#323 Alex Scearce - Scotty Interviews His Wife on Her Running Journey & Chasing the OTQ + How They Balance Family & Training

Is it less awkward the second time? So well, we'll explain why Alex is on the podcast with me right now. Well, there's a couple of reasons, but for one, this is her worst nightmare. For a couple of reasons. One, you at night, this is your time, you actually like it when I podcast because why do you like it when I podcast? Because I don't have to talk to anybody. I can sit there by myself. So we talked about this yesterday at church. People think you come off as cold, but that's not true. You are really just shy. And you get very worn out. So, okay, I'm using new mics. I really apologize if it's like so loud. Okay, that should be better. Yeah. My cup gets filled up when I am with people. And Alex's cup gets filled up when she is not with people. It does not not get filled up when I'm with people. That's a, and see that's something like I don't like people. I just, she gets worn out. I also appreciate my solo time. And it took me 10 years of marriage with Alex to understand that when she looks at me and says, I don't want to talk to you. That's actually, that's actually her saying she loves me because before she would just not tell me, and I'd be like, why are you so mad? She's not. She just needs a long time. And I say all that. Now is Alex's a long time. So, and she has a bright light that is blinding her. And normally she's cuddled up on the couch watching some trash. Big brother selling sunset. That's one of your worst. Let's say other traders. That's not, that's not as trashy. Yeah. But so we had some big developments. I think by the time this gets released, people will know, but Chris had his baby. He did put it on social media. So I feel like I can say it. Chris had his baby. I know no details except for the name, which I'm not going to say the name on here because I don't know when this is going to be released. And I like for people to be able to say their own information on the, you know, I don't like to be the guy to ruin people's thing. Because I'm bad at that. It's something I'm working on in my thirties. But and Danny is in Spain in this current moment of the recording. So we had a guest on, and I wasn't going to solo pod it because I'm very excited about this guest. But I pushed her and our Wednesday podcast to next week because I have a day job and it's very hard for me to prepare for podcasts where Chris has all data prepared for like a solo pod. So he can write an outline to your research, all that kind of stuff. But so we're here. I think it was actually your idea. It wasn't it? It was a joke. Hi, Rand with it. I said for me and coach. And I took that as okay, great. We'll record a podcast. Yeah. So we are going to go through Alex's past present and future. I hope you're okay with that. You okay with that? Yeah, go for it. Okay. Tell me a couple things about yourself at that. Art. This is so great. I love that. I love that I have an opportunity. This is like a marriage count, like exercise. Oh, tell me a couple things about yourself that are not running related. What are you into? What like what do what feels now, like, stay? I spend like two hours of my day in my garden, my homeschool, my kids, I'm starting to be a beekeeper. Yeah, that's pretty good. What else? I feel like that's about it. Yeah, kids, bees, garden, running. Yeah. And and friendships. Lots of church, yeah, running friendships. So your garden, especially, so your garden journey started at our, did we do it in our first house? Yeah, but we put the bed in shade and I'm the single thing grew. It was backed by the fence by the road. Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah, we did never raise bed back there. Is that the one you bought from that guy? No, that was their second, our second house. How did we do it? Did you plan on just straight into the thing or did you have a raised bed at a brownsrow farm? I had a bed. I think you built it. Oh, well, anyways, nothing grew. No, nothing grew. Yeah, we found out after your one you had to have some for those of you who garden, but Alex, it has graduated to get the garden this year. Tell like, so I want to know with this podcast is like, I know everything about you. So I need you to like tell this as if I know nothing about you. So tell me about your garden. The only reason I'm asking this is because it's like actually pretty cool. Like what are you growing in? You have raised beds in hay bales and explain like explain hay bell gardening because to me before you did it made zero sense. Okay, so half the garden is hay bales and I you mend them for like two weeks with nitrogen and they basically turn into like a compost. They'll heat up and then they'll like drop back down to just like normal room temperature and then you plant them. So it's like a really rich soil because it's just basically fresh compost. And then I planted a different varieties of tomatoes and then. So I have like 30 tomato plants in my hay bales, eight cucumber plants, egg plants, few varieties of peppers, some herbs, and then then the soil side I have squash, feets, peas, beans. What else? That's pretty much it. Yes, some herbs, right? Yeah. Parsley maybe? Flowers. We did flowers this year. You partially? Yeah. So we're celery. The celery celery. Last year the hay bales stuff grew way better. The soil was just not. It was so depleted of nature. The cherry added compost and it's pretty much the same. It's incredible. It was the hay bales so far. So her garden is like an oasis. The only reason I like asked for specific son is because one, you spend a lot of time in there. Yeah. And we start all the plants in our basement from a seed, which is really fun. Yeah. We have like a whole system in the basement. She has growlized and stuff, which another fun. Shoplites. They're not growl. Yeah. Fun fact about gardening in like starts with seeds. You do not have to have heat. So when she first did it, I was like, you have to have growlized. You have to have a heat lamp, right? She was like, no, I just need shoplites. I was like, yeah, this is not gonna work. And they're amazing. It's incredible. You don't need heat. I think it helps it. Like sometimes you get a heat mat to start your seeds to germinate. Do you think that you could grow fruit in the basement? Not like, not like Apple and talking about tomatoes. Like do you think you can do that? No, I think there's something about it. They don't have like sun, like actual sun, it'll be bitter. Like the flavors offer the nutrients off or something. Which right? So went grant when you listen to this podcast. I need you to call me immediately. But if we grow tomato plants on the moon, will they taste better? Or did you find a way around that? Because grant has. This is next project. Or is that his current product? Huh? He grows everything. He's growing everything out of the sun. They have printed human tissue and like hearts and stuff on the moon. Well, in theory, I probably should know more about this. So I'm gonna stop before I embarrass myself. Grant, this is my sign that I need to ask you more questions. Second cool thing that Alex does. Bees. Yeah. This is a new thing. How did this start? And why? This started because when we built our house, I wanted the land to give back to people who visited us. And one of the