Speaker 1: Hey, folks, we have paramedics, police officers, marathon volunteers, and
Speaker 1: marathon spectators we need to thank today. But I'm going
Speaker 1: to start this episode by saying a very heartfelt thank
Speaker 1: you to one miss Amy Robock and with that, everybody,
Speaker 1: welcome to this very special edition of Amy and tj
Speaker 1: Are Morning Run edition is kind of a marathon edition.
Speaker 1: Here now, but Robock and I, if you can give
Speaker 1: the description of what's right outside our window and just
Speaker 1: set the scene for a second here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are in our Chicago hotel room. In fact,
Speaker 2: it's right across from Ridley Field.
Speaker 1: It's gorgeous looking at the Cubs flags flying in the wind.
Speaker 2: Yes, and there was some rain and some wind. It's cold,
Speaker 2: and it's dreary, and it well, we're trying to get
Speaker 2: out of that mood right now. We are not having
Speaker 2: the morning after that we were expecting to have after
Speaker 2: a marathon. Usually it's laboratory. It is filled with relief
Speaker 2: and exuberance and gratitude, and we have some of those
Speaker 2: things going on, but we have a lot of disappointment
Speaker 2: as well, but a lot of gratitude.
Speaker 1: Uh, frustration, I guess is a good word, but I
Speaker 1: mean this robes and you don't know this. At some
Speaker 1: point I was just looking at you while you were
Speaker 1: asleep last night. But you you performed in a way
Speaker 1: yesterday that was I can't think of anybody besides my
Speaker 1: mom who has taken that kind of care for me
Speaker 1: when I was desperate, So this wasn't We just picked
Speaker 1: up the microphones and decided we were going to start
Speaker 1: a podcast, so we didn't know how we were going
Speaker 1: to start and to tell the story of what happened
Speaker 1: at the marathon. But you, my God, when I was
Speaker 1: hurting and I was struggling, and maybe I could have
Speaker 1: made it through on my own and figured it out,
Speaker 1: but I needed help, and you I just helped. But
Speaker 1: you sacrificed something that was Jesus, that was very important
Speaker 1: to you in order to stay with me. So I
Speaker 1: thank you. Yesterday I was begging you to keep running,
Speaker 1: keep running, when I knew I couldn't keep running, and
Speaker 1: you stuck with me. And you were fully trained for
Speaker 1: a marathon and you could have finished, and you did
Speaker 1: not finish because of my bum ass yesterday. So I
Speaker 1: loved you before we started. I didn't know how possible
Speaker 1: it was to love and adore and appreciate you more.
Speaker 1: But I'll say it to you plenty yesterday, but i'll
Speaker 1: say it here again. Just thank you for what you
Speaker 1: did for me yesterday.
Speaker 2: Well I appreciate that. But I told you at the
Speaker 2: time when you couldn't, you knew you couldn't go on anymore,
Speaker 2: and you did. You begged me multiple times please keep running,
Speaker 2: even when I didn't realize how serious it was. But
Speaker 2: I saw you had fallen behind me, which is very
Speaker 2: unusual because you're right next to me or sometimes even
Speaker 2: a little ahead of me, only because you're trying to
Speaker 2: slow down for me. When you were so far behind
Speaker 2: me that I actually couldn't see you, I thought, oh no,
Speaker 2: his things have started to take a turn. For his words,
Speaker 2: his achilles, we I think we've been talking about it.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows you were struggling with an injury. And it
Speaker 2: was this was around mile eighteen from my recollection that
Speaker 2: I realized you had fallen way back behind and so
Speaker 2: I was looking for you and was managed to slow
Speaker 2: down enough to catch up with you or for you
Speaker 2: to catch up with me, and I saw how much
Speaker 2: you were struggling, and you when I looked back, and
Speaker 2: finally saw you. You kept making the hand gesture like
Speaker 2: go go. You just kept saying go go, like you
Speaker 2: didn't want me to slow down even And that for
Speaker 2: me was not thinkable because I was running by myself
Speaker 2: for a while, and I thought, this isn't why I've
Speaker 2: signed up for this. I have run marathons before. I'm
Speaker 2: doing this to run with you and to be with you.
Speaker 2: And what I told you, and I know this rang
Speaker 2: true for you. I said, Imagine it was the opposite.
Speaker 2: Imagine I was injured. Imagine I needed help. Imagine I
Speaker 2: had to quit. There is no way in hell you
Speaker 2: would have kept running. And I think that maybe gave
Speaker 2: you some peace, because you know you would have done
Speaker 2: the exact same thing for me. You know you would
Speaker 2: have stayed back with me, and you know you would
Speaker 2: have helped me. I mean, you ended up in an ambulance, babe,
Speaker 2: you ended up in a medical tent. You were vomiting.
Speaker 2: I mean this was you were in significant pain, you
Speaker 2: were deeply dehydrated, and there was no way you were
Speaker 2: going to finish. And so we yeah, at mile twenty one,
Speaker 2: and that is incredibly frustrating. We had five miles to go.
Speaker 2: We can do five miles in our sleep and we
Speaker 2: had to stop because you needed help.
Speaker 1: I And again, folks, you were If folks have followed us,
Speaker 1: you know we're runners, and you also know that it's
Speaker 1: not just marathon day. This is a commitment of five
Speaker 1: or six months of your life to get ready for
Speaker 1: a day like that. And so the first time a
Speaker 1: tear came out of my eye is when that moment
Speaker 1: when you realize you're not going to be able to
Speaker 1: go on. And that pain is one thing we're used
Speaker 1: to it every run. You go do a two mile run,
Speaker 1: you might be in pain. This wasn't just pain management,
Speaker 1: and it finally broke down. So for folks, we'll explain.
