Ep #57: Pumpkins & Mud – Racing with Andy Aupperle

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who is midlife and plus sized and you want to start running but don’t know how, or if it’s even possible, you’re in the right place. Using proven strategies and real-life experience, certified running and life coach Jill Angie shares how you can learn to run in the body you have right now.

Hey rebels, you are listening to episode number 57 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and today I’ve got the one and only Andy Aupperle back on the show.

He ran his first formally timed 5K the morning we recorded and so we’re just chatting about the experience and what he’s planning to do next with his running. And of course, there’s a lot of humor and love in this episode as well, so without further ado, here’s Andy.

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Jill: Hey everyone. So I’m here again with the very famous Andy Aupperle.

Andy: I’m not famous at all.

Jill: You’re famous.

Andy: How am I famous?

Jill: People know you from my Instagram.

Andy: Yeah, but I’m not getting recognized on the street like you are.

Jill: Okay guys, I got recognized at a 5K this morning, which was so fun.

Andy: That was awesome.

Jill: That was really cool. And shout out to Kayla for coming up and saying hi and her friend, Tia. What I wanted to do is bring Andy on the show today. I actually had another topic I was going to talk about but then he did his very first timed 5K this morning and it was kind of a different experience from the first time around and I thought it would be kind of fun to talk about those differences…

Andy: Boy, was it.

Jill: Yeah, okay, so let’s start out with tell everybody a little bit about the 5K that you did this morning.

Andy: Okay, let me preface this by saying that it’s been raining here in Philly for like, the last two days. So we had this race scheduled for today out on this farm and it ended up just being a huge, huge mud pit and it was just a huge mess of a race. It was a lot of fun running through the mud but it was just hard.

Jill: It’s like, good practice for the Tough Mudder that you’re doing.

Andy: Yeah, but that’s like, planned out mud running. This was just like, yeah, like I didn’t have any preparation for mud running like this.

Jill: This was completely unplanned. So, well, what was your expectation of this race supposed to be? What was it called again?

Andy: It was The Great Pumpkin Run.

Jill: The Great Pumpkin Run. So okay, I just keep interrupting. Tell them everything.

Andy: Well, it’s a 5K that takes place on this farm, about an hour outside of Philadelphia and it was supposed to be just like, running through the pumpkin fields. Super easy, right? But it just ended up being running through the bog of mud and water, running up hills. Who knew that there were hills on farms, right? Farms are supposed to be flat.

Jill: I thought they should be flat but they’re not. Karen and I started counting – so you guys, Andy was in corral C because he was planning on running the whole thing and I’m still rehabbing my knee so my friend Karen and I, we kind of started in the back and we were planning to run a little bit of it but walk most of it. And so Andy went through when it was still relatively safe. It’s not that it was unsafe, but…

Andy: There were two heats before me and then yeah, I was like the third group to go out and it was already destroyed. I can’t even imagine what it was like for you.

Jill: It was insane. So when Karen and I first started, we crossed underneath the starting line and we said okay, our goal is to just run a little bit and walk most of it and have a good time. And then so we ran a little bit and it was just like, the mud was just awful. And we said okay, you know what, our goal is just going to be to walk. And then we’re walking and we’re going up that very first hill, the one I know exactly which hill you’re talking about, and then we’re like, you know what, maybe our goal should just be to not fall down in the mud.

Andy: Yeah, that first hill – I think that was the biggest hill of the course, and I ran up that whole thing and I was just…

Jill: That was like, a half a mile long that hill. It was far.

Andy: It was exhausting because it’s like, also you’re walking through mud so your shoes are getting heavier and you’re just like, picking up your feet. It’s too much. I had no preparation for that at all. I’ve been doing my running and like, I run on flat roads and I don’t have much elevation.

Jill: You’ve not done any mud running yet.

Andy: Yeah, Runkeeper was like, hey, good job, you did a PR today, you got the most elevation you’ve ever done before. And I was like, it was just insane.

Jill: It was pretty insane. Because it wasn’t even that it was muddy and slippery. Like, the mud was kind of like quicksand and so like, by the end of the race, Karen and I were just like, all we want to do is not lose our shoes.

