Over the Next Hill Fitness

Running Strong At 64 with Mary Ellen Lemieux

• Carla Coffey

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Your strongest running might not happen in your 20s. It might show up after kids, after career pivots, after moving towns, and after you have learned what your body actually needs. That is why I loved talking with Mary Ellen Lemieux, a lifelong recreational runner who says her running is better now at 64 than it has ever been, even if the pace is slower.

We get into the details runners actually wrestle with: why the half marathon hits the perfect balance of challenge and doable, how treadmill running can feel like time slows down, and why run walk can be a great tool and a tricky habit if walking makes you want to keep walking. Mary Ellen also shares her favorite races, from the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati to the Steamboat Springs Half Marathon, and what makes great crowd energy and scenery matter when the miles get long.

The biggest turning point is fueling and hydration. Mary Ellen tells the story of running the San Francisco half without a plan, bonking hard, and finishing miserable, then coming back the next year with electrolytes and consistent fueling that actually worked for her. We also talk mindset, mental health, and longevity: using running to manage ADHD, letting “a mile is a mile” be enough, and staying in motion so you can keep doing what you love, including skiing. And you will hear the wild, inspiring pandemic challenge that jumpstarted everything: 100 miles in 30 days, completed through heat, wildfire smoke, and pure commitment.

If you care about half marathon training, race day strategy, running after 50, and staying active for life, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review so more runners can find the show.

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Welcome, Updates, And Coaching Offer

SPEAKER_00

Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Tale Fitness Podcast. I'm Carla Coffee, your coach and host for today's program. I want to thank everyone who has continued to buy me a cup of coffee. I really appreciate that. Some of you have signed up for the long term. That's very appreciative, Carol being one of them. And I also want to thank everyone who has been following, rating, sharing the program. I'm uh getting so many messages for people to be on the show. Keep them coming. I will fit you in somewhere. If you don't already know, I do have a YouTube channel. So if you want to watch it or listen to it on YouTube, you can do that as well. There may or may not be a link, but just look for over the next Hill Fitness podcast, and it will be on YouTube somewhere. And you can join that too if you'd like. Thanks for giving me five stars. I know that it it uh kind of ruins your flow of listening, you know, to have to stop and go in and give me five stars, but I really do appreciate it when you do that. Um, it helps me get seen and gets even more people on the podcast for you to listen to. So I appreciate that. Uh also if you do need a running or personal trainer coach, uh I am available online. Um, have no more in-home spots. Sorry for those of you local to Madison, but that's all filled up. But I still do have some online spots if you would like to have a virtual coach. I can be there for that, and I can uh do a phone call and get you set scheduled for that. So just reach out to me, Carla at coffeecrew coaching.com, and we can get you in. So today I'm going to be talking to Mary Ellen Lemieux. We had a really fun conversation. I hope you all will enjoy that. So let's get to it. Welcome to the show, Mary Ellen. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Oh, it's so great to have you here. We've had a few schedule things come up, but we made it.

SPEAKER_02

We did. I appreciate your flexibility on my

How Mary Ellen Started Running

SPEAKER_02

end. Likewise.

SPEAKER_00

Likewise. So let's talk running and all things movement. Okay. So tell us um when you started your fitness journey and how you got started.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I probably started when I was a senior in high school when one of my girlfriends said we should go out for track. And it was in the Midwest, and it was sort of winter. And so we ran track in the halls of the high school, and I wore them on or ran them on Converse tennis shoes and very quickly injured my calf. Um, so that was kind of the end of my end of end of beginning and end of my uh high school track career. But but then I um but I still liked the way that it felt. And when I got to college a couple of years later, uh I was at the University of Michigan and I was lived sort of on the athletic campus or that end of town in Ann Arbor. And uh guy down the hall said, Hey, you want to go running with me? And so I said, Sure. And we would run down to the track, and I I don't know. I probably ran a mile and a half with him, and he would, of course, keep going and I would sit there and wait. And like kind of how it got started. I got the bug. Yeah, so it's been a a little while that you've run. It has been. It's been probably, I don't know, 45, 48 years. Nice. It's been a big part of my life, my whole life. Um, it's ebbed and flowed in terms of a little bit of where I've had periods of where I didn't run very much for probably five, six years when I had three little kids. Um, after the second one was born, it just felt like it was too much. And so I wanted that time back. So I stopped running. And then to claw back that time took years. I felt like like years to find that hour in the day to be able to go back and run. But eventually I found it again and um have run consistently inconsistent or inconsistently consistent, which I sort of attribute to why I've had very few injuries. I still have my original knees. I've never had knee surgery. Um, and that, so I feel like my I don't know, inconsistency has uh benefited me because I still have my original equipment, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. That's really good news. So in college, did you end up joining the track team?

