Chris Detzel (00:00)
All right, welcome to another DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel and today's special guest is Adam Watson. Adam, how are you?
Adam (00:09)
Yeah, good thanks, Chris. ⁓ appreciate you having me on today.
Chris Detzel (00:14)
Yeah, you kinda have an accent. Where are you from?
Adam (00:17)
Southern Texas, I think, Chris. So fairly southern Texas. So yeah, from Australia originally. Trying to convince people on Texan now, but it's not working. So I'll have to continue to work on my Texan accent.
Chris Detzel (00:20)
Yeah. Yeah.
Part of Australia.
Adam (00:33)
⁓ from Melbourne originally, so moved to D F W around about seven, eight years ago with the family and for work. But yeah, previous to that, sort of all the time was back in Australia and in Melbourne, where I grew up.
Chris Detzel (00:48)
Cool. And you know, we know each other. So ⁓ we run together mostly on Wednesday ⁓ mornings and I think we've done some Saturdays and things like that. And you know, I thought it would be very interesting to to get you on. One, you just ran New York. ⁓ we'll talk a little bit about the New York marathon, but also you've been running for a long time and you have a great journey. So I wanted to capture that in a podcast. So let's let's start a little bit. How'd you start running, or at the very least, let's talk a little bit about
kind of high school and then you know from there what'd you do? Did you do sports? All that kind of stuff.
Adam (01:24)
Yeah, I think probably first off, Chris, I'm probably an average Joe runner compared to a lot of the people that you have on this podcast and who've done some pretty special things. And ⁓ I probably started running later in life. So I played mainly team sports growing up. So ⁓
Played a lot of basketball, ⁓ probably between sort of like the age of ten, sixteen, seventeen, basketball was my primary sport. Then I realized I wasn't gonna grow anymore. So I thought that ⁓ a five foot ten basketball was not that attractive for many people. So ⁓ transitioned more to play Australian rules football. And so I'd played a lot of that growing up, but probably from sixteen onwards, Australian rules football was my primary sport and sports a little bit different.
Chris Detzel (02:07)
What what's Australian rules football? What is that?
Adam (02:09)
It's Australian rules, not rugby. It's Australian rules football. So it's a it's a type of football which is only played in Australia. It would be the number one sporting code in Australia that's played. ⁓ definitely from male perspective and it's getting more even more popular from a female perspective now, too. but yeah, unique to Australia, it's primarily a kicking game. So you actually find probably twenty percent or twenty-five percent of the punters in the college system at the moment are Australian because they
We grow up kicking the football. We can't play any other position, but we could we could play punter. So that's a that's our limitation in terms of it. But ⁓ yeah, that was my promise like and it's different as well, sport in Australia. So depending on where you you sort of go to school, but a lot of it is outside of school. So we did a lot of club sport and those type of things. and then also there's not like a college pathway. So there's no college sport per se. Or so you either go professional or then there's opportunity, there's
Chris Detzel (02:38)
Yeah.
Could kick it.
Adam (03:08)
⁓ they call it similar to a recreational league but quite good standard of ⁓ like amateur sport. So I played Australian rules football umtil I was twenty eight years old. So ⁓ but a pretty heavy commitment. You tr
Chris Detzel (03:19)
well, okay. Do they have any like leads in the Texas? Like, you know, do they have any kind of Australians here in Dallas that do some of that or not?
Adam (03:28)
Yeah, they've got they've got one side in Texas, but then they have to then play other sides across ⁓ was one side in DFW and then they play other sides across Texas and and ⁓ the states as well and so mainly made out made up of expats and those things. But ⁓ but yeah it's a heavy c heavy commit. I trained three nights a week with the club. We played on Saturdays, that was majority of your day on Saturday as well. So ⁓ but it's quite a a taxing sport physically, so
Chris Detzel (03:42)
Yeah, of course.
Adam (03:55)
⁓ you get to sort of that sort of mid to late twenties and it gets it gets a lot harder and the body ⁓ recovers a lot slower. So ⁓ yeah, that was sort of primarily that's what I did from a sporting I really love team sport, so
Chris Detzel (04:03)
Yeah. That makes sense.
Yeah. Well that's that's sounds fun, but I mean it kind of seems like that would roll over pretty well to to running. When when did you start running? What was the
Adam (04:20)
Yeah, I started running ⁓ post-football, and then we had I had my first child ⁓ probably around about two thousand and eight, I would say. ⁓ that was when Abby was born. So ⁓ post that that's when I started running. I could actually remember I was on holidays, we'd taken a little bit of time off, and I saw an ad in a newspaper for a half marathon that was coming up in about sort of ⁓ six months' time, and I thought
Actually, that would be something I would like to do. ⁓ didn't really think about like I'd never run more than six miles. So that's basically doing team sport. And you're off season, you might have to do a six mile run and those things, but that was the extent of it. And I was probably more ⁓ a shorter distance. if I was doing any running events, it was the hundred, two hundred, four hundred that I'd run. ⁓ didn't really do any long distance running and so I saw that ad.
I was on holidays, got back the next week and I just went out and ran eighteen kilometers just to see if I could ⁓ run and I ran eighteen kilometers and thought, well if I could run eighteen I could probably run twenty one kilometers, ⁓ thirteen miles and then ⁓ that was it. Then signed up and did that was I think two thousand and nine I ran my first half marathon and that's sort of what got me into to running. So yeah. And I ran a I think yeah.
Chris Detzel (05:29)
Yeah. Of course.
