Fitness expert from fitness.com and welcome to the fitness show. Today, we are going to talk about OHIO. That's right. The star of my show today is the great state of Ohio. I just got back from announcing the USATF Women's 6K Championship and Women's Running Festival, which was awesome. And it was the fourth year of this race's existence and the fourth year I've I've been announcing it. So lots of fun there. But before I get there, I would like to talk about a few, I don't know,
a few topics in pop culture, starting with sweet Richard Simmons. OMG. Richard Simmons, one of the greatest fitness icons of all time. I'm guessing all of my listeners know exactly who he is, but the flamboyant, silly, funny, warm, engaging fitness pro who is most famous for his Sweating to the Oldies workout videos, his short, silky dolphin shorts and big arm tank tops and his wild antics on the Dave Letterman Show and everywhere else. Richard Simmons was goofy, absolutely goofy.
And I know a lot of people made fun of him and his big curly hair, but I always looked at him as someone who connected with people, someone who made fitness unintimidating. And when I started out, that's what I was hoping to do. That's still what I'm hoping to do, is connect with people who not only want to achieve great, tremendous athletic things within fitness and athletics, but folks who are a little bit fearful of it and get them to do something to
live better and live longer. And Richard Simmons was that guy. He was fun. He didn't take himself too seriously. And he just loved people. people. And I identify with all of that. So, you know, there's a lot of people in the fitness industry that are, you know, all about me, look at me, look at how hot I am and look at my butt and look at my muscles and, you know, look at me and buy my pills. And Richard wasn't that guy. He was all about you.
And that's, that's the basis of what I've built fitness on is helping you live better and longer. So love him. He hasn't been in the public eye for a very long time. I'm not not really sure why. I'm guessing it's none of my business since he hasn't told us. But I loved him and he just passed a few days prior. So I thought I would give out the big, just some love and respect to a man who deserves it. A man who really has impacted millions of people with his efforts to promote fitness.
So Richard Simmons, a tremendous loss, but what a gift. What a life well lived. Shannon Doherty also passed, I believe, the same day as Richard, an actress, talented actress. And 90210 and Charmed. I watched a little bit of 90210 when I was a kid. And then I don't think I've ever really watched Charmed. But anyways, talented actress and poor dear has been battling breast cancer for a very long time. And from what I heard is her agent or manager did not reinvest in her health
insurance. And so she did not get checked when she had signs that something was brewing. And by the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was stage four and it took her life. And that's horrible. And obviously I've dealt with breast cancer and I've have so many of my friends who've been through it and we've lost so many wonderful people to breast cancer. And I've actually been listening to her podcast lately and I really just enjoyed
her honesty, her frankness. And that's one of the great gifts when you aren't fearful about being canceled, right? You can be straightforward and tell the truth as you see it. And so it was, it was a real pleasure to get to know her that way, but I'm sad that breast cancer has taken her life. She deserved better. And I know that there's so many people mourning her loss. It just, it, it makes me sad. It also pisses me off. I'm sick. I'm so sick of losing friends. Losing friends, new friends.
You know, I go speak at cancer conferences and I was at one in March in Vegas and a couple of gals from that conference who look so great have passed. And I think, really, they looked so great. And I thought Shannon looked pretty great. And what do I know? Right. What do we all know about what's going on behind these closed doors?
But it's just it's heartbreaking. breaking. And even though breast cancer is 94% curable or 94% of us are cured, 6% of a disease that affects one in eight women is a lot of women. And so take this opportunity to squeeze your stuff. Anytime you hear Shannon's name, anytime you watch one of her shows or movies, whatever she was in, put your hands inside your shirt and grope yourself, just have a feel. And if you find something, call the doctor immediately.
And that's, that's the best thing you can do for her to honor her and of course for yourself and then the other, Whew, nightmare this weekend. I was on a plane coming home from Ohio and I guess I'm starting at the end, right? But I was in Atlanta and my plane was delayed. And I was in one of those Delta comfort seats where my television was in the armrest and I wasn't allowed to pull it out till we took off.
And my plane was delayed because the air conditioning was broken, which was a really good time as you can imagine. And the summer heat in Atlanta, People were, I was fanning myself with the little safety card in the back pocket of the plane seat saying, I declare, right? It was very hot. But one of the passengers in the row in front of me to the right, he starts shouting, no, no, no, no, no. And so I look over and he tells his seatmate, President Trump was just shot.