SPEAKER_02

No. No, no, I was just a recreational runner and just um would go at night. Um, and then as I continue, you know, after my first year in the dorm, then I would go and run by myself, different places in the various neighborhoods um around Ann Arbor. And so, and then sometimes I would run with friends, but no, I never was on track or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00

And since um then, have you uh found a distance that is your favorite?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I um I would say that

Finding A Favorite Distance

SPEAKER_02

I I really like running half marathons. I have not run very many. I mean, I've done seven. Um but uh but most of my recreational running is I go run for three miles or four miles. It's not huge numbers. Um, but I've always tried to maintain a fitness of about you know three and a half to four miles, uh, to not never wanting to lose that because I don't ever want to have to start back from scratch.

SPEAKER_00

So what is it about the half marathon that has made that your favorite?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I like the challenge. I like how it feels to run a longer distance like that. Um I um but it also feels doable. I did one marathon when I uh was 30, and that was super fun. I was completely undertrained, but I still finished. Um, but I just in my head I have aspirations of wanting to do that again, but I don't think I ever will. Um I I'm gonna be able to do that. The patient.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. As far as the undertrained, you know, a lot of things point to it being better for you than being over-trained. So you probably that's probably a good thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. That was way back when Jeff Galloway's book, like Galloway's book on running or something, first came out, and he talked about, you know, just run three days a week and do those things. And so that's kind of what I did. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And do you do the Jeff Galloway run walk? I do a bit.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not like think it's the greatest thing ever. I um I,

Run Walk And Treadmill Reality

SPEAKER_02

if I can, prefer to be able to consistently run. Oh now, you're gonna hear my dog. Um, and uh, but I but I end up walking a fair amount. What I have found, and I know this isn't for people who run and walk, you know, they love it. What I have found is that when I start walking, then I want to walk more. And it's hard for me to then want to run more. Um, and I honestly I struggle with starting out at the beginning, sort of running and walking and running and walking. I so it's yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I've heard that before. Um, that when people start walking, they just want to keep walking. Uh so I do a run walk now, um, mostly, and I can run without it. I just I just prefer it. And I but I have this really loud beeper. And so I'm like Pablo Dog when it beeps, you know. I just live for the beeps. Right. So um, so that I think probably if it were up to me, I probably would be the same. Like I wouldn't um, I wouldn't want to start running. But that trigger, I think, is what keeps me going. So that works for me. But yeah, I can I can see how that could be a bad thing too. I did find, so we just got a treadmill, and I have found that I don't like running on the treadmill. I do enjoy walking on it. Um, but I tried uh running and I'm like, I don't like this at all. Now outside, you know, I would much rather run than walk, but on the the treadmill, I I don't like to run on it. I do enjoy walking on it.

SPEAKER_02

So now I can do the run walk better on the treadmill. Like with and I do it by you know, obviously just by time and you know, just kind of switching back and forth. And that that to me seems to be okay. And I can run on the treadmill if I listen to music. Like I can't, like no music or something. Oh my gosh, it's you know, it's just torture.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I find that it the distance goes by a lot slower on the treadmill. And I know they're not like 100% accurate either, which doesn't help, but I just sit and watch them numbers where when I'm outside, next thing you know, you know, you're at five miles, you know, three miles, whatever. On the treadmill, I'm pretty sure a week goes by and I finally hit a mile. Right. So I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_02

I'm the same way. I find the challenge is always to um, I have to distract myself. You know, I have to figure out how am I gonna stop thinking about the running and the numbers and this and think about something else. And if I can do that, then it's much more tolerable or enjoyable.

