Susanna Sullivan: I didn't actually realize that I was in the lead
Susanna Sullivan: American spot until very, very late in the race, maybe
Susanna Sullivan: a mile ago. I started to have suspicions of it
Susanna Sullivan: at about the halfway because I feel like I heard somebody say
Susanna Sullivan: top American, and I was like, " No, surely I must
Susanna Sullivan: have missed somebody with all the chaos at the start,
Susanna Sullivan: somebody must be still further ahead." But then with about
Susanna Sullivan: a mile to go in Chicago, one of the motorcycles
Susanna Sullivan: pulled up alongside me and was yelling to other people like, "
Susanna Sullivan: lead American."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hello everybody, and welcome to Set the Pace, the official
Rob Simmelkjaer: podcast of New York Roadrunners presented by Peloton. I'm your
Rob Simmelkjaer: host, Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of New York Roadrunners back
Rob Simmelkjaer: on video for a second week in a row with
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs Gentry who's joining us from her homeland in London,
Rob Simmelkjaer: England, United Kingdom. Becs, it's great to see you. We're
Rob Simmelkjaer: not in person this week, we're separated by a little
Rob Simmelkjaer: ocean, but it's great to see your face.
Becs Gentry: It's very different. Yes, side by side, literally in person last week
Becs Gentry: to being separated by the Atlantic Ocean. But we're here.
Becs Gentry: I'm back home for a couple of weeks in London.
Becs Gentry: Well, I can't really call it home anymore. My original
Becs Gentry: home here with Peloton whilst our studios are having a
Becs Gentry: little bit of a revamp in New York and then, yeah, it's
Becs Gentry: fun. It's great to be back.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So they sent you to London to teach because there's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a studio over there and you're using that and getting
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little trip home as well out of it. Not bad.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. Yeah. No one's here. Well, my sister is here. Well, she's in Norfolk.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, because your parents moved, right?
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you're kind of like a Londoner without family in
Rob Simmelkjaer: London anymore, but of course Austin and your child are
Rob Simmelkjaer: back in the States, Tallulah. What's it feel like to
Rob Simmelkjaer: be home, but maybe not feeling so at home with
Rob Simmelkjaer: all your family in different places?
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it's strange. I think once I see my sister
Becs Gentry: in a couple of days, I'm going to go to
Becs Gentry: Norfolk, which is the east coast of England, to see her
Becs Gentry: for 24 hours or so, and I think I'll feel
Becs Gentry: more like I'm home in that respect. But yeah, right
Becs Gentry: now I do feel a little bit like an American
Becs Gentry: in New York walking around like, " Ooh, this is such
Becs Gentry: a sweet city. It's so small." And I just walked
Becs Gentry: across London. You don't just do that in New York, you don't
Becs Gentry: just hop out of your house and you walk everywhere.
Becs Gentry: So it's been very nice, very, very fun. But I'm
Becs Gentry: definitely going to be missing my little family by the
Becs Gentry: time I get home. Right now I'm still like, " Mom's having
Becs Gentry: a bit of a break."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure it's nice, but I'm sure
Rob Simmelkjaer: they miss you and we get a little time with you, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: is awesome. So Becs, we have some excitement to announce
Rob Simmelkjaer: this week. It's crazy, Becs, I really don't consider myself
Rob Simmelkjaer: a marathoner. I ran the New York City Marathon as
Rob Simmelkjaer: you know when I was graduating from law school back
Rob Simmelkjaer: in 1997 to date myself a little bit here, and that
Rob Simmelkjaer: was going to be kind of like a bucket list experience,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and it was incredible. And then something got in me
Rob Simmelkjaer: to do it again 16 years later in 2013 when
Rob Simmelkjaer: I was just about to move out of the city
Rob Simmelkjaer: with our family, and that was incredible, a beautiful day
Rob Simmelkjaer: and achieve my goals and all that. And then I was pretty
Rob Simmelkjaer: sure I was done running marathons, of course, getting back
Rob Simmelkjaer: to New York Roadrunners now and working around them all
Rob Simmelkjaer: the time, something has happened to me and I find myself
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing this now, running marathons over and over. And I
Rob Simmelkjaer: think what it is that I go to these marathons.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I went to the London Marathon the first year I
Rob Simmelkjaer: was here at Roadrunners and I wasn't running it. I just
Rob Simmelkjaer: went to be there. I'm on board of the Abbott World Marathon
Rob Simmelkjaer: Majors, so of course I go to a lot of the other majors, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: I found that being at a marathon, I wasn't running.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I just didn't enjoy that. It was hard for me
Rob Simmelkjaer: to be in the scene and in the mix and
Rob Simmelkjaer: not run it. And so other than New York, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: of course I'm around every year, but don't run it,
Rob Simmelkjaer: can't run it because I've got way too much going
Rob Simmelkjaer: on. I'm way too busy. But other than that, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: haven't been to a major since then that I haven't run.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So as you all know, I ran Berlin last fall.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I ran Tokyo in March, that left me halfway to
Rob Simmelkjaer: the six stars of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've just decided to keep this party going, Becs, and I'm going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run the 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on
Rob Simmelkjaer: October 12. So excited.
Becs Gentry: Yay. That is incredible. Well, congratulations first of all on
Becs Gentry: taking the hardest step, which I think is committing to
Becs Gentry: doing well, not the hardest, but it is very daunting for
Becs Gentry: most people to commit to a marathon, any race, knowing
Becs Gentry: that you've got a big bulk of training between you and
Becs Gentry: the race day, and then tough run between you and
Becs Gentry: the finish line. But how wonderful, because you get to
Becs Gentry: take yourself on another adventure, both physically, mentally, and you
Becs Gentry: get a nice big shiny medal at the end of
Becs Gentry: it. And as you say, you're one step closer to
Becs Gentry: that elusive six star of the World Marathon Majors medal.
Becs Gentry: I mean, so cool. So cool.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs know, listen, I'm super lucky. I realize how lucky
Rob Simmelkjaer: I am because of my role I get to get
Rob Simmelkjaer: into these marathons. It's a lot easier for me than
Rob Simmelkjaer: it is for the average person to get in, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: I am very appreciative of that. And I want to thank
Rob Simmelkjaer: Carey Pinkowski, Mike Nishi, the amazing team out in Chicago
Rob Simmelkjaer: for inviting me to run this year. So Chicago is
Rob Simmelkjaer: such a beautiful city and I'm just excited to be
Rob Simmelkjaer: a part of it. In addition to it being my
Rob Simmelkjaer: four star, I also really decided, Becs, that if I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to go for this sixth thing, it lines up
Rob Simmelkjaer: well schedule- wise for me because London is next spring.
Rob Simmelkjaer: If I come out of this feeling, well, that would
Rob Simmelkjaer: be a good time to go for that. And then
Rob Simmelkjaer: of course there's Boston and I can run Boston, of
Rob Simmelkjaer: course I can get a bib. I know I can
Rob Simmelkjaer: get a bib and they'll kindly give me one. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's something about Boston, Becs, that makes me want to
Rob Simmelkjaer: take on the challenge of qualifying. And it just turns out
Rob Simmelkjaer: that the way that the Boston Marathon qualifying cycle works,
Rob Simmelkjaer: when you qualify for the Boston Marathon, the time that
Rob Simmelkjaer: counts, it's not the age that you are when you
Rob Simmelkjaer: run the qualifying race. It's the age you are on
Rob Simmelkjaer: the day of the Boston Marathon that you're qualifying for.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I just learned this by talking to my friend Jack
Rob Simmelkjaer: Fleming, the race director of the Boston Marathon. So it
Rob Simmelkjaer: turns out Becs that I can qualify for the 2027 Boston
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon, which is the cycle that we would be in
Rob Simmelkjaer: in October for the Chicago Marathon. And I will be,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm just going to put my ages out there. I'll
Rob Simmelkjaer: be 55 on the day of that Boston Marathon, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'll only be 53 on the day of the Chicago
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon that I would be running to try to qualify for.
Becs Gentry: Is it a different qualifying time bracket?
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's a different bracket. So I, at the age of 53, which I will be on October 12th because my
Rob Simmelkjaer: birthday is October 21st, I will be 53 trying to
Rob Simmelkjaer: qualify for the 55 to 59 age bracket at the Boston Marathon.
Becs Gentry: Fantastic.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And for me, that's a good thing because I'm not
Rob Simmelkjaer: getting a lot faster. The magic of my running career, Becs, is that
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've managed not to get slower, but I also haven't
Rob Simmelkjaer: gotten a lot faster. But the qualifying times are getting
Rob Simmelkjaer: slower, so that time to hit for me will be
Rob Simmelkjaer: three hours and 30 minutes. As you know, I ran 327
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Berlin last year, so I clearly got that in me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'd like to run a couple minutes faster to create
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little bit more buffer. Because everybody knows you need
Rob Simmelkjaer: that buffer time a lot of the time to actually
Rob Simmelkjaer: get into Boston. So yeah, that's my goal. Becs, is to
Rob Simmelkjaer: run 325 or better to try to qualify for Boston
Rob Simmelkjaer: in 2027.
Becs Gentry: So many twists, so many wonderful, wonderful things that you
Becs Gentry: will be able to celebrate.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, I need one thing though, Becs, if I'm going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to accomplish this and I want to run a good time in Chicago,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I need a coach. I need some help. I've had
Rob Simmelkjaer: some great help along the way the last couple of
Rob Simmelkjaer: years I've used Runna, the terrific app that we have at
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Roadrunners and I continue to use that. I've been
Rob Simmelkjaer: using that to build my base. This summer I used
Rob Simmelkjaer: that for Berlin. Of course, I've had Roberto Mandje who
Rob Simmelkjaer: people know paced me and helped coach me in Berlin, and he
Rob Simmelkjaer: was amazing. But I was thinking, Becs, who do I
Rob Simmelkjaer: know who's really good at running marathons, who's got an
Rob Simmelkjaer: incredible track record, who's a teacher who could help me
Rob Simmelkjaer: get ready for Chicago? And I thought, " Gee, there's somebody I
Rob Simmelkjaer: speak to just about every week who I know is
Rob Simmelkjaer: really good at this." And so I thought maybe Becs
Rob Simmelkjaer: would help me. So, Becs, I'm here to ask, would
Rob Simmelkjaer: you consider coaching me to get me ready for the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Chicago Marathon because I think it'd be great for me to have
Rob Simmelkjaer: your help. I know you're not a coach in this
Rob Simmelkjaer: way, you're obviously an incredible coach for all your Peloton
Rob Simmelkjaer: followers, but this is not really what you do. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: I know you know what to do.