Speaker 1: So we put some stuff out on social media without
Speaker 1: a lot of context, and even some of my family
Speaker 1: and friends who are reaching out and still don't know,
Speaker 1: they think I'm still in the hospital this morning, so
Speaker 1: I should let everybody know what happened. But we started
Speaker 1: robes on kind of a weird day yesterday. It was
Speaker 1: every single thing that could have gone wrong went wrong.
Speaker 1: And from the jump, we had a routine. We got
Speaker 1: up like we were supposed to, but we needed to
Speaker 1: get to a particular tint a runner tint where we
Speaker 1: were assigned, and that's where we knew we were going
Speaker 1: to use bathroom and get all the food and liquids
Speaker 1: that we needed that more.
Speaker 2: That's right, and so we ended up it was just chaos,
Speaker 2: and we know that's the way it is and most marathons.
Speaker 2: And I had been to the Chicago Marathon a couple
Speaker 2: of years prior, but I had someone with me who's
Speaker 2: local and who knew, who kind of guided me. I
Speaker 2: didn't know exactly where to go. We couldn't find. We
Speaker 2: asked I would say at least a dozen and I'm
Speaker 2: not exaggerating.
Speaker 1: I was going to go up to twenty.
Speaker 2: A dozen marathon workers. Where is this tent that we
Speaker 2: had to be at that we were counting on for
Speaker 2: all of the above. Otherwise we would have prepped beforehand.
Speaker 2: But we knew we had this tent to go to,
Speaker 2: where there was food, where there was any like, there
Speaker 2: was electrolytes, there was everything you needed to prepare for
Speaker 2: your marathon. So we kind of left it all to
Speaker 2: that tent. We couldn't find the tent and no one,
Speaker 2: no one knew where it was. And to the point
Speaker 2: where TikTok after thirty minutes of looking for this tent,
Speaker 2: we realized we were in trouble when we finally found someone,
Speaker 2: finally found someone who knew it, and it was so
Speaker 2: far in the other direction we couldn't get to it
Speaker 2: to get what we needed to get back to our corral.
Speaker 2: And so we started this marathon and I was upset.
Speaker 2: I actually almost started crying, and you talked me down.
Speaker 2: You said, Robes, we are going to be fine. We
Speaker 2: will figure this out. It's okay. But we ended up
Speaker 2: starting a marathon with no bathroom. And that is essential
Speaker 2: because the lines for the porta pottis are an hour long.
Speaker 2: I mean it's if you've ever been to a race
Speaker 2: and a marathon specifically, it is impossible unless you've alloted
Speaker 2: an hour to use the restroom. So there was no restroom.
Speaker 2: Then I had not had any water. You had not
Speaker 2: had any water, and we didn't have our water bottles.
Speaker 2: We had no food. We hadn't eaten anything. So I
Speaker 2: was just like, this is a disaster.
Speaker 1: Hey. This is why I wasn't worried though, because I
Speaker 1: know on the race route there's going to be water,
Speaker 1: there's going to be gatorating, and there's going to be food,
Speaker 1: and there's going to be good, and there's going to
Speaker 1: be all whatever you need, and that's also going to
Speaker 1: be Porter botties. Is not the ideal way to start
Speaker 1: a race. It's not. But the fact of the matter
Speaker 1: is you and I started a marathon without having a
Speaker 1: single drop of fluid and now having a single bite
Speaker 1: of food. That's stupid.
Speaker 2: It is stupid. And also for someone like me who
Speaker 2: always has stomach issues, to be eating while I'm running
Speaker 2: is not ideal. And to be then trying to catch
Speaker 2: up on my water as I start running versus having
Speaker 2: hydrated beforehand is also starting a race not in a
Speaker 2: good place. So I was nervous, and interestingly enough with
Speaker 2: all of that. We started out the race and I realized, hey,
Speaker 2: you know what, I don't need to use the restroom.
Speaker 2: I'm okay. And I grabbed water at all the water stations.
Speaker 2: I even had a half a banana here or there,
Speaker 2: and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna be okay.
Speaker 2: And it started out better than we thought, and we're
Speaker 2: running better, no better though I was.
Speaker 1: I was the only one went into the race not
Speaker 1: nervous about my achilles. Everybody was asking everybody had family friends.
Speaker 1: Everybody's wondering about my legs. Some tell me I shouldn't run.
Speaker 1: You and I even talked about it that maybe we would.
Speaker 1: I was going to have to let people know here
Speaker 1: whether or not I was going to run, and we
Speaker 1: say we go right up to the start line. But
Speaker 1: we started. I was okay. So the little background there.
Speaker 1: For two three months, I've been dealing with an achilles issue.
Speaker 1: Achilles ten to nine is. There are all kinds of
Speaker 1: words for it. But I had been getting treatments. I
Speaker 1: went to a doctor. I've got X rays, I did
Speaker 1: laser heat therapy. I've been doing NonStop therapy at home
Speaker 1: for the past couple of weeks. It has been bothering.
Speaker 1: It was not right at the start of the race,
Speaker 1: but I have been training on it and had fine
Speaker 1: training runs. It hurts me, but I was concerned about it,
Speaker 1: but I felt good about the achilles at least going in.
Speaker 1: So we take off. Y'all thought I was crazy. I
Speaker 1: was encouraging everybody else. We get text from Bob that
Speaker 1: was running yep. I was like, Hey, let's go do this.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Everybody's concerned and worried. I'm the I'm on.
Speaker 2: File you were in a fabulous mood and you actually
Speaker 2: helped me because I was upset about how we started,
Speaker 2: understandably so, but you were like, ro we're good, we
Speaker 2: got this, and you know we One of the things,
Speaker 2: you know, that's so inspiring about running races is you
Speaker 2: see who's running, and it's people from all shapes and sizes,
Speaker 2: all ages, and all levels of ability. And so we
Speaker 2: were running past folks who were missing limbs, who were
Speaker 2: using crutches and speed walking with one leg. I mean,
Speaker 2: I was blown away and the guy.