Andy: I lost my shoe once.

Jill: You lost your shoe? Wait, so how did you get it back?

Andy: I just pulled it out of the mud. Because my feet were already wet at that point. I was like, screw it, I’m just going to get my feet wet. There’s no getting out of this mud. There’s no way you’re coming out clean out of this race. So yeah, I just pulled it out of the mud and threw it back on and just kept going. It was awful.

Jill: So wait, so you had another sort of complication in this race or challenge.

Andy: Which was?

Jill: Which was you were carrying a pumpkin.

Andy: Oh yeah, I was carrying a pumpkin the whole time. I was carrying this six-pound pumpkin while I was running. It was – yeah, I had planned for that because over the summer I’d been running with a watermelon looking like a crazy person running through the neighborhood, running with a watermelon. Just out there, just taking my watermelon for a stroll. I’m sure people did not know what was going on. They’re like, hey, that guy I just passed, he’s running with a watermelon.

Jill: Who’s that weird guy that runs with watermelons?

Andy: Just runs with fruit. That’s probably my nickname in the neighborhood.

Jill: Fruit running guy. Because there’s always – it’s so funny. My old house, there was a guy that was always doing like, weird things when he was running and we called him the running man and you could always count on seeing him at certain times of day wearing a certain outfit. So you’re like, you’re the watermelon running man.

Andy: I guess so.

Jill: I think you are. Your whole neighborhood is probably talking about you.

Andy: I made a – on my weekly to-do list this week was to like, run another 5K with a watermelon and then immediately eat that watermelon after I ran the 5K. That poor watermelon didn’t see it coming.

Jill: No, it didn’t.

Andy: It was like, oh, I’m helping you out and then I’m like, I’m going to eat you.

Jill: Sorry mister watermelon, you’re toast. So how do you – one of the people in the Facebook group, because I actually asked before we recorded this interview if anybody had any questions, and Roz said, “What is the best way to carry a pumpkin for a 5K?”

Andy: Well, I picked out a pumpkin that had a long stem so I used that as like, a handle and I ran with that just like, dead arm. Just hanging by my side because with the watermelon, I would like, cradle it a little bit, I could palm it. But this was a little too big and so I just kind of had it hanging out my side. It really threw off my running but I did my best and I ended up walking a little bit more than I wanted to on this race but it was just way too hard and like, my hips were getting really sore because the stability issues with running in the mud, I just wasn’t ready for that. But next time. This was practice for the next muddy hill run that I do.

Jill: Now, did you switch sides? Back and forth with the…

Andy: Yeah. And then like, went from holding it in my arm to like, cradling it. Yeah, my buddy though, he picked out a 13-pound pumpkin. I don’t know how he did that.

Jill: He finished after you though, didn’t he?

Andy: Yeah, he finished like, 10 minutes after I did.

Jill: Well, there you go.

Andy: And I saw him – there’s a bunch of switch back so you kind of see people coming up the hill as you’re like, up the hill yourself. He looked miserable. He really did. If you do tough pumpkin challenge, don’t pick a 13-pound pumpkin. That’s just ridiculous.

Jill: Well, talk about the tough pumpkin challenge too because you got some sweet medals out of this race.

Andy: So I spent – I guess this was like, $15 extra to do the tough pumpkin challenge and you pick out your pumpkin and you run with it and you get an extra medal at the end. And this is pumpkin holding up a – it works with the race, the finisher medal that you get, and it holds up your finisher medal. They planned it out.

Jill: I totally didn’t realize that. I just thought it was a cute medal of like, a strong pumpkin. Like, a pumpkin with little biceps.

Andy: It was pretty well planned out.

Jill: It’s cute. That is very well planned out. And you got to keep the pumpkin too.

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: Which, by the way, we’re going to cook tomorrow.

Andy: No, I got to carve that one for work. I got a pumpkin carving contest…

Jill: I thought we were going to cook that one.

Andy: No.

Jill: What pumpkin are we cooking?

Andy: The little one that we got for free.

Jill: Oh, okay.

