Chris Detzel (00:00.63)
All right, welcome to another DFW running talk. And today's special guest is David Sleer. David, how's it going?
David Slear (00:08.113)
It's going well. How are you doing?
Chris Detzel (00:10.678)
Doing good, man. you know, I was kinda trying to figure out how we met. Did we meet at like at a Pegasus run or at a taco joint thing? Is that
David Slear (00:19.234)
I know like a little over a year ago, I think at the Velvet Hammer Five K, I know I ran into there. I don't know if you've really at that point, but yeah. I was there with like Matt and all them I remember running into there. and then just you know, I run it like Highlands track sometimes. So I see you out there.
Chris Detzel (00:23.982)
yeah, I do.
Chris Detzel (00:33.557)
yeah.
Chris Detzel (00:42.092)
Yeah, you guys completely soft. I mean you guys are just killing it. I mean literally I I it was funny because I I've heard of you and I've and I've yeah we've run into each other, but you know, I was I don't remember did I ask you like hey, get on the podcast like at at did I meet you and ask you that or just send you a message? Maybe somebody told me that you're the next guy. You know, I should interview.
David Slear (00:46.492)
Yeah.
David Slear (01:04.776)
No, I don't I don't think you'd asked me until just after I think Troy might a might have mentioned my name, but Yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:14.946)
That's what it was. Yeah, that's what it was. I appreciate that because I did a little research on you. It's like I couldn't believe what I saw. Like you just ran Boston Marathon 223. Is that the official kind of time that you like to go by? And I was like, did I see that right? He ran at 223 and your best half is also at the Boston Marathon.
David Slear (01:32.102)
Yep. Yes.
David Slear (01:40.55)
Yeah. Yeah. Well it's the the first half of the course is downhill, so
Chris Detzel (01:42.799)
Yeah. So anyways, we'll get to that in a minute because later. But before before I get into it, just this is exciting because I didn't I had no idea until I just recently looked at your strabo and I was like, holy crap, you know, like I didn't know. So let's talk about that. Let's let's talk a little bit about your history. Like how did you get started to run?
David Slear (02:08.038)
Yeah, so I did I didn't grow up running really. I was in high school I was on the rowing team and I did that in college as well. which was kind of the first sport that I was any any good at. so I I didn't really start competitive sport at all until high school. I mean, you know, I did like other youth sports, but I wasn't
Chris Detzel (02:32.205)
Yeah.
David Slear (02:35.27)
Wasn't good enough to compete really, until high school. if you're not familiar with rowing, it's it's you know, it's an aerobic endurance sport. The races are about six minutes long, so it's generally similar to like the mile in terms of aerobic effort. so I did that in high school and college, which, you know, super fortunate to be able to do that. made a lot of lifelong friends. yeah, great.
Chris Detzel (02:48.78)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (03:01.486)
Well let's I so let's let's talk a little bit more in depth about rowing because I don't know a lot about rowing. It looks really I mean you know I I watched I don't know if I read a book or watched a sh movie or a documentary. Yeah, that's right. and and so I don't know a lot about it. So tell me about kind of you got on the rowing team, what position was it, what was the position like, and then you went from high school to college and let's talk a little bit about college and what what that was like.
David Slear (03:14.528)
it wasn't the boat.
Chris Detzel (03:31.392)
And and how, you know, what part of the team were you on? Like I don't help me understand it.
David Slear (03:36.966)
Yeah, so rowing, I I guess there's there are kind of positions in that like, you know, we usually race eight man boats. and there's you know, there's a an order in the boat that you're sitting in. so there's positions in that sense, but there's like ultimately everybody's doing the same thing. like they, you know, you coaches will strategize around to like who they want.
Towards the back of the boat versus the front of the boat and all that. But that's yeah, I guess ultimately like your your position isn't super important to like what you do on the team. Right, right.
Chris Detzel (04:15.714)
Not like a quarterback of a football or safety or it's nothing like that. It's just
David Slear (04:20.986)
Right. Right. but yeah, the training looks I mean, in a lot of ways it looks like any other aerobic endurance sport. Like it looks a lot like running in a lot of ways. I think rowing tends to have a culture of like or at least it has in the past. I think they've gotten more scientific with their training methods recently, but when I was in high school and college it was very much like I'm gonna go throw myself at a wall every practice and
it makes you tough, but it it's probably not the like most like optimized way to train. but so yeah. So I I picked it up in high school. my I basically I moved down to Dallas from Chicago and my mom signed me up to so that I could go make friends. and Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (04:53.581)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (05:14.626)
Good good thing to good place to make friends, you know? Any sports, really.
David Slear (05:20.884)
yeah, and so I I took to it. it was kind of the first sport that I got like positive reinforcement that I was doing well at. So that was probably a big part of why I liked it. and yeah, just competed throughout high school, was good enough to start thinking about like getting recruited for college. and so went through the whole recruiting process, which you know is similar to any other sport where you're
Chris Detzel (05:29.763)
Yeah.
David Slear (05:50.012)
talking to coaches and going visiting and, you know, all that. and yeah, I was fortunate enough to get recruited. and went to college, which was it you know
Chris Detzel (06:04.984)
Do they give you scholarships or something like that or is it you just recruited and you know, you still just paid the doll?
David Slear (06:08.276)
I so they can my the I I went to Princeton and they they don't do scholarships for athletics at all. so they they got me in. That was my that was my scholarship. Yeah, yeah. I I would not have gotten in otherwise. So but yeah, and so college rowing was it kind of more the same in a lot of ways, but just at a much higher level.
Chris Detzel (06:16.088)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (06:19.758)
But you went to Princeton, so it's a pretty good college.
Okay.
David Slear (06:37.638)
Like all of a sud like, you know, you go from being one of or the best guy on your team. I wouldn't say I was the best guy on my high school team, but among them to all of a sudden you are just like very much average. and you know, surrounded by a lot of yeah, yeah. Surrounded by a lot of like really, really driven people, and really phenomenal athletes. so it just it
Chris Detzel (06:38.028)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (06:53.306)
Yeah. It's kinda like the running community, you know.
Chris Detzel (07:03.182)
Yeah.
David Slear (07:07.346)
forces you to raise your raise your bar of what it is and makes you better. and yeah, so raced I I gradu I went to college my graduating year was 2021. So we had COVID in there. so I didn't get to race all four years. but yeah had had two like proper seasons and then my senior year was kind of like
Chris Detzel (07:10.338)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (07:22.806)
Mm-hmm. That stakes.
Please.
David Slear (07:33.894)
We were back at school and then like only had a couple races and half our team was like had taken the year off. So it was just it was like a a really good experience to be there with the team and like training together, but it wasn't like a a proper proper racing season.
Chris Detzel (07:49.614)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (07:53.903)
What does racing like when when you maybe the first three years, what was racing like? Was it I mean, obviously it's competitive. Did you guys win anything? Like what's the you know
David Slear (08:03.676)
Yeah, we so the the way the racing season usually works for for us and I I was a lightweight rower and it's pretty concentrated up in the northeast. so basically like all the Ivy League schools and a couple others, like Georgetown and Navy and yeah, the a we'll just kinda like have a a circuit of duels that we're doing where we go
like alternate years whether we're going to their campus or their commintara campus and rowing a 2K. and it's usually like either just one on one throughout the regular season or like some sometimes we'll have races that are three schools racing at a time. and so we'll do that for I I we had one of the longer schedules of anybody. It's not like it's very irregular. Like some teams will only race like
three or four times before championship season. I think we probably raced like six or seven times before the championship season. and then we would have we had a race called Eastern Sprints, which was our like Ivy League championships essentially. I it it's sort of in lightweight rowing it's like Eastern Sprints and
IRAs is the like bigger national championship, but for lightweight rowing, it's so concentrated in the northeast that it's pretty much the same exact set of schools racing both. So we it's almost like having two national championships. but yeah, so then we have those races, which those are the ones if you ever watch the Olympics, they're doing like six boats across. that that's what that racing is more like. and it's always two thousand meters.