Speaker 1: That's where I turned to you while we were running
Speaker 1: and I said, now, what were you complaining about?
Speaker 2: Exactly? And so those are the moments I just got
Speaker 2: chills even remembering it. When you're running these races and
Speaker 2: you feel like you're in a bad way, or you're
Speaker 2: not feeling one hundred percent, or you're nervous or upset,
Speaker 2: you look and you see what someone else's overcoming, and
Speaker 2: you say to yourself, shut up, you're fine, You're gonna
Speaker 2: be okay. You are just really in this point, it's
Speaker 2: a mental game. And we were talking about that so
Speaker 2: much of running is a mental game. It's physical, of course,
Speaker 2: but if you've done the work and you've done the training,
Speaker 2: which we have for the past five months, you have
Speaker 2: to trust it and then you just have to let
Speaker 2: your mind calm and go to another place. And that's
Speaker 2: part of what I love about running, is that really
Speaker 2: forces you to be disciplined in every way in shape possible. However,
Speaker 2: we get to we get to the halfway point, we
Speaker 2: get to the half marathon thirteen point one, and we're
Speaker 2: both doing really well.
Speaker 1: And we have to say, if anybody was following, if
Speaker 1: folks were confused about like, how is he posting on Instagram?
Speaker 1: I was posting the entire first thirteen miles, almost every
Speaker 1: mom marker I was showing. I was showing the signs
Speaker 1: that people had. I was just having a blast and enjoying.
Speaker 1: When I saw that thirteen point one that means you
Speaker 1: have just run a half marathon, I knew. I just
Speaker 1: took an inventory of my body. I was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: I am okay, we are about to finish this dayn marathon.
Speaker 1: I was even saying to myself, Man, I finished this thing.
Speaker 1: Y'all ain't gonna be able to tell me nothing, because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna believe I am a superhero.
Speaker 2: We were on good pace. I think we were doing
Speaker 2: like about a nine thirty. My dad was was, you know,
Speaker 2: all of your friends and family get your bib numbers
Speaker 2: and they follow you. It's really fun. So I love
Speaker 2: it when I have my AirPods in. It's less about
Speaker 2: the music and more about the messages I hear from
Speaker 2: people saying you got this both of my daughters. I
Speaker 2: know your daughter did to sending me go go go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's get Let's be clear here. We actually called Sabine,
Speaker 1: my eleven year old, from the starting line. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: sent her pictures of us at the starting line. She
Speaker 1: knows good and hell, well, dad, he's been training for marathon.
Speaker 1: You said you were getting messages from your daughter, wait
Speaker 1: to go? You got this? Da da da. You know
Speaker 1: what I got during the race?
Speaker 2: A YouTube video, a YouTube clip for.
Speaker 1: My daughter and I said, baby, I'm running a marathon.
Speaker 1: And her response was oh, like.
Speaker 2: She's eleven and mine are a little older, so they
Speaker 2: might get things a little bit more. But my dad
Speaker 2: is he's a runner, he's a marathon or he's run
Speaker 2: three marathons and ran Verlin with me, so he gets it.
Speaker 2: He knows what it's like. So he those big mile markers,
Speaker 2: so half marathon, He's like, way to go. And then
Speaker 2: he saw us at thirty k and he said, great, pace,
Speaker 2: keep it up. And then they saw us just stop,
Speaker 2: and I think it ended up we ended up stopping.
Speaker 2: We started slowing down at mile eighteen. That's when I
Speaker 2: realized you were in trouble. And then finally it was
Speaker 2: at mile twenty one where you realized you couldn't go
Speaker 2: any further.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing, bo, this is what happened. Everybody's
Speaker 1: asking me about the Achilles. Achilles wasn't the issue ultimately
Speaker 1: that caused me to have to stop.
Speaker 2: And I didn't know this, by the way, I absolutely
Speaker 2: thought it was your achilles up until I think last night.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think you told me.
Speaker 1: I had to. So what's the right way to break
Speaker 1: this down? That was a previous injury. So if you
Speaker 1: run marathons, you got some straight shots mainly, but you
Speaker 1: have to every once in a while make a hard
Speaker 1: right or a hard laughter's turn. So we had a
Speaker 1: perpendicular essentially turned to get onto another street and I
Speaker 1: had to go around this pretty sharp curve. This was
Speaker 1: at thirteen point one. Go around this sharp curve, now
Speaker 1: we're all bunched together and you're coming around the corner.
Speaker 1: And I didn't have time to adjust to a guy
Speaker 1: for reasons I don't understand, was walking in the middle
Speaker 1: of the marathon. People do walk at times, they get tired,
Speaker 1: they want to take a rest, but they often move
Speaker 1: over to the side. You know you have to do that.
Speaker 2: You move over to the right when you have to walk.
Speaker 2: And believe me, when you get past mile fifteen, people
Speaker 2: start walking. It always always.
Speaker 1: Get it folks taking a little rest. But this guy
Speaker 1: comes just shocks me. As I'm turning, I didn't have
Speaker 1: time and I almost fall and I have to grab
Speaker 1: onto him to try to go around him and trying
Speaker 1: to avoid But as I was going down, I catch
Speaker 1: myself on my right leg. Now the achilles that's the problem.
Speaker 1: That's the problem is on my left leg. I catch
Speaker 1: myself with my right leg going down, and when I
Speaker 1: do it, I immediately feel the tweak in my right hip
Speaker 1: and kind of my right butt cheek. And at that moment,
Speaker 1: as though because this was the previous injury from my
Speaker 1: first marathon in twenty twenty two, the IT band, I've
Speaker 1: learned more about tendons and bands and crap over the
Speaker 1: past couple of years than ever but an IT band,
Speaker 1: and you did or didn't see this?
