E05 | Andrew Glaze on the Joy of Ultrarunning

Running a hundred miles in a week is no small feat, but imagine doing it for 200 consecutive weeks—Andrew Glaze has done just that. With a philosophy of "smile or you're doing it wrong," Andrew joins us to recount his journey through the remarkable achievement, the creation of his Coco Canyons challenge, and the humor he finds amidst the trolls on social media. Our conversation travels from the physical to the mental, exploring how the endorphin rush from running parallels the contrasting sensations of stepping into an ice bath or basking in the warmth of a sauna. Discover what keeps Andrew ticking mile after mile and how he maintains his infectious joy for the sport.

When an ultra-marathon feels like home, you know you've found your tribe. We shed light on the community and personal connections we forge on the trails, whether it's running the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc or bonding with fellow firefighters in the 'Laverne fire running club.' This episode peels back the layers on the thrilling, yet daunting world of ultra-marathon participation, and how it intertwines with the rest of our lives. From dealing with the lottery woes of entry to the camaraderie that keeps us lacing up, we unravel the fabric that makes running more than just a sport—it's a shared journey of growth and discovery.

Transcript

Casey Koza: 0:33

Next up on episode five we have Andrew Glaze. He is one of my personal favorites to follow on Instagram, where you can find him at AM Glaze. You can also find him at TikTok where he occasionally gets trolled by trolls. On Glaze Runs he goes with the moniker smile or you're doing it wrong, which I have thought to myself a few times late in races and has benefited me quite a bit. So really happy to have Andrew on the show. Andrew, welcome to the Hobby Jogger, thanks for having me. So first question or, I guess, statement you have ran 200 straight weeks of 100 miles and you just finished up a 200 mile week, correct?

Andrew Glaze: 1:16

Yeah, yeah, to celebrate my 200th week in a row, I ran 207 miles.

Casey Koza: 1:24

That's. It's a lot, a lot of miles. Yeah, it's a fair amount. Yeah, I have been following the streak since I met you. I'll tell that story real quick. I was in Chamonix, France, to watch the UTMB, which Andrew participated in, to see my buddy's brother run and guys just walking down the street in Chamonix to the start line in Jorts which awesome Guy who wears Jorts? That's my spirit animal right there.

Casey Koza: 1:53

So just go, hey, man need a picture with you, need a picture with you. Got a picture with him me and my buddy and started talking to him. Started following him on Strava and Instagram and here's this guy's got this run streak that goes forever. How did you start that?

Andrew Glaze: 2:08

I think it started right when kind of COVID started and they canceled all the races and so I sort of just needed something to challenge myself and do something difficult, and so that's kind of like the origin. And then there's a lot of virtual races and stuff going on during COVID. So it just kind of made sense because I was doing all these virtual races and so my mileage was like pretty high and it just kind of stuck. Now here I am like almost coming up on four years and it's still going on. So I didn't think it would go this long.

Casey Koza: 2:45

Now, was it something kind of like with the Undertaker WrestleMania streak, where they just kind of realized it like 10 years in that he hadn't lost a WrestleMania match, and that's how it became a thing? Or was it like oh, I did two, let me get three, let me get four.

Andrew Glaze: 3:01

Was it more organic.

Andrew Glaze: 3:03

I've been a high mileage runner for a while and I think in 2018 or 19, I think 2018 I did 28 weeks, 100 mile weeks in a row. I mean I really love to run, so and I like the number, I like the 100 mile, because it's like it's pretty challenging to run 100 miles in a week. It started sort of organically because I was just trying to get my mileage up and then there's no races. So when you don't have any races, you can just like really run as much as you want, because you never have to taper for a race and you never have to like recover after a race. All you have to do is run. So I mean, it was really easy during COVID because I you know, I didn't, I wasn't running any hundreds, there wasn't anything to do except just run.

Andrew Glaze: 3:45

Now it's a lot more challenging because I'm incorporating a bunch of races and into my schedule. And then how do you get 100 mile a week when you got to run like a race? And if it's a really hard race like how do you run 100 miles after recovering from like a 200 mile race or you know, 100 mile race or something like that that becomes challenging. But yeah, it's been pretty organic Now. It's just like sort of a lifestyle thing. It's. I don't even really I don't know. It's not really the same as it was in the beginning, but it's still very hard.

Rob Myers: 4:18

So 100, 200 is the next challenge, 300?.

Andrew Glaze: 4:22

You mean like 300. When I hit 300 weeks? Yeah, exactly, I mean maybe I miss two years from now. So I mean I hope it's not so good in two years, hopefully these. This is for equal, but you know, is it possible? Yeah, I ran 357 mile, or 356. This year is my highest week. I know I can do 300 miles in a week if I really wanted to.

Casey Koza: 4:47

And I did look. I couldn't find anyone who has a better time course record for you in the Coco Canyons challenge.

Andrew Glaze: 4:57

Right, right. Well, since I've decided it and I'm the only one that's ever done it, yeah, I have the course record. And then, fortunately, this year it doesn't line up the same way as it did last year, so it won't work out. Yeah, that was a pretty big week.

Casey Koza: 5:12

For those that are listening, they're more in tune with the road running world. Andrew ran and crack me on the order of this. The Coca Dona 250 first.

Andrew Glaze: 5:23

So I ran 100 miler in Sacramento, called Canyons, by UTMB, and then as soon as it was finished, I got on a plane, flew to Arizona and then ran Coca Dona 250 miler the next day. I had like a day off in between but I had to get ready for the race and I did both of them solo and unsupported, so there was a lot of planning and drop bags and things I had to accomplish. I think I ran like six days in between and not one day off. It was a week and it ended up being like 356 miles, although I think Coca Dona, my Garmin said like 260 miles, so I'm not you know. It might be more like 366. We'll give you 366. We'll give you. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot of miles and I think 57,000 feet of vert in a week was not flat.