And obviously my heart dropped to my stomach and I'm trying to get out of my seatbelt. And I leapt up to go look over their shoulder to see the TV. And the man in front of me was saying, sit down. We're not going to take off. And I literally said, shut up like that. And I was so grateful when he got up. But, you know, folks, I was, my heart was warmed that everybody on the plane, at least those we had contact with, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, everybody really cared.
Everybody was really worried. And nobody wants to see anyone, anyone, any decent person shot down. I don't even think we want to see bad people shot in front of us. Right. And it was wonderful to see the American spirit right there in that plane where everybody was concerned for his well-being. And it could have been Biden and it could have been RFK or anyone else in a similar position. It could have been Ron DeSantis or Nancy Pelosi.
Nobody wants to see that. And so everybody was sickened to see those bullets fired and the president go down and everybody was elated to see him pop up with his fist in the air and the blood on his face. Well, like a badass. I mean, again, I don't care what party he's from. That was royal. That was that was the fiercest thing I've ever seen personally. But more importantly, it just made me feel good to know that everybody was on the same page.
And that type of violence has absolutely no place in our country and on either side in any direction. And it just made me happy because... People are mean and people are jerks and people are politically hostile, but it was awesome to see decency on grand scale where people were really, really rooting for the president and, of course, that poor firefighter who was killed. And we didn't know that at that time, but everybody was just concerned for everybody. And hopefully our country does better.
Right hopefully everybody's a little less hostile and a little more reasonable and one of the things that i hold dear is a number one i'm as you know if you've paid any attention i'm a raging patriot and i hold freedom first but it really bothers me when people just say oh that's a politician they're a dirtbag or whatever and to be honest with you i i feel very appreciative when somebody somebody, no matter what their opinion, volunteers to serve.
Now, eventually there will be a paycheck come from many of our public servants, but most people run for office, whether it's city or county or state or national, because they really care. And whether I agree with them or not is a totally different subject, but people are putting themselves out there because they care about their communities.
And, you know, that should be respected. We should have deep respect for anyone who puts their name on the ballot, who takes the risk, who sacrifices maybe their career or their family life in order to serve their. The public at large. And so, yeah, horrified by the shooting. This stuff should never happen. I'm also one of those people looking at the Secret Service thinking, yeah, I'll got to be kidding me, right?
But this is not a political podcast, but just it was a meaningful part of my weekend. And I'm so grateful the president's okay. And I hope nobody ever takes a shot at one of our political leaders again. It's just, it's ugly and it's unnecessary. And we can speak at the ballot box, right? Everybody gets one vote and it's, it's one of the greatest gifts this country provides is our opportunity to cast that ballot and have my kids. It's interesting.
They're, they're kind of annoyed by the whole politics thing. And they're like, both of these guys are too old. And I say, okay, but you still have to sit down and learn and choose because it's a privilege. And I always took them out to vote with me when they were tiny babies, babies, toddlers, preschoolers, I would wait till they were out of school to take them to go vote because I wanted them to be a part of that experience. And so what, I don't care who they vote for. That's their business.
I just want them to vote. And so I hope you all do too. And I hope you learn about each person you're voting for and each, each amendment on the ballot or whatever's on the ballot. Just, just take this seriously, folks. People are, people are dying for it. So So I'm never ungrateful for freedom. I wake up every single day and oh my gosh, that lady who sang the anthem, I can't remember her name. It's like Indris.
Whoa, it was really bad. And then the next day she came out and said, I'm an alcoholic and I was drunk and I'm going to get help. And I thought, well, that's a really great response from that moment. And I hope that she uses that terrible anthem performance as a platform to get sober, stay sober, and live healthy and well. And if it takes a little bit of public humiliation in order to get her on the right path, then totally worth it. Totally worth it.
So I'm rooting for that person. I can't remember her name at all, but we all heard her sing. And yeah, that anthem's really important. Hopefully that anthem turns into her greatest success story. I'd love to see her out doing keynotes one day talking about my anthem nightmare and how it's affected my life positively. That would be super cool. Okay, so going back to Ohio. Oh, H-I-O. I love going to Ohio. I love the people in Ohio. I love my friends in Ohio.
