How running for a good cause can benefit you and others with Dino Verrelli! Ep71

Richard Conner 0:00

Is it your dream or goal to run one of the major marathons? Do you want to help others, especially those facing a cancer diagnosis? Well, in this conversation, we’re going to talk about how you could do both of those things. Today we’re going to talk to Dino verbally, and I’m gonna share a little bit about my experience losing my mother in law to pancreatic cancer, and Dino is going to share his story as well, including why he started Project purple, and the great work that they’re doing to help cancer patients and their families. And we’ll also talk about mindset as a relates to running. Whether you’re a new runner or season runner, especially as you’re thinking about doing your first or your next marathon. Hope you enjoy.

Intro/Outro 0:43

Welcome to Inspire to run podcast skier, you will find inspiration, whether you’re looking to take control of your health and fitness or you’re a seasoned runner, looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts now here’s your host Richard Conner.

Richard Conner 1:06

Hi, everyone. Welcome to inspired one podcast. Today I’m here with Dina Murali, who is the founder of Project purple, which is an impact driven organization with a vision of a world without pancreatic cancer. Dino’s father Giovanni was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 and lost his battle in 2011. Dino promises father before he passed, that he will never give up on defeating pancreatic cancer. Dino is a runner crossfitter and all things pancreatic cancer. Welcome to the show. Dino.

Dino Verrelli 1:40

Thank you for having me, Richard. It’s a pleasure. Well,

Richard Conner 1:43

the pleasure is all mine. And you know, for our listeners, Dino and I met I think it was sometime last year as our listeners may know, I had an experience with pancreatic cancer where I lost my mom back in 2016. Ever since then, I’ve been volunteering and supporting and raising awareness for pancreatic cancer d&i connected and I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with him on his podcast, which I’m sure we’ll talk about a little bit later. And here we are hearing his story and all things he’s doing with Project purple, as well as his running journey. So super excited to have you Dino, and, you know, maybe we’ll just kind of get things kicked off. And you can share a little bit about yourself in your background.

Dino Verrelli 2:21

Thank you, Richard. Yeah, I’m the founder of Project purple. We are an endurance based charity. We’re a national charity, I like to say worldwide charity, because we we bring teams to the Berlin marathon and the London Marathon. So that makes us kind of global. We also are doing an adventure to Italy this year. So we’ve quickly expanded over the last 12 years, 13 years, almost. So, but I like to use the term insurance. And you know, in your introduction, you know, you mentioned, you know, Project purple was inspired by my dad’s journey with pancreatic cancer and the journey we went on as a family to help other people. And during that time, I was never a runner. I didn’t consider myself a runner. And kind of funny, I don’t know if I consider myself a runner. Now, you know, I don’t know, everyone’s everyone’s definition. A runner is different, right? And people say, Hey, you run those marathons I go, Well, I don’t want that fast. It’s like a jog as a fast jog. Right? Like, so is that a runner? Are you considered a runner, if you’re fast jogging, or speed walking a marathon, you know. So, you know, I just I found running, it was so positive to me. It really became such a positive outlet for me, during that time, and that time for my life was a lot different. You know, I had a dad battling a terminal cancer, I had two young boys under five, with my wife, you know, trying to figure that whole parenthood thing out with like twins. And then I was running my own financial services business, I was actually in the insurance brokerage business. And I was the CEO of that company, I had five employees. So life was just crazy across the board and running became so positive for me. And I think just being an entrepreneur, I found, you know, a space in this space of pancreatic cancer, to give back running to the community in a positive way to become a positive outlet. And I guess the rest is history. And we literally from day one, we’re figuratively and literally running, you know, to help find a cure to help families. And that’s really kind of been the big thing for us here at Project purple. nationally. Now we do a lot of other things from traditional fundraising to, you know, other types of endurance, mud runs, CrossFit, fitness and golf. We even have a pizza eating contest coming up, which has nothing to do with fitness. You know, but it raises a lot of awareness and such. So it’s just pretty wild the journey we’ve been on but I’ve been on I should say, Richard, but when I look back at it, running is such a core to that. And, you know, running is not only a core for the foundation, And on how we got started, how we raise the majority of our money still, through our marathon teams through some of the five K’s we do regionally, through our virtual events, which are also endurance based, and a lot of them have running built into them. But also me as a person, you know, as I’ve changed over the last 12 years, you know, just from my running and what I’ve done personally, through that, so running is really like a core thing for me. You and I could probably joke about this, right? Like, I don’t know, for me, I think runners I think of like, wow, Meb Keflezighi, Molly huddle, you know, they’re running those marathons, right? They’re winning, those marathons are winning, those are, they’re running my pace, I don’t know if I consider it. I don’t know, I

