0:00

Welcome to episode 30

0:03

of Marathon Talk, powered by Abbott

0:05

World Marathon Majors. On this

0:07

week's show, we are in deep

0:10

in end-of-the-year statistics for our

0:12

six-star finishers. We discover

0:15

a novel way to use running for

0:17

a marriage proposal. We're going to talk

0:19

cross-country, and Martin

0:21

will be interviewing the world's fastest

0:24

Type 1 diabetic six-star

0:26

finisher. Let's go.

0:31

Martin, it's so great to see

0:33

you. I couldn't wait to

0:35

hear how your run around Corfe Castle

0:37

went. It just happened this weekend. I

0:40

can't wait to hear about it. Tell us.

0:42

Well, it was great. I've had

0:44

the racing shoes back on. Well, not

0:47

really, but I've been quite

0:49

excited about doing what's called the Maverick

0:51

Dark Castle race, which was

0:54

held in Dorset at a

0:56

thousand-year-old derelict

0:58

castle called Corfe Castle that

1:00

sits beautifully nestled in the valley

1:03

of these two big hills, overlooking

1:06

Pool Harbour, kind of near where I live,

1:08

and surrounded by the steep

1:11

Purbeck countryside. So yeah, I was

1:13

doing the race, and it has been

1:15

torrential rain here

1:17

in the UK. Like, really

1:20

torrential rain. Everywhere is soaking

1:23

wet. It's been really windy and everything else. So

1:25

I knew it was going to be wet,

1:27

but I wasn't expecting it to be quite

1:29

as wet as it was. So in

1:32

some places on the course, Dina, I

1:34

was running through water above

1:37

my middle. So

1:40

it was river deep. Like a river. So your run

1:43

two weeks ago through the torrential

1:46

rains on the cliffs really set you

1:48

up nicely for this race.

1:50

It was perfect

1:51

preparation. Look,

1:53

the venue, if you don't know what Corfe Castle is, give

1:55

it a little Google. And the organisers,

1:58

who do actually organise great events,

1:59

trail events in the UK. When you went in,

2:02

it was in the grounds of the castle.

2:04

So you went in and they set up fire

2:07

pits. It was

2:09

not like a kind of sterile race.

2:11

There was fire pits everywhere and

2:14

gant trees. And of course, the backdrop is

2:17

this thousand year old derelict castle and

2:19

there's fires raging. I was worried

2:21

that my jacket was going to go up in smoke. Yeah,

2:24

it was kind of which gave it this really authentic,

2:27

medieval feel. And

2:30

then a bunch of us lined up on the long course

2:33

start having been given a brief about how

2:35

wet it was and how they had to move the course

2:37

a little bit and how muddy it was. Of

2:40

course, because it was in the dark,

2:42

it was pitch black. There's

2:44

no street lights. The

2:47

only thing you can see is the light from your

2:49

head torch and the light from other runners'

2:51

head torches. So as you're snaking along

2:54

the little single track country lanes,

2:56

you don't see anyone. Well, I

2:59

didn't see very many people. Just a little flickering

3:01

of the reflective markers

3:03

that tell you you're on the right course. So

3:06

you're miles from anywhere covered

3:08

in mud wading through,

3:11

you know, hip deep cold

3:14

water. Yeah, running as fast as you

3:16

can, which I did and I ended up, Dina,

3:19

winning the veteran 50 category. This is

3:23

the single greatest endorsement

3:25

of a race I think I have ever heard. It's now

3:28

on my bucket list of races

3:30

to do. I'm like thinking of those bonfires

3:33

and that sloppy muddy

3:36

like element that I love, which is totally

3:38

cross

3:38

country. And it's kind of spooky.

3:40

I was getting chills

3:43

as you were talking.

3:44

Okay, next year, all of our listeners,

3:46

we are heading to Corf Castle.

3:48

It's

3:51

proper race. We're going to talk a little

3:53

bit about cross country later on in the show and

3:55

kind of sidetracking

3:57

a little bit, but my boys were both selected for

4:00

their school cross-country, right? And

4:02

that was last Thursday, and they were selected for the team

4:05

locally, and da-da-da-da-da-da-blah-de-blah. And

4:07

the night before, we get a message that it says, words

4:09

to this effect, but not quite. It's

4:12

going to rain tomorrow, so we've canceled cross-country.

4:14

You're supposed to

4:15

order a rain for cross-country races,

4:17

not cancel the races due to rain.

4:20

That's right. So it's like, it's gonna

4:23

be a little bit muddy under for we're canceling.

4:25

So it was canceled, of course, my boys were

4:27

gutted. They wanted to go and have a

4:29

wallow and a slipabout. And so

4:31

for me, this was the other end of the scale, and

4:34

it was ridiculously muddy.

4:37

People were falling over all the

4:39

time. It was so slippery. You couldn't

4:41

get traction in parts, and

4:43

you were all on your own in the dark, just

4:46

looking for, you know, some runners had little red

4:48

back markers, little flashing red lights,

4:50

you could see them, and others you were, if I turned

4:52

around, I could kind of see a long,

4:56

snaky line of head

4:58

torches, which was brilliant. Yeah, so I ended

5:00

up,

5:01

I think I was eighth overall, and

5:03

first old man. So there you go. I know, I'm

5:05

still trying to get over the fact that cross-country was canceled

5:07

due to rain

5:10

in the forecast, but I'm gonna get over it. I'm

5:12

just gonna brush that off my shoulder and get over it.

5:14

Did you fall in your race? Did

5:16

you get a split? Yeah, only once though. I

5:18

nearly fell at the deepest watery part.

5:21

Were you allowed to wear spikes?

5:23

No, no, no, because there were sections of

5:25

it which were on road, and it's quite

5:27

a long way, so it was definitely, you know, big

5:29

old trail shoes. But I mean, you

5:31

know, I did get back and,

5:32

you know, like running in a river,

5:35

and you're a fan of cross-country, you love that kind

5:37

of stuff, so it was brilliant to see. What

5:40

was really amazing was you

5:42

were getting loads of different

5:45

kind of people, participants,

5:47

just out running, you know,

5:49

doing it because it was a challenge and because it

5:51

was tough and because it was fun and they

5:53

were part of a team. Tell

5:56

you who I saw. I saw my

5:58

friend, Dan. And the

6:00

reason that's relevant is because you do you remember

6:03

that my colleague at Stormbreak, Becky

6:06

was involved in a car collision.

6:08

She was hit whilst out walking with her children. And

6:11

she spent a significant amount of time

6:13

in intensive care months and months

6:15

and months intensive care. In fact, she's still in hospital

6:17

now. She had the oxygen in April, but

6:20

her husband was there running. And

6:22

so to see him run round, we had a little

6:24

hug and he's raising money for

6:27

charity. So he was out having

6:29

a run round and so kind of gave me a little

6:31

update. So it was brilliant. I had a really lovely

6:33

weekend connecting with running and runners.

6:36

That's like the epitome

6:38

of me of the community

6:41

of running, right? Just the experience of doing

6:43

it, but also that connection to the

6:45

people around you. Oh my gosh, what

6:47

an amazing weekend. I was dying

6:49

to know right when we got on our phone call, but you

6:52

wouldn't tell me until we were recording.

6:55

What a thrill. My gosh, what a great

6:56

weekend. It was good fun.