SPEAKER_00

For sure. And even just running with a group makes that even that much more enjoyable, you know, when you're not thinking about yourself all the time. So yeah. Exactly. Yes, I agree. So, do you have a favorite half marathon that you've done in the past?

SPEAKER_02

Um, I uh uh my mother and sister live outside of Cincinnati. So I've done the flying pig twice. Super

Favorite Half Marathons And Race Vibes

SPEAKER_02

fun. Um, really well done. Uh it's uh the only race that I've done where I felt like I probably, you know, can ate more calories than I burned because there's so much food along the way that you really have to be like, okay, no, I don't, I don't need this chocolate. I don't need this, whatever it is. The bacon. The bacon. I've not seen the bacon. Oh, okay. Um, but uh I really like the flying pig. Trying to think, I haven't I've done the San Francisco half that's part of the marathon. So in July, done that a couple of times. Um, and then just recently I did the steamboat half marathon, which I live most of the year in steamboat springs, Colorado. And so that's uh it's a beautiful race. Um, I mean, it's just down, you know, 13 miles down a rural road. Um and so it's just you just can't beat the scenery. But um I like, I don't know, I like the flying pig. It goes through such pretty parts of Cincinnati. Um, and there's just so much spirit and so much enthusiasm.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, I agree. That I did um the flying pig marathon as my 50th state uh last a year ago, May. And um yeah, it I would agree. It had everybody out. I mean, there was, I don't, I feel like there wasn't a time when we didn't have crowd support. It was yeah, yeah, it was very fantastic for sure.

SPEAKER_02

I would agree.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they do a good job. So, what's it been like for you for when you did train for your half marathons, um, getting used to uh when to hydrate, when to take in fuel.

SPEAKER_02

What was that like for you the first time you, you know, if you remember,

Fueling Mistakes And Bonking Lessons

SPEAKER_02

or even um uh I feel like every time, even though I'm I try and you know be fairly methodical and plan out what I'm gonna eat and drink and that, that every race I kind of almost get it wrong. Um, but I when I ran the San Francisco half in 20, I think 23, I did not have any hydration plan. I did not have any food plan other than what was on the race course. And I what I would call bonked at like mile eight. Oh my gosh, I was so I was so miserable. I I could every part of my body hurt. I, you know, it was just I never wanted to run again when I got done with that race. And so that was a big lesson to me. Um and and it had been the first longer race I had done in a very long time. So it was also a little bit of a lesson of oh, I'm not 25 anymore. I can't just go wing these things. Not that I ever could, but anyways.

SPEAKER_00

Well, congrats on finishing, though. So you still finished, as miserable as it was. I did finish.

SPEAKER_02

And then I went back the next year and I did a much better job and was hydrated and had my stuff to eat and was just much better prepared. And it was a super fun race. I I like really enjoyed all of it, and so that was kind of nice.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't actually think that was possible. Well, that's good. That's funny that you say that um about you're not 25 anymore. It you know, sometimes those lessons just hurt when we find that out. You know what I mean? It's like, oh, I'm not 25 anymore. So I've been there for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What what marathon did you do?

SPEAKER_02

So I did the San Francisco marathon back in 1991.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So it was um I had been running

Marathon Attempts And Learning To Train

SPEAKER_02

a lot in my 20s. I lived in San Francisco that time. Um, and I wanted to run a marathon before I had a baby. And so actually in 1990, a girlfriend of my of mine, we were both in law school together, um, signed up for the Big Sur Marathon, which we had no idea what we were doing at all. We had we had clearly no idea. And so we went out and ran it and we made it 19 miles again, under way under prepared. Um, but that was also super fun. And so I wanted to, you know, try again the next year. And so I trained for the um the marathon. There happened to be a billboard at the end of my street. We lived in San Francisco, but there was a billboard on the end of the street where we lived that was for the marathon. So every time I would go out and run, I would see that big billboard. And it was very inspiring to me to want to, you know, keep going.

SPEAKER_00

So you did end up completing it uh after a second try. I did.

SPEAKER_02

I did. And then the next year I had a baby. So I sort of accomplished the goal.