Becs Gentry: I do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So would you help get me ready for this and
Rob Simmelkjaer: maybe our listeners can go along for the ride as
Rob Simmelkjaer: you coach and hopefully don't torture me too much to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get ready for the marathon this October?
Becs Gentry: I would be honored too. I'd absolutely be honored too.
Becs Gentry: I think that will be very funny. And if it's
Becs Gentry: okay with you, I think we should talk about it
Becs Gentry: on a weekly basis how I'm not torturing you. I know a lot of my-
Rob Simmelkjaer: You can torture me a little if it's going to make me you faster.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, just a look.
Becs Gentry: I will. You know I will. All of our listeners who know me know I will. And
Becs Gentry: that will be awesome and we should definitely make sure
Becs Gentry: we get you into a Peloton class at some point
Becs Gentry: during this time period as well. So I can actually see you
Becs Gentry: running and check it out, but I'd be honored to
Becs Gentry: come on this journey with you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Check on my form a little bit because you and I, as
Rob Simmelkjaer: much as we've talked about running, you and I have
Rob Simmelkjaer: actually never run together. There's a good reason for that,
Rob Simmelkjaer: which is that I can't stay anywhere near you.
Becs Gentry: We're both normally working with these races.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yes, there's the work thing, but there's also the fact
Rob Simmelkjaer: that you would be walking and I'd be running. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: other than that, we just haven't had a chance to
Rob Simmelkjaer: do it. But yes, that would be great if I came
Rob Simmelkjaer: to one of your classes and you can yell at
Rob Simmelkjaer: me for not picking up my knees and that sort
Rob Simmelkjaer: of thing.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. Well, thank you for picking me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Coach Becs. Great. So we'll keep everybody in the loop. This'll be
Rob Simmelkjaer: fun. The next 12 weeks or so, we'll do some
Rob Simmelkjaer: updates. You know what I'll do? Maybe we'll put on social some of the things, Becs, that you're asking me to do every week
Rob Simmelkjaer: and then I can come back and report on how
Rob Simmelkjaer: that went, how the workouts went, how I felt-
Becs Gentry: Sounds good.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... what Becs asked me to do. So thank you very much, Rebecca.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I appreciate that and I'm excited to run Chicago with you
Rob Simmelkjaer: as my coach. So should be a lot of fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, looking back to New York for a second, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: we've got a couple races coming up this weekend. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a new event coming up in New York this
Rob Simmelkjaer: Saturday. It's the first time event, it's called the Start
Rob Simmelkjaer: Line Series, and this is a brand new two and
Rob Simmelkjaer: a half mile fun run. It's going to be out
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Queens and it's part of New York City's Department
Rob Simmelkjaer: of Transportation summer streets. So New Yorkers know that the
Rob Simmelkjaer: city's been shutting down streets around the city during the summer
Rob Simmelkjaer: on weekends to give people a chance to just walk
Rob Simmelkjaer: and enjoy the streets. And so we're getting a chance
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run a little bit of a race early on
Rob Simmelkjaer: those closed streets. And so it's really for beginners, it's going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to be a lot of fun. It's not competitive, it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: not a nine plus one. It's not all of the
Rob Simmelkjaer: kind of challenge that so many people have getting into our
Rob Simmelkjaer: races. It's open, it's free, it is unscored, it's untimed.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And so it's a great opportunity for anyone out there
Rob Simmelkjaer: listening or if you know someone who just wants to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get into running, to come out and feel a little
Rob Simmelkjaer: bit of what it's like to run a race. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: come join us. We still have spots left as we
Rob Simmelkjaer: tape our podcast today. You can go to nyrr. org,
Rob Simmelkjaer: create an account, sign up, you can even sign up
Rob Simmelkjaer: on the day of the race, by the way. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's that opportunity as well. But hopefully folks will come
Rob Simmelkjaer: out and join us at the Start Line Series. Hope
Rob Simmelkjaer: to see some new runners out there on Saturday. And then, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: on Sunday we are back in Central Park for one
Rob Simmelkjaer: of my favorite events of the year, the New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: Roadrunners Team Championships event. It's a five miler, super competitive,
Rob Simmelkjaer: runner favorite for all those club runners out there. The
Rob Simmelkjaer: clubs are super competitive trying to get their team points
Rob Simmelkjaer: and all that, and it's double the point for the team championships.
Becs Gentry: Oh, it's exciting. Very exciting.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely. Oh, so we have the men, the women, non- binary club points, races,
Rob Simmelkjaer: all worth double and, Becs, I don't know if you've been to
Rob Simmelkjaer: that event. The best thing about it, the food. The
Rob Simmelkjaer: food is incredible. So many of the clubs come out
Rob Simmelkjaer: and bring picnics and they party after the race. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: unfortunately I'll miss it this year, but I wish everybody
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great time on Sunday.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, absolutely. Best of luck to all of them and all the teams because
Becs Gentry: I know how much this community will come together and
Becs Gentry: just have a lot of fun. And also, I just
Becs Gentry: have to say I do love the NYC Department of
Becs Gentry: Transport Summer Streets. It is one of my most favorite
Becs Gentry: times of the year. I adore the fact that the streets are
Becs Gentry: just closed and people can move, ride their bikes, walk,
Becs Gentry: run, whatever you want, and in the different locations around,
Becs Gentry: it's not just Manhattan, it's everywhere. So if you can't make
Becs Gentry: it to Long Island, then don't fear. There are other places
Becs Gentry: you can do this. So thank you to the city of New York to doing this because
Becs Gentry: it really does entice people to move and that's what
Becs Gentry: we're here for. That is what we're all here for.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, it's a special thing. It's been a really nice
Rob Simmelkjaer: initiative in New York over the last few summers. Well, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: we've been talking about Chicago and my run though. We're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to talk to someone today who ran Chicago just
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little bit faster than I am going to be
Rob Simmelkjaer: running Chicago this fall. Susanna Sullivan, who was the top
Rob Simmelkjaer: American finisher in Chicago last year, ran a blazing personal
Rob Simmelkjaer: record time of just over 221 and she will be
Rob Simmelkjaer: representing the United at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
Rob Simmelkjaer: this summer. She's an incredible runner. She's also a school
Rob Simmelkjaer: teacher. She's a sixth grade math teacher. It's actually to
Rob Simmelkjaer: me, the perfect combination of being a teacher and being
Rob Simmelkjaer: a runner. She's going to talk to us about how
Rob Simmelkjaer: she did what she did in Chicago last year, how
Rob Simmelkjaer: she's planning to attack the world Championships in Tokyo, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: promises to be hot and hilly this summer, and how
Rob Simmelkjaer: she balances all that with teaching sixth graders pre- algebra.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So Susanna's coming up in just a minute. So excited for
Rob Simmelkjaer: that conversation. And then later on today's member moment, our
Rob Simmelkjaer: friend Meb Keflezighi will be here with a runner who
Rob Simmelkjaer: after two knee replacements ran his first marathon at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: age of 75.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Incredible. That's unbelievable. So that will put all of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: complaints right where they belong, which is in a basket
Rob Simmelkjaer: far, far away because that's an incredible achievement. So we'll
Rob Simmelkjaer: hear about that. And then today's Meb minute, we'll be
Rob Simmelkjaer: here to help those of you who are training for
Rob Simmelkjaer: fall races and that includes me, stay in shape, beat
Rob Simmelkjaer: the heat. It's been a struggle, Becs, the last couple
Rob Simmelkjaer: of weeks and get ready for running in the fall
Rob Simmelkjaer: even if you're taking some vacation time. So stay tuned
Rob Simmelkjaer: for that.
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Rob Simmelkjaer: On weekdays she's Ms. Sullivan, a sixth- grade math teacher
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Virginia. But on race day, Susanna Sullivan has proven
Rob Simmelkjaer: herself to be one of the fastest American women on
Rob Simmelkjaer: the roads. Sullivan was the top American finisher at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: 2024 Chicago Marathon, a blazing 221 56, making her the
Rob Simmelkjaer: 10th fastest US woman in history for the marathon. She
Rob Simmelkjaer: then went on to be the top American finisher at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: 2025 London Marathon, all while juggling lesson plans and grading
Rob Simmelkjaer: homework. And Susanna Sullivan is here to tell us what
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's like to go from teaching pre- algebra on Friday
Rob Simmelkjaer: to competing against world- class runners on a Sunday. Susanna
Rob Simmelkjaer: Sullivan, it is great to see you and great to
Rob Simmelkjaer: have you on Set the Pace. Welcome.
Susanna Sullivan: Thank you so much for having me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've had a chance to see you from time to
Rob Simmelkjaer: time around events, but we've never really had a chance
Rob Simmelkjaer: to chat. I know you're meeting Becs for the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: time, but it's really great to have you. And I
Rob Simmelkjaer: guess I would start by asking you how you got
Rob Simmelkjaer: here, how did you get to this point, Susanna, of
Rob Simmelkjaer: being a competitor at this level at the marathon distance?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Is this where you thought you'd find yourself at 35
Rob Simmelkjaer: years old?
