Meb Keflezighi: The mission of the New York Runners is to inspire people. And from
Meb Keflezighi: point A to point B, from Staten Island all the
Meb Keflezighi: way to Central Park. It's not how fast, but whatever
Meb Keflezighi: you are capable of doing, no gender or age or weight or all those things, getting to
Meb Keflezighi: the finish line, and " run to win," that's what it
Meb Keflezighi: is, to get the best out of yourself.
Audio: Thank you, New York. Today, we're reminded of the power
Audio: of community and the power of coming together. Athletes, on
Audio: your mark! The first woman to finish for the second
Audio: straight year, here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman.
Audio: A smiling Miki Gorman, and why not? 2:29: 30, the time for Grete Waitz.
Audio: Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
Audio: to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointing to the
Audio: USA, he so proudly wears across his chest. A great day for Meb Keflezighi.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hello everybody, and welcome to a special episode of Set the Pace,
Rob Simmelkjaer: the official podcast of New York Road Runners, presented by
Rob Simmelkjaer: Peloton. I'm your host, Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners. And with me as always, my co-
Rob Simmelkjaer: host, Peloton instructor, Becs Gentry. We are here with a
Rob Simmelkjaer: live studio audience, because... It's incredible. We're here today with
Rob Simmelkjaer: this great crowd because, Becs, it is the 100th episode of Set the Pace.
Becs Gentry: 100.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They keep letting us do it-
Becs Gentry: They do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Over and over, and over again.
Becs Gentry: And over, and over.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And so I keep showing up to do it again,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and now we've got actual live people here with us as well.
Becs Gentry: Actual live people.
Rob Simmelkjaer: How cool is this?
Becs Gentry: It is so cool. As we'd say at Peloton, welcome to your Century
Becs Gentry: episode. If you ever had a Century run, walk or
Becs Gentry: a class at Peloton, you know what I'm talking about.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It is so exciting, and I neglect to mention where we are,
Rob Simmelkjaer: by the way. We're not just live with an amazing
Rob Simmelkjaer: audience, but we are at the New York Public Theater,
Rob Simmelkjaer: which is a legendary space in New York City. New
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yorkers know it as the place that so many incredible
Rob Simmelkjaer: performances and shows have launched. Most notably, of course, Hamilton,
Rob Simmelkjaer: which started here at the Public Theater. New Yorkers just
Rob Simmelkjaer: call it the Public, right down here on Astor Place
Rob Simmelkjaer: and Lafayette. So it's a legendary place. We've got this
Rob Simmelkjaer: beautiful theater here that they've given us for the day.
Becs Gentry: Can I add a UK adage here? I just got
Becs Gentry: told that Adele did her first New York appearance in
Becs Gentry: Joe's bar.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Whoa. I did not know that.
Becs Gentry: I love that that got more love than the Hamilton thing.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Everybody knew Hamilton. I did not know that about Adele,
Rob Simmelkjaer: Joe's Pub, of course, part of this complex, which is
Rob Simmelkjaer: an incredible place to watch live music.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, Adele, I mean, there on the floor. Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So Becs, what I think we can say is this is
Rob Simmelkjaer: as close as you and I are ever getting to Broadway, right here.
Becs Gentry: I would hope. I mean, I don't know about your singing voice, but mine is, my cat
Becs Gentry: can sing better.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I stick to the talking. I stick to the talking, absolutely.
Becs Gentry: Me too. Me too. And my dancing, good Lord. It would all go wrong.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But it's an honor to be here. We want to
Rob Simmelkjaer: thank the folks from the public for having us here.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And Becs, I just think back about when we first
Rob Simmelkjaer: started this little podcast. You weren't with us yet. Our
Rob Simmelkjaer: friend, Meb Keflezighi, he's going to be joining us in a little while.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb Keflezighi in the audience. Let's hear it for Meb. Meb will be up
Rob Simmelkjaer: here talking about life, talking about the podcast, about running.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But when we first started this little podcast, it was
Rob Simmelkjaer: me and Meb, a great team here at New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners, and we just figured, you know what? Let's give
Rob Simmelkjaer: people something to listen to while they're putting in all
Rob Simmelkjaer: those miles, training for the TCS New York City Marathon
Rob Simmelkjaer: or whatever it is.
Becs Gentry: We need it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And here we are, a hundred episodes later.
Becs Gentry: A hundred episodes, a year and a half. So many guests,
Becs Gentry: so many member stories, and tons of races. So I
Becs Gentry: can't even think about the miles and the minutes combined.
Becs Gentry: But thank you all for listening, leaving the reviews and
Becs Gentry: keeping us going, because we do it all for you
Becs Gentry: guys, and obviously our love of running, which is huge.
Becs Gentry: But yeah, and here's too many more, we're ready for
Becs Gentry: the Comma Club. We're ready for a thousand episodes, right?
Becs Gentry: He's going to be sick of me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Let's be happy we made it to a hundred. I'm happy with that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But I think for me, my favorite part of doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: this is when I'm at races, I was just at
Rob Simmelkjaer: a race this past Sunday. We had the Run as One
Rob Simmelkjaer: 4M, in Central Park. Who ran that? Anybody run this
Rob Simmelkjaer: past weekend?
Becs Gentry: Yay. Awesome.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It was a good day to run, good running weather, a
Rob Simmelkjaer: little damp, but turned out to be a pretty good
Rob Simmelkjaer: day to run. And I'm at the finish line of
Rob Simmelkjaer: these races, Becs, and I just love how many people
Rob Simmelkjaer: come up to me, give me a high five at
Rob Simmelkjaer: the finish line and say, " Thank you so much for
Rob Simmelkjaer: the podcast. Love listening to it. Where's Becs?" They usually say, "
Rob Simmelkjaer: Where's Becs?" They want to know where Becs is. They all want me to say hi to
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, so hi.
Becs Gentry: Hi. Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But it's just great that people are finding some value
Rob Simmelkjaer: in it,.and I think the value is the conversations and
Rob Simmelkjaer: the stories and the incredible people that we've had on the
Rob Simmelkjaer: show, the incredible stories that they have. So many of
Rob Simmelkjaer: them, which we'll talk about some a little bit later on today.
Becs Gentry: Surely. Did you run this weekend?
Rob Simmelkjaer: I did run, I did.
Becs Gentry: Did you break your four- mile PR?
Rob Simmelkjaer: I did not. I did not break my four- mile PR. That's going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to be a hard PR for me to break. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: was in a really good speed zone about a year
Rob Simmelkjaer: ago, and I ran a great time in that, that exact
Rob Simmelkjaer: same race, the Run as One.
Becs Gentry: You got me to do it too somehow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's a great course. I love that course because you get
Rob Simmelkjaer: Cat Hill out of the way early, and the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: mile you go right up that thing and it's over,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and then you can kind of look forward to going
Rob Simmelkjaer: downhill toward the ends. It's a great course.
Becs Gentry: And you don't see the judgy cat, which I like.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. You won't know, you don't know my feelings about the judgy cat, versus our friend, Abbey Fuller.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That cat does have a judgy look.
Becs Gentry: She loves the cat, I hate the cat. But I
Becs Gentry: love not seeing it. But yes, congratulations to everybody who
Becs Gentry: ran it. It was a bit of a miserable day.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It turned out okay.
Becs Gentry: I think for running, it was pretty good.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But it cleared up, and it turned out okay. And Becs, April is a busy month. That was really
Rob Simmelkjaer: just the beginning of things for us in the month
Rob Simmelkjaer: of April, that great race presented of course by J.
Rob Simmelkjaer: P. Morgan Chase. The run is one 4- miler. By
Rob Simmelkjaer: the way, the winners of that race, Roberta Groner won
Rob Simmelkjaer: the women's side, 21 minutes, 27 seconds. She continues to
Rob Simmelkjaer: just amaze.
Becs Gentry: But those hills.
Rob Simmelkjaer: She is an incredible athlete.
Becs Gentry: Unreal.
Rob Simmelkjaer: On the non- binary side, it was Elijah Taylor who's
Rob Simmelkjaer: won a lot the last year or so with 22:29.
Becs Gentry: Yikes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And on the men's side, Devin Hart's clocking in at
Rob Simmelkjaer: 19 minutes and nine seconds for that race.
Becs Gentry: That is so fast.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that was an incredible day for Devin Hart. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: congrats to the winners. And we're right back out there
Rob Simmelkjaer: this weekend, Becs, with another 4- mile race. This is
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Retro Run, that we go. Who's running the Retro
Rob Simmelkjaer: Run? Anybody signed up to run this weekend?
Becs Gentry: Yay. Great.
Rob Simmelkjaer: The Retro Run is, if you don't know, is a
Rob Simmelkjaer: run where we invite everybody to show up wearing retro
Rob Simmelkjaer: styles, retro clothes, the short shorts, so much the '70s, and the '80s.
Becs Gentry: And the high socks.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You won't catch me wearing those, but some people wear
Rob Simmelkjaer: those. A lot of tie- dye.
Becs Gentry: You got to ask Quasi, he might tell you to wear those.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, yeah. Our fashion guest, that's right, from a couple
Rob Simmelkjaer: of weeks ago. He could tell me to wear them.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's not going to happen. I am not putting those
Rob Simmelkjaer: things on. But somebody can do it, and I'd love
Rob Simmelkjaer: to see a picture of that.
Becs Gentry: We want headbands and all sorts, right? The vibe.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Definitely headbands. We want the headbands, like the tube socks.
