Carey Socol: I was not like running with them in the stroller.
Carey Socol: It was really my break. It was really my time
Carey Socol: that I would negotiate to go for a run. It's
Carey Socol: how I've mothered. It's how I've done my job. It's
Carey Socol: how I've managed stress, anxiety. Anything is a run for me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace, the official podcast of New York Road Runners presented
Rob Simmelkjaer: by Peloton. I'm your host and the CEO of New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners, Rob Simmelkjaer, and it's another episode another
Rob Simmelkjaer: week without Becs. We're missing Becs. She is still over
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Europe after a year filled with marathons for Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: for her partner Austin. They're taking a few weeks off,
Rob Simmelkjaer: so I hope she's having a great time over there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And Happy Mother's Day to Becs and to all the
Rob Simmelkjaer: moms out there who are listening, all the moms in our
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners community. Hope you all have a
Rob Simmelkjaer: great, great Mother's Day Weekend. You deserve it. And it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: an off weekend for us here at New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners, of course, for the moms and also so that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we can get ready for the RBC Brooklyn Half, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: is coming right at us next week. This past weekend
Rob Simmelkjaer: was our second annual Mindful 5K, a race that we
Rob Simmelkjaer: created to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month. We had
Rob Simmelkjaer: an absolutely gorgeous day at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thousands of runners came out to celebrate the benefits of
Rob Simmelkjaer: running for mental health. I was there and it was
Rob Simmelkjaer: so beautiful. I actually had not planned on running the
Rob Simmelkjaer: race. I came in my khaki shorts and like a
Rob Simmelkjaer: golf shirt, but I was wearing my running shoes and
Rob Simmelkjaer: I got there and it was just one of those
Rob Simmelkjaer: mornings. You ever have a morning where you don't think
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're going to run, but you step outside and the
Rob Simmelkjaer: air is so perfect, you're like, " Oh no, I have to
Rob Simmelkjaer: run." And it was absolutely spectacular. We really loved it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We not only had the race. We had a Zen
Rob Simmelkjaer: zone before the race for some pre- race meditation. Our
Rob Simmelkjaer: partners had an organization called NAMI were there as well,
Rob Simmelkjaer: National Alliance for Mental Illness. They were there with information
Rob Simmelkjaer: for people. It's just great to talk to runners about
Rob Simmelkjaer: why they run. And so many people run because of
Rob Simmelkjaer: the way it makes them feel. The answer I get
Rob Simmelkjaer: most often when I ask someone why they run is
Rob Simmelkjaer: that it's free therapy, right? That's how so many people
Rob Simmelkjaer: see it. I know that's how I see it. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: we love having this race to kick off Mental Health
Rob Simmelkjaer: Awareness Month. And what I ask the runners at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: starting line of that race, I'll ask all of you as
Rob Simmelkjaer: well, which is, if running is a big part of
Rob Simmelkjaer: your mental health, tell a friend. Tell someone you know
Rob Simmelkjaer: who is stressed out or is dealing with whatever mental
Rob Simmelkjaer: health challenges we all deal with day to day and
Rob Simmelkjaer: tell them what running has done for you in helping
Rob Simmelkjaer: clear your mind. Because when you do that, you're giving
Rob Simmelkjaer: them a gift and you're helping them potentially discover running
Rob Simmelkjaer: as something that can help them live a better life
Rob Simmelkjaer: as well. So anyway, thanks to everybody who ran. It
Rob Simmelkjaer: was a great day. Our winners on Saturday. On the
Rob Simmelkjaer: men's side it was Jeremy Arthur of Dashing Whippets with
Rob Simmelkjaer: a time of 15:44. The non- binary winner was Pierce
Rob Simmelkjaer: Lydon with a time of 17: 57. And on the female
Rob Simmelkjaer: side, Becca, it's either Ades or Ades with a time of 18:
Rob Simmelkjaer: 36. Congratulations to our winners. And it wasn't just adults
Rob Simmelkjaer: running on Saturday. We had more than 450 of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: stage one, two and three kids come out for a
Rob Simmelkjaer: Rising New York Road Runners at the Mindful 5K on
Rob Simmelkjaer: Saturday. We had a great turnout. The kids had a
Rob Simmelkjaer: great day as well, and I spent a lot of
Rob Simmelkjaer: time over there giving high- fives to the kids. Perhaps
Rob Simmelkjaer: the highlight of the day for me actually was meeting
Rob Simmelkjaer: two sets of kids, two schools actually who were there
Rob Simmelkjaer: as part of our new middle school running initiatives. This is a
Rob Simmelkjaer: program that you might remember we launched about a year
Rob Simmelkjaer: ago. We announced it about a year ago. We've had
Rob Simmelkjaer: a pilot program and now we're in our full first
Rob Simmelkjaer: year with this middle school running program. And I met
Rob Simmelkjaer: two coaches and their whole teams who were there because
Rob Simmelkjaer: of this program. And I had a chance to talk
Rob Simmelkjaer: to some of the kids about what it's meant for
Rob Simmelkjaer: them to be in this program. They loved it. They
Rob Simmelkjaer: talked about how running calms them down, how it gets
Rob Simmelkjaer: their energy out, how it actually helps them in school
Rob Simmelkjaer: as well. So it was kind of the perfect combination
Rob Simmelkjaer: of what we do on the youth side at New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners and Mental Health Awareness Month. Really, really
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great day out in Queens. So thanks to everybody
Rob Simmelkjaer: who came out. Well, as I mentioned, it's Mother's Day
Rob Simmelkjaer: Weekend coming up. So to honor all of our runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: who are also mothers out there, we've got two special
Rob Simmelkjaer: mom guests today. The first is my good friend Carey
Rob Simmelkjaer: Socol, who just a few years ago completed her quest
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run 50 marathons in 50 states before her 50th
Rob Simmelkjaer: birthday, running a lot of them in support of Every
Rob Simmelkjaer: Mother Counts. Running is Carey's way of processing life, work,
Rob Simmelkjaer: love, parenting, and also grief as she had a tragic
Rob Simmelkjaer: story that she'll talk about during the interview. She's still
Rob Simmelkjaer: going. She's got her 75th marathon coming up later this
Rob Simmelkjaer: month, and as Carey talks about, she may try to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get to a hundred. So that's coming up in just
Rob Simmelkjaer: a minute. And then Meb will be here with today's
Rob Simmelkjaer: member moment featuring New York Road Runners member Dalma Garcia,
Rob Simmelkjaer: a mother of two who is also the caretaker of her
Rob Simmelkjaer: own mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Finally, in
Rob Simmelkjaer: today's Meb Minute, Meb will give us his best advice on how
Rob Simmelkjaer: to prepare for mixed terrain races, something that we're hearing
Rob Simmelkjaer: more and more about as the ultra running boom continues
Rob Simmelkjaer: to grow. And speaking of Meb, this week Meb celebrated his
Rob Simmelkjaer: 50th birthday. I had a chance to send him a
Rob Simmelkjaer: note, wishing him an incredibly happy birthday. I saw him
Rob Simmelkjaer: on Instagram with his family and looked like he had
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great, great celebration. The big five- oh for Meb. Happy
Rob Simmelkjaer: birthday Meb from all of us here at New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: Road Runners and Set The Pace. Try the Peloton app
Rob Simmelkjaer: for free and access classes for every type of runner.
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Rob Simmelkjaer: seasoned pro. From outdoor runs and intervals to strength yoga
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Rob Simmelkjaer: just need a quick five- minute reset, the Peloton app
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Rob Simmelkjaer: Road Runners. Our guest today, Carey Socol has run 74
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathons, 64 half- marathons, and she's been a member of
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners since 1999. But running wasn't always
Rob Simmelkjaer: part of her life. She grew up swimming and playing
Rob Simmelkjaer: water polo, living in South Florida and didn't discover running
Rob Simmelkjaer: until graduate school at NYU where she began training with
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Jeff Galloway run- walk method. Since her first New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City Marathon in 2000, she's completed marathons in all
Rob Simmelkjaer: 50 states and the District of Columbia, many in support
Rob Simmelkjaer: of causes that she cares about, including maternal health. Along
Rob Simmelkjaer: the way she's used her long runs to manage stress,
Rob Simmelkjaer: parent her kids, and even compose college recommendation letters in
Rob Simmelkjaer: her head as a college counselor. In today's Mother's Day
Rob Simmelkjaer: special, she joins us to talk about running, loss, joy
Rob Simmelkjaer: and how mothering shows up in more ways than one.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Carey Socol, marathon machine, welcome to Set The Pace. It's
Rob Simmelkjaer: nice to have you here.