Richard Conner 5:49

could certainly relate to that. And it’s funny, because I just ran a race on Super Bowl Sunday, so just a couple of weeks ago, and I felt pretty good about the race. And I felt pretty good about my time. And I had a work colleague who ended up running the race as well, when I finished and when he finished, we’re two totally different times he got versus in his age group. And the way we looked when we were done was completely different. He was dripping wet, like super spend from the race. And I’m like, kind of jogging in you know, Richard’s pace. So I totally can relate to that. But you know, one of the things that I’ve seen quite often and I love is if you run your runner, so you know, regardless of what your pace is, and that’s what we try to encourage, you know, the community because I think there’s such emotion centered around running. And I’d love to understand that discover why? Because folks who do not run, look at it, and may say, I’m not a runner, or I can’t do that. And anybody can really do it. Anybody can be a runner. So it’s super interesting that you say that, but I just want to leave that, you know, for the listeners, like if you run, you’re a runner.

Dino Verrelli 6:51

Yeah, it’s a great point. And, you know, I think that’s something that I saw early on in my first marathon experience at the Boston Marathon in 2012. I was long story, but I’m gonna make it really short, I was really blessed. I got to number seven days before the race, never had run past 13 miles. And so I asked my wife, she’s like, Hey, she’s from Massachusetts, she’s like, it’s the Boston Marathon, you got to do it, because I was like, this is kind of crazy. Like, you know, there’s no way in seven days, I’m gonna get to marathon training. So I knew it was gonna suck going in, you know, that helped me mentally prepare for it. But I started very way at the back. And this was before, like, you know, I’d watch the New York City Marathon. You know, Meb Keflezighi went in the New York City Marathon a couple years before. So, you know, I wasn’t naive to the marathon distance, but just never had done it right. And never really had been no big marathon. So being at the back of that year, the Boston Marathon, it was wild, because I remember looking over and there was a guy who was blind, it’s probably about six foot five, about 260 pounds. Now I’m six foot one, probably like 200 flat. This guy was big. But he was beating me in the start, like he was he was going out there fast. And he had a guide with them, right? They have like a tether and the guides telling them you know, be careful pothole, you know, this, that right, left. And I was like, that’s when the light bulb went off for me, like, Oh, my God, like anyone can do this. And then, you know, being at the back of the Boston Marathon, it’s all the charity runners, right. And these people get spots, but you get people from all walks, you get people that are, you know, again, I think people think like runners are, you know, these compact muscular bodies. Anyone can do it, right, like, to your point, like, so anyone can do it. And that was one of the lightbulb for me went off was like, Wow, man, this is like so awesome. And that day sucked. There was no doubt about it. I mean, 2012, I think might be still on record, the hottest Boston Marathon ever in the history of the Boston Marathon. So not only did I have to deal with that, but I never ran past 14 miles or 30 Miles ever in my life. And so that day, so every mile after, you know, 13 was like a PR for me and a personal best. And I remember I finished the race in like five hours and like, I don’t know, five and a half by four year sign. But I was like, like, I won the race, man. Like, I was like, This is so freakin awesome, right? But I was in so much pain. But I was like, Okay, let’s do this again. Like, let’s sign me up next year for this one again, and I’m going to train for it. Right. So, yeah, running is just so I think it’s one thing that you know, when we look at sports, like if you compare running to like football, basketball, baseball, even golf, right, and golf has kind of like the running aspect to it because anyone can play golf. And I’m not saying like people can’t play those other sports. But to have the same feeling. I think that a Meb Keflezighi has or Molly huddle has. And those are two people that I’ll probably say lot because they’re like idols for me. But to have that same feeling in Boston, or New York, or whatever five care half marathon that those people get, everyone gets as well. Not necessarily winning the race, but actually doing the event. With the crowds with the same experience. It’s just really cool. And that’s the other thing that I think running. I hope people realize that like, you’re on that same stage with those people. Like, it’s wild, like you can’t, like we can’t go play basketball like the Knicks are playing tonight, we can’t go out on the court and shoot free throws, right? That doesn’t happen. You know, the Jets are playing or the giants are playing, you can’t go down to the field and you know, throw a TD pass to your buddy in the endzone. If you run in one of those races, you can you can cross the same finish line as these greats do and run the same course.

