited to
see what this with this one hole right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
Now, Chris, last week we got for you a lighthearted
one to close it out. Maybe it's a food item
up there in Massachusetts. Maybe it's a unique beverage. You
mentioned you have a teenage daughter, you mentioned morganwhile maybe
you're also a closet swifty. Do you have a guilty pleasure? Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Man, guilty it's the key thing. Uh, guilty pleasure. I
don't know if I have a guilty pleasure, but I
will say that I. Oh, my wife's trying to gambling, so.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
Okay, definitely, what's your what's your poison? Where are you
going to the tables? You're doing it online?

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Sports?

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Oh man, I go, I gotta tell you the truth,
all right, all right, you know you won't have to
twist my own to god Encore and U playing black
black jack, crafts three card, I love it all and
sports gambling, you know, and some on the weekend. And uh,
the one that is killing my wife and uh right

(01:03:39):
now is sports cards. Thank I got back into that
and uh turing to baseball cards. Yeah, baseball cards, football cards,
and little Garret style. Yeah yeah, so uh so that's
the one where the package comes in the mail and
they're they're like, are you kidding me? Like or baseball cards,

(01:04:01):
but that yeah, football basketball cards. So yeah, that's that's definitely,
I guess my guilty pleasure. I don't really feel guilty
about it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
But what is your prize possession when it comes to cards?

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Oh gosh, what's my my favorite one? I have a
Mickey Mantle. My dad passed away this year. Uh and
he was he brought brought us up as Yankee fans
and Giants fans, and uh, Mickey Mannle is his favorite player.
So I have a nineteen fifty three Bowman Mickey Mannle,
Hank Bauer and uh Ylgie Bear on the same card.

(01:04:34):
And uh, that's that's my prize possession because uh, Mickey
Mannle is my dad's favorite player.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
And.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
So that that would be it nice, very cool, very cool.
You have it like in a nice case and everything displayed.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
They yeah, we you know that one. I keep tucked
away because I don't want it to get I don't
want it to get damaged.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Keep it out of the slight.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I got. I need to be a
little more organized with them, and if you talk to
my family, I need to sell them.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
Yeah, do you tell any of them? Are you just
collecting them?

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
Theoretically I'm going to sell them at some point, but
uh yeah, so it's uh, I don't know. It's a
silly thing, but I do enjoy it. I was just
actually talking to a friend of mine, a couple of
friends today about trading cards for for Track. I would
love to see So for anyone who's dark enough like me,

(01:05:35):
is into this stuff that you know now that the
game has changed, and so they make cards that are
limited edition and they have game warned pieces of uniforms
and the cards and our sorts of things. And I
always thought that there's a there's a market for that
for track, right, like if you have a series of
cards that came out around the Olympics and you had,

(01:05:55):
you know, even if you just did aliminated Run with
the Stars, you know, I think more difficult to do
non unionized and everything else. But that's one of the
things I think about, like, hey, if I was if
I was going to do something running related and creative
at the same time, Like that's something I would like
to do down the line, is it'd be fun to

(01:06:18):
try to make that happen, and that it'd be cool
to open up and pack your cards and get a
Sydney McLaughlin autograph card with you know, a piece of
a spike from from you know, the Olympics, something like that.
I think that'd be I think there's a market there
for that. If nothing else, I like it, so it
would make me happy. So that's enough.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
Maybe, Well, if you got me, I would definitely buy
a couple of packs of those for sure. So I
got at least one buyer.

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Nice. I'll call you later. I'll figure it out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Chris, thank you so much for your time. Thank you
for your work. Really enjoyed the book. Hopefully the right
people get it because I know it inspired me and
I'm not even a runner. So thank you so much
for your time tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Super appreciate you guys. It's really been a pleasure. Nice
to connect with some Jersey guys and rich this is
super exciting. You invigorated me here in at seventeen for
seventeen I remember that, and so it's been a pleasure
and we will be in touch. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
Well, we do appreciate you, Chris. Thank you for your work,
and you've inspired me and gotten me out of some
slumps when it comes to training and running and got
me back out the door. Would definitely be sharing the
book with the team. Hopefully you can inspire them to
create a little bit more culture down at the school
here and continue to run some pr So thank you

(01:07:41):
for all you've done for the sport.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Thanks so much, guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
All right, ladies and gentlemen. That is Chris Lear. Make
sure you check those links in the show notes. Go
by Beyond Fast. It's an amazing book. You'll love it.
Give it to young runner for Christmas or to make
a great stocking stuffer. That is all for us. This week,
we will be back with a special episode on Sunday.
Emily Coggan is going to be joining us to recap

(01:08:08):
her epic race at Run Rabbit Run one hundred. Then
on Monday we will have Nicole Starks from Rutgers University
joining us to talk about cross country in the Garden State.
And on Wednesday we will be having our Jayhawk Conference
cross Country Coaches XC roundtable. So we're excited to talk
to some of our friends from the Jayhawk Conference. Enjoy

(01:08:30):
the rest of your week, have a great weekend, and
we will see you all on Sunday at two

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Ep. 413 — Beyond Fast with Chris Lear: Newbury Park XC, Running with the Buffaloes & Sub 4:00

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 413 — Beyond Fast with Chris Lear: Newbury Park XC, Running with the Buffaloes & Sub 4:00