Casey Koza: 6:20

No, it's definitely. I know the Canyons for sure is not flat and that was a super hot year for that, correct.

Andrew Glaze: 6:28

Yeah, it was a free heat storm. I think it was like 98 degrees or something like that. It was like 60% didn't finish because it was just like this crazy heat spell. It was great for me because Coca Dona is traditionally very hot, especially in the beginning. So I went into it feeling pretty good because it was hot but it wasn't as hot as Canyons and so I was like heat acclimated. Yeah, it worked out well for me and I'm from Southern California, so heat although I'm not like a huge fan I know how to do it because it was a UT and BRA. So a lot of people were coming in from like international areas. Like I ran into a bunch of people that were from France and Italy and stuff like that, and so they show up to a California race and it's 100 degrees. They had a hard time.

Casey Koza: 7:15

I'm entered into the black canyon 60k. I was on the waitlist with 100k, didn't get in, but I did take something from you with. I haven't done the cold plunge yet, just not there. It's eight degrees here, so you know for that. But the sauna I've started using the sauna at the gym. Ours gets cranked up pretty good 180 degrees. Do you think that helps you acclimate to these hot erases that you do?

Andrew Glaze: 7:40

Yeah, I do. I mean, I definitely. I did a lot of sauna work before canyons and coca-cadona. I thought Canyons was gonna be cold. I don't know if you've heard the story, but I was basically like checking the weather for Auburn and Kept saying it was gonna rain and it was gonna be cold, and so I was like preparing for this like cold, wet race, and I had been checking Auburn, alabama's weather which you know, I live in California and I typed in Auburn and I don't know why Google thought, yeah, that I wanted Auburn, georgia or you know something. I mean, it was just the craziest or Alabama. So the last minute I was talking to my buddy who was also doing the race and he's like man, it's gonna be hot, and I was like, what are you talking about? And yeah, then I figured out that I had been checking the wrong weather report the whole time.

Andrew Glaze: 8:28

So, yeah, I think I think sauna work does, it does help out. Not only does it teach your body how to like, respond to like heat, it makes you sweat more efficiently and like you won't panic quite as much like when it gets really, really hot. You'll, you'll, you'll know what it feels like and you know what your body can handle. And I mean, I just love sauna. It makes you feel so good, it makes you sleep. I just got out of the sauna and my, I got my sauna glow going on.

Casey Koza: 8:54

And there is something to be said that I feel like incredible. When I get out of the sauna, you're almost a bit more like feeling Once you hop out of that thing like it is. I don't know if it'll help me just mentally, I don't know if it helps physically, I don't know. I I'm kind of eager to see what it does for me.

Andrew Glaze: 9:12

Well, especially, I mean, if you're not used to like dry hot heat, it definitely gives you dry hot heat. A lot of people don't have Access to that, so, yeah, it's definitely a good thing.

Rob Myers: 9:45

Well, if you had to pick one, sauna or ice bath, which one would you pick?

Andrew Glaze: 9:49

I mean I Would pick sauna because it's easier, but, like, as far as benefits go, I like I like the cold water. You get like a pretty Amazing dopamine rush coming out of that and that's pretty hard to beat. But I hate doing it every day. So Every day it's like a negotiation in my head. I'm like I don't want to do this. And then I start thinking of like well, you don't have to do it, you can. Then I start rationalizing and then I'm like no, you have to do it, you have to.

Rob Myers: 10:18

It was your record, like ten minutes, something crazy like that 15.

Andrew Glaze: 10:22

So I used to do like seven minutes a day before I got the sauna and then there's been like Some slight studies and whatnot on like sauna and cold plunge together. So now I do like a protocol where I do sauna, cold plunge, sauna, cold plunge, sauna, cold plunge, and I I do two to three minutes in the cold plunge but I do multiple rounds, so I end up still getting like around seven minutes, but it's not all together, and then it's mixed with the sauna work which I wasn't doing previous because I didn't have a sauna. It gets pretty intense when you stay in there too long, but it also gets really intense when you go from the hot to the cold. Your veins are like constricting and then they're Dilating and then constricting and dilating, so it's like a whole different stress on the body.

Casey Koza: 11:09

Last week or week or two I was in the sauna with the guy here, so some Eastern European accent. He sounded very intelligent on the subject and he was helping me. Oh, you got to get in the cold shower after we get out here. You got to get in the cold shower, I was like ah. I don't know, man, I'm kind of rookie. You know, maybe next time I'll try that. I, I can't, I don't think I can put it in there yet, but some my list of things to do.

Andrew Glaze: 11:32

It is it's one of those things that's like really terrible when you're in it because your body goes into shock, or a human nature is like. If your body's going in shock, it's to like get out of that situation and but you have to like Mentally work through that, which teaches a lot of mental strength and whatnot, but like it also, when you get out of a shocky situation, your body just rushes with dopamine, which is like the happy molecule, and you just you feel like giddy and euphoric afterwards and it's just like this very bizarre, like Sensation. It's almost like getting high in a weird way, you know, because your body's getting rushed with all this dopamine.

Casey Koza: 12:11

That's a good point. That's One of the reasons, mostly, that I try and get out and run every single day is the feeling of after the run. There's been days where I've had to drag myself to the trailhead. Now I don't want to do this, it's like. But I know I'm gonna feel really good when I'm done and that's for me that's the biggest part of running and doing all this is just the feeling you get after you know 10, 12 mile run One, the sense of accomplishment that you did something, you didn't just sit around. Just that feeling, like you said, of like kind of the dopamine Headed it is. It's a good one and it's natural. So that's for me, why I run seems like you might be in that same boat. You. You like the natural, you know natural high kind of yeah, I mean, I don't know.