Richard Conner 10:51

For sure, for sure. And, you know, what I’d love to do is learn a little bit about like how you got here, because again, you mentioned you’re not a runner. So it was super interesting to hear that not only did you get into running, you incorporated that as one of the main activities for Project purple. So for you personally, what was that driver motivating force for you to choose running? And then why running for Project purple?

Dino Verrelli 11:14

Yeah, so great question. The first one was your first my first answer, like how I got into it. So I would go to the gym. Even before my dad got sick, I was like a four, four o’clock crew guy. So I’d show up at the gym, you know, leave it at my house for get there for 430 right when the gym would open. And I had this, we had the same crew like the workout crew, women and men. And I think just one day like right around the time my dad was battling that we the gym, we had had a basketball court. So some days we mix it up other than just lifting weights, or doing like, I think at that time now I’m really going to kind of age myself a little bit here because I think like, I think p90x was like getting really hot. So they had like a studio where we’d go in and do like the p90x workouts before, like, I think functional fitness and CrossFit kind of really took off of doing those types of workouts, you know, the classes were pretty structured and pretty strict. Like it was a bootcamp class, or it was just like weights. But so we were doing like variety, we would do all these variety of workouts, and I think someone in the group was like, Hey, let’s incorporate like cardio. And so we just started like running mile a mile, like one mile became like one mile. And it was right when the time when my dad got diagnosed, it was kind of like a perfect storm and a bit. And it was just so therapeutic for me. Like I went out, I remember that first run. We were out running. I live in the suburbs, there’s like no streetlights, there’s the moon. And we’re like dodging like skunks and raccoons early in the morning, right? Especially if it’s garbage day. And you know, that’s what you’re seeing out there. And it was just so crystal clear to me. And like anything that I like, my thoughts, my problems, it just was so so positive. And then, you know, you know, the idea for Project purple and how I got into that and why running, the first piece was because it was so good to me. And I realized, like, hey, I want to give this back. And initially this group that we were running together, they knew what was going on with my dad. And I think someone was like, Hey, let’s just do a 5k. And we’ll give it back to the hospital where your dad is doing. That’s a cool idea. And I was like, Yeah, but you know, I don’t know how much impact that really makes. And again, I think I was thinking just bigger being I consider myself an entrepreneur. And I was like, alright, like, if we do the 5k Like, does that help enough people? And I just felt like, you know, I think we can do something here to have a greater impact to help people locally nationally, like I’m a big dreamer. Big idea guy. And so I was just like, you know, what about this, and they were like, That’s kind of crazy. But okay, I’ll go along for the ride. And the rest is history, as they say, I

