The Hobby Jogger Podcast
E06 | Omar Posadas on His Road to the Boston Marathon
Imagine lacing up your shoes for a casual jog, only to find yourself crossing the finish line at one of the world’s most renowned marathons. That's the journey Omar Posadas shares with us, as we delve into his inspirational story of transformation from everyday runner to Boston Marathon qualifier. Amidst a pandemic that locked down gyms and changed lives, Omar found solace and strength in his strides, teaching us that sometimes the most challenging times lead to the greatest achievements.
Omar's anticipation for the Boston Marathon emerges as a celebration of the personal growth and camaraderie found in the running community. We embrace a conversation on body positivity, mental health, and self-acceptance, acknowledging the diverse motivations and achievements of runners. Join us for an episode that's not just about the miles logged, but about the journeys within.
Imagine lacing up your shoes for a casual jog, only to find yourself crossing the finish line at one of the world’s most renowned marathons. That's the journey Omar Posadas shares with us, as we delve into his inspirational story of transformation from everyday runner to Boston Marathon qualifier. Amidst a pandemic that locked down gyms and changed lives, Omar found solace and strength in his strides, teaching us that sometimes the most challenging times lead to the greatest achievements.
Omar's anticipation for the Boston Marathon emerges as a celebration of the personal growth and camaraderie found in the running community. We embrace a conversation on body positivity, mental health, and self-acceptance, acknowledging the diverse motivations and achievements of runners. Join us for an episode that's not just about the miles logged, but about the journeys within.
Next up on the Hobby Jogger, we have Omar Posadas. Omar is recently qualified for the Boston Marathon. He is also partnered with Nike Running and Dick Sporting Goods. He hails from Napa, california, and you can find him at omarrunsnapa on Instagram Omar welcome to the Hobby Jogger.
Omar Posadas:Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk with you guys today.
Casey Koza:Awesome, yeah, super excited to talk to you. I have Rob Myers with me as well. Rob is my co-host today. He is a member of the Weave Use family and he's going to be helping me out here. He gets a little bit more in-depth than I do and sees things that I certainly don't. So, rob, thanks for joining us today.
Rob Myers:Thanks, Casey, Happy to be here. Welcome Omar.
Omar Posadas:Absolutely, I'm excited.
Casey Koza:Now, first off, Omar, what I want to discuss is your Boston qualifier. I pulled it up on Strava. You don't seem to use Strava too much anymore, correct?
Omar Posadas:Oh, I'm back. I went through a phase I actually went private for a bit. It's not public. The reason is because, as I get more followers, folks have a lot of comments about my training and things like that. So I just want to control what I see and have it open. There's a lot of folks just with a lot of opinions about my training and it's just to me noise, so I've gone in and just had friends only or folks only. So I use Strava a lot. That's my goal too. I also use Garmin. That's actually where I use a lot of my training. Strava is mostly for social, but also the data set of things. It's pretty fun to look back at the data.
Casey Koza:Funny. You say that because everyone has an opinion about somebody else's how they should train or do whatever. I mean, I see it even with elite runners Like why would you do that? That's dumb. You have no idea what that person's body responds to what maybe injury he has. Because I know even from my personal experience. I set my PR in the half marathon and a kid that I grew up with in high school that follows me on Strava or did now he doesn't anymore was like why do you run so slow all the time? I don't get it. You're fast. Like why do you run so slow all the time? It's like, dude, I just go out there one to enjoy myself. That's the primary goal of it and I don't need you chiming in with your opinion. Let me do what it is that I do. So I understand the Strava thing. Man, that's tough.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, somebody told me because when you do a track workout I oftentimes have my plan is to my warm-up, I go into the track workout and then I cool down and the warm-up's gonna cool down On the garment. It's all compartmentalized. You could see your warm-up and your actual workout and Strava. It's all combined. So somebody asked me aren't you scared or aren't you afraid that your pace is gonna look slower? Because you haven't. And it's just. That's exactly what I mean.
Omar Posadas:This is not for that purpose, so that's not the intent of this. This is why I think the Strava is deceiving sometimes because it's not truth. If you look at the garment data, it's structured in a way that the warm-up and cool-down are so much slower because that's part of the plan and Strava is all combined. And when I got the comment okay, this is just somebody worried about the data, I think we need to just get over that. It was to me I found like a distraction so I had to just go prior for a bit. But I'm back. It's fun to post and connections and see other folks as well, so it's a great just to give kudos to other folks.