Chris Detzel (09:32.278)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (09:39.508)
Chris Detzel (09:54.776)
Yeah.
David Slear (09:58.064)
in the spring, which is the main main racing season. no. No. I I I'm still Yeah. And I'm still involved with my high school club team a little bit. but but I I no I haven't rode in a long time. it I miss like the team.
Chris Detzel (10:02.126)
Do you still row? Never. I mean you can go to the lake and see some rowers, so I don't know.
Chris Detzel (10:17.57)
Do you miss it?
David Slear (10:24.026)
I miss and you know, that's you know, I'm sure we'll get into it later, but that's like a big part of why I've what I've loved about the running community in Dallas. I I super miss having just like you know, the the unified goal of the team and you're seeing these same people every day. yeah, so I miss that a lot. I don't miss like the act of rowing.
Chris Detzel (10:27.907)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (10:41.166)
Bond and the yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (10:47.768)
Got it
Chris Detzel (10:51.636)
Got it. So did you ever run like at all? Like during college? Like hey, I'm gonna go run a couple of miles here and there.
David Slear (10:57.544)
Like once or twice. and like in in high school there was probably a year like there was a year where our coach would have us do like a two mile warm up run before practice, but not like nothing yeah, no like proper running.
Chris Detzel (11:02.904)
Really?
Chris Detzel (11:10.306)
That's it. Yeah. You didn't you didn't think, hey, I want to go do a 5K one day. That never came to mind. Okay. All right.
David Slear (11:17.338)
No. No, no, no. And I like you know, I didn't have good I didn't have run like proper running shoes. It was like I probably yeah, they're running in like my five year old super beaten down sneakers. so
Chris Detzel (11:23.5)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (11:32.184)
That's my high school journey. Like my coach gave me a pair of running shoes when I was in a freshman in high school. And he goes, these are yours and I wore all four years thinking that was the way to do it. And I remember getting shints once my senior year, couldn't run because, well, you know, come to find out, you know, it's probably the shoes. But
David Slear (11:39.08)
Mm.
David Slear (11:50.374)
Yep. Yep. Yeah, turns out yeah, they actually don't last that long, but not for running.
Chris Detzel (11:55.483)
Not that long. Not that long. so all right, you get out of college, so just you get your bachelor's and you go to a masters or Okay. What'd you what'd you get in? What was Okay, so are you a developer or what's the
David Slear (12:04.548)
No, just bachelor's. yeah. computer science.
David Slear (12:11.75)
Yeah. Yeah, I'm a software engineer.
Chris Detzel (12:14.446)
I so want to talk to you more, but this is not an engineering kind of thing, but I got so many questions. with all this AI stuff coming, you know, I work for a product company and so we have a lot of engineers and things like that. And so there's some good things and there's some frustration. Anyways, I digress a little bit. So so after college, what happened?
David Slear (12:17.288)
I'm not a very good
David Slear (12:23.688)
Yeah.
David Slear (12:27.57)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (12:31.544)
Yeah.
David Slear (12:38.182)
Yeah, so so again, I I graduated during COVID. So my I would say my rowing career like had a very unsatisfying ending. like I was expecting two more full years of competition and just kind of fizzled out, which, you know, I was I was very like I said before, I was very glad to have that senior year where we were all there together. But it was it was very anticlimactic, I would say. so I I definitely like really still had a drive to go compete.
Chris Detzel (13:07.042)
Please something.
David Slear (13:07.952)
I I yeah, I love racing. so right after college, I I and kind of my plan that whole senior year, because we were like we didn't even know if we were gonna go back at all. I was kind of thinking I was gonna transition into triathlon. which I did for a couple years after graduating. so but ooh, sorry.
Chris Detzel (13:21.688)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (13:36.056)
Sorry.
David Slear (13:38.374)
I guess but right after college I I signed up for the Dallas Marathon as like a I'm gonna just go do marathon. so that was like that was the first thing I did. It didn't go that didn't go very well. didn't
Chris Detzel (13:46.776)
Marathon. Okay.
Chris Detzel (13:53.243)
All right, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, you're not gonna skip over it because you know I'm gonna have to hear about this. Tell me about why and then how'd you train and what happened?
David Slear (13:56.144)
Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (14:01.99)
Yeah, I you know, I just like looked up a and I I didn't like totally not train properly. Like I looked up a a plan online and was kind of loosely following it. I probably got up to the point I think my like the biggest week that I had was probably like fifty miles, which is, you know, like it's certainly not nothing. yeah. I think I was more Right, right, right.
Chris Detzel (14:12.291)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (14:22.968)
Pretty good for your first time. I mean, nobody does that hardly. I know people that have twenty miles at most.
David Slear (14:30.416)
No, yeah. So like I I I don't like I certainly had enough running volume to get through a marathon. but I I think I kind of just raced it like an idiot and I had a buddy who my my goal was to break three hours. yeah. But I mean, you know, I was coming from like really from college rowing, which is you know, pretty high level in during sport. So I figured like figured I would have a
Chris Detzel (14:37.346)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (14:48.93)
You're first. Okay.
Chris Detzel (14:54.742)
I got it. Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (14:59.984)
A good shot at doing that. and then I had a buddy the like two I think I guess it would have been probably the week before at CIM, ran two fifty one, I think, or something like low two fifties. And I was like, okay, well now I now I have to go beat him. and yeah, took it out way faster than I should have. and also had like no fueling plan at all. so I was like, I'll be fine if I just like
Chris Detzel (15:11.392)
Wow, okay. Here to beat that.
Chris Detzel (15:28.131)
How do I get to it?
David Slear (15:30.012)
have a cup of Gatorade at every other aid station and that you know you're getting like a tiny sick of Gatorade. so I went through I think I went through the half in like one twenty seven or something and then and then yeah like two hours on the back half. So it was did a lot of walking from mile eighteen on. which is unfortunately like it I ran a free twenty seven which is still like a very
Chris Detzel (15:34.85)
How to.
Chris Detzel (15:43.33)
Not bad.
Chris Detzel (15:51.95)
Yeah, that's great.
Chris Detzel (15:58.297)
Shop.
David Slear (15:59.142)
You know, not nearly as much of a collapse as some first marathon stories that you'll hear. So, For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yes. No, I was I was walking for I was walk jogging for a significant part of it. Yeah. Right.
Chris Detzel (16:04.76)
But you did collapse. Let's just be real. Like I mean, two hours for somebody that can run a one twenty seven half, that's collapsing. Yeah. I mean, three twenty seven's good. I'm not I'm not poo-pooing the time, but somebody you know, if if you were to you know, not just the trainings was sounded like it was fine. If you were to just drink the right things, eat a little bit, you know, maybe have the right nutrition, that could have gone a lot better, you know, a lot more different. So
David Slear (16:22.194)
Right.
David Slear (16:28.808)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but alas, it did not. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (16:37.75)
It did not but I hear this all the time and like I mean every now and then you'll hear somebody do their first marathon in I don't know under three hours. You know, in in general, I'm not saying it can't happen. Obviously it can, but you know, most people don't know about nutrition and the training and put it all together. They just, I I'm just gonna do fifty miles like you did. You probably didn't even think about the nutrition, you know, or obviously. So I didn't know.
David Slear (17:00.646)
Right. Right. Right. Well, I I should have. I'd I'd done a marathon rowing like on the erg before and I knew that I had to eat from that. So I I should have known, but but yeah. So so I did that. that
Chris Detzel (17:22.734)
Were you down and out about the time or you know, how how'd you feel after did you like, I'm gonna do this again? Okay, yeah.
