We'll be right back. Fitness pro and race announcer from fitness.com. And welcome to the fitness show. I am so relaxed. You know why? Because I'm done. That's right. Put a freaking fork in me for 2024. I have officially announced my final race, given my final keynote and deboarded my final plane for 2024. I am freaking thrilled. Now here's the deal.
I love what I do. I love what I do. And I'm always so excited to do the things that I want to do, that I get to do because I love my career and I love all the people I serve and the events I serve. But holy smoke, sometimes it's just nice to be home. And I believe unless something comes up, I have five solid weeks at home.
That means I will be hunkered down here in Gainesville, Florida, wearing sweatsuits as much as possible and snuggling with my dogs, and walking my dogs, and dog, dog, dog stuff for as much as possible. I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled. It's been a great year. I've loved every minute of all of the opportunities I've had, but I'm done. Yay!
Woo! Freaking Ray! And to top it off, not only am I ending the year with a big bang, with an awesome marathon weekend, but I am officially now a diamond medallion member with Delta Airlines. I know I can hear you all gasp right now with amazement. I have been traveling my tail off for a very long time. And if you're unfamiliar with the airlines, they have loyalty programs and the fancier, the higher you get, the more perks you are given. And I was silver for a long time and then I became gold.
And then I've been platinum for quite a few years, which comes with some nice perks. And really those perks mean I get free upgrades. And so I almost always book main cabins. And I almost always get bumped, at least to Delta Comfort, if not First Class or Delta One, which I love. But now that I'm Diamond Medallion, those upgrades will come faster and harder. I will get zoomed straight to First Class more often than not. And there's a whole bunch of other wonderful perks involved.
So thanks, Delta Airlines, for getting me where I want to go, usually on time. And the perks are great. And perks are great. You know what? This is the thing. When I get up at 4 a.m. To board my 6 a.m. flight out of Gainesville, Florida, which is normally what I do, I fly out first flight of the day because that means my flights will not be affected by a tidal wave of other issues, right?
So if there's an issue with a plane in Atlanta and the plane has to come here to Gainesville, then that flight's delayed and blah, blah, blah. Cascading, cascading problems. That's what I try to avoid by flying out first flight of the day. But what I want is I want a Diet Coke. That's right. I get to Gainesville Airport and it's a Pepsi airport. And I'll tell you why. This is just my guess. The University of Florida created Gatorade. We know this. Yay, go Gator. Dr.
Cade created for the University of Florida football team. that was practicing and performing out in the Florida heat. Not cool, so he created the electrolyte beverage. Gatorade is owned by PepsiCo. That means the University of Florida is pretty much stuck being a PepsiCo school forever and ever. You cannot go to the University of Florida to class or to the football stadium and get a Diet Coke. You're stuck with Pepsi products. Boo, hiss. That's because of Gatorade. Coca-Cola owns Powerade.
I think that's never going to be here. For some reason, I think there's some sort of gator connection tie between the university and the airport, and we are stuck with Pepsi products. Boo. So I get to the airport, and do I want a Diet Coke? Yes. Can I have one? No. So I have to wait until I get on the plane. But it's such a short flight that if you're sitting in Maine or even Delta Comfort, they're not going to give you a Diet Coke.
No, sir. They're just going to give you a small bottle of water and some chips, right? But if you're in first class, they will give you the Diet Coke. And so that's what I'm telling you. I, Fitz Kohler, get excited about first class because it always comes with a Diet Coke. So my priorities are in order. One would think, I don't know. I mean, maybe it's supposed to be fancier. The seats are a little bit bigger and I enjoy that, but really it's all about the Diet Coke.
So congratulations to me, diamond medallion status. I had to earn it the hard way by getting on the planes and flying all over Tarnation. And as you may guess, travel's not always easy. Plenty of delays, certainly some cancellations.
And yeah, I actually feel like when people pay me for the work that I do, I love the work that I do so much that in my mind, I think they're not really paying me to do this work because I enjoy it They're paying me to leave home Be away from my dogs and be stuck on planes for hours on end and sometimes stuck on airports For hours on end. That's really where my fees come in is paying me for the hardship It takes to get to do the job or the work that I love.
So Anyways, it's a big Big month for me. I get to be home. I get to be ugly I get to be with my dogs and I get to look forward to lots and lots of wonderful upgrades come 2025. So today's show, I want to talk about racing. So if you're a walker or a runner and you like racing, great. If you've never done any of those things, maybe you should tune in to hear what I have in store because maybe you might be inspired to give it a go.
I'm going to recap a couple of my most recent events and then tell you about the next few because I want you to join me because I missed you already. You've only been separated since I got off that plane, but I miss you already. And I expect you to show up to at least one, if not all of my events in 2025. That's right. You can become Delta Airlines Diamond Medallion member too if you just follow Fitz Kohler around to all of the coolest races.
So going back a couple of weeks was the End Market Savannah Bridge Run in Savannah, Georgia. That's right. And I've been announcing that race for quite a few years. And it was awesome. The runners take on this huge bridge in Savannah. It's the Talmadge Bridge. It's 1.9 miles long. It's kind of steep, not crazy steep like the ones you see on the TikTok reels in Japan where they go straight up into the sky, but it's a.