Rob Myers:Yeah, and like most tools, I mean there's a variety of use cases, right, I mean I love Strava for motivation. I also love it to look at my friend's training, especially if we have a race coming up and I know I'm running with a group, a particular race. We're all over the country. I can see them get up in the morning, get after it and it motivates me. So you kind of have your virtual run club if you're training for a race or whatever the event is.
Omar Posadas:Absolutely. I agree. I definitely get motivation from a lot of folks on Strava and Instagram, so you know I love this community. It's something that I didn't know existed when I started this account in 2020. And it's just a beautiful, amazing, supportive community. I've made great friends.
Casey Koza:Yeah, and that's what I like. Rob just said. That's where I find the most value in Strava Is. You know, I see my buddy Will gets up early. I see David up early. You know I see Rob up early. Hey, omar is out there in California now but he's up at, you know, 3am, getting after it with the headlamp on. I got to. What's my excuse today? So that's why I like it, that's why I enjoy it. Back to your Boston qualifier. This is the first time you've qualified for Boston, correct?
Omar Posadas:Yes, first attempt in qualifier, so pretty awesome. So I started running in May of 2020 and I was running for fun in 2020. And I started running because of COVID, the gyms were closed and I'm in an outlet and, like most folks, I think we're all just kind of worried about the world. I used to run a long time ago in my 20s, and then I started to do more weight training and then somehow just didn't do a lot of running. So I had an old pair of shoes. I picked up and I put them on and I just went for a three mile run and then I loved it. I thought, great, I'm like, oh, this is awesome, I'm running the next day. And then the next day. And then I just fell in love with running again. I started to do too quickly. I got injured and that's a rookie mistake. I grabbed it so fast. I got chinsplains, so it took me up for a few months. I came back and started running and got proper shoes and did all the other things that you do properly sorry, slowly. And then it wasn't till last year, 2023, when I ran my first marathon in LA in March. So that was my first marathon and then I was hooked.
Omar Posadas:I love the structure of the marathon and just having intention behind my runs. So my coach and I talked about, hey, why not go for like a three or three or five? That was kind of what we were playing with and that would have been our Boston Power Fire for me. My age and I went for it and I got it. So it was awesome. It was a very hard work for all. And then with the Boston 2024, as you know, there was a lot of the timing and folks were upset because it was almost I mean it shaped off the qualifying time. I was like torn because I wanted a lot of friends. My friends are qualified. They weren't able to actually make it, so it was like a bittersweet moment for me.
Casey Koza:It didn't show it on your straw boat that I found. What race did you do for the qualifier? Oh, it's in there.
Omar Posadas:It's the Santa Rosa Marathon.
Casey Koza:Santa Rosa. Okay, one thing about this which jumped right out at me, that was super impressive. We will talk about your training a little bit, because however you trained is spot on, of how you do it, because by my math and I'm not good at math you ran your fastest 5K between miles 20, 21 and 22, which that's you know obviously everyone that listens to this runs I run, rob runs. That's not when I run my fastest splits no, not at all. I don't hit send right out of go. But usually between miles 13 to 16 are pretty good for me, but never, ever, between miles 20 to 22 do I knock off my fastest. So was that the game plan? Was that when you said, all right, now we go, like, was there some coaching involved? Because that's something very rare and the fact that you did that tells me that you have a lot of willpower, that you were very structured and that you were very well mentally prepared for this. Because, like I said, very rare Do I see someone do that throw the fastest 5K down in those miles.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, I mean, you're spot on. I came into this race so prepared. I did everything right. By the way, I got COVID prior to the race. So there was some, you know some.
Omar Posadas:I lost training for a while, but I think the build up to it you know part of the training, the structure, was very, very helpful. You know, I initially thought, okay, you know I think, like a lot of runners, I'll just go fast initially, you know, bank some miles and then, and basically you know, ease out at the end. So we did the opposite. We switched it up. We started easy the first part of the race and then sped up the second part of the race, so about 20, I had found a group of runners that were running together and it was very motivating because they pushed me. I was a little faster than I wanted to. I'm not 20, but I know that's when the race does start and I felt it mentally. I'm like, okay, this is it, like this is what people, when they say the race starts at my 20, I exactly know what that means. Okay, this is where you just you dig deep and that's what I did. You know.