David Slear (17:25.76)
you know, I like I I wanted to break three hours and so I was bummed to have not done that, but I was like I was mostly just like glad to have done a marathon. I wasn't really thinking I was gonna like continue to pursue that. I thought I was gonna switch to triathlon and that was like my main thing. and yeah, so so I was like I was fine with it.
Chris Detzel (17:36.14)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (17:42.582)
Yeah, it's just a one time thing maybe. Okay.
Chris Detzel (17:54.594)
Okay.
David Slear (17:54.82)
And yeah, after that, signed up for seventy point three, which is a half iron man, if you're not familiar, in like April, I think it was the the one down in Galveston. and hired a triathlon coach and just went full bore on that for a little while. and you know, I did
Chris Detzel (18:10.497)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (18:14.872)
There you go.
David Slear (18:23.034)
Okay at it, I would say. I wasn't like winning my age group or anything like that, but I
Chris Detzel (18:31.256)
pretty young, so I'm sure, you know, it's pretty tough to win at that age, you know.
David Slear (18:33.884)
Yeah, you gotta be really fast though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. but I kinda, you know, I had I had aspirations to like really go compete at these things. and I was just kinda like okay at it. And it was also triathlon is a huge time and money commitment. like a lot. yeah.
Chris Detzel (18:58.392)
Lots of money. Well and the time too, man. I mean, it's just crazy that j not just the the training, where you have to go, where you gotta ship your stuff. I mean and it's just really expensive to do You know, like
David Slear (19:06.568)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (19:13.148)
Yeah. Yeah, I didn't ask how much I spent my first year of triathlon and it was it was an upsetting amount. but yeah. so I did you know, I I I can't rem I think I raced I think I did four half ironmans and a few shorter triathlons over two years basically. starting in twenty twenty two. Like
Chris Detzel (19:17.888)
I'm sure.
Chris Detzel (19:21.728)
Sorry.
Chris Detzel (19:34.029)
Okay.
David Slear (19:42.982)
Early twenty twenty two to late twenty twenty three. and was kind of starting to feel a little bit burnt out from it because I was just like really, you know, I felt like I was training a lot, but not really getting better at it. and ultimately like, yeah, I I like all of my times were like
Chris Detzel (20:02.946)
Really?
David Slear (20:11.152)
right around four forty to four fifty, which is, you know, solid, but not yeah, I w I was just kind of sitting there. yeah, right. Yeah, and and you know, I'm sure like I I Yeah, well and it was just like it the the time and money commitment was just like a lot. And you know, my wife
Chris Detzel (20:18.638)
You didn't see progress that the way you wanted. Yeah, I mean you only did four of them, but still.
You're impatient. That's that's what you're telling me.
Chris Detzel (20:38.486)
Makes more sense.
David Slear (20:39.418)
My wife is in med school and you know, wanted to have a family down the line, so I was like, this is probably too much. Yeah, this is probably too much long term. 'cause, you know, you're you're training like f it you know, if you're running, running like ten hours a week is like really solid training volume. doing ten hours of training a week for triathlon is like barely like barely enough to
Chris Detzel (20:41.752)
Mm.
Chris Detzel (20:46.798)
Gotta save some money.
Okay.
Chris Detzel (21:00.578)
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (21:07.276)
Hmm.
David Slear (21:09.924)
Yeah. Like you look at professional triathletes and they're training like thirty hours a week. which is just, you know, that's like another full time job almost. So
Chris Detzel (21:14.134)
A lot.
Chris Detzel (21:18.444)
It looks like you're training what, twelve hours a week at the moment? So it's pretty good. Yep.
David Slear (21:22.172)
Something like that. Yeah. I I honestly don't keep a super good track.
Chris Detzel (21:27.148)
You know, it's funny because I I never knew you could keep track, but I'm looking at a comparison chart between me and you on Strava, which I don't ever do that. But I was looking, I was like, holy cow, it says that he's run t or he's w averaged twelve hours a week for the last four weeks in running. And I'm like and I looked at mine, mine says five hours and forty one minutes. And I'm like, damn, he's really kicking my butt at this, you know?
David Slear (21:34.595)
yeah.
David Slear (21:48.796)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Well it's that it's it's that point in the the marathon cycle for me, so yeah.
Chris Detzel (21:58.519)
Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about that in a minute. So so you get the thro the triathlons a little too much money and time mostly.
David Slear (22:03.12)
Yeah. Basically decided Yeah, basically decided that wasn't for me long term. and then I kinda you know, like broke up with the coach, took a break, did sorry if you can hear Scream Baby in the background. just kind of biked and ran for a while, not with any like particular purpose.
Chris Detzel (22:08.781)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (22:23.118)
Sorry.
David Slear (22:32.375)
just staying fit. No, just solo. yeah. and yeah. and then after the like in May of the following year. So I the the last triathlon I did was in August. and then May of the following year, I decided to sign up for the Dallas Marathon again. So I was like, you know, I feel like I'm in better running shape than I was.
Chris Detzel (22:33.27)
you do it with anybody? Like was it just yourself? Okay.
Seems boring.
David Slear (23:01.116)
Would like to give that another go.
Chris Detzel (23:01.582)
Think so. So what was your best halftime during these these halves that you were doing? The tribe?
David Slear (23:07.426)
I raced d like during a half Iron Man, 'cause I did a few standalone halves or or I I ran a one hundred eighteen at the Dallas Marathon in like twenty twenty two, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My best my my best triathlon half marathon was probably like one hundred thirty three or something.
Chris Detzel (23:13.624)
Well well how about your standalone then? What were what were you doing then? What was okay.
Chris Detzel (23:21.762)
Okay. So you kinda knew what it was s so you kinda got into running through triathlon, but you did some halves as well. Okay.
David Slear (23:36.988)
significantly slower. But yeah, yeah. No, pretty pretty good. But it's a different beast running it at the end of the but yeah so signed up for Dallas again. like set the goal in my head that I wanted to run under two forty. and I thought I was I thought I was gonna just train alone. because you I I'd done that half a couple of year like a year and a bit prior.
Chris Detzel (23:37.272)
Pretty good. I mean, still, I mean he did some swimming and biking. So
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (23:57.656)
Wow. Like
David Slear (24:04.648)
I was like, I bet if I'm like just training for running, I bet I could do that for a full or something close to that. and yeah, thought I was gonna be training alone, like didn't really have any plans of like trying to meet people because I didn't really have a sense of what was out there. and then right, right. Yeah. yeah, we I've I've been in Dallas since I graduated. So
Chris Detzel (24:25.016)
Yeah. You lived here in Alice, right? Okay.
David Slear (24:35.516)
But then in the like later like shortly after signing up, my wife and I were like, you know, I I bet there's running groups around here. Like why don't we just like look that up? and I saw I think it was on Reddit that I saw somebody mentioned train pegasus as like a a good, like, you know, serious people run fast training group.
so we're like, okay, let's go try that out. she yes, she is currently in medical residency, so she is strapped for time. But she like yeah, she runs as well. yeah, and she's she's if you ever talk to her, she's she's a better runner than Chalette on, but
Chris Detzel (25:07.022)
And your wife's a runner too?
Chris Detzel (25:13.568)
Okay. That makes sense.
