#009 – Today’s guest, Mike Hall, is a Quality Control Analyst at MacDermid Alpha and began his running journey over 6 years ago. Mike is a 5K and half-marathon runner and has a goal to run a full marathon. Mike was motivated to start running by his friend Brian Doerr from Episode 6: Motivation to Run for Fitness and Fun. Since then, he has run many races and progressed to a half-marathon.
Topics Covered:
- Importance of running in not so perfect weather
- Power of motivation from friends
- Progressing from shorter to longer distances
- Tips and cautions when you are out on the open road
Today’s Guest
Mike Hall
Mike Hall is a Quality Control Analyst at MacDermid Alpha and began his running journey over 6 years ago. Mike is a 5K and half-marathon runner and has a goal to run a full marathon.
Additional Resources:
- Episode 6: Motivation to Run for Fitness and Fun
- Pancreatic Cancer Action Network: Purplestride
- You Aren’t (That) Special: Stop looking at your phone when you are driving
Richard Conner 0:01
Here’s what you can look forward to on this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast.
Mike Hall 0:07
It’s just letting each run just build upon itself and you’re gonna see that you’re achieving, you’re achieving goals, you’re making progress you’re getting further and it happens. It happens pretty quickly. Like I know from you know, basically from going the quarter mile up and down my street one day to see if I could do a 5K to you know, now I have, like literally no problem going out on a day like today and you know, doing eight miles or something like that it happens happens pretty quickly.
Intro/Outro 0:40
Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast, whether you are new to running or seasoned. Get tips and the inspiration that you need to achieve your health and fitness goals. Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.
Richard Conner 0:58
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. I am here with today’s guest, Mike Hall. Mike is a quality control analyst at MacDermid Alpha, and began his running journey over six years ago. Mike is a 5K and half-marathon runner and has a goal to run a full marathon. Welcome to the show, Mike.
Mike Hall 1:22
Thank you. Thank you, Richard. Thanks for having me.
Richard Conner 1:25
Yeah, absolutely.
So Mike, we met through a mutual friend Brian Doerr. Yep. And for listeners, I had Brian on the show recently, it was back in Episode Six: Motivation to Run for Fitness and Fun. And after the episode, Brian mentioned that he had a friend that he wanted to recommend for the show. So here we are.
Mike Hall 1:45
Here we are.
Richard Conner 1:47
So let’s get to know you a little bit. Mike, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Mike Hall 1:54
Well, let’s see. I mean, as far as running, I try to run. Still, even during the colder months, as they approach three to four times a week, I normally just out there, like four or five miles at a time. Because everything has gone virtual this year. I’m not really training for all that much at the moment. And like you mentioned, I’ve been running for six plus years got into it through our friend Brian.
Richard Conner 2:20
All right, that’s excellent. And yeah, let’s talk about that a little bit. The winter months, you know, we were just chatting before this before this episode that you know, the The weather is getting cooler and gyms may not be as accessible. So like, how are you kind of thinking about that for the winter?
Mike Hall 2:38
Well, I have lots of layers, I have lots of like cold weather clothes that I bought for running in, you know, normally I run at night after work. So basically just a just layer up, I got the the safety light on my hat and my sneakers and stuff like that to run on the streets. So I think I’m prepared.
Richard Conner 2:58
Yeah, that’s great. And, you know, we’ve had guests before, this kind of talked about the kind of the layers, right, and I remember there was a quote, there’s not bad weather, but maybe just bad clothing or the way you dress it was like really important to kind of have those layers. So so that that’s interesting. And personally, I don’t run in the winter. I hadn’t previously but this year, I’m considering doing it just again because of access to to the gyms and I have to look into some new gear and actually just bought a new light system, I guess nightlight called Noxgear. I tried that out now. Yeah. And it works pretty well. So I’m getting ready.
Mike Hall 3:39
Yeah, I got a winter running hat as a gift last year that has the LED light in the center. And that can just that can just be plugged in and recharged through like your phone charger or even your laptop. Yes, this gear is it’s so important. Like to get started and running, you don’t really need a lot but as you kind of get into it, and you face these these kind of challenges like the weather, you know, and running in the dark. You start to have to buy some gear. Yeah, your your clothing collection will pile up pretty quickly.
Richard Conner 4:10
That along with race t-shirts and medals.
Mike Hall 4:13
Yes.
Richard Conner 4:15
Very cool. So let’s let’s roll back the clock a little bit. And and talk about how you got into running. So you mentioned that Brian actually got you into running it was about six years ago. So let’s talk a little bit about that. Like how did that come about? What was your first race and what was that like for you? Mike Hall 4:31
It came about kind of in a random fashion. I knew that Brian had been getting into running a little bit was doing one of the like an online workout routine and around the same time this was like mid-April we were planning our like our annual baseball trip out to Pittsburgh. It just so happened that weekend that we chose, the pirates we’re hosting their their charity 5K. So of course Brian was all about signing up for it. And I hesitated at first is like, you know, I haven’t run, you know, haven’t run a 5K or even done a mile since y’all they forced us in middle school or something. So I wasn’t, you know, wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, then some of the other people in our group started signing up for the race. And I was kind of like, Okay, well, I guess I’m going to do it now. Because there’s no way that any of the other people who signed up are faster than me. So I’m going to get out there and do it with them.
Richard Conner 5:32
Okay, so you had a little bit of a, I don’t know peer pressure, there or motivation.
Mike Hall 5:37
Forced motivation, I guess you could call it
Richard Conner 5:41
That that’s very cool. So you hadn’t run since middle school? You got kind of this motivation from from Brian and from the other folks in your in your circle who are signing up. And then you signed up. So then like, what’s next? How did you? How did you kind of get back into it into running at that point.
Mike Hall 5:57
So basically, for that race, I kind of set a goal to be able to do like, let’s see if I can break 10 minutes a mile finish the the 5K in under 30 minutes. And as it turned out, because of because of an incident with the race course itself, where it was miss marked, none of us hit our goal of under 10 minutes, it kind of wound up being like a 4.6K instead of a 5K. So after that, I kind of got into basically just seeing like, Oh, well, what else is around in my area? What can I do if I actually prepare for a race instead of you know, basically just like signing up and showing up and running? Because for that, that first 5k i did I seriously think I ran up and down my street once, which is a quarter mile and was like, Yeah, I think I can do this.