Speaker 2: I saw so. I so I was just behind you,
Speaker 2: and I saw you go into the guy and then yet,
Speaker 2: like you said, use his shoulders almost to steady yourself,
Speaker 2: because you you went forward and kind of did like
Speaker 2: one of those almost face plants. But then you stopped
Speaker 2: yourself and righted yourself. And I didn't realize at that
Speaker 2: moment you had injured yourself. I just know that when
Speaker 2: we got to I think it was maybe mile it
Speaker 2: was right before you ended up slowing way down and
Speaker 2: I didn't realize you had gotten so far behind me.
Speaker 2: But maybe it was like fifteen sixteen, you started getting
Speaker 2: further and further behind me. But when I was running
Speaker 2: next to you, when I slowed down to catch up
Speaker 2: with you or for you to catch up with me,
Speaker 2: I heard you doing something that I had never heard
Speaker 2: you do. While you were running, you were literally grunting
Speaker 2: in pain, like going oh oh, And that was something
Speaker 2: completely new to me, and I thought, oh my god,
Speaker 2: I cannot believe he's in that much pain that I
Speaker 2: don't even know if he knows how loud He's being
Speaker 2: grunting with every step he was taking and I just said, baby,
Speaker 2: do you want to walk? Do you want to walk?
Speaker 2: And you said no, no, And so we were slowing down.
Speaker 2: I think we were at like an eleven minute mile
Speaker 2: at one point, like really slow, and you still run
Speaker 2: so much pain, and I remember thinking, oh, no, what's
Speaker 2: going to happen. And it wasn't until we finally ended
Speaker 2: up having to stop and I saw tears running down
Speaker 2: your face. I knew I knew it was probably over.
Speaker 1: That's when I knew it was over. The pain was
Speaker 1: let's just deal. But when I knew in my mind
Speaker 1: that this was over, and it's you put five months
Speaker 1: into something to get to this day. You put that
Speaker 1: much work in and you can't finish it. It's not
Speaker 1: that I didn't get the time I wanted. It was
Speaker 1: none of that. It was you can't. You body won't
Speaker 1: let you do it. And you know what I thought
Speaker 1: about you? And I just gotten comparing ourselves to Olympic athletes.
Speaker 1: But we all just watched the Olympics, and this is
Speaker 1: the only thing that now I see. It was the
Speaker 1: Batmanton young lady. I can't remember which country, but she
Speaker 1: was the returning champ, she was the favorite to win it,
Speaker 1: and she was down on her knees just screaming in
Speaker 1: tears because she knew she had an injury that wasn't
Speaker 1: going to allow her to continue. That is what that stuff.
Speaker 1: When you see that in those moments, and those people
Speaker 1: put four years into it, And so we think about
Speaker 1: marathonis and you folks are crazy the amount of discipline
Speaker 1: you see it on marathon day, but the amount of
Speaker 1: discipline and work that goes into that to get to
Speaker 1: that moment and still can't do it was too much
Speaker 1: emotionally in that moment for me to handle. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: so the trying to be clear here my right that
Speaker 1: it band and look, I'm not gonna go into all
Speaker 1: the medical I can't explain at all, but it runs
Speaker 1: down the entire right side of your leg and your
Speaker 1: left you have it. It goes just down the side of
Speaker 1: your leg, It connects from your hip, It goes all
Speaker 1: the way down.
Speaker 2: It's what's sore for me today like that those are
Speaker 2: the only things that I'm sore on my both of
Speaker 2: my hips, like a little bit of sore, Like I
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 1: So that's a band issue. But it shows up oftentimes
Speaker 1: in the knee. It shows up as knee pain. And
Speaker 1: so I didn't realize the first time I had the injury,
Speaker 1: but I figured it out, I got some stretches. It
Speaker 1: hasn't bothered me a single time two years, not once.
Speaker 1: So as soon as I tweaked it, I felt it
Speaker 1: and thought, oh god, it might not be good. But
Speaker 1: I literally, over the next few miles felt my knee swelling,
Speaker 1: literally feel it swelling.
Speaker 2: You said that to me. I said, what's what's going on, baby,
Speaker 2: And you said, my knee is so swollen, I can't
Speaker 2: bend it. And I thought, oh no.
Speaker 1: So oh no. I am now imagine I have a
Speaker 1: left achilles injury. But instead of trying to help the
Speaker 1: left achilles by putting more weight on my right, my
Speaker 1: right leg is now injured. And now I am compensating
Speaker 1: by putting more weight and emphasis on the left leg,
Speaker 1: which is already injured. And that is where everything fall apart.
Speaker 1: That's why I fell apart.
Speaker 2: And so we ended up on the side of the
Speaker 2: road just past mile twenty one, and we had some
Speaker 2: incredible marathon workers and volunteers. We wish we remember their name.
Speaker 2: But this lovely blonde woman and a police officer actually
Speaker 2: stayed with us, and they were just trying to get
Speaker 2: us transport because at that point we knew we just
Speaker 2: had to get back to where we started to get
Speaker 2: our things, et cetera. And all of a sudden, you
Speaker 2: went so pale, and you just started vomiting, like on
Speaker 2: the street, and they said, we're gonna We're gonna call
Speaker 2: an ambulance because they just got nervous at that point,
Speaker 2: and understandably so it took about thirty minutes. You can
Speaker 2: imagine it's Chicago, a marathon. All the streets are closed.
Speaker 2: We're close to the finish line, but not close enough
Speaker 2: for it to make a lot of sense. We finally,
Speaker 2: I mean, it seemed like forever, and I felt so
Speaker 2: bad for you, but we finally got to the ambulance.
Speaker 2: And then once you got in there, you looked awful.
