Eat Half, Walk Double

Kat Donatello is my guest this week.  Endurance athlete, race director, entrepreneur, dog owner, cancer survivor…I’m telling you, hold onto your hats because this is a great story!  What started as a kitchen project to make a homemade remedy for her aging Duck Tolling Retriever Brady, and something to take the edge off her new Labrador Retriever Austin, would eventually become an incredibly successful pet supplement company. 

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Valerie Abradi & Mindy Slovinsky are my guests this week. Better known within the Maine trail running community as Scout & Squirrel, this dynamic duo direct Maine’s only 100 mile trail race, the Riverlands 100. Held each May in the beautiful Androscoggin State Park in Turner this ultra’s charm is matched only by it’s deceptive difficulty. But don’t take my word for it, Val & Mindy break down what makes this race special and especially challenging.

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Dwight Hartman is my guest. We’ve been friends since the day we met in Mrs. Bosse’s Lollipop Nursey School many, many years ago.  And over the last 45+ years we’ve competed together in organized sports, shoulder to shoulder, as youths, adolescents, teenagers, and eventually as adults. These shared experiences transcend friendship. They have inextricably bonded us together. In this episode we reminisce and story tell some of the most memorable moments including his experiences at some of the toughest endurance events in the world.

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Sean Snow is my guest. For those who follow him on social media, his daily positive posts are inspirational and uplifting. And they are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise swamp of negativity. Yet I suspect that very few know the story behind those posts. In a very real sense they are an integral component of his continued success as a 56 year old endurance athlete. Finally, in order to more fully appreciate Sean’s unique approach I present to you a challenge. In the center of a blank piece of paper draw nine dots in three rows of three. The square should be approximately 1 inch by 1 inch. Now without lifting your pen from the paper, draw four lines that connect all nine dots. It might be helpful to pause the show for a moment after this intro and attempt to solve the puzzle.

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Scott Graham is my guest this week. For runners, the most famous stretch of road in all the world is the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston, MA. Landmarks such as the Ashland Clock Tower, the Framingham Train Station, the screaming co-eds at Wellesley College, the “Forever Young” statue in Newton, Heartbreak Hill, Coolidge Corner, the Citgo sign, and of course Copley Square give the route a unique character. And after running 36 consecutive Boston Marathons (with #37 coming up this April) one character, Scott Graham, knows this route better than anyone I know. He shares some of his most memorable Patriots’ Day experiences as well as some valuable pearls of wisdom for anyone racing the event for the first time.

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Nate Sanel joins the podcast this week. In a very real sense, this episode has been six years in the making and started as a group mountain bike ride in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in 2017. Fast forward to the present day and the use of cannabis generally and in endurance sports specifically has become more common but not necessarily better understood. Through personal experience, as both an elite level ultradistance athlete and a highly educated user of cannabis, Nate provides an interesting and thought-provoking perspective on this once taboo subject. Now it’s important to note that all of the information in this episode is for entertainment purposes only. Anyone interested in pursing the use of cannabis should start by educating themselves and then having a discussion with their healthcare provider. Additionally, all users should be 21 years of age or older and have an informed understanding of the laws of their state, the laws in the countries in which they travel, policies of their employers, and rules governing their sport. Lastly as Nate will point out, with regard to the effects of cannabis, everyone is a study of one.

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In Part 2 of my conversation with Ken Young we pick back up where we left off in his mountaineering evolution. It’s 2016 and he is on the expedition of a lifetime. A three week trip to the Peruvian Andes including a multi-day trek to Machu Pichu, two 18,000+ foot summits, and an attempt at the 22,205 foot goliath Huascaran which didn’t quite go to plan. After Peru he returned home and re-organized his priorities and refocused his local efforts on a couple of pretty cool projects including “The Grid” and his latest passion, bushwhacking the NH48.

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Ken Young is my guest this week. As outdoor adventure resumes go, he’s in rarified air…literally. His first registered hike was Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in June of 2000. Six years later he would stand atop the 14,411 foot Mt. Rainer in Washington State. That trip kicked off a short but incredibly memorable mountaineering phase of his life that saw him climb some of the highest peaks in the world including four of the seven summits. In part one of this two part episode we chat about why he got into the sport of hiking, his transition to mountaineering, and his experience on Mt. McKinley in May of 2011. A tragic month that saw seven climbers die.

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Kara Haas joins the show. Recently she took the reigns of the New England-based All Terrain Runner Series. This fun competitive series challenges runners on five different surfaces; track, trail, road, mountain, and cross country. It’s a great opportunity to try something new and experience a new community of people. We discuss each event in the series. Kara of course is no stranger to the sport of running. In fact, she’s dedicated her entire adult life to it. Several years ago a devasting hamstring injury almost took the sport away from her. How she worked her way back and the lessons she learned along the way is an important story.

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Tyler Lupien & Jenny Villeneuve are my guests this week. This duo was recently part of a three person team that successfully got one ultradistance runner (Tyler) to the finish line of his first 100 mile footrace. Having a team on site to support a runner during this type of challenge isn’t required. Plenty go it alone. Ever the stoic, initially Tyler had planned to go it solo. While some may say it’s a luxury, others would argue it’s part of a great plan. And while no 100 mile finish is ever guaranteed, having a capable and responsive crew can sometimes make the difference between a buckle and a DNF. Such was case for Tyler and his crew. This is their Hitchcock Experience 100 mile story.

Heather Cote is my guest this week. Women deserve to run without fear. But it’s a shameful reality that here in the United States that’s not possible for many women. A recent survey by Runner’s World reveled that more than 8 out of 10 women have been harassed while running. And the tragic headlines about violence against female runners highlights the importance of the topics of safety and personal protection. Heather’s professional experience in law enforcement coupled with her resume as an endurance athlete make her the perfect person to speak with authority about these issues.

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