Trip over the bridge. And then we have a 10K, which people do two trips over the bridge. They run over it and then they run back. And then we have a thing called the double pump. And so I think over a thousand people do the 5K, run from, I believe the South Carolina side of the bridge into downtown Savannah. And then they run through our finish line, line up, and then run the 10K and they go back to South Carolina and back to Georgia.
So 15K for some of our athletes. And they're pretty ambitious because it is a pretty big bridge, but it's beautiful and fun and charming. And the South has such great culture. And that's been one of the highlights of my past two weeks is just being here in the Southeast. People are great. People are great everywhere, right? I don't mean to rubble feathers, but there's something very special about Southern culture. Lots of sirs, lots of ma'ams, lots of pleases and thank yous.
And I don't know, just kindness, kindness galore. And so the Savannah Bridge Run, awesome in itself. But real highlight, you want to hear this one? I announced this race with my daughter, Ginger. In fact, I think this is the third year she's announced the Bridge Run with me. And she's so freaking good. I mean, just so good. She's announced quite a few races this year. In fact, she's traveled all around America to announce for Mud Girl.
But she's just a dynamo on the microphone. She's got a big personality. She genuinely loves people. And I think that's, I mean, for me, I think that's what wins the day, right? Is the fact that I really care about the people I'm serving. And she really cares about the people she's serving. And she's just fun and funny. Oh, and she's got one heck of a go, right? This big old go. I didn't get to hear her because I was announcing the finish line while she was launching the,
10K. But Savannah posted on their Instagram reel a video. You could hear Ginger bellowing out this big old go. And I thought, yep, that's my girl. She's a pro. Whereas some race announcers are just honking that stupid horn, which is the least motivating, most annoying sound in all of sports. She's there belting out runner set go like a boss. And I was just so proud of her. And then she joined me at the finish line where we get to actually work together.
And I really love just her observations. She's such a funny, funny person. That's one of the great gifts of being a Kohler. Everybody in this household is very sarcastic and very sharp and very silly and always going for the laugh, but man, she's hilarious. So lots and lots of fun there. One of the other highlights of the End Market Savannah Bridge Run is the costume contest we have every year.
They encourage people to come dressed out as individuals or in group costumes, costumes and they give away cash prizes, which is pretty nice. And we had, who were some of our highlights? So Forrest Gump is always there and he, he doesn't enter the costume contest. He's just Forrest Gump. That's right. They made the movie about this man who lives in Savannah who runs, but he comes out and he's just a doll and he's always in character, which I love.
And you may see some cute pictures of he and I on social media together. He's a highlight. He always stops by for some pics and hugs and that's very sweet but what do we have in the costume contest we had of course a Grinch and we had a 1970 style boxer he was very cute and then of course we had Satan duh. Why wouldn't we have Satan at the bridge run with a Christmas theme? That's right. He came out a big guy and he had a kind of a bodysuit on and it
looked like his torso was shirtless and a hairy chest. That's right. Hairy chested Satan with his Satan horns and his Satan tail and his Satan stick. What is that thing? What does Satan carry? You know what I'm saying. The thing with the little prongs, the skewer. But yeah, I thought it was very festive. It's so nice to have a Satan there. We also had Elf, of course, Buddy the Elf.
And oh, and then Earl. Earl's an older gentleman who's run 30 of our 30-something bridge runs that have ever taken place. And he always comes out dressed fancy. This year, I believe he was a tower. And what other sport are people willing to dress up as something as ridiculous as a tower and compete in their sport? But he did it. Earl went the whole distance dressed as a tower. So that was a lot of fun. Earl won the contest.
I think his costume was great. I don't know if it was the best costume, but he's a fan favorite and everybody loves Earl. So Earl took home the prize, whatever it was. And then we had some great group costumes.
And I believe the highlight of our group costumes were we had Savannah bananas and everybody knows what the Savannah bananas are the world's coolest baseball team I've actually been dying to go see a banana game but every time I look for tickets they're sold out not only in Savannah but they're traveling around the country now and I believe they just sold out the Tampa Bay Bucks stadium.
For a March banana game which should be a lot of fun banana ball would like to do it there was two people dressed as four bananas figure that out. But they won second and then our champions, were a group from, I believe, Ohio that travel down to Savannah for vacation. Usually they just partake in debauchery, drinking alcohol and eating lots of food, et cetera. But they decided they were going to do at least one healthy thing this year.
And so they registered for the bridge run, the 5K, and they dressed up as a cop with robbers. And the cutest thing is that the guy dressed up as a cop look like, a Reno 911 cop with the short sleeves and the short shorts. But the rest of the crew was robbers with the black and white and the masks. But the Reno 911 cop is a real cop in real life. He's been on the force in Ohio for a couple of years. So I thought that was very cute.
And he chased several of them through the finish line like they were bad guys when they finished the run, which was a lot of fun. So again, if you're listening and you're not someone who partakes in the running industry. I hope you're getting the gist that we're all not very serious. That yes, sure, there are some people running five-minute miles, doing 26.2 miles or 200 miles at a time, if you listened to my recent episode with Ashley Paulson.