6:59

And what about you? What were you up to?

7:01

Yeah, I had a very well,

7:03

for me, it was a big deal, but it didn't have anything

7:05

to do with getting dirty and gritty like

7:08

you. I'm 50 years old. Some

7:10

of our listeners may know that. 50 years

7:13

old, we have lived in this house for 23 years

7:16

in California and I just

7:18

bought

7:19

our first television.

7:21

So we

7:23

hooked it up and I'm very proud. I was like

7:25

amazed that all you have to do is scan a QR

7:27

code and all of a sudden all of your apps that

7:30

you can stream on pop up on the pop

7:32

up on the television. Guess what our first

7:34

show was? Beckham. Oh,

7:37

we're watching the four series.

7:39

We watched the first one last night. It was our

7:42

inaugural screening

7:44

and we watched the first episode

7:46

of Beckham. So we have three more to go. I'm

7:48

so excited. It was fantastic. It's been

7:51

inspiring already, but that's

7:54

what I use everything for in life.

7:56

Whether I'm walking down the street or

7:58

watching something. I just take

8:01

everything as inspiration, like

8:03

how can I learn and grow from people's

8:05

mistakes or from their thriving?

8:08

And so it was a really inspiring

8:11

hour in front of the TV for

8:13

our inaugural viewing. How exciting.

8:16

Yeah, so does this mean you're like going to turn

8:18

into a like TV-cached potato?

8:20

You're just going to like hit at some, Dean

8:23

is just going to hit at Netflix box sets

8:25

time and time again. Every time

8:27

it's going to be like, what are you watching this week? Yeah, no.

8:31

The answer to that is absolutely no.

8:33

But my daughter brought it to our attention. She

8:35

said, I guess she's good at

8:38

arguments. Maybe she'll become a lawyer. But

8:40

she said, mom, it's not like we don't watch

8:43

anything. We just watch it on your phone

8:45

or on the computer. Like on a weekend

8:47

when we get together and I'll make popcorn and

8:49

we'll, we'll stream something. And

8:52

so I was like, she's right. Like why are we huddled around

8:54

this little screen when we could be cozy

8:56

on the couch with the fireplace on?

8:58

We're like 67 inch TV,

9:01

huge, great big. Like, yeah. If

9:03

you like put, you put the fire away and

9:05

like got this like full wall size

9:08

television. You have the wrong impression. First

9:10

of all, I had to ask my dad to come with me. I'm

9:12

like, dad, could you come with me to help me purchase

9:14

this? Because I know nothing about television

9:17

and we got a 43 inch television. It's

9:19

not even that exciting. But in its honor,

9:21

it's against the wall. So it's kind of tucked

9:23

away, but it's on an arm where we can swing

9:26

it out to view it. Because I don't want it to

9:28

be the center stage of our lives. That's

9:31

never been.

9:32

Be careful. Be careful with all these technological

9:34

advances you're getting into. Yes. Next

9:36

time you see me, I'm just going to be sitting here talking to you with a bag

9:38

of potato chips, like. Rocking,

9:41

shaking, too much TV exposure. Right.

9:44

Let's carry on with the rest of the show.

9:46

Right. The 2023

9:52

Abbott World Marathon Major 6-star stats. Oren,

9:59

the major season is out.

10:00

So back in the spring we've got Tokyo,

10:03

Boston, London and then in the

10:05

autumn we've just had Berlin,

10:09

Chicago and New York.

10:11

Some highlights, facts and figures from those that have

10:13

been wrapped up in 2023. There have been 4,574 new six-star finishes

10:15

this year. That is four and a half

10:23

thousand people that have done all six-star

10:27

world marathon majors including

10:30

a Guinness World Record number

10:32

of finishes of 3,002 in

10:35

Tokyo.

10:36

I know we've pontificated on this before

10:38

but I think it is so significant

10:41

that those over just over 3,000

10:43

runners that showed up to get their six-star in

10:46

Tokyo that they walked home,

10:48

hobbled home with three medals.

10:51

They had their Tokyo Marathon finishers

10:53

medal, their six-star medal

10:56

and their Guinness World Record medal. I just

10:58

think that is such a summation

11:01

of what this sport can do and really

11:04

just bringing people along this journey

11:07

and the significance of being a part of

11:09

something so much bigger than we ever

11:11

expected when we signed up for our first marathon.

11:14

So that was a really special day and

11:16

I've reflected on it quite often just

11:18

on medal Mondays when you see

11:20

on social media people showing off

11:22

the medals they burn. I'm like these people

11:24

showed up with three medals

11:27

on medal Monday. So super

11:30

stoked to see so many great

11:32

stories coming out of that. There

11:34

is now 12,772 six-star finishers recorded.

11:36

I just think that

11:42

is I remember recording this show

11:44

and the numbers were 3,000 and now

11:47

we have 3,000 showing up in one race

11:49

so pretty exciting.

11:51

Also 121 different nations represented so

11:55

truly global. The average age,

11:58

I can see see

12:00

it, Dean, I was going to ask you to guess. So if you're

12:02

listening, what do you think is

12:04

the average age of,

12:06

I'll give you a few seconds to punt your guess.

12:09

You can shout it out if you really want, average

12:11

age of an Abbott

12:13

World of Marathon majors six-star finisher

12:16

in 2023 is 50 years

12:21

and six months.

12:23

You know what I thought when I read this, Martin, is that

12:25

we're average. We're just average people.

12:27

Pretty average.

12:30

I think there's some really interesting stats to come

12:32

out of that though. So like, what does that

12:35

mean for event organizers around,

12:37

you know, average age of participants?

12:40

I don't know how that demographic, how that's split

12:43

up. You know, is that because some people take ages,

12:45

you know, like they wait for years and years and years

12:48

till they're 50 to get their Abbott World

12:51

of Marathon major six-star? Do some people complete

12:53

it all by the time they're 25, you know,

12:56

or not? I don't know.

12:57

Right. And how do you market to that category,

13:00

right? Do you market more to that

13:02

or do you market, I'm not a strategist, do you market

13:04

more to above and below that

13:07

average? Since this is obviously

13:09

something people are doing in midlife crisis, right?

13:11

Midlife crisis, I'm going to get my six-star

13:14

finisher's medal. I'm not going to buy a fancy

13:17

sports car.

13:18

A motorbike. I'm going to go and, although

13:20

that would be good, a nice old triumph would be lovely.

13:24

Roaring down the Pacific West Coast

13:26

on an old Harley. There you go. You're

13:29

better off in your running shoes, Martin.

13:31

I'll grow a big beard and scream

13:33

all the way down, root one. You can

13:35

sit at home, watch telly. Like,

13:40

so I wonder if, if, you

13:42

know, you're thinking, well, what's going to happen to this in

13:44

five years time? So, you know, Abbott World

13:47

of Marathon major is thinking, well, okay, in five years

13:49

time, we want the average age of a six-star

13:52

finisher to be 40, you know, not 50. So

13:55

I don't know the answer to that question, but the average time,

13:58

four hours, two minutes, 54 seconds.

14:00

Yeah and I mean that's

14:03

again that's fast I feel like that's fast.