You just saw it you just saw it on online or something and you're like, I'm gonna sum it up and that's that's it. I it wasn't like
Adam (05:49)
Yeah, just an ad in a newspaper. That was what I was reading when I was ⁓ just taking it easy on holidays and I thought, that sounds like good fun that I should do it. So yeah, I did my first half. I was thirty two years old, so ⁓ hadn't as I said hadn't run more than six miles before that and then ran a one forty one ⁓ for my first half and thought that was okay for ⁓ yeah, first go at it anyway.
Chris Detzel (06:09)
Dang.
I mean, that's really good. I mean, my first half was a one forty seven. So I mean, to me, you know, when when you can run a one forty one for sure, I mean that's pretty impressive.
Adam (06:24)
Yeah. Yeah, but then then it just sort of went from there. I always thought like if you can run twenty and I sorry, Chris, I will talk in kilometers and miles. I my my brain still works mainly in kilometers, but I always thought if you can run twenty one, well then I should be able to run twenty two, and if I can run twenty two, I should be able to run twenty three, and then ⁓ then it just sort of went from from there and ⁓ even like so that was two thousand and nine, but then I had another child in two thousand and ten, had my third child in two thousand eleven. It was really
Chris Detzel (06:32)
Fine.
Yeah.
Adam (06:52)
busy with work and then sort of didn't really run. ⁓ ran consistently, but no events, ⁓ sort of during that period. And then ⁓ two thousand just by myself, that type of thing. So I would then probably towards sort of after that I said my third child was born in twenty eleven and then twenty twelve I started to run a little bit more with a group. So ⁓ my brother ⁓
Chris Detzel (07:01)
Did you run with anybody or was it just on your own? Was it like okay.
Adam (07:18)
It's interesting that I never really thought about running a half marathon 'cause my brother does, did a lot of ultras and those sort of things and I just didn't compute that that was I just thought it was abnormal that people did that. So I didn't think about doing it myself. But ⁓ I started to run with him and his group a little bit as well. So ⁓ and then that that really sort of got us got me into running more consistently in terms of that. And I do
I remember even before I did my first half, he said, if you want to run with the group, you have to be able to do six miles in less than fifty minutes just to be able to turn up. And I'm like, Okay, well, that's fair enough. and they're a pretty talented group in terms of it. So and then that was just sort of gave me a little bit of an idea of sort of where I went wanted to get to. And then yeah, twenty twelve I ran my second half marathon. ⁓ and I did it one twenty nine at thirty five years old and I was thought, that's
I I was happy I really wanted to break one thirty, so that was my my goal at the time.
Chris Detzel (08:19)
Did you like was to one thirty like 'cause some other people were doing it or you just what was the the reason?
Adam (08:25)
I I just set the I just have those arbitrary numbers in my head sometimes and I just thought one thirty sounds like okay, that's a good n good number to be able to sort of break for a half to ⁓ and you look at I look at the fields and those type of things over the years and go, Is that in the top ten percent or so? And go, If I can get in that, that would be good. And so that's really sort of how I set my goals in terms of it. ⁓ knowing obviously running's a pretty personal thing, but just knowing sort of where I sit amongst sort of ⁓ the group was sort of how I sort of set my goals anyway.
Chris Detzel (08:29)
okay.
Do you so when you were thinking then, was it mainly just 'cause you were athletic or you wanted to be busy doing something you're with the you're gaining weight? Was there any reason that you were just doing that? Or was it just, hey, it's something I can go do today and I might as well do it?
Adam (09:13)
Yeah, mainly just 'cause I enjoy exercise. I enjoy being outside and that's sort of really sort of what drove a lot of it. 'Cause I sort of played team sport and then it got to the point where that commitment was too much to play team sport. I just found running ⁓ something that one that I enjoyed, but two was really flexible. So when you've got young children and those type of things, like I could get up early and go for a run, I could
Chris Detzel (09:20)
Yeah.
Adam (09:38)
On a Saturday night we might put them to bed and it's eight o'clock and okay, I'll go out and have my run then. I travel a fair bit for work and you could always just pack the runners and you can find somewhere to run. And so that was it. And then we had a couple of guys from work who were starting to run a little bit as well. So ⁓ two of the people I worked with closely at work, one one was my ⁓ my boss and my mentor, Adrian, and he started running and then another co worker, Ben, and we just sort of it just became the water.
caller talk as well. So when you came in on a a Monday morning you're you're talking sports, but you're also talking sort of what ran run did you do on the weekend and what you got got out of it as well.
Chris Detzel (10:08)
Yeah. A lot more fun but.
Then all right, so you ran a couple half marathons, pretty happy, one thirty ⁓ under one thirty, so that's pretty impressive. I mean, and you have a bunch of kids now that are just really small. So right d did your wife, I mean, what was she thinking? Like, did she go out and do any running or anything like that? Or is she just thinking you're kinda crazy for doing it?
Adam (10:39)
She's never she's always playing fitness and those things. She plays a lot of tennis and other things, but never been into running. ⁓ but she's like I think with all of these things, as we know, you've got to have a pretty supportive partner ⁓ to allow you to do any of these type of activities and particularly ones when you've got a young family, but takes time. But ⁓ she just knew that was a really positive outlet for me in terms of then being able to have that time and ⁓ yeah, just get the energy out and find something you're passionate about and
Chris Detzel (10:44)
Okay.