But then there's just a bunch of ridiculous people dressed like Satan and cops and robbers, walking the whole way, having as much fun as humanly possible. Collecting the same medal and the same t-shirt as the champion. So Savannah a bridge run was a blast. And another highlight for me, knowing that a few years ago, I kind of fell out of the pace vehicle. I yelled go from the back of the pace vehicle for the 5k. And so I was in the back of a pickup truck when I yelled go and we took off.
The runners thankfully did not catch us, although they almost did. We were banging on the truck, telling the driver, go, go, go, because I had thousands of runners barreling down on the pickup truck. I was in the back of. Anyway, pickup truck driver takes off and we're leading the way for the lead athlete. And she took us over the bridge. It was me and a photographer and it was beautiful. Breaking cold. That's right. It was 30 something degrees out there and burr.
But a nice opportunity of worth the suffering, worth the shivers to go over that bridge on such a beautiful day. But the other thing on my start line stage at the 5K, there was ice on my start line stage in Georgia. That was crazy. So anyways, cold, cold day, but beautiful trip over the bridge. If you're just into sightseeing, perhaps you want to register for that race next year because it just offers so many beautiful views and fun people.
And then, of course, great finish line celebration. So that was a couple of weeks ago. So this past weekend, I announced the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama, along with my announcing bestie, Rudy Novotny, and... That is also another fantastic Southeastern event. And we've been announcing that one, I think, together for, I think this was the fourth year.
It changed hands this year. Our previous race directors, Dana and Dwayne DeBartoladen, they retired from their role as race directors to go be grandparents in Michigan. So congratulations to them. We call them Dwayna, as if they're a celebrity couple. And they kind of are. Dwayna moved to Michigan.
And we miss them, but they came back to run. So at least when Dana was participating, but new hands, new race director, Rhonda, who did a bang up job, she not only put on a wonderful race weekend, but she increased participation registration numbers by over 800. All of our events sold out, which as you know, as you can imagine, is a very big deal for a race organization.
So kudos to her and everybody worked, everybody who works so hard from the Huntsville Track club to make this year a big success without the race directors, right? You change hands and things tend to get a little crazy, but I didn't feel like anything was missed. It all seemed like it went really, really well. Once again, very cold, very wet. And I showed up wisely. Sometimes Fitz Kohler misses the mark. I will show up to a race weekend underdressed. I just don't pack properly.
I underestimate the terrible feelings, the cold temperatures or the rain will bring on. But this time I decided, no, I'm going to come prepared. And maybe it's because it was so cold in Savannah, but I showed up to Alabama with my rubber boots. And that was probably one of the smartest things I've done for the year is show up with rubber boots because it was cold and rainy.
And if you can hear in my nasally voice, which I'm sorry you're listening to nasally voice, but I have had bronchitis for the past month. In fact, I was treated for it mid-November, full dose of antibiotics and steroids and all the things, and the cough started backing off, and then... It reinvigorated, right? It came back to life as I know Fitz Kohler, I'm not leaving you yet. And so I've been on another course of antibiotics for a week and choking and so forth.
And of course, I would never go near people contagious. So that was under control, but still under the weather, choking a bunch, nasally voice, not so awesome, horse throat, but yeah, what else? You got to do what you got to do. And I tell you what, it's a lot easier to do anything slash everything with bronchitis than it was with cancer. So that's really a fun bit of perspective. Thanks cancer that I take with me.
Cause no matter what's wrong with me, I just think, well, who cares? It's not cancer. I've done this stuff with cancer, with chemo and it was, it was way harder, but I still did it still, still totally did everything I needed to do a full throttle, even with cancer. So a cold, even bronchitis, just doesn't phase me. It's annoying. I dislike it. Nobody wants to have bronchitis or nasally voice. But whatevs, whatevs is so much easier. So I will never complain about this stuff.
But anyways, had to do that. And it was a great weekend. Alabama is a good time. And you know what? The 50-state community, all the folks that are trying to run any particular distance in all 50 states, almost all of them come through Rocket City because it's the premier marathon in Alabama. The same thing goes for Fargo. I believe there is another race in North Dakota, another marathon in North Dakota.
I don't remember what it is offhand, but almost everybody chooses the Fargo Marathon as part of their 50-state journey. So we have so many 50-staters. And of course, then there's real rockets all over town. So you can be driving down the highway. In fact, I almost crashed the car driving to the airport because I was looking at one of the space shuttles just, you know, hanging out there in front of the museum.
And there's all sorts of other rockets just jetting up into the sky off the side of the highway. No big whoop. Our runners get to run by that. That's a lot of fun. You know, sometimes you're looking for anything, any sort of distraction when you have a blister or your knee hurts or you're just tired or you're ready to be done. Those rockets go a long way to entertain our athletes and keep them motivated and excited about every future step. And we'll be right back.
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And while downpours were projected all weekend, we did not have that on Saturday. Saturday, we had cold temperatures and wind, but I don't recall there being much rain at all. If there was rain, it was limited. in the very early morning when I think the first race is a 10K. It's either the 10K or 5K. One of the races, they were setting up the arch and an inflatable arch. And I was watching that happen, watching the timers fight with the arch.
And then all of a sudden, a stiff wind blew and poof, the arch just deflated completely. And that was it. The arch went away. And so for the rest of the day, I spent my time encouraging our athletes to envision, that's right, to visualize their most beautiful Rocket City Marathon weekend arch. And of course, some of the arches were diamond encrusted and some of them were gold and some of them were coated with teddy bears.