Richard Conner 6:47
That’s cool. So you ran up and down the street. So that was your prep. And then that was the
Mike Hall 6:52
That was essentially by Yeah, my weak attempt at prepping for a 5K.
Richard Conner 6:57
Okay. And then and then what did you What did you do next? So you ran the race, you didn’t necessarily or you weren’t able to hit your time, kind of the race because of the race challenges? Well, tell me a little bit about that. Because I actually never heard of that before. The race was mismarked.
Mike Hall 7:13
The race was mismarked. So the way they had the course set up. You are going down by more than half the courses on this Riverwalk. That’s a long I think the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh and they’ve got a bunch of little spacely sidewalks that go back up from the Riverwalk to the Main Street. And one of the signs at the sidewalk, you know, was like turn here, but you were supposed to go down to the next one. And that would have made like the full like distance to turn back to the stadium. Yeah, it was just uh, yeah, the sign was placed at the wrong like turn point essentially.
Richard Conner 7:52
Okay, okay. All right. So you finish you finish the race, but you did the 4.6 instead of five because of the the incorrect signs. So then you put you still had this goal to get to under 10 minutes a mile. So tell me tell me what happened there. How did you approach that from the next race.
Mike Hall 8:09
I started looking around to see what the training apps were available at the time Brian had mentioned to me about the the Couch to 5K, I started looking around to that and never actually downloaded it onto my phone. But I started looking at basically what the structure was from the week to week and you know, what you do for week one, these are your off days is what you do on week two, these are off days. So I actually put the Nike Plus Run app on my phone and I was just tracking my time and my distance through that app, we basically was able to start like picking out landmarks along my trip, like okay, I should be able to make it from here to you know, that street sign in, like the first you know, 62 second run segment and stuff like that. So that’s how I started my training started looking around locally for another race. And that’s how I basically discovered the Branford five mile race which they targeted that which was in June of that year to be like the first race that I would actually do after like putting in the work and training.
Richard Conner 9:22
Alright, so I would have thought you would have gone for another 5K but you went straight to a five mile and that’s there was there was another 5K in the middle that actually Brian had discovered in Ansonia, but I had like, that wasn’t I didn’t know about the race that wasn’t on, you know, essentially my radar but you know, Brian showed up at work one day, I was like, hey, like Wednesday night, there’s a race Ansonia, that’s a 5K, you want to do that? And so I basically jumped on board for that race as well. That’s awesome. And I’m so happy to hear that you’ve kind of had that accountability partner right. It sounds like Brian was the was there to kind of motivate and help you kind of along your your journey that’s really great to hear.
Mike Hall 10:03
Yeah, we used to. We did a lot of our early training together when we were doing a five mile race, even when we started our first 20K, in New Haven, we signed up for the Labor Day race down there, we basically did all of our training runs together for that as well. So that was really neat to have, you know, that person. He was like alright, Saturday, we’re doing six miles, they’re like, okay, fine, you know,
Richard Conner 10:33
I hear you, or else you’re trying to convince yourself like, I got a, I got to get up and do this training. So it’s not easy to do. But having that accountability partner certainly does help. So tell. So tell me a little bit about as you’re running your first races, as you’re training, you’re running with Brian, what would you say would be like the biggest obstacle that you faced, either maybe earlier in your, in your running days, or maybe even you know, today.
Mike Hall 11:04
The biggest obstacle, like early days, and even sometimes to to an extent today is to getting yourself out there in some like the not so perfect weather, like, you know, in the middle of June or July, when you get that like, you know, 90 degree day with 1,000% humidity, and you really just like, don’t want to go out there and run, it’s important. Even if you don’t do a long runner, you don’t hit whatever your distance goal is that day, it helps you get acclimated it helps you build up to those type of conditions. Because like, of course, you can’t predict and get perfect weather every single race day, you’re going to get one of those really hot days, or you’re going to get one of those days where it’s a raining or drizzling most of the run. That’s one of the obstacles. And I would say the other obstacle is to convince yourself at least once a week, or maybe every other week to, you know, throw in a hill in your workout, you know, find find a street around you or some trail you could run to actually has a little hill, it doesn’t have to be crazy, like get yourself to run up and down that hill a few times to get you know used to those situations as well. Because again, not every course we’re going to run is flat.
Richard Conner 12:21
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great advice. And so starting with the with the weather, you’re absolutely right, so we live in the northeast in the US. And we have beautiful seasons, beautiful area. But that comes with some days you get good weather, and some days you don’t. So your advice is you don’t know what you’re gonna get on race day, basically. So you kind of have to train for it. Right. So running in the summer, you have to run on those hot days to train for race day. And same thing for the winter. If you’re running in the winter, you have to kind of prep for that that colder weather. I mean, I’m sure it’s going to impact your your breathing, that how much fluids you’re going to have to have. So so that’s really sage advice there in terms of training during during that season.
Mike Hall 13:02
Yeah, it could be it could be a mental challenge, as well. Just that really hot day, when you step outside. I signed up for a race on this day. You know, you if you been doing it a couple times, you know, you’re not going to think it’s that big a deal.
Richard Conner 13:19
Very good point. Very good point. And the second point that you made about like throwing in that hill, that’s that’s a great point too. Because not the courses aren’t always flat. I’m I love the courses that are flat. But that’s not always the case. there’s a there’s a course in my old high school that is relatively flat. But you know, there is there’s a slight incline towards the end of the race. And that’s not what you want the third mile especially if you are not training for it, right this like, right. So and in my in my neighborhood, I kind of have like three general laps that I run, there’s a one mile a 2.2, and just about a 3.3. And the one mile is the one with the hill, I feel like I’m going the full mile uphill. But in my long runs, I’ve got to fit that in there somewhere, just like you said, just to just to kind of keep up with with with the elevation. So so very good points there.
Mike Hall 14:12
Yeah. And you’ll find as you start to get into running as you start to do more races, even if you start to repeat some of the races that you’ve done before there is going to be places that you come across that you once thought your first race like oh my god, I can’t believe I’m going up this hill. That the second time you get there the second year or something like that. You’re gonna be like, Oh, I thought this was a hill the first time and you just you build up to it.
Richard Conner 14:41
Absolutely. There is a there’s a charity race. Now that we’re talking about this. There’s a charity race that we do every year for the Pancreatic Cancer Network. It’s called Purplestride. And let me tell you something I joked around about that one mile lap that I do that’s uphill. This race is literally half the race uphill. Then you run the other half back down the hill.
Mike Hall 15:02
Okay.