Becs Gentry: Tube socks.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pulled up nice and high. So you got to definitely dust
Rob Simmelkjaer: off your best look. Go to whatever thrift shop you
Rob Simmelkjaer: need to go to to find some old running gear.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that's the retro 4- miler coming up this weekend.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Then on Saturday, April 19th, we'll be out at Icon
Rob Simmelkjaer: Stadium for the kids, the New York Road Runners Spring
Rob Simmelkjaer: Jamboree, presented by TCS, which is a great event. It's
Rob Simmelkjaer: so great to see the kids out there on the
Rob Simmelkjaer: track. And then the month wraps up on April 27th
Rob Simmelkjaer: back in Central Park for the Maybelline Women's half, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: is an awesome day.
Becs Gentry: One of my favorites. It's the best.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It is a great race.
Becs Gentry: It really is. It really is.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Actually, so many women love the chance to go out,
Rob Simmelkjaer: run that distance just with other women. I don't know,
Rob Simmelkjaer: have you run that race?
Becs Gentry: Yeah, I podiumed in it a couple of years ago.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, excuse me. Of course you did. What was special
Rob Simmelkjaer: for you about running that race?
Becs Gentry: It was my first official race after having Tallulah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. And I cried hysterically when I ran past her, because
Becs Gentry: she was this tiny little dot strapped onto Austin, and
Becs Gentry: I just broke down. And the girl I was running
Becs Gentry: with, bless her. She, A, at the moment, she was like, "
Becs Gentry: You're a mom?" I was like, " Yeah, that was my
Becs Gentry: baby, that's why I'm crying." And she was ever so
Becs Gentry: sweet. And she's like, " Just imagine what she's going to
Becs Gentry: think of you one day." I was like, " Oh." That
Becs Gentry: was women coming together, and it was truly magnificent to
Becs Gentry: see her at the finish.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's really sweet. Becs was just telling me before the show that Tallulah is going to take
Rob Simmelkjaer: on her first New York Road Runners race a little bit
Rob Simmelkjaer: later this year.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. She is. And if she doesn't win, you'll hear her.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's going to be at the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile.
Becs Gentry: Hopefully.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Is that the plan?
Becs Gentry: That's the plan.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's what the coaches have slotted for her.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's her big debut.
Becs Gentry: Mom and poppy coach have got it in.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I can't wait for that.
Becs Gentry: I know.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We start them as young as two, if you don't
Rob Simmelkjaer: know, at New York Road Runners, and those two- year-
Rob Simmelkjaer: old races, I dare you to find something cuter than
Rob Simmelkjaer: that thing. These little kids toddling down, some with parents,
Rob Simmelkjaer: some without. You said you were going to let her go
Rob Simmelkjaer: on her own, right? No hand- holding.
Becs Gentry: I'm a tough love mom. I'm like, " You can do this
Becs Gentry: by yourself baby girl." She'll be just under three, so
Becs Gentry: I think that's fine.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it.
Becs Gentry: Austin might have another idea. He'll probably be, she's a
Becs Gentry: daddy's girl so he might be glued to her. We'll see.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I can't wait, I can't wait to see that. And then also, Becs, another big
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing about April, not just at New York Road Runners,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but everywhere. It is Global Volunteer Month, which is huge
Rob Simmelkjaer: for us here.
Becs Gentry: Huge. Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Because if anyone has ever run any New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners race, you know how crucial volunteers are to everything
Rob Simmelkjaer: that we do, and we're really excited to thank them
Rob Simmelkjaer: this entire month. Our volunteer team is celebrating all of
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, not only this month but every race throughout the
Rob Simmelkjaer: year. And so to that end, Becs, we're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a very special member moment on today's show. Our
Rob Simmelkjaer: member's going to be a familiar face to New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: Road Runners, longtime volunteer, Janelle Hartman will be here later
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the show to talk about her amazing run as one
Rob Simmelkjaer: of our top, top volunteers.
Becs Gentry: Really. And it's also, I know it's not in our
Becs Gentry: show notes, sorry Catherine, but it's Earth Day this month
Becs Gentry: too. And I think that ties in really nicely to
Becs Gentry: our volunteers and all of the great things that New York
Becs Gentry: Road Runners are doing to be earth- conscious with our
Becs Gentry: runs, and we're helping encourage people to hold onto their
Becs Gentry: trash while they're running. Shove those gel packets in your
Becs Gentry: shorts. All the tech gear these days has plenty of
Becs Gentry: pockets, so use them. Don't use the ground, okay, spread
Becs Gentry: that word around. It's plenty, New York trash... I hate
Becs Gentry: saying that word, bins are, they're big receptacles. Like you
Becs Gentry: have the space to dodge and pop your plastic bottle
Becs Gentry: if you're using one, in. So let's celebrate Earth Day
Becs Gentry: with Healthy Earth Running as well this month.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We will be celebrating it throughout the month. I know
Rob Simmelkjaer: we're going to have some clogging events where you can
Rob Simmelkjaer: run and pick up trash and other things to celebrate
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. So April is a great month. We just need to get
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little bit warmer, that will be nice. A little
Rob Simmelkjaer: warmer, 30- something degrees in April. Not what we need?
Becs Gentry: There's snow Upstate.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. Yeah. But that'll happen, inevitably that will happen.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. Looking for new ways to keep you moving? Step
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Becs Gentry: New York Road Runners.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, well, Becs, this show started out with me
Rob Simmelkjaer: and one of the legends of running here in New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York, taking on our very first episode, Meb Keflezighi. Meb, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to have you come on up here to the stage to
Rob Simmelkjaer: join us.
Becs Gentry: Yay, Meb.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb is a man who needs really no introduction around
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York. I love walking around with Meb on marathon
Rob Simmelkjaer: weekends, whether it's in Boston or New York or wherever
Rob Simmelkjaer: you might be, because it's like walking around with Paul
Rob Simmelkjaer: McCartney. People are grabbing him, they are stopping him. They
Rob Simmelkjaer: are taking pictures with him. You really can't go anywhere
Rob Simmelkjaer: with Meb on a big marathon weekend. But for those
Rob Simmelkjaer: who don't know, this man is a 2004 Olympic silver medalist
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Athens. In 2009 he became the first American since
Rob Simmelkjaer: 1982 to win the New York City Marathon. Follow that
Rob Simmelkjaer: up in 2014 with a win at the Boston Marathon, becoming
Rob Simmelkjaer: the first American man to win there since 1983. An
Rob Simmelkjaer: unbelievable career this man has had. I'm just going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: keep embarrassing you, if you don't mind. In 2015, he
Rob Simmelkjaer: set a TCS New York City Marathon Masters event record
Rob Simmelkjaer: with a time of 2:13: 32. And he's someone we just
Rob Simmelkjaer: love having around at New York Road Runners, and we
Rob Simmelkjaer: could not have launched this podcast without him. So Meb,
Rob Simmelkjaer: welcome back to the show.
Meb Keflezighi: Thank you, Rob, it's great to be here. Thanks Becs. I'm honored
Meb Keflezighi: to be here. And this historic place, what a wonderful
Meb Keflezighi: journey it has been. Thanks for a wonderful introduction. But New York
Meb Keflezighi: Road Runners have been a big journey, part of my life.
Becs Gentry: We are so honored to have you here. I feel
Becs Gentry: like Rob's correct, you can't go anywhere when you are
Becs Gentry: in a city with a major running event, but it
Becs Gentry: is so phenomenal to see, and you're not only known
Becs Gentry: for your incredible contributions to the running world as a runner
Becs Gentry: yourself, but also as a philanthropist. You have your MEB
Becs Gentry: Foundation, which has been one of the biggest things for
Becs Gentry: you in your life to help runners continue, and help
Becs Gentry: everybody come into running, right?
Meb Keflezighi: Absolutely. My running started when I was in seventh grade
Meb Keflezighi: to get an A and a T- shirt. And when
Meb Keflezighi: I ran as hard as I could, a PE teacher
Meb Keflezighi: named Duke Lorde says, " You're going to go to the Olympics."
Meb Keflezighi: Because I ran a 5: 20 during physical education class and
Meb Keflezighi: I said-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wait a second, let's just, say that again. In eighth grade-
Meb Keflezighi: Seventh grade.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Seventh grade. Seventh grade you ran a 5: 20 mile.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You had never really run before, they just sent you
Rob Simmelkjaer: out there and said, " Go run a mile, see what happens."
Meb Keflezighi: Just basically my oldest brothers have a T- shirt that
Meb Keflezighi: says Roosevelt Junior High Mile Club T- shirt. And he
Meb Keflezighi: told the whole class, " If you run hard, I'm going
Meb Keflezighi: to give you A or a B. If I see
Meb Keflezighi: you mess around or go for a run, you're going to
Meb Keflezighi: get a D or a F." I didn't want to disappoint my parents, so
Meb Keflezighi: I ran as hard as I could. I was a soccer
Meb Keflezighi: player before, but I never ran in my entire life. In
Meb Keflezighi: fact, when I saw first people running, I saw, what are
Meb Keflezighi: they doing? They're not chasing anything. So I became one
Meb Keflezighi: of those crazy people because in seventh grade I ran at
Meb Keflezighi: a 5: 20 miles. And I grew up in Eritrea
Meb Keflezighi: without electricity, no running water. So he says, " You're going to go to
Meb Keflezighi: the Olympics." I'm like, A, T- shirt." That's all I
Meb Keflezighi: knew. And he called the high school coach and says,
Meb Keflezighi: this little one's going to be a really good one.
Meb Keflezighi: And then the rest is history.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I would love to know the splits in that mile,
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb. I really would like to know whether that was
Rob Simmelkjaer: a negative split for you, that mile. I'm going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: guess not, since you probably just took off running as
Rob Simmelkjaer: fast as you could.