14:05

The average time is just

14:07

over four hours I feel like under five

14:10

hours is a good goal for

14:12

people to be hitting their six

14:14

stars but that's an impressive

14:17

statistic

14:18

to me. The average finish time in London

14:20

is about 4.45 or so. So

14:23

the average finish time across all

14:25

the six marathons I don't actually know

14:27

what that is but the average finish time for

14:29

six star finishers is this. So

14:32

I wonder if there's also an

14:35

interesting stat around you

14:37

know does it get faster? What's

14:39

the difference between individual events? Which

14:41

events are faster than others and

14:44

does it get faster because you're an Abbot

14:46

World Marathon majors six star finisher?

14:48

So this would suggest

14:50

if you're a six star finisher you're on average 45 minutes

14:53

quicker than an average London marathon runner.

14:55

Right and it does make sense

14:57

because if you're running six marathons you're

15:00

staying generally fit throughout

15:03

the year to be able to get into those

15:05

marathons and compete. So again

15:08

another impressive statistic also 31

15:10

of those

15:12

six star finishers completed them

15:15

all this year. Six

15:17

marathons in one year. I

15:20

could not believe there's that many crazy

15:22

people out there. 31 crazy.

15:25

Next year is looking pretty busy again on

15:27

the six star finishers front over 1,300 confirmed

15:31

for Tokyo. Already plenty

15:33

more to come in. If you're running Tokyo or one

15:35

of the other spring majors you

15:38

can let the team know and your runner portal

15:40

at abbot.com.

15:42

So do drop by and let us know. Right

15:48

moving on to a couple of other bits of news.

15:50

One good one not so

15:52

good. Tom Evans.

15:54

Now Tom is a British

15:57

ultra marathon runner.

16:00

super good too. He's also been, I think,

16:02

to the European Cross Country Champs, has a

16:05

PB of 13 something

16:08

in the 5,000 metres. He's won

16:11

the Western States 100. He was

16:13

down to race

16:16

the Ultra Trail Cape Town 100

16:20

kilometre race in South Africa.

16:22

But unfortunately, he had to pull out. Do you know why? Because

16:24

he was mugged during

16:27

a training run in South Africa. He

16:29

was rugby tackled by two men. Initially,

16:33

he fought back. As he

16:35

was fighting back, one of the men pulled

16:37

out a machete from his backpack.

16:40

So Evans sensibly

16:43

handed over, well

16:44

he actually handed over his wedding

16:46

ring.

16:47

So, you know, he had a bit of a fight

16:49

on the trail, held at nice point,

16:52

and then everything he had

16:54

was taken. I did do a little video

16:57

explaining that on Instagram.

17:00

As a result, he decided not

17:02

to race the Ultra Trail

17:04

Cape Town. Physically, my body is okay,

17:06

he said. I'm pretty beaten up

17:08

and incredibly sore but I'll be okay.

17:11

Mentally, it would be hard to get over something like

17:14

this. It was so unexpected

17:16

and happened so quickly. I'm really

17:19

sorry to hear that, you know, Tom was

17:21

mugged, losing his phone, his watch,

17:24

and pulled all the stuff

17:26

out of his backpack and then pinched his wedding ring.

17:28

Yeah, I was so scared

17:31

to hear this story and losing

17:33

so much because one of the safety

17:35

tips that I follow is running

17:38

with my phone. If I'm going to be running in

17:40

a new place and I don't really know the

17:43

level of my safety, I'll run with my

17:45

phone. I also run with my phone to take

17:48

pictures sometimes but I do

17:50

consider it a safety measure and

17:52

so I think this is a good time to

17:54

think of that, to think about how

17:56

you would handle situations like this

17:58

because we are vulnerable. Like, let's run

18:01

in the daylight hours in areas

18:04

where we frequent or know

18:07

well when the parks are

18:09

crowded. That's a, you know, you might not

18:11

want to dodge the crowds, but it's probably a good

18:13

time to hit

18:15

the parks and trails is when you know that

18:18

it's going to be well utilized. My

18:20

daughter and I took a self-defense course

18:22

earlier this year, having a couple moves

18:24

on hands in case we find ourselves

18:26

in this position. So safety

18:29

should always be a top priority.

18:31

Tom used to be a soldier

18:33

in the army, so, you know, he's obviously equipped

18:36

and he can run, right? So he can

18:38

run away. Right. But I guess

18:40

in that sort of situation, you know,

18:43

it's unfortunate and also really

18:45

challenging. So sorry to hear that, Tom, but in

18:48

better news, why don't you tell us about

18:50

this marriage proposal, Dina? Sarita

18:53

Aujla from London used her

18:56

GPS watch and specifically

18:58

Strava to propose

19:00

to her boyfriend. She ran

19:02

a route that spelled out, Jack,

19:05

will you marry me? It

19:07

was 6.2 kilometers

19:10

long, her run in order to ask

19:12

the question. Fortunately,

19:14

he said yes, but I just think this

19:17

is such a creative way, right? We see people proposing

19:19

at the finish line or during a marathon

19:22

on the sidelines and taking the opportunity

19:25

of the emotions and celebratory

19:28

events that revolve around races to

19:30

propose, but this was a really sweet way

19:33

to use Strava.

19:34

I hope he had

19:36

to go out and run a yes. Yes.

19:39

That would only take a couple minutes,

19:41

I think. He needs to... I wonder...

19:44

Yes, absolutely. You are the love of my life. He

19:46

needs to one-upper by

19:48

running a little longer. I

19:50

wonder if she got home or

19:52

she met with him out and she

19:54

said to him, oh, yeah, I had a really good run today.

19:57

He's like, yeah, whatever. Yeah, not bothered. She's

19:59

like, no, no, no. Do you want to look at my Strava profile? No,

20:01

not really. I'm not really bothered to be fair.

20:04

No, you must look at my Strava profile. No, you're all

20:06

right. I'll look at it tomorrow. She'd be like, nah.

20:11

The plan is failing. No, thanks.

20:15

Not interested in your runs. Super

20:17

cute. If you guys listening

20:19

have any creative stories

20:22

on how you proposed or scene

20:24

running used in this way, we would

20:26

love to know.

20:35

Typically, November can be quite a quiet

20:37

month. In running, we said earlier on

20:39

in the show that we'd come to the end of fall

20:42

or to marathon season. So we

20:44

were like, what's out there in terms of news? Actually,

20:47

it was a little bit quiet. We couldn't

20:49

find too much apart from the fabulous

20:51

Strava art story. So we

20:54

thought we'd talk about stuff to do at the

20:56

end of your marathon season.

20:59

These are periods of transition

21:01

in training, transition in racing,

21:04

where you can think about the successes

21:06

you've had in the last few months or in

21:08

the last few races that you've done.

21:11

How you bring that to a close and then

21:13

what you do after

21:16

that target marathon. Do you

21:18

hang up your smelly

21:20

marathon trainers at the end

21:22

of the season? You've done your big marathon

21:25

goal. You've achieved what you

21:27

wanted to do. Do you put those trainers

21:30

in the cupboard and go wild?

21:33

Do you rest? Stop running? Do you absolutely

21:36

nothing? Do you get out

21:38

and do some trails? Do you just keep doing the same thing

21:41

and just keep plugging or do you

21:43

stop altogether? Dina,

21:45

when you had come to the end of a

21:48

season, so a target race, you'd

21:50

reach the end of a season. So in this case,

21:52

autumn marathon, let's say you'd done New York.