It really depended on what the athlete themselves wanted to see, but we had lots of options and And people certainly got on board envisioning their own favorite arch. So all's well, that ends well with that. But, you know, you can only do what you can do. And in heavy rains, you have to limit those liabilities. God forbid an arch whacks someone in the head, right? That would be a terrible way to lose someone.
But in Huntsville, this is one of the cool things is all of our start lines are outside, but all of our finish lines, all of our finish lines are indoors. There's this massive convention center called the Van Buren Center. If you're a local, it's called the VBC and our expos in the VBC. But so are our finish lines. So at the end of all the races, our athletes wrap around the VBC and they enter through this massive open garage door, come straight through.
And our finish line arch, which is real, which exists, is set up in the VBC. And so no matter how cold or windy or rainy a weekend might be, when athletes finish Rocket City anything, they end up indoors, which is nice and toasty. It's just, it's a great environment. And it's certainly very forgiving for Rudy and I, who, you know, normally are just stuck standing outside in whatever elements. And I tell you what, cold weather, it's hard to run in cold sometimes.
But it's really hard to just stand there, right? Stand there in the wind and cold when you're not exercising, when you're just standing there shaking. So that indoor finish line is great for the runners. It's wonderful for the spectators. And it's certainly really good for the announcer. So that's a real nice perk of Saturday. And then on Sunday, we weren't as lucky. It was cold. It was windy. And it was rainy. It wasn't monsoonish. It wasn't pouring buckets.
There was no lightning. However, there was some rain. So we have an early start, a 6 a.m. start for some people. Now, if you feel like a slow poke, if you feel like a six-hour cutoff for a marathon is not enough time for you, Rocket City is the race for you because they allow people to show up an hour early.
Rudy goes out and sends off about 150 people who take off on their full or front half marathon just because they feel like they might need some extra time, which I think is a really generous move on the Huntsville Track Club. And I believe those people have to know the way, even though the courses are marked, you have to know the way. And I believe you have to yield to the rules of the road if you are out there before the massive crowd.
But he starts them out at 6, and then I came out at about 6.15 or so. But this is the funny part of the day. So it's raining, and it's cold, and it's windy, and I invested. I'm so proud of myself. I invested in a rain suit from Walmart. That's right. I had an experience at the Donna Marathon this past February where it did monsoon Sunday, the marathon day. It wore buckets and it was cold. And I don't know, I was wearing normal, like a sweatsuit or something like that, a windbreaker.
And people were telling me, you have to cover up. You're going to get sick. And in my mind, I was thinking, no, you get sick from a germ. You get sick from a bacteria or virus. You don't get sick just from being wet. If that were the case, we'd be sick from every shower we took or every time we went swimming. But it was very cold and very wet. And even the photographers were saying,
Fitz, you've got to cover up. And I was like, nah, I'm fine. Well, P.S., Monday morning, I ended up in the urgent care with pneumonia and IV fluids. And I learned that maybe I should protect myself when possible. So I went to Walmart in Huntsville and I went over to the fishing and hunting section and they had the awesome gray rain suit, weatherproof pants and jacket. And so I got that it was 20 bucks, but they had the hunting camo,
the woods for 60 bucks. And I thought that would be super cool and fun, but I didn't get it. I didn't get it. It would have been awesome. But I settled for the $20 gray suit. And I felt like a freaking genius when I showed up Sunday morning because it was very cold and very wet and very windy. And did I look cute? I did not look cute in my rain pants and rubber boots, but I felt like a genius. I had a sweatsuit and then it was covered with rain gear. And then I had the hot hands everywhere.
I was just very proud of myself. for finally, for once, dressing appropriately. And what was really cute is all of our athletes. So I think we expected a few thousand to line up at 7 a.m. That's for the full marathon and the front half marathon. And so there are two half marathons at Rocket City. There's one that goes the front half of the marathon, and then there's one for the back half of the marathon, exactly what it says.
And the people with the front half, they start with us, and then they end at a second location at a restaurant for brunch. It's very, very fun. Anywho, I'm supposed to kick off this race, or we are at 7 a.m. At about 6.51, there's nobody out there. And so I finally used the microphone. I said, okay, cowards, get out of here. Get out here because they were all hiding in the Van Buren Center. So within about three minutes, we had thousands of people lined up at the start.
And, you know, it's the cold. Nobody wants to be cold, right? And especially hard when you're wearing your shorts and tank top for running, yet you got to stand outside for a while in the cold wind. But people don't speed up when it's hot and humid, right? They tend to slow way down. The cold weather, the wind is invigorating. And so our athletes were lively and happy and jumping up and down and eager to get started.
And so we, as short amount of time that we had together, they were, they were really pumped to be there and I was pumped to be with them. And so it was It's just a fun, fun, fun. Energetic crowd, you know, hard to, hard to continuously gush on people in a new way, but it was great. And so we yell go, they take off, did their thing. Rudy went inside. I went inside for a little bit. He got to stay at the finish line.
And then I headed out to, I think, Huntsville University, I don't know, a second location for a second start for the back half marathon. And it was cold and windy there, but those people were jacked up on fun, happy juice. I mean, golly, it's just so great to be around so many delightful people who want to be where they are, who want to be together. And I don't know, we just have so many laughs. I feel like they're my best friends.