things I said I wanted to do is give people honey and flowers. So in order to give people honey, we have to have bees. Yes. When I quite there on the flower front, well, I started a few this year. Yeah. Just to see how to grow then very small. But next year. It's a work in progress. I actually saw some flowers this year. One thing I had a time. Yeah, starting. You put the compost on the compost you put in the bed, you put the compost on that side to the new. Yeah. And that's why they're actually growing. Yeah. The soil I bring here, I find. That's one thing I learned. So my side of like gardening in landscaping, I can plant a boxwood. As long as the soil is not clay, it doesn't matter. Like it will grow fine. Once it gets like rooted in stuff, it'll grow fine. Some like really good like fertilized soil, I'm sure it'll grow better or faster. But one thing I learned is like tomatoes. They are way more picky than like bushes that I plant. Goodness gracious. The first time that she tried to plant in like the soil I brought, I think they stayed the same size as your starts for like you last year. had a plant in the soil that never got a tomato. It just was basically a weed. You have tomatoes that are already producing fruit right? Yeah. In the bed. Yeah. It's interesting. Well, if you live in Louisville and you're listening to this, there's like a 99% chance, like seriously, up to 10 people probably could take tomatoes and we would still have too many. We get like the tomato plant's kind of peter out and she has to water them so much when they get bigger in the hay bales that we end up just like letting them die because it's such pain in the butt. Well, and the hay bales have like disease that I think kills that, not disease, like fungus that kill the plant off faster. Yeah. Well, we just essentially get sick of tomatoes. Yeah. We don't try. Well, you did can a bunch, but we have a need. No. Are you ever going to eat them? Are you not trusted? I don't trust it. You don't trust it? I mean, the pickles. So it's the same thing. I don't know what to do. Like what to use them for. Make it. Don't you have pizza sauce? Yeah. Kind of spaghetti sauce. We made pizza tonight. Well, throw them away if you don't trust it. I know. I got a few more months. On them. Years maybe. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like are you, I guess if there's an apocalypse and you're really hungry, would you eat it? Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah. That's so there's some background about Alex's bees and gardening. So this is. And we got apple trees and peach trees. Oh, yeah, we did. So that's our next venture too. Yeah. Man, I would love an apple. What kind of apples did you get? Honey, Crispin Fuji. And then I don't know the peach ones. Dude, if we get an apple tree that's like cubers, like an orchard that has like a hundred apples on it. I'll be really happy. When do apples produce fall summer fall? That depends on the variety. Does it take that long? Few years. No, like does it take that long? Like can you pick them in like early summer all the way through? I don't know yet. They are clearly not even in the ground yet. Yeah, you're right. Guess who's got a digum. You do. Yeah. Which how do how do things happen around here? How does this like? Yeah. So here's the cycle. Alex tells me to do something and I work all day with my hands. And so I come home. I'm tired. And I usually take the kids for her to run at four around there. 430. I'll either cook dinner or Alex will prep it and I'll finish dinner or Alex will finish dinner or they'll already be prepped one of those four. And I don't really have time to dig holes. So it'll be like six o'clock. Alex gets home from her run. Then it's like play with the kids a little bit. Then shower the bed. Like I'm already showered. I'm not going to go dig those apple trees. But how it happens is Alex, it'll be like three o'clock and she'll be like sending me a picture of her digging the holes. She'll be like, I got sick of waiting. They've been. So that's coming in the near future. Probably by the time this episode releases these trees will be in the trees will be in. So I need to make that happen. This is my reminder. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow. You're a head out. I'm realizing I probably should have tested these mics. I probably should have listened to the recording we did to make sure that this next hour isn't wasted. If not, we had a really great conversation. Just me and you do not pause it. No, it's too late. Give me pause and peace. No. All right. I don't know how that's going to piece together. But I had to end the recording and I'm now we're back because I wanted to check these mics because this is the first time I've ever used these mics for a podcast recording. I've used them on the phone. You want to tell me to buy these and it sounds fine. So just turn it down if I'm too loud and turn it up when Alex talks because I can't control this is literally where they complete this is like the most quiet I can talk before I'm whispering and Alex is like yelling and her there's like a little line of like red and green of like whatever. Anyways, so we talked about a lot of things. You have how many kids with me? Have any kids? There's do you have no kids with anyone else by the way? I heard three kids total with you. Yeah, with me. Any with anyone else? Okay, cool. And what are our children's names? I think everyone on the internet knows already. Tommy, Janie and Cooper. How old are they? If I can disclose my kids information. I mean that's that's about it. 642. 642. Yeah. In no particular order. And all of our kids are very different. Tommy looks just like me but acts nothing like me. Looks just like me. Acts like his mom. Which is great. So say it's good or bad. It's great. Depends on the mood. Yeah. And then you got Cooper who's the youngest and he is a wild card. Yeah, but no one believes us because he. Well, they're starting to, I think. Yeah, he's starting to be crazy in public. In Bayshore. They'll story it. Well, not really story, but what was he doing in the restaurant in Bayshore? Oh, he just. He owns a restaurant. He had no shoes on. He was barefoot in like a super nice Italian restaurant. We were in like our own kind of private room, though. So it was acceptable. He was in a corner for us the night. I forgot we were kind of like in that knuck and he was up against the wall. And people who worked there thought it was cute, so. Yeah, they definitely. They were not. Our kids are not like loud or anything at restaurants. So it's. Yeah, they're good public kids for the most part. Yeah, it's manageable. And then Jayny is our only girl. She's in the middle. What would you describe? I always describe Tommy as like super smart and athletic and looks just like me. Cooper, I just say he's a wild card. He's like crazy in the best way. And Jayny, how would you describe Jayny? She's just super girly. Anything girly she's like shiny object. She just goes for it. Yeah, just super girly loves to sing and dance. Yeah. And always is asking me when she can have a baby. She just doesn't understand. She thinks in a few weeks she can have one. Yeah. And she is like always once her nails banded. Like she is 100% girl. Yeah. Love to her friends. Like she buddies up with her girlfriend. Yeah, she does. She hangs out with