21:55

Like what happens next? What would you typically

21:58

do in this period?

22:00

I always prioritize

22:02

rest every day of the week, but

22:04

specifically after the season, I think

22:07

rest and recovery physically and mentally

22:09

is so important. If you're emotional

22:11

about your season or your race, that's going to be mulling

22:14

in your head, but really honor the

22:16

rest period because that's when we rejuvenate

22:19

physically where our mindset

22:21

can get rejuvenated and excited

22:24

for what's to come. You

22:26

might be mulling things over with where

22:29

you are in setting new goals

22:31

or where you came from. We

22:34

reach high, we aim high,

22:37

and sometimes we fall a little short. Instead

22:39

of berating yourself, use the

22:41

rest time to just say, you know what? What can I

22:43

learn from that? What did I do wrong?

22:46

What can I do better? And

22:48

then just let it sit. I even

22:50

try to shove those thoughts away. It's not

22:52

time to do that yet, but let it subconsciously

22:56

maybe simmer. But rest is

22:58

so critical, not

23:00

running at all, not even cycling.

23:03

Let your body just really decompress

23:06

and let those hormones restore so

23:08

that you can come back stronger.

23:10

What about when

23:12

you start to then move into

23:14

thinking about running again? So

23:17

resting after a marathon is a great idea. What

23:20

about, okay, I'm keen to get back.

23:23

Would you go straight back to pavement panning,

23:27

go run the hard hill sessions, switch

23:29

into 10K mode? What

23:31

is it you would do?

23:33

I'm going to come visit you and run

23:35

on the trails along the

23:37

cliffs and coast really just for

23:40

getting in touch with your personal reasons for running.

23:43

And for me, it was that sense of exploration

23:45

always filled my cup. And so that's

23:48

how I would start a season, how I would

23:50

start coming back is just going

23:52

someplace new to refresh that spirit,

23:55

not getting on that same loop you do and you're

23:57

looking at your time to compare.

24:00

it to what you were doing when you

24:02

were in your fittest phase

24:04

of marathon training, but really just rejuvenating

24:07

your running spirit and having fun with

24:10

it, hitting new trails,

24:12

new neighborhoods, and really having

24:15

fun with that

24:16

exploratory. So probably changing

24:18

it up. Yeah. And

24:20

you know, we've talked and probably will talk

24:22

a little bit about cross-country, the strength

24:24

it takes to run

24:27

on rugged terrain. It strengthens

24:30

your ankles and the intrinsic muscles

24:33

in your feet, but it also trains

24:35

you to focus. So after a break,

24:37

it's a good time to like get your focus back

24:39

into it without forcing it is

24:41

just hitting those trail heads to really

24:44

wake yourself up while also

24:47

having fun exploring. And getting off-road,

24:49

particularly running cross-country is

24:52

a great, such a good way to do that because

24:54

you very quickly lose the pressure of the

24:56

watch. You know, if you've been training

24:58

for a marathon, you've kind of been looking

25:00

at your watch every five seconds because you think, oh

25:03

no, am I on pace with this or not? And you

25:05

perhaps have been working towards a very

25:08

outcomes focused goal of I want

25:10

to run this race. I want to run this time.

25:13

And there's so much structure around it. And then

25:15

when you do what you described, which is you put

25:17

all of that structure to one side and

25:20

you give yourself real flexibility

25:22

on your running. You're almost almost

25:25

if you're brave enough, you don't know

25:27

what you're going to do that day until you're out doing

25:29

it. You don't know where you're going

25:31

to run. You don't know how far you're going to

25:33

go within perhaps some time parameters.

25:36

You know, you just

25:38

give yourself the opportunity

25:41

within your running to be super creative. And

25:43

that's so refreshing for when

25:45

you then reignite. You have to wait

25:48

for things to click

25:50

back in. So if you've had a period post

25:53

marathon, we can just take your foot

25:55

off the gas, enjoy running,

25:58

get yourself outside, enjoy exploring. Go

26:00

running some puddles and some mud and

26:03

don't even go with a watch. That's so

26:05

beneficial.

26:06

Right. And for all you type A people that

26:08

need to see that feedback

26:10

on your watch, trust us.

26:13

Trust the fact that when you are out there exploring

26:15

on the trails, you are getting strong

26:17

in ways you didn't think imaginable because

26:20

of the physical and mental benefits of trail running.

26:23

So get out on those trails, hit those trails

26:25

and let your mind refresh and

26:27

reset for the season to

26:29

come.

26:36

On today's show I am speaking

26:38

to Italian marathoner,

26:41

Simone Carniglia. Simone started

26:43

running five years ago and

26:46

in that time has completed 12 marathons. He

26:50

ran a TCS London marathon as

26:52

his first major back in 2021 in two hours and 41

26:54

minutes and

26:57

just recently he completed

26:59

the New York City marathon and in doing

27:01

so he achieved his goal of becoming

27:04

an ABBA World Marathon Major's

27:06

six star finisher. Back

27:09

in 1999 then aged 12 he

27:11

was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

27:13

Now aged 36 the total

27:16

aggregate time of his six majors

27:18

is 16 hours 14 minutes and 59 seconds. Marathon

27:23

average of two hours 40 to 30 per

27:26

marathon and that's the

27:28

Guinness World Record

27:31

as the fastest runner with type 1

27:33

diabetes ever to complete the six

27:36

World Marathon majors. We

27:38

wanted to find out a little bit more about how he manages

27:41

that as a marathoner, find

27:43

out about his approach to training and

27:45

racing and specifically what

27:47

he did for nine minutes in the

27:49

toilet at the New York City marathon.

27:52

Welcome to Marathon Tour, Simone.

27:56

Hi, thank you so much for having me. We

27:59

can speak with that. about that and

28:01

what you like to do. Well,

28:04

it's very good to have you on the show. Thank

28:06

you so much for joining us. Congratulations

28:09

on your aggregate average

28:11

of two hours, 42 minutes. That is

28:14

really, really impressive.

28:17

Why don't we start with New York, shall we? So

28:19

you started in 2021 with London in 241, and

28:24

then you finished New York City Marathon

28:26

this year in 254, 44. Your

28:31

average across the marathons is very,

28:33

very consistent, all between 238

28:36

and 241, apart from New York. So

28:41

what happened? Yes,

28:43

unfortunately, New York happened.

28:47

I had a lot of things happening to

28:49

me in my marathons. I can probably write

28:51

a book. There are always

28:54

something happened, but as you said, I was always

28:56

pretty much consistent.

28:59

Up to New York, I would say after

29:01

London, my worst time was 244, so I

29:03

was always not in the major, in

29:08

general, in marathons, 244.

29:10

So after my first one, a

29:12

little bit slower, I was always

29:14

consistent with the personal best of 238, but

29:19

it happened, what had never

29:21

happened before, and it had to happen in

29:23

my final race. In

29:25

the most important race, after Berlin,

29:28

there was another accident in Berlin that

29:30

we may speak also that, but

29:33

in New York, I had gut issues,

29:36

let's say stomach issues, gut issues.