I love this race in Ohio. I've announced quite a few races in Ohio, and it's a fantastic state. I'm thrilled to be invited to on a regular. So before the race, as you know, I love the zoos. And last year when I announced the USATF Women's 6K Championship, the day prior, I went to the Cleveland Zoo. My friend Tim Patton, shout out to Tim. He's a retired zookeeper. Cleveland police department sergeant. And last year he agreed to take me to the zoo.
I flew into Cleveland, which is only an hour away from Canton where the race was held. And that was a really lovely zoo. We had a great time. And Tim said, you know, you would really like Columbus Zoo. I said, really? He said, yeah. Do you know Jack Hanna? And he said, of course I am. He's one of those animal gurus we all love. And he said, well, that's his zoo. That's the zoo he's affiliated And I said, well, OK, let's go do it.
And so Tim very kindly drove to Columbus, picked me up at the airport and drove me to the zoo so I can enjoy that zoo. Now, on the way, we stopped at the Horseshoe. That's right. The Ohio State football stadium, which was super cool. They didn't let us they didn't let me inside that stadium because it was under construction. But it was very cool to see. And as a huge fan of college football, go Gators. It's great opportunities to see some of the other iconic football stadiums in
the country. In fact, that would be cool, too, to take a tour. I would love to see a game in the Notre Dame Stadium and Death Valley LSU. I'd love to go to Army, Navy. I'd love to go in the big house, of course, the big rival to Ohio State, but I've driven by the big house 500 times as I've announced races in Ann Arbor and Detroit, all over Michigan. I keep driving by the Michigan Stadium and I never go in, but yeah, that would be cool. But sidebar, the horseshoe, super cool.
It's got this kind of inverted cathedral thing going on on one end, stained glass. And I don't know, it makes me feel very Catholic again. Like when I was a kid looking up at the stuff and it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to get back in there maybe for a game one day. So stop by the stadium, then went to the zoo. It was Tim Patton and I, and one of my college besties, Chris Wilmot, who's one of the sweetest humans on earth.
And I dragged these two gentlemen through the entire Columbus zoo. It had to be 90 something degrees. And I was very excited to be there. And they were wonderful sports. And it's a fantastic zoo. Now, listen, I kind of rate the zoos because I go to zoos wherever I'm announcing races. I don't do it every time, but I do it often. I have a simple goal to announce a race in every state. I'd also like to visit a zoo in every state.
And because I mostly travel alone, zoos are awesome because it's not weird to be alone at the zoo. You can roam around comfortably. And I'm very comfortable alone anyways. But if you are a person who's worried, like someone who would never go to lunch alone, going to the zoo alone is totally cool. So I can be alone and I can be active. I like to be up and active. I like to be outside. And of course I love animals. And so zoos suit me fine.
And my criteria to be a great, if you want to be a five-star zoo, you have to have at least a polar bear or a grizzly bear or a cassowary. Those are the animals that float my boat that make me go, oh yeah, this is a big deal zoo. And so Columbus has a polar bear. I think they have two. I could only see one. It was very hot. So those poor animals weren't very active. But the polar bear, super pretty, super cuddly.
And of course they sleep right up against the window. And I just want to leap through the window and just plop on top them and snuggle and smooch their little faces. And I know they would love that. If they would just let me through the window, I know that the bears would love cuddling with me back. But the polar bears are great. They did not have grizzly bears, but they had massive brown bears that were grizzly-esque and that was equal.
So I gave them all the points for having those two monster brown bears. And again, they definitely would have liked to cuddle. And then they had a whole bunch of cheetahs. And this is the thing. They had a cheetah run. I don't know if you know what a cheetah run is, but the cheetah run is really cool. So they have the exhibit there. I think there's four or five cheetahs there. And interestingly enough, they are very tall. They're much taller than I would have anticipated and very slender.
They look like they're undernourished, but that's just how they are. And built for speed, kind of like some of our fastest runners, right? Some of them are so lanky, you think, yeesh, but just like a cheetah. So anyhow, they have the cheetah run, which is this ginormous field. And at 1 p.m., there's the cheetah run and everybody kind of lines up to watch. And this handler comes out with a cheetah like it's her dog. She's got little treats in her hand and the cheetah is just prancing along next
to her. And she's telling us all about the cheetah and how the cheetah is so fast. And it could go zero to 60 in three seconds and blah, blah, blah, cheetah, cheetah information, which was very cool. And then at some point, someone puts this giant chunk of red meat on the rope and then lets it fly. So the meat goes flying across the field and the cheetah just takes off after it. And that's where we get to see, woo, the cheetah doing its thing.
