Phedippidations

  They ran all over the world.  They ran in warm places, cold places, rainy places, dry places.  They ran alone and with friends; they ran fast and slow, in an organized race and in their back yards.  They ran with the sound of each other in their ears and the spirit of each other in their hearts.    The World Wide Festival of Races is a celebration, but this social networking movement does not end on race weekend.  We run together every day, all around the surface of a little blue bubble in space: and we do so with the knowledge and understanding that we do not run alone: not as long as someone, somewhere is lacing up their shoes to head out on their local roads.  We are a global community of fellow runners; and together we run.   Links:   https://sites.google.com/site/wwfor2010 http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com http://crawllyflowersgarden.blogspot.com   The song “The World is Upside Down” was by A Band Called Quinn at http://www.myspace.com/abandcalledquinn  

In a Universe that is thirteen point seven billion years old, on a planet that has only existed for four and a half billion years; our species: homo sapiens sapien, has only been around for two hundred thousand years, in fact modern day homo sapiens with our language, culture, use of tools, barter between groups, art, game playing, music, and reliance on symbolic thought only began to arise 50,000 years ago.  Civilization, as we know the word, started to arise around 10,000 years ago in the middle east, near where Iraq is today…you and I fellow runners are a part of an infant species with respect to the age of all that there is.   Think about that for a moment. Everything you know….everyone you know, everything that has ever happened in the ten thousand year history of civilization of fellow human beings has occurred only on this four and a half billion year old planet three orbits out from a four and a half billion year old star in a single, typical spiral galaxy out of a hundred fifty billion in the entire universe?   Our galaxy is moving through an expanding universe that will one day distance itself from all other existing galaxies such that the very atoms which comprise our long past living bodies will no longer exist in motion, and all that ever was will stop within an impossibly long distance between every other point of definable matter.   Why then, do we live in a world where hatred, anger; and distrust seems to prevail?  What is it about our human condition that causes us to experience such animosity and distrust?  Ignoring that question, if we take the premise as fact: then what are we to do about it?   Well, here’s one thing we can do: and maybe this won’t change the course of the mighty river of war, or hold back the tide of hurt, pain and hate…but if we as a community of fellow runners can demonstrate to those around us that we can be friends despite our many differences: if we can, by example, explain to anyone we interact, socialize or come in contact with that we have friends all over the world, who run together every day…and if we can take a global event like the World Wide Festival of Races and use it as an example where good people of different nationalities, different religious backgrounds, different ethnic origins, different social or sexual lifestyles and different political interests can overcome all those differences and extend respect and dignity across a little blue bubble that we share together in space: then we’ll have done our part.    Thank you for being a part of this fifth annual world wide festival of races.  Thank you for being a friend and helping to celebrate this community of fellow runners, who today ran all over the world: in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Channel Islands, China, the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South America, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and the Virgin Islands.   It is an honor to run with you.  Think Global, Run Local.   Show Links:   Please support in the fight to stop the Nike Corporation from forcing Indonesian workers into slavery.   THANK YOU BLACK LAB! The Song “Start a Fire” was an exclusive release by the Official Band of the World Wide Festival of Races: BLACK LAB, from their new album “Two Strangers”.  Go to to download TWO FREE SONGS as a Virtual Goody Bag Gift from Paul and Andy. Follow Black Lab on Twitter: @paulblacklab and Facebook: and be sure to THANK THEM for the gift of music!   Special thanks to Neil Bearse from for all your iPad wisdom and hooking us up with the ear candy!   Special thanks also to Kevin Gwin from for letting me borrow his HOTLINE (Now that you’ve used the number you can leave him submissions on a regular basis!)   And THANK YOU to everyone who submitted a SHOUT of ENCOURAGEMENT for the entrants of this year event!  Be sure to check out all their great blogs and podcasts as mentioned in the show!  These are the friends and fellow runners who CHEERED for you!   Cover Art: Mark A, Garlik http://space.art.co.uk