Chris Detzel (25:27.414)
Mother people are
David Slear (25:28.656)
Yes. but yeah, so once
Chris Detzel (25:31.373)
It's funny, the people I talk to, I mean, I think they know they are fairly decent, but they don't sometimes we don't realize like you I mean, you're when you look at DFW runners, you're at the top, right? And so, but there's not a lot of people that and I'm not sure you should, but you know, just people don't brag about it and they're just pretty humble about, you know, their you know, talent. But you know, it's pretty impressive what you're doing and others and you know,
David Slear (25:55.132)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (26:01.132)
And just being out there every day is certainly, you know, the amount of work and effort you put into it is pretty awesome. But we're out we're all out here doing it. Anyways, keep going. Sorry.
David Slear (26:07.048)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. But yeah, anyway, so went to a train Pegasus run, met some great people there. we were immediately like, this is awesome. Like, we should keep coming to this. and yeah, so then, you know, started running with them. through that I met some of the people who run with completely slothed and
Chris Detzel (26:20.14)
Yeah.
David Slear (26:35.016)
Started I kind of hopped into some of them were training for Chicago and I kind of just hopped into their training plan. without you know, like my marathon was a little ways after that. But so started running, I was probably running like sixty to seventy miles a week, which, you know, good volume. and
Chris Detzel (26:49.304)
So
David Slear (27:03.27)
got towards the end of summer and everyone was starting to like come down for Chicago and I was like, Well, I just did all the training for this like these guys are all doing Chicago and they've done this whole training block. I did basically the same training block. I might as well just sign up for a race now. and so there was a race up in in addition. I I did yeah
Chris Detzel (27:24.428)
Instead of Dallas? Like you were gonna do Dallas and then okay. All right. Okay, got it.
David Slear (27:29.816)
so I still raced Dallas in December, but signed up for this one up in Missouri, which is my my wife is from Missouri, so that's why we I chose that one. it's called the Mo Cowbell Marathon. It's like a very small local race. I think there are like 400 people that run the marathon. yeah, yeah, it did. so yeah, I went and ran that. I did win.
Chris Detzel (27:39.374)
Cool. Awesome.
Chris Detzel (27:47.854)
Gives you a chance to win, maybe.
David Slear (27:59.303)
It was
Chris Detzel (27:59.321)
Well let's talk about that because you know when I first talked to you at the beginning, you know, I'll I I like to talk about like you had you had a chance to win. So let's and then we'll get to Dallas in a minute. But so if you don't mind. Okay. So when you get to Missouri and you get to this, what was your thought? I mean, you're in good shape. Your second marathon, right? What were your what was your thinking there? Like, did you think, ooh, I might have a chance to win or was it
David Slear (28:09.48)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (28:13.287)
Yeah, yeah.
David Slear (28:22.886)
Yeah, yeah.
David Slear (28:28.762)
Yeah. I mean I, you know, at pretty much like any any race I do, I look at like who what what people what people run the year like the years prior, see what the competition is typically like. this is one that like they will sometimes have somebody running like the mid to low two thirties. other years it was like high two forties is winning.
Chris Detzel (28:36.494)
People win. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (28:58.818)
Depends.
David Slear (28:58.824)
So I kinda went in expecting that I would have a a good shot at winning. and but you know, it it was the first marathon that I'd run in a long time. So I wasn't I I was trying not to like focus too hard on that aspect of it because I, you know, been burned before. so I tried to start conservative and just kind of, you know, run my own race.
Chris Detzel (29:14.306)
The win, yeah.
Chris Detzel (29:18.846)
Yeah.
David Slear (29:25.222)
And it's also it's one where there's a half marathon that goes out at the same time as you. So you don't you don't know who's running the marathon and who's running the half marathon until you get to the c the split point.
Chris Detzel (29:28.524)
Hm. So you didn't really know.
Chris Detzel (29:37.602)
Well, racing doesn't really happen until what, a lot it depends where you're at, but I mean not I mean, maybe the last half, maybe a little bit longer. Yeah.
David Slear (29:46.364)
For the marathon. Yeah, I mean y depends on the level of competition. But yeah, yeah. you certainly like right. I mean yeah, you look at like professional marathoners and they're like sprinting to the line together, but but right. but yeah, so basically just tried to, you know
Chris Detzel (29:51.394)
Yeah, I mean if run against a two twenty or two fifteen then it's different.
Chris Detzel (30:02.946)
Yeah, it's it's it's a different. I mean, still.
David Slear (30:14.726)
Run my own race, do my own thing, focus on fueling properly. You know, I had my my gels that I was taking like every
Chris Detzel (30:20.472)
Well how'd you start off then? What was the kind of the the pace
David Slear (30:25.496)
I think I started like I I was kind of at that point I was feeling like I would maybe run like mid two thirties. at that after, you know, going through the Dallas summer training cycle, I was like, okay, two forty might be a little more conservative than I need to be. so I started basically like at two forty pace, which is like six six. yeah, yeah, and it felt pretty good. and
Chris Detzel (30:33.304)
Dang. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (30:46.016)
Okay. You're feeling good.
David Slear (30:53.66)
By the time I got to the split, my mother and father in law were there spectating and they told me that there were no other marathoners around and I was like, Okay, so this is I just need to not fall apart basically. and yes. and I did I did wind up kind of falling apart a after mile like twenty one.
Chris Detzel (31:00.44)
Nice.
Chris Detzel (31:07.335)
Just tr stick to the pace.
Chris Detzel (31:18.67)
It's normal.
David Slear (31:19.346)
So yeah. not, you know, not horrifically. I wasn't walking or anything, but you know, went from running like five fifty to running six forty, you know. So Yeah.
Chris Detzel (31:30.616)
Dang, I did fall apart. But that's all right. So what did people did anybody start catching you or no go?
David Slear (31:41.156)
No, and and it was like the back half of the course was like a big out and back. So I got to the turnover and I could see that I had like I don't know, I probably had like ten minutes on second place. So I was basically like, as long as I don't walk, I'll I'll stay ahead. so yeah, wound up running two thirty nine. which was like ultim my my goal going into it was like, you know, I want to run a step two forty marathon. So it was
Chris Detzel (31:46.816)
so you knew.
Chris Detzel (32:04.652)
Nice.
David Slear (32:10.012)
Great to have that out of the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (32:10.668)
And that was your second marathon, so you know, that's pretty good. I mean, think about it from your first I mean your goal is under three, which I think could have been doable, you know, if you were to just eat the right things and you know, but but you were smarter this time, you ran with the group and you did some things in between, you know, with some halves and some, you know, other stuff, you know. So that's pretty cool.
David Slear (32:22.631)
Yeah.
Right.
David Slear (32:37.222)
Yeah. And I th you know, I really think like I was I was training with people who were trying to run even faster than that, which like gave me the confidence to shoot that high. was like, okay, these like you know, I was running with Mimi a lot and Mimi had just run a two thirty four the year prior and I like, Okay, like I think I can be in the same ballpark as that. So so yeah. So
Chris Detzel (32:41.57)
Yeah. They probably pushed you a little bit.
That's pretty cool.
Chris Detzel (32:57.986)
Yeah. That's pretty cool. So so you get to so you did that and you're feeling pretty confident. Did you think did you feel confident going into Dallas then? What was that like?
David Slear (33:11.654)
Yeah, so Dallas, you know, it's it it was like eight weeks later, so it's kind of a short turnaround between those races. but still, you know, like took a a week off and then another week like light and started to build back up. and yeah, d got to Dallas and wanted to run faster, you know, 'cause time has passed. I should be faster. so
Chris Detzel (33:17.464)
yeah. Marathon for sure.
Chris Detzel (33:26.946)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (33:38.67)
I'm sure it's gonna be better than a three twenty seven, so
David Slear (33:41.768)
It it did it was. But yeah. that was the that was twenty twenty four. It was the year that it was like super humid. I don't know if you ran that year, but yeah. Yeah. so it was kinda tough conditions. Yeah, it it was ton of kind of tough conditions. but not not like horrific, but enough that I
Chris Detzel (33:54.542)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I did the half. I I paste it.