Meb Keflezighi: Rob, I took off like crazy because it was not
Meb Keflezighi: around the track either, it was more, if you're ever
Meb Keflezighi: in San Diego next to the zoo, there's a middle
Meb Keflezighi: school, you run around the baseball field, go down the
Meb Keflezighi: ramp around the softball field and the finish come up
Meb Keflezighi: the ramp. And he has to have a difficult job
Meb Keflezighi: because he has to keep a eye on me, but
Meb Keflezighi: also on the back of the people because they don't
Meb Keflezighi: want them to cut. But to be able to just
Meb Keflezighi: run that fast and for me was eye- opening, and that was
Meb Keflezighi: my God- given talent. And I want to make my
Meb Keflezighi: parents proud to get an A, and then to get
Meb Keflezighi: the T- shirt because I want to be like my brothers.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Fred LeBeau had the quote I often use, " Never underestimate
Rob Simmelkjaer: the power of a free T- shirt." And in this
Rob Simmelkjaer: case it actually ended up minting an Olympian.
Becs Gentry: Testament.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that's pretty impressive power of the T- shirt right there.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, who knows how many other Olympians have followed that,
Becs Gentry: Fred LeBeau. Talking of quotes, let's talk about Meb's, one
Becs Gentry: of your quotes. Okay. So if you run with me
Becs Gentry: at Peloton, people have heard me say forward is a
Becs Gentry: pace, and that is my mantra because I believe that
Becs Gentry: doesn't matter how fast you're running, as long as you
Becs Gentry: keep moving, that's the most important thing, you're moving forward.
Becs Gentry: Yours is, " run to win." Okay. Can you talk to
Becs Gentry: us about what you mean when you say that, and
Becs Gentry: how can we apply that to all aspects of our life?
Meb Keflezighi: The New York Road Runners have a great, it says inspiring to run in
Meb Keflezighi: generation to come. The mission of the New York Runners is to inspire
Meb Keflezighi: people, and from point A to point B, from Staten
Meb Keflezighi: Island all the way to Central Park. It's not how
Meb Keflezighi: fast, but whatever you are capable of doing, no gender
Meb Keflezighi: or age or weight or all those things, getting there to the finish line, and " run to win,"
Meb Keflezighi: that's what it is, to get the best out of
Meb Keflezighi: yourself. So when I started that, I was a sophomore
Meb Keflezighi: in high school, if I go to the state meet
Meb Keflezighi: and I finished fifth at the state meet, about four
Meb Keflezighi: people were better than me, that I really have a
Meb Keflezighi: place to complain, because if I run a PR, that's the
Meb Keflezighi: fastest time I ever run. Four people were better than
Meb Keflezighi: me, then that's what " run to win" is, because I
Meb Keflezighi: got the best out of myself. And how you can
Meb Keflezighi: apply that in real life is, we are some of
Meb Keflezighi: our parents, we want to be a good example to
Meb Keflezighi: kids, make sure they eat the right nutrition, make sure
Meb Keflezighi: we introduce them to exercise, because we know like New
Meb Keflezighi: York City marathons, 55,000 people run across the finish line,
Meb Keflezighi: but at the middle school or high school, run is
Meb Keflezighi: not seen as a positivity or it's, " Oh, you're late
Meb Keflezighi: for basketball or you're late for football, give me a
Meb Keflezighi: lap." It's a punishment. But we know that in real
Meb Keflezighi: life, running is a therapy, running is for the head
Meb Keflezighi: and mind and body, is huge. So to be able
Meb Keflezighi: to do that in an example, and I try to be
Meb Keflezighi: a good parent to tell my kids that, " Hey, you
Meb Keflezighi: got to work hard. By working hard, amazing things can
Meb Keflezighi: be achieved." And an example of that is when I
Meb Keflezighi: was in seventh grade, my brother got the most outstanding
Meb Keflezighi: student at Roosevelt Junior High, because my dad woke us
Meb Keflezighi: up at 4: 30 AM to learn English as a
Meb Keflezighi: dictionary. And then my oldest brother who had the most
Meb Keflezighi: difficult, imagine yourself going to ninth grade to a different
Meb Keflezighi: country and learning the English, and getting the most outstanding
Meb Keflezighi: student. There's the trophy that they gave us. So even
Meb Keflezighi: though I won nationals and other medals, that was the
Meb Keflezighi: most prominent trophy displayed at our house because hard work
Meb Keflezighi: does pay off. And I think that's what running is. And the
Meb Keflezighi: New Yorker Road Runners has done an amazing, amazing job,
Meb Keflezighi: not only for me but for runners at the elite
Meb Keflezighi: level. In fact, the New Yorker Road Runners used to
Meb Keflezighi: give to the Mammoth Track Club or Running USA, a
Meb Keflezighi: dollar per entry to help us support to make sure
Meb Keflezighi: our dreams become reality. So the silver medal, the winning
Meb Keflezighi: New York City Marathon or Boston Marathon would not have
Meb Keflezighi: been as much if it wasn't for the stepping out
Meb Keflezighi: for the New Yorker runs to help. And I know
Meb Keflezighi: for me they've been a big part of my journey.
Meb Keflezighi: In fact, 2007, when the trials were held here, my
Meb Keflezighi: goal was to win to go to Beijing and win
Meb Keflezighi: a medal for our country, after the silver medal, maybe
Meb Keflezighi: preferably gold, but ran amazing there. 2: 06, it would
Meb Keflezighi: not be possible, but I made it a personal goal
Meb Keflezighi: to represent the United States. When I wear that USA
Meb Keflezighi: jersey here in Central Park, it was my Olympic because I
Meb Keflezighi: said I can't wait four years, New York City Marathon will be
Meb Keflezighi: my Olympic, that's why I brought the medal.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, Meb, I've never seen this before.
Becs Gentry: What?
Rob Simmelkjaer: How cool is that?
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There it is. He's holding up his medal from-
Meb Keflezighi: You can read what it says in there.
Becs Gentry: It says, " If you can make it here, you can make
Becs Gentry: it anywhere. New York. New York."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, that's amazing.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've never seen it, that this is his medal from his win.
Becs Gentry: Is it me, or are they lighter these days. That's really heavy.
Rob Simmelkjaer: In 2009, we'll make sure folks can see it online.
Rob Simmelkjaer: By the way, it's a beautiful medal. Actually I haven't
Rob Simmelkjaer: seen this medal before.
Becs Gentry: It's stunning.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Gorgeous, (inaudible) ... What's that?
Meb Keflezighi: We are an historic place, so to be able to be a New
Meb Keflezighi: York City Marathon champion, to be here, thank you for having me.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thank you for bringing that, that's so cool.
Becs Gentry: Thank you, Meb, that's so cool.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb, we've talked so much over the years, about 2009
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the year you won, and of course that was
Rob Simmelkjaer: a year that really puts you so much on the
Rob Simmelkjaer: map here in New York and lots of other places.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But this whole idea of running to win is interesting
Rob Simmelkjaer: because you've had other memorable, he's putting the medal on.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it.
Becs Gentry: Why not?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb's putting the medal on.
Becs Gentry: Wear it with pride.
Meb Keflezighi: It's my tie.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Meb Keflezighi: New York's my tie.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Just like all the folks walking around for a week
Rob Simmelkjaer: after our marathon with their medals on, Meb's wearing his
Rob Simmelkjaer: years later, but he can because he won it.
Becs Gentry: Because he won it. Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you can wear it for the rest of your life when you
Rob Simmelkjaer: won it. But Meb, in 2013, you had another really memorable New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City Marathon experience, which we haven't really talked about
Rob Simmelkjaer: as much, a different kind of idea of winning. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: crossed the finish line that year, hand- in- hand with
Rob Simmelkjaer: a local elite runner named Mike Cassidy. Can you tell
Rob Simmelkjaer: about that story?
Meb Keflezighi: Absolutely. At Staten Island, just as we were boarding the
Meb Keflezighi: bus, I met Mike Cassidy, a doctor introduced us. And
Meb Keflezighi: he's a local guy, and I was silver medal and
Meb Keflezighi: he says, " Hey, nice to meet you. See you at the
Meb Keflezighi: finish line." But I was not training, I had a
Meb Keflezighi: little calf strain, but I was healthy, just not the
Meb Keflezighi: proper training to get me to that finish line the
Meb Keflezighi: best I can. But as most of you know that
Meb Keflezighi: a competitor that I am, once the gun goes off,
Meb Keflezighi: I want to be as competitive as I can, and mind
Meb Keflezighi: over body. Right? And then about going five minute pace,
Meb Keflezighi: I know this is for the New York Runner Marathon,
Meb Keflezighi: that's 211 pace and whatnot, it's just we're pushing the
Meb Keflezighi: pace pretty hard. At 17, and I have a certain
Meb Keflezighi: struggle, and at 19 miles I remember saying my body lift
Meb Keflezighi: their right leg up, next try, it was not going
Meb Keflezighi: to happen. So I have to stop and think about
Meb Keflezighi: the Hurricane Sandy, in 2012 constellation, and think about the
Meb Keflezighi: Boston Marathon, think about my dad's journey from Eritrea to
Meb Keflezighi: Sudan where he has to walk over 225 miles. I
Meb Keflezighi: know how to feel to win, I know how to
Meb Keflezighi: feel to be up in the front, but I was
Meb Keflezighi: scared that the sweep van or the bus is going to take
Meb Keflezighi: me in, but I'm thinking in my head, how can I
Meb Keflezighi: convince them?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Come on, Meb-
Meb Keflezighi: Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer: The sweep van?
Meb Keflezighi: It was, I was thinking, how am I going to tell
Meb Keflezighi: them I'm not going to go in because I am determined to get to that finish line. So
Meb Keflezighi: I bragged about my five- minute pace, but that mile 19 to
Meb Keflezighi: 20 was 9: 58. It took me twice as long
Meb Keflezighi: because my body just shut down. I can't go anymore.