Andrew Glaze: 12:59

I Feel like it always sucks in the beginning, like even me. I'm like still like the first mile is always hard. It's definitely, you know, I know that I'm gonna feel great afterwards, even if it's like a shitty run where you feel shitty the whole run. Still afterwards you're gonna feel good. It's like one of those things where, good or bad, it afterwards is gonna be good.

Casey Koza: 13:19

The first mile is always the hardest.

Andrew Glaze: 13:21

Yeah, I mean I hate the first mile. I hate it and I'm always sore, you know, because I run so much that, like my first mile, it'd probably be beneficial if I just walked it, because I'm like literally just so sore all the time. But then once my body warms up, it's like okay, we can do this again.

Casey Koza: 13:39

Having a good time and out there for as long as you need to be and always be smiling right.

Andrew Glaze: 13:46

You got to think like how many people can't run, how many people are injured, how many people are you know, have diseases or like Just in bad spots in their life, and like if we can go out and run, we should be pretty appreciative of that, because it's it's, we're pretty lucky. The world is a Unfair and terrible place at times and if we can be enjoying some miles, like no matter how terrible they are or how bad we feel, we're very lucky to be able to do it.

Casey Koza: 14:14

Absolutely. It is certainly a blessing to be healthy enough, able enough, just like you said, just have the ability whether it's even financially, where you can, you know, get an hour into run every day. That's so much that you know. I think there's a lot of people that truly don't understand how blessed you are when you can Do something like that every day, and we are very fortunate for that. Yes, mm-hmm, that's pretty inspiring, which kind of leads me to my next point Congratulations on the Ultra sign-up award.

Andrew Glaze: 14:42

Yeah, yeah, I was. I had some stiff competition so it was cool to walk away with the win.

Casey Koza: 14:49

I'm a little disappointed you didn't win best rest with the George the assault, the shorts. But you know, most inspiring is is a heck of an achievement. I would have gone for best.

Andrew Glaze: 14:59

I think there was best trail. Weirdo too, I mean, I would have taken that as well. But you know, I guess most inspirational is pretty, pretty amazing.

Casey Koza: 15:07

That's awesome. You're not an influencer but like you influence me, like with, especially with stuff you just said, you know to be fortunate, to be grateful, to Smile. That's the biggest thing. I was hit a super dark spot at the grindstone, 100k and I was like man Andrew Glaze would be smiling right now and just knocking down these miles. So like, do you feel any pressure? You know, kind of like. I don't want to say like following it is a following. Does that add any kind of pressure to you?

Andrew Glaze: 15:35

You know I don't feel any pressure because I just my presence on social media is just me. There's no like persona or like I'm not selling anything. So it's just. You know, I have good days, I have bad days and I just kind of tell the world about the good and the bad and what's going on in my life. And if you follow me, you're just kind of like you're just following my life, like I'm not offering any advice, I'm not coaching, I'm not telling you how to stretch or what shoes to buy or what goo I eat. I literally just it's just me. And so there's no pressure because it's just me recording my day to day life. And if you find that interesting and engaging and inspirational, then like cool, and if you think it's cringy and weird, then don't follow, and that's cool too. So there's no real pressure to do anything other than just be myself, which is pretty easy to do because I'm myself every day.

Casey Koza: 16:36

Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you're not, because that's you know, I've talked to some people who've gotten some followings. It's like, oh, I feel like I have to do this, but you don't, you just go out and you just do your thing and knock down the miles, the dinner miles. I'm a part of your, your Strava group, there, the dinner, and I do get invested. It's kind of like the Truman show, like, and it's crazy, like you got sick a week and me and my buddy Will and Jeremy we have a group we were texting each other and I'm like, dude, do you see like he's like he's not feeling good and he's got to get to 100.

Rob Myers: 17:14

What do you think?

Casey Koza: 17:15

Man like what's good. How does this?

Rob Myers: 17:18

end, like you know so it's like it is the Truman show right. Yeah.

Casey Koza: 17:21

Yeah, which I mean is in a sincerest, as a compliment, like it's not a you know it, but I did. I got myself invested in your 100 mile run streak just by you being a genuine good person down to earth just smiling, you know out there doing it. So I you know, thank you for providing me with entertainment, I guess.

Andrew Glaze: 17:41

I mean it is a little entertaining. I'm sure like, yeah, it's, you know, someday it'll end and my life will go on and it'll. I'll still be making content about something. You know, I'm still going to be running and I did crazy things like this back when I had 700 followers and I'll do crazy stuff like this when I have a million followers. It's just as what it is, and if the followers go away, if social media goes away, then I'm pretty sure I'm still going to be out here doing things like this because it's what I enjoy and we just have the technology now where it's like a lot easier to document. Yeah, I mean, I tried to make stuff back in the day.

Andrew Glaze: 18:17

I've always loved photography and like shooting videos and stuff. So I used to love Instagram because it was all about taking pictures and I would like spend a lot of time like taking a really good running picture, you know, and then like have a caption and all that. But the video aspect of it has been really fun too, because I used to write race reports and like detail all the stuff. And now I can do my race reports and video and I think in 20 years when I look back and I can watch my races. It'll be pretty cool to like watch my old videos when I maybe can't run anymore and I can remember those races and whatnot. I mean, if I read one of my old race reports, sure I'll remember things and like, oh that sounds crazy, but it, you know, seeing it in video is different.

