 A minute and 40 seconds to guess, 10 shoes blindfolded. This is the blind running shoe test. Let's do it. Onward and upward, onward and upward to the year 2020. Isn't that crazy to say? Like 2010 wasn't that long ago, but together we've just lived through a decade on this earth. And now we're about to cast out into the 2020s. I think it sounds kind of cool. It's got a nice ring to it. But before we get to 2020 and talk about, oh my goodness, goals and races of 2020, I wanted to take a vlog today to reflect with all of you on the moments that we've shared here in the studio. And there's been so many. There's no way I could put all of the best moments into one vlog. But I went through over the last like hour and a half, just kind of picking out some that jumped out at me, some of the top five moments I would say that I experienced and was able to share with all of you here in my shed. That's right. And for everyone that's new, this is where I record the end of the vlogs where we talk about training philosophies, running shoes. We do live streams in here, running shoe giveaways, all sorts of different opportunities to grow together and become hopefully better runners together. And at the end of the day, at least what I'm trying to do is just be a better person here on this earth. So that's what we're up to today. And we're going to kick it off with adversity in running and on YouTube. That is the title of the vlog from probably about 11 months ago. It was a tough day. Roll the tape. And what really, really is frustrating is that a half hour before the live stream goes on air, it's working and then it stops working. And then it just freezes. And I get this spinning wheel of death that you see on your screen right now. And it just will not connect well. So I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. And that is the keyword is perseverance. The keyword for today is perseverance. Cause I'm just, as you can tell, a little perturbed, a little perturbed. And it makes me frustrated because you are carving time out of your schedule to sit at a computer, an iPad, a TV, a phone and just to love is here. Good M&Ms. That's sometimes all it takes. Oh, the keyword is perseverance. Amen. I'm going to advance with the capital P. The capital P. This man right here. Oh, we're trying. You're doing, honey, you are doing so good. So. I'm sorry to interrupt. I just had this. That's okay, that's okay. I was like, yes, never, never give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never. It's a revolution. Oh. Honey, it's a revolution. Sorry, it's so tight in here. You can see what might happen. That's right. True love came out to save me after a live stream failed to work. So frustrating. I think we're now in a good rhythm. I think we've done five live streams in a row with no technical difficulties. It's very good. I'm very excited about it, which by the way, next live stream, just note your calendar right now. Shout out to everyone in Africa and Europe. The next live stream is going to be noon, December 31st, 2019. December 31st, is that a Tuesday, Wednesday? Anyway, it's next week, noon, my time, which is about six PM-ish depending on where you're at in Europe. So my hope is that everyone in Europe can hang out here in the studio, December 31st, 2019. Okay, so it was a tough moment here in the live, here in the studio with getting the live stream up and running, but it was all about perseverance. And isn't that what this running thing is all about? Like, I've got the knee injury right now. Oh my goodness. I had the foot injury before the Cleveland Marathon. Like, oh, one, it's a perseverance pays off in so many ways in life, really. And for those veterans out there, you know what I'm talking about. For those that have had a career or career changes throughout your life and you're just finding your way, you know, like, oh, putting your nose to the grindstone sometimes really does make a difference. So there you go, adversity in running and on YouTube. And the next one is a little more light-hearted. That's right, we have good times here. And Too Love came out to help me for this one as well. The blind running shoe. 40 seconds, a minute and 40 seconds to guess. 10 shoes, blind folded. This is the blind running shoe test. Let's do it. For 10 seconds? No, you just let it run to a minute 40. And do you want to stand back here so you're in the shot? Go across you, okay. And I'm just going to drop on it. That's going to drop on it. Get set, go! Oh my gosh, Nike, Bill Bowerman, Myler's shoe. On Cloud X. Sock and E, nope. Skechers, razor three. Oh my gosh, you're amazing. Oh, Solomon S. Lab Sense 6 SG. What's your question, Nick? On Cloud. Hoka, Hoka, Clayton, Hoka Clayton, two. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Oh, oh, oh, yes. Nike, Pegasus 35 Turbo. Oh my gosh, you're amazing. He's amazing. I know, these are where I've never seen these in a while. Thanks so much for hitting me. Okay, there you go. So I was blindfolded, so fun, trying to discern what shoe I was holding in my hand. An amazing time. I think I got like eight out of 10 right, if I remembered correctly, but it was a good time. And the next vlog that jumped out at me as far as what we did here in the shoot-io has to be actually the sign is sitting right there. You know what it is, the 10,000 subscriber vlog with Luke. Luke is a vlog fan from Indiana. He's been watching for a long time. He was visiting Denver and it just so happened when he was in Denver, we passed the 10,000 subscriber mark and through thick and thin, we kept going, we kept going and Luke, they did something. That's from Luke. No. That is from Luke. Look guys, Heather. Isn't that amazing? You read my mind. I told him, I wanted to make you a day got away. It was busy. It was busy. This is the best sign I've ever seen. Congratulations and onward and upward. And oh my gosh, look at him go. Oh my gosh. What did I say? Congratulations, Papa. Congratulations, Poppy. Thank you, buddy. Congratulations. Thank you. Basically, no, it's a sign. What? We're just getting started. We're just getting started, YouTube family. Okay, there's not much else I can say today, but I will say one thing real quick. I almost quit. I almost quit 600 vlogs in and we're almost, I think we're heading toward 1200, so about 600 vlogs ago, I almost threw in the towel. I was done. I was tired. I was a little burned out and I said, you know what, maybe this isn't gonna work. So the message