Meb Keflezighi: So people encouraged me to keep going, keep going. I
Meb Keflezighi: tried. But then Mike Cassidy, from Staten Island, came by
Meb Keflezighi: and said, "We have 5k to go, come on, Meb, you can go with me." And
Meb Keflezighi: I'm like, " I've been trying." And let me see, he
Meb Keflezighi: got in front of me, I tried to draft out
Meb Keflezighi: behind him, and then on the downhill I could hold,
Meb Keflezighi: okay, going uphill. You know how Central Park is. It's
Meb Keflezighi: a challenging, but we encouraged each other, we support each
Meb Keflezighi: other, just keep pushing. And if he really wanted, he could
Meb Keflezighi: have finished the race way ahead of me, but he
Meb Keflezighi: helped me get to that finish line, and we came across
Meb Keflezighi: holding hand. And that's what " run to win" is to
Meb Keflezighi: be able to meet people and be able to just
Meb Keflezighi: cherish it. And if it wasn't for him, I know
Meb Keflezighi: I wouldn't have finished. In fact, I talked to him
Meb Keflezighi: today, the friendship that he make with is amazing. He was
Meb Keflezighi: going to try to make it, but his daughter had
Meb Keflezighi: a fever so he couldn't make it. But I tell
Meb Keflezighi: him I was here, and those are the friendship that
Meb Keflezighi: beyond the finish line that you make and be able
Meb Keflezighi: to just cherish what the camaraderie of sports is. And
Meb Keflezighi: I feel blessed to be able to come across the
Meb Keflezighi: finish line. And he wrote a beautiful blog. If you ever
Meb Keflezighi: get a chance, Google his name, and he's almost running
Meb Keflezighi: in a plane with Michael Jordan is what he says, "
Meb Keflezighi: And he gave me the last shot to make a
Meb Keflezighi: shoot, and I sanked it." And he wrote a beautiful
Meb Keflezighi: blog, it went viral. And that's the other time that I cried
Meb Keflezighi: because I was just running a full on runner, not that it meant so
Meb Keflezighi: much to him, but by saying that it meant a
Meb Keflezighi: lot to me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow. That's a great story.
Becs Gentry: That's amazing. Yeah. Big shout out to Mike Cassidy right there.
Becs Gentry: Beautiful. Meb, let's talk about running now. We talk a
Becs Gentry: lot about your... You're giving me a nervous smile. He's like, "
Becs Gentry: Shut up Becs, that's not."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Not right now, not right now. Okay.
Becs Gentry: Not right now, we're not going to run right now. Maybe he
Becs Gentry: might be there anytime I could ever beat you though
Becs Gentry: if we ran now. What is running like for you now?
Becs Gentry: How has your friendship with running changed since you have
Becs Gentry: stopped competing and changed your routine?
Meb Keflezighi: I love to run. I love to train. I think
Meb Keflezighi: the key to success is preparation, and I did that
Meb Keflezighi: for as long as I can. And I was 42
Meb Keflezighi: years old when I retired from competitive, doing it here
Meb Keflezighi: in New York City Marathon 2017, that was my last marathon. But
Meb Keflezighi: then you come through the phase a little bit, how much should I
Meb Keflezighi: be running? And should I run eight miles, 10 miles?
Meb Keflezighi: But I'm like, I'm not getting ready for anything, why
Meb Keflezighi: am I running all those mileage? So I almost tweeted even
Meb Keflezighi: to ask people, the everyday athlete, how much is good
Meb Keflezighi: enough? Because I'm on that side now. But for me,
Meb Keflezighi: I run about four, maybe five or six miles a
Meb Keflezighi: day. I run about four, five days a week. If
Meb Keflezighi: I'm healthy, I like to run every day. It's my
Meb Keflezighi: therapy. You enjoy it. But at the same time, I
Meb Keflezighi: love the endorphin it gives you, it doesn't have to go 20
Meb Keflezighi: miles to get that high, but it's a good way
Meb Keflezighi: to have routine. I love to get it done in
Meb Keflezighi: the morning, that's how I love morning workouts, get up the
Meb Keflezighi: day and start that way for me. So it's been
Meb Keflezighi: fun to be able to just, I'm not worried about the long
Meb Keflezighi: runs or intervals. Sometimes you get the itch to do
Meb Keflezighi: it, but just some people say, which I don't agree
Meb Keflezighi: with, people say running is boring and things like that. I said, "
Meb Keflezighi: No, it's not boring, just predict what your heart rate
Meb Keflezighi: is for the next mile. Just predict what your next
Meb Keflezighi: mile split will be. If you are that interactive or
Meb Keflezighi: in tune with your body." So if I run, I'm like eight, 10,
Meb Keflezighi: I'm like, " I'm feeling good." Or if he said, " Next mile
Meb Keflezighi: is going to be 7:43, and it's 7:38 or 7: 35," I'm pretty good. And
Meb Keflezighi: so those things are good to be able to just
Meb Keflezighi: enjoy, and I still love the sport, it's done so
Meb Keflezighi: much for me, and I'm grateful to be able to be a ambassador for New Balance as well.
Becs Gentry: Oh, that's so lovely. I think for people, our listeners
Becs Gentry: in here, I'm sure there's people in the room who
Becs Gentry: have had different seasons of running. It's amazing to just
Becs Gentry: hear that you run for joy, and you don't think about
Becs Gentry: the numbers per se, on a daily basis, on a
Becs Gentry: cumulative basis. It's just because it makes you feel good
Becs Gentry: in Meb.
Meb Keflezighi: Absolutely. I think to be able to exercise is a way
Meb Keflezighi: of habit, it's a way of lifestyle. We all know
Meb Keflezighi: that 55,000, whether it is at the New York City Marathon or the
Meb Keflezighi: Half Marathon or many other things, you have to have a
Meb Keflezighi: routine to get out the door. Once you get out
Meb Keflezighi: the door, it might be cold weather or rainy weather
Meb Keflezighi: you haven't been experiencing, but once you get out of
Meb Keflezighi: the door you're going to even run more than you thought because it
Meb Keflezighi: just give you the endorphin and the commodity. You see
Meb Keflezighi: people running, you're like, " Oh, I thought it was the only crazy one that
Meb Keflezighi: running. But there's other people running too." So it gives
Meb Keflezighi: you help to be able to just get the best
Meb Keflezighi: out of yourself.
Becs Gentry: Sure does.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We were talking before we came up, the three of
Rob Simmelkjaer: us, about the fact that between us there are six
Rob Simmelkjaer: daughters and no sons. We have six girls between the
Rob Simmelkjaer: three of us, Meb, three, two, for myself, and of
Rob Simmelkjaer: course Becs has Talullah. And when we talk about running as something
Rob Simmelkjaer: that is part of your life, Meb, there's always the
Rob Simmelkjaer: desire I think for a lot of runners, especially somebody
Rob Simmelkjaer: who ran at your level, to pass that on in
Rob Simmelkjaer: some way, and finding that balance between maybe encouraging, passing
Rob Simmelkjaer: it on, but not pressuring, letting kids find their own
Rob Simmelkjaer: way. You have a daughter who's a soccer player, one
Rob Simmelkjaer: who at least is a runner, I know. How have
Rob Simmelkjaer: you tried to walk that line between encouraging them, maybe
Rob Simmelkjaer: giving them a little sense of what running did for
Rob Simmelkjaer: you in your life without, I'm sure they don't think
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're a big deal because kids never think their parents
Rob Simmelkjaer: are a big deal, even though you're a pretty big
Rob Simmelkjaer: deal. But how have you managed to try to pass
Rob Simmelkjaer: that along in a healthy way?
Meb Keflezighi: My wife, Yordanos, and she comes from a background in
Meb Keflezighi: sports, so we always encourage them to do sports, but
Meb Keflezighi: running obviously is a special part for our, she ran
Meb Keflezighi: in high school, I ran as a professional. We tried
Meb Keflezighi: to introduce them as much as we can, but at
Meb Keflezighi: the same time you don't want to put pressure on
Meb Keflezighi: them. So when I ran in San Diego, they used
Meb Keflezighi: to come and run with me, " Hey, I want to
Meb Keflezighi: go to this school, which is 0.7 miles, so let's go jog to the
Meb Keflezighi: school and back." So they'd be able to do those
Meb Keflezighi: things, or sometimes they would think on their own. They're like, "
Meb Keflezighi: Dad, is it okay if I go to the school and back?" I'm like, "
Meb Keflezighi: That's good. Yeah, you should do it." But sometimes at
Meb Keflezighi: the same time, I want them to have their own
Meb Keflezighi: life, and soccer is interest, a passion of ours, but at
Meb Keflezighi: the same time they love to exercise, which is a
Meb Keflezighi: great thing, but routine is important. It's like, " Hey, you want to do
Meb Keflezighi: sit-ups, you want to do the gym or you want to do push- ups
Meb Keflezighi: and things like that. I had a time when I was,
Meb Keflezighi: I used to put them on my back to do
Meb Keflezighi: the push- ups. So as long, the stretching, the nutrition,
Meb Keflezighi: those are good habits to pass on to, and then
Meb Keflezighi: hopefully they can take it up. Yes, sometimes I'm a
Meb Keflezighi: dad and they don't listen to it, but hopefully friends say, "
Meb Keflezighi: Oh, it's cool."
Becs Gentry: I think they must.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, Meb, can we maybe bring you back to the
Rob Simmelkjaer: interviewing side of this podcast because we thought it'd be
Rob Simmelkjaer: fun to kind of do a little bit of a
Rob Simmelkjaer: trifecta here. So we interviewed you and now Becs, we want
Rob Simmelkjaer: to turn the tables and ask you a few questions
Rob Simmelkjaer: about what's going on with you. Meb, you want to join me? You want to
Rob Simmelkjaer: do that?