Rob Myers: 19:04

So do you feel motivated just by your presence online and people at the Pauli? Yeah, when you have those hard days, you wake up in the morning and you don't want to go out.

Andrew Glaze: 19:13

Yeah, I mean, I get inspired by a lot of my followers and I get motivated by you know their messages. Like a lot of people send me very like heartfelt messages about how I help them, or you know how they ran their first race because of me. That's a huge amount of positivity in the world and I really enjoy that. If I'm trying to sell anything in life, it's just that like running and exercise and movement is good and I'm just trying to like push that out into the world and when it gets pushed back to me that it worked, it's extremely motivating.

Andrew Glaze: 19:47

And the idea of the butterfly effect that you know a butterfly flaps its wings and there's a something happens in China or something. Maybe I motivate someone and then they go motivate somebody and then that person motivates somebody and that fourth person has never even heard of me, but they're somehow motivated through a chain of you know events that started with me. I find like really awesome. The world is not such a great place a lot of times and if I can push a little positivity into it before I leave it, then I feel like I'm doing something that works well. That makes sense.

Rob Myers: 20:29

It does, it does. It's almost like a virtual run club or running buddy, you know, because when you know there's somebody there that you're going to run with and you know they're depending on you to show up and help motivate them and you motivate each other to finish those last couple of miles, I think a lot of the people that inspire us today virtually online that's kind of what they represent, yeah.

Andrew Glaze: 20:51

And you know there's people that I mean I like watching videos online too, and there's people that I watch that are like motivational and that's cool to see them out there grinding every day and doing hard things, and it's a big circle. You know, we all motivate each other. Just because I have more followers than somebody else doesn't make me like the best. Just I just happen to have more followers. But you know, there's a lot of people out there doing really cool stuff right now.

Casey Koza: 21:17

There is. I think the running content has definitely vastly changed over the last couple of years, so since I started getting involved in the ultra running and it's just a completely different, I'd say seismic shift from two years ago to today with the ultra running content.

Casey Koza: 21:37

I know one video years that it was from the UTMB this past year. You're at mile 80. And I know how hard the race is and I'm like this guy's got to be dead, like he's got it, but you still look the same at mile 80. I know you didn't feel the same, right? How do you keep that like game face? Because I can't like. I have pictures of me from Grindstone. I'm dead, like you can see. I'm done, I have nothing left in my soul and it is over for me. Lights are going out, but here you are, just you know, how do you, how do you keep the face like that?

Andrew Glaze: 22:12

I mean you're seeing me at like an age station and I think age stations for me always tend to be like a higher point than like a lower point.

Andrew Glaze: 22:20

Like when I come into an age station, you know that's my opportunity to like refresh my calories and get you know, at UTMB I get to see my wife, which is always going to be like a positive, and then like, if it's like a different race where it's just an age station like I just got you got all those people there and they're all volunteering their time and you know it's probably cold and dark.

Andrew Glaze: 22:43

You know I mean they come in and it's like I want to like thank them and smile and, like you know, show them that I'm appreciative of their hard work too. Like, yeah, I'm out grinding in the dark but you know they're out keeping us all alive with food and water. So there might be low points in the middle of the race where no one's around. But you know, maybe I'm not so cheerful but you know, when I'm around people, that's like that's that's my opportunity to like spread that positivity and touch more people and inspire more people. Even if I'm feeling terrible inside like I still try to mentally be happy and positive. In those times Did you get?

Casey Koza: 23:21

into UTMB.

Andrew Glaze: 23:22

Yeah, well, this year 2024, I had two years of automatic entry, so last year and this year, so I didn't even have to enter the lottery, oh, okay.

Casey Koza: 23:32

I did not get in.

Andrew Glaze: 23:34

Really, I mean, they already had the, they already had the drawing, yeah, today.

Casey Koza: 23:37

Yeah, yeah, didn't even get waitlisted, bummer.

Andrew Glaze: 23:41

Really Next year, that's you know. Hmm, that's interesting.

Casey Koza: 23:46

Yeah.

Casey Koza: 23:47

I mean I, I do want to go back because it is, you know, I get it. It's like a now a controversial thing in the, in our trail running here, but it's such a cool event. The people that put it on the grade, all the people that volunteer for that race, I want to go do it just because of the event that it is. It's kind of I tell people I want to go see the Daytona 500.

Casey Koza: 24:07

I don't know a single NASCAR driver, I don't know a car, I don't know a sponsor, but it's such a cool thing. I kind of just want to go to it and that's kind of what I like in UTMV. It's more of a. It's such a spectacle, you know, to me and it was just, you know, we talked about inspiring, but just seeing, you know, being at, like Triant aid station and seeing the misery of these people coming through and, you know, men and women just still, hey, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, pick it up, get out of the aid station and go, and it's, it really is a cool event.

Andrew Glaze: 24:39

And yeah, I wish I would have got in.

Casey Koza: 24:40

I did not but.

Andrew Glaze: 24:42

Well, I didn't know. This is my fifth year and I haven't gotten it in every year too, so just you know like I've been rejected a few times as well. Yeah, there is a controversy and I mean I understand it Like I definitely was like on the side of the small race when it went down, and the whole idea of corporations ruining ultra running is definitely a hot topic. I guess, in my humble opinion, is just like you're going to have big corporations and then you're going to have small races and to think that some corporations are going to destroy ultra running is then you must believe ultra running is pretty fragile.

