Run Eat Drink Podcast
Welcome to the Run Eat Drink Podcast! This is the podcast where we embark on exciting adventures, combining our love for running, delicious food, and tasty beverages. Whether you’re an elite runner aiming for victory or just starting your “Couch to 5K” journey, we’ve got something for you. Let’s dive into the three pillars of our show:
Accomplish (Run): Accomplishment is deeply personal. Are you eyeing a race series win, planning your next “run-cation,” or hoping to set a personal record in your next half-marathon? Each week, we feature fantastic destination races from around the country. Discover scenic courses, learn about the charities they support, and get inspired to lace up those running shoes. And when we’re not on the road, we share interviews, training tips, and insights from our own running journey.
Explore (Eat): Running and traveling go hand in hand. As we explore new places, we also explore local cuisine. We seek out hidden gems—the eateries that locals rave about. Bold flavors, interesting dishes, and passion for food—that’s what we’re after. After each race, join us as we wander the city streets, discovering post-race refueling spots. Whether it’s a gastropub, a food truck, or a cozy café, we’ve got dining options to satisfy your cravings.
Indulge (Drink): When the running is done, it’s time to unwind. We raise our glasses to celebrate our accomplishments. Local breweries, coffee shops, speakeasies, and watering holes—these are our destinations. From craft beers to artisanal cocktails, we explore the beverage scene. Cheers to a well-deserved drink after crossing the finish line!
Join us on this journey of accomplishment, exploration, and indulgence. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a curious foodie, there’s a place for you at the Run Eat Drink Podcast.
Run Eat Drink Podcast
RED Episode 289 BOSTON MARATHON Runcation Recap
SHOUT OUTS
If you want a shoutout on the show for you or someone you love, email us at info@runeatdrink.net or call us at 941-677-2733 and leave a message.
Thanks to all our patrons and everyone in the Runcation Nation for your support and encouragement. Because of you, we have kept the show going over the last two years, so thank you!
And a hearty welcome to our newest patron and Susie Beck’s return as a Founder! She is now a Founder of our show and earned a discounted rate by paying for the year upfront! Susie has her name in lights with all our Founders at https://www.runeatdrink.net/patron-wall.
Thank you to Dean Gerber, Associate Producer of our show, and Josh Ozbirn, Executive Producer of the podcast, too!
If you want a shoutout on the show for you or someone you love, email us at info@runeatdrink.net or call us at 941-677-2733 and
RED Episode 289 BOSTON MARATHON Runcation Recap
What if running could transform not just your body but your entire life? Hear from an all-star panel of inspiring women who’ve done just that. Andi recently celebrated her accomplishment of ALL the Abbott World Marathon Majors with the final one in Tokyo. At the same time, Amanda, Executive Director of the Donna Foundation, has her sights set on the London Marathon next year. Join us as Fitz Kohler recounts her Boston Marathon journey for charity and Babs, who was at the finish of the Boston Marathon to medal each of these fantastic ladies and Boston Marathon finishers.
Get a front-row seat to the emotional rollercoaster of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Fitz shares her poignant story of running for a domestic violence charity after surviving cancer, while Babs recounts her unique volunteer experience and the serendipity of awarding Fitz her medal. Amanda and Andi open up about their own paths to qualifying for Boston, encapsulating the camaraderie and resilience that make this marathon a life-changing event.
Are you planning to tackle the Boston Marathon yourself? We’ve got you covered with practical tips on travel, accommodation, and navigating the expo. Discover strategies for conquering Boston’s notorious hills and hear about the unforgettable finish line moments that make all the sweat and tears worth it. Plus, get excited for the 2025 DONNA Marathon, a Boston Marathon Qualifier, where community support and the joy of running come together for an unforgettable weekend, much like the Boston Marathon experiences recapped in this episode. The DONNA Marathon Weekend registration opens on July 1, 2025. Join the Runcation Nation Team!!!
https://www.facebook.com/BostonMarathon
https://www.instagram.com/bostonmarathon/
Links from our conversation
Boston Marathon
THAT’S A WRAP!
Thank you for listening! Because of your support, we are in our eighth year of the podcast! Don’t forget to follow us and tell us where to find you next on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Also, check out our store on the website and get some swag, thanks to Pure Creative Apparel. Thanks to www.PodcastMusic.com for providing the music for this episode, too!
Hi, I'm Donna Deegan, chief, eternal Optimist of the Donna Foundation and founder of Donna Marathon Weekend. You're listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Run Eat Drink podcast. We feature destination races from across the country and after the race, we take you on a tour of the best local food and beverage to celebrate. So, whether you are an elite runner or a back of the packer like us, you'll know the best places to accomplish, explore and indulge on your next Runcation. Welcome to this Runcation Recap. People, everybody in the Runcation Nation, it's time for a Runcation Recap. Don't worry, even though Dana is not here, I am surrounded by not one, not two, not three, but four incredibly strong and amazing women who are going to recap. Wait for it the Boston Marathon weekend. You're looking at them if you're watching the video. I would like to first introduce them. We have Andy, who you know as a bouncy hunter from the Donna Marathon weekends, and I think she is about to earn all of the Abbott. Have you earned all the Abbott Marathon majors, andy?
Speaker 4:Yes, ma'am, we completed it in March, march in Tokyo.
Speaker 2:Tokyo was the last. Here you go, so I've been trying to collect them on the Runny Drink podcast so I might need to talk to you about additional races. Welcome to our show, Andy. And we have executive director of the Donna Foundation right below my picture. That's Amanda Napolitano. Hello, Yay, Yay. Now you've done how many of the marathon majors. Now you've done how many of the marathon majors, Amanda?
Speaker 1:I've done all of the domestic marathon majors, so my next objective is to get the international races down. So I'm hopeful to go to London in April. I've thrown my hat in the ring for that.
Speaker 2:Good luck, we'll see where it goes from there, so I can live vicariously through all of these amazing women. Look here, it's the noisy race announcer, fitz Kohler, one half of Team Noisy. Welcome to our show.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me back, Amy. You know I love you very much.
Speaker 2:Yay, you are going to talk as a participant. Not only that, but for charity of the Boston Marathon, correct?
Speaker 3:That's right, that is my bag there and I know Rudy Novotny will listen to this once it publishes, so I do like to brag that I am the only half of Team Noisy that has run the Boston.
Speaker 2:Marathon Throwing down the gauntlet. Don't edit it out, I won't, I won't, I'm only on. I only do the ums, the uhs, the like, the you know, or if Dana says you really need to edit that out because I didn't say that. The last, but certainly not least, in our crew, amazing representative of 261, fearless Babs, is here. Welcome, ladies. Thank you so much for being here from your various corners of the world. Is there anything that you want the Runcation Nation to know about you before we get down to the nitty gritty and talk about Boston?
Speaker 3:Like how you got into running in the first place. Life is part of sports just a soccer player and a cheerleader and all of those things I was always forced to go out and run. And then, as a teenager, trying to manage my weight and just be healthy, I started running for exercise and I don't think I started doing races until my late twenties. I did it. I actually. I think my first race was to support my client who had been going through breast cancer care and we did the Making Strides, run together and, yeah, just kept going from there. But I love running.