Adam (11:09)
have a distraction away from work and those things where you've got some where with stress or pressure and those things and just knew that that was something that sort of fueled me. And ⁓ as I said, like I also accommodated as much as possible. Like sometimes that means getting up at four o'clock in the morning and going for your run and getting it done so you can be there for the family when they get up as well.
Chris Detzel (11:31)
Yeah, it it's probably important. ⁓ you know, and and and it's funny because you mentioned stress and stuff. I even find today that if I'm kinda s don't exercise and for me it's running, but ⁓ or if I don't exercise as much as I should, I feel it, you know, because work is a lot more stressful. ⁓ you know, and I'm I feel more tired sometimes, you know, because I'm just not getting it.
Sitting down all day kinda stinks, you know. And so ⁓ but I do, I I agree, I I think that it's a huge stress reliever. So ⁓ especially I mean, you're
Adam (12:07)
Yeah. And it's not the only thing, but I've got sort of a framework, Chris, of like I've got four pillars and it's this I took this inspiration from a movie that I watched once, but it's around sort of like you gotta have a physical, a mental, emotional and spiritual pillars and then what he and running ⁓ for me fills a lot of those buckets in terms of then keeping me really balanced. Obviously there's a lot of things outside of that that I need to do as well, but just running something that happens to tick all of those boxes that just feel like you're in a better position, ⁓
Yeah, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, when you're doing it. So, ⁓ that's when you drift when I drift away from running. So yeah.
Chris Detzel (12:43)
Also, can you go deeper? Can you go deeper into some of those? I mean, if if you want.
Adam (12:48)
Yeah, well that's it like like the full story on that one, Chris is a there's a movie called Chasing Mavericks. So I'm not sure if you've seen it. It's a classic surf movie. It's a based on a true story where a guy ⁓ and then and then sort of these philosophy came out of it. And I've just sort of just ingrained that in my lifestyle for probably the last ten years or so and said there's four pillars ⁓ of really sort of
Chris Detzel (12:56)
Been a while.
Adam (13:11)
⁓ human stability and strength in terms of it. And the first one's physical. And I think most people sort of gravitate to that because that's easy to comprehend in terms of what that means from a physical perspective. And so I find running really balances obviously that side of it, making sure you're getting the right physical stimulus, but also keeping yourself healthy. The second one's mental as well. So then ⁓ and obviously a lot of people challenge over time in terms of
mental health health and awareness and those things. And I just find that running puts me in a better headspace in terms of ⁓ being able to sort of deal with pressure of life and and those things and and more positive in terms of the outlook. The third one's emotional. So and that's more the ability to to handle sort of emotional stress and I would say, ⁓ my wife might argue from this, but I find I'm more patient when I'm when I am running and
getting that outlet and enjoying that side of it. ⁓ and then the last one's spiritual. So like I find and particularly what I've been out of gain through sort of the running community and the W R R C and those things is like it's it's being part of something bigger than yourself. So like spiritual obviously a lot of people think of religion and those type of things, but in this sense I I sort of bring it back to just being part of a group and being giving back to the community or being part of something which is bigger than just yourself. And
I find running just an amazing way for that. The the way that there's such positive sort of endorsement and encouragement from everyone within sort of the the running community and how everyone sort of gathers together and knowing that everyone's on their own individual journey, but everyone's really sort of invested in your journey. So which I found like that's a ⁓ and that's why it's been great to be part of a group as well.
Chris Detzel (15:01)
Yeah, I mean, I talk about that on the podcast all the time on community and and just how much, you know, that's the reason I started this is I wanted to be close to people that or at least talk to people that I've never talked to before, or go deeper into our conversations and become friends with some people, you know, and and and and really this particular podcast has helped me, you know, do that. And running is the outlet for me is is, you know, the other pieces and you kind of mention it, but ⁓ I I get a lot of
energy like is if I go out by myself, you know, sometimes to run, I think of like I become a little bit more innovative, thoughtful, and you know, I have these ideas that I want to execute on, you know, and and ⁓ or I I think about a book that I just read or something, man, that was really good. I'm gonna go read this one or whatever, you know, or I even it's funny because I'll be listening to a book that's somewhat interesting and then I think
Adam (15:55)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (15:59)
Then I start thinking of s how I can apply that to my life while I'm running, you know, like and and so I I I think running gives me gives people obviously you a lot of different thoughts and and and you know, comforts and things, you know. It's the same same with me. I just I think it's pretty amazing what what it does, you know, and what it can do.
Adam (16:18)
Yeah. Yeah. Never run with earphones or music or those type of things generally, because I just it's my own thoughts. I just really enjoy that time out on the road where you've got that as you said, and you might have just read a book or listened to a book, and it's just okay, just processing that. What does that mean for me? And I just enjoy that time and
Chris Detzel (16:27)
Yeah.
Adam (16:37)
and quiet as well, either by myself or then you've got the the community side of it when you're running with others and just to to talk about sort of what's going into their on going on in their lives as well.
Chris Detzel (16:48)
Yeah. I mean we've had it's many of those kind of conversations, right? So ⁓ so you've run it ⁓ a couple of halves. Where where did you get in in your idea like, Hey, I wanna go run it full? What was
Adam (16:51)
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, again, probably just the community at work. Like a couple of guys were starting to run f full marathons and I thought, well, okay, like I should be able to run a full marathon as well if other people can do it. So ⁓ yeah, I started. So I signed up for twenty thirteen. I did the Gold Coast Marathon in Astro. So ⁓ it's a really great course. It's ⁓ it's very flat and it just follows the coastline in terms of so beautiful scenery in terms of it up in ⁓ Queensland. I've
at that point I had three kids, sort of made the purpose. I didn't want to do my first marathon and have three kids in a hotel room and trying to sleep the night before. So we made a decision. We just took took our eldest, who I think was five at the time. So we thought just great one on one time ⁓ with one of the kids and get them the opportunity to see me run a marathon. So yeah, two thousand and thirteen I went out and I did the Gold Coast marathon. I did a three six ⁓ in my first marathon. So ⁓
Chris Detzel (17:57)
What?
