Six Minute Mile – Details, episodes & analysis

We were joined on the Six Minute Mile podcast by Jason Jabaut, former professional runner turned Chief Operating Officer of Fleet Feet. Our conversation starts with his introduction to running in middle school, his stellar high school career in Plattsburg, NY, and then his success as a student-athlete on the prestigious Villanova University track team. After his collegiate career, Jason moved to California to pursue his dreams as a professional runner and shortly after that met his wife, Trish. Jason combined his love for running with his sharp business acumen and joined the Fleet Feet team in Carrboro, NC. Among other things we discuss running booms in the US, the interesting Fleet Feet franchise model, and the importance of being fitted for the right shoes! We hope you enjoy and we'll see you out there.

For the first time in 18 months, some of the top race directors in America gathered this week to share best practices and to explain what fall races will look like for runners. Will there be expos? Will you have to wear a mask on the course? Will you be asked to show a vaccine card? What about wave starts and post race parties -- will they happen? We got the answers to these questions and many more from the 6 race directors we cornered at a conference produced by the organizers of the Chicago Marathon. Before we dive into that conversation, we wanted to share a few words from Mike Nishi, Chief Operating Officer of the Chicago Marathon, as he explains the goal of this conference and why so many race directors chose to fly to Chicago to trade ideas about producing the safest possible events this fall and beyond. Christine Bowen: Vice President of Programming, Partnerships and Operations for Running USA https://www.runningusa.org/  Andrea Dowdy - CEO of the Denver Colfax Marathon https://www.runcolfax.org/ Jon Hughes - Track Shack Co-owner and Race Director of the Walt Disney World Marathon https://www.trackshack.com/ Michelle Juehring - Race Director for the Quad Cities Times Bix 7 https://bix7.com/ Michelle La Sala - Founder and President of Blistering Pace Race Management https://blisteringpace.com/ Steve Lastoe - Founder and CEO NYCRUNS https://nycruns.com/ Michael Nishi - Chief Operating Officer of Chicago Event Management, General Manager of Bank of America Chicago Marathon https://www.chicagomarathon.com/ 

Jonathan Shubert is an amateur cyclist, (and science teacher) that recently broke a 27-year-old record. Jonathan rode his bike, on the open road, for 100 miles in under 3 hours - 2 Hours, 57 minutes. An impressive feat, but when you consider that he also had a mechanical issue and the roads were open to traffic, it becomes an extraordinary achievement. He talks to us about becoming “slippery in the air”, and how a $500 suit that makes you more aerodynamic is more valuable than a $6,000 bike. Since the age of 6, Jonathan aspired to be the British 24 cycling Champion, from the inspiration of his grandfather, who was also a British cycling record holder. He has cycled around the globe, finding that cycling is the best way to see a country. The true inspiration from talking to Jonathan comes from his motivation to break the 3-hour -100 mile cycling record - like Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile, Jonathan wants to inspire people to do more than they believe that they can achieve.

Do you spend your time cooking spaghetti? What does a dog look like? How do you find peace with food and peace with your body? Nancy Clark answers these questions, along with several other nutrition questions we had for her. Nancy (https://nancyclarkrd.com) is a registered dietician (RD) and board certified specialist in sport dietetics (CSSD). In layman’s terms, she is a food coach and nutrition educator. Nancy has worked with the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox and many elite and Olympic athletes from several sports. When it comes to sports nutrition, Nancy wrote the book, literally, she wrote The Sports Nutrition Guide Book (https://bit.ly/3kxAtgH), which is now in its 6th edition and has sold over 750,000 copies. Listen to our conversation with Nancy to learn the impact that nutrition plays in our performance.

Paula (https://bit.ly/2YU6yFf) has won the London Marathon and the New York City Marathon, each three times and the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, once, in 2002. She captured the Gold Medal in the 2005 Marathon World Championships in Helsinki. Paula held the title of the world’s fastest woman marathon runner for over 16 years, clocking 2:15:25, until 2019, when her record was broken by Bridgid Kosgei.

Inspired to run at a young age, by her father’s passion for sport. Paula gained a lot of running knowledge from her father, that she shares - such as how to run downhill to create a gap. She also shares some real wisdom, of marathon running – "respect the distance, but don’t be afraid of it".  Paula explains the value for all of us to have role models that help you break your own belief barriers.