Speaker 3:It's a wonderful main event and it's a wonderful sidebar to other sports.
Speaker 2:I didn't know. She was a cheerleader, did you all know?
Speaker 5:she was a cheerleader? No, I did not, but it makes sense.
Speaker 2:There. You all know she was a cheerleader. No, I did not, but it makes sense. There you go, it does. It does make sense, babs. How did you? I know you've talked about it a little bit on the show before, but just to review.
Speaker 5:How did you get into running? Actually by accident.
Speaker 5:So I had a friend of a friend who was on American Idol and she was part of Malaria no More and is from Nashville and wanted to raise money for for Malaria no More through running the rock and roll Nashville half marathon and so she had asked if I would run and I said heck, no, I was a softball player the farthest I had ever run was around a diamond and had never run any race like, not even a 5k and said that I would go and be their best cheerleader. And I did, and I think that I was successful in that. But, being on the sidelines growing up in Boston, I had never been to the Boston marathon and just being there said, said, this is something that I needed to do, and so the next year I trained and I ran in 2009. And that was my first ever race and have done a multitude of them since.
Speaker 2:American Idol. Look at all these connections I'm finding out about now.
Speaker 4:And Mads, you're doing the 50 states right.
Speaker 5:I am. I just finished 29.
Speaker 2:That's impressive, number 29,. What was it she just gonna? I feel like you could get all 50 states, more or less, or most of them, if you follow Fitz around in her race announcing career.
Speaker 5:My 30th state is actually gonna be Ohio, and she will be there as well.
Speaker 2:There you go, see how it goes, see how it goes oh.
Speaker 3:Fitz, go ahead. I was just going to say it could be that I am stalking Babs, that she says she's running a race and I declare I'm going to announce it and figure out a way so you can figure out who came first the chicken or the egg type thing. But yeah, I might be stalking Babs.
Speaker 5:I was for the 26.2 with Donna, before you were.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's the gauntlet. Amanda, speaking of the Donna, how did you get into running?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, Okay, I'm going to give you something to edit because I'm going to try to get back in on my computer right quick. Oh okay and everything seems to be fine.
Speaker 3:Whoa.
Speaker 2:Oh, here we go.
Speaker 1:That's so much better.
Speaker 2:Yay, panda, how did you get into running?
Speaker 1:better. Yay, Amanda, how did you get into running? I also ran in school, in high school. I ran some track in high school. I wish we had had cross country when I was young. I ran track, traditional track but my coach put me in literally every event I ran the mile, the two mile, the 800, the 400. I ran them all because I could place in everything, so all of the points. So it wasn't winning anything but I could get us some points in everything. I've been really an endurance girl forever.
Speaker 1:A little bit of a break when I went to Tallahassee for school. I did probably more beer drinking than running over that period of my life. I picked it back up when I got into the workforce and when I first moved to Jacksonville. The big race to do here is the River Run. Well, excuse me, big race to do here is a marathon weekend and all of those events. But at the time this was pre-Donna, this was in the year 2000. So this is 24 years ago, right? I decide I'm going to do this 15 K race and I had never done anything more than a 10 K in my whole life and I always thought I was the biggest badass for training for this 15 K run, which I was, and that's when I met Chris Twiggs for the first time.
Speaker 1:So our Galloway master, mr Twiggs, I met him for the first time at River Run Expo. He had long hair and the best mullet you have ever seen ever and I know I need to find photos of that, I'm sure they exist and he had a what would Jesus do bracelet on. So I'm like he can't be all that bad. But anyway, this man.
Speaker 1:I bumped into this man who could have easily been my grandfather. He and I was looking at a Disney marathon expo space but I was standing, like Ray, far back and he was like, are you going to run the Disney marathon? And I said, oh, I could never run a marathon ever. And I said, oh, I could never run a marathon ever. And he said why I just did. And I looked at this man and I'm like, if he can do it, I can do it. And so he introduced me to twigs and the rest is history.
Speaker 1:I fell madly in love with the marathon I trained for. My first marathon that year ran the Marine Corps marathon in 2001, which was right after 9-11. It was the most emotional day of my life, outside of the having kids part of life. It was crazy how emotional that day was because of what it meant for our country, and it was my first ever marathon and it's in DC and there's Marines everywhere, they're thanking us, we're thanking them and we're crying and all of the things, and I just fell madly in love with it and the rest is history, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now Andy are Abbott's marathon majors. Has that always been a goal? How did you get started?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's a long story.
Speaker 4:No, it just evolved. I, like Babs, was born a tennis player. Oh okay, and so only ran for punishment through high school and college, and then not much after college. For a while, and then, probably in 2007, 2008, I started running. I met my husband and he was training for a half marathon, so that was my first actual distance run. Was was a half marathon Outer Banks, north Carolina.
Speaker 2:Just jump right in there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I had done like some five Ks and stuff and then we moved to Florida and I remember it's so funny because every year it was such an effort in January to start training for the gate we couldn't run two or three miles every January, it was like, oh my gosh, how are we going to do this? And then I ran my first Donna marathon in 2016 for a friend that had just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 4:So I was training for a half Ironman and I said, if I'm ever going to do a marathon, I'm never going to be in better shape in my life to do one. So a girlfriend and I did it and it's a long story. From there that just evolved to doing the Donna every year and then doing a couple of the majors, and then I was fortunate enough to get a truly the piece of the puzzle unlocked when I got an offer to get a bib for London two years ago. So I got into Berlin three years ago with a lottery.
Speaker 4:So very fortunate and then, yeah, got the destination marathons which no longer exists, had eight bibs, I think for London, 23, 22. And then that was the piece of the puzzle, and then I just had to commit to Tokyo and you got it done and look at where we are.
Speaker 2:I wanted to bring you all together because you all did Boston for or in some way shape or form, whether you ran it, volunteered at it I, or raised money for charity through it. I just want to know why Boston for you? What's the why? And Fitz, we'll start with you because it was a charity opportunity to run for a charity.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I had actually not really decided I wanted to run a marathon. I had run plenty of halves and other distance races and my thought process was, you know what, I've never crossed the finish line of a half marathon and thought, gee whiz, I'd like to do that again right now. So I was like I guess I don't need to do that. And but I had said, with race announcing people always said have you run a marathon, would you run a marathon? And I just a few times had flippantly thrown out you know what, perhaps I would do Boston if it were for charity, but as of yet I don't have the hankering for it.
Speaker 3:Perhaps, and then when I was done with cancer, it was about a year after I finished chemo and so forth I was interviewing Meb Kofleski on the Fitness Show, my podcast, and when I was done, if folks don't know, he won the Boston Marathon.
Speaker 2:The year after the bombing.
Speaker 3:Yep 2014, the year after the Boston bombing, and he really solidified his place as an American icon, especially in the running field. And what a sweet man.