Susanna Sullivan: Not at all. The last several years have really just
Susanna Sullivan: been such a dream. I mean, as many distance runners
Susanna Sullivan: do. I started out in soccer as a little kid
Susanna Sullivan: and got involved in cross country and track when I was
Susanna Sullivan: in middle school. My sister is two years older and
Susanna Sullivan: she showed some promise in cross country, in track. And so
Susanna Sullivan: with sibling rivalry, I wanted a shot at it and
Susanna Sullivan: I just really enjoyed it. I love that there's always
Susanna Sullivan: something you can do better to improve. There's something you
Susanna Sullivan: can focus on whether that's strength work or nutrition or
Susanna Sullivan: hydration. And I just found that showing up every day
Susanna Sullivan: and putting forth my best effort was resulting in me
Susanna Sullivan: making progress. And so I just loved that about the
Susanna Sullivan: sport and so headed off to Notre Dame for college,
Susanna Sullivan: had a kind of underwhelming college career. I've learned so much
Susanna Sullivan: about the mental side of the sport in the year
Susanna Sullivan: since graduating. And I really do think I just put
Susanna Sullivan: a lot of pressure on myself and I didn't think
Susanna Sullivan: I communicated with my coaches as well as I could
Susanna Sullivan: have about how much the training day in and day
Susanna Sullivan: out was beating me up. So when I graduated, I
Susanna Sullivan: headed back to the DC area, that's where I went to
Susanna Sullivan: high school and linked up with a running club there
Susanna Sullivan: and was on that team for eight years and made
Susanna Sullivan: some progress. I qualified for two Olympic trials with capital
Susanna Sullivan: area runners. And then during the pandemic when I was
Susanna Sullivan: teaching into my computer, I was slipping out at lunchtime
Susanna Sullivan: and I didn't have a commute on either end and
Susanna Sullivan: I was just finding pockets of time to get outside
Susanna Sullivan: and get really active. And I think that being able
Susanna Sullivan: to increase my mileage in a deliberate way 2020, 2021
Susanna Sullivan: kind of just really helped me to see that if
Susanna Sullivan: I could stay healthy, I actually could put together, string
Susanna Sullivan: together a lot of good workouts. And I started to make
Susanna Sullivan: a lot of progress in 2020 after I started working
Susanna Sullivan: with my current coach, Andrew Gerard. He's at George Mason
Susanna Sullivan: University. And since working with him, I went from running
Susanna Sullivan: 235 in the marathon, was my PR when we first
Susanna Sullivan: started working together and now it's 221. So working with
Susanna Sullivan: him really I think has been the catalyst for so
Susanna Sullivan: much of the progress that I've made in the last
Susanna Sullivan: five years or so. We didn't completely revamp my training,
Susanna Sullivan: but I feel like the communication, the trust there is
Susanna Sullivan: just like I couldn't ask for more. We've really increased
Susanna Sullivan: my strength training. So that is one element of things
Susanna Sullivan: that I think was a big change from what I
Susanna Sullivan: was doing before.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's so interesting to hear that, Becs, to make that
Rob Simmelkjaer: big of a jump that is no joke, 235 to 221 and, Becs, to
Rob Simmelkjaer: hear the strength component of that and what that's done as well.
Becs Gentry: It's so true, isn't it? I mean you see these big jumps throughout professional
Becs Gentry: and non- professional careers, but the more people I talk
Becs Gentry: to, the more people who honestly say, " Yes, I was running a
Becs Gentry: lot more. Yes, I was doing some slightly different speed
Becs Gentry: work," for example, but the vast majority of people really
Becs Gentry: do contribute that big change in PR time to strengthening
Becs Gentry: their body, their bones, their muscles, their joints. And just
Becs Gentry: feeling strong, especially over the marathon distance because boy do
Becs Gentry: we all know that we need that support for 26. 2, right?
Susanna Sullivan: Right. I mean, I think we've all known it for
Susanna Sullivan: a while that consistency is so critical and I think
Susanna Sullivan: for me, having that strength training base so that I
Susanna Sullivan: can stay healthy so that I can string together weeks
Susanna Sullivan: and months of training has just been huge. And I
Susanna Sullivan: really credit my coach in figuring out how to gradually
Susanna Sullivan: get me to a place where I can be doing several
Susanna Sullivan: hours of isometric work, which really wears you out. But managing
Susanna Sullivan: to balance cross- training and the running work and the
Susanna Sullivan: strength training work so that I'm able to handle it
Susanna Sullivan: at this point. And it's now just a regular part
Susanna Sullivan: of the week's training.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it's part of your life. So the past 2024 to 2025
Becs Gentry: has been another kind of roller coaster really for you.
Becs Gentry: Rewind back to February '24 with the US Olympic trials in
Becs Gentry: February, and you unfortunately had an injury that meant that
Becs Gentry: you couldn't compete that day. In hindsight, I bet the
Becs Gentry: weather you were like, " Well, it was a pretty rough
Becs Gentry: day down there." But your, for want of a better word,
Becs Gentry: comeback was October that year where you went to Chicago,
Becs Gentry: the amazing Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and you ran 221 56,
Becs Gentry: which was the PR that you've mentioned. Seventh overall, first American, and
Becs Gentry: then we're going to talk about that in a second.
Becs Gentry: But fast- forwarding to now or June, a few weeks,
Becs Gentry: it's just been announced that you're representing the USA in the marathon
Becs Gentry: at the World Athletics Champs in Japan. And so definitely
Becs Gentry: want to come back to Chicago and the PR, but
Becs Gentry: this is so fresh and so incredibly exciting. Huge congratulations
Becs Gentry: by the way to you and to Jess McLean there
Becs Gentry: at the camp. But how does it feel to be like, "
Becs Gentry: I'm going to Japan, I'm going to be there with
Becs Gentry: Team USA," seen as you missed the chance for Paris?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, no, I'm super excited. The injury that ended up keeping
Susanna Sullivan: me out of the trials, it was an injury and
Susanna Sullivan: I got COVID the week of the race. So it
Susanna Sullivan: was pretty clear that going to Orlando was not going
Susanna Sullivan: to make any sense, but I got that injury at
Susanna Sullivan: the World Championships in Budapest, and so when I limped
Susanna Sullivan: away from the course in Budapest, I just wanted another
Susanna Sullivan: chance. And these things are never guaranteed and you can
Susanna Sullivan: wish it and want it. And I remember walking away
Susanna Sullivan: thinking, I hope that we can find a way to
Susanna Sullivan: get back and have another shot at Team USA and
Susanna Sullivan: put my... and just have a day that I can
Susanna Sullivan: really feel satisfied with and feel like it reflected all
Susanna Sullivan: the work that I had put into it and all
Susanna Sullivan: the work that the team around me had helped prepare
Susanna Sullivan: me for. And so yeah, then fast forwarding to the
Susanna Sullivan: trials, we had kind of gotten the knee cap to
Susanna Sullivan: a place... I had fractured my knee cap at the
Susanna Sullivan: World Championships. Heading into it, about a week before the
Susanna Sullivan: race I started to have some knee pain, but I
Susanna Sullivan: kind of felt it go at 5K. There was a
Susanna Sullivan: girl that got her foot underneath my heel, and it
Susanna Sullivan: lifted up my heel and I think I just hiked
Susanna Sullivan: my hip enough that just, I (inaudible)
Rob Simmelkjaer: What does that feel like, Susanna?
Susanna Sullivan: I'm not sure how I made it to the finish line because
Susanna Sullivan: it didn't stop hurting just walking around for months. So
Susanna Sullivan: yeah, it was a lot. But then we got to
Susanna Sullivan: a place where I felt like you never know what'll
Susanna Sullivan: happen in a marathon. So we felt like heading into
Susanna Sullivan: Orlando, maybe there was a chance. I definitely wasn't as
Susanna Sullivan: fit as I wanted to be, and I was kind
Susanna Sullivan: of having to contend with the emotional strife of knowing
Susanna Sullivan: that I was capable of more than what I was
Susanna Sullivan: going to be able to put together on that day.
Susanna Sullivan: And then I think it was the Monday of that
Susanna Sullivan: week I was at work, and that was still when
Susanna Sullivan: the school office had stockpiles of COVID tests and I
Susanna Sullivan: just started, I really wasn't feeling well and I went
Susanna Sullivan: to the school office and said, " Can I borrow a COVID
Susanna Sullivan: test?" And they said, " Yeah, sure." And I took it and they said, " You
Susanna Sullivan: need to go home." And I thought, " Yeah, and also
Susanna Sullivan: Saturday's the Olympic trial, so I guess that's off too."
Susanna Sullivan: But maybe in retrospect, maybe it was... I think running
Susanna Sullivan: on COVID or with COVID on a not a hundred
Susanna Sullivan: percent kneecap probably would've meant that Chicago wasn't as magical a day as it
Susanna Sullivan: ended up being. So everything happens for a reason. And
Susanna Sullivan: so I was so excited that Chicago went as well
Susanna Sullivan: as it did. It was the first marathon that my
Susanna Sullivan: coach ever was there in person for, and I feel
Susanna Sullivan: like having him there before just as a calming presence
Susanna Sullivan: and then out along the course just to remind me
Susanna Sullivan: to calm down, just visualize the training that we had
Susanna Sullivan: done to get to that point. It was just really special.