29:38

I don't know how it come. I believe most

29:41

likely was the cold weather. In

29:44

the previous days, I got

29:46

a little bit of cold, most likely because for

29:49

nutrition and everything, I did what

29:51

I always do. So I think that

29:53

most likely was the cold weather in

29:55

Central Park in the previous days when

29:57

I went to running something like

29:59

that. that

30:00

and so I started my

30:03

run. I was going for,

30:06

I was not going to run a personal

30:08

best in New York, also because it was

30:10

pretty much close to Berlin and

30:12

I had an accident in Berlin. My plan

30:15

was to run about 242

30:18

and if you subtract the nine minutes,

30:20

pretty much, I was spot on on 242, but

30:24

the other time lost was the discomfort

30:26

because I'd said I ran

30:28

the first miles with gut

30:31

issues, let's say, and I was

30:33

saying, I stop, I do stop, I

30:35

do not stop, I do stop, and I said, I'm

30:37

miles 15, I decided to stop

30:40

because it was not possible to

30:42

go ahead and I went to

30:44

the toilet and I needed

30:47

all the nine minutes because let's

30:49

say it was pretty intense,

30:51

let's say. I didn't

30:54

want to stop again so that better

30:57

stop one, let's say,

30:59

well, and not stop another

31:01

time. Fortunately, I decided

31:04

to stop at mile 15 because

31:06

it's just before the Queensborough

31:08

Bridge and I don't think I would manage

31:11

to do the Queensborough Bridge

31:14

without having going to the toilet.

31:16

So it was a good choice. Maybe

31:18

it was, it would have been better to

31:21

do it before.

31:23

Well, it's tough, isn't it? It's really hard

31:25

when you're in a marathon and you're in that, and

31:28

also pressure for you, there was the last one,

31:30

the last of the six,

31:32

you'd set yourself a target to run faster

31:36

and sometimes in marathon

31:38

running, unexpected things

31:40

come along, don't they? And a

31:44

stomach distress, needing

31:47

to use the toilet is one of those things sometimes you've

31:49

just got to stop and deal with. No,

31:51

and then you feel much better. You feel much

31:53

better afterwards. But look,

31:56

what about the race itself? I think you're

31:59

going to be. back, you know, I'm sure

32:01

you'll be back. But did you enjoy

32:03

New York as an experience, the time you saw

32:06

that wasn't inside the cubicle?

32:10

No, no, actually, yes, yes, yes. I

32:12

liked New York a lot because I

32:14

said, I heard many

32:16

times that

32:19

New York was probably the

32:21

best for the crowd. And

32:23

I don't know, for me, it's

32:25

a hard battle. I think that

32:28

London still edges New York,

32:30

but it's pretty close. Let's say, I don't

32:32

know if it's for me, London was special because

32:35

it was my first one, actually

32:37

just before the second wave of the

32:39

Covid pandemic. And so being

32:42

there with the people cheering from

32:44

the beginning to the very end and crossing

32:48

the Tower Bridge between

32:50

two wings of people cheering me

32:52

is always a memory. But I don't know if I'm biased

32:55

by this, but I think that London

32:57

still edges a little bit, but New York is

32:59

pretty close. It's amazing. It's

33:02

a different experience, but really,

33:05

as they said, it's

33:09

a party, let's say. So yes, I

33:11

do enjoy it.

33:12

And actually, as you said,

33:14

I

33:15

was planning to do way

33:17

better because my plan was

33:19

to run my Guinness under 16

33:22

hours and I lost a

33:24

few minutes in New York and also some

33:26

minutes in Berlin. And that's why for me, New York

33:29

was important still to try to run fast

33:31

because in my dreams, I

33:33

know it would have been difficult,

33:36

but I know that when

33:38

Berlin didn't went, I expected it was

33:40

pretty much hard now to make

33:43

up in New York. But my

33:45

idea, if I feel well, I want

33:47

to make up in New York and still run

33:49

under 16 hours.

33:51

Yeah, when you ran, you ran 241 in London

33:54

in 2021, you ran 239 in Boston in 2022. in

34:01

Chicago in 2022 to 41 in Tokyo in 2023 to 40 in

34:04

Berlin despite being knocked to

34:06

the ground. Yes.

34:13

That 5k, she fell over. Did

34:15

you trip up?

34:17

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In

34:19

Berlin, I was running for

34:21

a personal best. This was my race of

34:23

the year because even in Tokyo I had some

34:25

problem because otherwise I would

34:27

have run under 240 also there but

34:31

it was a minor problem, let's say. Always

34:33

connected to the toilet, let's say, but different,

34:36

let's say. It was the other

34:38

side of the toilet, let's say, because as a diabetic

34:41

we need to pee a lot and

34:43

that is a different story. If we have time, we

34:45

speak also about that. But in

34:48

Berlin, I was going to run fast.

34:50

I was... 236 was my

34:52

plan and I'm sure that I was running

34:54

for that because the first 5kms

34:57

was perfectly on pace. Unfortunately,

35:03

at the first water station, I ended

35:05

up being on the wrong side of the

35:07

street because in Berlin not always the

35:11

water stations are on both sides of the

35:13

street. And so I made a sign

35:16

with my finger that I was moving

35:18

to the table because for me as a diabetic,

35:20

it's really important because one of the problems

35:23

that we face is dehydration.

35:25

As you may know, diabetics,

35:28

when you have high glucose, you

35:30

need to drink and to pee a

35:32

lot. And so I cannot skip

35:35

a water station, especially in Berlin,

35:37

because it's not like in the

35:40

US marathons where you have

35:42

a water station basically

35:44

each mile. In Berlin, at the first

35:47

stage, you have water just at

35:49

5km and then if I'm not wrong,

35:51

at 9km and then became more

35:54

frequent. But at the beginning, you have

35:56

fewer water stations.

35:58

And so for me, I could not...

36:00

It was important to drink. And so I

36:03

made the sign that I was going to the table with

36:05

my finger, but most likely the guy behind

36:07

me had a head down to the blue

36:09

line and he didn't see

36:12

my sign. I don't know. And

36:14

he basically knocked me to the

36:16

ground. It was a little bit also trampled.

36:19

And I stood up pretty

36:22

quickly. Let's say I lost

36:24

less than 30 seconds. And then I

36:27

continued to run and I was actually

36:29

going in line for a personal

36:32

best up to over

36:35

half marathon. Not

36:38

the 236, but maybe a few seconds of personal

36:40

best. I was still in line. But then

36:43

I had the bloody bruises and I

36:45

had some pain. And

36:49

so slowly I began

36:51

to slow down and I ended up.

36:53

I did all my best because I wanted to

36:55

save my Guinness and my plan

36:58

A in Berlin was 236, a personal

37:00

best.

37:01

Plan B was to run under 240

37:03

and plan C under 245 because

37:06

I wanted to keep as worst 245

37:09

as the worst case scenario.

37:11

And actually I

37:13

failed plan B also with only

37:16

for 24 seconds. Yeah,

37:19

nothing. Nothing. Even through

37:21

falling over. Because I pushed. I

37:23

pushed a lot and I let's say paid

37:25

a little bit because after the marathon

37:28

I had some pains and that

37:30

was why in New York I

37:32

was not planning to run crazy

37:34

fast. 242 was

37:36

enough for me also because the course is harder.