No.
Adam (18:00)
And yes, I was I was happy with that and like I hadn't had much expectation or goals in terms of that, but it's just when you're
Chris Detzel (18:07)
Adam just goes out and say, you know, I'll just go run a marathon at 306.
Adam (18:12)
Six. Yeah. So and then then from there when you when you're close when you're three six you go, well, maybe I could do a three. Like ⁓ but it's you you realise then how big a jump that actually is. But ⁓ yeah, so I went back the next year in twenty fourteen and had the goal to do a three. We then took my second ⁓ child, so we're doing the rotation to go, okay, now it's your time turn to get some one on one time with mum and dad and see dad run. And 'cause we also then would go to
Chris Detzel (18:14)
And that's back when there weren't some super shoes.
Yeah, of course.
Adam (18:42)
a theme park on the Monday after the event as well. So the the ch kids had a really good time. But yeah, I went and did ⁓ twenty fourteen but ran a a two fifty nine ⁓ in twenty fourteen. So it was lucky enough to to hold on and ⁓ break three hours in my my second marathon and so I was thirty seven years old at that point in time and ⁓ yeah it sort of had a really good training block leading into it and felt really good ⁓ about the race and
And probably went pretty hard in the first half and then just hang on for dear life in the second half, ⁓ to to get there. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (19:19)
So let's go slightly deeper, ⁓ into you know, when you were training for half marathons, what did that look like and then how did it change when you started ⁓ doing those full marathons? Because you were running with a group, people maybe that knew what they were doing. I mean, you had to somehow have a clue what you're doing since I'm gonna throw six. Right. I mean
Adam (19:39)
Yeah, yeah. Like I did, I ran with a group and ⁓ unlike my brothers ⁓ had done a lot of triathlons in his time. He's a physical therapist. he has a he had a triathlon coaching group as well. So I started to run with them on a sat day. They would do their long run on a sat day and then they'd do their long ride on a Sunday. So most of these were triathletes, but pretty ⁓ accomplished I would say, triathletes and they were
Some of these were capable of running sub threes at the end of an Iron Man type of level in terms of it. So you just pick up ⁓ the the tips and the tricks from from those guys in terms of what they were doing and and they pushed hard as well. So you you just had to try and hang on when you were doing those sat day runs. So that worked well for me. So the sat day run was generally about sort of thirteen kilometers. It wasn't that far. ⁓ they called it ⁓
The 15 plus or minus because they actually started the run before GPS. So they thought they were running 15 kilometers, but that when they got GPS, they worked out it was only 13. ⁓ but it was because it was such a hard course that we were running. So we were running hills, we were doing soft sand, we were doing stairs. So that really put a lot of ⁓ strength in the legs. And then I'd run my Sunday, I'd do my long run off the back of that on a Sunday. So
⁓ just building the strength and the legs and so I think that's really sort of what helped during that period of time is doing doing the volume, doing the hard work and building the strength and the legs and then also running with runners who are much stronger and faster than me as well. So just set what the expectations of what what could be possible anyway. So yeah. So that was yeah, so that's sort of but that was twenty fourteen. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (21:26)
How did did that
Adam (21:30)
And then twenty fifteen I went back and did it again.
Chris Detzel (21:31)
How did so when you started running the marathon?
I think the sound is a bit choppy. I think your internet's slightly off.
Adam (21:42)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (21:49)
I think I'm getting it though. So I'll I'll delete this this part so no worries. Can you hear me okay? Okay. Okay. So when you look at ⁓ the training for the full, I mean obviously it was a little bit different. I mean, was that, you know, a lot was that a lot harder or was it just like, hey.
Adam (21:55)
Yeah. Yeah, I've got you okay. Yep. All good. Yeah. Yep. So yeah.
Yeah, I just started
Yeah, I started to follow a plan as well, Chris. So like I use the Phil Fitz in a ⁓ Pete Fitzinger sort of 18 week plan in terms of it. And I was pretty disciplined. Like I had I think it's eighty-one or eighty-two sessions that are in that plan. And I did every single one of them on the day with what that was required and those type of things. And so it's just the discipline to to get out and do that. So I was and I was traveling with work. And again, you might
have to get up at four o'clock in the morning to get that session in, but just if that's what the plan said, that's what I did. And ⁓ so the combination of doing that and then running with ⁓ guys who are faster and more talented with me really helped as well, sort of just set where the expectations and what was possible. And that's just adjusted that from going from the half to the full. ⁓ and then just making yeah, I just wanted to run it as fast as and hard as possible.
Chris Detzel (23:11)
Pretty impressive. Did you ⁓ did you ever think about like running back then like the world majors? Was that even on your mind?