Susanna Sullivan: And so I was just so relieved that it came together on that
Susanna Sullivan: day because there had been a lot of hours in the pool
Susanna Sullivan: and the comeback from the kneecap injury that my husband
Susanna Sullivan: and my coach, I feel like were kind of playing
Susanna Sullivan: tag team to kind of keep my spirits up for
Susanna Sullivan: months. And so I felt like I needed to do
Susanna Sullivan: my part to stay on it in the weight room
Susanna Sullivan: and physical therapy and all the things I was doing
Susanna Sullivan: to recover and really stay on it in cross- training
Susanna Sullivan: and trying to build a base so that when I
Susanna Sullivan: could get back to running that it would build something
Susanna Sullivan: like Chicago. So it was just such a relief that
Susanna Sullivan: it came together because I mean, as we all know,
Susanna Sullivan: lots can happen on Marathon day and you don't always get
Susanna Sullivan: the day you prepared for.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, I mean you talk about it coming together and
Rob Simmelkjaer: that really is it, isn't it? I mean, a lot
Rob Simmelkjaer: of things kind of have to align sometimes to have
Rob Simmelkjaer: a day like the day you had in Chicago. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: you talked about your college career injuries, I know were
Rob Simmelkjaer: a part of that, and that held you back from
Rob Simmelkjaer: maybe accomplishing what you wanted to accomplish in college. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: talked about the injuries you had as a pro, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: so what did it feel like for you to just
Rob Simmelkjaer: have it all come together that way and cross the
Rob Simmelkjaer: finish line and have the realization of the changes you'd
Rob Simmelkjaer: made in your training, the changes you'd made in your
Rob Simmelkjaer: body, everything that you'd done kind of all come together
Rob Simmelkjaer: on that day. And then when it does, how do
Rob Simmelkjaer: you feel about, okay, can you make it come together
Rob Simmelkjaer: again, right? Because it's almost like you feel like lightning
Rob Simmelkjaer: strikes in a good way and then you're trying to
Rob Simmelkjaer: make it strike again.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I mean I feel like I was just living a dream for the
Susanna Sullivan: week or two after it, and then I feel like
Susanna Sullivan: I've been around the sport long enough. I read everything,
Susanna Sullivan: books all these elite athletes, especially in the last couple
Susanna Sullivan: of years, a lot of books have come out. And
Susanna Sullivan: I've read a lot about that understanding that it's nice
Susanna Sullivan: to be able to learn from other people's mistakes and
Susanna Sullivan: you obviously have to learn from your own as well,
Susanna Sullivan: but a lot of people say that they have a
Susanna Sullivan: big performance and then they think that they have to
Susanna Sullivan: do something bigger and greater in order to get to
Susanna Sullivan: higher heights. And I think that I've learned from enough
Susanna Sullivan: people who've gone before me and have kind of shared
Susanna Sullivan: their story that it's really about consistency and you don't
Susanna Sullivan: have to do something. You don't have to run significantly
Susanna Sullivan: more miles or do significantly more cross- training or lift
Susanna Sullivan: heavier weights or completely change your diet or whatever it
Susanna Sullivan: is. It's a matter of just continuing to stack bricks.
Susanna Sullivan: And so I think that that was something that my
Susanna Sullivan: coach and I reflected on after the race that I didn't
Susanna Sullivan: need to do anything drastic to feel like I could
Susanna Sullivan: continue to improve. And so I think just checking in
Susanna Sullivan: on that and remembering that every once in a while,
Susanna Sullivan: that if I just keep doing what I'm doing and
Susanna Sullivan: focus on the things that have worked for me in
Susanna Sullivan: the past and don't pay attention to what everybody else
Susanna Sullivan: is doing, and if it's different from mine, not second
Susanna Sullivan: guessing my approach to training, and that's probably going to
Susanna Sullivan: be what serves me best and is going to make
Susanna Sullivan: it more likely that lightning can strike again.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely. So talking about doing what you do best as
Becs Gentry: well as running, you are also a second grade math
Becs Gentry: teacher, is that right?
Susanna Sullivan: Sixth.
Becs Gentry: Sixth grade, I've been in the US long enough I
Becs Gentry: should know, but I have no idea about the school
Becs Gentry: system as my daughter's about to enter it, and I'm like, "
Becs Gentry: What?" Sixth grade math teacher. So what age is that?
Becs Gentry: What age are they?
Susanna Sullivan: They're 11 and 12.
Becs Gentry: Oh geez. Okay. So really you have-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Tweens as we call them.
Becs Gentry: ... full on days. Yes, there's attitude, there's probably a lot of patience being
Becs Gentry: taken from you. What is your typical day?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, yeah, I mean it is a fun age and I
Susanna Sullivan: started out with little, little kids when I first started
Susanna Sullivan: teaching. I did pre- K and kindergarten.
Becs Gentry: I know that one, that's why she is. And then
Susanna Sullivan: I then made the jump to fifth grade, was fifth grade for nine years
Susanna Sullivan: and then have been in sixth grade the last three-
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's a big jump by the way. As someone who's had two girls
Rob Simmelkjaer: go through all those ages, that's a big change.
Susanna Sullivan: I feel like people told me I'd find the things
Susanna Sullivan: that I didn't like and that I liked about each
Susanna Sullivan: age group, and I do like that, I mean, I
Susanna Sullivan: love the relationship building part of that age. I have
Susanna Sullivan: girls in my sixth grade class who really got into
Susanna Sullivan: the running thing and their mothers would shoot me emails
Susanna Sullivan: just letting me know they're having a really hard time
Susanna Sullivan: building up the nerve, but they really want to have
Susanna Sullivan: lunch with you. And they're going to say it's about
Susanna Sullivan: math, but they really just want to talk about running. And
Susanna Sullivan: so it's just a cool time in their lives where the relationships
Susanna Sullivan: that they build with the people outside of their family
Susanna Sullivan: are starting to have more and more of an impact
Susanna Sullivan: on them, and they're seeking out relationships with the people
Susanna Sullivan: outside of their families, which is just kind of cool.
Susanna Sullivan: So a typical day, my school, I just started working
Susanna Sullivan: last year at the Langley School in McLean, Virginia. And
Susanna Sullivan: before that I had been at a public school for
Susanna Sullivan: nine years, and then before that I was actually at
Susanna Sullivan: Langley. That's where I started my teaching career and that's
Susanna Sullivan: when I was with the little people. I like pre-
Susanna Sullivan: K kindergarten age. And so I am back at Langley.
Susanna Sullivan: It starts earlier than my old school and that was
Susanna Sullivan: an adjustment last year. I have to be on campus
Susanna Sullivan: at 7: 45 and I'm not a morning person and
Susanna Sullivan: I'm working on it. We are actually in Maine now where
Susanna Sullivan: the sun comes up in the morning, in the summer, so like 4:
Susanna Sullivan: 30 or five. So we're working on it. So we'll
Susanna Sullivan: see if I can transition back at the start of
Susanna Sullivan: the school year to maybe being a morning person all
Susanna Sullivan: of a sudden. But I usually try to do something
Susanna Sullivan: in the morning, whether that's a strength training thing or cross-
Susanna Sullivan: training thing. I try not to do my heavier run
Susanna Sullivan: in the morning during the school year just because I'm
Susanna Sullivan: hardly awake. And then I'll do my longer workouts in
Susanna Sullivan: the afternoon after school. In the summer, it's completely different,
Susanna Sullivan: I could do almost all my volume in the morning.
Susanna Sullivan: But yeah, so I am usually up around six, 6:
Susanna Sullivan: 30 and I try to get in 45 minutes to
Susanna Sullivan: an hour of something, whether that's a strength training session or
Susanna Sullivan: some cross- training and then head off to school. Because
Susanna Sullivan: I'm in a middle school, I do have breaks throughout
Susanna Sullivan: the day. At my old school I was with kids
Susanna Sullivan: from the moment I arrived until the moment I left.
Susanna Sullivan: And there are opportunities in a middle school model for
Susanna Sullivan: me to have meetings with my colleagues about kids and
Susanna Sullivan: upcoming things and have time to grade. So I do
Susanna Sullivan: get a little bit of time to breathe and maybe
Susanna Sullivan: have a snack throughout the day, which was a really
Susanna Sullivan: nice change last year just in terms of lifestyle, get
Susanna Sullivan: a moment to breathe. But yeah, I've usually got four
Susanna Sullivan: sections of math throughout the day and each of those
Susanna Sullivan: classes has about 15 kids in it. And then we
Susanna Sullivan: have an advisory period or an elective. So sometimes that's
Susanna Sullivan: just helping the kids with executive functioning things, getting them
Susanna Sullivan: organized, just making sure that they are building good habits
Susanna Sullivan: when they head off to high school. And having a consistent
Susanna Sullivan: adult check- in, making sure that homework is turned in
Susanna Sullivan: and that they've taken care of things they need to take care of. The school does a
Susanna Sullivan: really great job at getting the kids to advocate for
Susanna Sullivan: themselves and communicate via email with their teachers. So oftentimes
Susanna Sullivan: that's just sitting down with the kids and making sure
Susanna Sullivan: that we've made a checklist and we've emailed the people we
Susanna Sullivan: need to email. And so I think that's just a
Susanna Sullivan: great life skill that they're learning in middle school. And
Susanna Sullivan: then sometimes I teach an elective and that's the last
Susanna Sullivan: class period of the day and they have a lot
Susanna Sullivan: of really cool choices for the kids to just have fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that's not math, that's something fun.
Susanna Sullivan: It could be anything. So we have girls in STEM,
Susanna Sullivan: we have puzzling, we have robotics, we have all sorts
Susanna Sullivan: of interesting, sometimes there are more sports oriented ones in the school
Susanna Sullivan: newspaper, things like that. So we've got that during the day and
Susanna Sullivan: then as soon as school is over, I head off
Susanna Sullivan: to George Mason University. That's where my coach, he's the
Susanna Sullivan: director of the program there. He's been there close to
Susanna Sullivan: 20 years now, and the men's team there, there's just
Susanna Sullivan: a lot of guys that I can overlap with and
Susanna Sullivan: work as I'm a volunteer assistant there in the afternoons.