Omar Posadas:I think it was just the training that I had done in the past. I knew how it felt. I know how it feels to run entire legs. I just experienced that before. So I knew what to do and it worked out fine. You know there's some sometimes it doesn't. For me, this race was just a perfect execution of what we went out to do and we did. We were planning for a 303 and I got a 301. And that's where I made that. That mildly mentioned the knowledge. That's where I made the difference. There it was. It was. It was awesome.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I know, a couple episodes ago now I talked to an ultra runner. Part of it it's kind of like chess, it's the opening. How you open a chess game is very, very important to the game itself. And I see a lot in my running of guys and women that just boom, send it and I'll be chatting with them, because I mostly run trails and ultras. I'll be chatting with them.
Casey Koza:Hey, what's your goal today? Oh, I'm trying to get seven hours. It's like, well, dude, we're on a five hour pace right now. Ok, bravo. And then I'll be sitting at the finish line and seeing him three hours finished later behind me. And it's just, why aren't you pacing yourself better? I think that's just such a hard thing for people to get through. And when I looked at that qualifier as I was so impressed by it you had the plan. You stuck to it to a tee, more so than anything I've ever seen in a marathon someone outside of the elite group to really pay it off for you. And you actually went under your time by a couple minutes, and it just shows how important it is to go out and pace yourself properly and have the proper pace structure, let alone the training. So hats off to you.
Omar Posadas:Omar Casey and that's so true and this is what a coach I don't want to sound like. Hey, anybody could get a coach. It's hard to get a coach, it's expensive and sometimes, when it could be expensive with the proper shoes, the cost of the marathon and your flying there it could be very, very expensive. So in no means say, hey, everybody, go get a coach. If you can't afford a coach, I can fully understand. I got very lucky.
Omar Posadas:I was part of the VPN team Nick Bear VPN, a big influencer in social media and fitness, and he's one of the reasons why I started running. Within that company there's folks who are amazing, rich, done, and they became my support and they helped me through this process. So when we did the first marathon in March, pacing was important and I agree with you. I tend to just go fast and if you don't want to be better, how would you know right, if you're not being taught? So my coach taught constantly. Pacing is important. That's the secret sauce. We call it the secret sauce because folks, they're falling great the first part of the race. You're fresh, you want to go fast, that's naturally so. I was getting passed. I was just getting passed, everybody was passing me and I'm like OK, follow your pace, follow your plan, and then make the difference. And then, on the switch, I noticed that the second half I was passing people up and I'm like, ok, this is what they say. Pacing is important, but it takes a lot of willpower to not try to push it initially and I was like this is my numbers. I'm a phone and I had all the miles that I wanted to hit, every single mile. It was very systematic for me and I needed to hit those numbers. I was like a robot. I got to hit these numbers, I wanted to get these results and that's what I went into it. So there was a lot of patience because initially I wanted to go faster, because I felt great, and that's actually what people do, right, you just want to go faster. And if I do that mile, mile 20, 20, and 1, and 22, I will feel the pain there. So I paced myself and that, to me, was important to do and that's what we talked a lot about in the coaching and even in training, and I learned the hard way too, by the way, in training with track workout.
Omar Posadas:If I have a particular set of goals, I'm going to hit targets and I feel like great, I would push it. So I would already give it 100%. Basically, it will put me definitely in acceptable days because I went too hard and then I just want to put my legs forward and recover as fast. So it's a similar concept You're going too hard too soon, you're going to hurt yourself toward the end. Your performance is Based on my experiences with running and doing these long runs and trying to hit those paces.
Omar Posadas:That same concept applies to the race to stick to the plan. And if the race is different, of course it's emotional, it's exciting, there's a lot of folks around you and the energy is awesome and I love it and you can get caught up in that. For me it was definitely one of those things that, ok, I was just going to stick to my numbers and I had everything, I had every mile planned out and that's what I did. And then at the end we talked and we feel good, push it, but towards the end, Well, kudos to you to execute on the plan.