Richard Conner 15:02
And the hotter the day, the harder it is. So I guess it kind of brings together the two obstacles that you talked about, right? These are the weather and the hill. And boy, the first time I ran that, I was like, wow, I was uprepared for this race. But you get used to it. I haven’t trained on that, which, you know, when we before we run it next year, if we if we get back to a live race next year, I’ll certainly train on it before we get there. But definitely a great example of what you’re just talking about, like you really have to come and train in in that environment.
Mike Hall 15:33
Yeah, there’s a there’s a similar race that always coincides with my girlfriend’s birthday. That is, it’s a 4.8 mile race, but it’s two miles uphill. So that’s, it’s always it’s always a challenge. And it’s, you know, your way in to get to the top. It seems like all where’s that person signaling me down the side road that starts to downhill.
Richard Conner 16:01
Right. Right, exactly. So you mentioned so thank you for sharing these tips. And thank you for sharing your stories on these races. So you mentioned the first race that you did in Pittsburgh, there is that that five k that you did kind of impromptu, and then the Branford five mile race. So you know, for those races or maybe some of the other races that you’ve done it like if you had to pick a favorite race, what would it be and why
Mike Hall 16:27
I really enjoy doing the Branford one normally coincides with Father’s Day weekend, in the summer, not only because it was my first race, but there’s always a really good crowd out there a normal, like a lot of people out in the chorus, a lot of support, not just around the green, but on the course, in general. And it’s one of the areas that you’re running around there to was right along the sea wall. So actually, you know, if you get a chance to look over your shoulder look at the Long Island Sound for a little bit. It’s really nice.
Richard Conner 17:01
That’s cool. That’s cool. And yeah, and, you know, I love the aspect of live races. So like on Inspire Virtual Runs, we talk about like staying connected as a virtual community. And also using virtual races as a way to have like a goal to work towards. If you know live races aren’t available, like now but even so if you’re not really ready for live race, right? Maybe you don’t feel like you’re ready for that you want to start virtual, but there is an element of live races that are really exciting, right, like you said, having kind of the big crowd and, and people cheering and kind of having that support along the way. It is really exciting.
Mike Hall 17:39
It is Yeah, is exciting. It’s nice to have other runners around you, as well. I know from doing races, even out of state, sometimes when I’m wearing one of my shirts from around one of the races around here, there’s normally either another runner or another person on the side will recognize the race or the logo or something like that, you know, we’ll be shouting out, you know, like, you know, we’re like go Branford, or Brian and I went up into do a race in Portland, Maine, and there was someone walking around at the beginning who had one of the shirts from a race we do in New Haven every year the IRIS run so I got a look at that she’s got on last year, his IRIS shirt, that’s really cool. So,
Richard Conner 18:24
Okay, all right. See how you also have that that same community of runners and racers? Mike Hall 18:31
Right. And it seems to travel with you even out of state so that I think that’s a really neat aspect.
Richard Conner 18:38
So what do you what do you enjoy most about running so it’s not something that you had done for a while then you then you got back into it? And now you’re in it right? You’re you’re training you’re running races? It sounds like there’s a lot of things you enjoy about the training and the running but what do you think you enjoy most about running?
Mike Hall 18:55
Um, probably the the accomplishment you know, doesn’t really matter how far you went what your time was on this particular day you basically you got to run in you got it done and you you know, you’re working yourself towards a larger goal. So I think that’s a really positive aspect of it and as for myself, because I don’t run with headphones on or anything like that I just kind of like being you know, in my own silence, you might say just being able to run on the trail here and why further Cheshire and just be able to take that time to look around you know not wave to the other runners out there stuff like that. And you know, it’s really just kind of a kind of like a peaceful frame of mind when you’re just out there running.
Richard Conner 19:47
Very cool. Very cool. I agree with you, you know, the accomplishment piece is is huge, right? So just kind of setting that goal knowing your why and then when you complete it, being able to say hey, you know, I did this right to so that’s that that’s a big piece. And any I agree like being out there just kind of being able to think. And just being you know, being in your own head, right, so to speak, is a good thing. I personally do run with headphones, I would not really be able to run without music and, and I listen to a lot of podcasts, actually, while I run depending on the distance that I run, so it was shorter runs will probably just be music or if it’s been just a really crazy day, just music, but if it’s a longer run, and I just put something on and listen to it, but either way, right, just just kind of being out there and having time for yourself, I think is is really important.
Mike Hall 20:42
Right? And it’s it’s different between, you know, as you said, you have to have music or something like that a lot of the like, I didn’t have, you know, an iPod or anything like that when I started writing didn’t have even a set of headphones at the time, but a lot of the early races that I did besides you know, besides like Branford in New Haven, the courses themselves weren’t close to traffic. So it’s kind of like, yeah, okay, I’m running in this race with other people, you also kind of have to pay attention to the vehicles in your surroundings as well. So I really didn’t, you know, feel comfortable running with headphones, or you’re getting lost in music at the time.
Richard Conner 21:22
And that’s actually a great point. So So I will clarify, I only run with headphones, when I’m training. I don’t run with headphones when I’m actually doing live races. So that that’s actually something that I you know, and something that I’ve learned is if I’m listening to music, and I’m or listening to podcasts, I’m not always paying attention to to myself like to my body and my breathing. So like during when you’re actually running a race is something that’s very important, making sure you’re breathing right, and making sure you have a good pace and being able to focus like on the race. So So I will clarify that. I don’t normally do that during the race. But you’re right. You also have you also have to be careful, right? If you’re running on the road,
Mike Hall 22:03
yes, definitely.
Richard Conner 22:04
Active traffic, like that’s something you have to be careful of so not you know, turning up your, your volume to too loud. And actually someone just posted in an article in the Inspire Virtual Runs community in the Facebook group, about this, about this very topic about folks that are texting and driving or just being on their phone and driving and how much of a hazard it is for for runners, right and pedestrian. So it’s a very important topic, very important to stay aware, right.
Mike Hall 22:33
And unfortunately, you’re finding some of that stuff is kind of creeping its way onto the trails around here to people walking and texting or even like on their bikes, in texting, as well. I’ve seen that. I mean, of course, more and more people are out on the trails right now because everything else was closed this summer. But you know, you seem to be encountering that a little bit more on the, you know, the linear trails around here as well.