Andy: Yeah, because when you finish the race you also get a pumpkin as a reward for finishing the race.

Jill: You guys, we have so much squash in the kitchen right now. We have a butternut squash, a spaghetti squash, three zucchini, a kabocha squash and two pumpkins. Did I get all the squash?

Andy: Did you say spaghetti squash?

Jill: Yeah, I did.

Andy: We ate that today.

Jill: We ate that. That was good.

Andy: That was really good.

Jill: So it’s squash season here at the Angie household.

Andy: So much squash.

Jill: So much squash. Squash and apple. Okay, so this was – because the first race that you did we talked about it in the last episode was not – that was not officially timed and then it turned out to be like, 2.8 miles instead of 3.1.

Andy: Yeah, that was pretty janky, that race that we did.

Jill: It was. I agree. But it was still fun because you got to wear your Hulk costume.

Andy: Yeah, this one was very much bitterly – making up words here now. This was better produced and regulated. I think it’s a national run. They have a couple different runs all over the country. And so this one had like, official race timers in your bib. Like, when I finished I got a text message giving me my official time…

Jill: Yay, me too. It was way better than that presidential alert message that we got a couple weeks ago.

Andy: Exactly.

Jill: Alright, we don’t talk about politics on this show. So like, overall, how was the experience of getting timed different than running with a timer?

Andy: I liked it. I felt like I was a professional race. Well worth the money that I spent to do it. It was more challenging than the first race I did because it was an actual 5K and not a poorly planned 2.8-mile run.

Jill: That did have a nice medal, but still. So here’s what’s so interesting is like, this race is a national race and so forth, and because we had all that rain, they emailed us ahead of time and said hey, it’s going to be really muddy, don’t wear your best shoes, don’t expect a PR, what else did they say? They actually changed the race course a little bit to like, cut down on the mud, which makes me wonder like, how bad it was before because it was pretty fucking bad. Like, there was a point when Karen and I came through, because we were probably about 40 minutes behind you where at one point both of my feet had been sucked under by the mud and I was like, I don’t know what to do. And Karen’s coming towards me and she’s like, “I’ll help you,” I’m like, “No, save yourself.” I didn’t want her to get stuck in the mud too. It was pretty bad. There was a moment but I did not lose a shoe, so that was kind of awesome.

Andy: It was still a lot of fun though. It was definitely memorable. I’m not going to forget this race because it was – how can you forget like, your first official timed run that takes place in all this mud and it gave me a good place to start with my official timed runs too because it’s a little bit slower than what I’m running on my own. So now I can go nowhere but up.

Jill: Yeah, good point. And it was very well organized. I mean, despite the fact that it was a big mud pit, I thought they did an amazing job.

Andy: They did an excellent job.

Jill: Directing traffic…

Andy: Getting people through registration, getting everyone into the course, I felt like, was really well. They like, paced everybody pretty well. I think there were some people there that were in heats that shouldn’t have been in the heats that they were in. They were definitely like, walking right out the gate, kind of getting in the way. But yeah…

Jill: I think because they wanted to get enough time to finish because they knew it was going to take a while.

Andy: Yeah, I felt like maybe you should have jumped forward a couple.

Jill: You think I should have jumped forward?

Andy: Yeah. That way you wouldn’t have had such a muddy course.

Jill: Well, we talked about it, Karen and I, but then we decided we were just going to stay where we were and that it would be fine but yeah, it took me an hour and 13 minutes. That was my official finishing time for a 5K. That’s the longest it’s ever taken me to go three miles, which is fine. I have no issue with it but it just goes to show that there were points where we couldn’t move. Like, one point when my feet were literally trapped by the mud.

Andy: Oh yeah, and there was a bunch of choke points too on this course. It was like, really narrow so everyone kind of like, got…

Jill: We didn’t have that. The amount of people was a lot more spread out back by us.

Andy: That was more towards the beginning.

Jill: Up by you though, yeah, I can imagine. So overall, rating of this race, would you give a two thumbs up?

Andy: Well, I only have one other race to compare it too but yeah, I thought it was a good race. I got another one next month. The Rocky Run.