Rob Myers:It's one thing to know what you should do. It's a whole other thing to actually do it, because once you start running, you may feel good. The first four or six miles, whatever it is, things change. I think you adjust a little bit. But are you following the plan? No, at that point the plan's out the window because you have to follow that from the beginning of the race. So props to you.
Omar Posadas:And trying to do math. Doing that right it's difficult, right Because you're already off saying the target, the goal that you set for yourself. So I'm trying to see how much I have to get to it. It just gets complicated. So, thinking through the plan, to me it's easier because I know what I need to get. At Now, after a certain amount of time, I'm like, ok, if I could bank more time, that's great. But initially, if you're going too fast, then you're trying to make math to see am I going to do it because I went too fast, too soon. Now I'm slowing down. What's the difference there? It could get pretty complicated.
Casey Koza:Yeah, run or math is not very good.
Omar Posadas:No, I suck at it. The first race my coach was texting me Because I don't have my phone and he would text me and says you're doing good, or you're at pace or you're above. So it was cute because I wouldn't know, at some point you get it. It's foggy, so you don't know what's going on, though you see the 5Ks and 10Ks, the half America points, and those are good indicators. But after that you're kind of am I in the right pace? Am I in the right time? Am I going to make it? And so the excuse that my coach was texting me like you're good was helpful for me as well.
Casey Koza:Now super random question Omar, were you a footballer as a kid soccer player? No.
Omar Posadas:I was not. I was in band. I was not a runner, I wasn't athletic at all. I started working out after high school and college, just for like just you know. I was never athletic. I never thought I was athletic person. Nor have I ever ran this much. I started winning when I was 40, in 2020. So that's when I started to run consistently.
Casey Koza:Well, you might have actually just forpedoed my theory, but I had a theory about soccer players, footballers that then later in life become runners. But yeah, yours did not go with my theory, so I'm always glad to hear some counter evidence of that, because I have a theory that the most mentally strong runners are like the soccer players that play 90 minutes and you have to pace yourself throughout the game, and that kind of just a random, random thought I thought I'd ask.
Omar Posadas:I would say what I learned. The mental toughness is just, in general, I think, outside of running I'm in engineering, I'm in tech, and outside of running as well, I'm waylifting and that's also kind of I like process, I like regimen, I like structure. So all that just goes to my benefit and consistency as well. So I'm kind of tied into running. I'm a planner as well. I like to execute in a plan. I'm like a robot when it comes to that. Once you're structured, I go for it, and then I'm going to have a hard time missing things, and that's where I'm working on. It's OK to miss a day or two or a week In my case, when I got COVID, a couple of weeks it's OK, you'll bounce back up.
Casey Koza:Yeah, it does seem that there are. Especially when Rob and I run in the ultra space, there's a lot of engineers that we come across that you'll hear talk about there. Well, my real job I'm an engineer for such and such and architectural engineer, whatever kind of engineer because it's very regimented and you got to be able to follow the plan and I think it is very fact-based, like you said. So that makes sense, that there's a lot of engineers in what is not in the long distance running.
Rob Myers:Yeah, engineers are typically drawn to individual sports, less team sports, and I think running definitely falls into that. Very calculated it's just you in the road or you in the trail and that's it. There's not another team, right?
Omar Posadas:I think you're right. I think that that's that. That could be it. I'm an extrovert, so I see that with energy and I like you, but I do also like to be that, being by myself, I'm a solo runner. I run myself 99% of time. Actually, I do like running with other folks, but just the nature of the timing and in my schedule it doesn't allow to do a lot of team or Runs with other folks. But I do like to. I do like to run myself. That's a time to reflect and think, promise of, so it's very good for me.
Casey Koza:Then for me it slows me down Because I'm not competing with anyone, like if I go out with some some quicker friends. You know you kind of get locked into that go mode and you know I'm. I'm 40 years old, so I don't want to be. You can only push it so hard that you know so much. It's not. Your body's not limitless. There's there's an end to it somewhere and injuries do happen for sure.
Omar Posadas:Yes, we tend to recover a lot not as fast since 40 to now 44, I feel in the recovery process it's much slower for me. I got actually injured so I was gonna run CIM, sacramento and the goal there this this past December. So after Santa Rosa in August, we plan for okay, I think I'm gonna keep do a sub three. That was gonna be the goal to end 2023 with like a high. And I had you, I got into Boston. So everything I've been accomplished that I wanted to do it. It was amazing. I never thought that that would happen. I'm still still crazy what's happened.