SPEAKER_00

You did indeed. Yeah, that's great. And good for you again for like going, you know, some people would have got to 19 and and maybe didn't finish and say, Well, I guess this isn't for me. But you didn't do that. You were like, Okay, I need to plan better and figure this out, and you did that. So congrats.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, thank you. Um, I mean, it's kind of amazing we made it 19 miles on that route, but um, but yeah, I'm sort of not a quitter. That's good. I like to if there's I like to go back and try and challenge, you know, challenge and conquer it. That's why I went back to the flying pig the second year, is I felt like again, the Gilbert Street Hill kind of um, you know, really like I didn't handle it well. And so I wanted to go back and do a better job the second time. And I did.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. And um uh what did you do come up with for like fueling and um hydrating that made the difference? Do you remember? Was it a timing issue or just doing it in general where you weren't taking in anything on before?

SPEAKER_02

Um, I started running with a water bottle or you know, a bottle with electrolytes in it, and that helped. So getting used to that, I thought that that would really bother me or be annoying to carry the bottle and and it wasn't. Um and then I think also fueling more consistently, like every 30 minutes or every 40 minutes, and and having the things that I like, which tends to be probably not the things you're supposed to be, you know, fueling with, but more um like Ritzcrackers or um uh like these breakfast bar kinds of things. So more kind of bready versus just the gels or the the pure sugar doesn't do it for me. That I think kind of sends me in the wrong direction.

SPEAKER_00

But at least you found that out, which is great because we're all a little bit different on, you know, like I've tried potato chips and I don't have enough spit in my mouth to sew out of it. So I would be the same way with crackers. I probably wouldn't be, you know, I'd have to like put them in and rinse them down with some electrolytes or something because I wouldn't have enough spit to chew them, even, you know. Yeah. So yeah, but hey, it you know, it's all it's all about finding what works for each of us. So good job figuring that out. Thank you. What do you feel um has been like your the biggest accomplishment as far as running goes, whether it was uh figuring out the hydration or you know, being less consistent, because you said the inconsistency works for you. What do you feel like has really been your driving factor to get all these races and done and and get out the door when you do go run?

SPEAKER_02

Um I think I'm extremely proud that I'm still running. I'm 64. I remember thinking when I was turning 50, oh, should I retire from running? You know, I'm kind of getting

Running At 64 And Mental Health

SPEAKER_02

old. Um and thinking, no, no, I want to keep going. I want to keep going. And then um, so the fact that I'm able to still do it, and this is my strongest running in my entire life, is at this age, and I feel like I've worked hard at it. I don't think I work as hard at it as other people in terms of um, you know, I probably run three or four days a week, even when I'm training. And part of that is my schedule. Um, and part of it is a little bit of maybe lack of lack of motivation. Um, but for me, I think the biggest accomplishment, honestly, the thing I'm most proud about is that I'm still going at this age, and I feel like I'm just I'm getting better and enjoying it more.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's great. Especially the enjoying it more, you know, because you know, sometimes we we I know I too think, oh, should I retire? But I I have a feeling people around me wouldn't be safe if I didn't run.

SPEAKER_02

I kind of hear you. I think um I've always used running to manage my mental health. Um I for, I mean, I probably, I mean, I don't probably, I do have ADHD. And for many, many years I managed it through running. I didn't make the connection, but it clearly was how I managed it all through college. Um, you know, just my whole life. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, as long as you managed it, right?

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Do you feel do you feel like you've gotten faster lately? No, no, no, I've gotten slower.

SPEAKER_02

You've gotten slower. Okay. Which is discouraged, slightly discouraging. To me. But I was never like a super fast runner. Even in my 20s, if I ran a nine-minute mile, that was amazing. So but I'm trying to figure out why I'm not a little bit faster. And again, part of me wonders, am I not challenging myself enough? Am I pushing, not pushing myself the way that I should? I'm not really sure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But you know, it's not all about the speed. You know, a mile is a mile no matter how fast you do it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