And I had my camera out, my phone so I could record it. And my hand couldn't move as fast as the cheetah. I could only catch maybe 30% of what I was trying to because the cheetah moved so darn fast. It was very impressive and very fun and certainly something that gave that Columbus Zoo an extra star, right? So they get a star for the polar bear and the brown bears and then the cheetah run, which was awesome.
And they had some more animal shows that we did not stick around for, but the cheetah show was pretty darn cool. I do love a cassowary. If you're not familiar with that, it's the world's most lethal bird. Look it up. It's awesome. It's part... Ostrich, dinosaur, and freaking fantastic. I love Mia Cassowary, but they didn't have that. But they had manatees and they had a whole aquarium and they had great reptiles, including monitors, which I truly love.
And of course there were lions. They had this beautiful lioness up against the window on this rock. And I got right up to her face. And I think the glass was about four inches thick, which was a shame. Because again, I know she would have loved it if I kissed her sweet face, but I got a pretty beautiful photo and her eyes were just golden, just magical. If I could trade my blue eyes for that lion's golden eyes, you betcha, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but she was pretty fantastic.
What else did they have? I mean, they had a lot. They had asses, that's right, donkeys, and some cool ostriches who were standing up loud and proud. They had moose, Da Moose, if you haven't heard the episode from my trip to Montana, or Colorado, sorry, from Boulder, you'll hear about Da Mooses. But they had Da Mooses, which I enjoyed. They had reindeer, pretty cool. Wolverines, surprisingly hostile for little animals. They look quite cute, but I hear they're terrifying.
And what else? Oh, they had dinosaurs. And this is something that I don't think any zoo needs to have because, I don't know, other than the alligators, There's not really a lot of real dinosaurs roaming around, but they have life-size monster animatronic dinosaurs roaming around this dinosaur section. And I thought, well, that's just extra. They went above and beyond creating that dinosaur section.
And yeah, it makes you feel like you're checking out the T-Rex and the Apatosaurus and the Velociraptors, et cetera. So I really, really like Columbus Zoo. Now, up until that visit, my favorite zoo was St. Louis Zoo. I think Columbus has launched above it. It's a five-star zoo for sure. They also have a train, which I think is a big deal because not everybody wants to walk the whole way.
And sometimes even when I walk the whole way in the zoo, I will stop by and enjoy the train ride because why not? A little fresh air and the choo-choo train driver gives you some tidbits. I love getting the information. It's like having a tour guide. But yeah, it was wonderful. And I know they have a bunch of shows and things I did not participate in. So I believe I'm going to host a pickleball tournament in Columbus soon.
I'll be back and I will head back to that zoo to see what else I can explore. Interestingly enough, I'll be in St. Louis this weekend. Announcing Mud Girl. And so I'm going to go back to St. Louis Zoo. That's actually tomorrow. This is Thursday and tomorrow I will be at St. Louis Zoo. Maybe I'll decide to put that one back over Columbus. I'm not sure. I'm going to check out some things I didn't see last time. But yeah, Columbus Zoo, absolutely fantastic.
Well worth the price of admission. And just if you love animals, go give it a go. And here's the other caveat. I'd like to say that, yes, I too look at these animals in captivity sometimes, and it breaks my heart. I think, oh, that animal deserves better, right? That animal deserves the wild.
But I often pin it up against the knowledge that when people go visit a zoo, that gives them the opportunity to learn about these animals and fall in love with these animals and stay committed to protecting the animals and protecting wildlife as a whole. So yes, do I think individual animals in a zoo pay a dear price?
Yes, I do. I do. And it's heartbreaking. And some of them are rescues, which I, that's a lot better to me knowing if this animal couldn't sustain itself in the wild and now it's at a zoo being cared for, getting great veterinary care, getting fed every day. It's not at risk for being devoured by another animal, then that's a much better situation. But again, I do love the fact that they're educational and they promote conservation and protecting at minimum those endangered endangered animals.