Omar Posadas:It's been an awesome journey and I saw it was training for a sub three and then I got injured. I got Pantheon's. I shed is One day. I just went for a run, a long run, and came back and sat down and got up and my, I couldn't even walk and I'm like, oh, this is odd. I've never had, I've never been injured before and it was so painful. And what is this? I never even heard of times I should have before. Honestly, it's like I knew about it. I know what it was. A good thing runners get so into the doctor I need definitely. Yet that's what it is. You know you should probably not run for a while Now I'm like no, but I'm training for another thought and I was so close and I was, I felt really good, that's let me down. So I didn't run CIM last year because I was injured.
Casey Koza:Now, when you had to plant or fasciitis, I saw you made a post. This goes back to December 13th. You're walking backwards on a treadmill. Yes, made very popular by needs over toes guys, which those guys just kind of a I want to say revolutionary, because Before them I don't remember People talking about that sort of exercise or the stuff they do. I did it for about six months. Knees felt absolutely fantastic, hips felt great, and then I quit doing it because why would you keep doing something that works? You know that's right. So was that he's feeling good? Yeah, did those guys, and I don't think they get enough credit. They're still kind of niche maybe I'll tell people about. I'm like, hey, you know bad knees or you know your knees hurt. Watch what these guys do because they figured something out, you know I. I don't know that they're doctors, I don't know what their History is, but I've watched the exercises they do. I've used them tremendous. I have a little ink flying pads, oh awesome.
Casey Koza:Yeah yeah, so did that help you get through the injuries the knees, over toes, guys routine.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, so I discovered them a while back as well. There's no to you and there were just a different take on me prevent me, prevention. Now I'm like this is, and you're right, I'm not sure how you know another coaches. The doctor said things that you know. The medic said things. I wasn't sure, but I started, I started doing and I have a few I do. Friends are doctors and they do it as well. So I've been doing it for years, by the way.
Omar Posadas:So I do it when I do like I'm doing, like like work out. I don't do it every day. I didn't make twice a week for 10 minutes on a trimio. That that the extent of it, but it's worked. I have had not had any injuries to date and maybe they'll happen feature. But I want to say that as part which helped. But also do cross training and Strength training.
Omar Posadas:But I think what helped for the plans for me was just to recover. You know, surprise, surprise, just don't be off the foot. You know there's. I tried everything. I tried shock re therapy. You know the scraping the tape on the stretches, but this that's all kind of after the, after the fact. You know I wasn't doing that before, like the preventive side of things, the stretching I haven't been doing, but everything else. That was not what worked for me. I think it was just taking a month off so I took about muscle that I was December off completely from money. I Feel it now. So I'm back. I'm back to running. It's still there. I'm not a hundred percent. I said about eighty, eighty, nine, ninety percent I could. I'm back to Normally. I still feel a bit, aside the scrumptious it's a tough injury to deal with.
Casey Koza:If I've been fortunate enough, my feet have stayed relatively healthy, but I even knowing some people that have had to deal with it. It's, it's, yeah, it's tough. So good that you're healthy.
Omar Posadas:It's very painful. I mean I was. I was trying to run through it because I saw that three doctors. I'm like, how serious is this? Can I actually run tonight? Still run the marathon? So went for a test my last test one, the 22 mile test room that I was doing, and Halfway through I just had a stop and walk. I'm like I couldn't, it was just so painful to walk on it. I'm like, okay, that that's it. You know it was a hard put to small because I was trained so much. But the end of the day you only have one body. It depreciated and took care of it. So I I had a common husband. I hate picking up. I can't walk home, can even walk. That was a. I couldn't run the marathon and take the whole month off.
Rob Myers:Yeah, top two most painful running injuries. I mean that's up there planner, and then it ban my opinion.