Andrew Glaze: 25:24

You know the rock and roll marathon series didn't destroy marathons, and you know big corporate races like like Revol, and that didn't destroy marathons, and there's still local marathons all over the place, and despite there being a big corporate entity that's buying up a couple races here or there, there's still tons and tons of local grass root ultras that you can do and that are not for sale. So I don't think you have to be too concerned. Plus, I mean, ultra running is growing and it's getting harder and harder to get into the races. By having these big corporate races, at least it gives more people the opportunity to run, whereas like the little grass roots races are like great but like they only let 200 people in and there's a lottery and a wait list and all this stuff. So there's some definite gatekeeping when it comes to the small races. It's hard to get into them.

Casey Koza: 26:22

Yeah, it's very difficult. A lot of small races, Western states, prime example. That's the hardest race to get into in the world.

Andrew Glaze: 26:30

Hard rocks harder to get into and probably Barclay is harder to get into.

Casey Koza: 26:34

Well, yeah, Barclay, for sure Barclay.

Andrew Glaze: 26:35

yeah, I got to send a postcard and yeah yeah, Barclay and Hard Rock are pretty hard to get into.

Casey Koza: 26:41

I'm sure people have asked this many times. Have you tried to get into Barclay?

Andrew Glaze: 26:45

No, not yet. I don't know if I will.

Casey Koza: 26:48

I'm not a real good hiker. Your compass skills aren't that good.

Andrew Glaze: 26:51

No, my compass skills are good. So in fire service I have a lot of certs that deal with compass orienteering because we have to have that for certain wildland certs and I feel pretty confident in my orienteering. I mean, I'd obviously refresh before I went, but for me it's more just like I'm not a good hiker, like a fast hiker I can hike forever. I'm not a fast walker. Some people are really good at moving while they hike and walk and that's not my skill set. I can jog slowly forever, but if you ask me to walk, it's going to be slow and I think you need to be able to hike fairly quickly in order to complete Barclay or even a couple loops.

Casey Koza: 27:44

I appreciate what that race is and the lore behind it, but for me it's just not, I don't know. It seems more of like a game. I'll be wandering around the woods trying to find a book and I totally respect everything that it is. I don't want anyone to think I'm downplaying its significance. And very cool, I tune into it, so it must have almost a special meaning to it.

Rob Myers: 28:09

I do give it. Well, it's kind of its own thing, it's its own category. I can't really compare it to anything else.

Casey Koza: 28:17

It's an ultra running game kind of thing, I think.

Andrew Glaze: 28:22

It's definitely entertaining to watch, but yeah, I don't think it's my thing. But you never know, I'd much, much rather get into Hard Rock. If there's one race that someone said Andy, I'll get you into whatever race you want, it would be Hard Rock Someday. Hopefully that will happen.

Casey Koza: 28:40

What is the lottery system? I'm unfamiliar with that lottery system. Again, it's a race that I watch. I enjoy it.

Andrew Glaze: 28:47

I don't know what it is. It's super, it's small. I don't know if it's like 100 people and it's like they take 50 that have run it before and 50 that haven't, and then it's a very small race. What you can do for Hard Rock, which I might do this year next is you can do this thing called Soft Rock, where you basically go out and run it yourself. You set it up in a sense like it's three days, two nights, you do 30 miles and you go from city to city and you get an Airbnb, and then you do wake up and you do 30 miles and you do city to city and you go to bed and Airbnb and then you do 40 miles or whatever, and finish it. I know a lot of people have done that. I might just happen to do that just so I could have the experience without all the aid stations and everything.

Casey Koza: 29:42

I think that would be pretty pretty because I actually considered today well, I have before, is doing that at UTMB going out from Refuge, refuge and instantly that way.

Andrew Glaze: 29:53

A lot of people do that. When you're running the race, you see a lot of people doing it.

Casey Koza: 29:57

Because you don't get to see again. This is for a road running audience that we've used has a lot of. The race starts at six o'clock at night and you run through the night the first night and I guess second night too if you still need to, but you don't see a lot of the course from what like. La Houshah, the first city to like formier about right, you don't see much of that.

Andrew Glaze: 30:20

Yeah, it gets dark pretty quick it's a journey to.

Andrew Glaze: 30:24

I can't yeah, I've done it four times. I can't even get the cities correct. But, yeah, you start, the sun rises, like when you're like in the valley and you're starting to descend down into Italy, and then the sun sets normally, like when you get into Switzerland I mean, depending on how fast you do it, but something like that. So, yeah, the end of the race, you don't really see much, and then the beginning of the race, you don't see anything but like you see the middle. Yeah, it would be a cool thing to see the whole course during the day.

Casey Koza: 30:57

Yeah, all the cool sites that you missed. When we were talking about Barkley, you mentioned that you're firing rescue.

Andrew Glaze: 31:04

Yes, yeah, I'm a fire captain.

Casey Koza: 31:06

Yeah, oh, fire captain, I played rugby with a couple fire guys here in Akron Great guys, I always have a good time with them. Have you got anyone into the Laverne fire department size? Yeah, correct, yeah.

Rob Myers: 31:23

Do you have a running club there yet?

Casey Koza: 31:25

Have you formed one? Do the guys go out with you and run? I see you got a couple guys that look interested.

Andrew Glaze: 31:29

Yeah, I have like a fake one that I've ever since I've been there. I call it the Laverne fire running club, but it's just me running and like laps around the fire station and yeah, I mean, most people in my department have joined it at least one day out of the year and have run with me. There's a couple that you know will come back and they run every time they're at their work with me, but it's more or less just like a like inside joke that it's like the Laverne fire running club but it's, you know, just whoever wants to run with me See.

Casey Koza: 32:04

There you are are again with the infectious smile just affecting everyone with the running bug.

Rob Myers: 32:10

I appreciate that, so does your schedule at the firehouse help you're running or does it hurt your running Because there's a lot of flexibility.