37:40

But actually

37:41

after raising it because there is

37:43

some kind of discussion

37:45

if Boston or New York,

37:48

which is the hardest. Many

37:50

say that is New York. I

37:52

think that for me Boston was actually

37:55

harder and for me

37:57

is my masterpiece, let's say, because

37:59

my first sub 240 in

38:02

Boston for me was really a satisfaction

38:06

for me. So I still think that

38:08

Boston even if it's not my personal best,

38:10

it's my,

38:12

let's say, my best run. Your best

38:15

run? Yes. Yeah, yeah,

38:17

yeah. So you mentioned already that your

38:20

understanding of your

38:22

diabetes plays an important role

38:24

in how you manage your

38:27

training and marathon running, particularly

38:30

just what you eat and drink and

38:32

when and things. So tell

38:35

us a little bit about your diagnosis

38:37

generally and perhaps growing

38:40

up because as a 12 year

38:42

old, I imagine life kind of

38:45

took a little bit of a change in

38:47

terms of things you were able to do just until

38:49

you learned to manage your

38:51

type 1 diabetes. So talk

38:54

to us about the difference between type 1 and

38:56

type 2, then how you have learned to

39:01

effectively manage that as

39:04

a runner.

39:04

Yes, I try to be concise because

39:07

it's really a big topic,

39:09

let's say, but type 1 diabetes

39:12

is an autoimmune disease and

39:14

basically your immune system

39:17

destroys

39:18

the beta cells of your pancreas

39:20

that are responsible of producing

39:23

insulin. And so you don't produce

39:25

any more insulin and as I said, it's an

39:27

autoimmune disease and the

39:30

causes are not

39:32

known yet and there is no cure at the

39:34

moment. We are really close and that's

39:36

why I like to support the research

39:39

because we are what they are calling the

39:41

last mile of research. We are close

39:43

to the testing on humans and so it

39:45

looks promising in the future. But at present, there

39:47

is no cure. Type 2 diabetes,

39:50

let's say, also there is not

39:52

really known the cause but

39:55

it usually is associated

39:57

to, let's say, bad

39:59

food.

39:59

habits and

40:02

also not moving

40:05

and so type 2 diabetes may be

40:07

related to food and

40:10

movement and can also be

40:13

a little bit reversed

40:15

with a good diet and

40:18

with sports. Instead type 1 diabetes

40:21

you can do anything about it. Type 1

40:23

diabetes is there

40:26

is no cure there is just a treatment with

40:28

insulin and there is a therapy

40:30

that you do in order to stay alive because otherwise

40:32

we will die. We will die

40:35

and type 1

40:36

diabetes one of the sign let's say

40:38

is when I was diagnosed

40:41

how

40:41

I learned that I had type 1 diabetes

40:44

basically I was in holiday with my parents

40:46

at the sea and

40:49

vacation and I was

40:51

a

40:52

pretty perfect

40:54

children let's say and in a

40:56

short amount of time I lost a

40:58

lot of weight and I continue

41:00

to drink and to go to the toilet drink

41:03

and go to the toilet and lose a lot of weight.

41:06

And so when we went back from the vacation

41:09

I had my blood test and the blood

41:11

test showed that I had type 1

41:13

diabetes with my

41:15

glucose was skyrocket and

41:18

also other signs and

41:21

that is one of the ways to understand

41:24

that you have type 1 diabetes. Usually

41:26

the diagnosis is done in this way and

41:30

still with the therapy as

41:32

I said before we still

41:35

drink a lot and still go a lot

41:37

to the toilet and we

41:40

have so many variables to consider because

41:42

type 1 diabetes as I always said is a 24

41:45

hours a day job

41:46

because really there are so

41:49

many variables that affect your

41:52

blood glucose. What kind of things

41:54

affect your blood glucose? Everything

41:56

not just what you eat and the

41:58

physical activity.

41:59

are the obvious things, but

42:02

also the weather, also the

42:04

stress, also

42:07

really a lot of things.

42:10

Maybe even the way

42:12

in which you do the insulin, the timing

42:14

in which you do the insulin, it's

42:17

too long to

42:20

have a list. The

42:23

problem is that even if

42:25

you try to have a routine, let's say, and

42:27

do the same stuff each

42:29

day and do the same things

42:32

each day, no days are created

42:34

equal. There's always something different

42:36

and it's so different. It's so hard to have

42:39

always in line, let's say. Do

42:41

you think that you're running

42:44

and you're training for a marathon and

42:46

it's something

42:49

that has helped? Yes,

42:51

yes, a lot. Why? Why do you

42:53

think that? This is one of my messages

42:56

that I want to send to

42:58

other people because I always played sports

43:01

since you consume glycogen, let's

43:03

say. Glycogen

43:09

is made by sugar, let's say, to

43:12

make things simple. By

43:16

doing sports, you adjust

43:19

a little bit the levels

43:21

and also you do

43:23

less insulin. Since insulin is a

43:25

hormone, a hormone may

43:28

tend to increase your weight. It's

43:32

a sum of factors. I

43:34

noticed when I started running that running

43:37

and especially endurance running, so

43:39

long distance running, it's really,

43:41

really useful to keep in

43:43

control. The blood sugar, if

43:46

you do the things well because it's

43:48

kind of contrary,

43:50

let's say, because you said long distance

43:53

running is the same to be the opposite

43:55

because we risk to... And

43:58

then this is true. We risk to...

43:59

to faint, we risk to have hypoglycemia

44:02

because we have low blood sugar

44:05

because if

44:08

you do too much insulin

44:10

and then you do too much port and you don't

44:13

fuel enough during your run, so

44:15

it is really hard to balance everything.

44:18

When you figure it out, what works

44:20

for you,

44:21

actually it helps a lot to stabilize

44:24

your blood sugar and it changed

44:27

my life.

44:28

Yeah, what are the three, I'm

44:30

sure there's many, but what

44:32

would you say are

44:34

the three things that

44:36

have made the

44:38

biggest impact to

44:41

you being able to have stabilized

44:45

your blood sugars, understand your

44:47

schedule, what's

44:50

the three things perhaps that have made the

44:52

difference? Well,

44:54

I start with the latest one because

44:56

I think that it was really a game changer

44:59

and that is technology. Technology,

45:02

the latest technology helped me a

45:04

lot. Actually, even

45:07

myself, even if I thought

45:09

that I was doing right up to

45:12

just a few months, few years

45:14

ago, I was basically blind because

45:16

before we were pricking our fingers

45:19

and taking the blood and measuring

45:21

the blood, that was an instant

45:24

picture of your blood, your glucose, but

45:27

you didn't know how it changed through

45:29

time and how accurately you

45:31

could establish a pattern of

45:34

peaks and troughs

45:36

and trends of insulin response.

45:39

You didn't have a graph or something

45:41

like that. Then when I moved with

45:43

the new technologies, so that's why I'm so

45:46

happy for research and what

45:49

the companies are doing because now

45:51

that I have a CGM,

45:54

a continued glucose monitoring system,

45:56

I can check and

45:58

also with the latest. one that I have now, I

46:01

can also bring with me the phone

46:03

during my training. So you

46:05

have an app? I have an app. I have an app.

46:08

Do you use the freestyle Libra? Now

46:10

I use the freestyle Libra 3

46:12

and that is really a game

46:14

changer, even compared to the

46:16

freestyle Libra 1 that I used before,

46:19

because the freestyle Libra 1 needed

46:22

to be scanned periodically.

46:24

And so you had to scan

46:27

otherwise you didn't, you lost the trends.

