The athletes who will run in the woman's marathon of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing China are some of the very best distance athletes in the world. Each of them have worked incredibly hard to reach this level of competition, and to qualify to stand at the starting line in Tian'an Men Square. What happens during this race will be historic; the moments of the event will be forever seared in the memories of those who participate and those of us who will watch the race. We will witness the pinnacle of...
Aug 13, 2008•56 min
When you make a stand and decide to change the amount of natural resources you use, such as the oil and gas used by generators to produce electricity to run your water heaters, and lights, and when you install insulation in your home to keep the heat generated from escaping into the cold and low water use shower heads to reduce the amount of clean water used in the bathroom…you are reducing your dependency on the fuel and water needed by others and the next generation who will run across this pl...
Aug 08, 2008•1 hr 8 min
The Ancient Olympic Games where part of a festival, where fairness and athleticism where considered sacred. For over twelve hundred years the games were played in the Athenian city of Olympia and served as a cultural event to promote trade, commerce and diplomacy. The athlete was respected and set powerful examples for all who came to watch them compete. Their stories became the part of an ancient legend that inspired the modern games to revive the Olympic Spirit. We owe this spirit, this sense ...
Jul 31, 2008•1 hr 7 min
Frank Shorter is one of those rare living legends whose legacy is seen in every runner who seeks to better him or herself, and who runs with an infectious joy and passion…and sincerity. There are legends in our sport, as there should be…but Frank Shorter is much more than a legend, he is an Olympian, a leader, a teacher, a good person and above all: a fellow runner. Show Links: Fdip featured blog: The song "Good as Gold” by Admiral Twin The episode is sponsored by Audible.com Go to for your free...
Jul 18, 2008•1 hr 22 min
This episode of Fdip is much different than all the others, and for those of you who dislike the musical selections that I include in each episode, this one is probably not for you. But music marks our life and times. Itâs more than just the poetry or melody: itâs the soundtrack that touches us; it expresses and reflects our feelings, it captures our emotions and it gives voice to our hearts. In this show youâll hear ten independent artists (nine musical) and songs from previous episodes as we c...
Jul 04, 2008•1 hr 16 min
Planning your Fall Marathon is all about setting a goal, with many months ahead of you within which to prepare. What marathoners learn as we engage in this preparation is that the joy, passion and discovery takes place during our training: in many ways the marathon itself is merely a celebration of what we have been able to achieve through the hours and miles that we’ve spent in training to get us to that starting line. Now is the time to pick our races, now is the time to make our commitments, ...
Jun 19, 2008•1 hr 11 min
Today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about a book written by Dr. George Sheehan titled “Personal Best: The foremost philosopher of fitness shares techniques and tactics for success and self liberation, published in 1989 by Rodale Press. It’s a book of 37 chapters, each one an essay and study into an physical of cerebral aspect of running. For anyone looking to read a sample of the right brain/left brain writings of Dr. Sheehan, this book gives you a good sense of his style. He challenges us...
Jun 05, 20080
Have a glass of wine with me while I catch up on some emails from fellow runners. Wine is one of my many passions. In order to appreciate wine you have to come into it with a clear head, a clear palate and a clear nose. Wine making dates back to 6000 BC and is a major part of the culture of many societies and religions. Wine is also a social beverage, something to share with friends and enjoy with a good meal. It’s good for you as well, consumed in moderation wine has been found to have both car...
May 30, 2008•51 min
Today I’d like to point out something that’s really obvious; so obvious in fact, that we tend not to think about it much. In this episode I present for you a very basic, truthful, scientific and historical bit of trivia that both describes and explains the premise which propose, and that piece of trivia is this: Fred Flintstone never wore running shoes. Running shoes are not evil: you’ll have to pry my NB 426’s off my hot sweaty feet if you ever want me to give up my running shoes: but we should...
May 22, 20080
I have known my friend Kathy for many years, through many life adventures and glasses of quality wine. In this short format episode of Phedippidations, we run the Long Island Marathon Festival of Races 10K road race in New York, with the goal of finishing in an hour or less. This is also the story of how I met my wife and the contentious angry beginnings of a friendship that will last a lifetime, and about my incredible victory in a epic battle which took place during an all night drive to Penns...