Meb Keflezighi: Yeah, let's do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Let's grill her, let's ask us some really hard questions.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I mean, Becs, obviously you all know what Becs did
Rob Simmelkjaer: last November. You know that she ran seven marathons on
Rob Simmelkjaer: seven continents in seven days, which I will never get
Rob Simmelkjaer: my head around, to be honest. Looking, I mean listen,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's been what, six months or so since you did that?
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Have you gotten to a point yet where you have
Rob Simmelkjaer: put that in perspective, what you actually did? I would
Rob Simmelkjaer: think at some point it would seem as crazy to
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, as it does to me that you did that
Rob Simmelkjaer: even though you did it. How do you reflect on
Rob Simmelkjaer: that six months later?
Becs Gentry: Honestly, it sounds really bizarre to say I don't think
Becs Gentry: I have still fully processed it, and you're all probably like, "
Becs Gentry: Okay, come on woman." But there are days when, yeah,
Becs Gentry: I'm like, " Wow, I did that." Or I see the medal,
Becs Gentry: it's by my Tread, and what medals, many of them.
Becs Gentry: But the big one I'm like, " Wow."
Rob Simmelkjaer: How many medals do you get for that, by the
Rob Simmelkjaer: way? Seven? You got at least one for all of them?
Becs Gentry: One for each race. One big one for completing the
Becs Gentry: race, and then one for the Global Marathon club. So
Becs Gentry: nine in total, which was heavy by the end. I
Becs Gentry: was like... But it was, yeah, it's going to take
Becs Gentry: a while. It really is going to take a while.
Becs Gentry: But I will tell you one thing that actually came
Becs Gentry: out today a little in my mentality, is it's really taught
Becs Gentry: me so much about who I am and how I
Becs Gentry: run. And I got sidetracked this morning. Our studios are
Becs Gentry: closed at Peloton right now for maintenance, so it's fantastic.
Becs Gentry: And I got to go on a field trip with
Becs Gentry: Tallulah, which I've never done, her school. We went to
Becs Gentry: the firehouse, which was so much fun. And I was
Becs Gentry: in my running kit, I looked stupid, I'm in my
Becs Gentry: other brand shoes. And I'm walking along with these tiny
Becs Gentry: toddlers thinking like, " Oh, my gosh, I should be doing
Becs Gentry: my speed workout today for training." But I didn't care
Becs Gentry: because past me would've been so worried about doing the
Becs Gentry: morning workout because I know I'm terrible afternoon, I'm terrible
Becs Gentry: at training in the afternoon, especially for a speed workout.
Becs Gentry: But then that mentality kicked in of like, " Dude, shut
Becs Gentry: up. You ran around the world, you had no idea
Becs Gentry: what time was for seven days, and you ran some
Becs Gentry: pretty quick marathons, so you can do an hour's speed
Becs Gentry: training whenever you're done with your daughter." So that was
Becs Gentry: nice to be like, "Yeah, all right, I'm tougher than I think."
Meb Keflezighi: Enjoying the moment with family is important.
Becs Gentry: Way more important.
Meb Keflezighi: Priceless moments.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Meb Keflezighi: But talking about hard, when you are not teaching and
Meb Keflezighi: it's hard, how do you keep it fun when the
Meb Keflezighi: miles get monotonous? Like this afternoon.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. I mean, this afternoon. I'm a big proponent of listening to podcasts. I
Becs Gentry: listen to our podcasts. I do listen to it back
Becs Gentry: and check that we're not going off kilter too much.
Becs Gentry: I listen to a lot of other podcasts. Also, if
Becs Gentry: I'm on my Peloton Tread, I do like to take
Becs Gentry: my friends' classes or watch a new TV show, something
Becs Gentry: that Austin doesn't want to sit on the sofa and
Becs Gentry: watch with me. It's my time, but it's also me
Becs Gentry: time. I think especially living in a big city, it's
Becs Gentry: very hard to have personal time by yourself. And as
Becs Gentry: much as I love running with other people in communities and
Becs Gentry: in groups, as somebody who is public- facing all the
Becs Gentry: time, somebody who is a mom, lives in New York
Becs Gentry: City, my runs sometimes even when they're really tough, I'm like, "
Becs Gentry: I'm by myself. This is fantastic. No one can get to me."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Having a little kid will do that to you. Any
Rob Simmelkjaer: quiet time is great time. No matter what's going on,
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're alone. No one is crying, no one asks for
Rob Simmelkjaer: their whatever to be changed or something new. So I
Rob Simmelkjaer: get that. I'm curious, when you go around, we all
Rob Simmelkjaer: go around, we have social situations where maybe it comes
Rob Simmelkjaer: up that we're a runner. Maybe it comes up that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we ran a marathon. You might mention, yeah, I ran
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York, I ran Berlin, whatever. When it just comes
Rob Simmelkjaer: up in a social setting for you that you ran
Rob Simmelkjaer: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. For someone
Rob Simmelkjaer: who doesn't know that, what kind of reactions do you
Rob Simmelkjaer: get from people? What's the funniest, craziest reaction anyone's given
Rob Simmelkjaer: you when they learn this about you?
Becs Gentry: Why? They're like, " Why would you do that?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: The obvious question is the why?
Becs Gentry: " Would you do that? Why would you want to
Becs Gentry: do that? How?" A lot of people think I jumped on a Delta flight between
Becs Gentry: each, and they're like, " Yeah, that's not possible." I'm like, " That's not
Becs Gentry: how we did it."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, connected in Atlanta. Yeah, that would be hard to do.
Becs Gentry: "I have status, so I got through." No, it's the
Becs Gentry: why? And honestly, I know it may not seem it,
Becs Gentry: but I am a very introverted extrovert. I don't like
Becs Gentry: to talk about my achievements and my accomplishments. I don't
Becs Gentry: walk into the room with that like, " It's me. Look
Becs Gentry: what I did. Ha- ha." It's normally Austin who will big
Becs Gentry: me up, or other people. Or somebody else will be like, "
Becs Gentry: Aren't you the one who did that really weird race?" And I'm like, "
Becs Gentry: Yeah, that's probably me."
Rob Simmelkjaer: So what do you say? What's your answer to the why, when they
Rob Simmelkjaer: ask you that?
Becs Gentry: Because I needed some downtime.
Meb Keflezighi: What is it?
Becs Gentry: I needed some downtime. I needed to fill my cup.
Meb Keflezighi: Downtime, seven days, seven marathons and seven continents.
Becs Gentry: I needed to fill my cup. Yeah. I had to do it to rediscover
Becs Gentry: who I was, and it worked very well.
Meb Keflezighi: That's interesting because I've been asked to do it, and
Meb Keflezighi: I'm really trying to find my why, because I love to
Meb Keflezighi: travel, but it's just the seven days kind of threw
Meb Keflezighi: me off because I mean the recovery, the soreness and all that stuff.
Becs Gentry: I never got sore, Meb. I never got sore. I know,
Becs Gentry: I think I should get tested for lack of lactic
Becs Gentry: acid or something. Make me do a pushup and I'll
Becs Gentry: be sore for a week. But yeah, that's the why.
Becs Gentry: That's the why.
Meb Keflezighi: So we talk about seven continents, seven marathons, seven days. What
Meb Keflezighi: about the 26.2? I love that distance personally, but how do
Meb Keflezighi: you convince or tell people that are not marathoners or 26.
Meb Keflezighi: 2 runners to make the magic, the finish line?
Becs Gentry: Honestly, this is going to sound terrible. I don't. I let them
Becs Gentry: decide to do it.
Meb Keflezighi: That's good.
Becs Gentry: Because you can't force people to do it. You've got
Becs Gentry: to feel the pull to want to do it for
Becs Gentry: yourself. I will share my stories. I will share my
Becs Gentry: journey, and my adventure on each and every different 26.
Becs Gentry: 2 I've ever embarked on. And if somebody is compelled
Becs Gentry: to sign up and put themselves on that journey, then
Becs Gentry: fantastic. But I'm not a pusher. I'll be there to
Becs Gentry: cheer you if you want to do it. If not,
Becs Gentry: I don't know, cycling's your thing, great, just move.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's the way to do it, because nobody has to run a marathon.
Meb Keflezighi: Because, no, when you get on mile 17, they want to
Meb Keflezighi: be cursing you. Right? They could be like-
Becs Gentry: Exactly. Karma. I believe in karma. I don't need that.
Meb Keflezighi: Also as a coach. I just tell people, " I can help you
Meb Keflezighi: get the best out of yourself. But it's hard for
Meb Keflezighi: me to see, go down the street, it says, I
Meb Keflezighi: think you should do a marathon." But once they have
Meb Keflezighi: the love for 5k, 10k, half- marathon, then they want to challenge
Meb Keflezighi: themselves to get to that level.
Becs Gentry: Exactly.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It comes from inside. Yep. All right, so apparently-
Becs Gentry: We've talked enough about me. We've talked enough about Meb.
Becs Gentry: Let's talk about getting the best out of yourself, and
Becs Gentry: that is we are now going to ask this guy,
Becs Gentry: the CEO of New York Road Runners a few questions ourselves.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Bring it on, Becs.
Becs Gentry: Yay.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We've done this before. She always asks very difficult questions, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm going to do my best.