And I try and, you know, I try and remember that. And I've thought, you know, read, thought, done a lot around the, you know, if you want to run faster, you need to run slower. And so I will try and run slower and try and have it be enjoyable. Um, so yeah, I don't I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm still working on it. I'd like to go a little bit faster than I am.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, we can't all be Jeannie Rice. I'm sure you know who she is. Yes. Yeah. We all want to be Jeannie Rice. Right. You know, I I had her on the podcast several years ago, and she is the most humble person in the world. And, you know, she it's just amazing at how fast she is, and she just she does nothing. She doesn't, you know, she doesn't do heel repeats, she doesn't strength chain. She's just genetically fast. Wow. I know, I know. And she told me, I said, I can't believe you, you know, because she still does like a 345 marathon. Yeah. And, you know, I did that once 20 years ago. You know, maybe not quite 20, but a long time ago. And she still consistently runs it. And she says, You're just not old enough yet. And I said, Okay, she goes, I think she's in her 80s now, and she's still keeping those numbers, you know. And I'm okay, well, I can't wait to get older. No kidding. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_02

I know. But I mean, I mean, that's a little bit of how I would like to be. I'd love to be able to run certainly into my 70s and my 80s. I mean, that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_00

So even if it is very slow. I agreed. Yeah. And if that's what it has to be for me, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Same.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have any upcoming uh races or anything that's uh that you're excited to tell us about that you have coming up to run?

SPEAKER_02

Um I um I'm supposed to run again the San Francisco half in July. I'm not, I'm sort of waffling of whether or not I'm gonna, I haven't registered for it, but it generally

Racing With Her Son And Staying Accountable

SPEAKER_02

doesn't fill up. So I haven't decided if I'm gonna do it or not. Um, but in December, I'm gonna be running in the Phoenix half with my middle son, who is 30, and he ran with me at the steamboat half and uh has run with me a couple of times with the other with the San Francisco half. But he's not coming out in July to do it. But it's really fun to run with him. Like that was sort of my kind of one of my dreams, so to speak, was to have my adult kids be able to run with me and want to run with me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And the two younger ones do, the oldest one, he is like, no, I don't, I don't do that. He'll ride a bike, but he doesn't like to run.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, you can't fix that. But what a great example you are to get the kids out there running.

SPEAKER_02

I I was very intentional about wanting them to be able to do it. In fact, when I started, got back into running the halves, it was my middle son, the one who lives in the Phoenix area, mentioned that he wanted to run a half. And I said, Well, I'll do it with you. And then every time I felt like I didn't want to train, I would think, No, I've told him I'm gonna do it. I have to be able to do this so that he will do it with me. And so that sort of so he got me back into it, and I feel like I got him going on it a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, you did. What a great example. Now, does he stick with you for the race, or you guys start together and and see each other at the finish?

SPEAKER_02

Uh he will stick with me to a certain point and then he'll sort of take off. And which I appreciate that he sticks with me. Um, he I think has more kind of a little bit more motivation when he's looking at the clock to be like, okay, I'm I I'm I'm seeing mom. I'm out. And that's fine. Yeah. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_02

When I sometimes when I think about if I'm training by myself or something, I'll hear his voice in my head going, Come on, Mary Ellen, keep going, keep going, come on, Mary Ellen, because he'll call me, you know, by my given name instead of mom when we're out there.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. I would insist that he call me mom. I want them to know that I am mom running side by side with you.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Oh, that's it. Exactly. That just warms my heart to know that you have uh at least one of your kids that runs with you.

SPEAKER_02

And how many children do you have? So I have three. I have three boys, the one 34, who the one I'd run the full before I got pregnant with him. And then the middle one is 30 and the youngest one is 26. And the 26 or 27. The two younger ones will run with me. We've actually run the San Francisco Beta Breakers before a few times together, and that was really fun to run with them.

SPEAKER_00

So yes. That's such a spectacle. Do you get to train with them too, or only run meet up for the race? Pretty much only meet up for the race.