In fact, when they were leaving, I was sad that they were leaving because we were having such a good time. And then after that, straight into the BBC for all of us. When everyone got there, it was warm. It was toasty. It was lovely. It wasn't hot. It just felt good. And they had grilled cheese sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches and tomato basil soup and just lots of niceties to make it a great experience for all, right? Just as good as it gets. Anywho, great times.
And Tim Patton came in. If you have listened to the show before, you've heard Tim Patton's name. He's a retired police sergeant from Cleveland, Ohio, O-H.
And he has PR'd I believe all but one race of mine that he's run so he came to see me in Fargo well he came to Fargo before he knew me but he PR'd there and then he ran the Coast Guard Marathon which I was announcing and then he PR'd there and then he came to see me at the Detroit Free Press Marathon and he PR'd there trying to Boston qualify which he did yet he they he didn't meet meet the full cutoff, but he made the original cutoff for Boston.
And then he ran Big Sur this year. He did not PR. He was not trying. He was just strolling through that course to have a good time. So he got off the hook on the PR, but he showed up in Huntsville to PR again, once again, trying to qualify for Boston. And he did. He PR'd. He PR'd even with a cold. So very proud of Tim Patton. Congratulations, Mr. Warren Ward came in from California. Warren ran his 75th half marathon. And I forget how many states he has now, but that was very exciting.
My new friend, Tinker Bear. Hi, Tinker Bear. I love you. You know, sometimes I get to know you guys on Instagram or Facebook, and I think that person is sweet, I think. I really like that person. But then when you show up in person, I lose my mind. And so that's Jimmy Tucker, Tinker Bear. Absolutely obsessed with him now. I think we're going to be best friends for life. A lot of fun. Jenny Missick showed up. The last time I saw her, she was 75 pounds larger.
She's lost a ton of weight. She came out, her husband, Bill, ran the marathon. Congrats, Bill. And then Rob Winnick, who's also one of my hotties, and he ran the marathon with his sister and best friend. I love that he describes her that way. Angie, who just beat up on breast cancer. This was her comeback marathon post breast cancer. And obviously we all know that's a big deal. So congratulations, Angie and Rob. And he was so proud running through the finish line with her.
And it's just a real privilege to be there, to witness such cool things. We've had Suman Silwall cross the finish line of the marathon feeling bad, but we always dance once he crosses the finish line. So you know what? He danced. I asked him pre-race. I said, are we going to dance today? He said, you bet. And then he crossed the finish line feeling like death. And I said, are we going to dance? He goes, yep, let's do it. And so we did. And it's great.
So on Instagram, if you want to see our fine moves, our fine post-marathon moves, Rudy, fantastic. As per usual, Rudy is doing wonderfully. He's had a rough year, but he's getting back to his old self. And what a privilege to be there with him, working with my favorite announcer and hearing his big, booming voice say all the words. Just a real privilege. So Rocket City Marathon, something you should definitely put on your agenda for 2025. It's a good one indeed.
Oh, and by the way, the medals, outrageously large, huge, almost the size of my big fat face, just big, big, big. So if you want a big medal, if you run for bling, Rocket City Marathon is definitely something you should have on your list. Okay. Now we're going to talk about the races I have coming up. I have one that I've not announced before, and I'm very excited to be part of. It's the Clearwater Marathon and Running Festival. It's brought to you by Millennium Running.
And there's a 5K, a relay, a half marathon, a full marathon, a 50K. It's in Clearwater, Florida, the last weekend of January. Who doesn't want to escape to Florida at the end of January, Right. If you're in New Jersey or anywhere, Wisconsin or Wyoming or Ohio or Michigan, everyone wants to be in Florida. Canada, of course, because half of Canada is already here in the winter. So you should consider the Clearwater Marathon and Running Festival.
You can walk, you can run, doesn't matter to me, but these are some of the perks I've been told about and I'm really excited to be a part of. They've got a beautiful course featuring three bridges. That's right. Savannah's got one. You can go over it three times with still one bridge. Clearwater's got three beautiful bridges, a marina, and then there's the tour of the exclusive town of Bel Air, so a fancy town to run through, and that's really fun.
The finish line, beachside finishes, the post-race beer garden is epic, and they have saunas and cold plunges at the end of the races. So, you know, the perks, right? It's the perks. Why are you going to run? Do you just want to run 26.2 miles or even 3.1 around your own neighborhood, or do you want to get out and go see things and meet new people and have new adventures?
I love it when I get to run in a place I've never seen before, in a place that's just pretty or engaging or entertaining, has stuff. I love knowing that when I get to a finish line, there's going to be delightful snacks and relaxing things to do or fun times to be had. And so a hop in beer garden, yes. A sauna or a cold plunge, yes. Now over my dead body, would I get into a cold plunge? But I know many of you like that stuff.
But yeah, Clearwater Marathon. It's apparently a phenomenal race weekend and I'm really excited to be a part of it. So Escape to Florida, it's January 25th and 26th and I will be there making happy noise and giving out hugs, not sweaty hugs. You'll be the sweaty ones giving me the sweaty hugs. But yeah, super pumped about that. Oh, and apparently they also have ginormous medals too. Can't argue with ginormous medals, right? If you're a runner and a walker. Ginormous medals for all.
