Phedippidations

Today we’ll hear from six fellow runners (including myself) who will relate to you their personal stories about “Their First Times”.

Today is my 50th birthday. I was born at exactly 7:48 PM Eastern Standard Time in the maternity ward of Milton Hospital on Reedsdale Road and Highland Street in the town of Milton, Massachusetts on January 19th, 1962. Turning 50 feels good, because it’s good to be alive. The milestone reminds me to take a walk break in this race, and turn to look behind me to see how far I’ve come. The past 50 yea...

We're traveling back in time on this episode; through six and a half years in PodCasting AND BEYOND!

When oenophiles think about wine, they rarely consider the sport of running with regards to it’s enjoyment; and when runners consider our passion for moving our bodies through space: the topic of wine is not chief among our hydration strategies. Yet these two areas of interest have their complementary intersections. In this epsiode we'll visit some "Cool Races in Beautiful Places" where wine grape...

In the summer of 1975 I was a 13 year old skinny, big eared, pimply-faced teenager with a frown full of braces and a head filled with big ideas. This was the first time I had ever been able to express my creativity to an audience greater than my immediate family, it was the first time I took a thought and converted it into something for others to experience. My words, my story, my imagines, my voi...

Part two of a series of episode where we prepare ourselves to win an argument with a non-runner!

In order to start the conversation that plants the seed of an idea into someone’s head that they might want to begin the process to adopt the running life style, you need the right ammunition: you need to commit to memory at least a handful of logical arguments that will make your proposal effective and produce results.

“To be or not to be?”, that is only the second question we have to ask ourselves: the first is: Are we? or Are we not? Do we exist or is this all just a dream? Descartes had something to say about all this, and it’s to Descartes that we will go, as we begin to contemplate that one thing that makes us appreciate the way it feels to run across the Earth, to feel the sweat, effort and joy of getting...

In this episode I present for you an abridged for podcast version of Henry David Thoreau’s essay “A Walk to Wachusett”. As you listen to these words, think about the excursion you might make wherever you live; knowing that you could cover the distance on a long run, but instead taking the time to walk and explore the world around you. This is one of the great lessons of Thoreau: that we should sav...

Philosophers have been asking the question “What is Truth” for thousands of years, as they try to determine if truth is subjective, objective, relative or absolute. I think that we, as runners: have a special opportunity to both ask and, in some specific way, at least, answer the question for ourselves. Truth can be found in the hard work and determination we put into every mile; truth can be unde...

I propose to you that running can bring you great happiness, and since I know that I’m preaching to the choir here, I’ll ask you to consider how running can bring happiness to those in your family, friends and acquaintances whom you’ll meet in your life…and that no matter how sad or broken they and we may sometimes feel: we have an obligation and a certain unalienable right to engage in the pursui...

In this episode we tackle the philosophical question “Is it morally right to quit a road race?”. For help in understanding the question en route to an answer, we call about the great minds of Professor Richard Dawkins, Immanuel Kant, Socrates, and Aristotle.

The 6th Anniversay of Phedippidations.

This episode of Phedippidations is intended to recreate for you the experience of running with fellow runners and friends. On April 30th Team Poco Loco gathered in Boston Massachusetts to run a half marathon distance around the mighty Charles River.

This is the story of a fellow runner by the name of Katie who fought a good fight in that all too familiar way where all options are gone and the only thing left to do was to make a terrible agonizing choice: “When you have nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire”

A tour of the Poco Loco Course

“From where he tottered before the couch, on muscles immune to elongation and contraction, Duncan contemplated his next move. Opposite the lavatory, on the northern end of this dwelling, was his bedroom: unkempt and festooned with the discarded wrappings of many cakes, candies and snack treats; necessary supplements to his ongoing carbohydrate loading.” This is the story of Duncan, a man without a...

The term varietal describes an elementary form of something. With wine, it’s the fermented product of a single grape. With running, the word varietal describes the specific practice of a training element. With running as with wine it’s important to understand the differences between the fundamental elements that go into the final product, so that when the harvest is released: be it after bottling...

We all know how running can improve our lives, our health and our disposition with the universe around us. We know that running is part of a healthy lifestyle and that it can improve the condition of our cardiovascular systems, and that we have evolved as homo sapien sapiens from Australopithecus Africanus to run across the savanna in search of the meat from fallen animals. The benefits of running...

You and I are out on a run together. As we’re getting our miles in we start to talk to each other to pass the time. This is where we get to know each other, where we start to open up a little and reveal ourselves as the persons we really are. You and I are different, with different backgrounds, different beliefs and different understandings of the universe around us. I want to know what you’re all...

Today I present the second in a series of episodes that I’m calling “Running Blogcasts” featuring the writing of fellow runners in our community who have a talent for the written word. The author of today’s episode is Kim Cowart. (Kow-ahrt). Kim is one of the writers for the “Reasons to Run” blog over at Deseretnews.com. She’s a 35 year old mother of two from West Jordan, Utah. Kim spent much of h...

Celebrities are people too. They wake up in the morning, just as we do, they brush their teeth, they log onto their computers, they lace their own shoes, and they have to put in the same amount of effort as the rest of us in training for their marathons. You could outrun Will Ferrell, Kim Alexis and President Bush if you dedicated yourself to the task. There’s nothing special about someone who is...

IF YOU COULD, SOMEHOW, SEND A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE WHO WILL BE ALIVE ONE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM? The universe has come together to create the unique and special life form that you are, with your hopes and fears, dreams and concerns. The thoughts you form and the words you write and say constitute information, never to be duplicated information born of your mind that goes o...

As a runner, you have to discover and understand your own running Terroir. You need to know how your environment, personality, geography and local climate influences your ability to perform. In this sport, we are taught to listen to our bodies and the symptoms of over-use injuries: but before we can hear and feel these signals from our bodies: we have to know who we are as runners….not in relation...

I’m starting off the new year right by answering all of my email (or at least trying to). In this episode of a goofy little podcast I respond to some of the messages I was unable to get to last year with hopes that I’ll be able to answer ALL of my email in the year of our Lord 2011. Also, join me for a swim in the FROZEN Atlantic with friends on New Years Day, and I get to chat with friend and Moj...