from that vlog and that studio time is hope. There is always hope. And I had uploaded for three and a half, no, three years straight, three years straight with less than a thousand subscribers and that's fine. But then somehow we started to find you runners out there and YouTube started to feed these videos to other runners on YouTube and the channel began to grow and it was really hard at the beginning. Anything in this life worth fighting for is probably gonna be hard. And sure enough, getting to that 10,000 subscriber mark, I'm glad, I honestly, everyone, just so you know, I almost gave up legit. Like talk to true love about this. I almost gave up on this YouTube channel at least three, if not four times where I really, really was about to throw in the towel because it was just so hard. It was so hard to do it every single day and nobody was really watching. Like there were a few and shout out to the original people. You know who you are who've been watching a long time. We're talking like over three years ago but it was just hard to do it every day when each vlog is getting 50 views. But I'm glad I stuck with it and thank you for sticking with me. So okay, moving on to the next one. We are going with the mental side of running alone. It's a good topic. It was a topic that struck a chord with a lot of runners out there. So the mental side of running alone, roll the tape. When you approach peak fitness, it gets easier. Running gets easier. And how does that connect to running alone? Basically, you start to have more fun. And I really mean that. Like running should be fun. I know it's hard, but the more fit you become the easier in quotes, a little easier it becomes. And yes, I believe the more fun it becomes. And frankly, in this world, the world we live in, like we need a little more fun in this world just like good, healthy fun. Because sometimes the stresses of money or politics or whatever else is in, oh, hold on, or light's going out. I don't know. There's just so much garbage out there. So anyway, I just, I lean into the goodness of disconnecting and of running and and and. Okay, there's no bike involved. There's no rope. There's no kayak. There's no nothing. It's just you and your feet. And I love that simplicity. And that helps me when I don't necessarily want to go run, which is very rare. In fact, it hardly ever happens, but it's taken years to build up to that. All right, there you have it. Peak fitness really does make running alone more fun. Because I get it. Not everybody can run in a group. And so that's why I made that blog and it struck a chord with a lot of people. Thank you for watching it. And at the end of the day, it's like patience and consistency equals great fitness. And yes, I just like from, and again, shout out to the veterans. You know, when you're at a high level of fitness and running becomes easier, it's fun. It's just, I don't know how else to, I don't know what else to say. Like you go faster, your legs turn over easier. Everything just feels a little easier, even just walking around throughout the day. So anyway, that is video vlog number four, studio time number four, that I'm gonna give a shout out to. And last but not least, this one really struck a chord with a lot of people. It has over 150,000 views, marathon training, the two hour principle. If I had to go back and re-film it, I probably would, because there's some additions that I would like to make to that video because it's done so well. But roll the tape. To your training vlog. Two, two hour training sessions throughout the week. So maybe it's a Sunday, Thursday, okay? Where you're hitting a two hour training session. Now we're just gonna keep going here. There's so many benefits, it's insane. But to the steady state aerobic training is that at longer intervals, it improves our pulmonary ventilation. The lungs become more efficient because they develop more active pulmonary capillary beds. You've heard me talk about that before, which enables our blood to absorb oxygen faster and more easily. How crazy is that? I do my best to educate myself on these topics around exercise physiology and around our own anatomy because why? It gives me confidence. And it gives me peace of mind when I arrive at the starting line in Amsterdam to know that I put in the work. There's nothing else I can do. If I put in the work, I trust the science. I trust the studies that I've read that okay, there's nothing else to do but to put the shoes on and let it rip because I believe my blood is ready. My lungs are ready. Not quite yet. I've got a little more work to do, but anyway. So I hope that helped at least paint a little bit of the picture behind why I train the way I train that two hour plus window is just that sweet spot. Butter my bread, butter my bread. Arriving with confidence at the starting line. There's nothing like it. Unless you arrive with too much confidence and too little experience as I did in Amsterdam. Like I felt confident. I felt fit. I had applied the two hour principle into my training a lot going into Amsterdam. And I went out in 10650. It's like, so I had to rain it in a little bit but I'm telling you, arriving with confidence at the starting line there's just nothing like it. So that is the last studio shout out from 2019. There's been so many and I know I'm missing some. Therefore, question of the day. What is one of the most favorite moments from the studio or from the blog that you remember from 2019? It could be in the last week. It could be in the last, you know, it could be six months ago. Anytime from 2019, is there a moment that we got to share in here together that really struck a chord with you and hopefully helped you become a better runner. All right, so that's the question of the day. Thanks for reflecting with me on 2019 here. I just love this time of year because it's like turning a page, learning from the past and looking to the future, to new goals, new challenges, new opportunities to push ourselves to new heights. Boom, that's it, that's it. All right, all right everyone. There you go. I'm gonna toss it back on the right too. The vlog from exactly one year ago from late 2018, that'll be on the right. And then on the left, I'll toss it back to the 10,000 subscriber vlog. Oh, just, oh, I can't believe it. Oh my goodness. Seems like a lifetime ago, but it was not too long ago. All right, there you have it everyone. Seek beauty, work hard, and love each other. See you tomorrow.