And we will be right back. Are you looking for the perfect gift for a loved one battling cancer? The Cancer Comeback Series by Fitz Kohler offers hope, inspiration, and practical guidance. with Your Healthy Cancer Comeback, My Noisy Cancer Comeback, and The Healthy Cancer Comeback Journal. These books are a lifeline for all patients and survivors. Right now, you can order autographed copies at a special discount. Show your support and help a loved one go from sick to strong.
FITZness.com today. That's F-I-T-Z-N-E-S-S.com. FITZness.com. We're back. Okay, next weekend after that, the first weekend of February, is the Donna National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer Weekend, and that as well has a one-mile race, a 5K, a half marathon, a full marathon, and a 110-mile ultra. So lots of options as far as distances go. one mile real short, 110 miles, real, real long. And we also have virtual options.
The Donna is, well, the Donna Foundation was created by the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. She's the mayor now, and she's a three-time breast cancer crusher. She, I think she's 18 years out from her most recent bout with breast cancer, but she created the foundation to support men and women going through treatment. Not only to find more humane and effective cures, but they actually help people pay their electricity bill or buy food for their kids while they're going through treatment.
And they help men and women going through breast cancer care all around America, not just in Jacksonville, not just in Florida. So it's a very meaningful foundation that does legitimately good work. And people from around the world converge on Jacksonville to be a part of this. And not only to go the distance because it's athletic adventure in a beautiful place, but to do some really good work. And so many women and men who have had breast cancer come and it's just, it's a love fest.
It's an absolute freaking love fest. Yes, lots of pink. There's pink, pink, pink, pink, pink. But I would say we have 300 plus people who have had breast cancer do our races. And that's just meaningful stuff. And I have friends who have flown in from Ohio, Natalie Uyena, who has stage four breast cancer. She's living with it in California. She's leaving Surf City Marathon, which she's a legacy runner at.
She's leaving that after 20 something years to come run the Donna to be a part of this because this foundation is for her and women like her. So it's wonderful. And I do my absolute best. Now know this up front. Even if I had not had breast cancer, I would be bending over backwards, pouring love over these people because I get it. I got it previously. I used to host this race for ovarian cancer in Michigan, the Epic Race is.
Mother's Day 5K for ovarian cancer. And boy, did I pour so much love and celebrate each of those women who had had ovarian cancer. Some of them were on death's door while they were doing the one mile on those days. But I got it right. And so I didn't need breast cancer to be able to take seriously the hardship and the triumph that these cancer crushers have endured.
But having been through it, boy, I really, really, really, really, really love ampering all of these people and pouring love on them. And not just our cancer crushes themselves, crushers themselves, but their families and their friends or anyone who just gives a rat's ass, right? Someone says breast cancer must suck, or I lost a teacher to breast cancer or my aunt or gee whiz, I hope I never get it. People that come out and say, I want to do something for this cause that affects
so many. it's really wonderful to celebrate them and thank them. And I think we have a hell of a good time. And so on Saturday is our shorter distances. It's our 5k and our one mile. Oh, and we kick off the 110 mile race that day too. So it's not just for the shorter races, but it starts in Jacksonville Jaguar stadium. So everyone actually gets to come down on the field. It's after the Jags finished their football season. So we get to use the field.
And you'll go for the 110 mile folks, they take off. And then the 5K people pour onto the field and they take off. And then when they come back onto the field, they all appear on the Jumbotron. And people just like that. They like to see themselves on the Jumbotron. I tell you what, when I'm working and I look up and I see my big face on the Jumbotron, it's a little unnerving. It's a little distracting from the important things I have to say.
They actually assign a cameraman to my face, which is kind of weird. So I try not to look at the Jumbotron. However, you may really like seeing your big face on the big Jumbotron as you re-entered Jaguar Stadium at the end of your 5K. It's beautiful. It's fun. It's festive. And of course, I'm there on the field making happy noise and giving out hugs. Donna's always there. And we just have a big crew. Our ambassadors are loving and celebratory.
And they love to, you know, form a big love chain and celebrate everybody, right? And then after the 5K is done, we start the one milers. Now it's a family one miler, the Donna Dash, not just for kids. So sometimes people who are very old or very young participate. Sometimes someone with a bum ankle or someone who just doesn't want to do a 3.1 mile walk or run, they just do the one mile. And that's awesome. Some people do both, but it's a lot of fun.
And again, those folks get to be on the Jumbotron. So if your face is not big enough as it is, and you don't see enough of your face in your bedroom or bathroom mirror, you got to come do the Donna races on Saturday because you will get, and everyone will get a big eyeful of your mug. And it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool stuff. And Jax, the Jaguar is always out there.
And who else is out there? I'm trying to think. hmm I can't think of it right now but we do like jacks the jaguar is very cool okay and then someday those races are on the beach they start and finish right next to Jacksonville beach and.
Apparently I don't get to see the course right because I'm always at the start and finish line apparently the neighborhoods are decked out with pink and wonderfulness it's a very magical adventure you will take once I yell go through or around Jacksonville beach. And yeah, fun, fun, fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have all the good stuff and our 110 mile ultra finishes with us on Sunday, but it's as good as it gets. Now, if you're thinking I can't go to Florida, I can't afford a trip.