Becs Gentry: It's not going to be the interrogation that we started the year with,
Becs Gentry: don't worry. Rob, I want to know, New York Road
Becs Gentry: Runners is a name, a force, a wonderful, wonderful place
Becs Gentry: to be. What are some of the biggest things you
Becs Gentry: have learned about yourself since you've been in the role
Becs Gentry: as CEO?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thank you. New York Road Runners is an incredible place
Rob Simmelkjaer: to work. All of us who work here are so
Rob Simmelkjaer: fortunate to have this as what we do every day.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think I had worked in sports for most of
Rob Simmelkjaer: my career, mostly on the corporate side. I'd worked at ESPN and
Rob Simmelkjaer: NBC Sports, and I loved it. I loved working in
Rob Simmelkjaer: those places. I think having a job where you can
Rob Simmelkjaer: honestly get up and realize that you're changing people's lives
Rob Simmelkjaer: every day, I had never really had that before. That
Rob Simmelkjaer: was why I came here, and I thought it would
Rob Simmelkjaer: be good and different. It's even better than I thought
Rob Simmelkjaer: it would be. I can't say how great it is
Rob Simmelkjaer: to be able to wake up every day and know
Rob Simmelkjaer: that the work you're doing is changing lives. And not
Rob Simmelkjaer: just theoretically, you don't just know you're changing lives out
Rob Simmelkjaer: there somewhere in the world far away or whatever. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: see these people, you see them. I mean some of
Rob Simmelkjaer: them are sitting right in front of me right now.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I know that in this audience right now, there are
Rob Simmelkjaer: people whose lives have been changed one way or another,
Rob Simmelkjaer: from running. I see them at the finish line of
Rob Simmelkjaer: races. I see them all the time. So that's an
Rob Simmelkjaer: incredible gift to be able to have that. I think
Rob Simmelkjaer: what I've learned about myself is how energizing that is
Rob Simmelkjaer: for me to be able to have that as my
Rob Simmelkjaer: GAOB, as they say, every single day. So it's pretty cool.
Becs Gentry: That's really cool.
Meb Keflezighi: It is cool to be able to be interacting with
Meb Keflezighi: people as you travel around, but what do you feel
Meb Keflezighi: is the most proudest that you have accomplished in the
Meb Keflezighi: last two years that you've been leading the New York Road Runners?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, that's a hard one.
Meb Keflezighi: So many, I'm pretty sure.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We've got so many great things going on right now.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's really difficult to say one thing. I guess the
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing I might point to is what's going on with
Rob Simmelkjaer: our kids right now, and the kids programs that we
Rob Simmelkjaer: have, because I really think that's the heart and soul
Rob Simmelkjaer: of what our organization is. It's not what gets the
Rob Simmelkjaer: headlines, it's not what people are maybe talking about or
Rob Simmelkjaer: signing up for. All of our races with our adults
Rob Simmelkjaer: right up into the marathon are incredibly special, and frankly,
Rob Simmelkjaer: they would allow us to do what we do with
Rob Simmelkjaer: the kids. But we had over 200, 000 kids in New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City public schools in our Rising New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners program this year. That's happening right now.
Becs Gentry: Huge.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's the biggest number of kids we've had in that
Rob Simmelkjaer: program since the pandemic. We started a new middle school
Rob Simmelkjaer: running program this year, and at our race, actually, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: haven't told this story to anybody yet, at our Run as
Rob Simmelkjaer: One race this past Sunday at the finish line, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: give out the high- fives as I do at all
Rob Simmelkjaer: the finish lines, and a woman fist bumped me and
Rob Simmelkjaer: she was a teacher at one of the middle schools
Rob Simmelkjaer: where this program is happening. I haven't had a chance
Rob Simmelkjaer: to really visit any of these schools yet. I know
Rob Simmelkjaer: that we've got lots of kids doing it, and this
Rob Simmelkjaer: teacher comes up to me and she's like, " I just want
Rob Simmelkjaer: you to know this program is amazing. Our kids love
Rob Simmelkjaer: it. They're getting so much out of it." And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: when I meet people like that, teachers who tell me
Rob Simmelkjaer: that it's helping them do their jobs better, and they've
Rob Simmelkjaer: got really hard jobs to do, and that job's getting
Rob Simmelkjaer: harder and harder these days with budget cuts and the
Rob Simmelkjaer: challenges of being a teacher with young people, that is
Rob Simmelkjaer: incredible. So I think, for me, that would be the
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing I'm most proud of. And I think we're really
Rob Simmelkjaer: just getting started with a lot of these programs that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we're building and looking for new areas to go into.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But I think that's what I feel best about right now.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, so we're going to do a little lightning round here, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: to wrap up before we bring out our member.
Becs Gentry: We love this.
Rob Simmelkjaer: To talk about, each of us is going to give
Rob Simmelkjaer: a quick answer to this question. Okay. So the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: one is, what's the best running advice you'd give to
Rob Simmelkjaer: your daughter, Becs?
Becs Gentry: Slow down.
Rob Simmelkjaer: She goes a little too fast out of the gate?
Becs Gentry: A little too fast.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, they do that.
Becs Gentry: Covered in cuts and bruises.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They do that at two. That's what they do. Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs, sorry, Med.
Meb Keflezighi: Discipline. Be able to just tie your shoes and plan
Meb Keflezighi: for when are you going to run.
Becs Gentry: Love that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. Mine would be, just start. Just got
Rob Simmelkjaer: to start. I mean, my oldest daughter runs cross country.
Rob Simmelkjaer: She started, my little one runs a little bit, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: the hardest part about any run is the start, always.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you just got to get going. Just take a
Rob Simmelkjaer: first step. Okay. What's the best life advice that you would give to
Rob Simmelkjaer: your daughters, Meb?
Meb Keflezighi: I tell them it is progress. There's no shortcuts in life, and one
Meb Keflezighi: mile becomes 5k, 5k becomes a marathon or a half- marathon.
Meb Keflezighi: And in life you got to go through elementary, junior high, middle school.
Meb Keflezighi: So we'll make mistakes, but just make progress in the
Meb Keflezighi: right direction.
Becs Gentry: Believe you can. Believe you can and try. That's for sure.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A hundred percent. I always say in our family there's
Rob Simmelkjaer: one rule which is, don't give up. You've got to
Rob Simmelkjaer: keep going. You've got to keep trying. Just don't give
Rob Simmelkjaer: up until whatever you've done is done, but you've got
Rob Simmelkjaer: to keep going.
Meb Keflezighi: Got to finish the project.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's one of the great things about running. The metaphors
Rob Simmelkjaer: are endless. The life metaphors are literally endless. Okay. What
Rob Simmelkjaer: is your favorite distance to run, Becs?
Becs Gentry: I mean, really?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Is it obvious? Is it 26.2?
Becs Gentry: 26. 2. I mean, I don't actually enjoy doing it that
Becs Gentry: much. It's painful.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So, what do you like to run? What's your favorite distance?
Becs Gentry: Literally, if I could just run eight miles.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, I love that kind of distance.
Becs Gentry: Joyful
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb?
Meb Keflezighi: It all depends on the shape you're in, but if
Meb Keflezighi: I have to choose, it's probably 10 miles.
Rob Simmelkjaer: 10 miles, it's a nice distance actually.
Becs Gentry: It is, yeah.
Meb Keflezighi: Because it's double digits.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, double digits.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's a distance, we don't run it that often. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: have of course the New Balance Bronx 10- miler, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: is by the way, I always say probably my favorite
Rob Simmelkjaer: race of the year in terms of the experience of
Rob Simmelkjaer: running it. And you got the Cherry Blossom 10- miler down in D.
Rob Simmelkjaer: C. that just happened. It is a great distance.
Becs Gentry: It is.
Meb Keflezighi: I never competed at the high, when I was an elite at the
Meb Keflezighi: distance, but down at the Cherry Blossom, the distance is
Meb Keflezighi: 10 miles is respectable and it's a great distance.
Becs Gentry: Gritty.
Meb Keflezighi: And you can walk normal the next day.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hundred percent.
Becs Gentry: He's probably running at 4:30, casual.
Rob Simmelkjaer: For me, it's 10k, to be honest. It sounds crazy. When I talk about what I
Rob Simmelkjaer: do for a living, everyone thinks it's got to be
Rob Simmelkjaer: the marathon. It is not the marathon. I have run
Rob Simmelkjaer: four marathons now. I have done it, I've gone through
Rob Simmelkjaer: it. It's a great experience. But I love 10 kilometers, because
Rob Simmelkjaer: you just get a little bit of speed in there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You get a chance to try to run fast. Feel
Rob Simmelkjaer: the air blowing through my locks. I love that. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: love that feeling of running fast. So 10k. Okay. What is your
Rob Simmelkjaer: favorite exercise besides running, Meb?
Meb Keflezighi: My favorite exercise is to play soccer, but I've been
Meb Keflezighi: moving so much forward in the last 20, 30 years, 120,
Meb Keflezighi: 000 miles, and this body can't go laterally anymore, so
Meb Keflezighi: I'm sticking to running.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Lateral is dangerous. A lot of bad things can happen
Rob Simmelkjaer: when you run laterally.
Meb Keflezighi: Yeah, a lot of injuries happen, so I finally hanged it up.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What about you?
Becs Gentry: Oh, I don't really do much else other than running. I mean
Becs Gentry: I row at Peloton, sorry.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Rowing's good.
Becs Gentry: Rowing's good.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Low impact.
Becs Gentry: Again, it's fun. Honestly, tennis probably.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's mine. Tennis, a hundred percent. Tennis was always my
Rob Simmelkjaer: second love. I played baseball, but I always loved tennis.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hard to play baseball as a 50- something- year- old
Rob Simmelkjaer: guy. But tennis is always there.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it is.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Which I haven't yet taken the bait to start pickleball
Rob Simmelkjaer: yet. I'm still trying to play tennis, but I know
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's somewhat I'm going to have to become a pickleball guy.