Casey Koza:Yeah, injuries and I I know a lot of people pay lip service, I think, more than they do. Actually recovering, but especially at our age, on our recovering is, I feel, probably more important than the actual training, because Unless you recover properly, you can't train, and if you can't train can't go out and qualify for Boston. So I think, and I take it again, that's why I run most of my days so slow. I should say slow in comparison to what I could go out and just send it and run, because my slow could be somebody else's. Very fast could be somebody else's dream. So that's one thing I do like to stress is that when I look at, oh, I'd like to get to this goal, this goal, well, there's somebody that wants to get to where I am, there's somebody behind them. I think that's one thing, that we're all at different places, and one of the reasons, getting back to it, why never comment on how someone trains? Because you have absolutely no idea what they're capable of and absolutely no idea what kind of program they're on or doing.
Omar Posadas:I completely agree with you, sid. I am 100% I because I never thought, for example, I never thought I would do Mary Barnes. I never could have served myself fast, and there's people much faster than I am, and when I got to Boston, people, oh that's awesome and I'm like that's great. So I'm still. You know, I began through that. I don't want to hurt any feelings and say it was easy or this, but running for me comes naturally. It's just something I love to do and my body just mechanically, just does it well.
Omar Posadas:What I would say about running slower is I went back to my data. So in 2020, 2021, and part of 2022, I've gone slower now, as I run more, because I've gotten smarter about running rather than always trying to go full, you know. And then I put on running faster, if that makes sense, and my faster, my faster, please are getting faster. My slower phases, my regular days, are getting slower, whereas before I was looking and it was all pretty consistent, I didn't have any. It was pretty consistent. I was running pretty consistently every single day. There were some days I was slower, some days it was faster, but it's pretty consistent. So it's good to see the data like okay, I'm much slower now but like a minute, maybe a half, even two minutes, but that's because I'm running to adapt to what I want to get to right and then my slow may be like you just mentioned about that.
Omar Posadas:And when I hear people you know folks saying you should run, your slows at this and you don't, you can't say that you don't. You can't say that about that person Because everybody's different and that's why I don't say mention phases where your slow is my slow, I know my slow. It could be something that's out of the. So I'm very sensitive when I provide advice. I don't even want to go there because we're all very different and also the volume of miles that people run is varies per person. Some people drive with high mileage, some people do better with low mileage. You know, for training it's all just, it's all based on everybody's different.
Omar Posadas:And when your body takes, you know, I know that in my body at 15 to 65 miles a week anything over that, I start to degrade my I just don't recover as fast I my performance doesn't. I'm not good winning faster it degrades. I'm good at about 15 miles. Anything below that I mean it's not good for me either. I need to be able to do 15 and 16. And I'm wearing that three times Now. But I've had high volume for higher volume weeks and I've run 80 plus. But man, those were tough. You know, I just can't. I feel beat up really beat up.
Casey Koza:Yeah, that's, maybe it's our age, because that's about my. We thought like seriously, like between 50 and 60 is where I still feel the best. When I I ran a hundred K this past fall and got up to 75. And I, just I was done. I was like my neighbor, who probably will listen to this. I just remember I was talking to her on the driveway one day. She's a runner, she qualified for Boston. I just told her I was like I'm just ready for this to be done, like I can't, like this isn't, it's not 50 miles a week. Like that's fun for me. That's I just get out of the house every day for an hour and go do my thing. But this is like a job and I I don't want another job, I have a job.
Omar Posadas:Right, I can, I can plan something you're saying. I feel the same way too.
Rob Myers:Say, omar, it sounds like you've run a ton of road races. I mean any interest in trail, and you know obviously Casey mentioned it before that's mostly what we do is trail. So I'm just curious.
Omar Posadas:There's a lot of beautiful trails. I do a lot of heights, you know, maybe in the future I just right now on this path. You know I love road, road races and I love running on the road, and, and so that's where I'm at right now.
Rob Myers:Both are fun, and they're fun for totally different reasons. I mean the road is a blast to go fast on the trail. You're just, you're just taking it all in.
Omar Posadas:Oh yeah, I mean different types of running. You have a lot of elimination, a lot of different types of terrain. It looks beautiful. Yeah, I could definitely see that.
Casey Koza:And you know, omar, your, your friends over at Nike have recently made a big step in the trail running game. They've released the ultra fly shoe. I've had the privilege of trying it on. I haven't got to run any yet, but it's definitely something that that interests me, and you wear a lot of Nike, it seems to me.