Speaker 2:World citizen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he's a delight. So after that live interview, I got a call from this guy, vince Varallo, who owns a running group, a massive running group on Facebook called the Boston Buddies, and he called me and he said hey, fitz, that was such a charity called the Second Step. It's for domestic violence survivors. They get through their state funded support and then sometimes they still need a little extra support paying their bills getting started. He said so I'm working with this charity and we handpicked you. We want you to run the Boston Marathon for the second step. And I instantly cursed him out and called him all sorts of horrible names.
Speaker 4:You did not I hated him you did not.
Speaker 3:I did no ask Vince. I gave him an earful and then I said okay, when do you need to know by? He said how about the end of the week? And I said I'll give me 24 hours. So I sat and thought about it. I thought, well, there's absolutely nothing on earth other than some harm coming to my children. There's nothing that could be harder than cancer. So, after doing cancer for as long as I did and 21 rounds of chemo et cetera, how hard could running 26.2 miles be? Give me a break, right. And then I see all these normal average Joes and Janes do it every weekend of the year and I thought shoot, why not me? And so I texted Dave McGillivray, the former race director of Boston. I said hey, I just got invited to run your race. What do you think? And he said why would you not?
Speaker 3:And I thought why would I not? So I said yes, and I'm so glad I did oh did you?
Speaker 2:Our dogs are cheering for you in the background, running for a charity. But now so, babs, you have volunteered. Have you run Boston?
Speaker 5:I have not. I've only run one marathon in my life, and that was Honolulu in December, yay, and I was injured so I had to walk half of it. So I have a medal that. I'm sorry like I still need to earn, but you did it it. I don't 26.2 miles, but anyway yes, that's it yes, go ahead.
Speaker 5:I digress so, after I had run a couple of races, I was really interested in getting more involved in Boston. I figure I go to all these other places my hometown race is in my backyard and people from all over the world come to it and applied a few times and didn't get in, and then finally got in and I helped oversee the 5k bib pickup, which was great. And then the Boston bombing happened in 2013. And I work at Boston Children's Hospital, so top in the trauma unit, so all of the pediatric patients that were part of the bombing were on our floor in our unit and I knew that I had to do something more, but I wasn't sure what, and also potentially had the opportunity to run boston, but wanted the people who had firsthand care let them run as opposed to me. But they stopped doing the 5k bib pickup.
Speaker 5:So now they mail everybody their 5k bibs and I was contacted and they said if you can't do the the 5k bib pickup, what do you want to do? And I said I want to be at the finish line. Yes, they said I mean there were so many people that didn't want to be at the finish line anymore after you know what had happened and I said, no, this is like, this is what I I want to do and I need to do. And so, uh, since 2014, I have uh been giving out the medals and it has been absolutely amazing, and just to get to hug and medal thousands of people who have worked for years and years to either raise money for the race or to actually qualify has been so gratifying.
Speaker 2:And get across that finish line, and there you are with the medal.
Speaker 5:And I have to add, I have to medal all four of these people. Look it, yes, coming together. Medaled all of them. You need to make a shirt.
Speaker 4:All three, I should say On Hereford, left on Boylston and then right to Babs we should totally do that.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, this is so good. Oh my gosh, this is so good. You're brilliant, you're brilliant, you're brilliant. Now, fitz, you said you had to add something, just, or did you? Was it just the or was it the meddling that you were?
Speaker 3:Well, I was going to say and how cool, I didn't know. Babs gave all of us. So, yeah, she gave me my one and only race marathon medal and then, as she finished her marathon, which she actually finished, stop diminishing.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, I don't need to face timing, so I got to be with her for the last couple of minutes of her marathon as she ran down the chute.
Speaker 5:That was really oh marathon as she ran down the chute. That was really sad. Oh, and I did know andy and amanda at the time that I had given them both of their medals. But the crazy thing is how small the world is, because I actually gave fitz her medal and we didn't actually know each other until four months later. So she ran the bostonathon in October and then we had met at the Donna in February and got to chatting and she showed me a picture of the person that gave me her medal, who she told me was an old woman and instead of old blonde what it was the lady giving me the Fritos.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, a lady giving you the Fritos versus the medal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was pretty pretty. It's a lot of work, amy. It throws you off a little bit so.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't know yet.
Speaker 3:Yet Wrapping memory Yet.
Speaker 2:Yet. Yet, speaking of the hard work lovely segue there. It's like she podcasts professionally right there. It's really, it's a lot of hard work, and to qualify for Boston is a lot of hard work. To get to that race, to start it, to actually finish and go right to Babs, as that shirt is going to say what did you have to do, ladies? What did you have to do, ladies, amanda, andy, to qualify? Yeah, lots of training.
Speaker 1:It took me 20 years. It literally took me 20 years to do it. Yes, I ran my first marathon in 2001 and my first Boston in 2021. It took me 20 years to get there. It took me 20 years to get there. And for me, let's give a nod to another famous Boston marathon champion, Des Linden. You just keep showing up In the rain. Come on you just have to keep showing up right.
Speaker 1:There were certainly seasons of my life where qualifying for Boston was simply not the priority. I spent a number of years coaching people to run their own marathons and a number of years raising children, and it was just things that were not. It did not come naturally to me. Let's just say that I mean I love to run marathons. I can roll out and probably run a marathon today if I absolutely had to, but to run a Boston qualifying marathon does not come naturally to me at all. I had to work my ass off to get that.
Speaker 2:BQ.
Speaker 1:And I came really close pre-children. I was 26 seconds from a Boston qualifying time in the Austin marathon in 2004.
Speaker 2:26 seconds. 26 seconds, and how old were you then 2004.
Speaker 1:I will I have to use a calculator. What was the time? Yeah, Cause it was probably significantly different than it is now. For us it was a 241, 26. So that's that remains my PR. And at the time the my Age required a 240, but you had a minute grace back then and so I missed it by 26 seconds, so it was a 341.26.
Speaker 1:But it was at the time. It was like 15 minute PR or something ridiculous. So I didn't start the race that day thinking that was even part of reality. Right, I just had a really good day. If you do it enough times from the gun, it's my day, it's a good day and that was just a really good day. I'm old. So we had the Timex watch. We did not have GPS watches in 2004. And so you've got the Timex split watch that you're trying to figure out where you are right, You're just hitting the button and I just miscalculated what that last little bit would be, but I was stoked for it. And then Ella was born in 2005. So I took a bit of a hiatus for a hot minute.
Speaker 2:So you brought up a great point. So there are different times for different age ranges in Boston.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's different for men and for women and for age. So it's. There are charts. You can go and look at them and figure out. Okay, on this, just figure out where you sit and that it'll give you what your Boston qualifying time is. And then, lately and this varies year to year, but lately you've needed a few minutes below that time. If you qualify for Boston, that only gives you the opportunity to apply for Boston and then, once your application is in, it truly does boil down to who's the fastest and if there are a bunch of women in your age division that have faster times than you, then you might not get an acceptance. In fact, I did not get accepted with my Boston qualifying time upon entry. I was denied. I cried and cried and cried and cried and let it go and decided I would run it virtually. This was right, after all the pandemic. It was for the October 2021 race, which was their 150th anniversary. 150, is that right? Is it the 150th, 125th, 25th? Sorry, I guess you gave them 25 years.
