 Hello my friends! It is Boston Marathon Monday. But obviously, and unfortunately, it's not happening. Nothing is happening this year. And I've actually never run the Boston Marathon, but I have been there one time to experience the magic. A few years ago, Cliffbar hired me essentially to be a cheerleader at Heartbreak Hill. You look awesome! You look awesome! You look awesome! It was one of the coolest jobs I've ever had. And while I was there, I got to interview one of my heroes in the world of ultra-running, Scott Jurick. Boston I think is special because of the history and the energy. A lot of big marathons have phenomenal crowds, but there's something in the air here in Boston. Just everybody gets psyched about the race from just locals who aren't even runners to the spirit of the whole New England and Boston community. I mean, they take the whole day off here. This guy is an absolute legend. He's won pretty much every big race on the planet. He's written some amazing books and he's a really nice guy. So I called him up recently and said, hey Scott, we should do a bolder version of the Boston Marathon, something to honor the race. Let's just do a little backyard loop-de-loop thing for 26.2 miles. What are we doing, Scott? Doing a few laps around the neighborhood. So I've got a one-mile-ish type of route in the neighborhood. My whole goal was to keep it basic, keep it close to home, just because there's so many people out there who don't have the ability to go very far from their home. And every five miles or so, I've got this one hill that goes right alongside the route so we can like throw that in there. It's kind of like our mini heartbreak hill or pseudo heartbreak hill even though it's a little steeper. Should be a little good to switch out the legs and have some fun. We're going to get to know this neighborhood really well. I think one of the biggest things that I like about running is that it's just so simple. You really don't need anything and it's really the way that I explore the world around me. You know, from where, whether I'm traveling somewhere in the heart of a city or I'm out in a remote place and out in the woods and the wilderness, out in the mountains, it really is the best way to see the world at a great pace. I think it's seeing those intricacies and seeing the small things, noticing details and I feel like especially in today's modern world we don't often take that time to slow down and look at things. Oh, there's the sun. We made it to the top of our first big hill. I'd give you a high five but you know, virtual, bam. When I'm running I do go places internally and I wish I could map that out for you. I wish I could tell you exactly what that is but it's kind of one of those journeys that I feel like I'm going inside and outside of the body and sometimes floating above it. If everything's clicking and I feel amazing and ideally that's what I get, it's beyond I think like a runner's high. It's just something outside of the body and outside of the mind and that's I think the magic of running and ultra running specifically is that you experience something almost like outer body experience and I know it sounds really weird but it's almost like your body, your mind don't even exist and you're just out somewhere else. Oh, five miles already. That was good. So even though I've been running ultra marathons doing all these hard intense challenges I still have the same thoughts like, you know, I wish I was at home. It's too hot. It's, you know, my body hurts. Why am I doing this? I mean the constant question of why still comes up but you just for me I have to let go of that and try to like basically subvert my thinking and just try to go to places where I'm not focused on all those little things that really don't matter in reality and just try to stay in the present moment and have fun. This is our second time up the hill, heartbreak hill, eight miles in. How you feeling bud? Feel good. It's beautiful out. It's great to be alive moving the body. It's that feeling of just being so on and a lot of people refer to this as like the flow state or being in the zone or, you know, satori, depending upon, you know, whether it's a religious experience or sport or art, you'll hear artists talk about just being in that flow state and people who are doing their work or their craft and I feel like that's what happens when you start going, whether it's the marathon distance, like really putting yourself out there or ultra distance, being out beyond that's where like after or during the intense suffering if you survive that you get those glimmers of that just being in the zone being in a flow state and where everything clicks and it just feels like you're running on air and there's no pain, there's no discomfort and everything just is a sense of ease. Thank you. All the neighbors are waving at us. They're starting to realize that the same two guys are running in circles. I think one of the biggest things that's kept me grounded during this unpredictable state that we're in and just everything that's happening is being close to family and just having this connection even though at times Jenny and I are like this is not sustainable or just feels like it's so intense having two toddlers around 24-7 never getting a break. It's family and the I don't know just the partnership and relationships I think like that's really kept things grounded and I think also just the simple fact of like going back to simple living. The crunch of this gravel makes me think that we're on a trail. It's pretty good. I think it's just distilling life down to its most simple and most important facets and that's what right now is even though it is so unpredictable so for so many people such a troubled time and even myself like whether it's work wise like family can get intense take care of two kids it just um it just forces you to be in the moment and being I guess hyper hyper aware and that's what running does too. Running allows me to be in that hyper aware state so as much as we don't like struggle or difficulties I think this whole pandemic and being quarantined and sheltering in place has caused us to really stay in the moment and stay present and be focused on the things that matter most. Who do we have waiting for us? Oh there they are. Dream Squad. Hi guys. Hi Evergreen. How's it going buddy? Evergreen. Is that your shaker? Is that your shaker Bob? Hi. Hi Raymond. We can do it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Final six miles like this. Sometimes it's hard to think about the future I think for so many people we're so involved with what's happening now and anybody who's taking care of family members or kids or just you know trying to keep work afloat or struggling with you know the element of losing a job or not having enough money to pay rent all of those things definitely seem like the future is even more bleak so at times I can go easily to those places where it's going to be so rough and what's it going to be like six to twelve months down the line but when I start to like look farther out I think my hope is that we'll learn from this and it's it's really kind of a hard thing to think about because sometimes I'm like you know humans we just don't learn that much from history or from things that have happened and my hope and what I feel is like we can learn a lot from this and when we do that we rise to a different level and I'm still an optimist even though I can sometimes go to that negative spot I'm a big optimist and hope that yeah we'll come away from this stronger and there are a lot of unifying things even though we've all had to be sheltering in place and we're all these like small tiny little pods humans are pretty amazing and what we can accomplish and how we can come together how we can help one another but it's not going to be easy and that's the beauty it's kind of like running you know running is not an easy thing it sucks sometimes and it hurts but when you get through it you rise to a different level and I feel like I'm always a better person after you know I've gone for that run or I get through that challenge can you catch me can you catch me oh this is the best finish to any marathon I've ever been in I have to say 26.2 yes right we did it we did it virtual high five we did it we did it I don't want to do another lap you can do another lap