Adam (23:19)
No, ⁓ it's a really interesting one. And not until I'd moved to the US, I even really had had it even registered with me. So that ⁓ twenty thirteen well, twenty fourteen race where I broke three, that qualified me for Boston and would have got me in at that point in time comfortably. I think you'd probably have to run a little bit faster now at that age, ⁓ to do it. But I didn't even think it was a thing. ⁓ I hadn't even really didn't know what Boston was or that until
I moved here and then everyone's saying, they're going after their BQ time. And I'm like, okay, what's that? So ⁓ I don't really comprehended it too much at that point in time and and I'd really sort of just was doing one race a year. That was it. So I did I did the one in ⁓ twenty thirteen, then I did twenty fourteen, and then I went back in twenty fifteen and did the same race again. But that was I was just doing one marathon a year and
Chris Detzel (23:51)
Ha ha
Adam (24:10)
I had to go back I was had to go back in twenty fifteen 'cause I've got three kids. So I had to take my third ⁓ child to get the experience. But in my mind I'd tick the box. Like I'd broken three and that's all I wanted to do. And so if I didn't run another marathon again, I was okay. So 'cause I didn't there wasn't for me a big difference between two fifty five and two fifty nine. I just wanted to break three and I'd done that. So
Chris Detzel (24:36)
I think that back then that's more impressive because, you know, super shoes weren't around and nothing was around and we we didn't really have, you know, ⁓ I mean, I'm not saying we didn't know, but it wasn't as easy to understand nutrition and you know, ⁓ what you were doing was really good because you you used that plan, an eighteen week plan, which is and you stuck to it, but you know, and there wasn't a ton of groups around. I mean, you found a group, you know, a little bit, you know, to
Adam (25:03)
We
Chris Detzel (25:06)
⁓ to help and and so I remember people hitting close to three hours back then twenty fourteen and fifteen and that was like there wasn't that many people around here doing that. You know, I'm not saying there wasn't any people but it was a lot harder back in 2014, 15. Now I feel like everybody is.
Adam (25:24)
Yeah. Everyone's everyone's a lot quicker than me, I can tell you that, so yeah.
Chris Detzel (25:28)
Well, no, you're quick. I mean, you you have a lot of talent and I think that you should give yourself credit credit. So ⁓ all right, so you moved to the States, then you know, how did that go? What what went on then?
Adam (25:41)
Yeah, probably one running bit in between there, I would say, Chris, just to touch on because I ran twenty fifteen as well. I blew up a little bit in twenty fifteen. I got to the halfway point and I said to my wife at the time, I said, I don't I'm I'm done. I'm out. And she said, That's crazy, keep running type of thing. So I ran it, I did a three twelve and so and I said, Don't want to run an another marathon. So I'm like, That's that's enough for me. ⁓ but I actually transitioned to longer distances. So I then moved
to do ultras. So because I put I actually found 50k trail races easier than a marathon. So cause you could you pace yourself and those type of things and found that a lot easier. So I did 2016, I came across to the US just on holidays and I did a run from crested boot to Aspen, which was forty miles. So field of like 125 people, small run type of thing. And
Chris Detzel (26:19)
Yeah, same.
How well?
Adam (26:39)
Really just fell in love with trail running at the time. And then before I moved to the US, I did two runs. So for my 40th birthday, basically on my fortieth birthday, the day before my fortieth birthday, I run a ha I did a hundred kilometer race, 60 mile in Australia, which is the UTA 100. It's the Ultra Trail Australia, which is the biggest sort of ultra race in Australia that we have. 100 kilometers has a
About fourteen thousand feet of elevation gain. So it's a it's a hilly run, but it's in a it's in a beautiful, beautiful spot of the world in the Blue Mountains. So about an hour out of Sydney in terms of it. So ⁓ did that when I was ⁓ yeah, did that for my fortieth birthday in terms of it. ⁓ did okay, got through it. So but one of those ones. I did fifteen hours and so it was okay. So got through
Chris Detzel (27:11)
God Yeah.
Adam (27:35)
really proud of myself, but one of the things, probably another lesson I would say, Chris, for me, is I'm a big fan of lots of people, like whether it be Rich Roll or David Goggins, but the other one that I really subscribe to in terms of a quote that resonates with me is John Wooden, UCLA, and he says basically, this is paraphrasing, but that success is defined as really knowing that you gave it your best in terms of it and you got the best out of yourself for that result. So
I did that 100Ks and I'm like, I did it, but I think I can do better because now I know the race better. So I did if I hadn't known there was so many stairs or hills, I would have prepared a little bit differently. So I went back the next year and I did it again and broke my time by ⁓ an hour and a half quicker than I did the the year before. And ⁓ this is a funny little story to that. I did it in thirteen hours forty-nine and again so
Chris Detzel (28:15)
Yeah.
Dang.
That's awesome.
Adam (28:33)
For that race, if you won the race, you got a a gold belt buckle. If you're under 14 hours, you get a silver belt buckle. And if you're above that, you get a bronze. And so I wanted to get a silver. So that was my goal. I finished under 14 hours. I got my goal. I rang my brother and I said, Look, did it, got through. He's five years older than me. We're pretty competitive. And I said, I did it in 13 hours, 49 minutes. And he said, Do you know what I did it in? I No, I didn't even look it up. And he said, 13 hours 48 minutes. So
Chris Detzel (29:01)
Yeah.
Adam (29:01)
and that's a true story. He was one minute quicker over a hundred kilometres. So ⁓ that was ⁓ I still have the have that one to chase from him anyway.
So I think we've got you've got me back now. But yeah, so that's that's that was and that was that was sort of my love of trail running. And then that was twenty eighteen and then twenty nineteen I moved to the US. So and ⁓ had the opportunity to come here with work and everything and but didn't really run too much. So ⁓ it was such a big adjustment for the family and then work and then I did find sort of the
Chris Detzel (29:21)
that's amazing.