Carey Socol: Thank you for having me, Rob. It's great to be here.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely. And great to spend time with you. We first
Rob Simmelkjaer: met in London where you had just run the London
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon, and since then ... How many have you run since
Rob Simmelkjaer: then? I met you at the London Marathon in 2023. How
Rob Simmelkjaer: many have you run since then?
Carey Socol: Probably six maybe since then.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, yeah, that's four more than me, so well done. Congratulations.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And running marathons is kind of what you do. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: mean, that's an incredible number, 74 and 64 half. So we'll
Rob Simmelkjaer: get into your backstory in a second, but I think
Rob Simmelkjaer: the first question I would wonder is how do people
Rob Simmelkjaer: react when you tell them that you've run that many
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathons, especially non- runners, what's the reaction you typically get
Rob Simmelkjaer: when you tell people that?
Carey Socol: It's funny. I kind of have a game with it.
Carey Socol: Sometimes I try not to say anything and then I'll
Carey Socol: have one of my kids will say something for me
Carey Socol: or a friend will say something for me. I try
Carey Socol: to be quite humble about it, which I'll say all
Carey Socol: the time is I meet people who have done so many more,
Carey Socol: so I'm always like, " Yeah, I know it sounds like
Carey Socol: a lot, but people have done way more than me." But
Carey Socol: people do. They're like, " What?" They'll like, " Say that again.
Carey Socol: What number did you just say?" And I'll be like, "
Carey Socol: Yeah, 74 marathons." So it's fun. It's a fun little
Carey Socol: party trick. I definitely think it is.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. As much as I love running and obviously love
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathons, work in marathons, I never was able to hit
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. It's almost like an escape velocity I feel like
Rob Simmelkjaer: where you just start doing so many marathons that the
Rob Simmelkjaer: thought of another one doesn't seem like that big of
Rob Simmelkjaer: a barrier. To me even having run two since last
Rob Simmelkjaer: September, as I think about, " Okay, should I run a
Rob Simmelkjaer: fall marathon or not?" It feels like a big decision
Rob Simmelkjaer: because there's so much training that that involves. So it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: not about the day, it's about the weeks and the
Rob Simmelkjaer: months leading up to that. But I guess if I'd
Rob Simmelkjaer: run 74, I probably would see it as like, " Oh,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's just I'm always in marathon shape, so it's just
Rob Simmelkjaer: another day to run a marathon." Is that kind of
Rob Simmelkjaer: accurate in terms of the way it is for you?
Carey Socol: Totally. I'd rather run a marathon than a training run
Carey Socol: any day of the week. It's just more fun. There's
Carey Socol: more energy. There's water for you, all that stuff. I
Carey Socol: think it became so my routine, and so I'm not
Carey Socol: necessarily always ramping up or ramping down. I'm kind of
Carey Socol: always staying in a steady state, so I'm never having
Carey Socol: that fear of it. And I love it. Also, I
Carey Socol: think I've said this to you before, I'm not racing.
Carey Socol: I don't go in anymore, at least with this kind
Carey Socol: of, I've got to finish in a certain time, I'm
Carey Socol: going to really kill it on all of my training runs.
Carey Socol: I'm really just going to complete them. I still get
Carey Socol: that joy. I still feel that satisfaction. I still feel
Carey Socol: the pain, which is great. If it wasn't hard, it
Carey Socol: wouldn't be so rewarding. But no, I don't. I mean
Carey Socol: as I get older, it does become more of a, "
Carey Socol: Oh gosh, I better put in those training runs." I
Carey Socol: can't fake it. I definitely have to put it in
Carey Socol: and I'm like, " I have a marathon in a couple
Carey Socol: of weeks and I kind of didn't do my longest
Carey Socol: run this past weekend, so I'll have to do one
Carey Socol: this weekend before I go." But I still just enjoy
Carey Socol: it. I still do so much processing in my head.
Carey Socol: It's so much more than just the run for me.
Carey Socol: It's so many other things.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, no, I think that makes sense. And taking that time pressure
Rob Simmelkjaer: away I think is everything because if you're going for
Rob Simmelkjaer: PRs, like the amount of work you have to put
Rob Simmelkjaer: in, speed work and all that stuff, it makes it
Rob Simmelkjaer: hard to just keep doing that over and over again.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I mean unless you're a professional and that's what you
Rob Simmelkjaer: do, there's only so much time we have. Carey, you
Rob Simmelkjaer: grew up in South Florida. We talked about this. And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: the first time you ever saw a marathon as a
Rob Simmelkjaer: child of the '80s like me was with your dad back
Rob Simmelkjaer: at something that used to have called the Orange Bowl
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon. What was that experience like and what can you remember
Rob Simmelkjaer: about the first time you saw a marathon? Did you
Rob Simmelkjaer: know that you just had to do one the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: time you saw it?
Carey Socol: What I remember, I remember seeing, so the Orange Bowl
Carey Socol: Marathon doesn't exist anymore. I think they had too many
Carey Socol: very hot marathons and it fell away. But there is
Carey Socol: the Miami Marathon now, which I have done. But I
Carey Socol: just remember, I must've been like 11 or 12. I'm sure my
Carey Socol: dad has no memory of it, but we went, we
Carey Socol: had a friend running it, and so I remember being
Carey Socol: out on the street and people were falling off. It
Carey Socol: must've been a very hot year. And I just remember
Carey Socol: him being so impressed with people doing it and taking
Carey Socol: it on. And I think, I'm a very proud daughter
Carey Socol: and I always wanted to make my dad proud. So it's just
Carey Socol: this thing that stuck in my head and would play
Carey Socol: around there for years. And it wasn't until my 20s,
Carey Socol: I moved to New York and I started to see
Carey Socol: it and I'm like, " Oh gosh," I just always had
Carey Socol: that memory of something that would impress my dad would
Carey Socol: be running a marathon. Now I didn't think I'd keep
Carey Socol: running them, but I definitely thought I would run a marathon
Carey Socol: and make him proud. And now he's begging me to
Carey Socol: stop. I mean your knees, your hips, everything. But I
Carey Socol: think I did make him proud, but now he wishes
Carey Socol: I would-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, he was impressed the first couple of times. Now-
Carey Socol: Exactly-
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... no longer as impressed. Makes sense. Sounds like a dad.
Carey Socol: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And you started out with the Galloway method, which we've
Rob Simmelkjaer: talked about on the podcast before, a run- walk method.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Why did that work for you?