Andrew Glaze: 32:16

I mean, yeah, it's nice to be able to run at work. Obviously Most people don't have that opportunity. But most people don't work like for two to four days straight with not going home, so it's monotonous loops around a fire station holding a two pound radio and having to like not be able to like disengage because I have to like be response ready at all times. So I wouldn't say it's like the best mileage, but you know it's still mileage and it's still an opportunity to work out. It's, I think, the hardest part about being a firefighter and being a runner is not sleeping for like or not. Sleeping well for several days in a row is pretty hard on the body and it's definitely hard on like recovery and mental health and things like that. So it's nice to be able to run at work, but there's a lot of costs associated with it in the long run that I think are probably not as nice, is there?

Rob Myers: 33:18

a gym at the firehouse.

Andrew Glaze: 33:20

Uh, I mean we, we have a kind of a shitty gym at all the stations and then the union pays for us to all have a gym membership so we can go to like the local gym in our city and obviously there's like treadmills and everything there, but I don't run on a treadmill. I it's not something I do. I mean I have done it, but not in the last decade or so.

Rob Myers: 33:48

I love that statement, though, but it's not that I don't like treadmills. I don't run on a treadmill. That's awesome.

Andrew Glaze: 33:54

I mean, yeah, it's just not my thing and I live in California so I can get away with it.

Casey Koza: 34:02

It's not my thing either, but, man, when it's eight degrees out, I just I can't do it, I I actually this is a couple of weeks ago it was. We had another cold spell, however cold it was. I got dressed went down to the trailhead. I was about to get out of the car. I just no, I can't. I can't get out. I'm warm. I'm just gonna go home, get on the treadmill for an hour and watch Star Wars or something Cause it's yeah Well, I've definitely.

Andrew Glaze: 34:30

you know I get a lot of DMs every day and I've definitely been getting a lot. You know, icicles on their eyelashes and you know the whole thing. And like my followers love to remind me how lucky I am and where they live is, like you know, terrible. There's some people that are like Canada right now and it's like negative 40 and they're putting like heating pads in their shoes and like all this crazy stuff and I'm out here running shirtless.

Casey Koza: 35:01

It's not the cold Like I can handle the cold it's the. As soon as you sweat and get wet, that misery sets in. That's the killer. So yeah, I got to kind of supposed to do a long run this weekend. Well, I can't do a long on a treadmill, I just I'll go mall walk. Before I do that, I think.

Andrew Glaze: 35:19

Right, yeah, I'm not a. I don't sweat when it's cold. It's kind of like a weird thing, Like maybe if I was wearing a bunch of layers I would, but normally I only sweat when it's really hot.

Casey Koza: 35:31

Yeah, I'm a sweaty guy, I'm sweating.

Andrew Glaze: 35:34

Yeah, I work with guys that literally walk up a flight of stairs and like their shirt soaked, so I get it. I mean, I'm just, everybody has different, you know, bodies, and mine is one that doesn't sweat very much.

Casey Koza: 35:46

Now I see you have quite the schedule here this summer for races.

Rob Myers: 35:52

I don't think I've seen one?

Casey Koza: 35:54

Actually, I know I haven't. I'm not going to say I don't think, but one, two, three, four, so you have at least six races of a hundred miles or more.

Andrew Glaze: 36:06

Is that what you're looking at on UltraSignUp?

Casey Koza: 36:08

I'm just going off UltraSignUp. I'm including UTMB because you mentioned.

Andrew Glaze: 36:11

Yeah, it's way worse than that, though. I mean I haven't signed up. I mean not everything is on UltraSignUp, but I have quite a bit of races. And then there's some races I just haven't signed up for quite yet, but when they become available I will sign up for them. I mean, last year I did 15 ultras. I think I did 11 hundreds and two 200s. I have a feeling this year will be probably similar.

Casey Koza: 36:38

It looks scary. Looks like about one to one a month you average. That's good. Are you going to plan on coming East Coast anytime soon?

Andrew Glaze: 36:48

I don't have any East Coast ones planned right now. Yeah, it's just a lot of the races I just do every year because it's like convenient, because they're like close to my home. I spend all my PTO and then I even spend more. Like every time I work in overtime. I can bank it as like another PTO day and I spend all that too.

Andrew Glaze: 37:11

So when I look to like travel places, it's just in my mind I'm just thinking like how many days I'm going to have to like save up in order to race something far away and in the firefighting. Like if I take a shift off, I have to take 48 hours off. So it's like if you think like a normal person who works a 40 hour week, if you took a week off you would burn like 40 hours of vacation. So it's like harder for me to like take time off if that makes sense. So I try to like do races that are like somewhat closer to me and easier to get to, although this year I am branching out a little bit, doing some races in Colorado and Montana.

Casey Koza: 37:58

I see the Run Rabbit Ronette. That looks like a pretty cool, pretty cool experience. At Run Rabbit Ronette I had a couple of friends that went out there and did it and spoke nothing but good things about the race. The jackpot ultra is one. I don't know why I tune into that every year where I have, maybe because it's the time of year it is, but it's just kind of around a pond in Henderson.

Andrew Glaze: 38:22

Yeah, correct. Yeah, it is, Is it right?

Casey Koza: 38:24

Yeah, I remember I don't know, someone told me to look at, like, look, we had a local guy maybe running in it or something. I was like man, these people are insane Just running around this pond for 16 hours. That's is that the hardest one for you, do you think?

Andrew Glaze: 38:40

Because it's not neat.