And I do like that. So, so yeah, anyways, Columbus Zoo, San Frantastic. The down low on Jack Hanna, which is also a little heartbreaking is that right now he has dementia, which I didn't know. And, and what a bummer. Cause that guy was just wonderful. I remember watching him on Leno and even Johnny Carson going way back and just a delightful man who loves. Animal kingdom and exposed us, exposed us, let us fall in love with them based
on the things he was showing us. So lots of love to Jack Hanna. And again, go visit the Columbus Zoo. You got to do that. So Columbus Zoo, we leave there. Chris goes home. Tim drives me on to Canton for the 6K. But before he does, he promises he's going to take me to grandpa's cheese barn. Now, if you love cheese, Doesn't this sound like the most magical place in the world? Apparently, it's not just cheese. It's Amish cheese, which I've never had before, but sounds quite magnificent.
However, we're so excited about the Amish cheese. And he even tells me about strawberry cheesecake. Or no, no, strawberry cheese. Anyways, it was some sort of magic strawberry cheese concoction. And we pull up and we walk up to the door to go into the cheese barn. And they're closed. That's right. It closed at 6. We arrived at 6.20. And the look, the emotions that came out of Tim and I when we realized it was closed was probably unnecessarily dramatic.
I mean, we both pretty much fell to our knees in agony over the lack of Amish cheese. And then the manager came out and he said, oh, please let us in. I came straight from Florida for the cheese. I lied. And he said, well, I hope you planned something else. And I said, no, I really want cheese. And he said, well, you can come back tomorrow. And my heart was broken because I could not come back tomorrow. It was an hour away from Canton.
So that's right. That was the terrible, terrible thing that happened on my Ohio trip. But yeah, I mean, Amish cheese, right? If anybody is in the proximity of Amish people and you can gather some cheese and you can send it my way or bring it to me on a race, I will give you extra points. That's right. Tim got quite a few extra points taking me to the zoo and he brings me snack packs. He brings me decaffeinated Diet Coke in bulk, which is awesome and Lucky Charms.
And this time it was a granola. Usually he brings me trail mix. But anyways, I do love snacks and I do give extra points out to runners or friends who bring me snacks when I'm out of town. Because you know what? You can't really travel with your favorite decaf Diet Coke. The airport won't allow that. And it's just nice to have snacks because I'm in a hotel, right? Bring me snacks. That's it. I sound so needy. So the next day, I went to the NFL Hall of Fame.
If you've never been there before, that's quite interesting. The NFL was birthed in Canton, Ohio. I've been going for years, and everybody loves the NFL Hall of Fame. It's the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I should call it, in Canton. Haven't gone there yet, but my dear friend Babs, you know Babs from Boston, she came into town to run that weekend, and we went to the Hall of Fame together. Now, what I can tell you, it's a big, fancy, fabulous museum dedicated to all things professional football.
If you love pro football in any way, shape, or form, you will enjoy this museum. It was kind of pricey. It was $45 to get into the museum. Holy smokes, that's a lot. However, we had a good time, and I think it was well worth it. And our takeaway was probably different. If you're a football statistician, you might do the NFL Hall of Fame, but Babs and I went in, and we really, I think we enjoyed most. They had a lot of football fashion.
You could see the outfits that they wore, the uniforms that they wore back in the day, their logos. They had a bunch of interesting team names. I'm trying to think of some of the weirdest ones. They're not sitting on the top of my head, but there were some pretty lame names of football teams. I thought, well, that doesn't sound menacing at all. Why would you want to be that thing? But yeah, they chose weird names. And of course, there were tigers and bears
and things like that. But yeah, some of the names long ago were not very impressive. I'm sure there's some of the modern day names aren't very impressive either. Anyways, we looked at a lot of football fashion. Some of the old headgear was very strange. range. They had one that looked kind of like a headset, like your teenager wears and noise canceling headphones. It looked like it was brown.
And then it had this nose guard, which, amen, I think that's a good idea to protect your face, but it kind of looked like a cup. So it was like a wiener face guard. It was interesting. And we liked that. We liked all the football fashion, all the jackets, the Dolphins 17 and O jacket. They had a bunch of trench coats, a bunch of different things. Then they had this gown and we thought, huh, why a gown? Kind of out of place, but it's Carrie Underwood's gown. And you know, she sings about the NFL.
So that was kind of cute that they put that in there. They had some great photography. Apparently they show the best football photography of that year for the year. And they had some really beautiful images, which I just, I love photography. I think that might be my favorite form of art is great photography and really some special sightings there. So I liked that.
And then we went into this upstairs room and mind you, there's all these different rooms, but they have signage to guide you exactly which way to go, which I thought was very, very helpful. But we turned the corner at one point and it was very alarming because there's all these heads. That's right. There's hundreds and hundreds of heads on the second and floor. They're busts of their Hall of Fame members. It's a little spooky at first. I got to tell you, a little spooky. They're all bronze.