Jill: Yeah, we’re doing the 5K together.

Andy: That should be – I think that’s all like, street running too.

Jill: That’s a very typical Philadelphia route. It starts at the art museum where if you have run any races in Philly, like, you know that almost all of them start at the art museum. Then they go out on West River Drive along the Schuylkill River and then depending on the distance, they go out really far or the 5K just goes out and comes back. It’s nice and flat.

Andy: We’re just doing the 5K for that one.

Jill: Yeah, that’s going to be fun. I’ve never done the Rocky Run before. I’m excited about that.

Andy: Yeah. And then we need to find – I bet we can find a 10K for December. I think I’m ready. Well, I’m ready for a 10K.

Jill: You’ve already done…

Andy: I’ve done six miles.

Jill: You did seven miles…

Andy: Seven, the other week.

Jill: Was that with or without a watermelon?

Andy: That was without a watermelon.

Jill: Alright, it doesn’t count until you’ve done it with a watermelon.

Andy: I should run with the watermelon. And then I have some to eat, and it’s got lots of water in it too then I have something to drink.

Jill: So did you know watermelon is one of the best post-race recovery foods you can eat?

Andy: I did not know that.

Jill: Well, first of all because it’s got lycopene in it so – which is like, great for recovery, but because it’s got a lot of water and then it’s got like, a little bit of sugar so it just sort of like, tops up your glycogen supplies, it fills you with lots of good nutrients and it’s like, high in water.

Andy: That’s great to know. I wish I knew that earlier in the summer, like back when the season started.

Jill: I probably should have told you that.

Andy: Are there other fruits that are like, good to have post-race?

Jill: I mean…

Andy: Like, maybe pineapple?

Jill: That’s a great question. I don’t know. I mean, a lot of races give you bananas but I don’t think it’s because they’re that good for you. I think it’s just they’re easy.

Andy: They’re easy and cheap.

Jill: It’s either bananas, apples, or oranges. Mostly bananas and oranges.

Andy: And the bananas they were giving out today were like, almost green. They were hard. I didn’t even take one.

Jill: I don’t like bananas. I think they’re stupid. They’re awful. They’re awful. This is such an unpopular opinion.

Andy: This is like, the candy bar fruit. How could you not like bananas?

Jill: They’re gross.

Andy: How are they gross?

Jill: I don’t like the flavor.

Andy: Okay.

Jill: And it’s unreliable too. It’s like, you buy a banana and it’s like, not ripe, not ripe, not ripe, not ripe, fuck you, overripe.

Andy: You got that confused with avocados.

Jill: No, avocados I think have a much longer window of ripeness.

Andy: I don’t think so. I think you’re wrong.

Jill: No, I think you’re wrong. Alright, well how’s this, I will never interfere with your bananas. You can get as many bananas…

Andy: I haven’t really been eating bananas. I eat tons of apples though.

Jill: I’m all on board with that.

Andy: I eat like, two or three apples a day.

Jill: Do you really?

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: How did I not know this?

Andy: I don’t know.

Jill: I guess I’ll figure it out. So you guys, we’re actually moving in together six weeks from today so we’re still kind of figuring things out but I had no idea you ate that many apples.

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: I might have to fight you for them. I like apples too.

Andy: I eat two at lunch and then one at dinner.

Jill: Damn. Okay.

Andy: They’re like, a great food just to fill you up.

Jill: They are. What is that we were talking about the other day that your mom and my mom both say if you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple you’re not hungry. I love that. Okay wait, so let’s get back to the running. So you’ve done seven miles on your own, so you’re ready – obviously you’re ready for a 10-miler. Personally, I think you should enter the lottery for Broad Street, although you and I have talked, you have different opinions on that.

Andy: When is that?

Jill: It’s in May. You have to enter a lottery. It’s the one that’s like, I think there’s like 30,000 runners now. It’s huge. But it starts north of Philadelphia and then it runs all the way down Broad Street right straight through the city and ends at the Navy yard and it’s like, all slightly downhill so it’s super-fast and flat and there’s marching bands. It’s a really fun race.