Speaker 2:It was the 125th anniversary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the speculation is that potentially the international runners were having a hard time getting the clearance to get to the United States to run because, of the pandemic limit, the various different.
Speaker 1:I got accepted and my phone started blowing up Before I even knew I was accepted. My phone, just people were texting me. Oh my God, did you just get in? Did you just get in? I know you just got in. You had to have just gotten in and I did so it was a really weird journey that way, but the BQ that I earned, but the BQ that I earned, the Boston qualifying time that I had got me into, both of the October 2021, but also the traditional April of 2022, which allowed me to race with my bestie and running partner, andy, so I got to experience it, you know for myself, but then feel like a tour guide of getting to, to really bring Andy into this, and it was just so much fun, oh so much fun.
Speaker 2:I've seen pictures of you too during that weekend and I just feel it just that your facial expressions pre-race in those photos. It's palpable, the emotion around it and I imagine that everybody here has those kinds of pre-race Boston emotions when you think about it, whether you're volunteering, running for charity, running because you freaking qualify with your time and got in. Andy, how does it dovetail into Amanda's story? She was your tour guide, but how did you get there?
Speaker 4:I got there. My very first attempt was after my first year marathon at the Donna, so the following year tried again and missed it by five seconds and then you use Donna as your qualifying.
Speaker 2:I did, you did See. Let this be a tip for you, ladies and gentlemen of the Runcation Nation.
Speaker 4:Flat, fast and cool and crowded.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 4:In a good way Energizing crowded.
Speaker 2:The cheering in the neighborhoods to keep you going towards that qualifying time.
Speaker 4:Yes, so the Donna Marathon in February.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:Jacksonville.
Speaker 2:Registration might open very soon, july 1st. There you go, you heard it. There it is July 1st, it's flat, it's fast and you got your time. The second time you ran it. Third, the third, the third.
Speaker 4:First time was my Virgin Marathon experience. Second time, didn't really understand how to run marathons, what you had to do. I mean, I knew how to run them but like how to pace them. Didn't trust myself. All the things you learn.
Speaker 2:Nutrition.
Speaker 4:Do all these things, and so I missed it by five seconds, and then the following year even so, at that time I didn't even realize oh, you need a buffer too.
Speaker 4:The following year I'm like okay, my goal is five minutes under my buffer, which I kept telling Mike, my husband, oh, I need a 345. I need a 345. And so I'm coming across the finish line, excited because I don't remember what I had 347 or something, 350. And he thought I didn't make it. But that's only because I had told him the buffer. So anyway, that was. I don't remember what year that was. Enter pandemic.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, but it had to have been 19, february of 19. It was 19. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 4:Enter pandemic. Oh, we're not doing this. And I remember Amanda will probably remember this as we ran through the pandemic I, when they officially canceled, I said, if one good thing comes out of this, we will run Boston together, cause we were thinking our BQs would align. Two years later. They I think it was two years they didn't do it right In April the one year they didn't do it the second year it got pushed, talked over.
Speaker 4:Yes, but yes they came back and said you have to requalify the first year. They were going to say if you qualified in 19, you'll get in for 20. And then in 21,. They came back and said you have to requalify. How stressful. So I am scheduled to run a Chicago marathon, which was the day before the October Boston marathon.
Speaker 3:And that's where.
Speaker 4:I was going I was having to use that for my BQ, and so Amanda and I were texting and I was getting all the cheers. I still have a cowbell cheer that she sent me the morning of. It's like one of my favorite videos. Anytime I need inspiration, I'll send it to you and you can put it in there.
Speaker 2:Oh, god, please yes, sorry yes.
Speaker 4:So I BQ'd in Chicago. I knew I probably had enough buffer. And then the next day, Amanda's running Boston. And then in April we ended up in Boston together riding a school bus and we had a 26.2 mile dance party is what we said. We had dancing and beverages along the way, Hugs and smiles and cries and everything that goes into it.
Speaker 1:Meddling with Babs in the finish line. It was epic. It's perfect, it's perfect.
Speaker 2:It's perfect. I love how Babs is the connective tissue amongst all three of you and it just is like it's a capstone moment. Now we have talked about how you can go on the website. You can learn all the things about how you need to qualify and the fastest people are registering, or you can gain entry through a charity entry and raise a certain amount of funds for an organization to be able to run. Does volunteering does that? Is there a registration process, babs? Is that like stressful? Do you have to do something to be able to volunteer?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so you have to apply when you become. You have to apply every year, but once you're a volunteer you basically have status. So you can continue as long as you send in your application or you did something absolutely crazy the year before, you automatically get to become a volunteer the following year. But definitely you have to have some kind of in or qualifications to become an initial volunteer.
Speaker 2:And you do it for 261 Fearless, which has a connection to Boston, somebody we might have. I don't do it for 261 fearless, which has a connection to boston, somebody we might have for 261 you don't you don't okay.
Speaker 5:I'm a coach for 261 fearless. I help with the charity team, usually at the dinner the night before and at the briefing and all that, but I am just an individual volunteering volunteerering Volunteer yes. Yes, and I also. I had higher status because I work at a hospital, so I have CPR and first aid, and so they look for those things as well, and especially at the finish line now, both of those are required.
Speaker 2:Oh, good to know as a perspective from the volunteer standpoint. As a perspective from the volunteer standpoint Now, okay, so to travel to this race, if you have gained a charity entry, if you have run the times gotten through the registration process, how did you all get there?
Speaker 5:How did you travel, babs, you're local, so did you, I live 30 minutes north of Boston, so it's just a quick ride for me. So you're like.
Speaker 2:I don't need a hotel, I don't need an Airbnb, I'm just gonna stay and drive in from home. So yes, do you. We're gonna get to traffic tips. Just a brief, like race morning traffic tips from a local. However, the three ladies that had to travel in how did you? You flow into the airport and did you rent a car? Did you Uber? Did you? What were your? What are your travel tips for getting there?
Speaker 3:I thought it was like traveling anywhere. I just took Delta Airlines over to Boston and I think I took a Lyft to my hotel. I also think that I got a good deal on a hotel through a travel coordinator working with the Boston Buddies.
Speaker 2:So it wasn't cheap.
Speaker 3:But it's not a cheap town. It's not going to be cheap. So I think I probably paid maybe $300 a night for a few nights and it was worth every penny.
Speaker 2:And it's also a big deal. It's splurge worthy, so yeah.
Speaker 3:An investment in my own big athletic adventure. So, yeah, I thought it was a great deal, and that's why you have jobs, you pay your bills and then you choose where you're going to spend it for fun time, and I did so work, play hard, work hard and play hard, work hard and play hard.
Speaker 2:Did you ladies also? Did you do the uber and lyft thing? And or when it came to traveling too?