Carey Socol: Well, I was wanting to run a marathon in 1999,
Carey Socol: and I started training kind of on my own. With
Carey Socol: Road Runners I think I did some classes, and it
Carey Socol: was hard. I mean it was very hard. The park runs
Carey Socol: and all the different things, and I was getting a
Carey Socol: little bit of injury. I had an IT thing happen,
Carey Socol: and so I couldn't do 1999, that was actually supposed
Carey Socol: to be Marine Corps, that was supposed to be DC. And
Carey Socol: I had a friend who was running with Galloway and
Carey Socol: she's like, " I think you'll like this. Why don't you
Carey Socol: try it?" And the Jeff Galloway, just the run- walk
Carey Socol: was such a way, it's such a mental fix. I
Carey Socol: mean, so you're like, " Oh, I can run for three
Carey Socol: minutes. I can run for four minutes and then I
Carey Socol: can walk." So just that mental ease, it kind of
Carey Socol: just making it in bite- size pieces really worked for
Carey Socol: my psychology. And I still do it. People are like, " Do you
Carey Socol: run a 5K or a 10K with that?" Not a 5K, but a 10K
Carey Socol: sometimes. I can do it. I can do a 10K without
Carey Socol: doing it. But I just like it. It just makes
Carey Socol: me happy. It calms my nerves and I'll do it
Carey Socol: in different ways now. So if I feel like I'm
Carey Socol: in really good shape, I do a longer run. If
Carey Socol: I feel like I just need to get out there
Carey Socol: and it's hard, then I'll just do a two- in-
Carey Socol: one and just get out there and keep running. And
Carey Socol: you guys say this and I've been saying this forever,
Carey Socol: that forward is a pace, and I believe that. I
Carey Socol: mean that's always been my motto, just keep moving forward.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Now your first New York City Marathon was in the
Rob Simmelkjaer: year 2000. And was that supposed to be kind of
Rob Simmelkjaer: a bucket list, check that box one and done? Was
Rob Simmelkjaer: that the one dad saw for the first time?
Carey Socol: Yes. Definitely dad was there, parents were there. I had gotten, I started a
Carey Socol: new job. That's actually when I became a college counselor
Carey Socol: at a very prestigious high school and I was working and
Carey Socol: I was overwhelmed and I tried to throw it all in,
Carey Socol: start a new job, run a marathon, just put it
Carey Socol: all in the mix. But yeah, that was my first
Carey Socol: one. And my memories are, it's 25 years. This year
Carey Socol: will be my 25th anniversary of a marathon.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow.
Carey Socol: And it was super special. I mean, there's nothing like
Carey Socol: New York. I have a lot of others that I
Carey Socol: love, but New York is just that. There's nothing like
Carey Socol: it. And I keep going back. I have such FOMO.
Carey Socol: I can't be in the city if it's going on. I can't be
Carey Socol: in any city if I know there's a marathon going
Carey Socol: on. Then I have to run it. But I really,
Carey Socol: I'm either here running the marathon at this point, Rob,
Carey Socol: or I leave. I've done some marathons on the same
Carey Socol: weekend because I have to do a marathon that weekend.
Carey Socol: It's just too much FOMO for me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've heard people say that, if they're not running it, they can't
Rob Simmelkjaer: even be in town.
Carey Socol: You can't.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You could go downtown. If you're down in The Village,
Rob Simmelkjaer: you could probably not realize the marathon's going on.
Carey Socol: New York is like Boston. I could go and cheer
Carey Socol: for people. Like that, I wouldn't feel so much FOMO,
Carey Socol: but here I just can't, I can't do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I get it. I totally get it. That's awesome. So what happened?
Rob Simmelkjaer: So it was supposed to be one. I mean, listen, I've
Rob Simmelkjaer: heard the story from a lot of different people, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: when did you realize it wasn't going to be just
Rob Simmelkjaer: one marathon? I'm sure you didn't realize at the time
Rob Simmelkjaer: it was going to be 74, but when did you
Rob Simmelkjaer: realize there had to be another marathon?
Carey Socol: So that was November of 2000, and I had started with
Carey Socol: Galloway and I made friends and I made this community
Carey Socol: and I realized we liked meeting on the weekends. It
Carey Socol: was a great way, I mean, I'm still, some of my
Carey Socol: closest friends are from this Galloway program from the early
Carey Socol: 2000s. And so I had run and I wanted to
Carey Socol: keep up the training. I liked it. And so a
Carey Socol: girlfriend of mine said, " Let's go do Jersey." It's in
Carey Socol: May. It's six months later or it's April or something
Carey Socol: like that. And I was like, " Okay, let's do that."
Rob Simmelkjaer: This was the Jersey Shore Marathon, which also no longer exists sadly.
Carey Socol: Right. And that remains to be my PR, which I'm
Carey Socol: again, I always qualify, I'm not fast, which I need
Carey Socol: to stop doing because I feel like I'm always putting
Carey Socol: it down. If people say, " Oh my God." And I
Carey Socol: always say, " But I'm so slow." And it frustrates me
Carey Socol: that I still qualify the fact that I've still done
Carey Socol: all these marathons. But that was my PR.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What was your PR? I actually don't even know this.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What was your time?
Carey Socol: It was 4:26.
Rob Simmelkjaer: 4:26.
Carey Socol: It's nothing impressive but ...
Rob Simmelkjaer: Solid. It's a solid time. Absolutely.
Carey Socol: It's solid. And I did a bunch in that kind of range
Carey Socol: for a long time. And now I'm really happy to
Carey Socol: break five hours at this point and that makes me
Carey Socol: happy, but doesn't always happen.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, so there you are. Two races in, two
Rob Simmelkjaer: states in. That's a good start. Where did the idea
Rob Simmelkjaer: of running a marathon in each and every state come
Rob Simmelkjaer: into play? How did this happen?
Carey Socol: Well, it came about slowly. I did New York and
Carey Socol: then New Jersey, then New York again and New Jersey
Carey Socol: in two years. Just I was staying with my friends and running. And then I think
Carey Socol: someone said, " Let's go do ... We're doing New York next
Carey Socol: year. Let's do a training run in Rhode Island." So
Carey Socol: you get your long training run or you do a
Carey Socol: marathon, come back and do New York. I'm like, " Oh, okay."
Carey Socol: That was fun. And then I think the states kind
Carey Socol: of nearby. We went to ... Someone's, " Oh, let's go to
Carey Socol: Baltimore," or, " Let's go to Nashville." It became fun friend
Carey Socol: trips. I've traveled for the majority of my states with
Carey Socol: friends, with other running friends, and it just became a
Carey Socol: weekend away. Later on when I had kids, it became
Carey Socol: a real escape, which I was ... You know that break of parenting?
Carey Socol: And it kind of started to add up and then
Carey Socol: I'm like, when you're on these marathons or you're at
Carey Socol: these places, you see everyone coming back or running the
Carey Socol: 50 states, you get that bug in your ear. That's
Carey Socol: such a cool way to see the country. And I've
Carey Socol: seen the country. And I really recommend it. It was
Carey Socol: such a great ... And it's a community. You see different
Carey Socol: people or the same people at different marathons and what are
Carey Socol: you doing next? Where are you going? So I love
Carey Socol: that I've been to all 50 states and seen so much of the country. It's really fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. I mean, the idea of marathons as
Rob Simmelkjaer: a form of tourism has taken off so much. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: mean that's what's driving so much of the energy around
Rob Simmelkjaer: the six star medal and people. The trip is half
Rob Simmelkjaer: the fun, I mean, if not more. Going and running
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Tokyo Marathon. For me, people ask me how I like
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Tokyo Marathon. I like the race. It was a good
Rob Simmelkjaer: time. I enjoyed running the race. But going to Japan,
Rob Simmelkjaer: that's really what was most exciting about that. And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's pretty cool to have experienced that. I know a lot of people who've done
Rob Simmelkjaer: the halves in all states, but to do a marathon
Rob Simmelkjaer: in all 50 states, that's a lot of running. It's impressive.
Carey Socol: Well, the Tokyo Marathon is a sore subject for me 'cause
Carey Socol: I keep trying to get in, my friend, but I
Carey Socol: am doing Sydney, so once that became another star, I'm like, "
Carey Socol: Well, I'll do Sydney before Tokyo."
Rob Simmelkjaer: You're going to still be missing that six star. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: will have six races, but the way that works, you
Rob Simmelkjaer: won't get the medal yet. So we'll have to see
Rob Simmelkjaer: if we can somehow get you into Tokyo.
Carey Socol: Please. I'm trying. I'm trying.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Now you ran Boston, Carey, the year after the bombing?
Carey Socol: No, both years. So the year of the bombing-
Rob Simmelkjaer: The year of the bombing and the year. Okay. So what was your experience there?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Where were you when the bombing took place and then
Rob Simmelkjaer: what was it like to go back the next year?