May 16, 2008•46 min
In this episode we'll hear the stories of others who ran the 112th Boston Marathon. When you write up a race report you"re not just doing it for yourself to memorialize the even, you're doing it for others; passing on your observations so that they can incorporate it into their own form of opinion as a way to better understand the event so that we can improve our performance on race day. Its" not enough to just run the race, or even run it well, you have to tell others about your race. Race repo...
May 10, 20080
This is a race report and audio recording of my 7th time running the Boston Marathon. This year was different in that I approached the starting line unprepared for the task ahead of me. Suffering from a case of peroneal tendonitis, my training was minimal throughout the winter months. On April 21st, 2008 I made the decision to ignore common sense setting a bad example to friends, family and fellow runners by ignoring my pain and pushing myself through a 26.2 mile race. What you'll hear in this e...
Apr 29, 2008•1 hr 7 min
It really means a lot to me that you’d come out to have a beer with me, send me such kind words, good wishes, hopeful prayers, emails, blog posts, and voice messages to the Extra Mile PodCast…and for being with me, in spirit, on race day. This is a short episode of Intervals, produced for race day of the 112th Boston Marathon, with thanks to everyone who have been so thoughtful to a middle aged, middle of the pack, slightly asthmatic, curiously injured fellow runner.
Apr 20, 2008•18 min
The Boston Marathon is a race that challenges an athlete in a way that most courses do not, neither buy design or intent. It is not a fast course. It is not a race where any runner, elite or back of the pack, will set a marathon PR, but it is a race for which all other marathons seek to enable athletes to arrive in a small New England town for the eastward run into the heart of bean town. This is the story of the 87th running of this event, where the last American male runner won the day, and a ...
Apr 16, 2008•1 hr 2 min
What happens in Boston, starts in Hopkinton. In this episode I take my last 16 miler from the starting line of the Boston Marathon through the bottom of Newton Lower Falls. For those of us who will run the race, you’ll eventually come to Hereford Street where crowds will block your forward progress and urge you to turn right. You’ll run this short block with the screams of spectators echoing off the buildings and will finally make your left hand turn onto Boylston Street, with the finish line ju...
Apr 11, 2008•1 hr 14 min
It takes courage to stand up to authority. It requires an act of bravery to break the unfair rules so as to start the discussion. K.V. Switzer, Kathrine…didn't lace up her shoes on a cold and snowy April day in Hopkinton Massachusetts to prove a point, or to make a statement…she lined up because she had and has a passion in her heart to run. Show Links: Fdip Blog of the Week: The song "I am Woman‿ was by “Planet of Women‿
Apr 04, 2008•1 hr
I have been invited to run the 112th Boston Marathon, and today I’d like to invite you to join me through this goofy little podcast. In this short format episode of Phedippidations “Intervals‿ I extend to you an invitation to follow my progress on Patriots Day, April 21st, 2008. Also, I talk about my gratitude for the thoughtful gift of an invitational entry to this race from a good friend and the Massachusetts Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
Mar 21, 2008•38 min
We run for ourselves, for our health, for our family and friends, we run to honor, to celebrate, to achieve, and to accomplish. We run because we can…because at a very basic level we are good animals who were meant to move with purpose. We are runners; no better or worse than those who chose to practice an alternate motion of sport, or dance, or action…but we all have good reasons for being out there…and while we might not always be self aware of why we’re doing it: when someone asks you the ine...
Mar 14, 2008•1 hr 8 min
My name is John. Today I am going to take to the microphone and, on this special episode of Intervals, give you a sense of what it’s really like to live under the brutal and maniacal dictatorship of my Dad: Steve Runner. For today I hope to uncover the truth for you: that my father is a warped, twisted old man who refuses to buy me a puppy. As you listen to this episode, I hope you’ll come to appreciate my plight and do everything you can to rescue me from a life with Steve Runner.
Mar 07, 2008•50 min
Because of my new intermittent schedule, this episode of Fdip has the distinction (and curse) of being the longest I’ve produced thus far. The internet has created a way for runners to find and use resources for research, community, asking questions, sharing ideas, and for tracking our running performance. Free online training logs are available for us to use to help us reach our running goals. You should consider using an online training log to share your running log and upcoming schedule with ...
