¶ Carlyth Keyes
So you're thinking about running , but not sure how to take the first step . My name is Brian Patterson and I'm here to help . Welcome to Brian's Rompod . Well , welcome back to another exciting episode of Brian's RunPod , and I'm your host , brian Patterson , and today I've got an absolutely fantastic guest lined up for you .
Joining us is the incredible Carlyth Keyes , a marathon runner , influential running content creator all the way from New York City , and I think you're in Spain at the moment , is that right ?
I'm in Spain . I'm dividing my life between New York and Madrid , mostly because I just had surgery in my right knee . I got better , you know healthcare system here in Spain .
Yeah . Anyway , with her rich background in news reporting , carleith is now channels her storytelling skills into sharing her passion for long-distance running and her thrilling global adventures on social media . Carleith's engaging and educational constant is not just about clocking in the miles .
It's about inspiring you to overcome challenges and achieve those seemingly impossible goals Today , as she'll be sharing her tips and tricks to help you stay healthy healthy and motivated as you train for your marathon . So lace up your running shoes , hit the trail and get ready to be inspired by Carleith Keyes on our episode of Brian's Rumpod .
That's exciting .
Anyway , I thought I'd add that in for you . So anyway , how are you today ? And really thank you very much . I know we've been planning this for quite a while . I've been bonding bunny with emails , but thank you , how are you today , carly ?
very good , thank you good .
I just wanted to , as I do with most of my guests , is what was your experience of exercise or running when you were growing up at school ?
well , I always had this flair for running when I was a little kid , always liked speed . But when I was a kid I suffered , you know , like some sort of like a cardiac syndrome . You know okay it went away with the years .
So I was in the track team , I was very , I was like probably six years old and I actually , you know , fainted in one of my races and the doctor said , you know , she better not , you know , stop running while she grows out of it . So that's what happened .
So that was my brief , you know , situation with running when I was a kid , and then it just completely forgot about it altogether until I was , you know , an adult and I started like running recreationally but never to train for a marathon , I mean not even a 5k . That became way later in life , after my forties .
Oh I see , oh , really , as late as that , oh my gosh . So so what was it ? Was there a particular you know event , I mean in your twenties and thirties , did you , did you not consider sort of taking running up seriously ?
Because , I don't know , I was just more focused in my career . I would say , you know , I never took running seriously , so I was into other things .
You know , I always liked to keep in shape , but you know I was going to the gym doing other things , you know , to stay healthy , and but it's true that every time I went for a run to run around Central Park , it was like to me it was a secret . You know , a moment to disconnect , disconnect . Yeah . So I really like that about running .
Whenever I had a , you know , like I was worried about something or I had to think about something , to make a decision on something , so I always went out . You know , I don't know if you ever been to new york city or central park , yeah , uh , the jack lingonacci's terroir , that is right in the middle of the park I used to do that ?
I would say probably not more than two miles and that that's the only one thing I would do . You know , just go around the lake and then just went back home and that's it . So I never really run long distances like I do now .
Because you had quite a high profile in media , is that right at the time ? So yeah , so obviously you didn't really have a lot of free time to be doing sort of training for marathons and that kind of thing .
I think I lost you .
Oh yeah , so yeah , no , what I meant was is that you , you didn't have a kind of like a lot of free time for doing sort of like marathons and at the time , oh no , no no , I never .
And coming from New York , you know , it's just like I , like I was working in news and every year I knew that , you know , around November it was this big block party going on in the city is is a new city marathon , yeah , and the city will just stop completely just for that race .
And I knew that and it was like , oh , how fun would be , you know to , to run that race one day . But you know , it was to me back then it seemed like a very untenable , you know , like very unreachable for me .
You know I was so busy like I could never fathom the idea of , you know , investing a lot of time , dedication hours to training yeah so yes that .
So when did that inflection point come ? And well , was there something that you thought ?
yeah , after motherhood . Ah right , it was my four year old back in the day , five years ago , and so he saw that . He saw a documentary on the New York City Marathon and he saw the sea of people crossing the Verrazano Bridge and he asked me what is that ?
I'm like , and I told him this is the New York City Marathon , the biggest party in town and it's amazing , like 50,000 people running together . He's like but you like running ? I'm like yes , have you ever run the New York City Marathon ? I'm like no , why ?
Well , because the same thing , you know , it requires a lot of time , dedication , and mommy doesn't have the time . He's like yes , you do . And he was right , because back then I was going through some you know ups and downs in my career wise , you know talking about that because I became a mom .
I actually left my career behind when I decided to have my first child and I never looked back . So , even though I tried to do many other you know ventures , you know , on my own , but never really succeeded I was a full-time mom .