Carey Socol: So I ran it in 20 .... I think that was
Carey Socol: what, 2012? 2012. I had my family with me. My aunt
Carey Socol: and uncle live in Boston. My cousins were there. I
Carey Socol: was running for a charity. Again, as you can hear
Carey Socol: by my PR, I did not qualify with my time,
Carey Socol: but I raised a lot of money. I'm very proud
Carey Socol: of that. But I was about a mile from the
Carey Socol: finish and I remember starting to see people along or the
Carey Socol: policemen along the course, looking at their phones, looking at
Carey Socol: their stuff, and I'm like, " Something's going on." It's just like
Carey Socol: you could start to sense all the phones and all
Carey Socol: the stuff. And I'm like, " Well, they're going to stop
Carey Socol: us if something is wrong." Kept running and then all of a sudden it
Carey Socol: backed up. Obviously there's a stop and it backed up
Carey Socol: about a mile from the finish line and we waited
Carey Socol: for 10, 15 minutes until the word got back. " It's over.
Carey Socol: It's done." I remember walking back to my aunt and uncle being like, "
Carey Socol: What happened?" Didn't know what happened. And then you see
Carey Socol: people who have finished and you haven't finished, but you
Carey Socol: just run 25 miles. And it was just a really eerie,
Carey Socol: scary day. Luckily, I run with my phone and I
Carey Socol: always will now because of that experience, just for safety.
Carey Socol: And I had been able to just, there's no connection,
Carey Socol: but I was able to text my family. I was
Carey Socol: okay. I would meet them back at my aunt and
Carey Socol: uncle. Luckily I had told them not to be close
Carey Socol: to the finish line 'cause I just knew it would
Carey Socol: be, in general, it would be very crowded. So it
Carey Socol: was crazy. It was really crazy. And then I had
Carey Socol: tons of people say, " That counts now. You've done Massachusetts.
Carey Socol: It counts." I'm like, " No, no, I didn't finish. I
Carey Socol: didn't cross the finish line." So I was adamant about
Carey Socol: going back the next year for so many reasons. And
Carey Socol: also being a proud marathon community member, I'm going to
Carey Socol: go back and Boston strong and really proud to go
Carey Socol: back and do it and finish it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I don't think I've spoken to anyone before who was
Rob Simmelkjaer: behind where it happened. And so that's a perspective that is
Rob Simmelkjaer: interesting to hear and obviously a terrible day, but good
Rob Simmelkjaer: for you getting back out there and officially completing it
Rob Simmelkjaer: the very next year. It's a great story. It's Mother's
Rob Simmelkjaer: Day Carey. You're our Mother's Day special guest and you're a mom.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And I'm always curious when I talk to marathon moms
Rob Simmelkjaer: how you do it. I mean, how have you been
Rob Simmelkjaer: able to balance running and running this much in this
Rob Simmelkjaer: many places with being a mom? Do your kids come
Rob Simmelkjaer: along? Are they into it as well? Is it like
Rob Simmelkjaer: a family event when mom goes to run one of her 74 marathons?
Carey Socol: No. In fact, they're so over it. They don't even.
Carey Socol: Like I can barely get them to come to New
Carey Socol: York these days. They're just ... I mean, they're so proud
Carey Socol: and they find ways to tell their friends in really funny
Carey Socol: ways. I have a funny text. My daughter last year
Carey Socol: I think, or two years ago after New York, she
Carey Socol: was out to dinner with someone and I had just finished
Carey Socol: the marathon and she texted me, some couple next to
Carey Socol: us are really excited that their friend ran two marathons.
Carey Socol: And I'm like, " Girl, my mom's around 68," or something
Carey Socol: really funny. But they were not like, the stroller, I
Carey Socol: was not running with them in the stroller. It was
Carey Socol: really my break. It was really my time that I
Carey Socol: would negotiate to go for a run. It's how I've
Carey Socol: mothered. It's how I've done my job. It's how I've
Carey Socol: managed stress, anxiety. Anything is a run for me. And that's
Carey Socol: why it's not about the speed. It's really about the ...
Carey Socol: I do run with music now, but for many years
Carey Socol: I didn't. I process a lot of stuff I'm going
Carey Socol: to do at work in my head. Running just, it
Carey Socol: literally calms me. And I know I don't really take
Carey Socol: that, but they are super proud. But I think that
Carey Socol: they're a little like my dad, over it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Parenting takes something to calm you a lot of the
Rob Simmelkjaer: time. I mean, I experience it. Your kids can get you pretty
Rob Simmelkjaer: worked up. Let's face it. Things go wrong, issues happen,
Rob Simmelkjaer: disputes, disagreements, whatever it is, especially when they're teenagers like
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've got going on right now. That run to clear
Rob Simmelkjaer: everything, I can tell you, it certainly makes me a
Rob Simmelkjaer: better parent. I'm able to deal with my girls much
Rob Simmelkjaer: more calmly than I am otherwise. And after a couple
Rob Simmelkjaer: of days of maybe not being able to run, I can
Rob Simmelkjaer: see myself slipping when it comes to my parenting skills.
Carey Socol: Absolutely. They'll know. It is a time that if I
Carey Socol: go run, they leave me alone, for the most part.
Carey Socol: If they call me during a run, I get so annoyed.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, me too. Me too.
Carey Socol: And it messes up with my clock, everything. And I'm like, "
Carey Socol: What? You know I'm for a run." But for the most part, they know
Carey Socol: it's my time. They know when I come back I
Carey Socol: will deal with things better. They'll know if I'm anxious, go up
Carey Socol: for your run. And it just really, it really, they
Carey Socol: get it in that sense.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Your Peloton handle, Marathon Mom. I think that fits it
Rob Simmelkjaer: pretty well. What's your relationship with Peloton? Are you on
Rob Simmelkjaer: the treadmill, on the bike? What are you doing when you're
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing Peloton classes?
Carey Socol: So I have been riding a Peloton since 2015. My late
Carey Socol: boyfriend, Howie was an early adapter of it, not ... We
Carey Socol: always say there's like a very first, there's an OG OG
Carey Socol: and then there's the OG part B and we're the OG part B. And
Carey Socol: so we got bikes and we started riding and he
Carey Socol: had gotten me a bike as a gift and gave
Carey Socol: me the handle Marathon Mom. And this is back when
Carey Socol: I could have been Carey. I mean there was only
Carey Socol: 200 of us and he just went by his last
Carey Socol: name. Our friends are their first name. It was very
Carey Socol: early days. And so he had just got it and
Carey Socol: set it up for me, Marathon Mom 'cause it's actually,
Carey Socol: I guess, and I can't believe that's the name I gave
Carey Socol: myself when I met him on a dating app 12
Carey Socol: years ago. So he put it there. I thought it
Carey Socol: was cute. And now, I mean I do have my
Carey Socol: issues. There's a million marathon moms Rob with every number
Carey Socol: letter mixed, but I'm the original. I was the first
Carey Socol: one in 2015. So I was riding with the bike and
Carey Socol: I'm still riding on the bike. I did one this
Carey Socol: morning. And the tread, I'm in a New York City apartment. I
Carey Socol: couldn't fit it. But I do run with the app
Carey Socol: all the time, and I've been for 10 years now
Carey Socol: an avid Peloton user and love it, use the app,
Carey Socol: use everything.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And I know Howie, he was a big part of
Rob Simmelkjaer: this story. He introduced you to Peloton, also was there
Rob Simmelkjaer: with you for so many of your marathons. And my understanding
Rob Simmelkjaer: is you were pretty close to completing your 50th state
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathon when Howie passed away very suddenly and tragically. Can
Rob Simmelkjaer: you talk about that time and that experience and what
Rob Simmelkjaer: that meant to you?