I get it. I get it. You can still participate in the Donna weekend. Just go to the website. It's breastcancermarathon.com and you can register. You can actually register for the 110 mile ultra and just do it at your own pace, right? They're not going to, they're not. Requiring proof of effort, right? So I, and many of my hotties from my hottie body fitness challenge group on Facebook, if you're not a part of it,
you should be, it's free and it's fun. And we just support you as you try to get fit. But yeah, I encourage so many of my hotties to join in the Donna 110 mile challenge. And so some people, you know, maybe they do a half marathon that counts if they do wake up and do two miles every day, that counts towards their 110 mile goal. And I'm halfway through my 110 mile ultra goal, which is great, but you keep track on the Donna. There's a run sign up page where you can keep track of your distance.
And then once you finish, you alert them to it. You tell the folks at the Donna foundation, you have completed your 110 miles. And then they send you not only your race shirt, but it's a belt buckle. It's an ultra belt buckle, which is pretty darn cool. So anyone can be a part of the Donna marathon weekend. And all you got to do is sign up and then go do the distance and then you get all the swag and that's pretty sweet.
And you can always just donate to the Donna Foundation too. I think that's something maybe you should do. Maybe even five bucks today on behalf of Fitz Kohler, because I said so, please and thank you. Okay. And then the next race I have to tell you about, and this will be the last one for the day. I want to tell you about my third in a row Florida running event, which I am so freaking pumped about.
I get to stay in my own state for two months for running, I've got the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic the very last weekend of February. And that is a wild, freaking pirate running party. It is insanity. And you will have lost your mind if you do not come. And if you do come, you will lose your mind because it is fun, fun, fun, crazy fun.
If you want to be part of an event that is a monstrous experience with lots of bells and whistles, lots of moving parts, lots of things going on, the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic is for you. Saturday morning, we start things off with a 15K, which is kind of a world-famous 15K. And then when that's done, we have a 5K, which is massive. The 5K not only has our running starts, I think I have to break the 5K into 12 different corrals because it's so big.
So I launch runners, runners, runners, runners, runners. And then there's the Gasparilla 5K walking division. They actually have a division they call the walking division just for you. If you don't like to run and you don't even want to associate with runners because, ew, runners, you can just show up and only surround yourself. You can only fraternize with walkers at the Gasparilla 5K. So Saturday morning, the 15K followed by the 5K, which again is huge.
We also have a whole stroller division, which is crazy. And mind you. Half the people there are dressed like pirates and then half the strollers in the stroller division are dressed like pirate ships, which is pretty dang cool. So it's just fun, fun, fun. When everybody crosses the finish line of these races, everybody gets massive, beautiful medals. Everybody gets cool swag. All the shirts for all the races are very cool.
And then everyone gets invited to this post-race party, which is insanity with all of the beer and live bands and pirates everywhere. It's very, very, very fun. And even when I finish, I'm normally the dead last person to arrive at any party because I have to wait till the final runner comes through. I finish all the runners of the day and then I go to the party and it's still raging. There's still a party going. So Saturday, big, big fun.
Sunday morning, we have our half marathon and that starts early and it's dark and it's right next to the water. Just, I mean, it's all so beautiful, right? And then after the half marathon, we kick off the 8K and that's also fun, fun, fun. And again, when you finish those races, big old medals, big shirts. Crazy parties still going. Literally, I'm done announcing all four races for the weekend. I'm in my pirate outfit and I get a golf cart ride over to the party.
That's the luxury of being Fitz Kohler race weekend is now they assign me my own golf cart and a golf cart driver. I have a handler, which makes life so much easier. And I tell you what, it sounds fancy, but it's really not a luxury item.
It's more of a necessity because I have to be in so many different places at once and I have to get there quickly and I have to weave through the crowds and it would be, the first year or maybe the second year I was there, I tried to do it on foot and I got lost and it was really hard. So anyways, I have a driver and they're always sweet and I always love them and it's wonderful. They're basically my best friend for the weekend. I get a best friend, which is nice.
I'm kind of like Captain Hook and Sneed. These people are Sneed, except I'm nice to them. Anyhow, great weekend. And so if you are a bling hoe, that's right, someone who will do anything for the bling, this race weekend is for you because they have all the challenges. Now, not only the individual races can you run, but maybe you just run, maybe you want to run the 5k and 8k. Okay. There's a challenge for that with its own special jacket, own special bonus medal.
Maybe you want to do the 5k, 8k, 15k. Fine. There's a challenge for that too. Three challenges, extra medal, extra jacket. I mean, it's jackets and medals galore. It's ridiculous. And I don't don't know. I don't even know how they make and store all the swag because it's everywhere all over the place and it's very attractive. And yeah, I mean, you just, you want to go home with luggage that's way heavier when it arrived.
You want to have this brightly colored Gasparilla gear to wear every day of the year. Okay. Just show up for one weekend and they will hook you up. If you are a naked homeless person, you will have enough clothes to get you through the rest of your life if you come run Gasparilla. They're not passing out underwear, but pretty much everything else you can get at the Gasparilla, Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic. What else do you need to know? The Expo is banging there. It's so good.