Susanna Sullivan: And it's just a great team. The men and the
Susanna Sullivan: women, they work really hard. They've got a lot of
Susanna Sullivan: passion for the sport, and so it's really, no matter
Susanna Sullivan: how the day has gone at school, no matter how
Susanna Sullivan: draining it's been or whatever, going there and being surrounded
Susanna Sullivan: by people who are 18 to 24 years old and
Susanna Sullivan: are just super excited and are oftentimes kind of immersed in
Susanna Sullivan: that upward trajectory in their running journey, it just gives
Susanna Sullivan: me a lot of energy. It's a great team. They've
Susanna Sullivan: got great coaches, they're improving, and so to just be
Susanna Sullivan: around that and to be around their excitement, it's just
Susanna Sullivan: really cool. And they help me out too because it's
Susanna Sullivan: awesome to have company for warm up or a cool down and
Susanna Sullivan: then occasionally an interval or two. I usually get there
Susanna Sullivan: a little too late to really be able to overlap
Susanna Sullivan: a lot in workouts. But yeah, it's been a win-
Susanna Sullivan: win I think, I hope.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Susanna, I'm curious about being a math teacher and a
Rob Simmelkjaer: runner at the same time. It sounds like the two
Rob Simmelkjaer: lifestyles probably go really well together in terms of the
Rob Simmelkjaer: time you have to run, especially in the afternoons, it
Rob Simmelkjaer: makes sense and then summers it's perfect. Do you use
Rob Simmelkjaer: your math knowledge in your running at all? Do you look
Rob Simmelkjaer: at your times, look at your training, look at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: way you're approaching it, because there's a lot of numbers
Rob Simmelkjaer: in running, there's a lot of numbers in the whole
Rob Simmelkjaer: buildup and all of that. Do you ever find yourself making
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little formula for your training or your running or
Rob Simmelkjaer: throwing a variable or two in there when you're starting
Rob Simmelkjaer: to think about how you can run?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I mean there's so much data available to us in
Susanna Sullivan: running, and I do love to look at numbers and
Susanna Sullivan: just, I like to see patterns and things and it's
Susanna Sullivan: so easy to compare things and I feel like I
Susanna Sullivan: try to strike that balance between being interested in the
Susanna Sullivan: data and noticing things, but not getting too compulsive about
Susanna Sullivan: it because I mean, I know a lot of distance
Susanna Sullivan: runners can tend to get a bit compulsive about their
Susanna Sullivan: training. One of the things that I really love about the curriculum
Susanna Sullivan: we have at my school and for sixth grade is that
Susanna Sullivan: being pre- algebra, a ton of rates and ratios and
Susanna Sullivan: proportions and almost all the word problems in the book
Susanna Sullivan: that they have are based on running, and they're actually
Susanna Sullivan: fairly realistic. There have been some workbooks and textbooks that I've
Susanna Sullivan: encountered over the years where it's like Sally ran 85
Susanna Sullivan: miles in whatever, and you're like, " What? Okay." Or Sally
Susanna Sullivan: ran three miles in 47 hours and you're like, " No."
Susanna Sullivan: So this book is great because the curriculum that we
Susanna Sullivan: use, there's a lot of sports word problems and application
Susanna Sullivan: in there, and a lot of the kids in the
Susanna Sullivan: grade that I just had. We'll see what happens with
Susanna Sullivan: this next group, but there's a lot of sports fans
Susanna Sullivan: and so it was very easy to kind of connect
Susanna Sullivan: proportions and ratios to the math that was relevant and
Susanna Sullivan: that they were learning at the time. Yeah, so there's
Susanna Sullivan: a lot of crossover there, and it's cool to be
Susanna Sullivan: able to show them, " Okay, so if I wanted to
Susanna Sullivan: average X pace and I was at the four- mile
Susanna Sullivan: mark at 20 minutes and let's say 54 seconds, how
Susanna Sullivan: fast do I need to run this next mile?" And
Susanna Sullivan: so having them kind of figure those things out like, "
Susanna Sullivan: How fast do I need to run the next mile
Susanna Sullivan: in order to average what I wanted to average?" It's
Susanna Sullivan: just really interesting and they get more invested in it
Susanna Sullivan: if they think that you care about it. And so
Susanna Sullivan: yeah, there is a good crossover. My mother was an English
Susanna Sullivan: teacher and grading essays just takes a really, really long
Susanna Sullivan: time, but I feel like grading math stuff doesn't usually
Susanna Sullivan: take... it shouldn't take as long, but then I love
Susanna Sullivan: to look at their work and figure out if the
Susanna Sullivan: train went off the tracks, where it went off the
Susanna Sullivan: tracks so that I can give feedback. So it does
Susanna Sullivan: take a substantial amount of time, but it's interesting to
Susanna Sullivan: me when I'm grading papers, it's kind of like a
Susanna Sullivan: nice brain break from running. And so I tend to
Susanna Sullivan: do that in the evening, so after I leave Mason
Susanna Sullivan: in the afternoon, to kind of get back to your
Susanna Sullivan: question about what a day looks like. After I leave
Susanna Sullivan: Mason, I usually hit the pool on the way home.
Susanna Sullivan: We're really fortunate in this area that there's quite a
Susanna Sullivan: few pools that I can get to pretty quickly on
Susanna Sullivan: the way home, and I usually do about an hour
Susanna Sullivan: of cross- training. And so depending on what I've done
Susanna Sullivan: in the morning, I'll finish it off in the evening
Susanna Sullivan: and then after that, usually I try to get dinner right
Susanna Sullivan: away after that and then usually do a little bit
Susanna Sullivan: of grading, maybe like 30 to 45 minutes. I feel like as
Susanna Sullivan: I've gotten older in the last couple of years, I've found more
Susanna Sullivan: and more that I need kind of a buffer to
Susanna Sullivan: decompress between the running and the schoolwork and being ready
Susanna Sullivan: to go to sleep. So I've been trying to find
Susanna Sullivan: opportunities to just relax at the end of the day,
Susanna Sullivan: but sleep is so important that it really is just during
Susanna Sullivan: the week, I have to be pretty disciplined in order
Susanna Sullivan: to make sure that I have everything ready to go
Susanna Sullivan: and I can get to sleep so that I can recover.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Random rumor, do you actually run with your
Becs Gentry: kids at school ever?
Susanna Sullivan: At my old school used to go for a walk
Susanna Sullivan: in the woods every day. We had a park behind
Susanna Sullivan: the school and sometimes we would jog a little bit.
Susanna Sullivan: The school that I'm at now has a turf field
Susanna Sullivan: that's pretty close to my classroom and it has painted track
Susanna Sullivan: laps on it, so I like to get outside for
Susanna Sullivan: things that are active. I don't tend to go for real
Susanna Sullivan: runs with them just because our campus is fairly small.
Susanna Sullivan: But yeah, there's a lot of local races in the
Susanna Sullivan: area, and so it's fun to see them at... The
Susanna Sullivan: school is a fairly active community. There's a 5K in
Susanna Sullivan: McLean that schools or a lot of kids from the
Susanna Sullivan: school do, so it's cool to just see them at running events
Susanna Sullivan: and a lot of them like to do local 5Ks
Susanna Sullivan: and things like that.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. I'm sure they love seeing you too. They're like, " Ms.
Becs Gentry: Sullivan, she's winning." That's so inspiring for them. I love
Becs Gentry: it. I really hope my daughter has a teacher like that, selfishly, who's a runner, obviously.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Susanna, I want to talk about Tokyo a little bit
Rob Simmelkjaer: and your approach to running in the world Championships there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's an interesting event, the World Championships, we had a
Rob Simmelkjaer: group talking about this after the MasterCard Mini- 10K in
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York, and the approaches that people take to that
Rob Simmelkjaer: race. It's coming into the fall. There's fall major marathons
Rob Simmelkjaer: that are happening. You got some folks who choose to
Rob Simmelkjaer: run the champion the world championships, some who don't. What's
Rob Simmelkjaer: your approach going to be going into that race? How
Rob Simmelkjaer: are you thinking about it? Are you really focused on
Rob Simmelkjaer: getting on the podium? Are you just trying to have
Rob Simmelkjaer: a good day? Are there other fall marathons that you're
Rob Simmelkjaer: thinking about as well? How are you thinking about the world
Rob Simmelkjaer: championships and what it means for you and your progression?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I mean, we're definitely making it the priority in
Susanna Sullivan: the training for the fall. We know that it's going
Susanna Sullivan: to be hot and humid and hilly, and with having
Susanna Sullivan: an all- Brooks team, it has just given me such
Susanna Sullivan: an opportunity to learn more about training for humidity and
Susanna Sullivan: hills. We were out, the three of us and others,
Susanna Sullivan: but Jess and Erica and I were out in Seattle
Susanna Sullivan: a couple of weeks ago and we were meeting with
Susanna Sullivan: all sorts of people on the Brooks campus, but we
Susanna Sullivan: met with their exercise physiologist and a couple other people
Susanna Sullivan: who work in their research lab. And they've been helping us
Susanna Sullivan: to understand our individualized sweat rates and just kind the
Susanna Sullivan: way that we handle heat and humidity. And I just think
Susanna Sullivan: that's just felt a lot of support and I feel
Susanna Sullivan: like Brooks is putting a lot of their energy into
Susanna Sullivan: helping us be as prepared as we can be. And
Susanna Sullivan: so I'm just super excited for this opportunity to work together
Susanna Sullivan: with Erica and Jess and hopefully, I think all of
Susanna Sullivan: us have aspirations to be close to medaling as we
Susanna Sullivan: can. And we've been saying so many things can happen
Susanna Sullivan: in the marathon. I think that with it being a
Susanna Sullivan: course that is hot and humid and has a lot
Susanna Sullivan: of hills, it gives, those things can be equalizers depending
Susanna Sullivan: on how well you've prepared and what kind of day
Susanna Sullivan: you're having. So when I train, I'm training with those
Susanna Sullivan: things in mind that I want to make sure that
Susanna Sullivan: I am leaving no stone unturned in terms of preparing
Susanna Sullivan: for just acclimatizing to the heat and making sure that we're
Susanna Sullivan: going in mentally prepared for any kind of scenario. And
Susanna Sullivan: if that means that we find ourselves in striking position
Susanna Sullivan: of a medal, being able to respond and not count
Susanna Sullivan: yourself out because I've been working really hard and training's
Susanna Sullivan: going well. So yeah, I'm super excited for the opportunity
Susanna Sullivan: because with every country only being able to send three
Susanna Sullivan: athletes, that actually is kind of an opportunity for just
Susanna Sullivan: looking at the rankings. There's quite a few Ethiopians and
Susanna Sullivan: Kenyans that are ranked ahead of me on the world
Susanna Sullivan: rankings list, but they can only send three each. And
Susanna Sullivan: so it does get you thinking, " Okay, so why not
Susanna Sullivan: a medal." If you have a good day, the field
Susanna Sullivan: is not-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Quite as deep as it might be in a Boston
Rob Simmelkjaer: or in New York. Yeah, exactly. It makes sense.