Andy: Sure, I’ll enter that lottery.

Jill: Yeah.

Andy: Why not?

Jill: Yeah, it’s a good race. So you are planning to do a Tough Mudder in May.

Andy: I’d like to do a Tough Mudder. I signed up for that.

Jill: You signed up for it. You better start training for that.

Andy: I’m doing that with like, work people.

Jill: Yeah you guys, he told me I couldn’t do it with him.

Andy: Yeah. You can come and cheer.

Jill: He’s like, this is a work thing, you’re not invited. So I’m going to be support crew at the end.

Andy: So we’re going to do that. I got to do some cross training for that because that’s more than just running.

Jill: You got to get the kettlebells out.

Andy: Yeah. Got to climb walls and stuff. We’re doing the 5K I think. So we’re not doing anything with electricity or ice water.

Jill: I think that’s a wise move.

Andy: Although the electricity really wouldn’t bother me all that much because you just keep running, don’t stop.

Jill: Okay.

Andy: It’s like, nothing. When you’re growing up, did you – any of your neighbors have like, deer fencing around the gardens?

Jill: No.

Andy: Maybe that’s just me growing up in Texas.

Jill: I did not grow up in the country so…

Andy: My neighbors would put like, this electrified wire around their gardens that shock the deer and keep the deer from eating their food or eating their plants. And like, as a kid…

Jill: I’m terrified to know where you’re going with this.

Andy: As a kid, me and the other neighborhood kids, we’d go around and just dare each other like, touch it and we would.

Jill: Little boys are not the smartest, are they?

Andy: No. We were playing in the woods and you know, had rock fights and stuff.

Jill: You’ve like, touched electrified fencing enough times that a little bit of electricity in the Tough Mudder doesn’t scare you?

Andy: No, not at all. They wouldn’t be able to give you a lethal dose of electricity in that race anyway.

Jill: Okay, fair enough, there are like, lawsuits to be considered.

Andy: Just enough to be like, fuck, that hurts, and then you keep going.

Jill: Don’t slow down, keep going, keep going. Alright, so it’s a Tough Mudder in May and then are you going to – I know we talked about you doing that half marathon on the boardwalk in April. Are you still thinking of doing that?

Andy: I think so.

Jill: I think you have enough time to train for that.

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: You’ve got like, my Rebel Runner clients that are going to New Orleans, they are just like – that’s in February and they’ve got enough time to train so I think…

Andy: I’m going to help out with that. I’m going to New Orleans with you.

Jill: Yeah, so first of all, Andy’s coming. He’s going to be our support crew, he’s going to be sous chef, he’s going to work with chef Jen to feed everybody.

Andy: I am?

Jill: Did I not tell you that?

Andy: No, you didn’t.

Jill: I told Jen you were going to be her food bitch.

Andy: Chopping for old Andy here, huh?

Jill: You’re so good at it. And then you guys, he’s such a good cook. We came home from the race today and I said, “Oh, I have a bunch of virtual race medals for the Facebook group.” A bunch of people signed up for a virtual race that I had going on and I had to like stuff all the envelopes so I could mail them out and I said, “Will you cook lunch?” and he did. He made this amazing squash of course, because we have all this squash.

Andy: Mexican spaghetti squash.

Jill: Yeah, and then you made those stuffed jalapenos. In the air fryer, which was fucking brilliant. That was good. We’ll put the recipe in the show notes for that.

Andy: It was pretty simple.

Jill: That was good. Anyway, so Andy’s going to be – he’s going to be sous chef, he’s going to be support crew, and he’s going to be our first aid.

Andy: Yeah, I’m going to be cheering you guys on.

Jill: And cheering everybody on, taking pictures. It’s going to be super fun.

Andy: I’m excited.

Jill: He’s coming down for that, so yeah, you guys, if anybody’s on the fence about…

Andy: The Rock n Roll…

Jill: The Rock n Roll half and you want to join the Rebel Runner crew or you know, if you just want to come down and hang out with us, sign up for a call. You can do that at talktojill.com or rebelrunnerunleashed.com. We have a new website. Anyway, I’ve kind of lost track of what we were talking about and now the cat’s trying to climb on my back so – one moment please. There she goes. She’s just so excited that we’re in here. I lost track of where we were. We were taking about your half marathon.