friends really well. She has like buddies that she gets like really close to her school. But kids are a big part of your life. Yeah. Right. And that has. I mean, we kind of have to work. Our running. will you more than me work your running schedule around kids, which is challenging at times. We can dive into like that dynamic. It's in one of my questions later is like how are we going to do it for you to go for OTQ at CIM? Like how is that block going to look? And will there anything have to change? But we can dress that later. But first I want to like I want people to know I know, but I want people to know you're running background. It actually probably be good for me to like refresh, but you grew up where? grew up in Pittsburgh. I was a soccer player and a gymnast first. I didn't play soccer. I'm gonna learn stuff like like elementary or private team never like through high school. Okay. My mom was my coach. You knew this? Maybe vaguely. And then I tore growth plate in my elbow in gymnastics. And so we pivoted to running because I didn't need to put pressure on my. you know, on my arms. How did you tear a growth plate in your arm? I think it was just like overuse. I was so young like fifth grade doing two day practices at a high level. So tore growth plate and then you don't need your arms in that form to run. And so we joined my parents put me on a private team in Pittsburgh through USATF. That started fifth grade. And then once I got to sixth grade started on the school team for cross country and drug. Okay. And what was that? What did that look like for you at sixth? Like you did two day practices for gymnastics to it become a level of like really intense really quickly with running as well? Yeah. Running was. I want to say it was almost every day. It was like a 30-40 minute drive for my house. My dad took me and then weekends were like travel meets. And then I mean that probably lasted a few years, like two years max I think because then I joined the school team. Okay. So you didn't. you only did club and then you went to school like with North Alligain or when I was called. Yeah. Were you decent in middle school at running? Yeah. So like cross country I won almost every like dormit. This definitely came in first on the team. And then I mean I ran. In middle school. In middle school. Okay. Yeah. Got a few course records. Always placed well. And then in high school, did that continue? - Yeah, I ran varsity all four years. I went to eight state meets. I was almost always top three. I struggled a little bit with a sports induced asthma, which looking back now I'm thinking it could have been iron-related. - Interesting. - Because I had these symptoms where several years didn't get diagnosed until college with anemia. But yeah. - Because you don't have that now. I mean, like, you don't have sports to do so. - No, I don't. - I don't. - I'm breathing problems now. - My parents went vegetarian high school, so. - Oh, that makes a lot of sense. - It all started. - Yeah, and you're not on an iron pill in high school. And you're probably in-- - Right, well, I could have been. - We just know a new-- - You probably didn't get your blood drawn, right? In high school. Interesting. - About that. And what events did you run in high school? In like track? - Track. - Yeah. 1600 was my main individual. - What was your time, do you remember? First 1600? - Fasas was a 512, which was not awesome. I never did super well. - You could beat that now. - Yeah, I could. - Which is crazy. - We had a really awesome 4x8 team. We had the score record for that still. - Two. - Metaled at state for that. And then I did a little bit of 400, 800. And I really didn't go much longer than that. - Gotcha. Do you enjoy cross country more? - I actually think I loved track more. - Really? - Cross country was harder 'cause of the distance with the breathing issues. - Okay. - And so track was just that variable was out. - And you're still in contact with your coach? What's her name? - Back coach was coach ball and she's since been married. But yeah, we still talk on and off and keep up. Which is funny 'cause in high school, we just hated each other. I was a horrible athlete. I didn't ever follow the rules and I talked back. So. - You never talked back at home. - Oh, never. - Actually, that sounds weird. She definitely doesn't talk back. She just, she calls it how it is. - Sassy. - Yeah, she's very, Alex is very sassy. She's not shy at home. Let me put it that way. But so you said just a second ago that like your work ethic and wasn't there and you weren't a great like athlete or at least like for the coach. Like you didn't play along listen to the rules, whatever. Do you think your success in high school could have been different? Like potential like D1 college level. If you, if you would have, like the work ethic you have now. - Yeah. There's just was like a lack of perspective of what you got to be involved in. And like the goals were like, I don't know, they just weren't important to me at the time. I didn't have a perspective on how cool it was to have a talent and to get to display it. - Yeah. - Do you think that there's like a parenting aspect there? 'Cause you and I like were raising three kids and like Tommy for sure is gonna wanna be in some type of sport where he puts a lot of effort into it. Do you think the way that we parent our kids will determine whether or not like they're gonna get burnt out or whether they're like have a good work ethic in like at a young age or do you think that's just like born? Like do you think your parents could have done a better job of like being more supportive or xyz or do you think they did a great job and it was just a you problem? - I think they did a great job. I was in stone super stubborn. So it's like once I got a thought in my head, that's what the thought was. I also think I lived a really easy and blessed childhood with very little difficulty. So I mean, there just wasn't perspective on what it was to work for something and to try, you know, just push yourself to its limits. - Yeah. - But I mean, my parents and my coaches were always encouraging me to stay in the sport and realize my potential and my talent. But you know, when you're a teenager, it's just not always the priority. - Yeah, for sure. I had a similar story, much like less success and younger, I didn't go into high school with it, but it was swimming. I was pretty talented with it, but I would like always like cheat and all the practices and anytime I could out. And same thing, like I had a very like, like I would say easy blessed childhood. And but it's hard to instill that in young kids. I feel like, I don't know. I don't think any amount of reading books or parenting is gonna help us figure out the best way to like not screw up our kids. Like the goal at the end of the day is just like do, raise our kids in a godly way that will, they'll just be good humans. And then hopefully it'll come out in the wash of them being like respectful and and in like sports ways that they'll be successful at sports and have a good work ethic. So that's my plan. You have a better plan? - I don't have a plan at all. So we're wingin' it. - We're not really wingin' it. Well, we are, but we're kinda just surviving. Like the amount of parents that listen to this, I coach a lot of people with kids and it's just like, you know, you just