SPEAKER_02

So I've never really run with a training partner before. Um, other than, of course, when I first started out when in college and that, but I've always trained by myself, which I don't think is necessarily a great thing. But um, yeah, I don't know. So what do you I mean, what do you recommend? Do you recommend like is it easier to run with a training partner?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think for long runs, you know, I think that's nice um to have someone

Training Alone Versus With A Partner

SPEAKER_00

to kind of keep your mind off all the miles. But I think if you're doing like hill repeats or speed work, things like that, um, it's better to do it alone because you get you're probably gonna have different times, right? Somebody's gonna be faster than the other person. And so I think for those, um, sometimes you just gotta get out there and do that by yourself. But, you know, I d I generally do all my running alone except for um the the long run on Saturday morning that I do with um my friends. And I do have um an athlete right now that I'm training, and we're starting um starting to run with her on Sundays because she's trying to work up to her first half marathon. So I meet her um whenever I can and we um to run with her and and help her. But I think you know, I I uh up until I found this group of girls that I run with, I ran by myself almost all the time too. I and I'm pretty good company. It's kind of you know, there's stuff in the the old brain that you don't necessarily need to share with other people and you gotta work through it yourself and you know works out. You can zone out. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But July running, oh, is it hot in San Fran in July?

SPEAKER_02

Uh no, it's not. It's pretty temperate because in uh the fog will come in as the sort of as the temperature heats up in the central valley, it pulls the fog, so the cold air from over the ocean ocean in. So it can be actually 65 degrees or 60 degrees and really windy. Um, so like it probably is pretty will be pretty chilly in the morning starting out. Um so it is it is not. And they start the race really early. They started at 6 or 6:30 and that. But now training up here in the mountains, it is very hot. I find that even though there's no humidity, the sun makes it very, very warm to run.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And what about when you race in Phoenix? Is that that's gotta be hot, right? Well, it's gonna in December, so it should be a little better.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Like 70, and again, dry heat. Yeah. I do not like running in humidity at all. Um, so I do my best to avoid it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I think that's much harder to run in humidity than it is in cold. Yeah. Actually. It's like swimming.

SPEAKER_00

It's like you're swimming through the air. Exactly. Yeah. We have a perfect week this week right now here in um Wisconsin. It's about 70 degrees, no humidity, a light breeze. For me, that's almost chilly. I'm I I enjoy the heat, but yeah, you can't hardly for a June, mid-June, we we could probably couldn't ask for anything better. So Right.

SPEAKER_02

No, that's very nice weather for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so you live in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02

So I um I raised, we raised our family in San Francisco. I'm originally from the Midwest, so from Ohio and Michigan. And then uh right before the pandemic, we moved to Steamboat Springs in Colorado, and we go back and forth between the Bay Area and Colorado. Um, so my husband, we're both still working, and our work is mainly in California. And with the pandemic and everything going to, you know, remote work, it's made it much easier to be both places.

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha. Okay. So um

Life Between San Francisco And Steamboat

SPEAKER_00

are you do you winter in Colorado or do you summer in Colorado?

SPEAKER_02

Well, right now, uh, I definitely winter in Colorado because I like to ski. Okay. And so, of course, you have to be here in the winter for to be able to ski. Although the summers here are beautiful. And I also like being here in the summer. There's a saying that you come to steamboat for the winters and you stay for the summers. Um, so I I don't know. Okay. We spend more of our time in Colorado than we do in California. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00

So do you primarily ski through the winter or do you run through the winter as well? I do both.

SPEAKER_02

I run and I ski. So I don't want to live in a ski town and not ski. So again, it's kind of that I want to be able to keep skiing. Um, but then also I pro in terms of exercise, I run more than I ski. And I will run outdoors. I have a treadmill, but um the cold here is not because it's so dry, it's not cold. Uh like um, it's just much more manageable to be able to run in the cold. I'm sort of surprised. You know, you you dress, you wear all your stuff, and it's it's actually kind of nice.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I can't say the winters here are nice, but I usually run outside. I've only had my treadmill for a week, so we'll see how it I do this this year in the winter. I've but I prefer outside too. But it it gets pretty cold. I mean, you know, we get some negative wind chills that it's brutal.