Richard Conner 14:09

guess. That’s awesome. I really love that. And so first off, kind of going back to why you got into it. I’d love to bottle that up and share it with others who again may not think they can run or maybe don’t remember what it was like to run and you know that serenity and tranquility that you get from running and the peace you get from it. It’s your time. Right and I love that you said that and you just got into it as part of your your workout crew and that’s how some folks get into it. They’re invited by someone to run a 5k or come to the gym and that’s their way of getting into it. But also what you’re doing a project purple. What I’ve learned through many conversations is that some people get into running through these types of activities. It’s they know someone whether it’s a family member or friend who is going through something or battling something and this is a way to raise money and support them and support the cause. So love what you’re doing, you know, personally in terms of running and fitness as well as we project purple. Thank you. So let you know, let’s talk a little bit about how does this work for Project purple if someone wants to get involved and run and support? How does that work? And how does it benefit? You know, the or your organization? How does it benefit the other cancer organizations or whomever you’re supporting through that, as well as the runners? Like how does that work?

Dino Verrelli 15:33

Yeah, so we have a full turnkey program. So you know, we have a couple of really strategic relationships with marathons. We are official marathon charity partner of four out of the six world major marathons, you know, there’s six world major marathons in the world, where official charity partners in New York, London, Chicago, and Berlin. So we provide access to those races via the charity platform. All the races have different sorts of fundraising minimums, I always say our job is to provide access to those races, and give our participants an amazing experience from start to finish. And what that involves is training, making sure that our runners are trained. So like people listening like that, you know, have never run one of these marathons before and never run a marathon before, might be a little intimidated. But we provide that training. And we have a coach on staff that works individually with our runners. And, you know, designs, tailored programs for them based on their goals, everyone’s goal is going to be different. Some people just want to finish some people want to qualify for other races are finished in certain times. So that can all be accommodated. But then also, the bigger piece too, which I think sometimes maybe scares people away is the fundraising piece. You know, we’ve been doing this for 13 years, we’re a multi million dollar organization, we’ve raised a lot of money. Since inception. I always say our job is to teach people how to fundraise. You know how to make that proper ask and clearly with social media and technology, like strategies have evolved. But I’ll dial this really down Richard is it’s the most impart most impactful piece of fundraising the probably the most important piece is that person’s why, and why you’re doing this, like why are you joining project purple, to help find a cure for pancreatic cancer? You know, what’s your story, and everyone has a different story, right? Whether they are impacted or not, that doesn’t really make a difference. It’s really though, being able to communicate that. And so that’s something I think that we really stress here and really work with our teams and our participants, like our run coaches, our fundraising coaches, I should say, I call them run coaches, but they’re not, they’re not training you to run. They’re like our team managers, for our participants. Their job is to really work with each individual participant, to help them fundraise as much money as possible. I use a lot of terms, one of them, there’s a science to it, but it’s not rocket science. And I always tell participants, like we can share all the best latest and greatest fundraising ideas, but you got to be willing to make that ask like, I can’t ask your friends to fundraise for you, you got to do that. But I can teach you the strategies that really work. And so that’s really where I think our job, and kind of that’s the onus is on us, you know, to work with each individual runner, to make sure that we’re providing, you know, all the tools necessary for everyone to be successful. And the reason being and, you know, this may sound You know, I don’t know if this, hopefully this comes off the right way. The reason why this, to me makes sense, is because without everyone, you know, raising as much money as possible. We don’t get to do the great things that we do. Right, like, and what do we do with that money is, you know, provide patients with financial aid. So we have become one of the leaders in the pancreatic cancer space, anyone who is battling can apply for financial aid assistance. You know, last year, we paid out over 140,000 I think the total since inception of the program is over 650,000, over 1000 families we’ve helped nationwide. So anyone battling pancreatic cancer in the country can apply. And we help them pay their bills. And so that’s our first program. The second program is research and we are actively involved in helping to find early detection or curative treatments for the disease. And really the crux of our research portfolio has been in the last five years, as we’ve continued to raise millions of dollars over the last five years that’s really been our growth spurt is when we’ve been able to really put substantial impact into research. during that timeframe. It’s over close to about $3 million in various projects for early detection for curative treatments, but why we’re able to do that is because of the success of our participants, right. So if we’re not doing our job and in supporting our runners, making sure they meet their goals, and making sure they, they if someone wants to raise $20,000, we support if someone wants to raise $50,000, we support if someone just wants to raise the minimum and the minimum is $2,000, we support that as well. Right. So but that’s really our job, I always say is our job is to really support the runners support the participants, regardless of the event, and really give them all the tools necessary. So they can be as successful as possible so that we can do so much more with the funds that they raise.