Speaker 2: You were so pale, you were shivering and shaking because
Speaker 2: you've got these wet, sweaty clothing on and now the
Speaker 2: wind is whipping and it was pretty miserable. And you
Speaker 2: got into the ambulance. They put you in the on
Speaker 2: the stretcher, which you were not very fond of. But
Speaker 2: then you started vomiting again, and they wanted to take
Speaker 2: you to the hospital at that point.
Speaker 1: And which is something you knew was not going to happen.
Speaker 1: I actually she strapped me in and she said, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to take you to the hospital.
Speaker 2: He took the took the drops off, and I looked
Speaker 2: at her and I said, ma'am, he's not going to
Speaker 2: the hospital, so what can we do here? And she
Speaker 2: was like okay. I was like, I assure you, he
Speaker 2: is not going to the hospital.
Speaker 1: So they didn't well, and again they're doing their job.
Speaker 1: And Caitlyn was the driver of the ambulance, and the
Speaker 1: young lady in the back she was a I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: we cannot remember her name. We are going to find
Speaker 1: you if anybody within the sound of our voice know
Speaker 1: who's Caitlin was working with. She took care of us
Speaker 1: at the marathon. We would love to reach out to
Speaker 1: both of them. But when and this was obviously embarrassing,
Speaker 1: They're transporting us and I say, ma'am, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to stop. You're gonna have to open that door because
Speaker 1: I'm about to vomit. And she pulled out a bucket
Speaker 1: in the nick of time.
Speaker 2: In the nick of time.
Speaker 1: And at that point they get scared because they think
Speaker 1: something else is going on with me, that I do
Speaker 1: need to get to a hospital. And so that's when
Speaker 1: they put.
Speaker 2: On the sirens, the sirens.
Speaker 1: So here I am me, proud me in a damn
Speaker 1: ambulance with the damn lights on, sirens going through the
Speaker 1: streets of Chicago while the marathon is still going on.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about I know you, and I know
Speaker 2: how proud you are, and I know that that was
Speaker 2: not at all what you thought was going to be happening,
Speaker 2: or could you You could not even have imagined. This
Speaker 2: was like a worst case not worst case scenario, but
Speaker 2: among them it was tough.
Speaker 1: But to end up in an ambulance and out of
Speaker 1: wood and have I thought they were getting into the
Speaker 1: transport I and what did the young lady tell us?
Speaker 1: She said, you're pushing and you're upset, and you're this
Speaker 1: and that. Let me tell you why we're doing our job.
Speaker 1: But just a short time ago, another guy was pushing
Speaker 1: himself and he had a heart attack on the on
Speaker 1: the course.
Speaker 2: And it didn't sound like it went well. She said,
Speaker 2: he was pushing himself, he was low on salt low
Speaker 2: on electrolytes. He went down, but then he went into
Speaker 2: cardiac arrest, and she said, that is what happens.
Speaker 1: You know this.
Speaker 2: Marathons are are serious. They are dangerous even if you
Speaker 2: if you aren't exactly where you need to be health wise,
Speaker 2: if you haven't done the training, if you haven't had
Speaker 2: the right if you haven't had the right fluids, if
Speaker 2: you haven't had the right fuel, all of those things matter,
Speaker 2: and this is why they have medical personnel lining the
Speaker 2: streets every time you see a marathon. I don't think
Speaker 2: any of us ever expect us to be the patients.
Speaker 2: And I think it's going through your head. I mean,
Speaker 2: how many times have we seen this happen to other people?
Speaker 2: And now here you are a part of those numbers,
Speaker 2: And it's not where anyone wants to be. And sometimes
Speaker 2: you can't anticipate it. Sometimes you can't do anything about it.
Speaker 2: And thank god, those amazing people are there to help
Speaker 2: folks push themselves in a healthy, amazing way. But it
Speaker 2: can be scary in moments, and yes, I think pretty
Speaker 2: much every marathon I've been in there have been moments
Speaker 2: like that where people have died, people have come close.
Speaker 1: To die half wa in Brooklyn. I ran and God
Speaker 1: dropped it right before the or before the finish line.
Speaker 1: I remember my daughter was at that thing, right. I
Speaker 1: think it drove it home to her a little more.
Speaker 1: This is I think it's running has been. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: mentally difficult, but physically it's been fairly easy. For me.
Speaker 1: It hasn't been I haven't had major issues and I've
Speaker 1: been able to do it. And this time around, you
Speaker 1: all were in the ambulance. I didn't get it necessarily,
Speaker 1: but I don't know how important and serious it was.
Speaker 1: That the vitals she was trying to get and couldn't get,
Speaker 1: and then I was shaking. And then she said, my
Speaker 1: body is reacting to the pain and trying to adjust.
Speaker 1: That's healthy. So it was good for me to be vomiting.
Speaker 1: She says, your body is reacting the right way. I
Speaker 1: didn't get all that, but she was quite concerned.
Speaker 2: She was, oh, your blood pressure was very high when
Speaker 2: you first got in, and yeah, they couldn't get They
Speaker 2: couldn't get a lot of your vitals because you were
Speaker 2: shaking so violently and you were so cold, they couldn't
Speaker 2: actually get it to read. And then when they finally
Speaker 2: got you settled. Then we went to the medical tent
Speaker 2: and they wanted to take you on a stretcher, and
Speaker 2: that certainly would have been easier, but I knew there
Speaker 2: was no way you were going in that stretcher. So
Speaker 2: those two young ladies and me we all got you
Speaker 2: to the medical tent and they checked.
Speaker 1: You to carry.
Speaker 2: We didn't carry you assisted.
Speaker 1: My arm was around you from the time we stopped
Speaker 1: until we got back to the hotel, probably as a crutch.
Speaker 2: I was your crutch, but.