do the best you can with what you got. And we just got a lot going on. - We also think we lead a good example too. Like our kids, they'll like pretend play marathon. They run around with fake watches and water bottles and hats and act like they're running a race. - Yeah, yeah, they definitely-- - They definitely see us and they want to replicate like what we're doing. And I definitely, like it's pretty rare to probably have two parents that run marathons aggressively and have a podcast that you talk about it. Three to five times a week on, right? And then go to races and do events and stuff. And so that's probably pretty rare, but they definitely, they see it. And I did not have that as a kid. Neither did you. - Your mom-- - I'm a marathon. - Your mom ran, yeah. - But it wasn't. I mean, I guess I knew she did it every day, but she wasn't like-- - It wasn't-- - Flashy about it. - Yeah. - We like we are. - Your mom probably just did it just for like-- - And she just did a few. She didn't train in and out for time like we did. - Okay. Would she like after a marathon was done when she'd get right back into another block? - Pretty not in the river. - Yeah, I know. She did one and then ran Boston and that's all I remember. - Okay. She did Marine Corps and then Boston. It was just cool that your mom ran Boston. - Yeah. - It was cool. Do you remember her time? - No. - It was up four hours, right? - Had to-- - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Interesting. So college like timeline wise, it's been a while since I've like interviewed somebody on a timeline of their life, but I felt like it was the best way to do it. I don't know any other way to interview you. But you went to college and you went to-- I honestly don't. - Everywhere. - You went to three colleges? Well, Xavier? - No. - No. - It's in Addy, UK. - UK first. - Okay. Tell your-- you just tell the story. So you graduated high school. - Yeah, I looked into running. I got recruited by a few places like local smaller schools. And at the setting, I didn't want to run anymore. I just like hated it. It was over it. - Did your parents talk to you about that at all? Or did they just let you make that decision? - My mom didn't really say anything. I think my dad was more hopeful that I would continue it. I think he just wanted to live by carousel through me and see me succeed. So he took me to like one college tour with the cross country coach. - And like local in Pittsburgh? - Yeah. It was California University of Pennsylvania or something. - Oh, cool. - So when they didn't like it, it wasn't like the college feel I wanted to go for. So I just turned it down. I ended up going to UK. And I didn't really get plugged into anything when I first got there. So I actually walked into the cross country because it was office one day. And I asked, so be a walk on. - That's so unlike you. - And my dad had emailed him first instead of a meeting and they walked into his office. And so he gave me like two weeks of a plan just to go like get a basic ink. So I hadn't run a long time. I got injured after senior year. - Okay. - So I took some time. I took like all summer off. So it's kind of out of shape. So I ran, I was running like four to five miles on that treadmill and it was so hard. And then I showed up at UK practice with these amazing fast runs. - Yeah. - They dropped me on their easy run. And it was mortifying. - Were you so embarrassed? - Yeah, I had no clue I was. - I don't think we ever really talked about this. - I had no idea where I was. I didn't know anything about Lexington. And so I got lost. - 'Cause you didn't have a cell phone with you at that point. - Yeah, and I was just by myself, they dropped me. And then, so I only went to like four practices. And I was embarrassed enough that I went back to the coach and I told him I wasn't coming. I was done. - What would you say to pace was? 'Cause you didn't have a GPS watch, right? - No, I had like a $10 target watch. - I mean. - That they were running. Was it like seven flat or something? - It was deaf, I was so fast. It was definitely probably in the sevens knowing how collegiate runners run. Low sevens, high sixes or something. - But they're like chatting and I was, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, - You were probably back time. - I could not keep going. - And you're just like straight about a shape. - And it was high, I couldn't do it. - Oh man. - So. - So you went to UK for a little bit and then you transferred to Cincinnati. Why did you transfer to Cincinnati? - Friends, boyfriend, we're all up there. And when that didn't work out, and then I transferred to UofL, where am I you? - Yes. Then you went to UofL. Why did you transfer to UofL? Is it because you broke up with that guy? - Not because I broke up with that guy. I just was having a hard time. - Okay. - Like college was a hard adjustment for me. And my sister was at Xavier, which is right next to Cincinnati, and then she graduated. So I didn't have her anymore. And I came home like every weekend. So moved home. - Yeah. Well home, so your parents moved. They moved from Pittsburgh to Louisville. - Yeah. - In the middle of your college years, right? Or you or something? - I'm very graduated. - Yeah, actually graduated high school. Did they wait for you to do that? - Yeah, my dad moved down first and my mom and I lived in an apartment senior year. - Gotcha. - And then they did. - Your whole senior year? - Yeah. He bought a house here at Fliped It. Came to live in it and finished the work then. And then we went and down here. - Right. Guys, don't clown me in the comments for like hardly knowing my wife's story. It's literally been 10 years since we talked about this. And a lot has happened since then. So it hasn't been that long since we talked about this, but like some of these details. Like I forget you lived in an apartment with your mom. - Yeah. - For a little bit. So you go to Louisville and I wrote a question down. I wanna know how, 'cause I've told people how we met. - All right. - How do you think, like how did we meet from your perspective? - Okay. Well, I think I first saw you in that calculus, like I don't know if they call it, I forget the word. - Calc, like. - It wasn't like that. - Oh, it's like that. - Oh. - What is that? - It's not algebra, it's calculus. - But they, we had like a smaller session on Fridays. Remember that? We went to a big Calc class and then we had like this. - All our sessions on Friday. - Oh, right. We, it was like whatever. It was like study house on Friday. - I don't know what it was. Like we had, yeah. So you were in that. I saw you there. You sat next to me. - Yeah. - And then he was in my Calc class. And then we had, oh, was that one business class we were together? - We had communication together, I think. - That was second year. We had another class together. - Marketing. - That was super hard. - Statistics. - Is that what it was? - We had statistics together. - And I saw, I think that was the first time I talked to you, or like even just said that like high. - Mm-hmm. - But it was like in passing and then Scotty DM'd me on Twitter. - Feels super weird for you as they Scotty. - You DM me on Twitter and asked for homework help, I think. - Did I really, I really just wanted to see that? - We only knew my first name. - I did. - And so he was like, he knew what sorority I was in, which was a very short lived phase in my life. And he found me on there somehow. And he didn't me. And then we found out we both lived off campus. And we were only like five minutes from each other. Scotty had a girlfriend. - I did. - And then, yeah. That's how we met. Then we hung out all the time and we started carpooling with school together. 