Richard Conner 20:40

I love that. I love that, well, really wonderful programs, you’re running there, and you’re making a lot of great impact for patients. That’s really wonderful to hear. And, you know, personally, I’d love to do more. So I love to sign up for these types of races and activities to help support but I’m not very good at fundraising. So I’m, I’m learning from you through this conversation and hopefully going forward so I can be more effective and fundraising to help, you know, folks like yourself at organizations like yours, to do what you do. Right and to do so. So thank you for sharing that. And I’d love to talk a little bit about, you know, the some of the work that you’ve done and are some of the races you mentioned that you participate in the four out of the six majors.

Dino Verrelli 21:24

Yeah, so we are raised portfolio. So we have we’re official marathon charity partner of for the sixth New York should I go to New York, London, Chicago, Berlin, or Berlin, Chicago that’s actually in size of field. New York usually is the largest than London, then maybe Berlin and then Chicago. But there’s rumors this year, it might be flipped, because Chicago might have 45,000, and Berlin will have 42. And I think London usually falls anywhere between like 46 and 50. New York’s always like around 50,000. But we do have other relationships. We have relationships with the Lincoln marathon, grandma’s marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, just to name a couple. And then there’s some regional races like here, we’re in Connecticut. So we have a relationship with like the sono half marathon down in Norwalk, which is a newer race. We’ve done stuff with the New Haven road race, we also have relationship with the Chicago half, full marathon and spring half marathon through the lifetime series. But what’s great, Richard is, if none of those races kind of fit your calendar, or you know, it just doesn’t work out. We have a great program program called our Pioneer program. So anyone can select any race that they’re doing. It could be a local race, it could be a race that we’re just not affiliated with, for whatever reason, but you gain your own entry. So with most of our races, or I should say all of our races in that race portfolio that I mentioned that we’re official charity partners, we will help provide entry into those races, or we have entry into those races, right. That’s how that works, you know, for the fundraising commitment, but our Pioneer programs a little bit different, because we’re not supplying entry, the entries on the rudder, but you can support the cause you can support the mission. So, but our Pioneer program, really is flexible, allows people to do endurance events, and you know, use this platform to still support the cause and still support the mission.

Richard Conner 23:23

That’s great. That’s great. Well, I hope to be working with you and your organization one day, I think that’s a great opportunity to support the cause. So I’m personally looking forward to it and having you teach me how to fundraise. So looking forward to all know that.

Dino Verrelli 23:37

We’re ready, we’re ready for you when you’re ready. We’re here.

Richard Conner 23:40

All right. All right, that sounds good. So, you know, let’s talk a little bit, you know, kind of back to you personally, I love to hear your story, your running journey and where you are today. And before this conversation, you’re telling me about what’s next for you. So, one of the questions that I like to ask all of our guests is, what was the biggest obstacle that you face in your running journey and how did you overcome it?