Adam (29:45)
White Rock running co-op as well. So I started running with the group there. ⁓ more just socially, didn't do any events, but ⁓ we had Nick and Andy had was j ⁓ just joining then as well. We had Scott and Pete and Anil and so had a good group of guys and I just started to run with them and then I had some back just injuries and soreness that I couldn't shake for probably two years and I stopped running. So ⁓ just
left the group and then really didn't do too much exercise whether I could row and I could do a bit of swimming and those type of things, but really just had pretty consistent ⁓ back pain for a couple of years, which then sort of took me away from from running for a period of time anyway. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (30:31)
Did you go did you go to the doctor and stuff or was it just put running your phone?
Adam (30:35)
Yeah, I didn't and really couldn't find much to like it's just one of those things that I couldn't it didn't hurt more to run, but it was always constantly sore. So in the end it was just mainly over time, strength exercises and all of those things got me back to a position where I could run again. But it probably took me a good couple of years to to do that and ⁓ sort of just yeah, then fell away from from running for a period of time and ⁓ then yeah, then then got back into it. ⁓
really in twenty twenty four was when I started to to run it consistently again. So ⁓ in terms of that then because I had a friend who really had a bucket list. He wanted to run the New York Marathon. So he had that on his bucket list and he said, if I do it, will you do it with me? And I said, Absolutely, type of thing. So he took a charity spot to to run it and
Chris Detzel (31:11)
Okay.
Adam (31:32)
⁓ I then partner with him to do that as well. He's not a runner. So this is a really interesting one. So this got me back into running, but it's an interesting story, Chris, because twenty twenty-four, ⁓ he'd committed to do it. We start training in April, we start training together. Very fit guy, but not a runner. Never run a marathon. Does a lot of F forty five, CrossFit, those type of things. So really super fit guy, but not a runner. Starts running in April, gets about three weeks in.
Chris Detzel (31:55)
Yeah.
Adam (32:01)
And he's like, can't do it. So he's had a lot of knee injuries over the time and those something he said, I actually can't do it, can't get through the training. So I'm like, okay. I'd committed. So I'd continued my training and everything. And then ⁓ probably about six weeks out, I was in China for work and I was traveling and ⁓ I was running around a lake. Beautiful par in Sha Min, if anyone's there, beautiful lake to run around, but
⁓ I wasn't concentrating, I was coming off the path, and there was a barrier to keep bikes or cyclists off the running path, and I ran straight into the barrier like at full speed in terms of it. And I thought that I'd fully broken my ribs in terms of it. But they ended up they were just badly bruised. But I probably admit that I had about three or four weeks that I couldn't run. That's how bad they were. And I hadn't really
Chris Detzel (32:42)
Wow.
Adam (32:53)
Done the same level of training that I wanted to up until that point in time. So I said to my friend, I'm out as well. So we were both out. We had place this is a and this is people who are obviously trying to get into New York marathon will think this is the craziest thing ever. We had places in the New York marathon and we weren't going to run it. But we were in New York the week before it was due to run for work. And so we saw all the banners and the posters up. And my friend who hadn't trained since April and he'd only done a couple of runs, said
He's gonna do it still. So and he said, if I do it, will you do it with me? I said, ⁓ yeah, absolutely. So we went out for dinner, we booked our flights for the next and we flew back the next weekend. He flew in, so we flew in on a Saturday, picked up our packet, we ran on a Sunday, ⁓ and it said, He he well, he the week before he said, Do I need shorts? Like he didn't even have running shorts or this. So he's he's a completely crazy guy in terms of it.
⁓ so off zero training, he just went and he ran the New York marathon. So ⁓ it was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. ⁓ I ran the first half with him and then we said at the half, I I said, ⁓ you've got to finish this, you've got to commit that you're gonna finish it, but I'll let you do your own race from now. And he said, Yep, got it, I'm gonna finish it. So he got through it. ⁓ I said the hardest thing he'd done in his life. I thought it was good because it was probably the easiest marathon that I'd run and
Chris Detzel (33:59)
Course.
Adam (34:18)
'cause I was running at a very controlled pace and I hadn't trained and then I wasn't even that sore afterwards. So I think it's actually a pretty good way to run a marathon. But it really inspired me as well, 'cause New York is just like it's that marathon, it's the best of humanity. Like peop there's the people out cheering and those things. And so ⁓ that really got me back into running. So post that, so that's obviously November twenty-four, twenty-five, I set myself
Chris Detzel (34:18)
Exactly.
Adam (34:45)
That I wanted to be more consistent in my running. And I I had to do a half marathon every weekend. Not a race, but just the distance as a run for 52 weeks in a row to get me more consistent back into running. And so that was my my new year's resolution for 2025. And so so I did that. So I did 52 half marathons ⁓ for the year. Didn't matter where I was. I did four in Australia. I did
Chris Detzel (34:56)
Okay, yeah.
Adam (35:10)
Two in Frankfurt, Germany. I did one in Mexico. I did one in Vietnam, ⁓ which again I did that in Ho Chi Minh City. And if you've ever been to Ho Chi Minh City, it's the craziest city in the world. You can't even cross the road because of the bikes and scooters and everything like that. But I discovered they had a really big running community. So whenever I'm in a new town, I look on Strava heat map to see where they run, and I found that they were running. And ⁓ it turned up on a Saturday morning and they would have had 500 people.
and they had the cones out on the roads. It wasn't a race, it was just that's this is their running club on a Saturday morning. There's a Garmin shop nearby that sponsors it and so yeah, I had a really I did my half marathon in Ho Chi Minh City with five hundred Vietnamese ⁓ and they had water stations out and everything like that. So ⁓ but that really got me disciplined to get back into to running and really find that passion again.