Susanna Sullivan: Right.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited that you are all getting
Becs Gentry: to actually go and run in the stadium in Japan with people being able to cheer you on because obviously
Becs Gentry: when athletes were there for the games, it was fake
Becs Gentry: people in seats in COVID. And so now I think
Becs Gentry: I read that the course was two laps of the
Becs Gentry: stadium to start with, potentially.
Susanna Sullivan: Oh, yeah. I think that's right.
Becs Gentry: Like a hurrah, a couple of laps to see people, which is super cool. How does
Becs Gentry: that make you feel of like, " Oh, wow, this was for the Olympics"?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I think it's not going to really hit... I mean,
Susanna Sullivan: we've looked at the thing like the Google Earth maps
Susanna Sullivan: and things like that where you can go stand on
Susanna Sullivan: the street corner, and I'm really appreciative to all the
Susanna Sullivan: folks who've kind of sent along data mapping the course
Susanna Sullivan: and route maps that show elevation and things like that.
Susanna Sullivan: I definitely think that we are prepared with intel for
Susanna Sullivan: what the course is going to be like, but my
Susanna Sullivan: husband is a Marine officer and goes to Okinawa a
Susanna Sullivan: lot and has spent a bit of time in Tokyo.
Susanna Sullivan: And he says, once you're on the ground in Japan,
Susanna Sullivan: it's going to feel like you're on a different planet.
Susanna Sullivan: So I'm super excited for the experience of just being
Susanna Sullivan: somewhere new, and I think it really is going to
Susanna Sullivan: just hit me that like, " Wow, this is very, very cool."
Becs Gentry: It's really, really cool. I've run in a lot of
Becs Gentry: places around the world and running in Tokyo was totally,
Becs Gentry: just like your husband says, I was just like, " It's
Becs Gentry: bizarre. It's so bizarre." And I stayed in the hotel
Becs Gentry: right opposite the stadium and just the hills, the humidity,
Becs Gentry: as you say, even just, you guys I'm sure will
Becs Gentry: have your own food that's suitable for your training. But I mean,
Becs Gentry: I was just running the world majors races, so getting
Becs Gentry: used to different diets, different food, different everything was just
Becs Gentry: so cool as well. I nerd out over the body,
Becs Gentry: obviously in my profession, but how we react to things
Becs Gentry: like that as well as the nerves that you're going to have, but
Becs Gentry: oh, it's going to be a breeze of adventure all
Becs Gentry: the way.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I'm super excited.
Becs Gentry: Yay. Okay. With looking ahead, obviously focus is right now
Becs Gentry: world champs, but there is so much anticipation of 2028 LA Olympics.
Becs Gentry: I know you're not probably putting too much out there, but
Becs Gentry: is that on your radar? Are you thinking this is
Becs Gentry: a goal for me in two years time? Two and a bit.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I feel like I have
Susanna Sullivan: this conversation occasionally with my husband that I'll see my
Susanna Sullivan: name in something and I just like, " Oh wait, I
Susanna Sullivan: did run really fast in Chicago and I really shouldn't
Susanna Sullivan: be counting myself out for '28." So yeah, I'm super
Susanna Sullivan: excited. I feel like there's still more to give. I mean, I
Susanna Sullivan: feel like the 221 in Chicago, I feel like I learned
Susanna Sullivan: a lot from it. I feel like running my own race
Susanna Sullivan: was a huge thing there. I didn't actually realize that
Susanna Sullivan: I was in the lead American spot until very, very
Susanna Sullivan: late in the race, maybe a mile to ago. I started
Susanna Sullivan: to have suspicions of it at about the halfway, because I
Susanna Sullivan: feel like I heard somebody say Top American, and I
Susanna Sullivan: was like, " No, surely I must have missed somebody with
Susanna Sullivan: all the chaos at the start, somebody must be still
Susanna Sullivan: further ahead." But then with about a mile to go
Susanna Sullivan: in Chicago, one of the motorcycles pulled up alongside me
Susanna Sullivan: and was yelling to other people lead American, and I
Susanna Sullivan: was like, " Oh. Oh, okay." And so I think I just learned a lot about you just
Susanna Sullivan: prepare the best that you can and you run your
Susanna Sullivan: race and see where (inaudible)
Becs Gentry: Ready you are.
Susanna Sullivan: ... put you. Yeah. And so I mean, that was just such
Susanna Sullivan: a big surprise for me, not the time. I just
Susanna Sullivan: didn't think the time would put me in that place
Susanna Sullivan: with all the talk before it about an American record
Susanna Sullivan: and everything I thought I could run. We really did
Susanna Sullivan: think 221 high, 222 low was a realistic goal, but
Susanna Sullivan: with all the talk about the American record, I thought, "
Susanna Sullivan: Okay, there's going to be three people that run 218, 219,
Susanna Sullivan: 220." And we knew that my training had gone really
Susanna Sullivan: well, but we also knew that it was the first
Susanna Sullivan: time that I was going to have finished a marathon
Susanna Sullivan: in a year or even attempted a marathon in a
Susanna Sullivan: year. So I just knew that there was potential, that things
Susanna Sullivan: could go sideways even though preparations had gone really well.
Susanna Sullivan: And so I think I learned a lot from that.
Susanna Sullivan: I feel like training has gone well since then. I've
Susanna Sullivan: been feeling good. I mean, like I was saying before,
Susanna Sullivan: I just have so much trust in my coach, and
Susanna Sullivan: I feel like we are continuing to progress, and I
Susanna Sullivan: think our communication is really solid. And after every marathon
Susanna Sullivan: we have a conversation, well and periodically throughout the cycle,
Susanna Sullivan: just kind of what's going well, what could be improved
Susanna Sullivan: upon. And so I feel like we still have plenty of ideas with regard
Susanna Sullivan: to nutrition and hydration and getting more sleep, which is
Susanna Sullivan: always a challenge in the school year. And so I
Susanna Sullivan: do feel like there's more to give, and so when
Susanna Sullivan: I stop to think, " Okay, well if there's more to
Susanna Sullivan: give, and you're already in this space in the American
Susanna Sullivan: marathoning scene, yeah, 2028 should be a realistic goal." So
Susanna Sullivan: we'll just see. I mean, so much can happen in
Susanna Sullivan: three years, but yeah, definitely planning on going for it.
Becs Gentry: Definitely out there. Sorry, go ahead.
Susanna Sullivan: I've run a couple of flat fast courses recently, and
Susanna Sullivan: so I'm excited for the challenge of running Tokyo. I
Susanna Sullivan: think that the training that's been involved in running this, it's
Susanna Sullivan: been different from what I've done the last couple of
Susanna Sullivan: cycles, and that's just kind of an exciting prospect in
Susanna Sullivan: terms of continuing to develop as an athlete, is that
Susanna Sullivan: I am having to train a lot on hills, and
Susanna Sullivan: I'm having to pay a lot more attention to nutrition
Susanna Sullivan: and hydration because like I was saying before, Brooks is
Susanna Sullivan: putting a lot of energy into making sure that we
Susanna Sullivan: are prepared. And so we've been actually learning a lot about what I sweat
Susanna Sullivan: out and how much I sweat, and that's been kind of
Susanna Sullivan: surprising to me.
Becs Gentry: So cool.
Susanna Sullivan: And so that's definitely changed my understanding about what I should
Susanna Sullivan: be taking in along the course in terms of electrolytes
Susanna Sullivan: and carbohydrates, it's significantly higher than what I had been
Susanna Sullivan: doing. And so we're starting to do the training involved
Susanna Sullivan: with preparing in that regard. And so I just feel
Susanna Sullivan: like there's... Brooks has given me all these opportunities to
Susanna Sullivan: kind of recognize what I need as an athlete, and
Susanna Sullivan: so I'm excited to see what that yields. If I'm
Susanna Sullivan: stronger on hydration, stronger nutrition, just being forced to run
Susanna Sullivan: a million hills to get ready for Tokyo.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's pretty interesting. Sweat analysis. I like that. So you're
Rob Simmelkjaer: actually learning what's coming out of your body when you
Rob Simmelkjaer: sweat, which makes a lot of sense.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, apparently I'm a really salty sweater, which I never would've known because I'm
Susanna Sullivan: not a crusty sweater. I've seen people have rings of
Susanna Sullivan: salt on them.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, yeah.
Becs Gentry: I'm with you. I did it as well.
Rob Simmelkjaer: How would any of us know? Yeah, how would you know if you're a salty
Rob Simmelkjaer: sweater or not? You only know your own sweat, so
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's kind of good for somebody to tell you that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's pretty interesting.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, it's been fascinating.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Speaking of nutrition, can we talk about something much more
Rob Simmelkjaer: important than the race in Tokyo, which is what are
Rob Simmelkjaer: you going to eat in Japan? When I went to
Rob Simmelkjaer: Japan, Becs, knows I was so focused on the food
Rob Simmelkjaer: and what am I going eat? I mean, of course
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's nutrition for the race. So I don't know, are you going to be looking
Rob Simmelkjaer: for pasta carbs over there? Are you going to make
Rob Simmelkjaer: the move to rice. Because rice, rice is fantastic and
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's obviously so many opportunities. There's Ramen as well as
Rob Simmelkjaer: another great carb option. What do you think, are there foods you're excited
Rob Simmelkjaer: to eat when you're in Japan, both before and after
Rob Simmelkjaer: the race?