Dino Verrelli 24:07

That’s a great one. You know, I think the biggest obstacle is mental. For me, the like, if you look at the averages, right? I think like if your lower center of gravity, lighter body frame, quick on your feet, you know, runnings really like an easy sport for you in some ways. I’m six foot one, hover around 200 pounds, that tends to be on the bigger side. So I’m always amazed like Galen Rupp is really tall, right? But he’s super thin. He probably weighs like a buck 50 If that right. And so like, you know, he’s light on his feet, which clearly, you know, allows him to do what he does, but he’s a bit he’s kind of like this anti because he’s really tall. And usually you even see like these international runners are not very tall. So for me, it’s always kind of been this mental thing. You know, and I think that’s the biggest piece because I don’t think it’s been a physical thing for me, I actually really, really, this is gonna sound sick. When I say this, I love the training, like, and that’s probably part of this mental piece. And I go back to like my days in college. So in college, I played collegiate basketball at a very low level. I love preseason, like people, some people hate preseason workouts. I used to love being in the gym, like getting stronger, like pushing your body like to get stronger, and I kind of love the marathon training. Marathon day, I don’t I’m not a really big fan of that. I don’t know, like, I love crossing the finish line. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no better feeling than completing 26.2 Because you train for it. But I’m really, for me. I like I love the training. I really love pushing your body. But it’s those mental hurdles, Richard, you know, like, this morning, I had to do a track workout. And it was freaking cold man. And I was like, I sat in bed for like, 10 minutes. And I was like, Dude, you got to get up, and you got to get up. And I And yesterday I was supposed to do yesterday. And I flipped my days, I did a five mile run yesterday. And then today, I was supposed to do this, like 14 to hundreds in a one mile warm up one mile, you know, cool down, but I had to get to the track before the High School open. So that meant I had to be there, you know, before, you know, 630. So I was getting up around 430 It was not laid out. And it was cold, I can hear the wind whipping here in Connecticut. So I wasn’t looking forward to it. But you just gotta find that mental fortitude to push through. And so I think the mental piece for me has been the biggest challenge. You know, because I don’t think running has been as easy for me physically, just because of my body size. And I wasn’t like a long distance guy. It was always like basketball, short bursts, you know, mile two mile when I started to do CrossFit. I don’t think that really helped me a bunch. That was like after my first four marathons and I jumped into CrossFit. Because my body had broken down a bit because I wasn’t really cross training properly. But it didn’t really help me long term for my marathon training when I got out of CrossFit because I felt like again crossed. It’s like this short bursts like fast twitch muscle versus, you know, slower Twitch, which is more marathon.

Richard Conner 27:24

Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that. And for sure, the mental part is, is really important. And I can relate to it because I ran cross country in high school and track as well, which is 5k or less. So anything above that I’d never really considered 10k Half Marathon marathon. And it wasn’t until just a few years ago, like I mentioned, where I started to run the half marathon distance. And I’m thinking, well, that’s the farthest I’ll ever go. And I’m only going to do it on race day. Well, now I’ve changed my my coach has changed my training program. I’m running on heart rate, and time versus pace and speed. So 12 1314 Miles is just another Sunday. Yeah, whereas two, three years ago, oh my gosh, I have to run 30 miles for this race. So for sure, it’s all mental. Because physically, it probably was able to do it just as well there, you know, two, three years ago, as I am today. So I’ve really appreciate you sharing that. I think that’s important for our listeners to hear that if you put your mind to it, that that’s something and as cliche as it sounds, it’s something you really can do.

Dino Verrelli 28:30

Yeah, absolutely. And I remember reading something, you know, like, the brain is like the most powerful organ in the body. Right? Everyone? You asked that question about, oh, the heart. Like, we can do some amazing things, if you put your mind to it, right? We’ve seen that, you know, and I’m not talking athletically, but you know, just from from a society standpoint, but then if you bring that to athletics, and you have this mindset, and you get rid of that subconscious, I talk a lot about subconscious unconscious, like our subconscious drives our conscious, but if you can get rid of those delusional delusions, but those misconceptions, I should say, in that subconscious, like, man, it’s too cold out, or, Hey, I can’t do 13 miles because you know, that’s a lot, right? And you just change that thought process and that mental and having this mental gymnastics, and having this positive conversation in that psyche, it’s wild what you can do, right? Because then you clip off the 13 or the 15 or like you and I will record it you know what we were talking about before you know, I went out and I went out too far. And then I realized like, Oh man, I got two choices here. I can either you know, suck it up and do a couple extra miles I feel pretty good. All right. Or make the phone call come get me now. I’m sucking it up and I’m doing the extra miles right and it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Richard Conner 29:50