Chris Detzel (36:06)
That's amazing. I love that. So you recently ran the New York Marathon. Tell me about that.
Adam (36:07)
Yeah. Yeah. So
Yeah. Yeah, so I ran the New York. So I ran Dallas last year. So ran Dallas at the end of the last year and then really set myself ⁓ for so I did Dallas as after back of doing those half marathons, then I said I'm fit enough to run a marathon, ran Dallas. Then this year I had another mate who's another crazy guy say, ⁓ bucket list, I want to run the New York marathon. Will you run it with me? Again, hasn't run a marathon before. So my friend Chris and his brother Paul.
Chris Detzel (36:20)
yeah.
Adam (36:42)
just came in from Australia and they there's there's these crazy Australians that that but he actually trained. So that was a good thing. So ⁓ he trained and he flew in and came into Dallas and we went to New York and I really just wanted given I'd done it two years ago but hadn't raced it, I wanted to go back and actually do it properly in terms of it. So ⁓ did the full training block over the last eighteen weeks, similar to plan to what I've used
Chris Detzel (37:05)
Yeah, yeah.
Adam (37:10)
recently and then yeah went out there and did a three thirteen. I was hoping for a couple of minutes quicker, but it's such a tough course ⁓ to be able to judge your pace with all of the the bridges and the hills and and those things. But yeah, still happy with a a three thirteen. ⁓ if I might be wrong, but I think the automatic qualifier to get into New York for next year is three fourteen s for my age group, if you run that in New York.
So that was what I I wanted to break three fourteen. So I just got underneath that and ⁓ gave me the ability to to do it again next year. And I just think it's such a special race. Like all races are, but the way that the community sort of really gets involved and New York's obviously a special city. So I enjoy running that and then hopefully I can be pretty consistent over the next few years of being able to go there each November as well.
Chris Detzel (38:05)
So yeah, so walk me through the race though. So, you know, like you get there, how are you feeling? You know, and then you know, mile one to six, how what were you doing? You know, walk me kind of through that. You know, I'd love to hear, you know, ⁓ some of that through New York.
Adam (38:17)
Yeah.
feeling pretty good. Like a New York's a tough one just because it's a point to point as well. So it's such a a long time to to get out there as well. So I think we had pickup from the hotel at four forty-five. ⁓ for my wave was a nine ten start. So trying to sort of balance like, do I have what do I have for breakfast? Do I eat early? And all of those type of things. So it was feeling pretty good. Like I'd done I felt confident. I'd done the training. I've been pretty consistent in my running over really the last twelve months, I would say.
in terms of doing that. So felt well prepared, ⁓ really comfortable as well in terms of it. I think I don't maybe previously where you get nervous and those type of things, I don't really I'm just excited now, the opportunity to to run and participate, given I'm a little g bit older now, Chris as well. You just you never know when your your last one's gonna be and so I just say, well, I'm just gonna enjoy each one that I've got the opportunity. So
Did that. But yeah, for those that have run New York, it's just a long process. So you get out to Staten Island and you get a fair bit of sitting around because you've got to gotta get out there early because you've got the we call it the the ferry and then the bus and then you you go through the security and everything like that. So sit around and then but it's just really good vibe and buzz in terms of it. But felt well prepared. The bit that I struggled with was after the start.
The start's a really hilly start, so you got going up and over the bridge. And I just found I'm a really like I can dial in my running to say if I want to run like a seven eleven mile for twenty miles, like I could that's I like doing that. Like so and just being really consistent in terms of it. New York's hard to do that because you've probably got to take some pace off going up the hill, put it put some extra pace going down the hill, type of thing. So
⁓ that's the bit that I probably struggle with for the first half is sort of just getting that right. And it meant that I was probably running a little bit too quick on the where you could get some pace than where I wanted to be. So for it to run it well, I was having to do sub sevens and those things ⁓ on the flats or the downhills to make up for the time that you're losing on the uphills. So
Probably just a lesson for me in terms of just how I'd approach it differently, maybe going forward. I just trying to get a little bit more consistently. Because I I don't mind the hills, so I could probably take a little bit on the hills and not have it to run as fast downhill. So I've just got to get that balance right. And then I probably felt didn't feel that great during the whole run. I my quads were got sore earlier than what I wanted to. So ⁓ I knew when I got sort of to the Queensborough Bridge.
⁓ like, this is gonna be a pretty tough second half ⁓ for me 'cause the the quads were already sort of screaming, what are you doing to me? And let's stop. But ⁓ like everyone that does a marathon, that's just that point. You just sort of dial in and just go, Okay, this is just gonna hurt today. And so, ⁓ then you just keep pushing through. So, as I said, probably the but not as consistent as what I'd like to run from a a a pace perspective, but you're just there and you just soak up the atmosphere and just let that sort of
Take you along as well.
Chris Detzel (41:34)
I love that. That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you. The little story around, hey, you had to fight through it.
Adam (41:37)
Yeah. So but then it like it's it it plays in your head. It plays in your head. So now next to you what do I do? Like do I do I play to the hills? Do I try to be more consistent in the pacing? And it's like like there's you you just don't know. Sort of sometimes it can depend on the day and then ⁓ you only get the opportunity to to try it at one time, which is in the actual race. So ⁓ then you're gonna make it work.