Speaker 1:um, never had. I don't think I've ever rented a car ever in Boston. I've never leveraged the. It's just, it's so easy to get around that city, whether you choose to Uber or Lyft or any of the ride shares taxis, babs, what do you call your subway system? T the T.
Speaker 2:The T.
Speaker 1:The T is also really easy to navigate. You can definitely leverage it. There's great lines from the airport that gets you anywhere you need to navigate. You can definitely leverage it. There's great lines from the airport that gets you anywhere you need to be. You can even as a spectator. If you have family coming to cheer you on, they can leverage the T to get out onto the course and see you a few times.
Speaker 1:A little study in advance required, but it's definitely possible. But I think it's a great transportation city right. It's like visiting I don't want to say new york, but there's lots of public transportation options.
Speaker 2:You definitely don't need to rent a car big city types of availability, so they know they're a big city, so they do it right in terms of transport.
Speaker 4:It's also super bike friendly and they have like the little uber bikes.
Speaker 1:So uber bike weather permitting I did that a lot last year before yeah, and it's, you know, into doing that many times when we were there together the last time. And he's now just come on, let's take the bike, mike.
Speaker 2:No but he wouldn't. Oh, andy, so okay, so you got there. Now do you recommend a certain hotel for proximity? Do any of you recommend a certain hotel for proximity to the expo? To the start, to the finish, anything like that?
Speaker 3:I can't remember where I was. I was in Cambridge. That's all I can tell you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's. There's so many hotels but they're packed. Definitely do your research. If you think you've got the time that gets you in, go ahead and look at that stuff way in advance.
Speaker 2:Book it.
Speaker 1:Hotels are great. You can book that hotel and cancel it if you need to. Yeah, because they definitely fill up fast and they know that they're going to fill up. So the rates begin to jump. When I got in, I didn't have very long to plan. In fact, I'm lucky that I was training for the virtual, because I had I not been training for the virtual, I wouldn't have been trained to run it, because I think I found out Three weeks yeah, I was three or four ahead of the event. Hello.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, Look at that, I'm picking my jaw off the floor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was crazy. So I opted to go with a marathon tours type organization, Destination Marathon, because I didn't have time to research all of that.
Speaker 1:I just needed somebody to give me event weekend and turnkey Tell me where to go, what time I have to be there, and I'm glad I did. It was wonderful, they, they were great and I had such a good time. That's the way that I went in April also so that my family could come and they had a lot of special events for the families and they escorted my family out onto the course, and so that that was really nice. It was well worth the investment.
Speaker 2:So to look into a company to to organize the big pieces of travel, so you don't have to worry, you can just show up.
Speaker 5:Is a good thing, so the closer you are to the finish line, the more expensive, obviously. If you stay right by the finish, you're probably looking at $800 a night.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, good to know.
Speaker 4:And so the start Amy is 26. It's a point-to-point.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Because they bus everybody out, if you want a private bus it's obviously someone who knows someone who can get you on a Galloway bus or a local run club bus out. You know, if you want a private buses, if obviously someone who knows someone who can get you on a Galloway bus or a local run club bus or they also have a bus system I can't remember, in Boston commons.
Speaker 4:It just buses everybody out to a school right, if I recall a school and they just hop on school buses and it's the all the runners from the school you pop on these little school buses into and then walk from there.
Speaker 2:We're from runners village. It's an. It's an army of yellow buses to the start. Now the expo packet pickup. Do you have any tips for that For anybody who is coming to Boston marathon weekend?
Speaker 1:I thought it was smooth. I have advice for any marathon weekend Plan to spend time in the expo. They are very cool. I have not ever been to a race expo that I didn't enjoy walking through if I had the time to do it. So plan to spend time going through all of it, because it's literally a party throne for you. And now it's important that people mean this. I'm putting on my race director hat. How event? The opportunity to show you what they got.
Speaker 1:And it's fun and there are giveaways and there's hundreds of booths at the Boston Expo. It's really cool. The other thing that's fun about Boston is that you've got a lot of pop-up events happening all over the place. Once you spend time in the actual expo and picking up your bib and crying because you're picking up your bib at the expo, finding your name on the wall and you're having a Sam Adams.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, every major running brand that lives has some kind of pop-up shop down Newton which is a block away from the expo, and they have meetups and shakeout runs and parties and the giveaways. It is so much fun. Aw Okay, it is so much fun.
Speaker 2:Oh, ok, can we talk about how you all felt on race morning and at the start of the whole thing? If all of you could talk about what it's like to be at the Boston start line, fitz, what was it like for you?
Speaker 3:Tell us what you felt, yeah. So I was just happy. I was so cute that you're like I was crying when for you Tell us what you felt, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I was just happy I was so cute that you were like I was crying when I picked up my stuff and I just showed up. I'm like yay for everything. But I was just happy to be there and we had that weird little rolling start. So Boston's not known for rowdy start lines. It's funny, because I like our start lines rowdy. They go silent, shoot a gun. It's very like, and I've asked for years what is a start line and people were like, oh, I didn't even know. The race started it just people start moving in front of me and I've always thought like how in God's earth? Cause I want music and engagement and raw. But I think I actually lucked out in with the October marathon because it was this rolling start and they just had music playing and so people were gathering and chit-chatting and hugging and then we just randomly would decide to cross the start line when we were ready and Vince ran with me Vince, the guy who invited me.
Speaker 2:Roped you in. Roped you in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he did it with me, me, which was a lot of fun, but yeah, I just I. You cross the start line and you think, holy shmoly, I'm running the boston marathon. Here I go and I really enjoy the downhill parts of the downhill.
Speaker 3:I really enjoyed the downhill, the first portion of the race is filled with beautiful downhill parts. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I know it was different than the norm. I'm not sure I would enjoy a silent start. I think I would be highly annoyed by a non-rucus, rowdy, exciting start line experience. But it worked out for me. 21 was definitely the year I was supposed to be, definitely the year I was supposed to be?
Speaker 2:Oh, so do you all have the Andy and Amanda? Did you have a different experience? Were you, just were you?
Speaker 1:together. You were in April, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, In April and when you were there together. What is? What was the? Is there anything that you can share?
Speaker 1:wait, we were late for our way you were late so we were late, um, because we were having too much fun and just getting distracted by all the squirrels and we realized that, oh my god, we late. So I think our start experience Andy, I mean you remember this too our start experience was like excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 4:Let's go. Let's go, like, to the point where we can take a picture of the word start.
Speaker 5:Oh.
Speaker 4:I have a picture of the word start because it was. I think, it was rolling that year as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, the word start because it was I think it was rolling that year as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, it was still rolling, but our wave had already gone, and so we managed to get through like the wave behind us, and they let us go ahead and start. So it's like our wave was had gone. They were minutes ahead of us, and then we just said it's our turn. So andy and I needed our very own personal corral. Apparently, that's really what it was it needed to be all just what?
Speaker 3:so you know, you are the stragglers that are at the when I yell go and a thousand people cross the start line, and then there's these wackadoos running up three minutes later showing up and fixing their bib. I'm like where the heck were you? Everybody else know where to be. That's you, that's you, you're getting with the program from me next time I see you get with the program.