Carey Socol: Absolutely. I mean it's out of a movie. I mean it was
Carey Socol: so surreal. We were longtime partners. He had gotten me
Carey Socol: into the Peloton. He had supported me. He was so
Carey Socol: excited about my marathons. I think of my 50 states,
Carey Socol: I think 25. He came with me. He was just
Carey Socol: really proud, just such a proud partner about what I
Carey Socol: was doing. We talked about it all the time and we
Carey Socol: had set up a longtime goal or I had set
Carey Socol: up a longtime goal that Hawaii would be my last
Carey Socol: of the 50 states. It's the 50th state. My best
Carey Socol: friends live there and we were going to go and I think my
Carey Socol: parents were coming, not that many people and my friends who
Carey Socol: live there and they're just a couple people. I wasn't
Carey Socol: making the biggest deal out of it. And tragically, literally
Carey Socol: two weeks to the day of the marathon, he passed
Carey Socol: away unexpectedly. And beyond being devastated and it was just
Carey Socol: a really awful time. The marathon was in two weeks.
Carey Socol: He was so excited by it. It was my goal
Carey Socol: to finish all 50 before my 50th and I just
Carey Socol: knew he'd want me to go and I knew he'd
Carey Socol: want me to go finish that marathon. And I also
Carey Socol: just thought to myself, it would be so much worse
Carey Socol: sitting at home, not running that marathon in my grief.
Carey Socol: That would be the last thing he wanted. And so
Carey Socol: it became a little bit bigger. His sons said, " We're
Carey Socol: coming with you." And his daughter- in- law and my
Carey Socol: daughter came, and one of my running husband I call
Carey Socol: him, Gary came. And we just had a big group
Carey Socol: and some other friends in Hawaii. And it was so
Carey Socol: special and so incredible. And then his boys jumped in
Carey Socol: and ran the last a hundred yards with me. And
Carey Socol: if you ever can find that online, and I'm like
Carey Socol: sobbing and Max is in his crocs 'cause he wasn't
Carey Socol: planning on it. It was just one of the most
Carey Socol: memorable, emotional, honestly right out of a movie script. You see
Carey Socol: me crossing after my 50th state with his boys by
Carey Socol: my side who just lost their dad. So it's wild.
Carey Socol: It was a wild time.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, that sounds incredibly intense. And we have so many
Rob Simmelkjaer: stories. I always say that there are 50,000 stories at
Rob Simmelkjaer: the starting line of a marathon, and part of what
Rob Simmelkjaer: we try to do at Road Runners is learn some
Rob Simmelkjaer: of those stories and tell some of them so that
Rob Simmelkjaer: other people can be inspired by them. But yeah, that's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a story that I think more people should hear. It's
Rob Simmelkjaer: sad but incredibly inspiring as well.
Carey Socol: Absolutely. And he was such a proud partner with it
Carey Socol: and was so impressed. Yeah, I mean it was just
Carey Socol: one of those things that it was so tragic and yet during
Carey Socol: that race, he was very much with me. When I
Carey Socol: do races all the time, I really think about that,
Carey Socol: and yeah, it's just a way to still feel connected
Carey Socol: to him.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah.
Carey Socol: And we're doing Peloton.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. We've had so many people on the podcast talking
Rob Simmelkjaer: about running and dealing with grief and how it's helped
Rob Simmelkjaer: them as well. So it's incredible the connection that we
Rob Simmelkjaer: can have between those things. You are obviously someone who
Rob Simmelkjaer: thrives in the back of the pack. Any advice for
Rob Simmelkjaer: us, Carey, in terms of how as a race organizer
Rob Simmelkjaer: at New York Road Runners, we can make that experience
Rob Simmelkjaer: a good experience for people who are running more toward
Rob Simmelkjaer: the back of the pack. We focus on it a
Rob Simmelkjaer: lot. We try to make sure that there's water there
Rob Simmelkjaer: and Gatorade and fuel, and obviously we keep our finish
Rob Simmelkjaer: line open later than anybody when it comes to the
Rob Simmelkjaer: majors. What do you think is special about that back
Rob Simmelkjaer: of the pack experience and how we as a race organizer
Rob Simmelkjaer: can make sure it is a great experience for people?
Carey Socol: It's such a good question 'cause I know I struggle with starting in the
Carey Socol: back because I feel like it's going to take the
Carey Socol: day longer and New York is going to get dark
Carey Socol: and you do lose a lot of the excitement when
Carey Socol: you're up closer into the front. So I don't know
Carey Socol: how other than starting New York earlier, which I still
Carey Socol: think you can do because of the time difference. But it's
Carey Socol: just I think, I think you do a good job
Carey Socol: and I think back at the packers, there's so much
Carey Socol: camaraderie because we are who we are back there and
Carey Socol: there are other Galloway people running and we know how
Carey Socol: to put our hand up to signal that we're going
Carey Socol: to stop. So we're really, we're very, I think courteous.
Carey Socol: I do think it's a struggle. We want to have
Carey Socol: the water, we want to have the cheers, we want
Carey Socol: to have the support, but it's a long day for people
Carey Socol: at certain races and so there's only so much I
Carey Socol: think you can do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We did tweak it a little bit last year to
Rob Simmelkjaer: try to get to a somewhat earlier final finisher. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: that did have a pretty good effect. I think our
Rob Simmelkjaer: final finisher was at around 9: 45 last year, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: was early because we'd had people coming in at 10, 11
Rob Simmelkjaer: o'clock at night. So that was a step in the
Rob Simmelkjaer: right direction. We have to be careful obviously how much
Rob Simmelkjaer: of that we do because we don't want too many
Rob Simmelkjaer: fast runners behind, too many slower runners for the obvious
Rob Simmelkjaer: logistical challenges that can create. But yeah, we have tweaked
Rob Simmelkjaer: that a little bit.
Carey Socol: Well, you won't like my answer, but I didn't mind
Carey Socol: that the year after Covid when it was less runners,
Carey Socol: that was actually really nice. I can't help but think
Carey Socol: that was nice.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A lot of people wouldn't like that answer. All those
Rob Simmelkjaer: folks were hoping to get in. That was the year
Rob Simmelkjaer: where we only had about 50% capacity, but yeah, that
Rob Simmelkjaer: would definitely make it a more open running experience for
Rob Simmelkjaer: everybody. No question about it. I'm curious, your job, we've
Rob Simmelkjaer: talked about what you do. You're a college counselor. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: help kids get into the college of their choice and
Rob Simmelkjaer: you've been doing that for a while. And I'm curious
Rob Simmelkjaer: how you see running as part of that for kids.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A lot of kids, maybe they run track or cross-
Rob Simmelkjaer: country, I'm sure they're putting that on their resume to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get into college. Do you have more kids that are
Rob Simmelkjaer: actually making running kind of part of what they do
Rob Simmelkjaer: and how they present themselves in terms of getting into
Rob Simmelkjaer: a college?
Carey Socol: My school isn't such a big sports feeder for many
Carey Socol: sports. We definitely have a great track team, great track
Carey Socol: coach. She's a marathoner also. We love to talk about
Carey Socol: that. I do see running and I think you and I have talked about
Carey Socol: it as such a good inspiration for just mental health
Carey Socol: and for staying focused on school. And if you can
Carey Socol: succeed in even one- mile runs, two- mile runs, it's
Carey Socol: going to really help your academics. It keeps you focused.