Andy: I’m trying to do the New Jersey half – well, the New Jersey marathon half marathon. It’s happening at the same time.

Jill: You have time. If this was April now and the race were the same distance away, so the race, the New Jersey marathon is six months away. I would say if it was April right now and the race was in October I would say you have plenty of time to train, but because we’re talking about winter in the middle, I would say…

Andy: I’m not scared of winter.

Jill: Yeah, I know, but for your first time doing long distance training runs it’s not the easiest.

Andy: Yeah, I mean, the only thing with winter is like, running when there’s snow on the ground because I like to run in the streets and I don’t want to get hit by a car.

Jill: Yes, I know. You know what’s so funny is if you were one of my clients, I’d be like, “Stop whining, get out there and run in the snow.” And I’m like, “Oh but no, it’s okay if you don’t.”

Andy: See, I don’t think you should treat me any differently.

Jill: I don’t think I should either, so yeah. But I still don’t think you should do your half – I think you should do a half marathon before you do a full marathon.

Andy: Definitely.

Jill: You should do that New Jersey half in April and then you guys, we’re going to train for the Philadelphia marathon together in November.

Andy: Yeah, I want to do that. That’s my goal for next year is to do…

Jill: Just remember it was my goal first.

Andy: I’m the one who brought it up first.

Jill: No, I brought it up first.

Andy: I don’t remember that at all.

Jill: I know you don’t. I have the text messages to prove it.

Andy: I would like to see the tapes.

Jill: Okay, I’ll show them to you later. So alright, so we’re going to do our first major long-distance running event together next year. We have 13 months to train. It’s November 2019. But one thing I want to ask you is like, what’s your dream race? I know you’ve only been running for nine months, but…

Andy: I want to do like, a bunch of trail runs. Like, that really appeals to me. Even though like, running through the mud I wasn’t crazy about but I got through it. I would like to train myself better so I would be able to run through the mud and the elevation changes. Because a lot of my training right now has been relatively flat. I think maybe 14 feet of elevation is what Runkeeper’s been telling me my typical runs are.

Jill: That’s pretty flat.

Andy: Yeah, it is pretty flat.

Jill: That’s like a set of stairs.

Andy: Today was 400 feet so it was a little bit more than I’m used to and that’s probably why I was so out of breath and walking quite a bit. So I’d like to train for that a little better.

Jill: I have two races I think you should do.

Andy: Which ones?

Jill: They’re both trail. One is called the ½ Sauer ½ Kraut, and it’s in…

Andy: I like sauerkraut.

Jill: I know. I think they have sauerkraut at the end. It’s in the summer. It’s a half marathon.

Andy: You just get a bowl of sauerkraut and just eat it?

Jill: I think at the end you get sauerkraut, which sauerkraut’s another good recovery good.

Andy: No sausage or anything?

Jill: I don’t know.

Andy: Just plain old sauerkraut?

Jill: We can look it up.

Andy: Sounds disgusting actually.

Jill: But the race itself is a trail run in the Wissahickon Creek Park. It’s near my old neighborhood and I’ve run on a lot of those trails and they’re not muddy and goopy like – they’re not like farm trails. That wasn’t typical of a trail run.

Andy: We were basically tilling that farmer’s land today for free.

Jill: We were.

Andy: Actually no, we paid money to till his land for him today.

Jill: We did. We did a good job too. SO I think the ½ Sauer ½ Kraut would be a good one for you. But it’s a summertime half marathon but it’s all trails. It’s beautiful, it’s long, it’s by the Wissahickon Creek.

Andy: Yeah, because I like being in the woods.

Jill: The other one you need to do is the Beat the Blerch, which is…

Andy: Oh, yeah, The Oatmeal.

Jill: Right. You know who the Blerch is. So The Oatmeal does one in New Jersey and in Seattle.

Andy: But he’s like, way into like, ultrarunning and stuff.