Speaker 2:Let's start, okay, and is there?
Speaker 4:tears, tears tears. There were tears, yes for sure, because that was the one where we both remembered talking on one of our train runs in the midst of the start of the pandemic. If anything good comes out of this, we will end up in Boston together, and we were in the same wave, which doesn't always happen. The stars aligned for that. It was meant to be.
Speaker 2:It was meant to be. Now, when they're starting Babs at the end, is there any kind of indication, any ceremonial thing?
Speaker 5:So it is streamed on the TVs up at the finish so that the spectators can see we are unboxing medals and getting everything together. So we actually have to be there at 9. And a lot of the runners haven't even started yet. So we are there. That usually the, I think the elite start at like 930 and 940. So most of the run, no, nobody really has started. Maybe the wheelchairs did, but for the most part we're there before everybody else even starts, and then it's just once we're unpacking medals. It's just a big waiting game. And then we hear the bells ringing when the elites come through, and then again it's a little bit of a waiting game, and then the faster runners start to come through and then it just becomes mass chaos.
Speaker 5:For the next eight hours or so. You have a marathon of your own yes, long days yeah definitely a long day putting my feet up at the end of the day so babs yeah, other than the three of us oh oh, who's the most famous or person you have meddled?
Speaker 5:oh, I think the most significant person he's really not famous, although he could be famous there was, on the day of the bombing, there was an older man that was on the cover of all the newspapers and he had fallen right at the finish line and you could see the smoke from the bomb behind him and it like propelled him forward and he was like 80 something years old, and then in 2014, I gave him his medal. Wow.
Speaker 4:Massive goosebumps Wow.
Speaker 2:What a moment, and I'm sure that you had other moments before we get to the finish line moments. Can you just hey how? I imagine it's Boston, so I don't you. You have water, you have what? Gatorade or Powerade or all of those things? Nutrition is there for you along the way, right, beer, is there beer? Yeah, is there fireball?
Speaker 4:I'm sure we found some Are there other things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like what did you find along the way in terms of, on course, entertainment and nutrition and hydration, anything that you remember?
Speaker 3:My favorite thing were Santa Claus, because Santa the best, and Spencer, the dog. Spencer, yeah, I got a couple of good Spencer kisses and I stopped at every single hydration station. I did not pass one. I'm so proud. This is my pro tip Cut out caffeine five days before a race if you don't want to pee the whole time you race. Caffeine is an irritant to your bladder and you will be far more likely to have to stop and pee if you have caffeine in your system.
Speaker 2:So I cut that out.
Speaker 3:I did stop for every water and I think they had Morton's. Oh, what is that? Anyways, whatever their electrolyte beverage was, it's great. I had several people on the course that gave me some potato chips as I ran by.
Speaker 2:And potato chips. That's a new one for me.
Speaker 3:But also the crowds were freaking, obscene, and so I don't really get to speak to all of the other races I'm at, because I stay at the start and the finish and I see nothing in between. But the Boston fans were mind blowing and I had, I wore a sports bra with my name and bold letters sublimated on it, so they were shouting for me A I was family and B I was about to win. They weren't just yelling go Fitz, they were like go Fitz. Oh my God, Just the intensity, the guttural cries for me as I ran. Even at mile 11, they were doing it. It was just a really sweet group of people that made the experience a thousand times better than if I were running here through Gainesville, Florida, 26.2 miles. I can't think of anything more boring. But Boston was anything but boring and I never once along the way thought, gee, I wish I wasn't here and I didn't pee once the whole time. And Vince peed multiple times. So I felt like champion of the Boston Marathon.
Speaker 2:So your pro tip is cut out caffeine five days before the race.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a lot of days Fitz.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of days. I'm going to have to sit with that for a minute.
Speaker 3:Decaffeinated Diet Coke to the rescue. Yeah, it worked. I really just didn't want to have to pee the whole way, so I didn't. Yay, it's a pro Okay.
Speaker 2:It's a pro tip and Fitz is a trainer, and just there you go. There's a tip. Now, ladies, you talked about dogs, you talked about crowds that were insane, with the guttural cheering which we have not. Really. It feels like the heart of the city was in these people, as they, as you passed them to me Well, that's when you have an event that has been consistently run for 120.
Speaker 1:What are we in this 127th year? Yeah, this year there's just such history that it's truly a part of the culture of Boston.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And pretty, have a culture that loves itself right. Bostonians love Boston. Yes, they just Babs. You live in an amazing city and community and it's on Patriot Day. It's a holiday for everybody. It's generational love for that event and, by extension, you as a participant, and you feel it and you just don't get that feeling anywhere else. You really don't.
Speaker 2:Andy, you're nodding your head. Yes, no, I agree with everything they both said yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Like Amanda said, it's a holiday. There's always a Red Sox game. You know you're going through. Also, you're going through eight townships as well, so smaller towns that literally shut down for this race. You're not doing that. I don't know what you're doing because, uniquely, they're just very small, little suburbs. Would you consider them suburbs?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but they're just historic. I don't know, it's super unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, we, we have heard about. I have watched documentaries about Heartbreak Hill and all of this and it it starts downhill and then it finishes uphill. You all train for hills, is what you would say, correct? No, not in Florida. You can't right, we're flat.
Speaker 1:Properly in Florida.
Speaker 2:So what do you do? You hurt, you hurt. It's hard, it's hard, but you can do hard things. Right, fitz's hard, but you can do hard things, right, fitz. Come on. Come on, so train as best you can do. You have, do you? Was there a part of the course where the crowd didn't carry you, where you were like I gotta get through it? And and then something turned it around for you. Was there something challenging, or was it just like a dance party and you're like, yes, I'm in Boston, this is it. It's amazing.
Speaker 3:I thought it was hard, but I just I thought it was hard. But that's the deal with a marathon is you keep going even though it's hard, and if it's not hard, you're probably not doing it right.
Speaker 1:It's true. Yeah, I love Boston in that. The course is it's a challenge and it's there's strategy to it, and you don't really get the strategy until you've run it right. You go oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And and that's the reason I'd love to go back. Knowing what I know now about that course, I would have done things differently. I definitely think that if you have the hills to train on, you should definitely train on hills. If you don't have hills to train on, then you need to get your butt in the gym and do some strength work in your legs, in particular quads. I was excited and I didn't go hard or too fast, but when you run downhill for the better part of seven miles, I started to feel my quads at mile seven and I'm like, oh dear, because I've done enough marathons to know that if you feel anything that early in the race, you're pretty much screwed. My first experience was I physically couldn't run up Heartbreak Hill because my legs were, and that has never happened to me before. Never had my legs like physically not turn over properly because, muscles were just shredded.
Speaker 1:But that's what makes it fun, that's what makes it challenging, right? You got to go back and figure out how you might tweak it and do it differently the next time.
Speaker 2:It seems like more of a mental challenge than all of the other marathon majors that are out there. Would you not say that, Andy?