Carey Socol: I mean I think it just permeates your whole energy
Carey Socol: and your whole focus in general. And I think you
Carey Socol: asked also about my kids. I think I lead by
Carey Socol: example. They see how much running I'm doing, so whether
Carey Socol: they don't like running, but they see that I have
Carey Socol: goals and that I accomplish them and I'm not just
Carey Socol: all talk. So I think also explaining that to my
Carey Socol: students, whatever their goals are and too, that everything is
Carey Socol: doable. And so I think, you and I have talked about
Carey Socol: working with those students that really that would help to
Carey Socol: feel mentored by someone A) who knows how to help them
Carey Socol: get into college. And with the college process, I'm all
Carey Socol: about fit, right? I'm not about a name brand for
Carey Socol: the sake of it. I'm really about where will your
Carey Socol: kids be successful and kill it, go somewhere and kill
Carey Socol: it. And whether that's if they get hobbies in running
Carey Socol: or athletics, and obviously I think sports and just good
Carey Socol: health and activities it's just key to how you feel
Carey Socol: about yourself every day.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There are more and more young people who are making
Rob Simmelkjaer: the marathon like a rite of passage. 20 years ago,
Rob Simmelkjaer: most marathoners were in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. It was
Rob Simmelkjaer: an older person kind of a crowd. But now we're
Rob Simmelkjaer: seeing this huge surge of college kids who are applying
Rob Simmelkjaer: to the marathon and it's like the thing they do
Rob Simmelkjaer: after their senior year or even during their senior year
Rob Simmelkjaer: to kickstart their adult life, which I think is so
Rob Simmelkjaer: interesting. And it's great for the sport, it's making it
Rob Simmelkjaer: younger, it's creating a whole new kind of set of
Rob Simmelkjaer: consumers, if you will, for what we do. But what
Rob Simmelkjaer: are your thoughts on that? I mean, you work with young
Rob Simmelkjaer: people. What do you think is driving this sudden popularity
Rob Simmelkjaer: of running and running marathons among a pretty young cohort
Rob Simmelkjaer: of kids like 21, 22 years old?
Carey Socol: I love it. I have a friend, one of my
Carey Socol: former students, she went to Wash U and then she
Carey Socol: ran the St. Louis Marathon and she just I think
Carey Socol: got in for New York this year and she's really
Carey Socol: excited. I think students at this age, in their early
Carey Socol: 20s, I think they want to have some goal that
Carey Socol: they start, like you said, kicks them off with their
Carey Socol: career. Here's a bucket list thing. If I can do
Carey Socol: this. I mean, what's coincidental is I kind of did
Carey Socol: it as I was starting my career, and I think
Carey Socol: it's like a balance. If you're nervous and you have
Carey Socol: anxiety about what your career going to be, but you
Carey Socol: can kind of balance it with this other goal and
Carey Socol: something to distract a little bit. And I think as
Carey Socol: students or kids are coming back, young adults are coming
Carey Socol: back to the city or it's just something you can
Carey Socol: control. It's scary, it's big, but you can control it
Carey Socol: and then it helps with all the other things. It
Carey Socol: just puts things in order for interviewing, for presenting yourself,
Carey Socol: for having a job. And I think also a big
Carey Socol: thing, which is what stuck me with it is community.
Carey Socol: People are joining these clubs and you have friends. I
Carey Socol: mean, again, my closest friends are 25 years old from
Carey Socol: running with them and talking because you talk about everything.
Carey Socol: They know everything about me.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I just think, wow, what an awesome thing to have
Rob Simmelkjaer: on your resume even as you're going out for that
Rob Simmelkjaer: first job. Coming out of college that you've run a
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathon. I mean, employers are going to look at that
Rob Simmelkjaer: and be like, " Wow, this is a young person with
Rob Simmelkjaer: some discipline, the ability to persevere, get through hard things."
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've always believed that runners overindex for being successful because
Rob Simmelkjaer: of the lessons you learn out there training for these
Rob Simmelkjaer: big races. So I just think it's brilliant.
Carey Socol: Absolutely. You're showing, like you said, determination, discipline, all those
Carey Socol: things that an employer wants. We see that when students
Carey Socol: are working. If they work during high school, that's another
Carey Socol: thing that colleges can see, oh, they're responsible, they're diligent.
Carey Socol: Even if they don't have to per se work, they're
Carey Socol: giving back. Maybe they're saving for something. There's so many
Carey Socol: things about working and running and being on a schedule
Carey Socol: or determination and finishing what you start that is so
Carey Socol: great for life.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right. So I want to do a little speed
Rob Simmelkjaer: round with you, Carey, because for people who are hearing
Rob Simmelkjaer: this run a marathon in 50 states, I'm sure there are a
Rob Simmelkjaer: few out there who are thinking, " Oh wow, that'd be
Rob Simmelkjaer: a cool thing to do." I'm actually, frankly thinking about
Rob Simmelkjaer: it myself. I'm thinking more halves. I don't think I
Rob Simmelkjaer: could do 50 marathons, but I could definitely do 50 halves. I'd have
Rob Simmelkjaer: to go back and look how many states I've got
Rob Simmelkjaer: already. Probably not that many. Maybe three or four. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: okay, let's do a quiz on certain things and answers
Rob Simmelkjaer: on the various marathons you've run. Okay, here we go.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What was the most beautiful marathon?
Carey Socol: Probably Big Sur, California. I also loved Juneau, Alaska. That
Carey Socol: was beautiful too.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh my god, Big Sur is spectacular. Alaska, that's on my
Rob Simmelkjaer: bucket list. Those both sound incredible. The most surprising marathon?
Carey Socol: People often ask me kind of what was your favorite
Carey Socol: or surprising kind of in that way. And I oftentimes
Carey Socol: say Missoula, Montana. It was this beautiful little small city
Carey Socol: or town, great scenery, and it was like the marathon
Carey Socol: I remember where it felt like I went for a
Carey Socol: 10K. I just remember being like, " God, I just finished?"
Carey Socol: I felt so good. The crowds were, I mean, as
Carey Socol: much as I love New York, I love a small
Carey Socol: marathon. I love to just get in my zone and
Carey Socol: peaceful and it was just beautiful. I loved it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What was the hardest?
Carey Socol: The hardest was probably a combination of REVEL Rockies, which
Carey Socol: is basically outside of Denver 'cause it's like downhill. And
Carey Socol: anyone who thinks they want a downhill course, you don't.
Carey Socol: Your quads are killing it. It was really much tougher
Carey Socol: than I thought. And then Morgantown, West Virginia. It was
Carey Socol: so hot. It's a really hilly course. It was brutal.
Carey Socol: It was really hard.
Rob Simmelkjaer: West Virginia is definitely hilly. I could see that being
Rob Simmelkjaer: difficult. What was the best medal of all the races?
Carey Socol: Well, I guess you can say it's the best, but
Carey Socol: it's certainly the biggest, is Little Rock, Arkansas. If you
Carey Socol: haven't seen it, google it. It is ginormous. It weighs, I
Carey Socol: don't know, 10 pounds. It's ridiculously fun. It's hilarious. But
Carey Socol: it's humongous and I'll call it the best because it's
Carey Socol: certainly the most unique.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I guess Little Rock. I've never heard of the Little Rock
Rob Simmelkjaer: Arkansas Marathon, so you may as well have a big
Rob Simmelkjaer: medal. People will learn about it that way. It's good marketing.
Carey Socol: It's a great marathon too. It's great.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely. What was the best post- race meal that you
Rob Simmelkjaer: had in any of these marathons?
Carey Socol: So I do this weird thing after a marathon. This
Carey Socol: is going to sound so weird. Once I kind of
Carey Socol: get back to my hotel room or wherever I am,
Carey Socol: I like a latte. I just like a hot coffee.
Carey Socol: I sit there, just zone out. And then my dinner,
Carey Socol: typically, I love a burger and fries. Just the best
Carey Socol: burger and fries you can find me. I want a burger.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I can't blame you there. That is a great one.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I tend to go, well, I've done pizza a lot.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love pizza after a marathon. But let me tell
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, Tokyo, Carey, I went to it. If you get into it one
Rob Simmelkjaer: of these years, I'll tell you a place to go
Rob Simmelkjaer: not far from the finish line where it's a standing
Rob Simmelkjaer: sushi bar in Tokyo. And the standing part's great 'cause
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm worried about sitting usually at that point after a
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathon, I'm worried I'm going to cramp up. And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: I stood at this bar and it was like a
Rob Simmelkjaer: revolving door of sushi and beer.
Carey Socol: Oh, I love that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And everything. I mean, oh my god, that's a post- race
Rob Simmelkjaer: meal I will never forget. It was incredible.
Carey Socol: I will do that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What was the most underrated marathon?