Speaker 1: I I and this is the crazy thing, and anybody
Speaker 1: who runs will is a marathon or certainly will get it.
Speaker 1: Before we even got back to the hotel, my thought
Speaker 1: was all about, man, I gotta get healthy for the
Speaker 1: New York City Marathon in three weeks. That's happening. I'm
Speaker 1: running that marathon in three weeks. I can't wait. In fact,
Speaker 1: we go back to New York today. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to go possibly for a run tomorrow. My knee is
Speaker 1: my problem. It's it's swollen, it is not well, and
Speaker 1: it hurts. But this is I feel like an injury
Speaker 1: I've dealt with, but and I know how to fix this.
Speaker 1: Achilles will continue to heal but I cannot wait to
Speaker 1: get back out there because I'm so frustrated with what
Speaker 1: happened here in Chicago, which was a great trip. We
Speaker 1: were here, got here early, planned it all. We put
Speaker 1: together this nice program. I had Miss USA on and
Speaker 1: a live taping of our podcast that you all were
Speaker 1: here at some point. Everything was working, had family friends here,
Speaker 1: everything we were resting the way we should have. Everything
Speaker 1: was good until that morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had our lovely pasta dinner the night before.
Speaker 2: We had done everything correctly, I know, and I had
Speaker 2: said that I was going to cheer you on in
Speaker 2: New York, which I still will, but I am now debating,
Speaker 2: and I'm not saying anything if I'm going to or not.
Speaker 2: But because I'm trained, because I put in those five months,
Speaker 2: just go ahead and make the call. No, I don't.
Speaker 2: I'm not ready to make the call yet because it's
Speaker 2: still you know, I ran twenty one miles, and that's
Speaker 2: like our training Our last big training run is usually
Speaker 2: twenty miles, So we did twenty one miles. So I
Speaker 2: am not thinking that I may possibly. I had always
Speaker 2: kind of put it out there that I might run
Speaker 2: New York, and now I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, commit.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to commit yet because I don't know
Speaker 2: that I want to.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm running.
Speaker 2: I know you're running, and I'll definitely cheer you on.
Speaker 1: Then I don't need a cheerleader. Obviously, I need a nurse.
Speaker 1: So you have. Obviously you have.
Speaker 2: I need to be there just in case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mean, how could you let me run this thing
Speaker 1: by myself?
Speaker 2: I will make the call in the next day or
Speaker 2: two based on what my health. No, No, based on
Speaker 2: my mental health, because it's a lot, you know, I
Speaker 2: think part of me I had said that I was
Speaker 2: thinking that the Chicago Marathon might be my last marathon
Speaker 2: because it just does take such a toll on your body.
Speaker 2: I love me a half marathon, and I will continue
Speaker 2: to run half marathons. But a marathon is not just
Speaker 2: twice as hard as a half marathon. I would say
Speaker 2: it's like ten times as hard as a half marathon,
Speaker 2: because that last half is not comparable to the first
Speaker 2: half in any way, shape or form. So I just
Speaker 2: you know, we have a lot of travel, we have
Speaker 2: a lot of really fun and exciting things to do
Speaker 2: over the next couple of weeks, and I thought I'd
Speaker 2: be done with the training, like I love a four miler.
Speaker 2: I love a three miler. I didn't think i'd be,
Speaker 2: you know, tapering down from a twenty miler getting ready
Speaker 2: for another marathon. So I just have to get in
Speaker 2: that headspace. And I'm not there yet, but I think
Speaker 2: in a couple of days, I'll know what my decision
Speaker 2: is and I'll stick with it either way.
Speaker 1: I am. I am so all in and could not wait.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to get shoes on. I cannot wait
Speaker 1: to run again. I cannot wait to get back out there.
Speaker 1: But to the next three weeks, it's nothing but health
Speaker 1: and rest and recovery and some doctor's visits.
Speaker 2: Probably, and a lot of travel, yes, and then fun travel.
Speaker 1: Look, we sign up for that, we do that. This
Speaker 1: was one of the things that gave me perspective yesterday.
Speaker 1: You know, people will have those funny signs out, but
Speaker 1: there was one. I'm sure you've seen it before. If
Speaker 1: you saw yesterday, they said, why are you complaining? You
Speaker 1: paid money to do this, and we do you pay
Speaker 1: to enter a marathon and you're out here putting yourself
Speaker 1: through this voluntarily, So who are you going to complain to?
Speaker 1: And the other thing was my sister bringing perspective home
Speaker 1: is that your God has been trying to tell you
Speaker 1: for a while now not to run this marathon. Every
Speaker 1: step of the way, even yesterday, there were signs that
Speaker 1: something ain't right. This is just not going your way today.
Speaker 1: And in myle that thirteen point one guy finally said, Ah, right, DJ,
Speaker 1: you ain't listen, So let me throw this all can
Speaker 1: dude in your face and let me force you to
Speaker 1: stop since you won't make the decision and listen to
Speaker 1: the signs that I was giving you in the first place.
Speaker 1: That was the advice and the council for my sister.
Speaker 2: And how do you think that works with you now
Speaker 2: wanting to run in New York?
Speaker 1: This is what I think. I think I should never
Speaker 1: run a race outside of New York again, because I
Speaker 1: have two marathons and five half marathons under my belt,
Speaker 1: all of them run in New York City, every single
Speaker 1: one of them. This is my first attempt at a
Speaker 1: race outside of New York. I just need to go
Speaker 1: home and everything. I'll be fine. I just need to
Speaker 1: go home.
Speaker 2: I hope you're right.
Speaker 1: This is the conclusion I have. But thank you to
Speaker 1: Yes the volunteer there. We can't remember her name. The
Speaker 1: police officer who was great. It's funny. He was trying
Speaker 1: to this is how I don't know if I don't this.