Mar 02, 2008•1 hr 28 min
To push yourself past your zone of comfort you need to smile, think positively, focus on something other than the pain and weakness and dedicate yourself to a higher purpose other than “just finishing‿. Most of all, you have to have the insatiable desire to reach your goal by making your efforts on the road more important than just yourself. If you can do this you will find that you can accomplish great things through your running, and be the runner and human being you’ve always known you could ...
Feb 10, 2008•1 hr 6 min
The Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training stands by their philosophy of training as being the best scientifically proven method to improve as a runner, and gain fitness as an athlete. By limiting your time on the road to three intense workouts each week, and supplementing your training with cross training, they insist that you will become a better, more efficient runner…able to meet and exceed all of your running goals. Show Links: Fdip Blog of the Week: The song “Wasting My Time‿ ...
Jan 27, 2008•1 hr 19 min
Running was adopted by a society who had been lulled into a false sense of security within the confines of their all too comfortable, technology empowered life of sedentary doom. In America, as in other countries…technological advances negated our need to rise off the couch and hunt, gather and endure physical labor. But as the population grew unhealthy and overweight, they turned to both the sports and medical experts for an answer…and that answer was so basic, simple and pure that the appeal t...
Jan 20, 2008•1 hr 2 min
When confronted with all of the positive advantages associated with becoming a runner, it helps to consider all of the reasons why running can help you to become a better person, both physically and, in a sense even spiritually. Because it’s all about living a happier life; a life filled with personal satisfaction along with the physical ability to participate in the world around you. Show Links: Fdip Blog of the Week: The song “Run‿ was by Hollow Horse at
Jan 13, 2008•55 min
ust about everything in this life offers hazards and benefits. We balance comfort with pain, satisfaction with disappointment, and safety with danger every time we lace up our shoes and take to the road. It’s quite obvious, to those of us who call ourselves runners, that the benefits of our sport far outweighs the dangers, it is important for us to be conscious of those hazards not only for our personal safety, but to allow us to logically counter the arguments that the non-runner might offer as...
Jan 06, 2008•1 hr 4 min
In a very real sense, you and I are “the hope of the world‿. We had some fun last year and some good times. We made new friends, we enjoyed successes on the road, we had some amazing experiences both together and apart. The lesson to be learned from last year, and the year before that…is that next year, and the year after next…has the opportunity to be the best year of our life and the best year in the life of those around us. There were some terrible things that happened last year as well, but ...
Dec 30, 2007•1 hr 17 min
Handwritten letters and cards, email messages and our written words written throughout the year and especially during the holidays are a way to keep in touch, to maintain that fellowship that we have with each other. It’s the stories that are contained in those messages that help to educate and inform us, they help us to relate to each other and put our own experiences into perspective. In this week’s episode, I’ll read to you some of the email messages that I have in my “in box‿, and invite you...
Dec 23, 2007•1 hr 2 min
How can running slowly help us to achieve better performances later? It is particularly challenging to go from the relative intensity of pre-race workouts to a speed and pace that is much, much slower. However, if you come to the realization that many runners stagnate on a plateau of performances because they run too few miles, and these miles that they do run are are run too fast, then you open yourself up to the possibility of significant running improvement. Proper base training requires pati...
Dec 16, 2007•1 hr 18 min
Today I will tell you the story of a great and compassionate warrior from the Oglala Latoka tribe named 'Makata Taka Hela'. Billy Mills bravely faced loneliness and isolation in his college years, and went on to serve the country he loved in the United States Marines. He is a warrior for justice, an advocate for the young, and a person of character and honor who respects the earth and speaks on the virtues of understanding across all nations, both those defined by governments, and those identifi...
Dec 09, 2007•1 hr 11 min
The Philadelphia Marathon is a fantastic race, run through and about an incredible city. This was the best marathon performance of my life where my dreams for a sub four hour finish were possible and within my reach. I have run 16 marathons prior to Philly, but was able to accomplish something on this day that has eluded me before. In running through the streets of Philadelphia I gained a new confidence, increased my stamina and improved my endurance to ensure that I would never hit the “wall of...
Dec 02, 2007•1 hr