Started off at seventy degrees, it was nasty.
David Slear (34:10.896)
I basically ran it exactly the same as I did, but was hoping to not blow up and did still blow up. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and yeah, I wound up running within three seconds of the same time that I ran at the prior marathon, so kinda Yeah yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (34:18.51)
Well that doesn't sound smart. Not a marathon anyways, half you probably get away with, but okay. Well, what lesson learned?
Chris Detzel (34:35.47)
That's not bad. I mean that's pretty darn good. I mean, considering the weather. I mean
David Slear (34:40.774)
No, I was pretty I wasn't like I I I ha I've never really finished i I haven't had a race a marathon thus far that I've been like, that was like that went horribly. Aside, you know, my first one obviously didn't go how I wanted it to, but I was, you know, my goals were different at that time. So yeah, yeah. So so yeah, I you know, I was pretty happy with it even though I I wanted to run faster.
Chris Detzel (34:43.544)
Dude, your potential is huge.
Chris Detzel (34:58.252)
Young and dumb. You had no idea. That's normal.
Chris Detzel (35:09.592)
Yeah.
David Slear (35:10.688)
And yeah. yeah, then I was signed up for Chicago the following year. well actually before that I was signed up for the Carmel Marathon in the spring, which wound up getting canceled for storms. so I was supposed to race again before Chicago, but I didn't. so yeah, then
Chris Detzel (35:23.758)
Carmel. Okay.
Chris Detzel (35:32.216)
Now quick question. Does your wife go with you to these marathons? Missouri, obviously, Dallas, she's here.
David Slear (35:37.328)
She tries to. she, you know, she's she was in med school and now she's a resident. So sh her her schedule is very hard. but she was able to come to Chicago with me. but and you know, the the local races she comes to. I think she would love to come to all of them, but it it's not always feasible. yeah. yeah, she's very supportive and you know, I'm so
Chris Detzel (35:41.856)
Okay. that's
Chris Detzel (36:01.103)
Soon enough, though.
David Slear (36:08.528)
incredibly thankful that she lets me do what I do. despite a lot of
Chris Detzel (36:13.1)
I I just find the reason I ask these questions is because I just find that like, you know, if you don't have a spouse or, you know, a partner that is is gonna be supportive and vice versa, you know, of each other's kind of dreams and you know, hobbies and things like that, then it's hard, you know, to to do that. But I I find that in running, most spouses, vice you know, in man, woman, whatever, are very supportive in in their
David Slear (36:24.944)
Mm.
David Slear (36:32.049)
For sure.
Chris Detzel (36:43.02)
And then and they're both both are. And so I just but I do think that in some cases like yours, I mean, you guys have a baby now. Your your wife is, you know, got hard school hardcore scores school stuff and and you've got, I'm sure, work and then you're doing the running and the baby and and and stuff like that. Can you talk a little bit about how you guys manage that? 'Cause I know
David Slear (37:03.63)
we we try our best to survive. it's yeah. This this month has been the first month of like proper residency, for her, which has been like, you know, she's working nights now. so it's been yeah. so you know, it's
Chris Detzel (37:08.558)
Yeah, that's probably the best answer, you know.
Chris Detzel (37:24.363)
Answer works.
David Slear (37:32.324)
I you know, I don't know that we have like a secret formula or anything. We just try really hard to I I I I think both of us want like we want each other to be able to do all the things that we want to do. and so I think, you know, whenever whenever one of us has something going on, the other is usually ready to jump in and, you know, take care of the baby or or whatever. so
Yeah, I you know, I don't think we have any secret sauce. It's just
Chris Detzel (38:06.104)
Well, I think I I don't think there's a secret sauce. I think that, you know, when when I hear folks say, I just can't do it, got too much going on. Well, it's it's not that you can't do it. You know, one, I I think you need somebody that's supportive of you and vice versa. And then you just gotta make it happen. You know, I think that two of you seem to do that. And that's kind of the story here is part of the story is you know, to be able to hit goals and and things like that, you have to sacrifice different things and that's time.
In this case for each other. So
David Slear (38:36.432)
Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, like we I would say we both like, you know, she's she's training to become a do or she is a doctor now and still in training, but like that's obviously a big lofty goal. I have like a pretty big I'm very invested in my running. but and so I think we're
Chris Detzel (38:50.446)
That's awesome.
David Slear (39:05.554)
We're both pretty good at like not letting other stuff get in the way of the the you know, the big the big blocks. and that, you know, those are those are just like the things that we we do. There's obviously like spending time together and taking care of our babies that are like the foundation things that have to happen. so yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't like that.
Chris Detzel (39:20.524)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (39:24.194)
Hundred percent.
Mm-hmm.
All right. No, I mean I was just curious. Not to get off so much, but that that's a question I like to ask a lot of folks that have kids and and especially young kids and and things and how you deal with it. And you're young still and you're still doing some incredible things, especially from a passion kind of things, you know, like running for you and things like that. So so you get to Dallas, you run a three, you know, or a two still thirty nine something. Yeah. I mean, so that that's awesome. And what was
David Slear (39:36.04)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (39:49.0)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (39:54.152)
Two thirty nine.
Chris Detzel (39:59.863)
After that?
David Slear (40:01.343)
Chicago was the next race. which yeah, so it had been that you know, that's October after December. and
Chris Detzel (40:02.934)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (40:10.39)
Probably need some time to rest a little bit.
David Slear (40:13.04)
Yeah, yeah. Well i you know what I like I said, the I was supposed to do the Carmel marathon in the spring. So I I did like a full training block in there. so I was, you know, had a lot a a significant amount more training under my belt by the time Chicago came around. by, you know
Chris Detzel (40:18.125)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (40:31.83)
And have you started got now I know you were running with Mimi and some others did you start running with other folks or did you some of the same people and you just kinda got in a groove? What's okay.
David Slear (40:40.742)
Yeah, it's still, you know, just I mean it's you know, the there's a whole whole set of people that I I run with. the you know, all the completely sloth people, a bunch of trained Pegasus people, too many to name. but
Chris Detzel (40:57.986)
Who's your favorite? I'm just joking. I asked somebody that month. They're like, you can't ask me that. Who do you hate work running with? Who's the worst?
David Slear (41:02.236)
We'll pick favorites. Yeah, I'll pick my least favorites. No. yeah, no, my I like people I do workouts with a lot like Matt Campbell, Troy Castle, who you just talked to, Steven, who you've talked to, I know. there's yeah, there's
Chris Detzel (41:11.266)
Yeah, just joking.
David Slear (41:30.672)
Again, too many to name, so I'm I I won't go down that rabbit hole. but but it's it's kind of been, you know, same cast of characters, you know, people come and go, but but yeah. So no no like major shift in training group going in Chicago, I would say.
Chris Detzel (41:34.574)
Might as well na
Chris Detzel (41:53.273)
So quick question, just to kind of get off, I'm I'm trying to do something a little different. Is you know, is there something that besides running that you we'll get back to Chicago, is there something besides running that you like to do that maybe no one knows knows about or you know, because one of the things I'll tell you is Brent Woodall brought up that he used to play World of Warcraft hardcore and he would go to different like events for World of Warcraft. So I don't know.
David Slear (42:11.88)
Hmm. Yeah.
David Slear (42:19.09)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (42:20.162)
There's something like that. I mean, you are a software engineer, software guy. So there's gotta be something like that in there.
David Slear (42:23.992)
not not really, honestly. Like r running is kind of my main thing. yeah, that's yeah, I mean right yeah.
Chris Detzel (42:28.972)
Really? Okay. No time for anything else. How about in the past? You know, you did something that nobody would have known or I don't know, we were into something.