Carey Socol: I'm a big fan. I've done it twice now is
Carey Socol: Detroit. I think Detroit is a great marathon. You run
Carey Socol: over the bridge into Canada, you come back around through
Carey Socol: an underground tunnel for a mile, which is wild. It's
Carey Socol: dark. It's just a weird experience. Again, it's like that
Carey Socol: size crowd I really like. It's mid- size. The city
Carey Socol: comes out, Detroit's really hopping these days. And I just
Carey Socol: think it's a great. It's easy. You can start right there. Finish
Carey Socol: right there. I love an easy marathon with logistics, so
Carey Socol: I highly recommend Detroit.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right. And last one, and I have an answer I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer: expecting here, Carey, which one had the best fans?
Carey Socol: You got me. I mean there's no question. I mean, I think in my memory,
Carey Socol: Chicago is right behind it to me, but New York
Carey Socol: was. It is. It's why I keep coming back. It's
Carey Socol: why I can't miss it. It's the best and it's
Carey Socol: New York.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We had to. We had to leave that one for last, obviously, to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get the answer that we had to have 100%.
Carey Socol: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you got number 75 coming up. What does that
Rob Simmelkjaer: mean to you? And once you're at 75 of something,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I mean there's kind of an obvious question. You're three
Rob Simmelkjaer: quarters of the way. Is 100 on the map?
Carey Socol: It is. I mean, I can't help it. I did all 50
Carey Socol: states before I was 50, but I'd done more than
Carey Socol: 50 marathons. So I was at 60- something when I did the 50th state
Carey Socol: and DC. And then I'm like, " I like this part
Carey Socol: of my life. I like that this is it. I can't
Carey Socol: imagine being done and stopping. It's just part of my
Carey Socol: identity. It's part of what makes me tick. I don't
Carey Socol: see why I would stop." So it's just setting another goal
Carey Socol: and deciding, okay, let's go to 100 before 60. And that
Carey Socol: means I have to do three and a half a
Carey Socol: year. So three some years, four some years. So in a
Carey Socol: couple of weeks I'm doing Bayshore in Traverse City, Michigan.
Carey Socol: I will be up there vacationing. And well, the funny
Carey Socol: story is I didn't even know there was a marathon
Carey Socol: there that weekend and I was going. And someone said, "
Carey Socol: Oh, there's the marathon that weekend." I'm like, " There is? Oh, okay." So I
Carey Socol: started training two months ago and doing that. And then I have Sydney coming up
Carey Socol: and New York. So I have my three this year
Carey Socol: and maybe we'll sneak in a fourth.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Traverse City is gorgeous.
Carey Socol: That's what I hear.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm sure that's going to be a beautiful, beautiful marathon.
Carey Socol: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. It's amazing. And so for Mother's Day, do you go for
Rob Simmelkjaer: a run on Mother's Day? Do you go out and run a long way
Rob Simmelkjaer: or do you take a day off?
Carey Socol: Well, I missed my long run this past weekend, so
Carey Socol: I have to do something. I'll probably do it Saturday
Carey Socol: 'cause I actually scheduled a Mother's Day day with my
Carey Socol: two kids and my son's birthdays on the next day,
Carey Socol: so we're going to go see some theaters. So I'll
Carey Socol: do my long run Saturday and take Sunday off.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And what do you say to moms out there who,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and there's so many who they run, but they're always
Rob Simmelkjaer: trying to figure out how to run more and how to balance
Rob Simmelkjaer: all these things. What's your advice on how to balance
Rob Simmelkjaer: motherhood with running and running at the kind of scale
Rob Simmelkjaer: that you have run at?
Carey Socol: It's tricky. I have always found ways. I run home
Carey Socol: from work, so I build it into my commute. That's
Carey Socol: a really great way to do it. When I would
Carey Socol: do these marathons when my kids were younger, I'd go
Carey Socol: to a college counseling conference every year and I would
Carey Socol: build it around that. So I remember one year going
Carey Socol: to a conference in Toronto and then going to from
Carey Socol: there, I built in a day and went to Omaha.
Carey Socol: So I would find ways to kind of build it
Carey Socol: into. The weekends I already had coverage for the kids.
Carey Socol: And then you get people to help and the kids
Carey Socol: get a little older and you know you can go
Carey Socol: for a run and you build it in. And the
Carey Socol: weekends, if you start early on the weekends, I don't
Carey Socol: think you need to run seven days a week. Although
Carey Socol: in the summer I tend to do that. But I think
Carey Socol: if you just get a base of four to five
Carey Socol: to six during the week, twice a week, and then
Carey Socol: you build in a long run on the weekends, it's
Carey Socol: enough base. Especially like me, I'm not racing. I'm running
Carey Socol: for my head and my heart and my soul. So
Carey Socol: if you're not racing, you don't have that kind of
Carey Socol: angst about it. It's really for joy. I love it.
Carey Socol: I look forward to it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, I am impressed. It's quite a feat that you
Rob Simmelkjaer: have accomplished and you're still doing it. And you're doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: it while you're working and you're momming and you're doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: it all. So keep going. That's all I can say.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's incredible. We love having you as a Road Runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: member, love having you as part of the community and
Rob Simmelkjaer: can't wait to see when and where number 100 happens
Rob Simmelkjaer: for you. But in the meantime, Happy Mother's Day, enjoy
Rob Simmelkjaer: it and thanks for coming on with us today. Really
Rob Simmelkjaer: great having you.
Carey Socol: Thank you. My pleasure.
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right. Carey Socol on her way to 100 marathons,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but 75 is up next. New York Road Runners is
Rob Simmelkjaer: a nonprofit organization with a vision to build healthier lives
Rob Simmelkjaer: and stronger communities through the transformative power of running. The
Rob Simmelkjaer: support of members and donors like you helps us achieve
Rob Simmelkjaer: our mission to transform the health and wellbeing of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: communities through inclusive and accessible running experiences, empowering all to
Rob Simmelkjaer: achieve their potential. Learn more and contribute at nyrr. org/
Rob Simmelkjaer: donate. Today's member moment is with Dalma Garcia, a longtime
Rob Simmelkjaer: member who's been running marathons since 2014. Her first race
Rob Simmelkjaer: was especially meaningful. Her mom was in the stands at
Rob Simmelkjaer: the finish line, a memory that's become even more powerful
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the years since her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis. These days,
Rob Simmelkjaer: Dalma balances marathon training with being a mother to her
Rob Simmelkjaer: two daughters and also caring for her ailing mom. Dalma
Rob Simmelkjaer: will be running the upcoming RBC Brooklyn Half accompanied by
Rob Simmelkjaer: her youngest who will be running in the Boardwalk Kids
Rob Simmelkjaer: Run at the RBC Brooklyn Half. Here's Meb with Dalma.
Meb Keflezighi: Thanks Rob. Dalma, welcome to the Set the Pace podcast.
Meb Keflezighi: How are you doing today?
Dalma Garcia: Very good, thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
Meb Keflezighi: No problem. Great to have you. So your mom was
Meb Keflezighi: there when you completed the first NYC marathon in 2014,
Meb Keflezighi: which I was also in. So it was great to race with you-
Dalma Garcia: And I remember seeing you.
Meb Keflezighi: Great to race, share the New York roads with you. Can you
Meb Keflezighi: describe that day and what it meant for you to
Meb Keflezighi: share that significant moment with your mom?
Dalma Garcia: It was amazing. I had to ask my family not
Dalma Garcia: to let my mom or not let me see my
Dalma Garcia: mom at mile 22 because I felt like I was
Dalma Garcia: going to break down at that point if I saw
Dalma Garcia: her. So she was at the bleachers and that's how
Dalma Garcia: come I actually saw you in an event with Team
Dalma Garcia: For Kids that year. So my mom was at the
Dalma Garcia: bleachers, and at the very end I kept hearing, well, everybody
Dalma Garcia: was shouting and I heard my brothers shout my name
Dalma Garcia: finally. But I was about to cross the finish line and
Dalma Garcia: I looked to my left and I see my mom. And
Dalma Garcia: my mom, I just see her mouth moving. So I
Dalma Garcia: just see her features and she's just telling me like, "
Dalma Garcia: Go. Finish. You got this," something like that. I kept
Dalma Garcia: seeing her. But it was an amazing moment and it
Dalma Garcia: meant a lot for me at that moment, but it
Dalma Garcia: means a lot more for me now because she has
Dalma Garcia: Alzheimer's dementia and so now she's unable to even recognize
Dalma Garcia: me. So having her there, that was, it's been, it's
Dalma Garcia: a big deal for me.