Omar Posadas:I do, and I have a shoe as well and I took it for a spin. It's great, I loved it. I do so. So I tell you this is it's. I've never thought like this what this account would create, you know. So, you know, 2020, I was posting to my friends, my family and friends hey, I'm with you. I'm going to say that like, yeah, you know, nice, good job. And then you know, is there, is there a community out there that I could actually tap into? So then I created Omar and snapper and ditched my personal one, went to like a public one and within, you know, just started to connect with other like minded folks and runners from all backgrounds all over the world, and it was so awesome just to see and get motivated. And so initially, I wanted to use it as a kind of a motivation and accountability. Buddies. You know, running every day and throughout that it's just.
Omar Posadas:I've had so many amazing opportunities working with different companies and brands and Nike and Dick's putting goods on each side last year and I'm like you know this is wild, like you know, really with me, why me? I'm just a regular runner, but you know, I think that what we talked about it is I'm like the regular Joe. I'm like a regular runner. You know I have a full-time job. I run the side. I think I would. You know people who relate to that. I'm not an elite. There's nothing elite about me. I'm just a regular runner like everybody else. We can work and they like that, they like what they saw, and so we kind of oh so yes, I wear not all Nike now and I used to race in Nike, so before I used to, you know, my first shoes were the metal when I ran. So I'm running, so it's definitely awesome to be part with Nike.
Casey Koza:It's good anytime you see a company. You know Nike size obviously been around forever. They've made so many innovations and so many different sports between you know soccer shoes, running shoes, basketball shoes the Air Jordans are the most famous shoe of all time. So it's great to see a company like Nike. They reach out to you, they help you out, because If I'm going to purchase something from a company, I'm going to look what Omar Posadas is doing, way more than Iliad Kipchoge, because you and I have a lot more in common Than me. And Iliad, tremendous runner, obviously you know, greatest of all time.
Omar Posadas:Oh, yeah, no, I mean there, I completely agree. I think that that's what I think. That's the idea. You know, I guess a lot of shoes, a lot of issues, so you know. So some I have my favorite, some I don't like, and it's just the way it is, and but I do love their product. I love their Nike Vapor Flyers for my racing and temples and track days and they have good product. The fact that you know they're diversifying, you know my background is very different and like to always talk about, you know, gay Latino, I mean in running. I think that matters, repetition matters and people seeing like all of it. You know this guy. If it's I can do it, I could do it too, and I think that that's inspiring and I've seen others have one against part of others. So I just like the Nike is really diversifying and they're a great company to work with. They're very, very nice, very responsive, creative outlet. You know the game. You create a freedom to do whatever I want, since it's awesome, it's been a great partnership.
Casey Koza:Just scrolling through your Instagram, you were definitely a sharp dress Nike athlete for sure. I could probably use some advice from you, because my running style game is not on point. It's unfortunate. My girlfriend tells me I need to do better.
Omar Posadas:I like fashion. You know I I started I started running. You know I like it. It's I just like to put both people put together. So when I started running before Nike, I would wear these bright colors and I think that's what got people's attention. I was always color-cornered or were bright colors and those. That's still my thing, so it's always been, it's been. I think it's why, if you're right out there because I'm wearing, like the trails when you were doing I'm running outside my you know it's using Napa I'm seeing folks I'm like, hey, how fun is it to see? No, you see this guy wearing his bright pinks and purples and oranges and reds Right around and it's fun and so that I think maybe I caught their attention as well. So I started just, you know, break some bright colors for visibility as well. You know security purposes and visibility when I'm running the daytime though sometimes it doesn't work, car still Ignore runners. It started that way and I think maybe that got some people's attention.
Casey Koza:I mean it caught my attention. I was like, wow, this guy, you know, you kind of have some style, you've got some pizzazz, and I think that's. I Could see why Nike would come to Omar and say, hey, let's do something, because you you've already got the style to flare, quite a following, 40,000 Instagram followers, so you're quite influential. So yeah, I mean I like you made a great choice. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Rob Myers:So what's the the Napa running seem like. I mean I'm guessing it's awesome.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, I'm running the half next month. I'm in upper valley, done the half before narrow down the full and I'm I'm not doing the full history because I'm doing Boston, but I want to do the full here in Napa. So it's a big community. Yet we have a couple of running groups, a couple of awesome running stores. In fact we're doing a good. I could like a fun 5k tomorrow. The Giants, as our Giants, are in town. So folks are good to me, some of the players, the baseball team. We're gonna do a fun 5k run that I'm co-hosting with the Giants tomorrow. So that's really fun. It's. It's a good community, it's a fucking, it's a total runners out here.