Andrew Glaze: 38:41

That's super easy. Yeah, I mean, that's my fastest. Time is a jackpot my fastest 100. Yeah, the hard ones are like the big mountain ones. Last year I did Big Horn in Wyoming and I signed up for it again this year. It was like a hundred miles of like the thickest mud you've ever experienced in your life, with 20,000 feet of vert. So you're either going uphill in mud or you're sliding down on your butt in mud and that's that was pretty hard for me. I mean UTB is really hard with 30. I think this year normally it's 33,000 feet of vert and I think this year it was like 35,000 feet of vert because they added those bonus miles because of the landslide.

Casey Koza: 39:24

Oh yeah, there was some controversy with that, wasn't it great? Yeah, they. Yeah, there were people didn't think that the winner got the record because of the Because they were at four extra miles, because they were.

Andrew Glaze: 39:36

Well, the course was changed so that just you know- you know, every time I've run that race four times and every time I've run it the course has been different.

Casey Koza: 39:43

So I mean we have. We have the Burning River 100 here, which, if you want to talk about thick mud and bad mud, if it rains here in Ohio it's awful, but that course changes every year.

Andrew Glaze: 39:54

And it's yeah, I mean yeah, exactly. If you're so lucky to have a race that has stayed the same forever, then it's probably a boring race, you know, because it's like it's too stable, even jackpot. Like there used to be this little section that you had to run through the dirt and then they built a bridge and now you don't have to run through the dirt. The course has changed. You just adapt. I mean, who cares?

Andrew Glaze: 40:21

San Diego I'm running San Diego 100 this year and I'm excited because it's a whole new course. They added, like this whole new section. To me that's like exciting, you know, because you still get to run in this beautiful area but you get to run new trails. I'm doing cold water Saturday and it'll be my fifth time running it and it's like a whole new course. It used to be five 20 mile loops and now it's I think it's like two 12 mile loops and three 24 mile loops or something. I don't know the math probably isn't right there, but something like that, which is cool, like I'm going to get to experience new trails in this mountain park in Arizona that I haven't run it before. So I always look at it as a positive see, a new stuff.

Casey Koza: 41:07

And that's the best part of trail racing is the course does change every year because nature controls the course. Right, there's a mud slide, nature did it, and that's just hey, you got to run around it, do something else. But that's kind of why I like it and I, like I said, I am the hobby jogger, I have no concern over my time. I'm out there for a good time. I got the party pace that on. You know. I just you know I want to have fun. So people just I think there is certain to be some people take it serious and I just can't get that serious about trivial stuff like a course changing because of an avalanche or a rock slide Like yeah, I mean I for me it's just about having fun.

Andrew Glaze: 41:49

I mean, people take it very seriously, people take it very un-seriously and I think I'm more of the un-serious type. But like doesn't mean I can't push myself at times. But when you're running 15 ultras in a year, if you think that you're going to have some great time on like ultra number 10, you know your body's going to tell you something differently.

Casey Koza: 42:12

So yeah, don't taper like Andrew tapers, please.

Andrew Glaze: 42:16

Yeah, yeah, my 200 mile tape per week before before cold water this weekend, or like my 100 mile race taper the day before, you know, Coca-dona 250. Coca-dona was a complete shit show for me. I was completely out of my mind most of the race and, like you know, just so fatigued and exhausted, but I finished it and that was the goal. So, you know, was my time like stellar, like no, it was terrible. I never cared. Like I had so much fun the whole time. So I was like, whatever I did something like super hard that most people can't do and like, yeah, a lot of people beat me and that's like that's fine, I don't, it's like it really doesn't matter, you know. And then I made a video about it and, like you know, got 5 million views and like, cool, you know, nobody was like, wait, you got 80th place or, you know, nobody cares, nobody, nobody cares.

Rob Myers: 43:16

Get the suffering beautiful places. Yeah, exactly, that's what's fun about it 100%.

Casey Koza: 43:21

Yeah, that was. That was, I have to say, in ultra running, the wildest thing. I think I've seen someone I know we have a lot of, like the Pacific Crest Trail and through, through stuff, but because it was the weather of the canyons, the heat, just hop it in the car, go into Arizona and then knocking out 260 or whatever through the desert. I was, I was rooting for you, I was, yeah, I was following along, like every time you're a little because, like you wore trackers for that one, correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was tuned into the tracker, I was, I was having a good time with it. I was like this this mad lad is out here after already doing something that most people, I think, dropped out of the race because of the heat.

Andrew Glaze: 44:08

He hops in his car and well, it's funny because you know AeroVipa, they have all like the live streaming and they have a very like robust YouTube presence and you know there's all these pros and really impressive runners in Coca-Cola and whatnot and like the whole time everyone's like what's Andy Glaze?

Andrew Glaze: 44:26

doing. It's like Andy Glaze is in my 80th place, probably sleeping on the trail right now, like wishing he was dead and like that's all anybody would like to talk about. I just find it funny, you know, same as like jackpot it was like national championships. I think I got 10th place or something like that and there's like really impressive people Like I think somebody ran jackpot in 13 hours, or you know the winner got like 13 hour 100 or you know he was right around 13, 14 hours, something like that, which is like incredible and he's an incredible runner, and the whole time everyone's like what's Andy Glaze doing? It's like Andy Glaze is in 10th place just cruising, like don't worry about him. But you know, I guess the social media presence changes that a little bit.

Casey Koza: 45:16

Hey, you have, you have fans, you have, you have legitimate I'm I'm an Andy Glaze fan, so you know, anyone hates on him, hates on me, so they can, you know, kick rocks us if anyone really cares that much about it. But I do, man, I have a blast Anytime I get to watch, you know, follow along with it and it's like, hey, there's my spirit animal out there, like party face, happy, you know, loving life, just just getting after it. And you know I, I truly do thank you for just what you do on, especially with the trolls. I like that swatting the trolls away.