And I bet if your head is in there, you like it very much. But it does look a little creepy. Not all of the busts were very accurate. Some portrayals of the athletes that they were representing. But interesting. We went around and found some of our favorite heads. And that was entertaining. It was entertaining. We definitely did the girl tour of NFL headquarters. And of course, I know there's some women that are totally down with it and know all the stats.
And I'm not critiquing that. I'm saying for us, we were kind of like doing the girl thing. We looked at the fashion. We looked at the heads. What else? The photos were really cool. Oh, and they had these casts. So to display how ginormous these athletes are, they had several hands. They said like, this is, I don't know, let's say Emmett Smith's arm or whatever. And so you get to put your arm next to these guys or do a little arm wrestle with the big man's arm sticking out of the wall.
They had these casts of their legs. So you could put your leg into their leg and I could fit both of my legs into one of their legs. It was very, that was very fun. And what else? I don't know. They had a section for dolls. I thought the doll display was semi-creepy. They were puppets. And they, of course, they featured that first female NFL referee. Good for her. She looked great. What else? I don't know. I mean, it's mostly a man's world over there.
Men, men, men, football, football, football, some wonderful woman slid in and who cares? It's just about football. Whoever's the best at football, whoever coaches it best, whoever referees it best is, is the right person to celebrate. But it was a cool museum. I think the $45 price tag was a little inflated. I would suggest it be more like $25, but I hear they're using that money to invest in turning it into an entertainment center with restaurants and nightlifes.
And I funded some of that as did Babs. But yeah, check out the Pro Football Hall of Fame when you're in Canton. Super cool. Now, the night after or the night of our museum visit, I hosted a panel for our elite athletes. We had three particular elite athletes at a speaking event at Second Soul Canton, which is a massive running shoe store. I've never seen anything so big and beautiful. They did a wonderful job.
Kudos to Second Soul. And our race director turned race owner, Tina Rhee, is the mastermind behind this year. So she's a person who wanted a woman's race. She used to work for Run-T Racing, which is owned by Jim Chaney and Dave Beck. These wonderful men who have been putting on races for a very long time. Tina was their employee. She wanted to put on a women's event. She secured the USATF 6K championship for her event. And she's been at the helm of that. For a while, but this year she took
it over as owner, which is just really wonderful. I'm so happy for her. She's a talented track and cross field athlete accomplished there. And then an accomplished track and cross country coach for Malone university. And now she's retired from that work and gone into full-time race promotion. And she just hit it out of the park this year. I was so happy for her. And this, this panel discussion was a new thing.
So I was the host And we had Stephanie Bruce, who's about 40, Emily Durgin, who's in her early 30s, and McKenna Collins-Curtis, who is in her 20s. We had a room packed with audience members, and it was great. I mean, gee whiz, the conversation was delightful. I came armed with, I think, some quality questions. And it was very interesting to hear each of these women speak from their point of view, from their stage in life, and how supportive they were of each other.
I tell you, I've been announcing this race for quite a few years, and I normally go to the race in a bus full of these athletes. And it's just like a big old slumber party. Yes, there are fierce competitors, and they are hell-bent on winning when they line up at the start line. But there's no reason for them to be unfriendly. They're just adorable and cute and fun and funny. And some of them are a little nervous, and some of them are a little more outspoken. But it was great. It was just...
It was a wonderful conversation and I was grateful to be a part of it. And I was really interested in their answers. And, you know, sometimes I host some things and some of the people I'm talking to are not so interesting and it's got to pull, I got to pull teeth to keep it going along, but this thing hummed along at a great pace and Stephanie Bruce, Emily Durgin and McKenna Curtis Collins, fine athletes. Very accomplished and people you should follow on Instagram for sure.
I loved being a part of that, and I think we should do that panel again next year. The mornings event, the actual 6K itself, fan-freaking-tastic. I mean, watching our elites go off, and we send them off first. At 8 a.m., the elites take off. There's close to 30 of them. And then five minutes later at 8.05, the pack, the community runners take off. And, you know, it's just, it's funny. I'm a pretty small woman.