46:30

This one, basically the freestyle Libra 3,

46:32

you have live the glucose

46:34

just by having the phone with you, you have

46:37

always, and you don't need to scan. You

46:39

have the continuous graph or

46:42

the behavior of what, or your,

46:45

or your. That means you

46:47

can plan. Yes. Effectively

46:49

you can use it to plan your training

46:51

to plan nutrition. Yeah. You can understand

46:54

what you do

46:55

because before it was a trial and error

46:58

and was a, I guess, let's say now

47:00

I can really see, okay, at

47:02

that time I did that and that

47:04

was the, the outcome. And

47:07

so that is really a game changer.

47:09

And that's why I mentioned it does first.

47:12

Unfortunately now I spoke

47:14

with, uh, our bot representatives and know

47:16

that this coming is not the live

47:18

yet. Unfortunately now you

47:20

need the phone. You still need the phone.

47:23

And so that's why in races, I'm

47:25

still a little bit blind because I, since I

47:28

want to run fast and I have just

47:30

a few pockets and I need to carry nutrition

47:33

and, and uh, other stuff,

47:35

I cannot also bring my phone because nowadays

47:37

phones are really big and heavy, uh,

47:40

but in training I have a belt and I

47:43

carry my phone. So in training, I

47:46

always have my situation with alarms

47:48

with my watch and in the future

47:50

we'll be integrated in the,

47:52

in the, in the watch, even without the phone,

47:55

so I know it's coming. It's not live now.

47:57

And that will be a game changer because all.

48:00

also in races I will have a live situation

48:03

but even now it's really really

48:05

important because now really I know

48:08

what happens and what what I do

48:10

how it affects and actually I understood

48:13

that I was doing wrong.

48:14

So what did that what did that look like you

48:17

know what does doing right or doing

48:19

wrong look like for you? Yeah it's

48:21

really different because

48:23

if I do everything good let's

48:26

say everything right let's

48:28

say that I'm like a

48:31

normal person I don't I don't like the term

48:33

normal but let's say a person with no diabetes

48:35

let's say but when

48:38

I do something wrong let's say there's always

48:41

some complication and I never

48:43

had a perfect race even when

48:46

I had my personal best I understood later

48:48

because I had the freestyle

48:50

I and not the three and so the one that needed

48:53

to be scanned so I learned it after

48:55

the race after the race I learned that

48:57

I was in diabetic

49:00

keto she does is that is really it's

49:02

really dangerous things to do.

49:05

Why? Because my strategy has

49:08

always been to since

49:10

each of us is different I cannot

49:13

say to another diabetic do like

49:15

me because you have to test yourself because

49:18

we each of one is different but for me it

49:20

works in this way when I start doing

49:23

physical activity the glucose

49:25

drops really really fast and

49:27

so even if I eat a lot

49:29

of gels a lot of

49:32

carbohydrates still

49:34

goes down pretty fast and that's why I

49:36

always started with the high level let's

49:38

say but the the error

49:40

that was doing is that if

49:43

you start too much high too

49:45

high

49:46

and since for example

49:48

in measures you have to be at

49:50

the start line maybe hours before

49:53

and so maybe the last time you can do

49:55

your insulin is not at

49:57

the very last second also because it's not a

50:00

nice thing to do, to do insulin and

50:02

then start. But let's say if you

50:05

don't balance everything correctly

50:07

and it's too much time from your last

50:10

injection and your blood sugar

50:12

is too high, actually even

50:15

if you start running, your body

50:17

continues to produce glucose because

50:20

the insulin is needed in order

50:22

to have your nutrition

50:25

going to the cells, let's say, to make

50:27

it easy.

50:28

And if you

50:30

don't have any insulin

50:33

in your circulation, your liver

50:35

produces other sugar. And so instead

50:38

of going down, your sugar goes

50:40

even higher. And so that

50:43

is what's happening to me in Chicago. I

50:45

understood it later after the race because

50:48

I had too high blood

50:50

sugar and I went into keto-cheetosis

50:52

and that is dangerous, not only because it's dangerous,

50:54

because actually it's not advisable

50:57

to do sports when this happens. It's

50:59

dangerous, it may be dangerous, but also because

51:02

it affects your performance, because

51:05

we dehydrate even more. In

51:07

fact, why I understood

51:09

that I had this situation? Because

51:11

it never happened to me. I

51:14

was going very strong in Chicago. In fact,

51:16

I think that I would have gotten 236.30, maybe 237,

51:18

something like that, and I

51:21

was in line for that. But in the final kilometer,

51:24

I started to slow down and I

51:26

didn't think it was the wall because I was not

51:28

experienced the wall. And in fact, it

51:31

was not the wall. It was that I was dehydrating

51:34

a lot. And I understood that

51:36

at the finish line because I crossed the finish line and

51:38

I had cramps as soon as I

51:40

crossed the finish line. It never happened to me. I

51:42

went to the medical tent and the

51:46

medics tell me, oh, you are really,

51:48

really dehydrated. So I started

51:50

to drink and take electrolytes

51:53

and immediately passed. And

51:56

when I analyzed my glucose, I understood

51:58

that I went. into dehydration

52:01

because I went into keto shedozies. Nowadays

52:04

with the new technologies, it

52:06

won't be the case because if

52:10

I carry the phone, without the phone, it

52:12

still may happen, but I

52:14

know that in the future, won't.

52:16

Okay, so you have a much better grasp

52:19

of how your body responds during

52:22

exercise. After and during

52:24

the training, I really

52:26

know

52:28

what happened before, no. And

52:31

another thing now, we are still at point

52:33

number one, but number two, let's say, I

52:36

think that the consistency, the consistency

52:38

in running is really important because especially

52:41

if you want to target certain

52:44

times, basically now I run

52:47

seven days a week, where this

52:49

helps a lot, helps a lot because yes,

52:52

maybe my coach would advise

52:54

also to do a rest day,

52:56

but I prefer, so I told her,

52:59

please set me to

53:01

run every day, maybe less volume

53:03

each day, but every day, because

53:05

having to run all days

53:07

helps me with

53:10

my control of the disease. And so

53:13

that is why something that I learned, the consistency

53:16

is really, really, really key. The

53:18

third point, the third point is the

53:21

nutrition because an important,

53:24

I'm not saying that without the sport, you

53:26

are not, you can also

53:29

eat well also without doing sport, but

53:31

you know that if you do

53:34

endurance sport, you have certain

53:37

targets, you

53:39

tend to look more at what you eat and

53:42

your nutrition even more. And

53:44

so I think that the nutrition, the

53:46

consistency and

53:49

the technology together with a proper

53:51

therapy followed by the doctors,

53:53

I think this is really a perfect receipt

53:56

in order to adjust your

53:58

blood sugar. And so that's why... I think that

54:00

running changed my life because I started

54:02

running to lose weight because

54:05

after I always

54:07

played team sports. Then I had an injury.

54:10

I played handball. I

54:12

had an injury in my

54:15

ankle

54:16

and I had to stop for several

54:18

months and I gained a lot of weight because

54:21

as I said before insulin is a

54:23

normone. If you don't move enough

54:25

and you don't drink and you don't

54:27

eat really well, you can gain

54:30

weight pretty fast. I gained

54:32

a lot of weight. I ended up weighing 125 kilograms

54:37

and I started running to lose

54:40

weight and then I

54:42

fell in love. Now I lost over 50

54:45

kilograms.