Richard Conner 23:00
Mm hmm. Definitely. Yeah. And where I run, it’s, it’s very, very active, you know, my neighborhood is relatively quiet. But when I start to go for those longer runs, I start to get out into areas where there’s there’s a lot more traffic. And fortunately, there’s a lot of areas where there’s there’s a sidewalk, but there’s parts that don’t have a sidewalk and there’s parts that you’re going under and under, you know an underpass. And it’s, it’s quite dangerous if you’re not not paying attention. So definitely something to pay attention to.
Thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate you sharing, you know what you enjoy most about running. So let’s let’s kind of switch gears a little bit. You also run half-marathons and then you have a goal to run a full marathon. So like what was that deciding factor that said, okay, I’ve done 5K, I’ve done the five miler, now I’m going to do a half-marathon, which is which is a pretty big jump like what, what kind of got you there? And how did you train for that you
Mike Hall 24:00
Basically I just started once I completed the five mile run, I started, you know, basically just kind of looking around to see what other distances there were, you know, obviously there was the 10 K, I found a local 10 mile run that was done in done down in Guilford. So basically, I jumped from the five miles to try to do the 10 Mile Road Race and then once I did the 10 mile I just kind of thought that was a natural progression to start myself training for for the half marathon and actually in between Brian and I had done the 20 k one year in New Haven. So that was basically is like okay, it’s really just you know, eight tenths more of a mile to do the half marathon so I started looking around for one of those to do basically followed the 5K to half marathon app again, I did not download it or anything on my phone. I just kind of looked at what they can calendar was and you know where you should be from certain, at certain point week to week for, for my training and my distance and you know, like, Okay, this Saturday or this weekend is a one hour run. And I think the important thing, when you’re making the jumps from the shorter distance, the longest distance is don’t be concerned about what your time is, or how far you’re actually making it. In that a lot of time, you’re basically just out there for the experience of getting that distance or that time, that time frame done, like the speed and everything that I don’t want to say that that comes. But you’re going to find that between training and race day, you’re probably going to be almost a minute to a minute and a half faster on race day than any one of your training runs.
Richard Conner 25:55
Okay, so Mike, besides the app that you used, or kind of the training plan from the five K, the half marathon, what else did you have to do to kind of prep for for the half marathon anything around? Like nutrition? I know we’re talking about gear earlier, like what else did you have to do during that time to prep for the half marathon?
Mike Hall 26:19
For the half marathon for some of my, as far as prep for gear I bought, um, I think the biggest purchase that I made for that was getting some of the cushion socks and like insoles for my sneakers for for that. As far as, as far as the nutrition thing I looked in to you know, what should be your proper nutrition or your breakfast on race morning, you know, I looked up various on websites, the thing is, like come the morning of the ride and looking at all that like, out on the table in front of me. I just basically as I don’t want all of that in my stomach before I go run this race. So I didn’t really follow the nutrition guide. I will say that, like during that first half marathon, you get to mile like seven or eight years like Oh, man, I’m hungry.
Richard Conner 27:09
So that’s, that’s a great point, you know, so I’ll share a little bit of some of what I’ve done. Typically, same here like typically on race day, I don’t want I don’t want to run on a full stomach. That’s not a right not feel well during during that run. So typically, like the five K or shorter race, I’ll have an archer, this is the healthiest or right thing to do. But I’ll have like a bagel in the morning, maybe about two hours before I’m supposed to run. And then I’ll try to drink like a liter of water up to about one hour before I’m supposed to run. So I try not to have anything, you know, at least one hour before I run. Just to make sure like I’m just not I don’t have the full feeling when I run and I don’t have you know, cramps on the on the road. Right?
Mike Hall 27:53
Yeah, I totally understand that.
Richard Conner 27:55
Yeah, but you’re right. Like for the longer races, you kind of have to have that that energy. So, you know, what I’ve been coached on is it’s really did the day of is important, but also the night before, right? So what I’ve been coached on is you’re having, you know, more carbs the night before, earlier in the evening. It’s not like right before you go to bed. So maybe like pasta, not a lot of cheese. So really just kind of kind of build that up the night before. And then you know, probably same routine, the morning of or a little bit more food the morning especially for those like really longer strenuous runs. So that’s a little bit about about what I’ve done. But But I agree with you like you really have to pay attention to what you eat before your run, or else you’re you’re gonna feel it.
Mike Hall 28:38
Yeah, that’s essentially for me, that’s just a little a little mental thing, as well that I have to like, overcome, or I have to either get myself out of bed earlier on those days of long runs to get myself to eat that and feel that I’ve given myself enough time to let that settle.
Richard Conner 28:56
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, very cool. Mike, you have a great story. I really appreciate you sharing it with us. If you had to pick like one thing, what would you say to help inspire the folks in our community?
Mike Hall 29:11
The one thing that I would say would go back to what I was saying about the the training for the distance runs is it’s just important to get yourself out there and not worry about what your time is or how far you’re making it. It’s just letting each run just build upon itself and you’re gonna see that you’re achieving you’re achieving goals you’re making progress you’re getting further and it happens it happens pretty quickly. Like I know from you know basically from going the quarter mile up and down my street one day to see if I could do a 5K to you know now I have like literally no problem going out on a day like today and you know, doing eight miles or something like that it happens happens pretty quickly.
Richard Conner 29:59
Alright, Very cool. Thank you so much, Mike. This has been awesome. And your story is very inspirational. So really just thanks again for coming on the show.
Mike Hall 30:09
Thank you for having me on. I’m glad we had this connection with with a mutual friend.
Richard Conner 30:14
Absolutely. Absolutely. Great. Well, thanks again, Mike.
That was Mike Hall everyone. I’m really grateful to Mike for sharing his journey and a story with us. And I’m really excited to share the stories from our fellow runners with you. So you can hear their journeies and their lessons learned along the way. And the three takeaways that I got from this conversation with Mike, we’re first is about accountability partner, so important to have that accountability partner to help get you started or keep you motivated, whether it’s a friend or running club or community that you belong to. And I’ll think about this a different way, if there are fellow runners listening, and you have a friend that really could use a little bit of a push to to get into fitness, you could be that person to help them along and inspire and motivate them to do that. And you heard Mike story about how Brian helped him along that journey. So you could be that person for someone else. The second thing that I got is you need to train for the conditions in which you will race you never really know. And the conditions on race day, you know, you won’t know if it’s a flat race or hilly race, what the weather will be like. So it’s really important to to kind of train in those conditions, so you’re better prepared for those races. The third takeaway is gear. Again, you don’t really need a lot of gear to get started, maybe just having the right shoes to get started. But as you progress in your runs, you want to make sure that you have the right gear for the weather or the type of conditions that you’re going to run in. So these are the three takeaways I got from this conversation. Thanks again, Mike. And thanks for listeners for checking in today. And with that, please hit subscribe button if you haven’t done so already, and have a great day.