Chris Detzel (42:06)
I mean, you can practice, you know, there's you just practice the hills and try to, you know, maybe be consistent. You know how it is, you know, run run some hills in the beginning and then see if you can be consistent for the next seven miles or something. I don't know, whatever. You know, but you have twelve months. So you know.
Adam (42:22)
Yeah. That's it. So I've got twelve months to think about it anyway and ⁓ for all of those scenarios to play through the the head. But yeah, definitely ⁓ look I I do, as you know, do a fair bit of hills already, but ⁓ that'll be something just to to build into sort of then how do you pace on a hill as well and making sure that I'm getting that right too. So yeah.
Chris Detzel (42:37)
Yeah.
Exactly.
So what's next for you?
Adam (42:49)
⁓ I've got I was lucky enough to get into Boston for next year. So my qualifying time I had a qualifying time, but I didn't have the buffer ⁓ to get there for ⁓ next year, but I was one lucky enough to get one of those thousand entries that they introduced this year. ⁓ to for so yeah, so I'll be we doing Boston in ⁓ yeah
Chris Detzel (43:10)
wow, congratulations. That's amazing. I didn't know that.
Adam (43:16)
next year in April. So really looking forward to the opportunity to to do that as well. And then hopefully and then yeah. Well actually I'm doing Dallas before that. I'm due to do Dallas in December. So ⁓ we'll see. I've I've signed up for it. I've got my bib. ⁓ it's a six week recovery from New York. So we'll see how we go. And I have put my name down as a pacer. So potentially if I do get the opportunity, I'd really love to be a pacer. So
Chris Detzel (43:32)
Four.
Yeah.
okay.
Adam (43:45)
three forty-five or four hours and those type of things to to give a little bit back to the community. So ideally, ⁓ that's what I'd like to be able to do for Dallas and then run Boston and then yeah, ⁓ looking to run New York again next year. So that's sort of what the calendar looks like. yeah, I'd I'd probably planned on maybe doing some more trail running next year, but once I got into
Boston and now that I think that I've been to New York as well, I'm like, okay, I'm probably just gonna be doing marathons again next year. So yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (44:21)
That's okay. ⁓ d does do any of your ⁓ kids r like to run at all or or no?
Adam (44:29)
No, no. My my kids are probably the favourite, like they like basketball and those type of things. I don't know whether this is true or not, but this is how I've I've always thought about it if well I'll come back. I've always thought about if I ran like three miles or five kilometer races, the kids would probably go, yeah, that's a good thing to do, type of thing. We'll do that. ⁓ but when you run marathons, they they're that does not sound as exciting to be able to do. So
Chris Detzel (44:53)
Goodbye.
Adam (44:56)
Although my son, I was sitting down on the couch last night post New York and my son said he's gonna run New York and I'm like, that's good. We had to look up he's only fifteen, so he's got a few years so he can actually he's allowed to run it, but ⁓ we'll see. So hopefully we can it inspire ⁓ one of the kids to to do it anyway.
Chris Detzel (45:18)
Well, I mean maybe he'll run some five Ks and ten Ks and halves or something, you know, in the meantime, you know.
Adam (45:24)
Yeah. Got a we got a starting point, so you got a progression side of it. So yeah. ⁓ but I said like I
Chris Detzel (45:28)
Yeah. Yeah. Can't just start the marathon. You can, but
Adam (45:37)
No, I didn't when I was fifteen I was not thinking about running a marathon, I can tell you that. So ⁓ that was not on my horizon at all. So
Chris Detzel (45:47)
Me either. and by the way, ⁓ I'll be r running Dallas half. I don't know if I'm gonna race it, race it, but I've I've paced it many times and it's a fun race to pace. I know you've run it before, but ⁓ so definitely giving back and pacing it is is always kind of fun. Did we miss anything that we should have covered that ⁓ I just completely missed?
Adam (46:10)
think like I think that yeah probably the the big bit for me is really just the community side of it as well. Like I would say I I enjoy the run on a Saturday morning and then going and having some breakfast with the guys as much as any event type of thing. So ⁓ I just think that's a really special thing and I think ⁓ really credit to what you do for the running community but just the running community overall here.
Chris Detzel (46:27)
Yeah.
Adam (46:36)
whether it be Dallas, but I'm sure that's replicated across ⁓ many towns across the the states as well, is the it's just that that sense of community is something that I actually get the most joy out of as well. And I talk about a lot with the the guys who we run with now. We run with like I run with quite like in their twenties. So ⁓ we've got Chet who's probably in his twenties, we've got Neil in his fifties, and we run with Mark and Erasmo and Aaron and Jordan. They're all different ages. And it's just like
But that doesn't matter, you just cross over and ⁓ I get as much out of that as anything. And I think that's probably my biggest thing now is I'm actually more about how do I stay fit and my ability to continue to run so I don't get injured so that I can actually enjoy those things on a sat day as much as anything. Cause ⁓ I've had those periods where I haven't had the ability to run or
⁓ it hasn't been the priority for me. And then when you look back and you go like, I wish I had been running more during that period. ⁓ but now so for me I'm just focused on on that, just staying healthy and giving myself that ability to run consistently and and yeah, spend spend time with the group. And as I said, whether it thinks whether it be pacing or ⁓ putting the Gatorade out on a Saturday morning at White Rock Lake, or were those things that we can do to to give back to the community as well.
Thanks for having me, Chris.