Andrew Glaze: 45:51

Yeah, I love attacking trolls. That's my everyone's like oh, you should just ignore them. You know, david Goggins is like oh, I make a mixtape. I'm like fuck no.

Andrew Glaze: 45:59

I'm going to talk shit right back to them. I don't know who they think they are. Like I'm not like some little you know. Like I will come right at you if you come at me. I enjoy it, I really do. Maybe I should ignore them, but like they're not really upsetting me, I think it's like hilarious and and like I love to like just make them look dumb. So yeah. I draw entertainment off of that so.

Casey Koza: 46:24

I I thank you for the way that you handle that, because I think probably if more people did handle it that way, that it would be a better result with less trolls in the world.

Andrew Glaze: 46:32

But I guess trolls is going to troll, so yeah, I think most people aren't used to getting like, they're not used to getting punched in the face. If they like you know, oh, I'm going to write this shitty comment and then, like, they get punched in the face and they're like.

Andrew Glaze: 46:46

Oh wait, that's not how that was supposed to play out. They were supposed to like be upset by my comment. You know I was supposed to ruin their day. Yeah, no one's going to ruin my day, especially not on the no, yeah, no, heck, no, some anonymous person sitting by the keyboard.

Casey Koza: 47:02

Yeah, I do have one question about the jackpot ultra it says the hundred mile short course. Is there a long course?

Andrew Glaze: 47:10

Yeah, so there's, there's two courses. Friday is the national championship and it is a. I want to say it's like 1.12 mile loop and it's just a. It's like a perfect loop around the lake. So you have to do like whatever it is 96 loops or something like that and then on Saturday they have a long course which kind of forms like a giant C, so you kind of like go out and then you kind of loop back and come back, but it's a little bit different and I think that one's right around two miles. So you end up doing about 50 loops.

Andrew Glaze: 47:51

I've done both of them. I kind of like the short course better because I like the Friday race. It's like easier for me to take like a Friday off than a weekend off, so I think there's a little bit more vert in the Friday race than there is the Saturday race. And then the Saturday race also is like that loop. The kind of the weird C loop is what they use for like the 48 hour race, the 24 hour race, the 12 hour race, the 50 miler, whatever. You know. They have a million different like distances, that's all. On Saturday they used to have a 72 hour race, but I think they've got rid of that one. Aravipe bought that race, that's a long, long race.

Casey Koza: 48:35

That's a lot of suffering.

Andrew Glaze: 48:36

Yeah, I've done 172. And it was, it was a lot, it was a two mile loop and yeah, it was. That was my first 200 miler, it was hard.

Casey Koza: 48:49

That's a bridge I may never go down. I appreciate the people who do, but that's a little too much suffering and I yeah but I do like the Friday races, especially the West Coast ones. Yeah, because I can watch it work.

Andrew Glaze: 49:04

So yeah, I mean it's. You know it works out, it's cool.

Rob Myers: 49:07

So I like it.

Andrew Glaze: 49:09

I signed up for the short race. I didn't sign up for the championship, but I might switch it to the last year because it's run by USA TF, which is the track in the United States track and field or whatever. They wouldn't let us use headphones, which was terrible. I guess this year they're going to let us use headphones as long as we are not going to be in the top three. So I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be in the top three and so I'm going to probably wear headphones, and just you know.

Casey Koza: 49:38

If you're in fourth and third drops out, do you have to say take them off? I don't know, it's such a dumb rule.

Andrew Glaze: 49:44

I mean, honestly, it's just I'm not exactly sure why they do it, something about getting coaches' notes through your headphones or something like that, and it's just like I don't know. Yeah, I mean it's not. Yeah, it's like literally a one mile loop, so I just I don't really get it.

Casey Koza: 50:05

That's. That's trying too hard with rules. I think yeah.

Andrew Glaze: 50:09

I mean, this is the same organization that you know, for, like the world championships, they don't like they make their athletes pay for everything. Meanwhile, you know Nike sponsors it and they're a billion dollar corporation. But if you're just some like like my buddy Jake's you know UPS driver Jake Jackson, and he just went to the national championships in Taiwan and had to, like pay his own way, what I mean? While Nike you have to wear all this Nike gear and like Nike sponsors it, but like oh, they make you a Nike, yeah Well. Or like you have to wear something there's you know some dress code or some, you know something like that.

Andrew Glaze: 50:49

If you're on the United States team, so I'm not super impressed with the.

Casey Koza: 50:54

USA TF. The only one who gets to tell me what to wear is my job, and they pay me, so I have to.

Andrew Glaze: 51:00

Exactly Same Same. Otherwise, the more to wear it I want.

Casey Koza: 51:05

Well, andrew, it's been about an hour here and I I certainly appreciate your time. I know you're a busy guy getting dinner miles in feeding those legs.

Andrew Glaze: 51:12

Luckily I'm tapering this week, so you know I was able to like squeeze this in because I only ran 10 miles today.

Casey Koza: 51:20

So yeah, I'm seeing your tapers. Your tapers are scary, so but I wish you well in the cold water rumble. I'll be tuned in watching your progress as you go through, as always, because, like I said, you are my favorite follow of runners, I mean you know, once super nice guy made a great impression.

Casey Koza: 51:45

Not often I meet someone and just be like, wow, I think that guy was. You know I was really a genuine dude, so you know it's stuck with me. You know, for this long it was, it was finally nice to you know, have a forum to get to talk to you and learn a little bit more about you, so I appreciate it.

Rob Myers: 51:59

Yeah, of course. Yeah, very good to meet you. I'm inspired. I mean it's 1130 at night, my time, and six degrees out, but I think I'm going to go for a run.

Andrew Glaze: 52:09

Tag me.