It's just a lot of fun. And I love the pirate gear. And if you come dressed as a pirate, trust me, I am going to be even nicer to you than I would on a normal day. And I'm normally pretty darn nice to runners, but the pirate gear just sends me over the top. I'm going to go back a step and just tell you that the Donna, They also have a challenge that I failed to mention. It's called the booby trap. That's right.
The booby trap. So if you do a Saturday race and a Sunday race, booby trap, extra metal, extra shirt, I believe. That's it. That's what I wanted to tell you about. I just wanted to talk running today. We don't do this often. I'm trying to squeeze in all the fitness knowledge and the great guests and so forth. But sometimes we got to sit down. We just have to talk about running and racing and you showing up. So I can say nice things to you and give you hugs and tell you I love you.
Yeah. If you're not a part of this crazy running world, then you're missing out. You're missing out. Remember, all you got to do is dress like a pirate. You come out, go for a walk, get the medals, get some beer, all the stuff. It's not so complicated. If you are sitting there thinking, I could never be a runner, you're crazy. You don't even have to run. Nobody cares if you run. You just go from one point to the next point at your own pace. Big whoop, right?
Everybody can do that. I know you can do that. And if you do, I'm going to be very excited to see you. I'm going to make so much happy noise. You're going to regret not doing it sooner. All right, communication tip. Do not chew gum while having an important conversation or making a presentation. You should not be smacking gum while speaking to anyone of note, right?
I once was on a panel of speakers at the University of Florida, and there was this wonderful person who I very much admire his work and his expertise, and he sat next to me answering questions on a microphone, snapping gum, and it was disgusting. It was appalling, and it was very unprofessional. It was one of those, holy cow, I cannot believe you are sacrificing your entire reputation, what everybody thinks about you,
as you smack your gum in front of this entire group of people we're speaking to. So don't do that. Ew, gross. And a reminder, nobody wants to hear you chew anything. If you're chewing a potato chip or a carrot, lips together, gently. Do I sound like a loon? Maybe to some of you. But I think some of you already are also pumping your fists saying, thank you, Fitz Kohler. I hate hearing people smack their lips. I hate hearing people chew and slurp and blah.
Do you know that when I was a kid, my mother, her rule of thumb is you can only chew gum if nobody knows you're chewing it. If I see it in your mouth, I take it. And yeah, she would smack us on the back of the head and we'd have to spit out our gum if she caught us blowing bubbles or making noises. But same thing, we were warned. If we slurped soup, soup would be gone.
If we slurped a drink, drink would be gone. If we smacked our lips while chewing or talked with food in our mouth, food would be gone. And I think those are rules to live by. So I'm passing them along. Communication tip. Nobody wants to hear what's coming out of your mouth other than your words. And then our song, our song of the show, it's still December. So I have to do it. And I'm sorry, not sorry. Mariah Carey, all I want for Christmas is you.
I got to tell you, I find her to be an annoying person. I'm sure she's probably nice. Don't, yeah, she's probably nice. For some reason, I find her slightly annoying. But boy, do I love this song. It's such a good song and good for her. She's making a trillion dollars every December for the rest of her life. All I want for Christmas is you. Oh, and the movie. Do you know what movie that song appeared in? Yeah, yeah, Love Actually. Such a great movie. if you've not seen Love Actually,
you should. It's a really good one. Okay. And now I'm going to hit you with the strangest recommendation of all, but I think you're going to like it. You're going to have to, you have to have Netflix, but the Kohlers, one of our holiday traditions is to watch cheesy Hallmark style movies.
You know, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There's the girl, and she goes back to her hometown, and she's newly single, and she runs into the old guy or the mayor, and they fall in love, but they hate each other at first, and eventually it all works out. Okay, so we've watched plenty of doofy movies, including Dog Walker Christmas, which is ridiculous as they come, but whatever. It kept to the formula, and it satisfied our needs.
So the kids actually picked some of these. Ginger this week picked Merry Gentleman. And so the whole family watched Merry Gentleman and we had lots of laughs. We enjoyed the Merry Gentleman. I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but I need you to watch it. If you have Netflix, that's what you're doing tonight. You creep into bed or on your couch and you just turn it on. And as long as your kids are like 13 and over. You can watch it as an entire family.
Here you go. I'm just giving out. I'm just giving out pointers and recommendations galore. But yeah, merry gentlemen, all I want for Christmas is you. I love you. Get to work. Bye team. Hi, this is Rudy Novotny, the voice of America's marathons. We all love how much running has benefited every aspect of our lives. So much so that most of us only wish we'd started sooner. Wouldn't it be wonderful to gift the opportunity to children of today? Well, you can.
The Morning Mile is a before-school walking and running program that gives children a chance to start each day in an active way while enjoying fun, music, and friends. That's every child, every day. It's also supported by a wonderful system of rewards which keeps students highly motivated and frequently congratulated.
Created by our favorite fitness expert, Fitz Kohler, Morning Milers across the country have run over 2 million miles and are having greater success with academics, behavior, and sports because of it. The Morning Mile is free to the child, free to the school, and is inexpensively funded by businesses or generous individuals. Help more kids get moving in the morning by visiting MorningMile.com. Champion the program at your favorite school or find out more about sponsorship
opportunities. That's MorningMile.com. Long may you run.