PodCamp is all about podcasting, and using this medium to reach out to a community.  Since you and I are runners, and since we all listen to podcasts, you and I are a part of this thing…and since I’m eager to encourage everyone listening to my podcast to start up their own podcast, I thought it would be useful to dedicate today’s episode to what I learned at PodCamp. PodCamp is first and foremost about community.  It’s not about selling a service or a product, it’s all about focusing on building personal relationships with other podcasters.  Think of it this way; you and I are a part of a running community of new media creators…we listen to running related podcasts listed on Runningpodcast.org and we run with each other as we train for our next big race, or just get some miles in together because it feels good.  This is our podcasting universe: but there are other worlds than these…other podcast universes that have nothing to do with running: such as marketing, story-telling, science, comedy, news, politics, religion, and any other topic and genre you care to think about.  It’s here at PodCamp where these universes collide in a good way!   Thank you to Chris Penn who generously spent some time with me during his lunch break to talk about all things podcasting.  If you’re interested in social networking and marketing (a key element to the topic of podcasting) you need to get to know Chris Penn.     Show Links: Look for a PodCamp near YOU here: Here’s the article I mentioned in the show: The song “Get Over It” by THE Matthew Ebel

The Stanford University study titled “Reduced Disability and Mortality among aging runners” was published in the August 11th, 2008 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.  At the time that the study was conducted: the assumption was that vigorous exercise would cause older people more harm than good.  The expectation was that running would lead to an excess in orthopedic injuries and lead to earlier disability with runners over 50. But the researches found that regular exercise would extend high-quality, disability free life.  Frequent running would compress the period at the end of life when people couldn’t do things on their own.  This is an idea that has been given the name “compression of morbidity”.  In this episode of Phedippidations, I’ll talk about both the clinical details of this study AND the significance of it’s findings, leading to the obvious conclusion that Life is Short, but it Should be Long Enough!   Show Links: http://www.runningthenarrowpath.blogspot.com http://planettinkoff.com http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com http://www.iamplify.com/store/product_details/Rabbi-Shmuley-Boteach/Afterlife-Debate-With-Christopher-Hitchens/product_id/8621 www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi The song “One Monkey Don’t Stop the Show” by Brick Daniels http://brickdaniels.com

Inspirations, motivations,contemplations and conversations for and about runners.

While the first part of this episode is dedicated to the precautions a pregnant mother should take with regards to athletic endeavors, there are many benefits to running while pregnant including the prevention of excessive weight gain.  Running while you’re pregnant can keep you mood off and help to prevent pregnancy induced hypertension. If you’re healthy, and you’re having a healthy pregnancy there is no reason not to run.  Listen to your body, and check with your doctor.  It’s probably best not to run an Ultra marathon, or compete in a major race where you might feel obligated to run hard.  Remember, you’re running for yourself and your unborn…and while running can be good for you and make you feel better: what’s most important is that you are healthy and well prepared on your child or children’s birthday as you go through one of the greatest athletic event that a woman will ever experience…the marathon of labor. Show Links: www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi SEND ME YOUR SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGMENT: OR DIAL: 206-339-6497

From Saturday April 14th through the 18th, 2010 my Dad, son, nephew and I traveled up the West Branch of the Penobscot River and across the northern end of Chesuncook Lake in the Northern Maine Wilderness.  Through our journey we gained a better appreciation of Henry David Thoreau’s adventure of 1853.  While logging in the Northern Woods of Maine continues, the river that we paddled on remains mostly unchanged.  You can imagine the sites and sounds that Thoreau experienced as he journeyed up this river.  We saw many moose, every day, stopping to feed and drink at the rivers edge.  We saw Eagles and Loons, ducks, geese, ospreys raven, fish, red squirrels and more that we could not identify…but it was the moose, lanky majestic in stature and serenity that captured our imaginations the most. They are, as Thoreau called them: “God's own horses, poor, timid creatures”; but they are a stark reminder that we are guests in their wilderness; and that they’d continue to roam these woods long after we’ve returned to our creature comforts. This annual trip is much more than just a canoe ride or camping experience: it is an opportunity to reconnect with nature and our family.  It’s also an opportunity to tell stories by the camp fire light. Here we listen to the stories that give the lives of our friends and family meaning. These are the moments that make those stories real…my son and nephew will always remember the story of my Dad’s Aunt Penn and her husband Alex, and now so will you: because it is in quiet places; without distractions: that we have deeper conversations and tell the stories that of the people we have known and loved. The wilderness is beautiful on so many different levels: as a place to reconnect to our planet and more importantly each other. If you’ve never visited the woods, lakes and rivers of the wilderness; you owe it to yourself to do so.  It’s not scary, it’s peaceful, it’s not boring, it’s insightful, it’s not dangerous although it can be extreme…but you’ll never learn to appreciate the universe we live in, and the people we care about until you can absent yourself from the modern world and follow in the footsteps of Henry David Thoreau.