I'm 5'5", but I'm lean. these women are even like more compact than I am and so powerful when that gun goes off they go pow flying it's just it's it's awesome to watch them go you know I love the back of the pack for reals as my favorite but it's really exciting to dabble in this the actual speedsters for you know many of my races right but they're great and it was special and fun and then the pack was just in such great spirits. And it was wonderful kicking them off as are all of my races.
And really, while I announced so many women themed races, this is the only one that's exclusively for women. If you're a boy, sorry, can't do it. It's only women of all ages, young girls and so forth. And it's just, it's nice. It's nice too. Why not? So the, the fun slash funny part of our trip is the trip between the start line and the finish line. It's, it's not a. It's not a round trip race. I have to leave the start line, drive to the finish line.
And over the years, my journey to the finish line has been fairly chaotic. Two years ago, I was in fearful of my life. I'm not going to say who was driving me, but he was driving bonkers and blowing stop signs. And I thought this is not worth dying over slow down, but he got me to point B safely. And I was very grateful for that last year, Tina, the race director was supposed to drive me to the finish line. And I finished yelling, go.
And the athletes take off and I'm looking around and Tina was wearing a hot pink jacket. And I thought, surely she's easy to find, but nope, no Tina. So I'm standing there thinking, holy smokes, how do I get to the finish line? And some guy, he said, are you lost? I was, I said, I need to get to the finish line. He said, oh, I'm Tina's brother. I'll drive you. So that was very fun and funny.
Tina's brother did a great job. He drove quite sanely because his two children were in the back of the car along with And I still got there on time. And then this year I was with Tina. She didn't forget me, bless her heart. And her, one of her, her employees for the day, Tucker drove us and I was in the back seat with this USATF gal Kelly. And it was a little bit of Mr. Toad's wild ride. We certainly were looking at each other thinking, yikes, but it's great fun.
It's great fun. And Tina's yelling out the window at the cops. We're race directors, let us through. And, you know, we're kind of like the secret service, right? Right. It's kind of like the the president's automobile and a race director and a race announcer come through. We've got to get to the finish line. It's very important business. And I've been in some crazy car rides because of it, but we all survive, which I'm appreciative of. So that was great.
We had a win. We had the award ceremony after and lots of prizes were given out and just a fantastic, fantastic afternoon. Okay, so when I left Ohio, the adventure continued. And instead of going home to Gainesville, I decided to go see my mom. Because you got to go see your mom sometimes, right? She's in Fort Lauderdale and I miss her. And I love her. She's a very good mom. But before I got to my mom's house, I stopped at my brother's bar.
If you are ever in South Florida, you have got to hit up The Fits. It is a beautiful bar and lounge. It is so trendy and fun. And the drinks are great. And the atmosphere is just always so fun. They have all sorts of video boards with music videos playing or sporting events. They always have a DJ or a live band. Sometimes they have comedians, but it's awesome. And I'm so proud of my brother. He's been in so many interesting careers. He was a sheriff's deputy for Broward County many years ago.
And then he went into business and he did very well in business and he built a business and he sold a business. And then he took on the bar business because he travels. He gets in the car and he's traveled to every state that you can travel to by car. and he always wears a war. I guess he wears a silly hat, but anyways, he likes to stop into local bars in local areas and meet the local people. And he decided to create one of his own in Fort Lauderdale. So it's, it's smashing.
And I think you'll love it. And the highlight, one of the highlights for me are the bathrooms, which have the most fun decor on planet earth. So the fits got to go there. And then I go to my mom's, you probably shouldn't go to see my mom, Unless you grew up with me and you know my mom, then you can stop by and say hi to my mom. But we took my mom to the casino because that's what she likes to do. That's right. We went and played the penny slots, which aren't really penny slots.
They're about $0.38 per play if you're on the low side. It's very weird that a penny slot machine could cost you $0.40 per effort. But she likes to do that. We go and throw $40. $40. Into the casino and see where we land, right? It's a limited amount of money. We're never at risk of losing our house or anything like that, but it's fun to have fun with her. And it's exciting and low-key at the same time. And we go to the casinos where there's no cigarettes, which means a lot.
I mean, on occasion, there's smoke-free portions of the casinos, but usually you have to walk through a whole bunch of cigarette smoky sections to get to the smoke-free. So anyways, Anyways, fun time with the mom. But this is what you need to know is that Fitz Kohler had a confusing episode starting in Ohio. So when Babs and I went to the Hall of Fame, we went out and I bought this little bag of cheddar popcorn. I really like cheddar popcorn. So a small bag cost me $1.50.