Speaker 1: I had this moment. I almost made the joke, but
Speaker 1: I didn't. He was trying to help us. He gave
Speaker 1: me a bottle of water, and then he kept saying, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you just want to sit in my.
Speaker 2: Car here his car was kept asking you if you
Speaker 2: wanted to sit in the car. Didn't want to be
Speaker 2: in the back of a police car.
Speaker 1: I don't want to swear to god, I had that joke.
Speaker 1: He was a white officer, nicest dude.
Speaker 2: But and there, you know what, there was also really
Speaker 2: a sweet I don't know that you even knew this
Speaker 2: was going on, but there was a family right in
Speaker 2: front of us who were cheering on. I'm sure a
Speaker 2: friend or a family member who was running in the marathon.
Speaker 2: But this this man, he was you know, middle aged guy,
Speaker 2: saw what was going on. He goes, can I get
Speaker 2: you some water? I said, actually, that'd be great because
Speaker 2: I saw the situation you were in and I could
Speaker 2: tell you were depleted. I also was pretty thirsty myself,
Speaker 2: and he said, let me go find some for you.
Speaker 2: He was running into different stores trying to get water.
Speaker 2: And that's when the police officer had a cold bottle
Speaker 2: of water in the back of his vehicle, so he
Speaker 2: gave it to us. But the man like was literally
Speaker 2: running around trying to help us. I mean, people are
Speaker 2: so kind. I think people get the kind of physical
Speaker 2: stress we're all under it, and it's just it's so
Speaker 2: heartwarming to see people rise up and rush around trying
Speaker 2: to help you, trying to do something, and you know they.
Speaker 1: Do then along the way that, yeah, there are some
Speaker 1: official stands and whatnot, but a lot of people just
Speaker 1: come out there on their own and just bring a
Speaker 1: box of tissue, or they'll cut some bananas in half
Speaker 1: or the tangerines that we had, or on their own,
Speaker 1: because you have no idea how much that means to
Speaker 1: somebody on miles sixteen to just be handed a twizzler
Speaker 1: or to be handed a pretzel, or to be handled
Speaker 1: a banana.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was so grateful for that quarter banana, and
Speaker 2: I was so grateful for that tangerine because that like,
Speaker 2: right then, you're just you're so depleted, and it's that's
Speaker 2: exactly what you want and exactly what you need. So
Speaker 2: we appreciate those folks so much. Wait, can I also
Speaker 2: can we end with something that's a little funny.
Speaker 1: I will in a second after I'll let the after
Speaker 1: I say thank you to the young lady that gave
Speaker 1: me the damn croissant.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, I remember that again.
Speaker 1: If that young lady here's my voice, I would appreciate
Speaker 1: you reaching out. You don't know how bad I was
Speaker 1: suffering in the moment, Like my stomach was almost cramping.
Speaker 1: I did not eat a single bit of anything, and
Speaker 1: I was a woman either had to stand on our own.
Speaker 1: Young lady brunette and had a big old bagel croissant
Speaker 1: in her hand and I reached for just to tear
Speaker 1: it off, and it wouldn't tear. And again I'm stealing
Speaker 1: stride and she's kind of moving with me, and she said,
Speaker 1: just take it, take it, And I took a whole
Speaker 1: croissant and I'm running in the marathon. Yeah.
Speaker 2: At that point again, like I'm kind of embarrassed by this.
Speaker 2: This was my sixth marathon. How do I not fuel
Speaker 2: before a marathon? Well, I just put all of my
Speaker 2: eggs in one basket and assumed I was going to
Speaker 2: because we were in a hotel room, Like if we
Speaker 2: were at our house we were leaving to your point
Speaker 2: from New York City, I would have had my peanut
Speaker 2: butter toast. I would have had my electrolytes. I would
Speaker 2: have done all of that even before going to the
Speaker 2: tent in Staten Island. I would have been prepped. But
Speaker 2: because I'm in a hotel room and then nothing was
Speaker 2: open at that point, I thought, I'll just get everything
Speaker 2: I need. We'll get everything we need from that tent.
Speaker 1: But we've never had this problem before that we couldn't
Speaker 1: get to the tent.
Speaker 2: I've never had this happen before a week. So you
Speaker 2: were looking at me. I don't know at what point
Speaker 2: you said, ropes, I'm actually starving, like my stomach is growling,
Speaker 2: and I said, so is mine. And so when you
Speaker 2: got that croissant, you're right, that was a moment and
Speaker 2: you were so happy that you had that croissant.
Speaker 1: Do you want to mention the surgery you've been doing
Speaker 1: on I forgot about that. Oh, yes, was a disaster.
Speaker 2: You want to tell everybody what was going on.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the name of it is.
Speaker 2: Well, you have a planter's wart. Okay, it's I know
Speaker 2: this because when I was a gymnast and you're in
Speaker 2: like hot, sweaty environments, this is what happens. Bacteria somehow
Speaker 2: gets into your foot and you get a planter's wort
Speaker 2: and they're extremely painful. My guess was because you were
Speaker 2: putting your your foot like multiple times a day into
Speaker 2: hot water constantly, you could have introduced bacteria into your
Speaker 2: foot from your hands or whatever, and you ended up
Speaker 2: with a very painful planters wart. So while we're in Chicago,
Speaker 2: I go and get the compound w freezer freezing a
Speaker 2: like a planter's wart removal where you actually have like
Speaker 2: this cartridge where it's like a frozen like blast of air.
Speaker 2: And so we've been trying to treat that as well
Speaker 2: while we're in the hotel room.
Speaker 1: And if you've never had one of these, it literally
Speaker 1: does in the place it is on my foot. It
Speaker 1: feels like you are suppose you put a marble in
Speaker 1: your sock on one spot, leave it there, and every
Speaker 1: step you take you have something pressing, just a sharp pain,
Speaker 1: and it's on my footwork you.