Speaker 4:It is yes, I would say, by far the hardest course. The year. Amanda and I did it three years ago. We had a blast, like it was. That was a celebration, so I don't. I feel like that run in October. You raced it, you ran it.
Speaker 4:That was probably your quad gas that you're talking of. But I felt like the day we did it together it was just fun. There were a couple moments, but this past year I ran it for running, like I put my head down. I'm going to run this race Like the two years previously did it for fun and it was.
Speaker 4:I left that race and it was, I think, what Amanda said and Fitz said. It's just there's a strategy involved and it is. It's my proudest race because I had to stick to a plan and I don't usually do that when I run, but I really had to do this plan if I wanted to get, try to get the time that I wanted, and it was like by far the hardest race. I couldn't have given anything more. There's nothing left in the tank and it was just. It was. It was amazing, but I will say it was just for people who want.
Speaker 4:I think Fitz could probably give examples and you can do like eccentric quad stuff when you're doing your strength training if people are looking to run it and it's just that deceleration phase of your quads. That's really good strength training for the downhills. And then the one thing that I read this past year because I'm like I really want to try and get a goal time was the first six miles. It's really easy to go fast. You get caught up in everything. You really have to pump the brakes to find that sweet spot where you know they're saying your first. You should be 30 seconds under your goal pace for the first six miles or so within reason. So I was shooting for that, but I also recognized while doing that it was almost more taxing for me to have to decelerate that much than find that sweet spot. It takes discipline.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So you're certainly not going. You could easily go out a minute faster than what your normal pace is because of the excitement and the downhills and that kind of thing, but you will pay for it at the end.
Speaker 2:And speaking of the end, so the finish line moments that you have. Like Babs, you talked about a significant moment you had with the gentleman from the bombing that came back and you got to meddle him. What was the finish line experience like for you, fitz?
Speaker 3:It was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Because there's a great picture that you sent me. That's just you are hands high and just do you. Fitz, it was fantastic Because there's a great picture that you sent me. That's just you are hands high and just do you look fabulous in the photo.
Speaker 3:I know how to finish line. Let me tell you what?
Speaker 4:I don't know how to finish line in this world.
Speaker 3:You and Chris Turner. I watch bad finishes all the time. I know good ones when I see it and I actually feel so joyful and proud when I get to a finish line.
Speaker 3:So I work hard not to blow that. But yeah, when I turned right on Hereford, it's funny. As we talked, I teased you earlier about the emotions, but when I turned right on Hereford, the crowd, the volume just hit me and it I did start to well up. Holy hell, here I am and I and I really don't carry like oh, blah, blah, blah, cancer behind me, I don't do that but it was this just thumb in the eye of everything that tried to destroy me Right. So I turned and then the roar of the crowd and it hit me and all of a sudden I started to well up and I had a moment and then instantly I went stop it, fitz Kohler, stop it, just go, have fun. None of that.
Speaker 3:And I was able to turn it off and I was tired and once you turn left on, it's not a cute little finish line shoot. It's almost half a mile long, so you're not there yet. So you're doing video and I was running along and I think before I got to the finish I stopped for a little walking break. I just wanted to gather myself, so I had enough energy to finish strong and it was great. Again, they're just cheering go, fitz. And I'm more of a back of the packer at Boston. In fact, I was 15,000th place or something like that, so the massive group had gone by and I think the finish line was a little bit emptier when I arrived, so got a lot of personal cheers and just felt so darn proud that that number one finger went up underneath the banner.
Speaker 3:People have asked me if I won and you, betcha, I say of course I did. I did win Boston and it's just a great opportunity to celebrate yourself and all the work that you put in before you got to Boston. And you know answer it's just about you and all those people getting to the start line, which is a big deal, and getting to that finish line and being a part of history and something. So many wonderful people, the fastest and the slowest, have gone. Yeah, it was a real yay me moment and one of the highlights is, of course, I gained a bestie at that finish line.
Speaker 3:I don't know if Bob's and I would have connected as hard if we hadn't figured that out, and I've done a lot of really cool things in my life and Boston's probably in the top five, but with 2021 being that year where it was the first year post COVID and they made us all get the stupid COVID test and blah, blah, blah. And they put this little bracelet on us. And it's three years later and I still have that little bracelet on. I've never taken it off just because, out of all the marathons that I'm a part of, this one was actually for me and so I'll take it off eventually. Boston definitely Top five experience for me. It was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Aw.
Speaker 2:So did you two get meddled at the exact same time by Babs? How did this finish line situation work for you, andy, and Amanda and Babs? Like how did this finish line situation work for you, andy and Amanda and Babs? Were you like eagle eyeing Babs for them and like looking for them?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I follow a bunch of people on the app that I know are running and then I get all the updates on my watch. They're at halfway, they're at 40K and they finished. And then once, once they finish, I usually stop giving out or I slow down giving out medals to other people and just keep my eyes out my people oh, and when you see them, what are you?
Speaker 2:what are you feeling at that point?
Speaker 5:oh my gosh, immense pride. Andy has some awesome videos that that she had sent from some one of her friends who had took the video of me meddling her. I need that. It's absolutely awesome.
Speaker 2:I need that. I'm just saying.
Speaker 5:Yes, I'll send those too. I sent it to the VAA and they put it on one of their stories. It was like leading up to last year's race and it was from the year before.
Speaker 2:Oh yes and then, and was it like? You were sweating, you were crying what from a finisher's perspective? Now, over here, making your way towards babs, what? What was going through your mind, andy?
Speaker 4:I just want to see, babs, you cross that finish line, your bodies, whatever it is, on that race day when it's I don't know how far of a walk it is to there and you're, you're taking pictures of the chutes and you want to get that medal and it's probably 20 or 50 yard walk, maybe further, I don't know. Babs would know. But you also have the opportunity to give other people who are like here's your medal, here's your medal. Nope, I gotta get it from babs. So you see babs, and she's like a beacon and you just it's like this love story, you just tunnel vision for babs and especially that that first one that that I got was so special for so many different reasons, for like so many different things that were overcome. To get to that day and be there with amanda and babs and I had probably just known each other one or two years at that, yeah, just a couple, I would say and talked about it and just to see her and her awesome, bright smile. It's just just amazing and amanda's.
Speaker 5:First I made her a poster. I was like I haven't, I'm gonna find her. So I made her a poster of all our pictures from leading up to the race.
Speaker 1:It was amazing. I, I, I saw her. I took my brain a minute to realize what was actually happening, because I don't know that. I really I knew she would be there, but I don't know that. She tapped on, she would be the one to medal me. And not only did she medal me that first year and the second too, but there's this literal poster that she had made and laminated, with all of these photos of me through the years of what it took to get there. And come on, if you're not crying at that point, you're not. Even me, I'm not crying.