Jill: But the Beat the Blerch is like, super Not Your Average Runner friendly and there’s a trail 5K, trail half marathon and I don’t know if there’s a full marathon or not but they serve Nutella and cupcakes along the way, and there’s like, couches.

Andy: While you run?

Jill: Yeah, like some of the tables.

Andy: That sounds awful.

Jill: I know. I think you should do that one. You’d really enjoy it.

Andy: I don’t know if I could eat Nutella while I run. I can barely drink water when I was running today. I almost choked.

Jill: I think you need to work on that. You have to stop running. You walk the water stations.

Andy: I was running uphill trying to drink water at the same time. It was a bad idea. I need to…

Jill: Is that when you lost your shoe?

Andy: No, that was right before I lost my shoe. Yeah, I definitely need to practice consuming water and I need to practice eating things too. Like, when I eat, because when I do those longer runs I’m going to need some kind of nutrition.

Jill: We’ll talk about all of that.

Andy: Get my body some like, sugar or something like that.

Jill: You know, there’s a cookbook I have called – actually, I have it right here on my desk called Feed Zone Portables and it’s all about how to make your own – it’s not a cookbook that I wrote. It’s by the folks at Scratch Labs who make electrolyte replacement stuff. It’s all about how to make your own long-distance race fuel. It’s so cool. We’ll try some of the recipes.

Andy: Wait, this book that you’re showing me says how to cook people.

Jill: No.

Andy: Oh, how to cook for people. Okay, I got it.

Jill: That was a joke everyone, just to be clear. We were watching some Slasher movies earlier today and he thinks he’s being funny. So your dream race is trail run, sounds like.

Andy: Yeah, I would really want to get into trail running.

Jill: I think you’d be good at it.

Andy: I mean, I enjoy like, running on the roads and stuff but yeah, I want to kind of get away from cars and just kind of enjoy nature a little bit more because I really like that.

Jill: I like that too. We should do more of that this summer.

Andy: We should, and start hiking and stuff. We don’t always have to run.

Jill: I agree. I know because I got those new hiking boots. I almost wore my new hiking boots today and then at the last minute I was like no, that’s a terrible idea. And just for the record, the sneakers, the running shoes I was wearing at today’s race are now in a trash can outside of Starbucks.

Andy: Still can’t believe you didn’t throw them in that giveaway book bin.

Jill: That was a terrible idea. I would have gotten mud all over the books.

Andy: That’s true.

Jill: That’s mean. I know you were just joking. Alright, so that’s kind of our time for today and this was kind of a fun episode to do just to kind of recap your race. But…

Andy: Do we have any more questions?

Jill: We had – oh, Michelle Hilderbrandt wants to know if you’re still attempting to be a ventriloquist.

Andy: Oh no, I failed completely at that. Everyone just kind of yelled at me when my mouth was moving when I was talking with my dummies and my dummy’s head fell off.

Jill: Okay just to be clear, there was no ventriloquism. Let’s make that obvious to everyone.

Andy: No. I just tried to be funny on your podcast.

Jill: You were really funny.

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: I listened to it afterwards, we are pretty funny together. I had a lot of people write in and say that you should be my permanent co-host.

Andy: I’m totally down for that.

Jill: Are you really?

Andy: Yeah.

Jill: And then I’m going to go off on all my feminist rants and you’re just going to have to…

Andy: I support your feminist rants.

Jill: I love that about you. Yeah, that’s good. You’re the best.

Andy: Thanks.

Jill: Alright, well thank you very much for joining me today.

Andy: You’re very welcome.

Jill: You can come back anytime.

Andy: I think I’m going to be back a lot. Well, once we move in together, yeah.

Jill: That’s true. Alright, that’s it for this week and we’ll be back soon. Bye.

Andy: Bye.

—

Hey rebels, I hope you enjoyed my chat with Andy, and if you want to connect with him, all the links to do that plus the recipes that we talked about will be in the show notes at notyouraveragerunner.com/57. Until next week.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you liked what you heard and want more, head over to www.notyouraveragerunner.com to download your free one-week jumpstart plan and get started running today.