Intro/Outro 32:09
That’s it for this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. Also, be sure to click the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. Thanks for listening.
Transcribed by https://otter.aiHere’s what you can look forward to on this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast.
Mike Hall 0:07
It’s just letting each run just build upon itself and you’re gonna see that you’re achieving, you’re achieving goals, you’re making progress you’re getting further and it happens. It happens pretty quickly. Like I know from you know, basically from going the quarter mile up and down my street one day to see if I could do a 5K to you know, now I have, like literally no problem going out on a day like today and you know, doing eight miles or something like that it happens happens pretty quickly.
Intro/Outro 0:40
Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast, whether you are new to running or seasoned. Get tips and the inspiration that you need to achieve your health and fitness goals. Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.
Richard Conner 0:58
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. I am here with today’s guest, Mike Hall. Mike is a quality control analyst at MacDermid Alpha, and began his running journey over six years ago. Mike is a 5K and half-marathon runner and has a goal to run a full marathon. Welcome to the show, Mike.
Mike Hall 1:22
Thank you. Thank you, Richard. Thanks for having me.
Richard Conner 1:25
Yeah, absolutely.
So Mike, we met through a mutual friend Brian Doerr. Yep. And for listeners, I had Brian on the show recently, it was back in Episode Six: Motivation to Run for Fitness and Fun. And after the episode, Brian mentioned that he had a friend that he wanted to recommend for the show. So here we are.
Mike Hall 1:45
Here we are.
Richard Conner 1:47
So let’s get to know you a little bit. Mike, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Mike Hall 1:54
Well, let’s see. I mean, as far as running, I try to run. Still, even during the colder months, as they approach three to four times a week, I normally just out there, like four or five miles at a time. Because everything has gone virtual this year. I’m not really training for all that much at the moment. And like you mentioned, I’ve been running for six plus years got into it through our friend Brian.
Richard Conner 2:20
All right, that’s excellent. And yeah, let’s talk about that a little bit. The winter months, you know, we were just chatting before this before this episode that you know, the The weather is getting cooler and gyms may not be as accessible. So like, how are you kind of thinking about that for the winter?
Mike Hall 2:38
Well, I have lots of layers, I have lots of like cold weather clothes that I bought for running in, you know, normally I run at night after work. So basically just a just layer up, I got the the safety light on my hat and my sneakers and stuff like that to run on the streets. So I think I’m prepared.
Richard Conner 2:58
Yeah, that’s great. And, you know, we’ve had guests before, this kind of talked about the kind of the layers, right, and I remember there was a quote, there’s not bad weather, but maybe just bad clothing or the way you dress it was like really important to kind of have those layers. So so that that’s interesting. And personally, I don’t run in the winter. I hadn’t previously but this year, I’m considering doing it just again because of access to to the gyms and I have to look into some new gear and actually just bought a new light system, I guess nightlight called Noxgear. I tried that out now. Yeah. And it works pretty well. So I’m getting ready.
Mike Hall 3:39
Yeah, I got a winter running hat as a gift last year that has the LED light in the center. And that can just that can just be plugged in and recharged through like your phone charger or even your laptop. Yes, this gear is it’s so important. Like to get started and running, you don’t really need a lot but as you kind of get into it, and you face these these kind of challenges like the weather, you know, and running in the dark. You start to have to buy some gear. Yeah, your your clothing collection will pile up pretty quickly.
Richard Conner 4:10
That along with race t-shirts and medals.
Mike Hall 4:13
Yes.
Richard Conner 4:15
Very cool. So let’s let’s roll back the clock a little bit. And and talk about how you got into running. So you mentioned that Brian actually got you into running it was about six years ago. So let’s talk a little bit about that. Like how did that come about? What was your first race and what was that like for you? Mike Hall 4:31
It came about kind of in a random fashion. I knew that Brian had been getting into running a little bit was doing one of the like an online workout routine and around the same time this was like mid-April we were planning our like our annual baseball trip out to Pittsburgh. It just so happened that weekend that we chose, the pirates we’re hosting their their charity 5K. So of course Brian was all about signing up for it. And I hesitated at first is like, you know, I haven’t run, you know, haven’t run a 5K or even done a mile since y’all they forced us in middle school or something. So I wasn’t, you know, wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, then some of the other people in our group started signing up for the race. And I was kind of like, Okay, well, I guess I’m going to do it now. Because there’s no way that any of the other people who signed up are faster than me. So I’m going to get out there and do it with them.
Richard Conner 5:32
Okay, so you had a little bit of a, I don’t know peer pressure, there or motivation.
Mike Hall 5:37
Forced motivation, I guess you could call it
Richard Conner 5:41
That that’s very cool. So you hadn’t run since middle school? You got kind of this motivation from from Brian and from the other folks in your in your circle who are signing up. And then you signed up. So then like, what’s next? How did you? How did you kind of get back into it into running at that point.
Mike Hall 5:57
So basically, for that race, I kind of set a goal to be able to do like, let’s see if I can break 10 minutes a mile finish the the 5K in under 30 minutes. And as it turned out, because of because of an incident with the race course itself, where it was miss marked, none of us hit our goal of under 10 minutes, it kind of wound up being like a 4.6K instead of a 5K. So after that, I kind of got into basically just seeing like, Oh, well, what else is around in my area? What can I do if I actually prepare for a race instead of you know, basically just like signing up and showing up and running? Because for that, that first 5k i did I seriously think I ran up and down my street once, which is a quarter mile and was like, Yeah, I think I can do this.
Richard Conner 6:47
That’s cool. So you ran up and down the street. So that was your prep. And then that was the
Mike Hall 6:52
That was essentially by Yeah, my weak attempt at prepping for a 5K.
Richard Conner 6:57
Okay. And then and then what did you What did you do next? So you ran the race, you didn’t necessarily or you weren’t able to hit your time, kind of the race because of the race challenges? Well, tell me a little bit about that. Because I actually never heard of that before. The race was mismarked.