Speaker 2:You're crying. I think it's just. I'm not even going to ask you if the bling was motivation, because I can tell that all of your experiences were motivation enough. And the medal is just a symbol. I know you have T-shirts on, you have Babs of Sport in the jacket and, oh, look at this medal, look right here. It's like the unicorn and you're wearing the unicorn hats and look, it's what? Is that? Blue or black? Behind the gold on there, that's blue and gold, all blue and gold. And then the ribbon is blue and gold. And what does it say? On the medal itself?
Speaker 1:This one was the 125th okay it's bigger than the other one. The other one was more of a silver so this is more of a golden situation because of the year anniversary yeah all right, and this was the year that andy and I did it whoops together, oh look yeah, I can see like the silver unicorn, yeah yeah and um yeah.
Speaker 2:They continue to be very similar in their time, but they are a symbol of what you do. And do you get special swag as a volunteer, babs.
Speaker 5:I get this cool jacket, this cool jacket Look at it, the jackets are the opposite color of the runner's jackets generally. So this year the runner's jackets were, I think, yellow with blue, and so we have the blue with the yellow and, yeah, free jacket every year and free lunch.
Speaker 2:Okay, free lunch. Speaking of food, where's the best place to celebrate in Boston when all the running is done? Where is it?
Speaker 4:Wherever you can find a spot. Wherever you can find a spot because it's so crazy. There's like one spot called the Atlantic Seafood Company. It's $100, all you can eat and drink and it is beer, wine, food, lobster, like multiple different servings. It sounds like it would be amazing. Yeah, and it's right on. It is literally like 100 yards, 50 yards from the finish line on Boylston.
Speaker 2:Atlantic Seafood.
Speaker 4:It's really crazy everywhere.
Speaker 2:And what is the thing that you crave the most? I want to say, fitz, did you, was it Diet Coke and French fries, or did it differ for Boston?
Speaker 3:Okay, so, yes, diet Coke and French fries is the ultimate celebration snack for me post, and here's the tragic news is, I went back to my hotel and then I went out to this gathering of the Boston buddies. At this it was a fancy-ish indoor outdoor facility that had a variety of restaurants. Much smaller food court would. Oh yeah, zero percentage of those restaurants had French fries. 0% of them had Diet Coke. There were Pepsi products and I was a very cranky marathon finisher so I had beer and then I think that's it I think I got some crust, crappy pasta.
Speaker 3:That made me cranky, but yeah no. French fries or Diet Coke post Boston marathon? Yeah, yeah, I'd wait actually a couple of days to fill that need. I know tragic, everybody cry me a river.
Speaker 2:But I'm so sad that your meal was disappointing and your beverage was disappointing. Babs, where should people go to get good food and drink when they want to celebrate?
Speaker 5:Everywhere anywhere in Boston. They like people, like every pub and restaurant is just packed and ready to party. So from the nicest places to the diviest places. Everything is packed.
Speaker 2:Do the Sam Adams tour is what I heard from Dana. Do the Sam Adams tour and have some of the Sam Adams beer in that city that you can't get anywhere else. But like what, amanda? What did you eat? Or are you the type of person that's yeah, I'm not really hungry after a whole marathon.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think I'm starving and go somewhere and order about a hundred things and take three bites of it. There was a hotel that is fairly close to fit you out of the finish line shoot. That has been a meetup location over the years and it's this massive lobby in this hotel and there's a thousand rooms. You just find yourself a piece of carpet and sit down and you know to Bob's point, they're all prepared for you. So there are beverage carts all over the place.
Speaker 1:So there's, this massive it's always there but then there are carts everywhere and they're selling you beers and whatever else you need there. The first, and then we've managed to fall into some great restaurants. I think Julie Stackhouse was there for my first Boston. She coached me and we sat down and we actually were able to have a delicious meal together. I remember I had fried calamari. It was the best fried calamari I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 4:But I couldn't tell you where we were.
Speaker 1:That's okay. We were blah blah blah from the finish line.
Speaker 2:Babs has said that you can't go wrong. Just follow the party, which is a lot like. We just released the second half of a race recap for london and um mike leslie said just go where the pubs are, where you where people are busy in the locals and you can get local beer. You can get champagne, you can get whatever you want to celebrate with or just like you can just soak in the moment. You can get that salty thing. You can seek out the seafood that the city might be known for, but it is about the experience rather than maybe the meal or the beverage. Am I right about that?
Speaker 1:Just soak in french fries. Apparently that doesn't exist, but other than that.
Speaker 2:Don't go to the food court, go somewhere else where you could go, to a pub where you can get like the steak fries, or For the people.
Speaker 3:I went where the people were, but damn it.
Speaker 2:But what can you do? You have to celebrate. Sometimes you have to pay homage to and celebrate everybody who has supported a charity that you have just run 26.2 miles for. I am in awe of all of you the marathon at the finish line, volunteering and handing out the medals. I don't know if you have any tips for stamina there, Babs.
Speaker 5:Good shoes.
Speaker 2:Good shoes I've learned that through experience Good supportive shoes, stay hydrated, apparently stop drinking caffeine five days before. But what I see? If I can accept that in my heart and soul, I just am in awe of all of you for what you do to, to volunteer to, to put in the miles to accomplish your goals. You are a bunch of heroes to me and this is an amazing experience to be able to have you all on one episode and talk about a race that I may never run. I hope I get to cheer it, because it sounds like an amazing experience, just to contribute to keeping the runners going, I think.
Speaker 1:Amy, that happens now every year, and I have for years and years.
Speaker 5:The what.
Speaker 1:It's my annual self. I go up and I cheer and it is the most fun ever. Oh, we'll go next Me and you, we'll go next year.
Speaker 2:It's a date love it, I love it, and we can meet up with baths and it could be like oh yes, it'll be all over the place. I am so excited and I think that we hit on earlier in the interview a perfect race whose time is coming, say, july 1st, where you have a flat, fast course and a pretty kick-ass announcer, if I say so myself.
Speaker 3:And you can always get French fries and Diet Coke in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I could say from the finish if we're not changing the course, not that you got to do what you need to do finish if we're not changing the course, not that you got to do what you need to do, I'm not. But if a post tavern great fries and I believe, diet Coke is there, so I'm just saying, but I hear that tick. The registration process is going to open on July 1st, amanda.
Speaker 1:This is true. We have been building the registration platforms all day today and we will open registration on July 1st for all of the 18th annual Donna Marathon Weekend events that will be held right here in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach from January 31st through February 2nd 2025.
Speaker 2:I cannot tell you that. I can tell you that Dana and I will be some of the first to sign up and register and if you're looking for a flat fast, and I would say, as far as a community that adopts I haven't cheered Boston, but I think a community that adopts they could be akin to one another, Would you agree, Having been through Boston? Yes. So, ladies and gentlemen of the Runcation Nation, these fabulous ladies Babs, Amanda, Andy and Noisy Fitz, thank you so much. I hope to accomplish, explore and indulge with you at Donna in 2025. I say I hope, but I know I will. I cannot thank you, ladies, enough for taking the time to come on and talk about your Boston experiences. It means a lot to me.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us, Amy. Thank you, Amy.
Speaker 4:Thank you, good to see everybody.