SPEAKER_02

I my mother-in-law lives in Wisconsin. I think it's colder in Wisconsin than it is here when it's cold.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah, there's been times they've said that it was colder here than it was in Alaska in the winter, and I'm like, yep, I believe in every bit of that. I could see that. Yeah. Outside of North Dakota, I don't know that you know, I I mean, we we're pretty cold.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So for for where we are, you know. I mean, even colder than uh Minnesota a lot of times, and they're north of us, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so you are you in southern Wisconsin? Southern Wisconsin there is such a thing? Madison, yeah. Madison, okay, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, so but we do what we do, right? I I would um I can I can't believe you ski. I I am not a skier. I have skied, and as they say, it was a garage sale. Yes, all my stuff was everywhere. But you know, I I'm at least entertaining when I roll down the hill. Um, but you know, we all have our own thing, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02

Well, for many years I ran so that I could ski. Like I would, you know, the motivation to run was so that I was a stronger skier. And at a certain point, maybe 10 years ago, I realized that when I fell, I couldn't just kind of pull myself up by my knees and keep going. I had to take off my equipment and which is then like a whole nother thing to have to do. And so I would run in order to try and keep my knees strong, my knees and hips, so that I could um have more fun on the hill. And again, I'm not a great skier, I'm an intermediate, I like the groomers. Um, I don't need to be out there on a powder day. That's not what it's about for me. So, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You're not hot dogging down the uh, what do they call them, like the black diamond with the moguls or whatever? Yeah, no, definitely, definitely not me.

SPEAKER_02

Definitely not me. And do are your boys ski as well? They do. So the oldest is a snowboarder and the two younger ones ski. And um, my husband taught me how to ski when I was 36. He taught our son, who was five at the time, to ski. He took him up to Squaw Valley, and our son loved it. And then I was like, Well, I'm not getting left behind. There's a theme here of how I don't like to be left behind. Um, and so he taught me how to ski. So then I started skiing. And then my parents, my husband taught them how to ski when they were 66, which was amazing. They skied for five or six years. Um, you know, and kind of looking back, we think about we made them carry their own equipment, like far from the parking lot. And now I'm like, I don't want to carry my own equipment. I can't believe I made my mother carry her own equipment. He's like five feet tall. Like, but that was some of the best memories we've had is all of us skiing together.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And does your husband run as well?

SPEAKER_02

He does not. When I first met him, he did. We used to run together, and then I I don't know when it happened, but he just sort of stopped.

SPEAKER_00

You probably got faster than him.

SPEAKER_02

I'm sure. I'll tell him you said that. Yeah, do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Logic, logic dictates. Yeah, he's like, oh man, she's starting to beat me. I better say I don't like to run anymore.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Is there anything about you running with your sons um that I haven't asked you? Because I know that that was my initial um you know enticement to have you on. Uh anything about the You know, like how you how you had to not run as fast so you didn't keep leaving them in the dust.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, no. If anything, they lie to me. It's not much farther, mom. It's not much farther. Um, you're not going that fast. Uh no, not so much with with uh with running with them, but I I think probably what you're thinking about is that sort of what got me back into being much more serious about it is um during the pandemic, I was on Facebook and I got an ad for it'll run 100 miles in 30 days. And for it was a fundraiser for stop soldiers suicide. And I thought, well, I can do that. I have time. I'm we're all kind of stuck at home. And where we were living was next to a really

The 100 Miles In 30 Days Challenge

SPEAKER_02

beautiful area with residential truth streets where the trees all grew over and matte, you know, just a lovely place to run, lots of shade. Um, and so I thought, okay, I'll do this. So I put a thing, I signed up and I put a thing on Facebook. And literally in like 12 hours, I raised a hundred and twelve hundred dollars. So $1,200 from my mother, from my husband's cousins, like all these people. And I was like, oh crap, I'm committed. I gotta do this now. And so obviously 30 days, 100 miles, that's 3.3 miles a day, which was a lot, which was a long distance for me at the time. But it was also in September of 2020, which is when there were terrible fires in Northern California. So the air quality was terrible. It was also the day that sort of the world turned orange in on the West Coast. And so, and it was 9095, much there was like a whole week. So I had in this 30 days horrible air quality where I really shouldn't be running, incredible heat. Um, but I kept going. And I wasn't gonna let myself get behind because I knew that I might not catch up. And so every day I would go out and I would run. Some days I would walk. I'd try and do a little more on Saturdays to give me a little bit of a cushion, but it was this it showed me the discipline of well, the discipline of the discipline. You don't go because you're motivated, you go because you committed to going and you just have to go. And I kind of it allowed me to sort of push through that. And so 100 miles is the most I've ever run in a month, but it was super fun. I ran with my dogs, they probably ran a hundred miles that month as well. And but yeah, and if if all those people hadn't signed up, I might have waffled my way out of it, but I just felt like I, you know, I couldn't. I didn't want to let them down.