'Cause we had the same schedule basically. - Was I dating? - Yeah. - My girlfriend when we were carpooling? - I don't think we are carpooling yet. - I don't think so. - I don't think so. - We would hang out on campus at like studying the library. But it wasn't like that. - When we're running through Norton Commons or the Puey Valley area in Louisville, Kentucky, it's pretty easy to spot Macing Construction Home. The attention to detail, quality, the stunning design, you can't miss it, it stands out. We aren't just saying that either, our own co-host Scotty trusted Macing Construction to build his forever home and he and his family couldn't be happier. Don't tell Scotty this, but we're at his house a lot because we love the home. He's alright too though. If you live in Louisville or Southern Indiana area and are thinking about building your forever home or doing a remodel, there is nobody else to trust with this project in Macing Construction. The link to their website is in our show notes. Click on the Request Information Option and start the conversation about what your forever home could look like. - I never kissed Alex. I never kissed Alex. - I think I secretly thought each other were cute, but it never went there until you were done with your girlfriend. - Yeah, no. We are not the cheating type. - No. - No, that's not people think that it's bad when I tell the story. - Is that how you tell the story? - No. No. - How do you tell it? - No, not at all. I forgot about that little room, but I remember that. - I can't remember what that's called. It was every other week we had it. - Yeah, we had to like go do more. - It was just like a review class 'cause Calc was so big. - Yeah. - Yeah. - And there was like a senior that was teaching and it wasn't the teacher. - Yeah. - I forgot about that completely. - I think that's when we first actually saw each other. - Probably. I remember stalking Alex. On Facebook, I think she was a Delta Gamma, right? Delta. - I was a capital Delta. - Capital Delta. - Capital Delta. - She was capital Delta for like two months. And I knew she was because I think you were a shirt or something. - Yeah. - You were wearing shirts at capital Delta. And I knew your name was Alex. It's like, oh my gosh, I gotta find this woman. I don't know why I wanted to find you so bad. Definitely, definitely thought you were cute. That was a problem. This is not a, this is, this we will get deep into running. Don't you all worry. - We're like 40 minutes in. - I know who we are. If you would want to fast forward you can, but this is actually kind of funny. My brother told me, all the hot girls, I'm using this verbiage because keep in mind, I'm like 19 when this happens. So give me a break. I'm 30 now. I would not say that about a woman now. But my brother's like, all the hot girls are a college girl. Trust me. And I'm like, sit, can't wait. So like, first day of college, I'm like going in and I'm looking for the hot girls, which I have a girlfriend. I don't know why I'm doing that. And Alex is the first hot girl I saw and I sat next to her. That's how I tell a story. And then I made sure that I, - Forget all the details. - I do. I made sure that I kept sitting next to her. So that's, well, that's it for like background really on us. Now I have three kids and we're madly in love. - Mm. - All right. - She doesn't like to express her feelings because she's, surely, especially not on a podcast. But it doesn't feel like it's live. Only like 2000 people will listen to this. Maybe three. - I should get to this. We haven't talked about running. - So you trained for a marathon while we were dating. And I did not give you the time of day. - Yeah. - What's so ever? - You were in total disgust that I was doing that. - Yeah. I like hated runners. I vocally would be like, why are they running that is so dumb? It would be like 90 degrees. I'm like, I'm just a little stupid. - Mm-hmm. - Or are they running? And you trained. I didn't ask you any questions about that. I don't. - You wrote your bike next to me sometimes if I was in your neighborhood. - Really? - Like just for like half a mile. Very brief. - Well, yeah, I guess because you would run from Anchorage to Wipel, I'm more like, girl up, right? - Yeah, sometimes I think I ran from your house. - Really? - Maybe. And I just don't remember like giving you the time of day for the running thing at all. I did come to your race. - You did? You did, you went on inspected. - It was pouring down rain. - It was pouring. - And I remember, it was Katie F. Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon. - It took me to the race. - Yeah. I have a video of you. So I must have been someone involved. I have a video. - Just stay up. - Yeah. I was like, are you ready? And you were like pretty nervous. And I mean, I could probably look at that video now and know exactly where it was. But it was not raining at the start, but it started dumping. I mean, it was like a downpour. - The whole second half was a downpour. - Absolutely downpour. - Yeah, it wasn't light rain. Like we had light rain in Bay Shore. It was not that. It was very heavy. I remember that, 'cause I remember having a rain jacket on. And did I carry, I think I had like something for you. - I dropped my gels out of my foot belt. And he brought me gels. - You had gels? - It takes me, I did goo gels. - I did too for a whole marathon. I dropped one at the start. - Oh, you dropped one on accident? - Yeah. - Okay, that's why. - It's not my belt. - So then like in the timeline, so you ran the marathon, you ran a 330. - 330. - 330. And someone half hazard training. - Yeah, I ran like three days, three, four days a week on a how-hugged implant. - Yeah, which was great. - I remember you saying a lot, like I remember you would be like, "I'm not gonna run today." - If it was under five miles, I wouldn't run. - So, 338. We get married. - I quit running 'cause you thought it was done. - Yeah, like I guess after the marathon, did you run it all after the marathon? Or was it just like done? - I was done. - And then we got engaged. And then I think it was just like plant wedding, I guess, probably. We probably got engaged shortly after that. marathon. Yeah, that was April. We got engaged in a. Yeah. So I could see how that could happen. And then we plan the wedding. And I was like, gave you no interest in running, which I apologize. You talked to me out of running publicly. I apologize. Yeah. Thanks. Okay. I'm not sure if we would. I mean, it's definitely like part of our story. So I'm not sure if we'd be where we are today. If I wouldn't have. Yeah. Like maybe I don't know. I maybe never would have never gotten into running because of like ego. They're like, no, I'm not doing Alex's thing. Yeah. Anyways. So Alex, uh, well, we had three kids, right? And then, um, when did the, when did the running bugs start back? So I ran the Naples half when Janie was like 11 months old, 10 months old or something. Did you train for that? Yeah. I started very briefly, briefly like in November. And then I was like, yeah, I'm going to run a marathon. Scotty was just getting really into it. And then I got pregnant with Cooper. Yeah. Like two months after a month after that half marathon. And you ran a 135, I think. Yeah. 136 maybe I could remember. We didn't know what to pace it at. So I started out at like seven thirties. And I finished very like in the five last miles, like a five. Life in stride had not started yet. Or no, life in stride, had started at 23. I don't even think we knew I have all the guy friends. No, it was January of 20th, January 23. Yeah. Well, I've been running for maybe I don't know, super long. I've been running for this will be four and a half years now. So almost five. And I guess I met people. It took me two years to meet people. I can't remember. I probably should go back and figure that one out. But so. You're back at it for like three years or so now, right? Yeah. When it was some time off while pregnant, because I became anemic. Yeah. And then I think you ran a little bit in the beginning, right? I ran to like halfway. So then so we had Cooper and then it's really incredible. Your marathon progression, if you really think about it, because it's like, I always tell people like, yeah, we have three kids, but it was really like, you barely got into it. And then you had your third kid. Yeah. So I had Cooper the end of 23. Started training 24 and 24. Yeah. So you've been training for two years, essentially, and you ran a, uh, she just ran a two, 42 to fast forward and kind of ruin the story a bit. But, uh, one question I, I thought of when I was preparing for this was what, or at what point in the past two years did you realize that you had something like special with marathoning specifically? Cause you've always ran and like you were always good in high school. But at what point did you realize like, what was the click moment? Um, probably Indy, which Indy, the first Indy in 24. Okay. So I was going to run a last chance, be cute in September, coached when you were coaching me. Yeah. And it just didn't work because I, it was not enough accountability for me to be consistent. So we hired Mike. Yep. And he trained me for Indy and, um, I did everything he told me to do. And every workout was super easy. And I think that's what made me realize like these places are already pretty fast. If this is super easy, then what can I get to? Um, and then the marathon, all I was doing was going for a BQ and Rina, three, 16 and it never got hard. Yeah. I think I saw you at my all 16, 17 or so. And you were like, I'm kind of waiting on this to get hard. I said, I still feel fresh. And you were like, that's not how you're supposed to feel at mile 17. I mean, yeah, you, you can feel fresh. You can start to feel like minorly fatigued at 17 and still have a really good race. Yeah. But then so you ran Indy Bayshore, Indy Bayshore with a Boston sprinkled in for fun. Yeah. The Indy was 316. The Bayshore last year was 255, which was a very interesting 255. What happened? What was my hardest race? Mile like early like mile six, my right calf cramped. And it just never released. And I don't understand how you still ran 255 for that. It wasn't like a complete lock. It was just like it changed the way I was running. Like it could definitely made my stride not efficient. Mm. Um, and the whole, I just got higher and higher. So that one was just like fighting the whole time. To just push through the pain, right? Like be okay with the discomfort of it and trust the fitness level. Um, that was the hardest race. That was first sub three, two, yeah. The only goal that day was sub three. And you got to buy a long shot, right? We lower the goal a little bit like the week of just because training went so well. Yep. So that was right and goal. And then you ran Indy again and ran to 48. 248 goal was sub 250. And you nailed it. Yep. Everything went well on that race. Right. That race. That was the year of the effort. Yeah, the effort felt really high. Um, and then shortly after that, the iron stuff started. So I'm thinking I was kind of on a line of, um, of that being an issue. I bet you the marathon that day probably like spiraled you like into. Yeah. I also also ran a speedblock right after that. So I think just like the heavy load of those workouts, maybe like that, all the pounding of a speed. Right around there, you stopped taking iron to, right? Yeah, it took a break after Indy. I just needed a mental break from taking a pill every day. Yeah. Um, and then. So things started to get real as, I mean, but Indy, you are 11 minutes off. OTQ and people started to, we like started joke about it. Right? Like I think Indy after I hit that, I was like, Oh, I'm going to like this as well within my range now. Yeah. Yeah. That's when the real goal started with OTQ. Yeah. Okay. I think that's more of like my question of like when did you realize you had something special? Like the 248. I've, you're probably right. Is that's when we started to be like, okay, 11 minutes and you finished that race and you're like, man, I. Yeah. Like you have yet to have a race with the traditional marathon where it's like perfect till 18 to 22 ish. And then you see like the Strava dip where the graph like goes and then you sprint the last mile. She has yet to have that. Um, I hope she never has that. But then so then we run Boston this year and you actually felt better than me. Fun fact. Yeah. Boston was awesome. We ran 255. And we planned on, we were trying to just do 259. But we ended up like, like settling in like two or six 40 to six 45 face the whole time. I mean, it's downhill. So it's not that hard. And when you're running like well within your range, it's not challenging. Um, so it was our long run workouts. So yeah, it was a big study effort. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It got really hard for me. It was like three miles to go. I didn't bring it up. Jels. I didn't, I didn't take Jels like I normally would. I don't know why I thought about that. I did. I didn't take them like I do a marathon. I did. I know. Did you take like nine? I think it took five. Oh, then you didn't, you didn't take my easy wood. I want to take maybe seven. I just based out to every 30 minutes instead of every 20. That's what I did. I normally would do carbs every 30 minutes, but I did them like every like 40 or something. I don't know why I did that. But it got hard for me. And she literally almost dropped me. The crowd was just so good. I know. Like she was having first boss and vibes and she did it the right way. Those of you who clowned any Perkins Alex is a fan. Yeah, and that makes me want to race up though. Yeah, which is great. Big probably because we felt so good. I'm like, I don't want to rip this course. I'll regret that. Why not? I hope you, I want you to race it next year. And I am going to fund around it. Likely because I think I'm going to fund run it with same Meredith. So I might and Sadler. It depends on a few things. Yeah, we'll get there. But. So like as the timeline goes, then we just finished Bayshore. And Bayshore, you ran 242. So now you're five minutes and change away from OTQ. You were 11 and change. I'm six, right? 242 237, even your five minutes in change. Okay. Public math is very hard. I mean, like six to be like, because it wasn't 34. So like we really have like a solid six minutes to get there. I guess five and a half will get you there. Okay. And that was another race that went very good. We. the out and back of Bayshore. I actually didn't get a good read on you. I was trying to like be really chill and because you get worried about me and especially when we run marathons together. - Yeah. - I feel like you think you're more in control when you're spectating. Like she thinks I'm gonna drop dead. - Yeah. - Like the whole time running behind you at Bayshore. I was waiting to find you on the side of the course. - Yeah, exactly. - She has her brain torn into her. So, but Bayshore went well for both of us and we see each other and I was trying to be really chill and be like, I'm good, but I never really got a good read on you. - I mean, the other you good, you gave me thumbs up and you said, are you good? I mean, give me thumbs up. - Okay. - So it was, I mean, it's so fast, you know. - Yeah. - You can climb past. - Oh, I know why I was so distracted. I had the little Insta360 camera that you pop out of the base. It's like a GoPro and I had it in my half-tites and I held it at the turnaround 'cause I videoed Dylan, Yawanna, Caroline, and then I think next was you, the next person I knew was you. And I fumbled the bag, dude. I couldn't, I thought it was not recording and it was recording, so I clicked it and turned it off and then it takes like 10 seconds to turn back on to record you and I missed, I missed the one person I missed was Alex. So. - You got my back. - I did, but. - But you almost got it. - Yeah, it's in the video. It's in the base for a recap YouTube video. If you wanna watch it. And that goes, that dives into my race a lot, doesn't really dive into hers. Like real briefly, I wanna try and wrap this in around an hour, which is in 10 minutes, but like briefly, like how did that race go and what was your expectation for yourself? - My head, high expectations going into the day. The goal was 42 to 44. I would have been happy with any PR, but wanted to be closer to 42. First 10 miles were, it was just hard to find a rhythm. I think you wanna said that about the race too. - Yeah. - The rollers are a little heavier on the uphill going out. I don't know if that affected me. My shoe came untied at mile four. - Which is crazy. I was carrying this giant bottle that I kept passing hand to hand, and then I threw the bottle at 10 because I carried the bottle 'cause that was gonna be hot. So I was like, I'm gonna need extra electrolyte. - But it wasn't that hard. - And then it rained and we felt amazing. So I threw the bottle at 10, and then I just got like that runner's high, and I settled in closer. I think I was like six, 12, six, 11s. And then I hit through the half, somewhere in the one 21 high. I think, does that make sense? - Yeah. - And then-- - Yeah, and then you slightly knew you'd have split, yeah. - Yeah, I found two girls that I ran with for like five miles. And then from mile 19 on, I pushed early in it. They were all sub six, 10 from there. And it didn't get hard till the last mile, which Bay Shore's last mile, there's a ton of turns. - And it's long. - And it's like you turn and you're only running for one block before you turn again. So it's kind of hard to keep your momentum. - Yeah. - So that mile felt hard, but nothing else was like super trying. - Yeah. That mile was hard for everybody. That mile was so hard for me. - And you're just turning in. - And then when you go straight through the parking lot of the school, it like it never ends. It feels like it never ends. It feels like it's like a mile, but-- - It was a long stretch. - Well, I'm not 26 of the marathon, I always feel long, because usually on your watch you're like 26.4. And when you hit 25, you're like, I only have a mile left, but it's really like a mile and a half. So that's probably why it always feels so long. It's because you have more than just one more mile at 25. But so you ran 242, a Bay Shore, and then now all eyes are on OTQ for you, which is one crazy, two, everybody dogs on me that my wife is faster than me. Like if you take the scale of like women's running compared to men's, yes, she is faster than me. I'm well aware. There isn't-- - I think that's the first one you've ever admitted that. - Okay. Well, you know, I can't lie. People just clown me in the conference, which they already do, but you, let's see, what's the time gap now to eight minutes? - Yeah. - Yeah, we're about eight minutes apart. I closed it a bit on this one. - You did it was 12. - Yeah. - 36 to 48. Yeah. I'm so thankful that I PR to Bay Shore, because if I wouldn't have-- - I would have maybe beat you, but sure. - I mean, if I would have had a bad day, for sure. - I mean, like time wise, if you stayed in the 36, it was zero in trouble. - I know. Yeah. I'm really glad I set the bar high. Knowing you, you'll go for 237 and run 234 high though. So that's kind of the way-- - Yeah, awesome. - Yeah, I mean, that's a huge jump. I would not count on that. Like an eight minute PR, we'll take it though. So you now have five and a half minutes or so, right? What, and CIM is the next on the list. - Yeah. - To like wrap this podcast, which sorry, it's taken 317 episodes to get you on a podcast, but not that you've asked. - It's like, "Is it a trick to make a baby?" - Thanks, Streg. - And Danny's be on the payable. - Yeah, Danny's be on the payable. Honestly, this is probably one of my most easy podcasts to do because I know you're the best out of anyone on this planet. But CIM, right? - Yeah. - What do we got to do? To be, we don't have your coach, Chris, on the pod, but what do you think you got to do in order to get those five and a half minutes? Like what's gotta change? Not what's gotta change, but what's gotta be added? - Then up my ledge a little bit. - What's that gonna be? - We're thinking 80, 75 to 80. I would like to be at 80, but we're just gonna ride that line of not being injured, responding while to workouts. Of workouts, our suffering will probably stay about 75. - Yeah. I think I'm still in the phase where just like consistency is in my benefit. Like that alone helps me progress. - Yeah. - Doing a speedblock through the summer. - But I don't know, I'd like to hit several long runs over 20. - Yeah. - I don't know. - I'd like for you to hit the 24. I mean, I think that's kind of a trick question. Like really, I'm just gonna listen to Chris. - Yeah, that's exactly how I would coach you to do it. Like you nailed it. It was more of a question of like, - Am I ready? - Well, are you aware of like what you need to do? And yeah, and you are. I mean, it's just a little bit more. - How I'm gonna do it, I don't know. - Yeah. - Time's gonna be hard. - It's funny, I wrote how in all caps up here. But the interesting thing about your journey is, I never ran a marathon. I ran 246 and then I aimed for 240, subject 40 until I hit it. So my 242, I ran a 243, a 242, a 240, I always get this wrong. I ran three above it. I think I ran 242 twice. - And you bumped Chicago. - And yeah, that was the fourth. - About 48. - Yeah, 48. - 49. And then I ran 39 at Bayshore. - Yeah. - That was, Chicago was after Bayshore. Chicago was this fall. - So you already had it? - Yeah, I already ran subject 40. And I was going for a faster, a 237 or something. But for me, I don't know, I feel like you're still reaching your ceiling. You reach a point where it gets very challenging to cut off eight minutes. But your progression, you went, I mean, that's 21 minutes, seven minutes. - Oh, it was almost, it was a crowd of 1/2 was fine. - 5th. So like, could potentially, you could potentially be going there, but you need another 5 1/2 minutes. I think that getting into the 80s and 90s will probably do it for you. And we'll see, but the biggest question is like, how, so the biggest challenge we have is, there's a couple, like, let's say the biggest challenge is probably kids for you. You stay at home and I work. So that creates a challenge. Like, definitely gonna probably need some help from my mom, your mom, or maybe a babysitter. Like, we have a date night, a standing date night for the summer. - I plan on running during the day. - Yeah, like, we have a date night on Thursdays now. And we might be doubling those days 'cause I'll probably need a mileage as well. So, which might be lame, but we'll probably like go to Norton Commons, run around, get Gustavo's. - Go to Santa Cah. - Go to Santa Cah, get like Taco Luchador, get Taco Luchador. afterwards. We also probably look like devils with the morning run on the treadmill. Yeah. Well, the kids are asleep or some miles during nap time and finishing when you get home. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, probably going to utilize the treadmill. I would like to get our treadmill serviced and the belt I'm 90% sure that treadmill is too fast. Yeah. It is too hard. So pause you get that going. That's a good reminder because you will be using that. Maybe Eric can get us a wahoo. You could just get you a wahoo setup. What do we use it? Why? Why not? We never use our treadmill because it sucks. If it was like we need it. I have to start doing like a double T and we will do one after I go. Yeah. True. Eric, I made a treadmill. He'll be like just use my code, bro. And yeah, I mean, do you think there's going to need to be any sacrifices like from me or you or like will anything have to give in our personal life in order to make this happen? Because I feel like we have a pretty good rhythm now. Yeah. You might have to sacrifice like a Saturday long run like after Berlin. And I have October and November to train like if I could get out there with Caroline or Caroline, Meredith Brad Pierce. Yeah. Meredith will be training for Indy. Yeah, for sure. You might find me like with the kids like drive around Santa Monica and videoing. I'm not kidding. If you all do the half-mile loop, I let the kids like unbuckle and we just like circle the half-mile loop in video. So I don't think I don't think you'll have to sacrifice much. I don't be more of me like get out of bed early, which is hard, hard for me. I'd love to, I'd love to get a babysitter like your dad to watch the kids some more times. I'm saying we have your mom. We have help. It's just we're figuring out how this is going to work live on the podcast. I apologize for that. But it's definitely something that we are going to have to, it feels like it doesn't feel like a sacri, I don't know if sacrifice the right words. Well, like daily juggling act. It's just like. Yeah. It's not a sacrifice. I think running makes us better parents. Yeah. I'd say for Saturday, it's not too tired. Something to strive for personally. Yeah. Agreed. Ken ride that, actually said that on like that's one of those things. He's like, you got to do something for you before you can take, it's like you got to fill your cup up before you can fill anybody else's and like for Alex, like she's constantly taking care of three kids all day long. And that is significantly harder in some ways than my job. So like me coming home and consistent time and stuff like that. So if you're listening to this and you like both spouses run or one runs, but it's like you can definitely figure it out. Just find a balance and definitely like serve one another. So figure out what your spouse wants to do. That's one thing I was talking to my cousin will this weekend, I think, on the phone. Or it was like last week, but he was like, he's like genuinely, I'm really envious of what you and Alex have. I was like, what do you mean? And he was like, he was like, dude, it's like really cool that you have this marathon thing that you're both chasing. And you're both really good at it. And it's like you have a commonality as an adult and I'm realizing that's really rare, right? To have the same hobby. Like we know some couples from church that like the husband is really into gardening, but the wife is not. We know some couples that are like really into working out some are not. And I think that can kind of weigh on a marriage a bit, but it's kind of cool that we have the marathon thing in common. So that you know, like we have stuff to talk about when it feels like sometimes there's nothing to talk about. Does that make sense? Yeah, does um to wrap this puppy up. If not CIM, what's the plan? CIM doesn't happen. I'll probably do my curty types to aisle and spring. That doesn't happen. Well run Indian next year regardless, I think. Okay. And then since they came out with date Houston qualifies now. Houston 27 28. 26. Sorry. Houston 2028. Yes. So because it just has to be 60 days before the trials. Yeah. So four chances really. But I think we'll be okay. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. You have nearly two full years. You have it's the six month Houston is the first month, 12 months, plus eight months, five, seven months, you have 19 months. My brain does my brain does nothing really weird way. And last question, if you don't get the OTQ, this cycle, will you go another one into your mid 30s? I said I wouldn't. Just because I already feel old. And not old, but I feel like marathon age, you people like run out of, are they slow down soon? Yeah. So how old will I be? I'll be 33 of the next trials of the trials. So. Dirty, so. That feels really old to continue racing at this level. But I could be having fun and the Sarah Halls, Danette. I don't think you know, like we could, I take like eight years off. So. I got time to give. I think you'll be all right. Yeah. I think you'll get it. And then I think you want to get it again. I think that's what's going to happen. Yeah. I mean, I'd like to get it this cycle before they lower it. I think they'll lower it. I think they will. I think they'll do 34 or something. That's big time. 35 maybe 35 to 34. I bet you what is what they do. I bet you they don't touch the men's and I bet you they touch the women's. Sounds really weird. I think that's where I'm going to wrap it. Okay. Uh, maybe you did great. Thanks. She wasn't nervous, right? No. Were you nervous? No, it just felt we are talking to you about this. It's because you know these things. Well, I think it helps that I knew you, right? Yeah. It did. This is episode 300, whatever of the life and stride podcast. I hope you enjoyed. If you did, give us a review. Seriously, that'd be great. And give a couple things. One, shout out Alex in the comments to shout out St. For being he is now officially a father. Danny will be a father. We announced that on the pod. If you missed it, go back. Listen. Yeah, a lot of big things happening. A lot of big guests coming. A lot of big races coming. We're training. Uh, it's going to be great. Peace. Love you, man.