Speaker 2: Were falling apart. It was you were falling apart. So wait,
Speaker 2: so here's the here's the you know where here? You
Speaker 2: know where I'm going. On top of the day, this
Speaker 2: was I mean, you can't make this up. So I
Speaker 2: am you are like leaning on me, your arms around me.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm not dragging you, but I am helping
Speaker 2: you walk.
Speaker 1: And this is after the tent medical tent. We're finally
Speaker 1: walking and I'm finally going to get back to the hotel,
Speaker 1: which is the only place I want to be.
Speaker 2: That's true, but it took quite a bit of effort.
Speaker 2: If you've ever seen what it's like in the aftermath
Speaker 2: of any race, but especially a marathon, you have to
Speaker 2: go blocks and blocks and blocks where everything's been shut
Speaker 2: down to get to a place where you could even
Speaker 2: get an uber or get on a train. We were
Speaker 2: going to take the train, but after everything that happened,
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't care how much this uber costs.
Speaker 2: We're getting an uber back to the hotel. So as
Speaker 2: we're getting to the spot where the uber is going
Speaker 2: to pick us up, all of a sudden, TJ looks
Speaker 2: at me and he says, Ropes, you got to help me.
Speaker 2: I was like, what he said? A bird just shit
Speaker 2: on my head And I was like what, And sure, enough.
Speaker 2: You were wrapped around in this hospital blanket. I look
Speaker 2: and you just have bird crap on your forehead going down.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god. So in a final
Speaker 2: ha ha ha ha, a bird shit on your head
Speaker 2: right as we were getting into the uber to go
Speaker 2: back to the hotel. It was just yes, the cherry
Speaker 2: on top of a tough day.
Speaker 1: I'm running New York. I might so I will be
Speaker 1: there at the starting line of New York. It's going
Speaker 1: to happen. So next three weeks, just need to get healthy.
Speaker 1: But I can't say it enough to everybody who helped
Speaker 1: us out yesterday. And I can't say it enough to you.
Speaker 1: I was losing. I didn't know what to say, I
Speaker 1: didn't know how to feel in here yesterday you were
Speaker 1: sleep and I was just staring at you like you
Speaker 1: you and I say it about my mom. I can't
Speaker 1: remember anyone who who so who so selfishly took care
Speaker 1: of me in a moment that I needed. As much
Speaker 1: help as I needed. I could have made it, could
Speaker 1: have figured it out, could have got who knows, but
Speaker 1: you and it it cleared, and it included a great
Speaker 1: deal of sacrifice, because I know what it takes to
Speaker 1: get prepared for a parathon, and that you didn't finish
Speaker 1: it and we're willing to not to for the sake
Speaker 1: of my whatever was going on with me, that was
Speaker 1: just that was that was like, I can't thinking you
Speaker 1: is not right, It's just it. I don't know. This
Speaker 1: isn't a tryout for you necessarily, but if it were,
Speaker 1: you were already really in there robes. But man, you
Speaker 1: you showed out yesterday in terms of being a partner,
Speaker 1: and a partner is willing to sacrifice in a way
Speaker 1: that that I know meant so much to you. So
Speaker 1: really thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, You're welcome, and I love you, and that is
Speaker 2: what love is. And if you didn't know, or you
Speaker 2: didn't fully trust how much I love you, if anything,
Speaker 2: if yesterday proved that to you, then it was worth it.
Speaker 2: And for me, it wasn't even a choice. It wasn't
Speaker 2: even an option. I didn't even consider the other option.
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine running and finishing it and getting
Speaker 2: my metal and feeling good about it, knowing that you
Speaker 2: were in pain somewhere.
Speaker 1: Needing help with you with a metal at least one,
Speaker 1: you know what?
Speaker 2: I get that because I reversed it in my mind
Speaker 2: and said I would have wanted you to finish, And
Speaker 2: I get that, and I understood that you desperately wanted
Speaker 2: me to finish because that would make you feel less guilty.
Speaker 2: It feels awful enough not finishing it yourself, but to
Speaker 2: think that somehow you you cause someone else not to finish.
Speaker 2: I understand how that makes you feel worse in the moment.
Speaker 2: But in the end, you needed help, and I love you,
Speaker 2: and I didn't want to be anywhere else but by
Speaker 2: your side and making sure you were okay. And I
Speaker 2: wouldn't have been able to live with myself. I would
Speaker 2: have felt like the worst person in the world. So
Speaker 2: for me, it wasn't an option because you needed me.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what partnership is, That's what love is.
Speaker 2: You show up no matter what, and you stick with
Speaker 2: that person no matter what. And I know and you
Speaker 2: know that you would have done the exact same thing
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: I was trying to find a joke to make there,
Speaker 1: but I would have probably maybe, Well, yes, that's when
Speaker 1: I needed you and you were there for me, and
Speaker 1: I'll need you again November second for the New York
Speaker 1: City Marathons.
Speaker 2: Well maybe I'll need you, so I hope I don't
Speaker 2: ever have to ask you to return the favor.
Speaker 1: Well, folks, thank you all again to the folks here
Speaker 1: in Chicago who took such good care of us from
Speaker 1: the moment we got here until it all ended yesterday.
Speaker 1: So thank you all to the volunteers. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the city of Chicago. We hope to see you all
Speaker 1: sooner than later. And thank you all to some of you.
Speaker 1: All have been reaching out on social media and with
Speaker 1: your well wishes and asking questions. I do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: So we'll get into this more. But the training starts anew.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I guess we could say thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us on our afternoon run. We'll be back
Speaker 2: with you tomorrow for our normally or regularly scheduled morning run.
Speaker 2: So until then, we'll see you tomorrow