I am a disciple of Dr. George Sheehan, I’m not ashamed to tell you that, I’ve read and re-read everything the man has written…and I’ve come to know him in a comfortable, familiar way.   A man of science and medicine; a man filled with great passion for this sport and a devoted Roman Catholic…Dr. Sheehan and I have a lot in common; but while I yearn to be a writer and use this podcast as a creative outlet: I will never come close to the writer that he was…I will never approach the level of philosophical understanding of life, the universe and everything that he understood so well.  Dr. Sheehan was a great thinker…I’m merely a doofus.   But Dr. Sheehan was also human, and prone to human error, selfishness and sin.  He understood his weaknesses…he understood his imperfections and he didn’t live his life in wonder and celebration of those sad, dark and lonely attributes: but he did seek to understand himself and to understand how and why to love others.   Today, I’m going to read one of the final chapters of his book “Running and Being: The Total Experience”.  I’m doing so in the hopes that you might buy his book and read carefully what he wrote.  Profound, enlightening and brutally honest: this is the Dr. Sheehan that I’ve never met, but who over the past 11 going on 12 years of my running life I’ve come to know very well.   Show Links:   You can purchase the book “Running and Being – The Total Experience” by Dr. George Sheehan, at     Or for $20 US (including shipping and handling) through   Send a check or money order payable to “The George Sheehan Foundation” to   George Sheehan Foundation  P.O. Box 1831  Red Bank, NJ 07704    (732) 758-1611       Free Audible Book download:   The song “Grow” was by April Start

As it is with most things in life, taken in moderation: Caffeine can be good for you and improve you’re your health and your performance on race day. But too much of a good thing can lead to disaster.  In living our lives to the top we have to learn to savor, with small sips, those things which bring us pleasure and improve our health. Show Links: Free Audible Book download:  “The Java Jive” was by The Inksports (1940) “Coffee Man” was by Calvin Owens

This is my annual music show; recorded (as always) while I’m on vacation.  This time I’m on the Norwegian Cruise Ship Spirit traveling from Boston to Bermuda with my family as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of my parents wedding!   In addition to listening to podcasts, I love to run to music!  It helps me keep my cadence in check and fills my head with positive images as I get my miles in.  The songs on this episode are all from previous Phedippidations shows; so I hope you enjoy them! Please support the artists by purchasing their music and following them on the various social media networks on the “tubes of the internets”. Show Links: Summertime by Brother Love at   Broken Heart by Black Lab at Sweat by Darren Geffre at Dare to Dream by Adam Ilami at If This Geek Ruled the World by Geoff Smith at Talking Bout my Dogs by Boo Boo Davis at Move Your Feet by Dogman Joe at Say Hey I love You by Michael Franti and Spearhead at Tickle Cove Pond by Great Big Sea at And Die Alone by Ingrid Michaelson at   Thank you John Wall for 5 great years of The M Show   