As if that wasn’t enough, we talk about parenting. Paula becomes reflective when she shares with us that most people don’t realize how great their parents are, while they are growing up. We discuss the importance of learning to make decisions and living with those decisions.

Hal Higdon has written over 34 books, most notably Marathon the Ultimate Training Guide (https://amzn.to/3pCU1Si) and created several training programs, that can be found on his site – Run with Hal https://www.halhigdon.com/. Hal competed 8 times in the Olympic Trials, his best performance came in 1960, when he finished 5th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He has run over 110 marathons, his best clocking his best performance in the 1964 Boston Marathon, where Hal placed 5th overall, after leading through the first 19 miles and crying at the finish line – tears of heartache and joy. Heartache from not winning and joy from setting his best time.  In 1975 Hal set a World Masters Championship M40 record of 9:18.6 in the steeplechase, which holds as the longest standing American Masters record. Hal has been running competitively for 75 years and shares with us what he has learned about training and nutrition.

When Cal Ripken set his unbelievable streak of 2,632 games played, he had the mindset of “No days off”.  Dane Rauschenberg had the same mindset in 2006, when he set out to run 52 different marathons on 52 weekends, throughout the year. He made the decision that there would be no make-up dates, no do-overs, but instead a full marathon every weekend. In the process, Dane raised over $43,000 for the L’Arche Organization (https://www.larcheusa.org/) and effectively ran negative splits throughout the year, by clocking his fastest races at the end of the year. As if that wasn’t enough, he did this while working full time and only missed four days of work during the year.  Dane talks to us about training, “you don’t need to win the workout, save it for race day”, and how to run a sub three-hour marathon. Also an author, Dane has written Run This Place: 52 Must Run Races in North America (https://amzn.to/2Y59PRK) a summation of the best 52 races, out of the 400 races that Dane has competed in.

This race smells like up dawg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6kXrSE8GoQ) What’s up dawg??  In the year of a pandemic, when live races were canceled, Keira D’Amato created her own race – The Updawg 10 Miler. With the help of Phil Stewart and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom, Keira put together a closed course 10 mile race, won the race, and set a new American 10 Mile record. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “there is no second act in American lives.” Keira proves Mr. Fitzgerald wrong, after taking a “long halftime show”, starting back into running for fun, and now the “Running Realtor” has a 10 Mile American Record and placed 15th in the Olympic Marathon Trials. Keira was a high school standout, an All-American in College, then after an injury, running “broke up with her”, this wicked smart lady has found a way to balance elite running, and a career in real estate, all while raising a family.

Have you ever wanted to conduct a business meeting, while on a 30K run around London? Marcus talks to us about how to juggle a busy life of the business world and training for ultra marathons. Marcus was a professional rugby player from the age of 18, until he retired in 2010. He is now an extreme athlete, coach, and entrepreneur. Marcus has competed in 30 marathons in 30 days, a 250K self-supported race across the Sahara Desert and 230K self -supported race through Kenya. Marcus finds a fulfilled life with his main hobbies that includes running across the desert, or walking on the beach at sunrise. Marcus has a strong belief that everyone can develop mental strength through physical challenges and stop being scared of hard work. Marcus explains that big goals, require big processes. Everyone should find the process that helps them climb their “Everest”. You can connect with Marcus and read his blog here http://www.mjdsmith.com/#home

Every writing teacher will tell you to “write what you know”. Jim Knoedel did exactly that, by writing about two fictional track athletes. Jim started his journey as high school track athlete, in Iowa City, Iowa. He then became a walk-on runner on the University of Iowa track team. During his time under legendary coach Francis Cretzmeyer, aka Cretz, Jim heard stories of Jesse Owens and watched Steve Prefontaine at the Drake Relays (almost high fiving him). It was in these days that Jim created the plot of his novel, where two athletes, from different eras compete against each other. Jim’s writing skills have been well honed by writing countless recruiting letters, during his years as a track coach at Northwestern, Loyola and UIC. Recruiting letters written so well, that athletes would keep them and refer to them later in their careers. If you’ve ever wondered, who was better, Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis? Michael Jordan or Lebron James? In A Golden Era – A Tale of Two Runners https://amzn.to/36xU0bs you have an opportunity to imagine those scenarios existing.