54:46

Wow. It's helping

54:48

your lifestyle more

54:51

generally. Yes. You mentioned

54:54

at the start when we were talking

54:56

that you're very consistent across

54:58

those marathons 240 apart

55:00

from New York. But often

55:03

you say, but I can go quicker. I

55:05

was on 230 shape. What are you going to do

55:07

next? Are you going to do

55:12

another world marathon major? What do you have

55:14

planned?

55:14

Yes. I will always continue to

55:17

run the marathon major because

55:19

really I love this. I ran

55:21

other marathons and other events,

55:23

but I love these events really not

55:26

only for the events themselves, but also

55:28

for the amazing people that I met. I met

55:31

a lot of friends, a lot of stories. It's

55:33

amazing the people that you meet.

55:41

I will continue to run the majors

55:44

and my next target

55:46

is to have some kind of revenge because

55:49

we yes because in 2023 not

55:52

even one. I did three marathons because

55:55

I wanted to end up my journey

55:57

in 2023. Otherwise, usually

55:59

I tend to run two marathons a year,

56:02

but actually in 2021 I

56:04

did four because I had a lot cancelled

56:06

from the pandemic, but that is another

56:09

reason. Let's say for my coach, are you going

56:11

to do

56:12

which marathon are you going

56:14

to do? Yes, I was

56:16

saying that I'm doing again all

56:18

the six measures because I want to

56:21

do another all six, maybe seven

56:24

if Sydney is added as somebody

56:27

said. I will do all

56:29

again because I want

56:31

another six-star medal and

56:35

I want to improve those that went

56:38

not so good. My next target is to run

56:40

all of them under 240. I

56:43

was to run all of them. So

56:46

that's what we're looking at for in London next

56:48

year, right? You're going to come to London in April

56:51

and run under 240? Yes, because

56:53

it's my own my birthday. You can't really say that. You're

56:56

right, it's on your 37th birthday, so

56:59

I think I'm going to tell you a slightly different

57:02

goal. You say you're going to run

57:04

under 240, but actually

57:07

you've already run 238. Yes.

57:10

So you've already run 238. It would

57:12

be sensible to give yourself a 237, wouldn't

57:14

it? Yes,

57:17

of course, of course, of course. Actually

57:20

even 236 since I was running 236.30 in

57:22

Berlin, so for

57:24

sure my plan A is a personal

57:27

best. To run

57:30

faster than in minutes than you are

57:32

years old.

57:33

Yes, exactly. That

57:36

may be the target. So for sure

57:38

that is the target for 2024. Next year I want a personal

57:42

best because I think that it is

57:44

new. Let's say after all these

57:47

bad luck in Tokyo, Berlin

57:49

and New York, now it's time to have a personal

57:52

best. Let's

57:54

set for a run faster

57:56

than my age.

57:59

Thank you so much for talking

58:02

to us, sharing your New York Marathon story,

58:04

but also your story of

58:06

your journey to learning

58:08

to manage your type 1

58:11

diabetes so effectively. I hope

58:13

you continue

58:16

to improve the ways in

58:18

which you manage that to make those

58:21

races come easier and your training

58:23

come easier. We see you running 230, whatever's in London

58:25

and perhaps even claiming

58:27

a new aggregate time

58:32

across the 6 world marathon majors

58:34

and going better than your 16, 14, 59. So

58:37

thank you for coming on.

58:39

Thank you for having me. My pleasure.

58:41

Great interview,

58:44

Martin. Absolutely

58:49

awesome to hear from him. What

58:51

will you be doing in the next couple of weeks?

58:54

I'm a bit sore, Deena, after

58:56

running up and down hills and

58:58

putting some effort in. So I

59:01

don't plan to do too much running. And

59:03

then I'll certainly this week,

59:06

I ran with Liz this morning and I kind of

59:08

staggered around a little bit and she got

59:10

cross with me a couple of times actually. She stopped. Do

59:13

you know what she said? She stopped,

59:16

right? She stopped and she gave

59:18

me a bit of a look. She was about 20

59:21

metres ahead. She gave me a look, which

59:23

is like, I can't believe I've had to stop and

59:25

wait for you look. And then when I eventually

59:28

caught up with her, she said, I've

59:30

come to go running, not dilly dally around

59:32

with you.

59:33

I mean, how cutting is that? Oh

59:35

my gosh. I love

59:37

her. Yeah. I mean, you

59:40

should have been running your own pace as a recovery

59:42

run and not run with

59:44

your

59:44

super fit wife. Yeah. She

59:47

basically said, don't run with me. I'm too quick for you.

59:49

And then do you know what she did next? Then she just

59:51

cleared off, legged it, just went. That

59:54

was it. So she berated me like a child and

59:56

then she ran off and did

59:58

her own run. Thanks. I'm alright with it. Anyway,

1:00:02

so I'm not doing too much running, get

1:00:04

it back into it, not bitter

1:00:06

at all. And then this weekend

1:00:10

Liz is off to the Great Britain

1:00:12

Trials for the European Cross Country Championships

1:00:15

in Liverpool. So

1:00:17

I am looking after the

1:00:19

bin lids.

1:00:20

That's great. Cross country

1:00:22

season is among us and so it's exciting. Liz

1:00:25

is going to be leading those teams

1:00:27

into the British Cross Country

1:00:29

Championships and then the European Championships

1:00:32

and then to the World Cross Country

1:00:34

Championships once we hit the New Year. So exciting

1:00:37

travel with Liz as she's

1:00:38

been in the competition. And you are busy,

1:00:40

right?

1:00:40

Yeah, I mean, you've got a lot going on. Yes,

1:00:43

but I had a couple of weeks to reset and buy a television,

1:00:45

so I feel okay with it. We have our, in

1:00:48

the United States, it's Thanksgiving. So

1:00:51

my husband and I host a turkey

1:00:53

trot here. So this

1:00:55

week we have our turkey trot

1:00:57

where I'm making pumpkin cheesecakes

1:01:00

to raffle off to

1:01:02

about six lucky winners and some

1:01:04

pumpkin bread to another few. And

1:01:07

then I'm off to Austin, Texas

1:01:09

for the running event, which is a super fun,

1:01:12

really it's like an expo, almost similar to a race

1:01:15

expo, but it's where a lot of

1:01:17

vendors and event management

1:01:20

come together and talk about

1:01:22

new strategies. So it's really fun. I always

1:01:24

walk away from that event with inspiration.

1:01:27

And then right after that

1:01:30

slide to Sacramento for the Cal

1:01:32

International Marathon, CIM

1:01:34

sees so many Boston

1:01:36

qualifiers. I think it's the most

1:01:38

Boston qualifiers come out of this event.

1:01:41

They've got a little bell that people ring

1:01:43

if they hit their BQ there. So

1:01:45

it's always fun to celebrate with people

1:01:47

at the finish line there. So busy, busy

1:01:50

travel, a couple of weeks coming up, but

1:01:52

then the holidays are among us. So, so

1:01:55

exciting time.

1:01:56

Great. Well, you enjoy that. I

1:01:58

will enjoy not running for a little bit. and if

1:02:00

you're running, enjoy it wherever

1:02:03

it is.