Mike Hall 7:13
The race was mismarked. So the way they had the course set up. You are going down by more than half the courses on this Riverwalk. That’s a long I think the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh and they’ve got a bunch of little spacely sidewalks that go back up from the Riverwalk to the Main Street. And one of the signs at the sidewalk, you know, was like turn here, but you were supposed to go down to the next one. And that would have made like the full like distance to turn back to the stadium. Yeah, it was just uh, yeah, the sign was placed at the wrong like turn point essentially.
Richard Conner 7:52
Okay, okay. All right. So you finish you finish the race, but you did the 4.6 instead of five because of the the incorrect signs. So then you put you still had this goal to get to under 10 minutes a mile. So tell me tell me what happened there. How did you approach that from the next race.
Mike Hall 8:09
I started looking around to see what the training apps were available at the time Brian had mentioned to me about the the Couch to 5K, I started looking around to that and never actually downloaded it onto my phone. But I started looking at basically what the structure was from the week to week and you know, what you do for week one, these are your off days is what you do on week two, these are off days. So I actually put the Nike Plus Run app on my phone and I was just tracking my time and my distance through that app, we basically was able to start like picking out landmarks along my trip, like okay, I should be able to make it from here to you know, that street sign in, like the first you know, 62 second run segment and stuff like that. So that’s how I started my training started looking around locally for another race. And that’s how I basically discovered the Branford five mile race which they targeted that which was in June of that year to be like the first race that I would actually do after like putting in the work and training.
Richard Conner 9:22
Alright, so I would have thought you would have gone for another 5K but you went straight to a five mile and that’s there was there was another 5K in the middle that actually Brian had discovered in Ansonia, but I had like, that wasn’t I didn’t know about the race that wasn’t on, you know, essentially my radar but you know, Brian showed up at work one day, I was like, hey, like Wednesday night, there’s a race Ansonia, that’s a 5K, you want to do that? And so I basically jumped on board for that race as well. That’s awesome. And I’m so happy to hear that you’ve kind of had that accountability partner right. It sounds like Brian was the was there to kind of motivate and help you kind of along your your journey that’s really great to hear.
Mike Hall 10:03
Yeah, we used to. We did a lot of our early training together when we were doing a five mile race, even when we started our first 20K, in New Haven, we signed up for the Labor Day race down there, we basically did all of our training runs together for that as well. So that was really neat to have, you know, that person. He was like alright, Saturday, we’re doing six miles, they’re like, okay, fine, you know,
Richard Conner 10:33
I hear you, or else you’re trying to convince yourself like, I got a, I got to get up and do this training. So it’s not easy to do. But having that accountability partner certainly does help. So tell. So tell me a little bit about as you’re running your first races, as you’re training, you’re running with Brian, what would you say would be like the biggest obstacle that you faced, either maybe earlier in your, in your running days, or maybe even you know, today.
Mike Hall 11:04
The biggest obstacle, like early days, and even sometimes to to an extent today is to getting yourself out there in some like the not so perfect weather, like, you know, in the middle of June or July, when you get that like, you know, 90 degree day with 1,000% humidity, and you really just like, don’t want to go out there and run, it’s important. Even if you don’t do a long runner, you don’t hit whatever your distance goal is that day, it helps you get acclimated it helps you build up to those type of conditions. Because like, of course, you can’t predict and get perfect weather every single race day, you’re going to get one of those really hot days, or you’re going to get one of those days where it’s a raining or drizzling most of the run. That’s one of the obstacles. And I would say the other obstacle is to convince yourself at least once a week, or maybe every other week to, you know, throw in a hill in your workout, you know, find find a street around you or some trail you could run to actually has a little hill, it doesn’t have to be crazy, like get yourself to run up and down that hill a few times to get you know used to those situations as well. Because again, not every course we’re going to run is flat.
Richard Conner 12:21
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great advice. And so starting with the with the weather, you’re absolutely right, so we live in the northeast in the US. And we have beautiful seasons, beautiful area. But that comes with some days you get good weather, and some days you don’t. So your advice is you don’t know what you’re gonna get on race day, basically. So you kind of have to train for it. Right. So running in the summer, you have to run on those hot days to train for race day. And same thing for the winter. If you’re running in the winter, you have to kind of prep for that that colder weather. I mean, I’m sure it’s going to impact your your breathing, that how much fluids you’re going to have to have. So so that’s really sage advice there in terms of training during during that season.
Mike Hall 13:02
Yeah, it could be it could be a mental challenge, as well. Just that really hot day, when you step outside. I signed up for a race on this day. You know, you if you been doing it a couple times, you know, you’re not going to think it’s that big a deal.
Richard Conner 13:19
Very good point. Very good point. And the second point that you made about like throwing in that hill, that’s that’s a great point too. Because not the courses aren’t always flat. I’m I love the courses that are flat. But that’s not always the case. there’s a there’s a course in my old high school that is relatively flat. But you know, there is there’s a slight incline towards the end of the race. And that’s not what you want the third mile especially if you are not training for it, right this like, right. So and in my in my neighborhood, I kind of have like three general laps that I run, there’s a one mile a 2.2, and just about a 3.3. And the one mile is the one with the hill, I feel like I’m going the full mile uphill. But in my long runs, I’ve got to fit that in there somewhere, just like you said, just to just to kind of keep up with with with the elevation. So so very good points there.
Mike Hall 14:12
Yeah. And you’ll find as you start to get into running as you start to do more races, even if you start to repeat some of the races that you’ve done before there is going to be places that you come across that you once thought your first race like oh my god, I can’t believe I’m going up this hill. That the second time you get there the second year or something like that. You’re gonna be like, Oh, I thought this was a hill the first time and you just you build up to it.
Richard Conner 14:41
Absolutely. There is a there’s a charity race. Now that we’re talking about this. There’s a charity race that we do every year for the Pancreatic Cancer Network. It’s called Purplestride. And let me tell you something I joked around about that one mile lap that I do that’s uphill. This race is literally half the race uphill. Then you run the other half back down the hill.
Mike Hall 15:02
Okay.
Richard Conner 15:02
And the hotter the day, the harder it is. So I guess it kind of brings together the two obstacles that you talked about, right? These are the weather and the hill. And boy, the first time I ran that, I was like, wow, I was uprepared for this race. But you get used to it. I haven’t trained on that, which, you know, when we before we run it next year, if we if we get back to a live race next year, I’ll certainly train on it before we get there. But definitely a great example of what you’re just talking about, like you really have to come and train in in that environment.