Meb Keflezighi: The finish line is always epic, but having your other
Meb Keflezighi: significant or family, friends there is pretty big deal. And
Meb Keflezighi: to have her there was, I'm pretty sure experience of
Meb Keflezighi: a lifetime.
Dalma Garcia: Absolutely.
Meb Keflezighi: How has your experience of running changed since you began caregiving for
Meb Keflezighi: your mother? Has there been a particular run that felt
Meb Keflezighi: especially meaningful or challenging during this time?
Dalma Garcia: Well, it has been challenging since I had my little
Dalma Garcia: one in 2017 and then my mom got Covid in 2020.
Dalma Garcia: And after that is when it got really challenging because
Dalma Garcia: my mom's dementia progressed very quickly. And so at that
Dalma Garcia: point, every marathon, I continued to do marathons. I never
Dalma Garcia: skipped one. But it was like my pace went from,
Dalma Garcia: my PR in New York was 4: 13 and I went
Dalma Garcia: to six hours. My training was not the same. Nevertheless,
Dalma Garcia: I was still running.
Meb Keflezighi: Amazing. Just incredible. I'm dealing personally the same thing. My
Meb Keflezighi: dad has some dementia right now and he still recognizes
Meb Keflezighi: us. His long- term memory is incredible, but short- term
Meb Keflezighi: memory is not there and it's decelerating quickly. But our
Meb Keflezighi: loved ones, our heroes, it's hard to see them in
Meb Keflezighi: that predicament. My dad walked over 225 miles to save
Meb Keflezighi: his life, navigate, and then now he doesn't know where
Meb Keflezighi: the restroom is or where ... He's forgetful. So it's kind
Meb Keflezighi: of tough. I can empathize with what's going on. But
Meb Keflezighi: running kind of relieves us as a therapy.
Dalma Garcia: 100%.
Meb Keflezighi: You mentioned that your daughter loves traveling with you for
Meb Keflezighi: destination races. Can you take us to one of the
Meb Keflezighi: memorable trips together? What was it and why does it
Meb Keflezighi: stand out for both of you?
Dalma Garcia: Chicago.
Meb Keflezighi: Chicago. Tell me, how was it, when was it?
Dalma Garcia: Because I always thought that nothing, no race was going to
Dalma Garcia: top New York City. Chicago was very close to it.
Dalma Garcia: And then my daughter, she went along with me. She
Dalma Garcia: was turning 16 that year. Her birthday is in October
Dalma Garcia: as well as the race. And so we did a
Dalma Garcia: lot that year. We went on a cruise, we did
Dalma Garcia: a bunch of things around that month, but one of
Dalma Garcia: them was the Chicago Marathon. And she absolutely enjoyed the
Dalma Garcia: energy. She enjoyed the entire trip, and most importantly, the
Dalma Garcia: after party where we went to engrave our medals. And
Dalma Garcia: then she met a bunch of runners and she was like, "
Dalma Garcia: Everybody here is crazy" 'cause we were all dancing after
Dalma Garcia: a race and everybody looked like they were just fresh.
Dalma Garcia: But she absolutely enjoyed it. It was very special.
Meb Keflezighi: Experience of a lifetime and what a wonderful it is
Meb Keflezighi: to be able to celebrate with your fellow runners. You
Meb Keflezighi: also, I guess have your 7- year- old daughter will
Meb Keflezighi: be running her first race, Boardwalk Kids Run at the RBC Brooklyn Half.
Meb Keflezighi: What advice have you given her?
Dalma Garcia: Well, I always thought she's a brave one, but my
Dalma Garcia: advice to her, because she's very competitive, I always tell her, "
Dalma Garcia: It's your pace, your race, your pace, just run. What
Dalma Garcia: we've been training is you run not too fast. Pace
Dalma Garcia: yourself." That's what I always tell her, " Just pace yourself. You
Dalma Garcia: don't want to get tired or overwhelmed. Just nicely just
Dalma Garcia: reach the finish line. Everybody that reaches there is a
Dalma Garcia: winner, so you are a winner already." So, yeah, that's
Dalma Garcia: all I tell her. And most of the times I just
Dalma Garcia: encourage her to continue running. She's a really good supporter.
Dalma Garcia: She sees ... I'm driving and she sees runner. She's like, "
Dalma Garcia: Go runner. Go runner." So she already loves this. She's
Dalma Garcia: seen me all my life, all her life as a
Dalma Garcia: runner, so.
Meb Keflezighi: Well, balancing on a race is very important to be
Meb Keflezighi: able to push her and pace yourself and finish strong.
Meb Keflezighi: Talk about balancing. Balancing running with your caregiving and motherhood
Meb Keflezighi: must be incredibly demanding. Can you share a specific moment
Meb Keflezighi: when running has given you that exact why you needed
Meb Keflezighi: it most?
Dalma Garcia: It gives it to me every time. I have to
Dalma Garcia: say, every time I am overwhelmed with different, whether it's
Dalma Garcia: as working in my job and the demands of taking
Dalma Garcia: care of my mom and my kids and time. I
Dalma Garcia: always think like, " Oh, I'm too tired. I'm not going
Dalma Garcia: to do it." And then that's when I actually do
Dalma Garcia: need it. Like I can go and take care of
Dalma Garcia: my mom and take care of my daughter and go
Dalma Garcia: now cook and clean. But that's only if you give
Dalma Garcia: me at least 30 minutes to run beforehand. So if
Dalma Garcia: I run, I have the energy, I can do it all.
Meb Keflezighi: You are doing it all. It's incredible to do your work,
Meb Keflezighi: taking care of your mom and be a mother. And like you said, cooking and
Meb Keflezighi: cleaning and doing extra miles. Yeah, those miles are paying
Meb Keflezighi: a big dividend in your energy. So Happy Mother's Day. We're
Meb Keflezighi: so grateful that you're here to join us and keep up the
Meb Keflezighi: great work.
Dalma Garcia: Thank you. I appreciate you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thank you so much for joining us, Dalma and for
Rob Simmelkjaer: being a member of New York Road Runners, and we
Rob Simmelkjaer: wish you all the best luck in the RBC Brooklyn
Rob Simmelkjaer: Half. Now to the final part of our show. Today's
Rob Simmelkjaer: Med Minutes.
Meb Keflezighi: Train on surfaces similar to the racecourse, including hills, trails
Meb Keflezighi: and uneven ground. Strength legs, ankles, and core with exercises
Meb Keflezighi: like lunges, squats, and balance drills. Drills are important. Single
Meb Keflezighi: leg hops or both legs are important in addition to
Meb Keflezighi: quick feet, high knees, butt kicks to strengthen the muscles,
Meb Keflezighi: ligaments and tendons are very, very important. Adjust pacing. Mixed
Meb Keflezighi: terrain requires strategy, efforts, distribution, and adaptability. One and foremost
Meb Keflezighi: is to wear appropriate footwear so that it can be grip
Meb Keflezighi: and stability based on the terrain. I've seen someone run
Meb Keflezighi: really with very light shoes, like almost what you wear
Meb Keflezighi: on the grass or on the house on a rocky
Meb Keflezighi: trails, and I have to stop them and give them
Meb Keflezighi: my advice because where you run is important, but what you
Meb Keflezighi: wear is very, very important as well.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And that does it for another episode of Set The
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace. We want to thank our guest today, the great
Rob Simmelkjaer: Carey Socol and our member Dalma Garcia. If you liked
Rob Simmelkjaer: the episode, make sure you rate it, subscribe, leave a
Rob Simmelkjaer: comment so others can find us as well. Hope to
Rob Simmelkjaer: see you all out there in Brooklyn. Have a great week.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Enjoy the miles. We'll see you next week.