So I guess my kid back then he saw that , as I had all this free time for me to train under something else , I'm like are you throwing me out of the house or what ? What ? Yes , let's do this . Let's , let's train for a freaking marathon , that's how it goes and I never look . Never looked back ever since .
All right , okay , so on those first tentative steps for , you know , going into the marathon , I mean , did you get any particular advice or did you sort of like , well , you know , I'm going to sort of go with the journey my way .
What do you mean ?
So basically was was it , did you look for a coach or did you get any back then ?
yeah , what was what was and and it's funny because I was just listening to your introduction it's like you want to . You want to start running . You don't know what , where to start . That was me . That was me , okay . So I want to train for a marathon . I know I need to run , so I guess I run .
So I just went to my local running club just run with them , but I didn't follow any you know particular plan . I just didn't know what I was doing . I just did whatever they were doing . I couldn't understand any of their running lingo , like do four by four hundreds or all this , or tempo running or fart leg .
I just follow whatever they were doing , I just go behind them and , you know , try to mimic whatever they were doing . I didn't have watch , I didn't have not even the proper shoes . I just went there with whatever had on and with a good vibes and that's it . And it was easy for me to get injured so , but I didn't care .
I couldn't really understand my own body . You know , like now you need to rest or now you need to . You know foam roll or you need to eat more protein , Everything that I know now . I had completely , absolutely no idea back then , so I didn't follow a proper protocol for training my first marathon .
And my coach in the run club , like months later , he asked us like so do you have any goals ? I'm like , yes , I'm running the New York City Marathon . He's like , oh , are you doing long runs on weekends ? Because I only see you doing all this . You know the speed work . I'm like am I supposed to do that ? I don't know what .
He's like oh , oh , my god , you really need . It's 26 miles . Yeah , it's like now you have to do 10ks and then you have to . He can explain to spell it out , but he wasn't really my coach .
Um , so on my own , I just kind of like I just went for it until , well , my first new york city marathon was a charity race and when I in , they started doing like train group trainings once a week , the charity organization I was raising funds for . So you know , I cannot like put myself together with them the final weeks of training .
So you know , so that that's that , that's about it . And I had a lot of nice mentors there in . You know it , it's Team for Kids , the charity organisation that was raising funds .
So they have mentors and they kind of like guided me very last minute , like on how to you know like hydrate , like I didn't know I was supposed to be taking gels or being fuelling during the race . I mean all these little details that they're so overwhelming , really , when you start running .
But did that help , you like ? Because you were learning bits and pieces every time . It's like me with this podcasting thing I'm learning new things all the time , you know , and and in a way I like the fact that you know sometimes I'm failing at it or on or whatever , but do you think that kind of spurred you on ?
You know , it was like you weren't , you weren't , let's say , you didn't feel that oh no , I'm gonna give it up , or you know , at any stage , oh , not at all .
I guess I have this personality that I don't . I don't consider myself a quitter , like right ever say like okay , so this is not for me , maybe , so I'm gonna just do something else . No , I'm not like that . Whatever I start , I finish there . If it goes good or bad , I mean it doesn't matter the outcome , it's okay .
So this is not for me , maybe , so I'm going to just do something else . No , I'm not like that . Whatever I start , I finish . If it goes good or bad , I mean it doesn't matter the outcome . It's like I just put my heart and mind into this and let's do this , let's see what . You know what happens . So , yeah , like quitting was never an option for me .
Maybe the night before the race , yes , I was like , oh my god , I don't know , I bet I mean you have run marathons right no , I've never run a marathon , I've , but I mean nothing . The most 10 miles , 10 miles , 10 miles , 10 miles , yeah well , once you get into the groove of running half marathons and marathons , that's when you get the .
You know the imposter syndrome okay , yeah I'm not made for this . This is beyond my capabilities . You get that you know the night before . Yeah and I mean , many people actually wake up there the day of the race thinking I'm not showing up . So there's always that chance that you will .
After months and months of training , you don't show up to the race because you feel that you're never going to make it . So that was me my first marathon . So so , yeah , I mean there was always a possibility that I'm going to fail the test , that I probably got a DNF or do not finish . but then soon I realized that you know the race is just like .
I guess the toughest part of running a marathon is just the training part . Once you're in the race , everything goes so fast and so smooth and you have so much fun because you get fed up with all this energy around you , all the other runners trying to get to the same finish line that you're chasing after too .
So it just kind of flows together and that's when you get hooked , that's when you get to the's , when you put the finish line and also you get the yeah , and also the people are giving you the energy as well .
At the same time , yes , especially being new york city such a great crowd , you know you just get the feeling that everybody's rooting for you , so it's like you don't want to fail them . You know you want to . You want to really go all those 26 miles and cross the finish line like a champion and get your medal .