Why Cook Well. We eat because we have to. Civilization is nothing more than a ten thousand year old human experiment to test the freakish theory that mankind could eat without being eaten.  Four million years earlier, our australopithecine ancestors crawled down from some God-forsaken trees to run with sweaty persistence after the meaty goodness left for scavenger animals.  This, they called a meal. The world we have inherited is only a savannah away from that prehistoric reality.  We have to eat to survive, but it’s what we eat and the quality of that food which gives our lives pleasure and meaning. The question our human experiment should answer is “Why should we cook well?” If survival is the purpose of culinary consumption then what benefit is served by eating food of higher quality, flavor and beauty?  Would not our human condition be sufficiently served through the daily ingestion of ground chicken speckled cheese spread sprayed from a can? We eat because we have to, we cook because we care.  Through trial and tribulation (and falling out of trees) modern man has come to understand that a meal is much more than a life sustaining substance.  A meal is a celebration of life: it is an expression of art and love and a way to communicate through preparation, presentation and sharing. We eat because we have to, we cook because we care, we share a meal because a meal is a  manifestation of our passion for life and each other.  To cook well is to take a food source of vegetable or meaty goodness and convert it into something of pleasing sensations of taste, smell, and texture.  It is an act of purest altruism, a performance of sincerity and joy. Why would a self diagnosed intelligent species take the time and energy to prepare food for the culinary delight of others?   Why bother with the triviality of recipes and technique when rawhide shoved into pile of burning coals would sufficiently make food more digestible and a better energy source? Because we know, instinctually, that life is short, though long enough.  We understand that our mortality is wondrous thing, allowing us the luxury of savoring the good things brought before us. The art of preparing food, and creating from it a meal goes beyond the act of cutting, slicing, baking, boiling or frying: it is the culmination of a ten thousand year in progress experiment where mankind is learning that he might not only eat without being eaten, but that he can cook and care, share and love and live our lives to the top. We eat because we want to, we cook because we love. Please vote for my essay and help me get published: http://bourdainmediumraw.com/essays/view/76  

Podcasting is a media so perfectly suited for the running lifestyle.  Just as we schedule our runs in advance, we can schedule what we listen to ON those runs, in advance.   We can multi-task the time we spend out on the roads and by listening to a podcast, exercise our brains and feel a camaraderie with the podcast host or producer: especially hosts and producers who are fellow runners like the podcasters you just heard: real people with a shared passion for this sport we love so well. When I first started producing this goofy little podcast about running, five years ago, the idea of clipping on a microphone and apparently talking to yourself while out on a long run seemed like a ridiculous idea; but today there are over 70 running podcasts listed on the runningpodcasts.org directory!  This idea of recording a podcast and listening to other podcasters completes a mode of communication and conversation not possible with traditional old media; such as radio (for example).   The other really cool thing about podcasting is that it allows for the artistic expression of thoughts, opinions, and observations of our lives.  You know me as a middle aged, middle of the pack, slightly asthmatic runner from New England who appreciates good wine, like Bordeaux, Malbec and Cab Franc, who enjoy’s a great baseball game with the Worcester Tornadoes or my beloved Boston Red Sox, and likes to rock out to amazing music, like that from Great Big Sea, Jim Fidler, Matthew Ebel or the amazing Paul Durham and Black Lab…these are all elements of my life that you’ve heard on this show: when I’m tasting or talking about wine and telling you about the grapes I’m trying to grow, when you hear me at the old ball park singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” or when I present for you some amazing creative commons pod-safe music on every episode of this show. I think that’s one of the things I most appreciate about running podcasts; that they’re NOT always just about running: they’re about the lives each of the podcasters are living: it’s better than so called reality TV because there’s no pretense involved: we are who we are, for better or worse: but we have this one thing in common: a love for running and for living our lives to the top. These podcasts we produce are a permanent record of these lives we are living; audio files that will be heard long after you and I have run our last road race, and shuffled off this mortal coil.  They are important because they document the way to live as the good animals we were meant to be; and it sets a good example to anyone who listens now, and in the far future: of how to live a life of meaningful joy. That’s why we produce these shows…because I’m telling you this fellow runner: something you already know deep in your heart but something that we have somehow GOT to get across to others, be it through personal examples or  a moving pictures expert group dash 1 audio layer 3 standard digital encoding formatted file downloaded to your iPod:  Life is short, but it should be long enough and to take to the roads and become a runner is one certain way to live that life to the top: which is exactly what is expected of us all. Show Links: The song “The Real You” was by Black Lab at