SPEAKER_00

And you're doing that again? I am not doing that again.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not doing that again. It was super fun. I could probably I mean, maybe I would do it again. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's a lot of miles in a month, 100 miles.

SPEAKER_02

It is, it is, because I was probably at that point maybe running 20 miles a month a month, maybe not even that much. But it jumpstarted everything. Of again, like I was saying earlier about oh, should I retire? What am I doing? To oh no, actually, this is my strongest running I've ever done. And not expecting that ever to be where, you know, that I would say this at this point in my life. So to me, that's exciting.

SPEAKER_00

It is, and congratulations, because with all the obstacles that were handed to you for that month, too. Wow. You know, it was a lot. Yeah, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_02

That was also during the time, I think, when there was the belief that, you know, like if even if you're outdoors, you needed to wear a mask because you know, the germs could you would leave a trail behind you. So there was a lot of pressure to wear a mask even while running. And I may have done that a little bit, but not a whole lot. I pretty much decided I was gonna try and avoid people. You know, for this.

SPEAKER_00

Or still try to avoid people. I think I I think I've been living with COVID my entire life because I like to avoid people. I've definitely been a germophobe way before that. I didn't notice it until you know COVID came and people are, you know, using things to open doorknobs. I'm like, I've been using my shirt and stuff and avoiding people forever, you know. Yeah. If I would have thought about wearing a mask 20 years ago, I'd have worn a mask. You know, I just I didn't realize how much of a germophobe I was until COVID. And I'm like, yeah, I I already do that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02

So it it was really hard for a lot of people that sort of like you, who you know, s sort of discovered, oh, like I really, this is really uncomfortable for me, or I don't like this, to cope with all of the different precautions that needed to be taken and all of that.

SPEAKER_00

And I still carry um alcohol wipes in the car. Like I make up the little uh uh baby wipes, I pour alcohol in there and still keep them in the car because I'm like, well, that's a great idea. Yeah, I wasn't, you know, doing that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, for sure. Just I often will fly wearing a mask just because I don't want I I mean, I I don't I don't want to get a cold from somebody.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I do too. I almost always fly with a mask. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't want to breathe their air before, and I definitely don't want to breathe it now, realizing how sick everybody is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, exactly. For sure.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I am just so delighted talking to you. It's been great hearing about your boys and about your hundred-mile month. It was that's just crazy. So, and all the skiing you do. Uh, is there anything else you would like the audience to know before we can cut this short?

SPEAKER_02

Um I don't think so. I appreciate you having me come on. I very much appreciate Sherry Peck and Old Ladies Running. Isn't she the best? She is the best, and that group is the best. I love that group.

SPEAKER_00

Indeed, me too.

SPEAKER_02

It's highly motivating and encouraging, and uh it's

Old Ladies Running And Farewell

SPEAKER_02

gotta be. I think it's my favorite group on Facebook.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, me too. It's the only one I really visit a lot, is that one. Yeah. Same. Yeah. Same. Yeah. Great group and growing like crazy. Still growing. Just still growing. It's that is incredible. Yeah. Well, hopefully I'll get to meet you at the next uh in uh in real life uh meetup that we have, and uh we'll get to run together. All right, I would like that. That sounds very nice. Same. All right, thanks so much, Mary Ellen, for being on the show, and I'll look forward to uh seeing you soon. Thank you. So nice to meet you. Same. Bye-bye. Bye. All right, thanks y'all for listening to today's program. Hope you enjoyed it. Um, and toggle up and get ready for the one in two weeks. I do drop a program usually every two weeks, unless there's an emergency or something. But yeah, thanks again. Give me five stars, and we'll see you next time.

Contributor

Carla Coffey

Host