David Slear (42:41.394)
I mean, like, you know, I like reading. I'm a big fantasy nerd, so stuff like that, but no other like major you know, like I w I watch sports, but that's not a not a unique thing.
Chris Detzel (42:44.718)
That's boring. Okay. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (42:56.556)
I like sports. What what fa what fantasy book did you recently read then?
David Slear (43:01.41)
I'm currently reading Brandon Sanderson's books. I don't know if you're familiar. Stormlight Archive is what I'm reading right now. I The Lord of the Rings was my favorite book growing up. so that's yeah. Yeah. Great movies.
Chris Detzel (43:06.798)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Detzel (43:10.455)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (43:16.022)
I watched all the movies, so
Chris Detzel (43:21.292)
They were. And and I'm I've been reading a lot lately, more of business type AI slash, you know, just kind of shoe dog with Nike and things like that. So I say read, I listen to books. But I don't read a lot, but listening, you know, back and forth more anyways, I digress. All right, so you get to Chicago and thank you for you know for that. But just curious,
David Slear (43:28.252)
Mm.
David Slear (43:33.176)
Mm. Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (43:43.494)
Yeah, yeah. Sorry having a more interesting side hobby.
Chris Detzel (43:49.517)
Well, if you think of one kind of you know, or think of something, but but before this is over, you know, bring it up. So you you decided to do Chicago. Did anybody go with you? Was this a group thing or
David Slear (43:52.048)
Yeah.
David Slear (44:00.62)
yeah, I mean th I I feel like any time you do one of the majors there's a there's a good number of people in like Train Pegasus and Complete Sloth that are gonna be running it. I I started the race with Troy. so he was yeah. we were there together, as well as you know, there were a bunch of Train Pegasus people there. but yeah, I I kinda didn't really know what to I
Chris Detzel (44:07.149)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (44:15.501)
Okay.
David Slear (44:30.168)
I loosely was like, it'd be cool to break 230, but you know, training in Dallas over the summer is very hard to gauge like how fast you actually are. because you might be running like 30 seconds per mile slower at the same effort. so kind of just yeah, like really tried to run by feel and wound up running pretty aggressively.
Chris Detzel (44:40.258)
Very hard. But you can fly, dude.
Chris Detzel (44:46.539)
Yeah, exactly.
Chris Detzel (45:00.11)
So I would do it.
David Slear (45:00.232)
through yeah, yeah. And and I had started by that point I had started running quite a bit more volume. like I think like in that summer there was a good chunk of time where I was running like a hundred ten ish miles a week. so yeah, gotten up to like pretty pretty high volume.
Chris Detzel (45:25.709)
Very high.
David Slear (45:26.436)
And which I think you know ultimately enables you to run a little more aggressively because, you know, when you've got more volume on the legs, you your blow ups are usually not as extreme. you can kind of just your your your baseline that you fall to when you blow up is a lot higher. yeah. Right. Right.
Chris Detzel (45:45.182)
And you've been training for a long time. So I guess like I gotta get this out. So before before you tell me, because I'm very interested in this race, but did you think I've gotta really beat Troy? You know, that's the guy I've gotta beat.
David Slear (45:58.376)
No, I didn't I I wouldn't say I went I was thinking about it that way. No, I didn't know that. Troy's PR at the time was faster than mine, so yeah. So yeah. I definitely didn't I yeah, I I I had no idea. and Troy Troy will
Chris Detzel (46:06.328)
But you already knew you were gonna beat him, is what you're saying. I hope he listens to this.
Okay. All right. Well there you go. That's some incentive for you.
Chris Detzel (46:22.328)
You know, I don't think I'll I'll say this, is like I don't think it's bad to say. Like if if I were to go against you and actually had a chance or thought I was on somewhat of the same level, I wanna beat you. You know, like but if I don't, I'm cool that you do I mean, I'm still your friend. Like it was like, man, what a jerk you beat me, you know, kind of thing. That's that's that's competition right there. And that's to me, like, that's how I'm pushed is like, I'm gonna go beat this guy. I'm gonna try. That's kind of my
David Slear (46:38.726)
Right. Cool, good shirt.
David Slear (46:43.688)
For sure.
Chris Detzel (46:50.688)
Rabbit, if you will, you know. I don't know, that's the way I see it, you know, maybe others don't.
David Slear (46:52.454)
Hmm. For sure. for sure. And yeah, no, I th I absolutely will get competitive with people. but yeah, right. No. Right. Yeah. No, he'll he'll dust me on the track. He he's quick. I don't know if you've seen him do two hundreds. He's he's got one. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (47:00.682)
Okay. But not Troy. He's too nice of a guy, I guess. But you know, he he's he he could just run you over, man. That guy's huge.
Chris Detzel (47:11.778)
Yeah, that guy's a I have. Well that's that that's how I met him. I was like, who is that guy? Like he looks huge and just is just going all out on these two hundreds, you know?
David Slear (47:25.872)
Yeah. No Troy will Troy will beat me in like every workout we do. he's he's very tough and very fast. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (47:31.162)
He's like a Jay Novacek or you know, just a workhorse. You know, it's kinda how I think about it. I don't know if you know who that is, but old school kind of Dallas Cowboy tight end. Anyways, I digress. Get Chicago.
David Slear (47:43.46)
Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. So ran pretty like y I was thinking, you know, like everybody says you should always start a marathon conservatively, and I was thinking that, but I and I, you know, tried to, but I felt pretty good and you know, coming off of the summer I I didn't have many expectations of what what
Chris Detzel (48:00.727)
I was thinking that, but it's not me.
Yeah.
David Slear (48:12.902)
it was gonna feel like so or or how fast I was gonna be running. so I was feeling pretty good and started running like I think my first mile was like five fifty maybe or something and then got right got right down into the five thirties after that. and like felt pretty good. so yeah, well yeah a it kept going until like my
Chris Detzel (48:27.021)
Okay.
Wow. I guess so. Hopefully it kept going. Let's let's hear it.
David Slear (48:43.504)
It it started to get really hard around mile sixteen and I was like, Okay, this is like we're in it now. I went through the half and like one fourteen flat, I think. and yeah, got it started to get really hard around mile sixteen and then hung on to the same pace until about mile twenty and then it was like, Okay, we gotta switch into like we gotta make sure we don't like totally collapse here mode.
Chris Detzel (48:54.232)
Wow. Wow.
David Slear (49:13.66)
luckily, like I was talking about, you know, like with with how much more I had been running, my my let's not collapse mode was still, you know, a good bit faster than it might otherwise be. so I ultimately I wound up like almost even splitting it. I r I ran like one fourteen flat for the first half and one fourteen high back half. so
Chris Detzel (49:28.396)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (49:38.474)
Okay. Wow.
David Slear (49:43.376)
Yeah, so it it I was like I was it was it was two twenty eight forty one was the the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I was I was I was I did beat Troy, yes. Yes. no he yeah. I I was feeling pretty good early on and he decided to race smarter, so he he let me go. but yes, I was super
Chris Detzel (49:44.536)
What's the math on that? Just do the math for me. Okay. That's excellent then. So you know so you did beat Troy then.
Chris Detzel (50:01.689)
That's awesome, man. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (50:10.318)
But it sounds like a being aggressive is I think you have to be aggressive sometimes. You know, how do you I mean that's pretty aggressive, I'm a thing, since three well yeah. Yeah. Okay, that's fair. But prepared, but then be go out of I mean, the the last time you ran a marathon was at three thirty nine. I mean two thirty nine. You know? I mean two twenty eight is like huge.
David Slear (50:17.254)
Yeah. It's I think you ha you have to be prepared for it, I would say. I don't think
Yeah.