I see that you've done London recently . You did London this year . Is that right ? And how was that for you ? I mean , how many times have you done London ?
No , that was my first time .
That was the first time .
I was very impressed .
Oh right .
I didn't expect it to be so much fun , because New York City is such a high standard for me . After New York City , everything else is just like oh , come on , this is not New York City , not New York City . And suddenly I just run London and it was like I really like this .
Oh right .
This city , this crowd . I mean everything was perfect , everything was amazing in london yeah , yeah .
So oh good , I'm glad you enjoyed it . I'm glad that you , we gave you a good time .
So oh , yes , yes , definitely so . Station , the people are so nice and the crowds , I mean from start to finish . I mean there's no one dull moment in London .
So , going from there , it's obviously you've got the bug and you know . You think , yeah , I could do this again .
¶ Sharing Realities of Running Training
Going on to the kind of the social media side of it , what made you think , well , maybe I could help other people or chart my success , Exactly because of that first experience that I didn't know what I was doing I could help other people or chart my success in , Exactly Because of that first experience that I didn't know what I was doing and back then I
couldn't .
Yes , I started following people and maybe I'm not the only one saying this , but that's how it started because I started following runners , like trying to do whatever they were doing , but they were too perfect . You know , there were like like incredible times running marathons under three hours , all these perfect looking long legs , you know , just like yeah .
I'm supposed to do this and I guess somehow I felt like I was pressured to do whatever they were doing , you know , to live up to their standards and and and it's . I did it all wrong , completely , completely wrong .
So it's just like because I couldn't find anybody like me , you know , to tell me things like so basic , like , for example , you're going to chaff , like if you don't put you know ointment , petroleum jelly or something that will help you with the friction of clothing and skin , you're going to suffer . I mean that's just a serious thing .
I mean I do funny videos about it and people laugh , but it's . I mean I heard I learned the hard way , but when I went in the shower that was my first experience it was like people need to know about this . So I'm a big advocate of you know petroleum jelly and you know petroleum jelly and you know basic stuff .
Like you need to go to the bathroom many times before going on your race because you're gonna have a huge problem . Yeah , you know , just like basic human things . You know that people need to know when they , when they're training for a marathon or you know commit or they're committed to the run on distances , like that .
Or did you feel like , kind of like the people that you were training with , you know , there was kind of like they , they needed someone , not just this kind of so-called perfect athlete , as it were , that you could relate to them more .
No , I just wanted somebody to spill the beans for me . You know , it's just like that , like nobody talks about this stuff . You just see them doing all here . Repeat this is how you get faster .
Do this four by four hundreds and then go in the zone and then you go to Coke lunch and you know I'm like yeah , but but no one was saying all this other stuff about the petroleum jelly . Nobody talks about the petroleum jelly Nobody talks about you know all the undergarments that you need so you don't suffer .
It's just like those little details that nobody told me about . It's just and I'm learning as I go and I know people need to know . So yeah everything . Like you said , when you see social media posts it's all about that Like how to be the fastest you can be , how to get the best .
You know it's just like all these how-tos that don't really tell you the whole picture , the whole story about being a runner Because being a runner is not glamorous at all it's not what you see on social media , that everybody's running happy , like into the sunset , and you know you're like running at five , three , I don't know what , it's just metric or imperial ,
but you know they seem like they don't suffer . But yeah , there's a lot of suffering into it you know , yeah , it's like everything is aching . It's just like you're out of breath and and you're hungry . I mean , it's just like nobody talks about that I'm not .
I know some people say I don't think it's the same for me , I don't have to say for you , but it's like the first 10 minutes are like hell . Before you kind of get that kind of rhythm and you know your breathing comes , yeah the first 15 minutes oh , is it okay , yeah , everybody's different , but for me it's always a fit .
I mean , if I survive the first 15 , it's just like okay , well , I'm I'm good , I'm good , so yeah , so yeah , it's just getting into the rhythm , especially when , when training for races is very humbling .
Yeah . And so when you so did , you realize people were saying like , yeah , she talks for me , you know , and , and suddenly you're kind of that's how I started the following .
I never got into this thinking , oh , I'm going to be an influencer Never . It's just like all of a sudden people started following me . I had an account where I had like , because I always do .
I always like to do videography , but like in a very personal space , like I was doing beautiful videos of , you know , New York City living like a salsa street dancing or a tango dancing in the river or something like that . They were very cinematic .
That was my , that's what my account , my account , was all about before and but when I started posting running videos , that's when COVID happened . So all those events , all those beautiful events happening in New York City , they were canceled .
So I just , you know , just to kind of feed the need of doing something with my cameras , it was just like I was filming myself and telling my story of how I started running and how I'm training , and that's when people started to follow .