Susanna Sullivan: There are, I have been told that I absolutely must
Susanna Sullivan: go to the fish market and that it's just an out
Susanna Sullivan: of this world experience. So I think I'll probably save
Susanna Sullivan: that for after the race.
Becs Gentry: Yes, I would.
Susanna Sullivan: So I'm allergic to shellfish, so I'm just in the
Susanna Sullivan: states, I just don't generally have a lot of sushi
Susanna Sullivan: because I've just been kind of leery of cross contamination. I've also
Susanna Sullivan: been told that the Japanese are a very conscientious society.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They're very careful. Yeah, they're very careful about things.
Susanna Sullivan: That shouldn't really be a concern. And so I think I will be having some sushi while I'm over there. Yeah,
Susanna Sullivan: I've heard the food is fantastic. There will be kind
Susanna Sullivan: of an American dining hall, so I suspect that they'll
Susanna Sullivan: have a lot of pasta. But generally before any kind
Susanna Sullivan: of race, I tend to be pretty flexible about the
Susanna Sullivan: carbohydrate source. I like potatoes, I like rice, and so
Susanna Sullivan: I suspect I'll be having a lot of rice over there.
Susanna Sullivan: But yeah, I am excited to be a little more
Susanna Sullivan: adventurous on the back side of the race. Initially I
Susanna Sullivan: thought I would be heading back right after the race
Susanna Sullivan: to head back to school. And back to school night
Susanna Sullivan: is the following Thursday, so I do have to be
Susanna Sullivan: back in Virginia by then. But I say I'm going to stay,
Susanna Sullivan: I think two days after the race. And I know
Susanna Sullivan: Brooks has some excursions planned for me and Jess and
Susanna Sullivan: CJ, because CJ is competing on the men's side. So
Susanna Sullivan: Brooks has four of the six marathoners, and apparently we're going
Susanna Sullivan: to go gallivanting around Tokyo after.
Becs Gentry: Fantastic.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Don't sleep on the Ramen. Susanna, I don't know if you're a Ramen fan, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: you've to get to a couple of good Ramen shops.
Becs Gentry: It doesn't even have to be good ones. I mean,
Becs Gentry: good, hole in the wall.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. The hole the walls spots in Tokyo that are just out
Rob Simmelkjaer: of this world and are card sources, but-
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah. We'll be out there far enough in advance too, that I
Susanna Sullivan: feel like the first day or two if I had
Susanna Sullivan: something that was a little adventurous. I mean Ramen isn't
Susanna Sullivan: that exotic, but something like that where probably I would
Susanna Sullivan: be fine, but I think I'll save the sushi and anything really
Susanna Sullivan: different that I don't have here that often, I'll save
Susanna Sullivan: that for after the race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, save the sea urchin for after the race. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: would recommend that.
Becs Gentry: Okay, Susanna-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Or not at all, since you're allergic. Yeah.
Becs Gentry: ... we have something to ask for you, which is
Becs Gentry: not something we normally do here on Set the Pace.
Becs Gentry: We don't normally get our guests to give advice personally,
Becs Gentry: but seen as you were the top American winner in 2024
Becs Gentry: at the Chicago Marathon. Wonderful Rob here has just today
Becs Gentry: on the top of the show, announced that he is
Becs Gentry: going to be running the Chicago marathon this October.
Susanna Sullivan: Nice.
Becs Gentry: Yay, Rob. So what advice have you got for Rob
Becs Gentry: for his first ever Chicago marathon? And yes, you should
Becs Gentry: be scared he's coming for your 221 56.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'd be thrilled at 321 Susanna, so don't worry. Yeah.
Susanna Sullivan: That's tricky. Wow, you've run New York, I would assume?
Rob Simmelkjaer: A couple of times, yes.
Susanna Sullivan: I mean, I have not yet run the New York City Marathon.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We know we're paying attention.
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, it's on my bucket list.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Good. That's good to know.
Susanna Sullivan: But I feel like the energy in Chicago just standing
Susanna Sullivan: at the starting line and looking around which is just
Susanna Sullivan: a shot of adrenaline. So I would just say, just
Susanna Sullivan: soak up the crowds. I feel like the first couple
Susanna Sullivan: of miles, I didn't look at my watch and I've
Susanna Sullivan: heard that if I had, I mean I was kind
Susanna Sullivan: of looking at it, but then I was like, "No, that can't
Susanna Sullivan: be right." So I would say don't bother, just kind of
Susanna Sullivan: trust your trust yourself.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Is that just because the watches aren't accurate there with the tall buildings
Rob Simmelkjaer: and everything?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah. You go on a tunnel and then there's just a lot of
Susanna Sullivan: taller buildings. I mean, not unlike New York, but yeah,
Susanna Sullivan: I would say just maybe soak up the energy of the
Susanna Sullivan: crowd but also recognize that first 5K that it's so,
Susanna Sullivan: so easy to go out too fast.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's a little downhill at the start. Is that it?
Susanna Sullivan: Yeah, I think so. Definitely when you head through the tunnel right at
Susanna Sullivan: the beginning, it's definitely downhill and I feel like that's
Susanna Sullivan: probably true for a lot of the majors, but I
Susanna Sullivan: feel like it's particularly important there because it is so
Susanna Sullivan: fast and flat that you just want to be comfortable,
Susanna Sullivan: not comfortable, but you have legs under you the last
Susanna Sullivan: 10K or so. So I think just being cautious early on. I feel like in
Susanna Sullivan: New York I've heard, and I don't know this from
Susanna Sullivan: experience, but I feel like everybody cautions people to remember that
Susanna Sullivan: the hills in Central Park will be there for you
Susanna Sullivan: and you're going to place under you. But I feel
Susanna Sullivan: like nobody really talks about that in Chicago because there
Susanna Sullivan: isn't an element like that where you're just, " Something is
Susanna Sullivan: looming and if you make a mistake early, you will
Susanna Sullivan: absolutely pay." I feel like no one talks about that
Susanna Sullivan: in Chicago because there isn't a feature like that. But I think it's
Susanna Sullivan: still important what with it being 26.22 miles.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's still 26.22 months miles. That's the thing, don't get
Rob Simmelkjaer: too excited in mile four or five. Yeah, that's good.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's good advice.
Susanna Sullivan: That's great advice.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I appreciate that. I'm so excited about it, Susanna, it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great city. It's such amazing energy. The architecture in
Rob Simmelkjaer: Chicago is so beautiful. You see so many beautiful buildings when
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're walking around that city. So I'm excited and I
Rob Simmelkjaer: will eagerly follow in your footsteps. You had such a
Rob Simmelkjaer: great day there, so I'm hoping for a good day
Rob Simmelkjaer: for me too. Hopefully it'll be one I'll remember as I know you've
Rob Simmelkjaer: remembered your race. Well, it's been great talking to you
Rob Simmelkjaer: and we wish you all the luck as you get
Rob Simmelkjaer: ready for Tokyo this summer. It's going to be incredible
Rob Simmelkjaer: to watch you there carrying the Stars and Stripes for
Rob Simmelkjaer: us and have a great, great day over there. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: then let us know when you're ready to come to
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York to tackle the TCS New York City Marathon. I'm guessing maybe not
Rob Simmelkjaer: this year, but you never know. People have done it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: People do all kinds of things so you never know,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but we definitely eagerly await your debut at the New York City Marathon,
Rob Simmelkjaer: one of these years.
Susanna Sullivan: Thank you so much.
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Roadrunners is a nonprofit organization with a vision
Rob Simmelkjaer: to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the transformative
Rob Simmelkjaer: power of running. The support of members and donors like
Rob Simmelkjaer: you helps us achieve our mission to transform the health
Rob Simmelkjaer: and well- being of our communities through inclusive and accessible
Rob Simmelkjaer: running experiences, empowering all to achieve their potential. Learn more
Rob Simmelkjaer: and contribute at nyrr. org/ donate. In 2024, Udai Jariwala ran his
Rob Simmelkjaer: first marathon ever at the age of 75, just a
Rob Simmelkjaer: few years after moving from Hillsborough, New Jersey to New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City and joining the November project. Since that time,
Rob Simmelkjaer: Udai has become a familiar face in the New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: running community, participating in Roadrunners races despite facing significant setbacks
Rob Simmelkjaer: including severe knee arthritis and two knee replacement surgeries. He
Rob Simmelkjaer: completed his first race, the Kurt Steiner Cross Country 5K
Rob Simmelkjaer: back in 2019. And even after a right knee replacement
Rob Simmelkjaer: in 2021 and then a partial left knee replacement in
Rob Simmelkjaer: 2023, he returned each time to group training determined to
Rob Simmelkjaer: stay active. Now 76 years old, Udai is a proud
Rob Simmelkjaer: team for kids marathon finisher with 32 Roadrunners races under
Rob Simmelkjaer: his belt, including seven 10Ks, six half- marathons, and his
Rob Simmelkjaer: first marathon in 2024, which he calls the best experience
Rob Simmelkjaer: of his life.
Speaker 5: Thanks, Rob. Wow, Udai, welcome to the Set the Pace
Speaker 5: podcast. It's great to have you. How are you doing today?
Udai Jariwala: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5: Great. What was going through your mind at the start
Speaker 5: of your first marathon last year, knowing you have already
Speaker 5: overcome so much just to get to the starting line?
Udai Jariwala: Oh, a lot of things, but mainly it was to,
Udai Jariwala: I was telling myself the goal is to finish. This
Udai Jariwala: is your first marathon and the goal is to finish.
Udai Jariwala: Indeed, just getting to the start line itself was an
Udai Jariwala: achievement because the 16, 18 weeks of training itself to prepare
Udai Jariwala: for the marathon is the marathon and then running the
Udai Jariwala: marathon was just to get the medal in across the finish
Udai Jariwala: line. So yes, I was just telling myself, you have your
Udai Jariwala: plan, the goal is to finish, stay comfortable and just
Udai Jariwala: go slow.