David Slear (50:34.78)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (50:39.97)
That's a huge difference. I mean Okay. I love it. I think that's I mean, wow. So
David Slear (50:48.582)
Yeah. No, and I, you know, I like racing aggressively. It's I I'm pretty I think my my strength is like kinda going out and then grinding. So that you know, running a hard first half kind of plays to my strengths. I'm not and who know, you know, who knows? Maybe if I race the first half smarter I'd actually run faster and have a
Chris Detzel (50:54.519)
Obviously.
David Slear (51:17.138)
Blaze in second half, but I I have not really tried that. So Yeah, no for sure.
Chris Detzel (51:23.608)
think it that works sometimes. I've done half marathons that usually I go out too fast, but if if I kind of in my mindset just kind of go, you know, the first six or seven miles just fast, but not, you know, overly and and usually I'll feel really good and I'm like, man, I I can't believe I feel really good and I keep going and then finish really well. But I mean but it's hard, you know. I mean anytime you do first of a race, I mean, especially somebody like you that's just
David Slear (51:38.354)
For sure.
Chris Detzel (51:53.069)
raring to go, you know. so let's get to but let's get to to to Boston. So w was this your first Boston this last year or okay.
David Slear (51:54.492)
Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (52:05.382)
It was, yeah. There's yeah, that was Boston was the next marathon I did after Chicago. yeah. I've done four no five marathons. So yeah. Well thank you. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (52:09.824)
Okay. All right. Perfect.
Chris Detzel (52:15.862)
not really that many to be so fast. So that's pretty good. So and you keep getting better. You know, like I mean it sometimes it just and and it and it's obviously it's taken you, I guess, to get to your the level that you wanted to be at, or at least running this fast. It's taken you five marathons so far to get to where you're at. And you've done very well. It's I mean you haven't hit a it feels like you haven't really hit a you know, some people hit a plateau for a little while. Like I was talking to
David Slear (52:34.128)
Yep. Yep. Yep.
David Slear (52:44.326)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (52:46.11)
what's his name? I just he just went but he went he was hitting three hours for a long time or two fifty eight or whatever. And then all of a sudden for ten years, right? And he's 37 now. And now he's hit, you know, he finally broke that barrier of two thirties or two thirty seven or something. But Jeff, yeah. Yeah, that's right, Jeff. And I'm like, but you haven't hit that yet. I mean, you might not do as you you might not go from a two twenty two to, you know
David Slear (52:54.024)
Mm-hmm.
David Slear (53:00.328)
Mm-hmm.
yes, right. Yeah, yeah.
David Slear (53:12.039)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (53:15.566)
two fifteen, but never know. I don't know. I mean sorry, let's talk about Boston. What was your thinking going into that?
David Slear (53:17.862)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well I've
David Slear (53:25.488)
Yeah, I you know, I I've kinda gotten to the point where I try not to set specific time goals. just 'cause part of that is like you never know what the weather is gonna be like on Wednesday and I don't like yeah, like if it was a massive headwind in Boston and I ran two forty, but I was like really pleased with the effort, I don't wanna like, I failed, you know. So
Chris Detzel (53:43.618)
Yeah. Especially in Boston.
Chris Detzel (53:55.01)
Yeah, of course.
David Slear (53:55.22)
so I I try to stray away from setting time goals now as much as possible. You know, you all you always like have one of numbers like that. And you know, like all the even numbers sound nice, like but so I kind of just went in wanting to go race and run hard, race people around me. and
Chris Detzel (54:06.03)
What if or maybe I get this? Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (54:24.368)
Yeah, and we you know, we wound up getting like the best weather day ever. So yeah. so no so now I'm never gonna do it again. I I don't know. I guess just wanna hold on to that that perfect weather memory. but
Chris Detzel (54:29.998)
It was amazing.
Chris Detzel (54:34.188)
And you never ran Boston, so you know, that's the other thing. really?
Maybe, yeah.
Chris Detzel (54:49.538)
Yeah. Well should.
David Slear (54:53.862)
But yeah, so so you know, knowing that it was gonna be like it and you know, I I don't think I really knew how perfect it was gonna be until we were out there. like the you know, because wind forecasts are always hard to pin down until you get out until like day of. So so yeah, and then basically broke all the Boston rules of like don't get too carried away on the
in the first five K on downhills and save something for the hill.
Chris Detzel (55:27.202)
You were killing it. Well, what was your strategy going in and what what did you think about as you kind of when you broke the strategy and then
David Slear (55:32.904)
I I like Yeah. I I like to think that I've gotten pretty good at just like knowing what what I should feel like running marathon pace. and so I I really try just like rely on that intuition. 'cause and you know ultimately the
pace you're running and how you feel are like your pace is not the only factor that's influencing how you feel at a given pace. You know, there it could be hot, it could be windy, could be running uphill, downhill, could be a lot of turns, you know, like there's there's so many factors that go into it. So I think if you Right, right. Right. Right. So I right. So I think like the the more you can really dial in
Chris Detzel (56:08.888)
Good point.
Chris Detzel (56:15.298)
Maybe you didn't go to the bathroom when you thought you should go, you know. I mean, there's always that. Nobody talks about it, but that's a big deal.
David Slear (56:29.062)
understanding like this is this is how I should feel. the more you're gonna set yourself up for, you know, having a good race, not not being so tied to the number because that can lead to either you get out over your skis because it's a harder day than you expect, or maybe you wind up being more conservative than you needed to go and you left time on the table. You you know, so I kind of just like went out and ran at what felt like good
Chris Detzel (56:45.109)
I agree with that.
David Slear (56:58.342)
like, you know, firm marathon effort.
Chris Detzel (57:01.89)
This is a low five tens and things.
David Slear (57:04.741)
Well yeah, i there's a pretty big downhill in those first couple of miles.
Chris Detzel (57:06.766)
So, you know, I saw your splits. I was like, well, I mean, and been listening now to it's well, I just wanna get however I felt. I mean, you're feeling good.
David Slear (57:10.758)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (57:20.07)
Yeah, well, yeah. I felt okay. I I actually didn't like feel phenomenal. I would say I felt like okay. And it started to feel hard a lot earlier than I would have liked. like it it started to feel hard around like mile six or seven, which is like very early in the marathon. So I yeah. I basically like let myself run the downhills,
Chris Detzel (57:25.184)
Okay.
David Slear (57:47.076)
And then, you know, you get to the flat part of the course and just kinda kept rolling at what felt like appropriate effort and I felt like yeah, I felt okay. and you know, looked down at the watch and I was like, running running pretty quick. so I kinda thought that I was gonna get punished for that. but I think you know, ultimately I think just because it was a tailwind and
not hot. I I got away with it. but yeah. Yeah, I ran like a a pretty big half PR through the first half and you know, it's downhill so it's it's not like
Chris Detzel (58:19.224)
Yeah, but that's awesome.
Chris Detzel (58:30.572)
not it's downhill, but it's not that much downhill. I mean, of course. Yeah. Yeah.
David Slear (58:33.7)
Yeah. But enough that it helps. The fur it's a it's a fast first half. and then yeah, just got it the you know, the and the majors are nice because like even it even at pretty high s fast paces towards the front of the race, there's a lot of people to run with still. so like I wasn't running alone. I had
Chris Detzel (58:58.936)
Yeah, always.
David Slear (59:03.622)
you know, because I ran the first half pretty aggressively, I was I had people passing me, more so than I was passing people for most of the race. But yeah. Yeah. yeah. yeah. but so yeah, I had some good little like mini groups to run with. and then kind of, you know,
Chris Detzel (59:11.806)
Yeah. You felt like a normal person running. Nobody was you weren't battling anybody anymore, you know, like even at that speed.