Becs Gentry: Pickleball is aggressive.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, what is your favorite post- race meal? We
Rob Simmelkjaer: talk about this a lot at Road Runner's. Favorite thing
Rob Simmelkjaer: to eat after a race. I'll start with this. After
Rob Simmelkjaer: the 4- miler the other day, I had a bacon,
Rob Simmelkjaer: egg and cheese sandwich. It was fantastic. At a great
Rob Simmelkjaer: deli in the Upper East Side. Not healthy at all,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but just tasted so good with a latte.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. I'm sure.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So it's usually a morning race. I usually go for
Rob Simmelkjaer: a morning meal. What about you, Meb?
Meb Keflezighi: I'm a breakfast kind of guy, so I like to have a omelet or
Meb Keflezighi: eggs scrambled, is my go- to. And in the evening I
Meb Keflezighi: like to have steak.
Becs Gentry: That's Tallulah's favorite meal right now. No wonder she's fast.
Becs Gentry: Okay. I hate eating after a race. I literally can't
Becs Gentry: eat when I finish running, because I feel like I
Becs Gentry: eat so much when I run. But I make a
Becs Gentry: really mean, big shake, and I think about that for the
Becs Gentry: last few miles of my run, and it's got everything
Becs Gentry: in it. And it's calorific and chocolatey and peanut buttery, and some
Becs Gentry: spinach. I know it sounds gross and weird.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You're so healthy. A protein shake. Okay, last one before
Rob Simmelkjaer: we move on to our member moment interview. And I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer: curious, for Meb especially, what race in your life that
Rob Simmelkjaer: you've run are you most proud of?
Meb Keflezighi: That's a tough question.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Because you've got a few to choose from. You've got
Rob Simmelkjaer: quite a few, how would you pick one?
Becs Gentry: How long have we got?
Meb Keflezighi: New York City Marathon is my favorite, favorite marathon. The
Meb Keflezighi: most meaningful victory was what happened in 2014, the year after
Meb Keflezighi: the bombing. And you visualize it, you dream it and
Meb Keflezighi: whatnot. But I mean for me to be able to
Meb Keflezighi: come across in terms of proud moment is to be
Meb Keflezighi: able to say when the weight of the nation was
Meb Keflezighi: on your back and to persevere through that and not
Meb Keflezighi: be able to be caught, and you were the underdog.
Meb Keflezighi: And to come on top in front of the 36, 000 people
Meb Keflezighi: was pretty special. But New York had give me all
Meb Keflezighi: the opportunities, taught me a lot of lessons, what to
Meb Keflezighi: do, what not to do, and it was the day
Meb Keflezighi: that all came together for me, even though I was
Meb Keflezighi: two weeks shy on my 39th birthday. So proudest moment,
Meb Keflezighi: it was the Boston Marathon.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely.
Becs Gentry: What a day. Tough one for me as well. I think the 2019
Becs Gentry: TCS New York City Marathon, for me, I'd gone through
Becs Gentry: a really tough year, gone through a divorce, I'd gone
Becs Gentry: through a lot of stress. I had no idea I
Becs Gentry: had that pace in me at all. And I finished
Becs Gentry: first non- elite female at the New York City Marathon, and
Becs Gentry: I never expected that ever. Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's a pretty big deal.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, that's amazing. I don't know, for me, I don't
Rob Simmelkjaer: have anything that's going to compare to your races. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: mean, I think it's probably my first marathon, to be
Rob Simmelkjaer: honest. I ran it 25 years old. I just had
Rob Simmelkjaer: the bright idea to run a marathon. When I saw
Rob Simmelkjaer: the end of the Boston Marathon my last year in
Rob Simmelkjaer: law school up there. And I said, " God, that'd be
Rob Simmelkjaer: cool to run a marathon." So I just mailed in
Rob Simmelkjaer: back then you mailed in, that's right, with a actual
Rob Simmelkjaer: paper. Mailed in for an application, got it back, sent
Rob Simmelkjaer: it back to East 89th Street.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And I got in my first try in the drawing,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and I trained on my own. I had no idea
Rob Simmelkjaer: what I was doing. I got a magazine with a
Rob Simmelkjaer: training chart on it, and I did what the magazine said, and I
Rob Simmelkjaer: showed up in Staten Island all by myself. And it
Rob Simmelkjaer: was the rainiest marathon in the history of the New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: City Marathon. I think it rained two inches that day.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It absolutely poured rain. But I got to the finish line.
Becs Gentry: You did it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think what I remember most about that is that my
Rob Simmelkjaer: parents came out for that. And my parents caught me
Rob Simmelkjaer: on the way up 1st Avenue, and then they doubled
Rob Simmelkjaer: back into Harlem, caught me coming down 5th Avenue in
Rob Simmelkjaer: Harlem. And the fact that they came out along with the way
Rob Simmelkjaer: a bunch of my friends who waited for me on
Rob Simmelkjaer: Central Park South in an absolutely driving rainstorm. I think
Rob Simmelkjaer: that's what I remember the most, is the people who
Rob Simmelkjaer: came out to see me that day. But it was a good one.
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners is a nonprofit organization with a
Rob Simmelkjaer: vision to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the
Rob Simmelkjaer: transformative power of running. The support of members and donors
Rob Simmelkjaer: like you helps us achieve our mission to transform the
Rob Simmelkjaer: health and wellbeing 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. All right, so we're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to stop talking about our stories and we're going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to shine a spotlight on one of our members right now.
Becs Gentry: Yes, let's do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Our member moment this week is someone who loves running
Rob Simmelkjaer: and loves volunteering, and she has helped to shape the
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York City running community. Janelle Hartman was the recipient
Rob Simmelkjaer: of the 2018 Joe Kleinerman Award. She's an open run
Rob Simmelkjaer: captain who's been volunteering since the first Astoria Park Open
Rob Simmelkjaer: Run back in 2015. She's a runner herself. That's right.
Rob Simmelkjaer: She's a runner herself, and in 2018 at the age
Rob Simmelkjaer: of 55, Janelle proudly crossed the finish line as the
Rob Simmelkjaer: official final finisher of the 2018 TCS New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon. Janelle, welcome to the show. Nice to have you.
Janelle Hartman: Thank you so much. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Becs.
Janelle Hartman: Thank you, Meb, for having me today. And yeah, I did
Janelle Hartman: those things.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You did all that. Janelle, we were talking earlier, it's volunteer appreciation
Rob Simmelkjaer: month, and we so much appreciate everything you've done for
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners for the running community. That open and
Rob Simmelkjaer: run location you have out there in Astoria is really
Rob Simmelkjaer: special. I went out there, it was the first open run
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'd ever gone to in Astoria Park. And the community
Rob Simmelkjaer: you guys have there is so great. People come in
Rob Simmelkjaer: week in and week out. They know they're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: see your face, your fellow volunteers' faces out there. What
Rob Simmelkjaer: is it that motivates you to keep showing up week
Rob Simmelkjaer: after week after week to help put that run together?
Janelle Hartman: Well, that park is amazing. And if anyone hears from
Janelle Hartman: Astoria, don't know if I have any Queens people in the house.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We've got a couple.
Janelle Hartman: We're such a diverse neighborhood and it really is amazing
Janelle Hartman: to see. Every week you don't know who's going to
Janelle Hartman: show up, and you get to see mothers, fathers, kids,
Janelle Hartman: scooters, dogs, people from all ages who come out. And
Janelle Hartman: what's been growing is this amazing amount of people started an
Janelle Hartman: open run, started doing their first 5k, moved up, and
Janelle Hartman: we have so many marathoners now that literally after every
Janelle Hartman: race, pretty much we take pictures of anyone who's gotten
Janelle Hartman: a medal. It's kind of my thing. But particularly the
Janelle Hartman: amount of people who have completed marathons, RTCS, New York City
Janelle Hartman: Marathon and other marathons, is amazing. And they started with
Janelle Hartman: Open Run, or they've used Open Run as an anchor,
Janelle Hartman: because that's also a place that you know every week
Janelle Hartman: on a Saturday you can show up, see people from the
Janelle Hartman: running community. You don't have to go in a corral,
Janelle Hartman: you just show up. We send you on your way,
Janelle Hartman: and you'll run through the park, and it's a gorgeous
Janelle Hartman: park. So it's a fun time. You should come out,
Janelle Hartman: Meb, I'd love to have you.
Meb Keflezighi: That'd be great. That'll be fun sometime. You've been volunteering
Meb Keflezighi: for over a decade for the New York Road Runners, can
Meb Keflezighi: you tell us the first time you volunteered for the
Meb Keflezighi: New York Half, and then how you're still involved now?
Janelle Hartman: So I decided I wanted to become a runner. I
Janelle Hartman: had a trainer who is one of your mentors for
Janelle Hartman: Team for Kids. And she said, " Well, let's get you
Janelle Hartman: through a 5k." Which she did. And then she put
Janelle Hartman: me through a 10k. And then we looked at the half
Janelle Hartman: and the Maybelline, which was another name at the time,
Janelle Hartman: was my first half. So I said, you know what?
Janelle Hartman: I got to see if people are going to stick
Janelle Hartman: around for my pace. What is it going to be
Janelle Hartman: like? So I'm a prepper, I'm going to go to
Janelle Hartman: dinner later. I already know what I'm going to get
Janelle Hartman: on the menu. I get ready. I prep for whatever
Janelle Hartman: I'm getting ahead. So I wanted to see what it
Janelle Hartman: was like, and I got a spot at the finish
Janelle Hartman: as a volunteer, and I cheered on those final finishers.
Janelle Hartman: I was not going to leave until I made sure
Janelle Hartman: everybody got through because I said, " Well, hope somebody's going
Janelle Hartman: to stick around for me at my half, so I'm going to at
Janelle Hartman: least do it for these." And I remember the volunteer
Janelle Hartman: leader at the time came over and said, " Hey, you
Janelle Hartman: can come back anytime. You have a lot of good
Janelle Hartman: energy." And just that one encouragement got me hooked. So
Janelle Hartman: now I'm like, " Okay, now I got to do both. I got to run."