And later in my hotel room, I have a few bites of the popcorn. And then my upper, like my gums in the back above my molar start to hurt. And I think, dang it, I got a corn kernel in my gums. And so I brushed my teeth and I floss and it still hurts, still hurts. I'm thinking, dang it, I guess. And I have those flossing sticks, not the flossing string. So I thought that was the problem. I went down to my mom's and the tooth was hurting worse and I got regular floss and it didn't help.
I was going to stay there till Tuesday, but by the time Sunday night rolled around, my tooth pain was, or my gum pain, whatever it was, was off the chain. It was nauseating. It was so bad. And if you've ever had tooth pain, you know what that's like. So I decided, forget it. I'm just driving home to Gainesville. I'm going to get this figured out. I'm going to get this kernel out of my tooth. And so my dentist thankfully squeezed me in. I landed in Gainesville at 2.30.
I went tooth hurty. That's right. My tooth hurt it. But I went to the dentist and she said, let me take an x-ray. And she said, it's not a kernel. That was a coincidence. And really, what a weird coincidence. incidence, but apparently I have an infection in my, under my tooth or something around the root or something like that. So, oh, it hurts so bad, but she put me on antibiotics and then sent me to an endodontist.
And so now they have to do some sort of endodontistry on my face, but the, not only did it hurt, but my, the right side of my face has swelled up. So I look like a chipmunk on the right side and the left side looks normal. And you know what? It's all child's play compared to cancer, right? So I look kind of stupid and that's just fine, fine by me. The swelling has resolved significantly, but oh my gosh, I look like a weirdo and I'm okay with that.
I'm glad that it's gone down because I have to fly out tomorrow morning for St. Louis and then I will be on a stage on Saturday. I've spent too many hours on stages looking like a weirdo with my bald head or my, you know, whatever, whatever, all the things that were going wrong with me. Probably, I probably already look like a weirdo in some regard on an everyday basis.
But I asked the endodontist, I said, could you please give me steroids so I don't have to get on a stage with a partially fat face? And so he gave it to me. I'm going to go pick them up very soon, but I'm very excited to have the steroids. And I'm very excited to get this tooth repaired because you know what's not cool? is traveling, getting on a plane and going elsewhere away from your dentist with a tooth issue. So let's hope that all resolves itself.
But I am going to St. Louis tomorrow and I'm going to check out the St. Louis Zoo again. And I'm going to try to dig up things that I haven't seen before. Last time I really loved there, they had polar bears and grizzly bears. I can't remember whether they have a cassowary or not, but they have a great train. It's just a really really well-organized zoo, lots of wonderful exhibits, and I had fun there. So right now, Columbus is just a little bit over St. Louis.
We'll see tomorrow what my assessment is. In fact, I'm going to start sharing all the cool things at the zoos I go to with you because what a wonderful thing to do. It's wholesome. It's clean cut. Again, it's outdoors. It's active. It's fresh air. It's animals. And it's something you can do alone or with all your friends or with with your entire family, and animals are great.
Animals are great, and our country especially has so many incredible zoos, and there's apparently been a zoo that hasn't been so good. I'll probably tell you about that one in the future. There was a zoo that really bored the dickens out of me, but that's for another show. Okay, listen. This is our song of the week. Are you ready? This is the song that you're going to add to your playlist while you dance, while you pump fire, and while you do karate, whatever it is. It's very, very fun.
It's called Jigga Juice. That's right, J-I-G-G-A Juice. And the artists are Lil Josh and Ernest. And I don't remember where the heck I heard this song. Also, it's featuring Hurricane Chris and Diamond. And I know you love those artists. I've never heard of them before. But it's a very, very fun song. And I think if you exercise to it, it will make you smile. So yeah, Jigga Juice by Lil Josh and Ernest. Put it on your playlist. list. If you haven't done so already, leave a review.
I think you have to be using the app to leave a review, but leave a review. Tell the world whether you love or you hate the fitness show. Hopefully it's more love than not, but I'll take whatever you have to offer. If you like this episode, share it with a friend and visit me on Instagram and say hello. If you guys have any questions you'd like me to answer, that's where they're all coming in, which makes me very happy. I do like answering the questions. It makes me feel like a useful human.
I love you. It's time to watch what you put in your mouth and go get sweaty. See you next time, folks. I love you. Get to work.