David Slear (59:32.968)
went into the hills just trying to, you know, run a measured effort, not worry too much about the pace. Like let it be slow if it needs to be slow. and it w you know, because of the tailwind again, it wasn't that slow. So got through the hills and then, you know, once you're through heartbreak, it's downhill to the finish. So if you ha if you haven't totally beat yourself up, it's pretty forgiving at that point.
Chris Detzel (59:40.236)
Yeah. Smart.
David Slear (01:00:01.766)
You know, if you're if your legs are toast, it's actually quite hard because running downhill on toast legs is hard. But but yeah, fortunately had just enough left to finish out I you know, I was still running slower than I was for the first half, but finished out well enough to yeah, run two twenty three and yeah, was pretty stoked with that. I I yeah, I I didn't expect to run that fast. and you know, it it's it was
Chris Detzel (01:00:21.966)
That's pretty phenomenal, man. And that's a huge PR.
David Slear (01:00:30.864)
weather assisted to a certain degree, but so you know I'm
Chris Detzel (01:00:34.658)
Hey man, you don't need to caveat that. It was a great race. You know, like like it was amazing. I mean, I'm looking at your splits and and I'll just kind of name a little bit of it. So the first couple of miles, you're running five nine to five ten. And then when you hit the five K, you're running an average of five fifteen. So you're getting already a little bit a little smarter, maybe. And then ten ten miles in, you're at five twenty one. So you've kind of
David Slear (01:00:38.022)
Yeah.
David Slear (01:00:58.321)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:01:02.338)
gone up a little bit, but overall you ran about a 526 pace. And so I mean that's that's pretty fast and pretty awesome. And and it sounds like, you know, the training from the miles. Do you have a coach? Or okay. So you just kind of how do you get the miles, you know, what do you just
David Slear (01:01:18.096)
I don't. No.
David Slear (01:01:23.412)
I just right now I just kind of really try to listen to my body and be like, you know, I I try to just ever every week I try to do like at least one workout and one long run, and the rest is just, you know, easy steady miles for the most part. especially in the summer now, I've had to sometimes just be like, okay, we're just doing a long run this week. we're
Chris Detzel (01:01:44.226)
Yeah, smart.
David Slear (01:01:52.376)
gonna do a workout. so yeah, I don't know. I think i again, I think it's just kind of a being in tune with your body type thing. And I've been, you know, I've only been running for a few years, but I have I mean I started rowing in twenty thirteen, so I've got thirteen years of endurance sport. Not like just you you learn about yourself the more you're you're in sport. So
Chris Detzel (01:01:56.463)
I've done a lot of workout runs summer. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:02:20.738)
What's next for you?
David Slear (01:02:22.902)
so I'm running Chicago again. yeah, I think we're like eight, seven weeks out, something like that. I don't keep track, but yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:02:24.461)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (01:02:32.098)
Coming up soon enough.
So you're doing two a days. Can you talk a little bit about so you get Chicago coming up? And I think I saw that you did two a days to get over a hundred miles a week. Is that okay. Yeah.
David Slear (01:02:44.924)
Yeah, as much as I can. It's hard right now. yeah, I mean, when you're trying like, you know, I I've gotten to the point now where like I I can handle running a hundred plus miles a week. but if you're gonna be doing that, it's really hard to get that much volume in single runs. So yeah, so try to split them up.
Chris Detzel (01:03:08.696)
Do you do you have a philosophy on that? I'll I'll tell you why I asked because like I was talking to and Brett is he he's an engineer and you know Brent a little, right? and he talks about like the there's science behind s why you would do two a day, so one of the things he said, and he said many, but it was interesting because he goes, you know, like you can get a long run in and instead of doing twenty three miles just all at one time.
David Slear (01:03:19.964)
Mm. Yep.
Chris Detzel (01:03:37.187)
You can get, you know, 10 miles in the morning and then, you know, you you can eat a little bit and things like that and then do another twelve or thirteen later, you know, and maybe there's some speed in it and and things like that. And there was some science behind that that helps, you know, you to kind of, you know, cause cause you're resting a little bit and then you're coming back out and doing some of that stuff. I mean, I'm sure it's a long day and makes you tired, but there I don't know if there was it just, hey, I gotta get 100 miles and the only way to do it is, you know.
David Slear (01:03:47.58)
Yes.
Chris Detzel (01:04:06.808)
Put into two.
David Slear (01:04:07.932)
Yeah, no, I mean it it ultimately like I guess yeah, the reason is that it's easier on your body. Like it's you're running eighteen miles straight is a lot harder on you than running twelve miles in the morning and six miles in the afternoon, you know. So it's like you could do singles but you're pr and I you know, I'm sure there are people out that are out there that do that build up to that.
Chris Detzel (01:04:13.986)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:04:22.541)
Yeah.
David Slear (01:04:33.532)
But I I suspect if I were to try to do that I would be more likely to hurt myself. so
Chris Detzel (01:04:40.398)
So you're saying you might hurt yourself less if instead of going to do a twenty two or twenty-three miler, you would do it split it up into two or sixteen or eighteen miles, whatever the number is.
David Slear (01:04:49.456)
Yeah, I'm I'm I'm not a I'm not a P T, so don't take my word as gospel, but I suspect that's the case, yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:04:55.946)
Okay. Well, I mean a lot of people don't do two days, they'll just go out and do their twenty two miles, you know. It seems like a lot.
David Slear (01:05:00.454)
Yeah. And you know, I think like I'll I'll still I'll still I'll still do a long run where I'm running like twenty the you know, in a marathon block I'll get up to running twenty plus miles in a single run. But certainly not every day. and yeah. So
Chris Detzel (01:05:11.787)
Okay.
Chris Detzel (01:05:18.124)
I mean if you're hitting a hundred you're gonna hit, you know, twenty miles a few times a week. Two or three times yeah, that makes sense.
David Slear (01:05:22.95)
Right. Well what before Boston I was doing like basically every weekday I would do twelve in the morning, six in the afternoon, so eighteen, and then yeah, and then a long run that was like twenty plus miles. so yeah. So not multiple twenty mile days, but close. Yeah, close.
Chris Detzel (01:05:32.622)
Okay. Yeah, close.
Chris Detzel (01:05:42.926)
Well, Chicago
Yeah, but close, eighteen, you know, sixteen. I mean that's that's that's a lot of miles every day. But is there anything that we missed that you know, you're like, man, we should have talked about this thing and we just missed?
David Slear (01:06:00.525)
I don't think I don't I don't know. I rambled a lot, but
Chris Detzel (01:06:05.698)
We both talked about a lot. So any like words of wisdom to people out there trying to hit some goals and and things like that for their marathons?
David Slear (01:06:07.847)
Yeah.
David Slear (01:06:15.656)
I mean, you know, I I suspect a lot of people have said this, but you know, find find people to do it with, have fun. you know, if it's if running is something that you look forward to because people like that's you know, for me, that's when I see my friends. That's what makes it so fun to do. every day.
'Cause you know, like I I'm driven to compete, but I also like the the day to day is seeing my friends. So yeah, that's like I I think that's the most valuable thing. yeah. And Dallas is great for that. There's lots of groups. So yeah. I yeah. I believe.
Chris Detzel (01:06:53.898)
Grinding with friends creates bonds and friendships, you know.
Lots of groups, literally like 50. Okay, I'm not joking. You know, DFW anyways. So I I counted up. Well, David, this has been a great conversation and I really appreciate you coming on.
David Slear (01:07:13.702)
Yeah. No, thanks for having me.
Chris Detzel (01:07:16.514)
Thanks everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at DFW Running Talk.subset.com. Check out the website. I did a revamp and everything. There's training plans, there's races, you know, and and you can find a bunch of different stuff there. Go there. David, again, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
David Slear (01:07:36.21)
Thank you.