Janelle Hartman: So I used to run short and volunteer long, as
Janelle Hartman: I called it. So I would do all the halves
Janelle Hartman: and different things, and then I would start and I
Janelle Hartman: would run the shorter races, until 2018.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Meb Keflezighi: Awesome.
Becs Gentry: That's amazing. Okay, let's talk about 2018. 55 years old.
Becs Gentry: You ran the TCS New York City Marathon. You were
Becs Gentry: a final finisher that day. Talk about those last few
Becs Gentry: miles. What was going through your mind? I mean, that's
Becs Gentry: a long race.
Janelle Hartman: Yeah, it's a long time out there, but I have
Janelle Hartman: an amazing support group of people who really have loved
Janelle Hartman: me through. And I also knew that a lot of
Janelle Hartman: people said to me like, this guy at works said, "
Janelle Hartman: Don't you dare come back to work unless you finish."
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Janelle Hartman: There's something about somebody saying, " Don't you..." Because you can't shut up
Janelle Hartman: about this running business. You better show up, and you
Janelle Hartman: better finish. That carried me through a lot of miles.
Becs Gentry: Wow, the tough love. Yeah.
Janelle Hartman: But when I got to Engineers Gate, I had a group
Janelle Hartman: of supporters that came from my running group. One of
Janelle Hartman: them is here tonight with me, Maggie, and they cheered
Janelle Hartman: me on. And somebody pulled out a video and showed
Janelle Hartman: me a lot of finishers sitting at a bar enjoying
Janelle Hartman: their post- run marathon, and they were all cheering. And
Janelle Hartman: there was my name. The tears ran. I really have
Janelle Hartman: to finish. So I just said, " All right." And I
Janelle Hartman: kind of took over, because I kind of do that
Janelle Hartman: sometimes. And I took over, I said, "All right, these are the songs I want." So we literally,
Janelle Hartman: the last few miles, songs and every once in a
Janelle Hartman: while, Road Runner guide come and say, " Who's Janelle?" And
Janelle Hartman: I'd be like, " I'm Janelle. I'm going to make it.
Janelle Hartman: Tell Peter I'm coming." Because that was Peter Ciaccia's last race. So
Janelle Hartman: I needed Peter to retire. I mean, he would've been
Janelle Hartman: mad. He wouldn't have gotten his 401k, well, in those
Janelle Hartman: days. So I needed to finish for Peter to get
Janelle Hartman: on with his life. So I needed to get there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Peter Ciaccia's.
Janelle Hartman: And I did.
Becs Gentry: You did.
Meb Keflezighi: You did.
Becs Gentry: Beautifully.
Rob Simmelkjaer: The former race director of the New York City Marathon. I love
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. Peer pressure can really do a lot, right?
Janelle Hartman: It sure does. As long as it's in the right way, because sometimes it can be a little, as long as it stays on the side
Janelle Hartman: of encouragement with a slight feeling that there may be
Janelle Hartman: a little shame if you don't. But also, I knew
Janelle Hartman: people believed in me, and I think that sometimes all that
Janelle Hartman: we need to do in this community is say, " I
Janelle Hartman: really do believe you can do this." And so I
Janelle Hartman: think that that's what, if we can say, " I know
Janelle Hartman: you can do it." So somebody looks at me today,
Janelle Hartman: or here's me, actually I was 56 when I did it. This old
Janelle Hartman: lady did this race, and she's not that small and
Janelle Hartman: she's pretty slow, it's like paint drying when I run.
Janelle Hartman: That person said, " You know what? She did it." " Maybe
Janelle Hartman: I can do that." And I really hope that that makes
Janelle Hartman: people say, " Try it." Do what you need to do.
Janelle Hartman: Do it the way you need to do it, not the
Janelle Hartman: way you think you have to do it.
Becs Gentry: That part, that part.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. You're a social worker in your non-running career.
Janelle Hartman: I am. I am.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And just listening to you, I can feel it, I can feel the encouragement. What's
Rob Simmelkjaer: the tie- in you think, between your work as a
Rob Simmelkjaer: social worker, and what you do as a runner, as a
Rob Simmelkjaer: volunteer, encouraging people to get into running?
Janelle Hartman: Well, I work in one of the largest nursing homes
Janelle Hartman: in the city, and people there are at every level
Janelle Hartman: of ability. And one thing I knew is that both
Janelle Hartman: my legs worked. And so I said, " You know what? Both
Janelle Hartman: my legs work, and they may not be the fastest,
Janelle Hartman: but let me use them. Let me do movement. Let
Janelle Hartman: me keep going as far as I can." And I
Janelle Hartman: have to say that it's just amazing to see you're
Janelle Hartman: encouraging people that have to relearn to walk. You say
Janelle Hartman: to yourself every day, it's a gift to have legs,
Janelle Hartman: or to have a chance, maybe even if you're using
Janelle Hartman: a wheelchair or have the arm strength to move a power chair, to move a chair
Janelle Hartman: or to move, I'm thinking of the name of that
Janelle Hartman: wheelchair, see-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Or one of the bikes. Yeah, that little hand cycles.
Janelle Hartman: I mean it's amazing to see that. So I know that it just ties in. So every day when
Janelle Hartman: I'm encouraging people, I also know that I have to encourage myself to listen. Every day you got to
Janelle Hartman: practice what you preach. You got to get out there
Janelle Hartman: and move yourself and do things and encourage people to
Janelle Hartman: get their goals. It may not look very Instagrammable, but
Janelle Hartman: it may look the way it is for you, and
Janelle Hartman: people will be behind you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Amazing. Janelle, thank you. Thanks for coming.
Becs Gentry: Janelle, thank you so much.
Janelle Hartman: Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: This is what we talk about. This is what we talk about
Rob Simmelkjaer: on Set the Pace. This is what it's all about.
Becs Gentry: This is it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So love your story and it's been great having you.
Janelle Hartman: Thank you so much for having me.
Becs Gentry: Thank you, Janelle. Thank you for what you do.
Janelle Hartman: Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thanks for you volunteering and all the difference you've made. I love
Rob Simmelkjaer: those stories. And Open Run is something not everybody knows about,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but free running in every borough of New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: every single weekend.
Becs Gentry: You can do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So if you want to give it a try, you
Rob Simmelkjaer: haven't gotten into running, you don't want to or don't
Rob Simmelkjaer: know how to sign up for a race yet, it's easy.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You go on nyrr. org, find Open Run, and you can sign
Rob Simmelkjaer: up and be running within a week for free.
Becs Gentry: Never know who you're going to meet.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's pretty cool program. All right, now every week we wrap up
Rob Simmelkjaer: the show with something we like to call the Meb minute.
Becs Gentry: Is he...
Rob Simmelkjaer: And Meb, what's your minute today? What are you going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: talk about today with your Meb minute?
Meb Keflezighi: Rob and Becs, today, as Janelle said this, consistency is the
Meb Keflezighi: name of the game. Routine is important, but progress, whether
Meb Keflezighi: you're from the pack, middle of the pack or the back of the
Meb Keflezighi: pack, getting to that finish line, it means so much.
Meb Keflezighi: But the discipline, the dedication, and the hours that you
Meb Keflezighi: put in, will get you to that finish line. And I
Meb Keflezighi: always said the key to success is preparation. Janelle just
Meb Keflezighi: discussed about getting to that finish line, that's what " run
Meb Keflezighi: to win" is, it means to get the best out of
Meb Keflezighi: yourself. We all have gender, age, weight, or whatever issue
Meb Keflezighi: that we have or that we are given God- given
Meb Keflezighi: talent or when you discover running late, but you have
Meb Keflezighi: to have the routine and the discipline, and be able
Meb Keflezighi: to get to that finish line. And I think that's
Meb Keflezighi: what it is, today's Med minute.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There's no way to get to the finish line of
Rob Simmelkjaer: a marathon without discipline. That is one hundred percent required. Right?
Rob Simmelkjaer: You don't have to have speed, you don't have to
Rob Simmelkjaer: have agility, you don't have to have strength. But discipline
Rob Simmelkjaer: is a must- have for everybody.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely. Thank you, Meb.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Discipline is important. Well, that's a good way to end
Rob Simmelkjaer: this conversation on a Meb piece of wisdom, which is how
Rob Simmelkjaer: this podcast started, with a little Meb wisdom. We're going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to wrap it up with that as well. Everybody, thank
Rob Simmelkjaer: you so much for joining us for this 100th episode of Set
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Pace. Thanks to this incredible live audience. We've got
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb Keflezighi. I want to thank you for coming up here,
Rob Simmelkjaer: joining us in person for this. It's so great to
Rob Simmelkjaer: see you.
Becs Gentry: Thank you, Meb.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And hey, this podcast would not be a thing if
Rob Simmelkjaer: it hadn't been for you, helping us get it off
Rob Simmelkjaer: the ground. So thank you, Meb.
Meb Keflezighi: Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Becs. It's great to be
Meb Keflezighi: with you guys.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely. Becs, as always, phenomenal. Great to see you.
Becs Gentry: You too.
Rob Simmelkjaer: If you liked the episode out there, please make sure
Rob Simmelkjaer: you subscribe, give it a rating. Everybody in this audience,
Rob Simmelkjaer: rate the podcast right now. Give it five stars. Make
Rob Simmelkjaer: sure you follow us at all the places, and we
Rob Simmelkjaer: look forward to having this group grow and grow every
Rob Simmelkjaer: single week. It's been a pleasure. Thanks everybody. We will
Rob Simmelkjaer: see you next week. Enjoy the miles.