Speaker 5: Well, you did get to that finish, but at the age
Speaker 5: of 75. What was that finish line? Some of us
Speaker 5: started my do I was 27 when I did my
Speaker 5: first marathon, but for youth to be an example for
Speaker 5: people getting to that finish line and run your personal best
Speaker 5: basically as long as you get to the finish line, that's a personal best. What was that
Speaker 5: moment for you?
Udai Jariwala: Oh, unbelievable. I was crying. I cannot forget that moment.
Udai Jariwala: It was just everything came out.
Speaker 5: It was the emotion.
Udai Jariwala: Yeah, emotions just take over me.
Speaker 5: Well, you fought through 26. 2 miles and to get to
Speaker 5: that finish line was magical and we're so proud of
Speaker 5: you. But your first NYR was the Kurt Steiner Cross
Speaker 5: Country. What did that race teach you about running?
Udai Jariwala: I really wanted to. I had just started running and wanted to run
Udai Jariwala: the NY. I joined NYRR membership, wanted to run a race, so
Udai Jariwala: I went on the site, signed up for this Kurt
Udai Jariwala: Steiner I saw, 5K, which is a good start, I
Udai Jariwala: said. Then I realized that, " Oh, this is a cross
Udai Jariwala: country in Portland and Portland Park, so it's different. Okay." So anyway, I
Udai Jariwala: had no idea. We start on the grass and we
Udai Jariwala: run and being the first race, I had no clue
Udai Jariwala: about pacing or anything. When everybody started running, I started
Udai Jariwala: running. And by the end of the grassy field even
Udai Jariwala: before I got on the trail, I was pooped basically,
Udai Jariwala: I was tired. I said, " This is not going to
Udai Jariwala: work." I took a breather, started walking a little bit.
Udai Jariwala: Once I got my breath under control, I finished the
Udai Jariwala: race very well and there is a kicker at the end of
Udai Jariwala: finish. They stopped me. They said, " Wait, wait, wait." I said, "
Udai Jariwala: What happened?" They said, " You are first in your age group."
Udai Jariwala: I said, " How come?" So the lessons basically I learned
Udai Jariwala: was run your own race, run at your own pace
Udai Jariwala: and basically start slow, finish strong.
Speaker 5: Sounds perfect. And no matter what age, what the experience
Speaker 5: you have getting into the (inaudible) and healthy and finish strong is
Speaker 5: amazing. And you did that. How did joining the November
Speaker 5: project and the NYRR group training change your approach to
Speaker 5: running or even life in New York?
Udai Jariwala: November project is a free fitness group and they focus mainly
Udai Jariwala: on the strength training, body weight exercise. So when I
Udai Jariwala: started with them, I learned about NYRR also and I
Udai Jariwala: got into running because a lot of people in NP,
Udai Jariwala: November project ran races. So at that point I did
Udai Jariwala: not understand the connection between the strength training and the running.
Udai Jariwala: I was just doing the workout with them and once
Udai Jariwala: I joined the NYRR group training, I learned the importance
Udai Jariwala: of warm up, cool down, I had some structured training
Udai Jariwala: and running, how to improve running form and running by
Udai Jariwala: RPE rate of perceived exertion. And that's what I like. I
Udai Jariwala: run by feel, how I'm feeling. And the speed work
Udai Jariwala: and the hill workouts, I could not have done without
Udai Jariwala: joining the NYRR group training. And of course the group support
Udai Jariwala: that we have in NYRR training, so both of them
Udai Jariwala: and November project and NYRR, they have become sort of integral
Udai Jariwala: part of my life in New York City. I mean
Udai Jariwala: that's what I look forward to every day.
Speaker 5: Absolutely. The New Yorker runners do an amazing job not
Speaker 5: only on race day, but getting you running the sideline healthy
Speaker 5: and strong.
Udai Jariwala: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: Looking back now at your 32 races, is there one
Speaker 5: that stands out, the toughest or the most memorable and
Speaker 5: what did you take away from that?
Udai Jariwala: The toughest and the most memorable. I will go most
Udai Jariwala: memorable first because undoubtedly that is the New York City Marathon. I mean it
Udai Jariwala: will always remain as my most memorable race. No doubt.
Udai Jariwala: The toughest one. I would say this was prior to
Udai Jariwala: my knee replacements, I was running all the races with
Udai Jariwala: a lot of pain in my knee, but I just
Udai Jariwala: wanted to get it done and any one of those
Udai Jariwala: races that I ran prior to my surgery were tough
Udai Jariwala: in itself. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Absolutely. And I can also relate to my first memorable
Speaker 5: one was a New York City Marathon in 2002. What to
Speaker 5: do, what not to do. It sticks to like it was yesterday,
Speaker 5: still there. The first marathon is always memorable. What's the
Speaker 5: most unexpected thing that you have learned about yourself or
Speaker 5: about running since you started this journey in your seventies?
Udai Jariwala: About myself, I learned that I can do hard things
Udai Jariwala: even if I started so late in my life running.
Udai Jariwala: I wish I had started earlier, but it's never too
Udai Jariwala: late. And as far as running what I learned that
Udai Jariwala: what was unexpected was that running slow makes you run
Udai Jariwala: faster. And really that was so unexpected, but so true is
Udai Jariwala: that finally I realized that running slow builds my endurance
Udai Jariwala: and once I build my endurance, it gives me the
Udai Jariwala: opportunity to run faster. And that's how I have slowly,
Udai Jariwala: gradually and really I have become faster over over time. It
Udai Jariwala: took long time, but I can see the improvement in
Udai Jariwala: my... so that was something unexpected when people say running
Udai Jariwala: slow makes you run faster.
Speaker 5: I can agree with that because I always tell people,
Speaker 5: my athlete, that you can build stamina and when you
Speaker 5: have stamina you could turn into speed, but you can't turn
Speaker 5: speed into stamina. But what advice would you have for
Speaker 5: those people that are contemplating running is I can't do,
Speaker 5: it's not for me, but people think the misperception is,
Speaker 5: people think you have to sprint the whole way, but
Speaker 5: as we just heard you, run slow, get to the finish line
Speaker 5: and start building up. But what advice would you give the
Speaker 5: people that are on the fence of, " Should I, should I
Speaker 5: not?" And especially when you start in your seventies.
Udai Jariwala: One more thing I would like to say unexpected that
Udai Jariwala: I realized that running could be so much fun. I
Udai Jariwala: had not realized until now that it could be so
Udai Jariwala: much fun. I find so much joy and peace when
Udai Jariwala: I run. And as I said earlier, I wish I
Udai Jariwala: had started earlier in my life, but I'm okay with
Udai Jariwala: it. I enjoy it now and I will continue to enjoy it.
Speaker 5: You savor in every mile, keep doing what you're doing
Speaker 5: and you'll be fine. It's great. So thank you for being on
Speaker 5: the podcast and looking forward to seeing you on the road.
Udai Jariwala: Well, thank you for having me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thank you so much for joining us, Udai, and for being
Rob Simmelkjaer: a member of New York Roadrunners. Now it's time for
Rob Simmelkjaer: today's Med Minutes.
Speaker 5: Vacationing. When you go on vacation doesn't mean you need to stop
Speaker 5: running. It just means to adjust and your mindset. Think about
Speaker 5: the maintenance, not the mileage. 20 to 30 minutes every other day
Speaker 5: is enough to keep your rhythm going. Explore new route,
Speaker 5: run without a watch. I like to have a watch, but sometimes
Speaker 5: ignore the pace you're just going on for having fun
Speaker 5: and find a local group. Sometimes when you're on vacation,
Speaker 5: you're going to run into somebody and just ask them
Speaker 5: what they're training for and go a mile with them
Speaker 5: or teams with them. And I've done that myself when
Speaker 5: I'm running Hawaii and be able to just enjoy the
Speaker 5: camaraderie because sometimes I tell them, "Hey, can you take a picture of me just for
Speaker 5: social media?" And then when you come back they want
Speaker 5: to start running with you because they Googled you and
Speaker 5: things like that. But effort is important when you are on a
Speaker 5: vacation, progressive run. Think about quality workout instead of quantity.
Speaker 5: Just be able to put a little run in is
Speaker 5: important. Not to worry about I have to run seven
Speaker 5: miles or eight miles. Just think about just getting a
Speaker 5: good quality in and spend quality time with your family.
Speaker 5: And if you have to skip a day or so,
Speaker 5: not a problem because rest is equally as important. At
Speaker 5: the end of the day, you are still on vacation.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well that does it for another episode of Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace. I want to thank our great guest today, Susanna Sullivan
Rob Simmelkjaer: and Udai Jariwala. And one more thank you for today's show,
Rob Simmelkjaer: our terrific audio engineer, producer, editor, the man who has
Rob Simmelkjaer: made Set the Pace as good as it can possibly
Rob Simmelkjaer: be given the hosts over the last couple of years.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Lou Pellegrino, today is his last day working on the show.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Lou has been a huge part of making this show what
Rob Simmelkjaer: it has been. When we were first starting Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace, we really didn't quite know really what we were
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing at all in fact. We really needed help in
Rob Simmelkjaer: terms of getting this show set up. That great open
Rob Simmelkjaer: that you hear on Set the Pace, all the things
Rob Simmelkjaer: that have made this hopefully a fun listen for all
Rob Simmelkjaer: of you out there, Lou's been a huge part of
Rob Simmelkjaer: making all of that happen and we cannot thank Lou
Rob Simmelkjaer: enough for his tremendous work on Set the Pace. We're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to miss him. He's been awesome. So, Lou, thank
Rob Simmelkjaer: you. Happy trails. I know we'll see you down the
Rob Simmelkjaer: road, but you've been a huge part of Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace and we all thank you from New York Roadrunners.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right folks, well I hope you have a great
Rob Simmelkjaer: week. Enjoy the miles. We'll see you next week.