Mike Hall 15:33
Yeah, there’s a there’s a similar race that always coincides with my girlfriend’s birthday. That is, it’s a 4.8 mile race, but it’s two miles uphill. So that’s, it’s always it’s always a challenge. And it’s, you know, your way in to get to the top. It seems like all where’s that person signaling me down the side road that starts to downhill.
Richard Conner 16:01
Right. Right, exactly. So you mentioned so thank you for sharing these tips. And thank you for sharing your stories on these races. So you mentioned the first race that you did in Pittsburgh, there is that that five k that you did kind of impromptu, and then the Branford five mile race. So you know, for those races or maybe some of the other races that you’ve done it like if you had to pick a favorite race, what would it be and why
Mike Hall 16:27
I really enjoy doing the Branford one normally coincides with Father’s Day weekend, in the summer, not only because it was my first race, but there’s always a really good crowd out there a normal, like a lot of people out in the chorus, a lot of support, not just around the green, but on the course, in general. And it’s one of the areas that you’re running around there to was right along the sea wall. So actually, you know, if you get a chance to look over your shoulder look at the Long Island Sound for a little bit. It’s really nice.
Richard Conner 17:01
That’s cool. That’s cool. And yeah, and, you know, I love the aspect of live races. So like on Inspire Virtual Runs, we talk about like staying connected as a virtual community. And also using virtual races as a way to have like a goal to work towards. If you know live races aren’t available, like now but even so if you’re not really ready for live race, right? Maybe you don’t feel like you’re ready for that you want to start virtual, but there is an element of live races that are really exciting, right, like you said, having kind of the big crowd and, and people cheering and kind of having that support along the way. It is really exciting.
Mike Hall 17:39
It is Yeah, is exciting. It’s nice to have other runners around you, as well. I know from doing races, even out of state, sometimes when I’m wearing one of my shirts from around one of the races around here, there’s normally either another runner or another person on the side will recognize the race or the logo or something like that, you know, we’ll be shouting out, you know, like, you know, we’re like go Branford, or Brian and I went up into do a race in Portland, Maine, and there was someone walking around at the beginning who had one of the shirts from a race we do in New Haven every year the IRIS run so I got a look at that she’s got on last year, his IRIS shirt, that’s really cool. So,
Richard Conner 18:24
Okay, all right. See how you also have that that same community of runners and racers? Mike Hall 18:31
Right. And it seems to travel with you even out of state so that I think that’s a really neat aspect.
Richard Conner 18:38
So what do you what do you enjoy most about running so it’s not something that you had done for a while then you then you got back into it? And now you’re in it right? You’re you’re training you’re running races? It sounds like there’s a lot of things you enjoy about the training and the running but what do you think you enjoy most about running?
Mike Hall 18:55
Um, probably the the accomplishment you know, doesn’t really matter how far you went what your time was on this particular day you basically you got to run in you got it done and you you know, you’re working yourself towards a larger goal. So I think that’s a really positive aspect of it and as for myself, because I don’t run with headphones on or anything like that I just kind of like being you know, in my own silence, you might say just being able to run on the trail here and why further Cheshire and just be able to take that time to look around you know not wave to the other runners out there stuff like that. And you know, it’s really just kind of a kind of like a peaceful frame of mind when you’re just out there running.
Richard Conner 19:47
Very cool. Very cool. I agree with you, you know, the accomplishment piece is is huge, right? So just kind of setting that goal knowing your why and then when you complete it, being able to say hey, you know, I did this right to so that’s that that’s a big piece. And any I agree like being out there just kind of being able to think. And just being you know, being in your own head, right, so to speak, is a good thing. I personally do run with headphones, I would not really be able to run without music and, and I listen to a lot of podcasts, actually, while I run depending on the distance that I run, so it was shorter runs will probably just be music or if it’s been just a really crazy day, just music, but if it’s a longer run, and I just put something on and listen to it, but either way, right, just just kind of being out there and having time for yourself, I think is is really important.
Mike Hall 20:42
Right? And it’s it’s different between, you know, as you said, you have to have music or something like that a lot of the like, I didn’t have, you know, an iPod or anything like that when I started writing didn’t have even a set of headphones at the time, but a lot of the early races that I did besides you know, besides like Branford in New Haven, the courses themselves weren’t close to traffic. So it’s kind of like, yeah, okay, I’m running in this race with other people, you also kind of have to pay attention to the vehicles in your surroundings as well. So I really didn’t, you know, feel comfortable running with headphones, or you’re getting lost in music at the time.
Richard Conner 21:22
And that’s actually a great point. So So I will clarify, I only run with headphones, when I’m training. I don’t run with headphones when I’m actually doing live races. So that that’s actually something that I you know, and something that I’ve learned is if I’m listening to music, and I’m or listening to podcasts, I’m not always paying attention to to myself like to my body and my breathing. So like during when you’re actually running a race is something that’s very important, making sure you’re breathing right, and making sure you have a good pace and being able to focus like on the race. So So I will clarify that. I don’t normally do that during the race. But you’re right. You also have you also have to be careful, right? If you’re running on the road,
Mike Hall 22:03
yes, definitely.
Richard Conner 22:04
Active traffic, like that’s something you have to be careful of so not you know, turning up your, your volume to too loud. And actually someone just posted in an article in the Inspire Virtual Runs community in the Facebook group, about this, about this very topic about folks that are texting and driving or just being on their phone and driving and how much of a hazard it is for for runners, right and pedestrian. So it’s a very important topic, very important to stay aware, right.
Mike Hall 22:33
And unfortunately, you’re finding some of that stuff is kind of creeping its way onto the trails around here to people walking and texting or even like on their bikes, in texting, as well. I’ve seen that. I mean, of course, more and more people are out on the trails right now because everything else was closed this summer. But you know, you seem to be encountering that a little bit more on the, you know, the linear trails around here as well.
Richard Conner 23:00
Mm hmm. Definitely. Yeah. And where I run, it’s, it’s very, very active, you know, my neighborhood is relatively quiet. But when I start to go for those longer runs, I start to get out into areas where there’s there’s a lot more traffic. And fortunately, there’s a lot of areas where there’s there’s a sidewalk, but there’s parts that don’t have a sidewalk and there’s parts that you’re going under and under, you know an underpass. And it’s, it’s quite dangerous if you’re not not paying attention. So definitely something to pay attention to.
Thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate you sharing, you know what you enjoy most about running. So let’s let’s kind of switch gears a little bit. You also run half-marathons and then you have a goal to run a full marathon. So like what was that deciding factor that said, okay, I’ve done 5K, I’ve done the five miler, now I’m going to do a half-marathon, which is which is a pretty big jump like what, what kind of got you there? And how did you train for that you
Mike Hall 24:00
Basically I just started once I completed the five mile run, I started, you know, basically just kind of looking around to see what other distances there were, you know, obviously there was the 10 K, I found a local 10 mile run that was done in done down in Guilford. So basically, I jumped from the five miles to try to do the 10 Mile Road Race and then once I did the 10 mile I just kind of thought that was a natural progression to start myself training for for the half marathon and actually in between Brian and I had done the 20 k one year in New Haven. So that was basically is like okay, it’s really just you know, eight tenths more of a mile to do the half marathon so I started looking around for one of those to do basically followed the 5K to half marathon app again, I did not download it or anything on my phone. I just kind of looked at what they can calendar was and you know where you should be from certain, at certain point week to week for, for my training and my distance and you know, like, Okay, this Saturday or this weekend is a one hour run. And I think the important thing, when you’re making the jumps from the shorter distance, the longest distance is don’t be concerned about what your time is, or how far you’re actually making it. In that a lot of time, you’re basically just out there for the experience of getting that distance or that time, that time frame done, like the speed and everything that I don’t want to say that that comes. But you’re going to find that between training and race day, you’re probably going to be almost a minute to a minute and a half faster on race day than any one of your training runs.
Richard Conner 25:55
Okay, so Mike, besides the app that you used, or kind of the training plan from the five K, the half marathon, what else did you have to do to kind of prep for for the half marathon anything around? Like nutrition? I know we’re talking about gear earlier, like what else did you have to do during that time to prep for the half marathon?
Mike Hall 26:19
For the half marathon for some of my, as far as prep for gear I bought, um, I think the biggest purchase that I made for that was getting some of the cushion socks and like insoles for my sneakers for for that. As far as, as far as the nutrition thing I looked in to you know, what should be your proper nutrition or your breakfast on race morning, you know, I looked up various on websites, the thing is, like come the morning of the ride and looking at all that like, out on the table in front of me. I just basically as I don’t want all of that in my stomach before I go run this race. So I didn’t really follow the nutrition guide. I will say that, like during that first half marathon, you get to mile like seven or eight years like Oh, man, I’m hungry.
Richard Conner 27:09
So that’s, that’s a great point, you know, so I’ll share a little bit of some of what I’ve done. Typically, same here like typically on race day, I don’t want I don’t want to run on a full stomach. That’s not a right not feel well during during that run. So typically, like the five K or shorter race, I’ll have an archer, this is the healthiest or right thing to do. But I’ll have like a bagel in the morning, maybe about two hours before I’m supposed to run. And then I’ll try to drink like a liter of water up to about one hour before I’m supposed to run. So I try not to have anything, you know, at least one hour before I run. Just to make sure like I’m just not I don’t have the full feeling when I run and I don’t have you know, cramps on the on the road. Right?
Mike Hall 27:53
Yeah, I totally understand that.
Richard Conner 27:55
Yeah, but you’re right. Like for the longer races, you kind of have to have that that energy. So, you know, what I’ve been coached on is it’s really did the day of is important, but also the night before, right? So what I’ve been coached on is you’re having, you know, more carbs the night before, earlier in the evening. It’s not like right before you go to bed. So maybe like pasta, not a lot of cheese. So really just kind of kind of build that up the night before. And then you know, probably same routine, the morning of or a little bit more food the morning especially for those like really longer strenuous runs. So that’s a little bit about about what I’ve done. But But I agree with you like you really have to pay attention to what you eat before your run, or else you’re you’re gonna feel it.
Mike Hall 28:38
Yeah, that’s essentially for me, that’s just a little a little mental thing, as well that I have to like, overcome, or I have to either get myself out of bed earlier on those days of long runs to get myself to eat that and feel that I’ve given myself enough time to let that settle.
Richard Conner 28:56
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, very cool. Mike, you have a great story. I really appreciate you sharing it with us. If you had to pick like one thing, what would you say to help inspire the folks in our community?
Mike Hall 29:11
The one thing that I would say would go back to what I was saying about the the training for the distance runs is it’s just important to get yourself out there and not worry about what your time is or how far you’re making it. It’s just letting each run just build upon itself and you’re gonna see that you’re achieving you’re achieving goals you’re making progress you’re getting further and it happens it happens pretty quickly. Like I know from you know basically from going the quarter mile up and down my street one day to see if I could do a 5K to you know now I have like literally no problem going out on a day like today and you know, doing eight miles or something like that it happens happens pretty quickly.
Richard Conner 29:59
Alright, Very cool. Thank you so much, Mike. This has been awesome. And your story is very inspirational. So really just thanks again for coming on the show.
Mike Hall 30:09
Thank you for having me on. I’m glad we had this connection with with a mutual friend.
Richard Conner 30:14
Absolutely. Absolutely. Great. Well, thanks again, Mike.
That was Mike Hall everyone. I’m really grateful to Mike for sharing his journey and a story with us. And I’m really excited to share the stories from our fellow runners with you. So you can hear their journeies and their lessons learned along the way. And the three takeaways that I got from this conversation with Mike, we’re first is about accountability partner, so important to have that accountability partner to help get you started or keep you motivated, whether it’s a friend or running club or community that you belong to. And I’ll think about this a different way, if there are fellow runners listening, and you have a friend that really could use a little bit of a push to to get into fitness, you could be that person to help them along and inspire and motivate them to do that. And you heard Mike story about how Brian helped him along that journey. So you could be that person for someone else. The second thing that I got is you need to train for the conditions in which you will race you never really know. And the conditions on race day, you know, you won’t know if it’s a flat race or hilly race, what the weather will be like. So it’s really important to to kind of train in those conditions, so you’re better prepared for those races. The third takeaway is gear. Again, you don’t really need a lot of gear to get started, maybe just having the right shoes to get started. But as you progress in your runs, you want to make sure that you have the right gear for the weather or the type of conditions that you’re going to run in. So these are the three takeaways I got from this conversation. Thanks again, Mike. And thanks for listeners for checking in today. And with that, please hit subscribe button if you haven’t done so already, and have a great day.
Intro/Outro 32:09
That’s it for this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. Also, be sure to click the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. Thanks for listening.