I had come to the town of Milton Massachusetts to run a 10K road race that I had run three times before, with a 48:18 finish in 2002, a 52:30 finish in 2003 and a 53:40 finish in 2004.  Today I was hoping to finish in an hour and five minutes, although secretly a sub one hour would make me feel better. I’ve been injured, I’ve gained weight, and I’ve not felt as in shape as I have in the past: but today’s effort might serve to remind me that there was still hope within me to shed these pounds and run faster and more intelligently with a new strategy of training.   If the act of running is a celebration of life, it seemed only fitting that I’d be here in the town where I took my first human breath, and experienced a childhood of tradition and love, to celebrate my identity as a runner in training: where my walk breaks allowed my body to run faster, and this guy named Walker could feel more like a runner.   Show Links: Free Audible Book download: The song “Walk on the Moon” was by Great Big Sea

Today’s episode is not about my love of this sport; it’s about how to help others to fall in love with this sport.  Running is an activity that fellow runners, like you and I, gather pleasure from.  We look forward to these feelings of pleasure every day when we lace up our shoes. To the non-runner, or someone who finds any physical activity abhorrent, this love of running is an alien emotion.  These sufferers on THE COUCH OF DOOM consider the act of running as equivalent to the act of smashing a brick into ones forehead: it neither seems like a good idea, nor would it bring pleasure to do so. So, how does one fall in love with running? Once you start paying more attention to your body in motion, you’ll begin to feel the urge to take that daily break out on the roads.  You’ll begin to feel an infatuation with eating and living healthier, to enhance and improve your daily performance.  You might even start subscribing to a few running related podcasts…especially as you start to realize that you could run faster than some goofy little podcaster from New England, who really isn’t all that and a bag of chips…and the next thing you know you’ll be eating those chips from within a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the purpose of sodium replacement and protein muscular recovery. And maybe, just maybe your new found love for running will work both ways and you’ll find that running is in love with you.  Show Links: Free Audible Book download: “Say Hey (I Love You)” was by Michael Franti and Spearhead “A Glorious Dawn” was part of the http://www.symphonyofscience.com project by John Boswell.

The story behind the swoosh is much bigger than that of just Nike and its corporate policy of treating it’s workers as slaves: it’s a story that speaks to the working conditions of many of the products that you and I use every day, from iPhones to Droids, from large screen TV’s to these new tablet computers Steve Jobs keeps whining about.  What is the morally correct thing to do when we learn the truth about the working conditions for the people who make all this stuff we carry and use?  I can’t answer that for you, that’s something you have to figure out for yourself. I’m not here to talk philosophy with you; remember: I am just a doofus.  But I think that the very least any of us can do is to LEARN about what’s going on in places like Indonesia: just so we can answer the question, as athletes, regarding this aspect of the running shoes you and I wear every day. Think about it: right now you and I select our shoes based on fit, style, functionality, weight, price and reputation….what if we were to add to that list of aspects the adherence to social justice of the manufactures?  If, as runners, we focused on just one company: Nike, the leader in sportswear and running paraphernalia, and just learn more about how our shoes are made: that we might consider the treatment of workers in our formula for what we should be purchasing? No one is asking you to ban Nike products, this isn’t about you and I: this is all about learning…and I urge you to consider going to Teamsweat.org just as soon as you get back from your run today, and click on the upcoming events link: please, I’m asking this as a friend, and see when Jim Keady is going to be in your area next; in fact: I’ll go further: if you attend a College or University, why not contact Educating for Justice at and see about getting someone from that organization to come to your school to talk about these issues. This is important stuff, and I’m not telling you this to make myself feel better about myself as a runner: I’m telling you this because I think it will make us better athletes, plain and simple. This is not about me, and it’s not about you: it’s about the good people in countries like Indonesia who just want a little of the life that you and I enjoy.  I’ll spare you the angry rant about Nike or my firm belief that they are most certainly evil: but I hope you’ll listen to what Jim Keady is saying here, and I very much hope you’ll make an effort to go see him; I’m going to list some of the places where he’ll be speaking in the near future; he’s getting ready to head back over to Indonesia, so it’s important that we learn from what he finds there, and that we think for ourselves, using the information we can learn from his findings and those findings of other independent activists. More than anything, I hope that in listening to this small portion of Jim’s lecture: behind the swoosh, you will get at least a little: angry. Show Links: Free Audible Book download: “Justice Will Roll Down” was by Sandra McCracken;