And you know, I also love what you said about it before we were talking about the enjoying the process, or enjoying the journey how you love that kind of preseason time. and being in the gym or, or the training more than the race day. And I think that’s really important too. Because, you know, that’s really where you’re putting in the work, right? It’s kind of your pay now or pay later. So if you don’t enjoy that, man, that’s gonna be really hard for you to kind of get to race day. So it’s great that you do that, having that mindset to say, No, I know it’s cold, but you’re gonna feel so much better when either when you get out there, or when you’re done, you’re gonna feel great that you did it. But you gotta get out there, you got to do it.

Dino Verrelli 30:28

Yeah. And this morning, I share with him just a quick anecdote, like I was running into, like, I was on a track. So I was trying to, like, run with the wind in my back, you know, not not coming at me. And at one point, I was taking the turn, and I think I was going the wrong way, I figured it out. Like I realized that I should say, but then I was like, You know what, like, in 49 days, when I’m in London, I will be so pissed that I did this workout, you know, in the freezing cold, because, you know, that’s when it’s gonna pay off, you know, on race day, which, you know, maybe that’s something for me that I just have to like, work on my mental mindset. As I said, like, I enjoyed more of the build up in the process and stuff, and I don’t necessarily enjoy race day. So you know, now as we talk through this, maybe on race day, I kind of have to, like, work on that mental psyche to just remember, like, all that hard work, all that grinding that you did, pays off and enjoy it.

Richard Conner 31:20

For sure, for sure. So the you know, I love this conversation. I love everything that you shared with us, you know, kinda as we wind down here, one of my questions would be, what would be the one thing that you’d say to our listeners to help inspire them to run?

Dino Verrelli 31:35

The one thing to inspire people to run, and you said this, and for the listeners listening at home, or wherever you’re listening, just do it, just go out and do it. And just because you may not look like a runner, you may not have the body, someone may have said, hey, you know, you never, you never could run or you weren’t athletic. Just do it.

Richard Conner 31:58

For sure, for sure. Do you know how can our listeners find you follow your journey online and Support Project purple.

Dino Verrelli 32:07

So I’ll go into reverse here. So Project purple.org is our website. That’s the best place to learn all about the latest and greatest of what we’re doing races we have available. Anything that’s happening, you know, that’s the best place to follow us. And then you can naturally link through our social media down at the end of the page, or the footer of the page, and it gives you links to every single social media or YouTube, our podcast, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, all of them. Me personally, I’m not really a big social media guy, but I am on Instagram. I’m on LinkedIn. You can find me on the website. So if someone wants to email me more and learn more about you know, getting involved or you know, has been touched by pancreatic cancer and just wants to talk, you can email me at Dino at Project purple.org. Or you can go to our website and you can hit the the staff and contact, you have the ability to contact me through the website as well. If you’re on social, you can always follow me on Instagram, and it’s really easy. It’s Dino di no project purple. So I think I’m the only one on Instagram with that, hopefully, hopefully, no one’s taken that as like a shadow or sawn or trying to try to pretend to be me. But you’ll see a lot of project purple content on there. So if you want to follow and learn more and follow along on my journeys with Project purple, that’s the best place for it is on Instagram.

Richard Conner 33:34

Awesome, awesome Dino. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on the show sharing your journey and all the great work that you’re doing project purple. So I’ll put this information in the show notes to make it easy for our listeners to find and follow you. And with that, you know, thank you again for coming on the show.

Dino Verrelli 33:51

Thank you Richard for having me and thank you for continuing to be a positive light in the running community and also in the pancreatic cancer community.

Intro/Outro 33:59

That’s it for this episode of inspired to run podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community. And also please rate and review. Thanks for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai