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You're listening to episode 228 
of the Marathon Running Podcast.

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In this episode, we're going to 
talk about the Abbott Wanda Age 

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Championship. 
This is the Marathon running 

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podcast by Letty and Ryan from 
Week at the Runs. 

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Join us in our running community
for weekly content that is 

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motivational, educational, and 
inspirational. 

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And let the Marathon Running 
Podcast take you from the 

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starting line to the finish line
and beyond. 

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Hey runners, and welcome to 
episode 228. 

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My name is Letty. 
My name is Ryan. 

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And that little voice that you 
just heard is our 8 year old 

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daughter Liana, who has shown 
interest in running and our 

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podcast and it was just 
yesterday that she was born. 

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So that kind of goes along with 
our topic today of the Wanda Age

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Group Championship, A 
championship for runners at that

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starts at Masters age 40 and up.
Yeah, I guess we're masters 

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runners now. 
You've been a master for a long 

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time, right? 
You make it sound like we're 

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huge age gap or something. 
It's two years. 

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Three, but who's counting? 
Yeah. 

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So the good thing one, one of 
the great things about running 

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is that it's almost like an 
ageless sport in a way, is that 

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you can still run for quite a 
long time. 

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I mean, you can run I guess 
until you're much, much older. 

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They even have like a long 
masters track and field where 

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they do 100 meters and things 
like that, which are kind of 

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neat. 
Yeah, I mean, you literally can 

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run if your body allows you to 
do so until you kick the bucket.

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It's true and it's healthy for 
you. 

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It's nice that they have, you 
know, the culture of masters 

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running and having other events 
that people can actually win or 

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compete competitively in. 
As you get older and they have 

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different age groups, I think 
that can potentially encourage 

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people that are competitive and 
want to stay competitive. 

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Yeah, it's a silver lining that 
as you slow down and see your 

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numbers go slower and slower, 
everybody else is due too, and 

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you can still stay competitive 
within those age groups. 

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So that's something beautiful. 
So lady, what made you choose 

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this championship? 
I picked it because it's 

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probably one of the only ones I 
am aware of. 

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I know that there's a ton of 
track and field events for 

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runners, but marathoning? 
I knew that Abbott, who is the 

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organizer of the six majors, has
had a ranking for many, many 

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years. 
But I think we'll find out in 

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this interview that they've only
had this championship for the 

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last three or four years where 
they literally invite runners 

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from the ranking to participate 
in an annual championship. 

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There are are qualifying races 
and that's what they used to 

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invite you and it's quite 
competitive. 

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I remember last year when I ran 
in Chicago, I got passed by a 

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bunch of runners and you can 
recognize them because they wear

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a bib on the back and that says 
age group. 

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So. 
Yeah, I think that's good. 

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So who we talking to today? 
So we're actually talking to 

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Rebecca Stevenson, who was a 
running coach, who is in her 50s

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and runs sub three marathons on 
a regular basis. 

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She's very inspirational and she
coaches not just masters, but 

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she also coaches Masters, so she
did run Sydney just recently. 

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She's participated in Chicago 
and she is very well educated 

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about the topic, so I figured 
she'd be the perfect one to pick

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her brain. 
Cool, you want to get into it. 

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Sure. 
So without any further ado, 

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we're not going to play our 
conversation with Rebecca 

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Stevenson. 
All right, so I am back on with 

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Rebecca Stevenson from 
Conquering Challenges running 

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Coach. 
Rebecca, thank you so much for 

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coming back. 
Oh, you're welcome. 

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Yeah. 
Happy to be here talking with 

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you. 
Yes, and we previously had you 

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on as a guest talking about how 
to win your age group because 

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you are one of the few that 
mastered your PR after the age 

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of 50 running sub three hour 
marathons etcetera. 

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So now you just returned from 
Sydney and you and the Wanda 

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Abbott Wanda age Group 
Championship. 

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So I wanted to talk about that 
with. 

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You today. 
Oh, yeah, absolutely. 

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Yeah. 
I'm very excited to, Yeah, talk 

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about this and inspire other 
runners to get to the world 

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championship too. 
Yeah. 

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Happy to explain how it works. 
Perfect. 

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So let's hop right into that. 
First of all, let's start off 

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with what is the Abbott Wanda 
Age Group Championship? 

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OK, so the Abbott World Marathon
Majors World Championship is the

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marathon World championship for 
Masters runners and in it they 

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race each other to vie for as 
high of a place as possible at 

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at this championship and for 
many for a spot on the podium 

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too in at this world stage. 
OK. 

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So then in regards to that, how 
does this one differ from other 

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championships or I guess who is 
eligible and how do people even 

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sign up for this? 
OK, so runners get an invitation

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from the World Marathon Majors 
and if they've qualified at if 

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they're they're registered with 
their Abbott World Marathon 

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Majors and if they've qualified 
by achieving a qualifying time 

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in the age group World Ranking 
Series, which has more than 370 

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marathons all over the world. 
The qualifying times are are a 

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very high standard and sometimes
not everyone even is invited 

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because there are a limited 
number of slots in each age 

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group. 
But at the same time, ladies, 

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sometimes I sometimes the age 
group isn't full yet for, for, 

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for like a particular more than 
one age group. 

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And so then they go to the the 
ranking and they send out 

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invitations like in order of 
that ranking. 

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Basically what how the ranking 
works is you go to one of these,

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they're mostly well known 
marathons all over the world. 

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And, and like I said, there are 
almost 400 of them. 

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And you get a, a time, your time
puts you in that ranking. 

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And it's a fluid ranking for 
each of the age groups, each of 

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the nine age groups, starting 
with 40 to 44 all the way to 80.

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And plus, and I say fluid 
because so you clock a time and 

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then if you clock a faster time 
later that year, then you, your,

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that time of yours gets gets 
replaced, your previous time 

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gets replaced. 
So at the end of the year, you 

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can say, for example, I, you 
know, I, I clocked the 82nd 

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fastest time in my age group for
the year. 

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And then the next year you can 
aim at, at ranking even higher. 

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So, so this is also one way that
runners or marathoners can race 

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against each other at this, in 
this ranking. 

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But, but at the same time, you 
know, like, like, you know, 

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Letty, I know you run marathons 
all over the world. 

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There are marathons that are 
faster than others, right? 

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Which is like one really 
exciting thing about the the 

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world championship is it puts 
everyone on their leveling 

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ground at this one race. 
And even though it's an 

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outstanding achievement, of 
course, to win the ranking for 

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the year, the world 
championship, the world champion

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is considered to be the one who 
won the world championship. 

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And it's also like a, a huge, 
it's a huge honor to like place 

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in the, in the top three. 
What would be one of the top 

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three finishers in your age 
group at the world championship?

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One of the reasons being you 
get, you get called up on the 

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podium at this really amazing 
world championship like award 

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ceremony, which I can talk about
later. 

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So back to the basics. 
You have to there's on the world

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marathon majors website. 
You have to achieve the 

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qualifying time to begin with, 
like for for your age group. 

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And then you'll get an 
invitation from the World 

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Marathon Majors for the world 
championship. 

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They start sending them out at 
the end of the year. 

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You'll get an invitation for the
world championship the following

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year. 
And sometimes some of them are 

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sent out at the beginning of the
year for the world championship 

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that year. 
And it's and they're always at 

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one of the world Marathon 
Majors. 

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This year the the the Age Group 
Marathon World Championship was 

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held at the Sydney Marathon 
because the Sydney Marathon is a

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candidate race for to become one
of the World Marathon Majors to 

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add to the other six right 
Tokyo, Berlin, London, Chicago, 

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New York and Boston. 
OK. 

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OK. 
So that's a lot. 

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So let me just clarify. 
Even though it's called the 

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Abbott World Championship, you 
do not have to qualify at an 

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Abbott race. 
There are a lot of races you can

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qualify at, but how do we know 
which races qualify? 

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Is it kind of like the same that
are certified Boston races or 

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how do they determine which 
races are letting you in? 

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Yeah, that, that's a good 
question. 

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Yeah, because Boston also has 
certain races that they they 

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accept those qualifying races 
there. 

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There's a lot of overlap, but I 
believe it's an even bigger, 

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it's an even bigger list of 
marathons. 

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I I did take a quick look 
through. 

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I mean they have like over 370 
marathons like all over the 

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world that they they accept as 
as a qualifying race. 

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Yeah, you if you go to like 
world Marathon Majors the OR 

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Abbott World Marathon Majors, 
the website, they basically that

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website, Letty and all, all of 
you has a four different 

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sections. 
I would say it has like it has 

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the the the rankings section, 
which is is based on these 

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races. 
And then it has a lot of 

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information about how to qualify
for the age group world 

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championship. 
And I'm talking about then it 

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has something called the Global 
Running Club and where they, 

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they put out virtual virtual 
challenges, basically send out 

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virtual challenges every month. 
And then it has like the the 

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section for professional runners
who who also try to win the the 

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World Marathon Majors series. 
But that's just that's a 

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competition for them. 
But so, and so, yeah, I, I 

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encourage like, you know, every,
yeah, every, every marathoner, 

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and particularly if you're a 
masters marathoner, like over 40

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to, to set up a profile on the 
world Marathon Majors. 

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It's super easy to do. 
And and then you also get, yeah,

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you, you get the, you get the 
emails from them. 

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But even if you don't like 
register with them, yeah, just 

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looking at the website will show
you the list of those qualifying

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races. 
OK, perfect. 

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And so you just mentioned it. 
What I wanted to double check 

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with you is that you do have to 
create an avid profile to be 

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able to participate because 
otherwise how else would they 

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know to connect you with that? 
Now, when it comes to qualifying

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times, those qualifying times 
are are pretty steep. 

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I've looked at them myself in my
age group between 40 and 45, 

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it's a three O 5, which is 
nowhere near where I want to 

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run. 
But then you mentioned it 

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earlier, if a certain age group 
has not been filled up yet, 

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that's when you receive an 
invitation. 

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And I did receive an invitation 
for Sydney. 

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To me, it didn't feel like I 
even wanted to run it just 

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because I felt like it was 
almost like, hey, we're really 

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sorry, here you go type of 
thing. 

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But it still puts you in the 
pool, right? 

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So even though even if you 
didn't qualify, but you're close

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to it and you get invited, then 
if you've trained well you're 

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still able to rank in the World 
championship. 

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Oh absolutely. 
Yeah. 

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No, you you shouldn't feel like 
you were like their second pick 

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or, or anything like that. 
I'm sure there were, you know, 

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others like, yeah, with times 
not as fast as yours, letty, who

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also got invited because, you 
know, they they want this to be 

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like, yeah, they want this to be
like a big and and, you know, an

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exciting event with like fast, 
you know, runners in their age 

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group, you included. 
And in fact, they're growing it 

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Letty. 
And so like this year they had a

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the World championship at the 
Sydney Marathon. 

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And for next year, where the 
this World championship is going

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to be at the New York City 
Marathon, they've opened 2500 

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slots. 
And so, yeah, it's, it's, it's 

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getting bigger. 
Yes. 

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I mean, these are like, you 
know, fast runners. 

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The qualifying times are, are 
fast. 

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And then they'll extend 
invitations to others who rank 

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Kylie. 
But they also, yeah, they want 

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it, you know, they want every 
age group to be, to be filled 

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different, to be an even more 
exciting event. 

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And of course, that's going to 
be a game game changer, 

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especially for people that live 
in the United States if they 

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open up slots for New York, 
because New York is absolutely 

227
00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:01,480
crazy to get into right now. 
I think the qualifying times did

228
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,880
not correspond to who was 
actually able to get into the 

229
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,560
race just because of the number 
of applicants that want to run 

230
00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:09,920
that race. 
So that's kind of a perk, right?

231
00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:11,880
If you get invited, you probably
want to take that. 

232
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,120
But let's talk about some other 
perks. 

233
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,600
Speaking of perks that you get 
when you sign up for this race, 

234
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,760
because I think it costs money 
to participate, but then you 

235
00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,880
also get some sort of VIP 
treatment. 

236
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,880
Yes, yeah, that, that's, that's 
a good question. 

237
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,520
And and your point was, yeah, 
well, well taken. 

238
00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:33,680
Because yes, you, you 
automatically get into a, a 

239
00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,520
that, that major if you accept 
your invitation. 

240
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,160
And it's hard like, you know, to
get into like many of the 

241
00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:44,520
majors, even if your qualifying 
time is like well below their, 

242
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,160
even if your time is well below 
their qualifying time. 

243
00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:54,560
But yeah, oh, I, it's, it's 
definitely what you said is, is 

244
00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,960
well put. 
It is VIP treatment because 

245
00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,640
first of all, you, you have a 
special check in area at the 

246
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,840
Expo. 
And so your line is shorter and 

247
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,200
there you get 2 bibs. 
You get the regular bib that you

248
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,600
wear at the front, of course, 
for for the marathon. 

249
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,000
And then you get a bib at the 
back which has like your name 

250
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,960
and your age group, which might 
seem like trivial, but trust me,

251
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,000
that's very important because on
race day, you see who's in your 

252
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,520
age group and that's who you're 
competing with racing against, 

253
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:33,040
right? 
Those are the people you want to

254
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:38,200
try to pass and stay ahead of. 
OK, so you so you get that. 

255
00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:43,840
And then at the, the, the the 
the world championship, right in

256
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,880
conjunction with the that major 
you, you get the the world 

257
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:55,160
championship athletes get a 
special warm up area, right, a 

258
00:15:55,160 --> 00:16:01,520
special corral just for them and
with with a the post race, you 

259
00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,480
know, bag check and just for 
them in that area, which can be 

260
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:07,440
done a little bit later. 
So you can keep your warm 

261
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,280
clothes on, you know, for 
longer. 

262
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:18,040
And then you start, you start it
in, in that first corral of wave

263
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,320
one right behind the 
professional runners, which is 

264
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,960
kind of interesting too, because
I think some of the runners, you

265
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:30,160
know, with, with faster times 
behind, you know, might pass 

266
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,000
somebody like say, like in their
60s and 70s, who of course has 

267
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,880
like an amazing time for their 
age. 

268
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,400
But they must like wonder how am
I passing, you know, somebody 

269
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,360
who's like older than me and, 
and who's, you know, who's not 

270
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:48,880
running as fast as me. 
What else is some of the oh, and

271
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,520
then you finish LED when you 
finish Eddie, they're looking 

272
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,720
for, they have special world 
marathon majors staff there. 

273
00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:58,960
They're looking for the world 
championship athletes because 

274
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,920
they give you a world 
championship medal because you 

275
00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,640
also have a special designation 
on your front regular bib. 

276
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:07,720
They give you that medal as well
as the medal you get for 

277
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,800
finishing that world marathon 
major. 

278
00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:15,280
And then you go into a special 
world championship area where 

279
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,400
like in Chicago last year, I saw
ran, ran the other thank a 

280
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,359
marathon. 
They, they had like a special 

281
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,640
catered meal inside this tent. 
It was really, really nice. 

282
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,400
But you, you're in this area 
just for the world championship 

283
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,360
athletes. 
And you know, they take a photo 

284
00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:34,680
of each of you and I'm trying to
think, Oh, and also you get your

285
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:39,760
name and, and time and place 
your results in both sets of 

286
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,120
results for the World 
championship as well As for the 

287
00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:47,080
marathon. 
And, and then before I mention 

288
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,120
the very last thing, let me just
say that the at the Sydney 

289
00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:55,600
Marathon, you also got they also
offered a cruise. 

290
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,840
I went on the cruise. 
Of course, it was really nice 

291
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,080
around the harbor. 
Just it's just for the world 

292
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,880
championship athletes. 
I mean, unfortunately you 

293
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,760
couldn't bring your support team
person if you had one, but it 

294
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,880
was still like, you know, to any
other, you know, other athletes 

295
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,600
and to see, you know, see, you 
know, Sydney, which is 

296
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,640
beautiful. 
And then the award ceremony and,

297
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,440
and celebration ceremony, I can 
like barely like have, you know,

298
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,320
good enough words to describe. 
I mean, it's really a, you know,

299
00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:28,800
I don't know what they say. 
It has a lot of pomp and 

300
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,720
circumstance to it. 
I mean, it's a really 

301
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,440
magnificent event. 
And it's, you know, catered and,

302
00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:39,560
and they, they, yeah, they call 
up the for the word ceremony 

303
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:43,000
part of it. 
They call up each of the, the 

304
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,000
top three finishers in each age 
group. 

305
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:49,760
And not only is everybody like 
gawking, they want to see two of

306
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,320
these three athletes who are 
these, you know, phenomenal best

307
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,560
of the best, but also they have 
their names and the country 

308
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,760
they're each representing on a 
big board behind them. 

309
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,040
And then they, they, they 
mention that they call up each 

310
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,720
one what their time was. 
And my son who, who one of my 

311
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,120
three kids went with me. 
He was just like so amazed at 

312
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,600
like the times that they're each
clocking, they each, you know, 

313
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,120
clock these, you know, facets of
each age group. 

314
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,920
So it was still very impressive 
and and inspiring and and a lot 

315
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,360
of fun too. 
I mean, that sounds like an 

316
00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:28,880
amazing amount of fun. 
I didn't realize how fun it was.

317
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,200
Well, first of all, let me go 
back to the whole wearing the 

318
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,480
BIP in the back. 
We all see it, right? 

319
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,400
So that was kind of cool. 
I've actually seen the VIP tent 

320
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,560
in Chicago last year. 
I was doing some media stuff, so

321
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:43,440
I got to go through the tent and
it's kind of nice. 

322
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,080
They make it really special for 
you guys especially. 

323
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:48,960
You know what you're saying 
about Sydney that sounds, that 

324
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:54,160
sounds really good. 
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, thanks. 

325
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:58,160
Yeah yeah, I was I was going to 
make yeah, I mean make a point, 

326
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,960
but I can let you ask about what
what you said. 

327
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,240
I feel I feel like I guess I 
should could say it now. 

328
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,400
I. 
I don't want to give the 

329
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,160
impression that, oh, this is 
like a super elite thing that 

330
00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:13,440
like most, you know, marathoners
will not like what's it called, 

331
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:14,920
you know, will not get to 
experience. 

332
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,240
I mean, I actually want to stay 
quite the opposite that, that 

333
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,440
this is something that like 
every runner, whether you're a 

334
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,080
pre master, which you and I 
already talked about, you know, 

335
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,960
on my other, in the interview I 
gave for your other podcast. 

336
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,120
It's something to aspire to when
you're a masters runner. 

337
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,200
But as a masters runner, it's 
something that you can keep, 

338
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,080
keep aiming at because, you 
know, maybe you don't make it, 

339
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,240
you know, when you're like 
you're 40 to 44, but you have 

340
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,240
like all of these years to 
qualify, right? 

341
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,080
I mean, you'll, you'll, you 
know, hopefully get in. 

342
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,640
Then when you're like in the, 
you know, like the 50 to, you 

343
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:56,680
know, 54 or the 65 to 69. 
And I, I, I truly believe it's 

344
00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,040
something that like, you know, 
every masters marathoner can, 

345
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:04,520
you know, aspire to and have the
opportunity to, to take part in.

346
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,240
And, and it's really exciting. 
And part of the fun of each of 

347
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,600
these things that I mentioned is
getting to talk with the other, 

348
00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:15,960
you know, masters marathoners 
who have qualified and who, who,

349
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,360
who are going to a race. 
They're just hearing their 

350
00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,840
stories about how they train, 
races they've done, how far 

351
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:24,240
they've come. 
You know, their journey as a 

352
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:28,880
marathoner is, is is really 
interesting and very inspiring. 

353
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,040
Yeah, no, absolutely. 
And I agree with you. 

354
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,240
Even though we're seeing the 
Boston standard, New York 

355
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:40,480
standards, Chicago standards all
going down because of the influx

356
00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,120
and amount of runners, right, 
that are now running. 

357
00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:49,520
If we keep at it and try to stay
as healthy as possible and just 

358
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,520
try to stay as fit as possible, 
I think that's a really nice 

359
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,960
goal to have, right? 
Because what else do we have 

360
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,200
once we've reached our peaks? 
We know it's going down a little

361
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,200
bit and this is something nice 
to remind us that there's still 

362
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,640
stuff to compete in for us as 
well. 

363
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:08,160
Absolutely. 
Yeah. 

364
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,520
So with that, I know we had 
Chicago last year and then 

365
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,880
Sydney was this year. 
And you've alluded to the fact 

366
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:17,600
that next year will be in New 
York. 

367
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,600
Do you know by any chance how 
will they determine which majors

368
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,760
host these races? 
Or is it just a random selection

369
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,960
rotation of the six majors and 
hopefully 7 majors? 

370
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:33,520
Soon, yeah, yeah. 
Then, then this year if Sydney 

371
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,840
got approved. 
That is a good question that I'm

372
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,000
not sure I know of the 1st and 
the second year lady, it was 

373
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,640
we're both actually at the 
London Marathon, which kind of 

374
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,280
goes against your idea that 
maybe it's a rotation because 

375
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:51,920
they repeated it in London. 
So this, it has only been the 

376
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:56,560
fourth year of, of the age group
World Championship and then, you

377
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,080
know, next year will be the 
fifth. 

378
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,400
Yes. 
I don't know how you know 

379
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,880
whether each of these like, you 
know majors like applies to to 

380
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,240
become the host. 
Not sure how that works. 

381
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,960
Yeah, but they did have 
something like the Wanda age 

382
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:16,600
group for a long time, right? 
Because I remember even in 2010,

383
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:21,760
I had some friends that at the 
time were going for something 

384
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:27,360
with the Wanda age group. 
You know it and it was probably,

385
00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:31,280
I think the ranking they've had 
for longer, but they've only had

386
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,640
the world championship since 
2021. 

387
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:36,480
Oh, OK, so then that's what it 
is. 

388
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:38,960
So that's nice that they've 
always had some sort of ranking,

389
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,480
but it's kind of fun to witness 
that championship and see who 

390
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,040
participates. 
And I mean, even seeing those 

391
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,240
qualifying times, though, that's
pretty nuts. 

392
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,440
Yeah, Yeah. 
I mean, yeah, it is. 

393
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:53,040
It might. 
Yeah. 

394
00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:56,080
Again, this my son who went, he 
was, he was impressed that like 

395
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,880
for my I'm 50 to 54. 
He's like, so you have to run an

396
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,040
under 321 to qualify it. 
Yeah, and you know, it's kind 

397
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,800
of, I think kind of nice, you 
know, to have like a a 22 year 

398
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,120
old young man be like impressed 
at like even the qualifying 

399
00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:13,520
times, you know, you know, 
before the this world 

400
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,520
championship that it's not 
something that oh, just like 

401
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,920
sort of like, oh, older people, 
it's not impressive athletes 

402
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,320
anymore. 
He was really impressed at the 

403
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,880
athletes that he you know that 
he saw and and the time that it 

404
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,080
takes to qualify. 
Yeah. 

405
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,360
So for you it's 321, but the 
time that you actually run is 

406
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,920
much faster than that. 
Yeah, you run like sub three 

407
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,480
hour marathons. 
How many athletes do you feel 

408
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:38,160
are there? 
Or I guess you know because 

409
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,840
you've seen the ranking. 
How many athletes in that age 

410
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,680
group 50 to 5554 run as fast as 
you do? 

411
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:54,440
Oh yes, so like under under 3 
while in Sydney I did three O 

412
00:24:54,440 --> 00:25:00,200
511 which like on a flat course 
would have been a three O 211. 

413
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,640
I mean under like under like at 
the the world championship. 

414
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,720
I mean at the world championship
there was one woman who went 

415
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,960
under. 
There was only one woman who 

416
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,480
actually went under three hours 
and and then the second one was 

417
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,960
right about the three hour mark 
and then the third one did like 

418
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,560
like a three O 2. 
Yeah. 

419
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,000
So it's yeah, it's it's not that
that many. 

420
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,800
My goal was to sorry. 
One of I think the goals of any 

421
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,320
of the athletes at the World 
Championship is to this is one 

422
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:38,000
of the things that makes it 
really exciting and motivating 

423
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,120
is to place higher than you have
before. 

424
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,440
And so I had placed eighth in 
Chicago and like so this year I 

425
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,800
wanted to place higher and I 
placed 6th and it is my dream to

426
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,760
one day make it onto that podium
and place top three. 

427
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,520
I mean, if anyone knows how to 
do that, you told me that you 

428
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,480
managed to negative split this 
course, so we're going to have a

429
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,520
whole podcast on negative 
splitting coming up with you as 

430
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,040
well. 
But if anyone knows how to do 

431
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,760
that, then it's probably going 
to be you. 

432
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,760
Oh, thank. 
You. 

433
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,960
Yeah, yeah. 
Keep starting to get there. 

434
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,400
So obviously we know the answer 
to this, but your recommendation

435
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,680
for runners, masters runners, go
to the Avid website and sign up.

436
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:27,080
Is that what you would say? 
Yeah, yeah, Register and yeah. 

437
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,560
Then look up the list of those, 
those marathons, Yeah, to see, 

438
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,640
you know, one that's, you know, 
you might not, you know, most 

439
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,200
likely you won't, won't even 
have to travel that far because 

440
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,520
they have them like all over the
world to like, you know, to do 

441
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,280
one of the marathons and see how
you rank and see if you can get 

442
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,800
close to that qualifying time or
even under the qualifying time 

443
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:53,280
that we encourage every, every, 
yeah, Masters marathon to to, to

444
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,560
do that. 
Absolutely, Rebecca, thank you 

445
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,480
so much for speaking with me. 
I appreciate you. 

446
00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:02,880
And for anyone that wants to 
know how to get in touch with 

447
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,360
you, tell us real briefly who 
you coach and then how people 

448
00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:14,800
can get in touch with you. 
OK, yeah, so I coach both online

449
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:21,160
athletes overall, I mean runners
overall and I also coach 

450
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,320
one-on-one session. 
The athletes I coach overall 

451
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,120
through online coaching and, and
staying in touch with them 

452
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:33,000
actually range from younger 
runners to older masters 

453
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,120
runners, even, you know, even 
ones who are. 

454
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:37,680
Yeah. 
And they're like 70s and, and 

455
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,360
older. 
And to get in touch with me. 

456
00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:44,600
And I also coach triathletes I 
coached those just trying to, to

457
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,400
get back into running or stay 
fit. 

458
00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,960
A lot of runners of marathoners.
I mean, my roster is limited 

459
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,920
because I give each of them a 
lot of individual attention to 

460
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,720
get in touch with me. 
You can do it either through my 

461
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:05,120
Instagram page, Conquering 
Challenges, or you can e-mail me

462
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:12,240
at coachrebecca16@gmail.com. 
Perfect. 

463
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,560
Thank you so much, Rebecca. 
And we'll talk soon. 

464
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,360
Yeah, we'll talk soon, lady. 
Thank you. 

465
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,120
Thank you, Rebecca, so much for 
coming on and speaking with us. 

466
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,840
I love talking to you and I love
this wealth of information that 

467
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,600
you were able to give us about 
this championship. 

468
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,560
And you actually got me excited 
to at least check out my 

469
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,600
ranking. 
And it won't be that high, but 

470
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:39,000
you know, maybe if we stick with
it, we can get there. 

471
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,800
Yeah, and it's amazing to see 
how fast some of the people are 

472
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:48,240
even as they get older, and 
gives a lot of encouragement to 

473
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,400
keep training and keep working 
to get better. 

474
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,280
Exactly. 
All right, so that's it for 

475
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:55,880
today's episode. 
Stay tuned for next week's 

476
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,760
episode where we talk financial 
intelligence for runners. 

477
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,080
Because as we all know, for 
running, you don't just need a 

478
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,680
pair of shoes. 
You need a pair of alpha flies 

479
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,080
and tempo shoes and everything 
else. 

480
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,080
Plane tickets and that's that. 
Yeah. 

481
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,360
I think that there's all sorts 
of different ranges of how much 

482
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:18,400
money you want to spend and 
fortunately with running it's a 

483
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,480
wide range and you can pick 
where you want to be. 

484
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:22,960
That's right. 
So until next week. 

485
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:30,680
Have a good week of running. 
Thanks for tuning in. 

486
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,800
For more information and 
marathon running news, please 

487
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,640
head to 
www.marathonrunningpodcast.com 

488
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:47,120
and we'll be back next week. 
Yeah.