Rob Myers:Everything is wine themed. I'm guessing somebody wants.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, that makes it the the medals of the. It has some maybe a wine glass or grapes very themed back, and so Napa has tons of beautiful scenery's trails that I love. I don't need to drive anywhere to be because I lived downtown, so from my house I could pretty much get in like five or six trails already. So that's where I do great weather as well, typically not too cold, not to, you know, doing winter times like today's, maybe 55 degrees, it's great and sunny. So I think that's also coming. The draw is showcasing the beautiful parts of Napa when I'm blind as well, cuz it's so beautiful here.
Casey Koza:Yeah, rob, you know we're only gonna be an hour away from that when we go to Canyon's From Napa true, it's a good point. Oh, is that? That's April 21st? It's coming in 28.
Rob Myers:I think, yeah, there's the last weekend of the month, oh nice.
Casey Koza:Oh well, we're going out to run the black Canyon 60 K next weekend. Our friend David, producer of this show excellent job, by the way. So is Rob Sent. Rob, hey, we're going to run canyons, do you want to come? Rob was like yeah, man, I'll get in. So he goes. Signs up for canyons, which takes place in Auburn, california.
Omar Posadas:But I know.
Casey Koza:I'm going to race that starts in Meyer, arizona Black Canyon in Arizona next weekend, so there was a little bit of a miscommunication. So now Rob gets to run both black Canyon and See all the canyons Except for the Grand Canyon, unfortunately.
Rob Myers:Hey, that was a happy mistake. I'm looking forward.
Omar Posadas:Is it your first time in Auburn area? It's beautiful there. It's it's a family in Auburn. It's beautiful.
Casey Koza:I love you.
Omar Posadas:I've never been there. If you do like beer, a lot of berries in Auburn.
Rob Myers:The takeaway from that story is just be very specific. When you're telling a friend, hey, I need you to sign up for this race, and you say canyons, because if you Google canyons race, there's like 40 of them, right, yep.
Casey Koza:Well, this is how we just happily get to go do a different race in a different part of the country, because Miscommunication, happy mistake. How?
Casey Koza:many races are you guys doing a year? I do four. I don't count like the shorter trailer stuff like around my house that I do, but I I'm good for Four good efforts a year. Outside of that it just the body kind of breaks down. I've been off since September, especially running around here, because we I live in Akron, rob now lives in Tennessee, akron, ohio so I haven't seen the Sun for 10 days. Oh yeah, so it's, it's tough to get out in the treadmill. I yeah, it's just so I have an offseason.
Omar Posadas:I Hear you, a terminal. It's difficult for me to be on terminal as well. It's tough. I tried To embrace, it is just I rather not run.
Casey Koza:You're not wrong. Yeah, yeah it's. They call it the treadmill for a reason. The only time I will it has to be below, like 15 degrees, or raining in cold, like it's raining between 30 and 45. I'll go on the treadmill, but which is a lot of days here. No, I don't know why I don't move.
Rob Myers:I mean the treadmill just feels like exercise when you get to go outsize. That's not exercise.
Omar Posadas:I'm having fun at that point you know, probably I think I think you're so right, you nailed it. I think that's exactly how it feels, absolutely so if I'm doing trim up because you may do the star master, which is, I think you, for me, more fun than to be honest, or the ruler or something else. But you're right. And but I found the terminal is useful for also, like interval training or speed work. It makes the time go faster. But if you go in for a long run because you got to kill an hour, you know Just for your routine. That that's just. You know. Even with put a movie on or a show on, it's still if you feel it.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I'm. I'm through half of the Star Wars story here this winter. That's not good. I I do agree, though for an interval workout you can control yourself much better and pace yourself, so I I don't mind it for that. I did a couple workouts that a friend sent me to prepare for black canyons on it, so it does have its place, but for me, I Don't know cuz I so.
Casey Koza:Previously I played rugby and, awesome, I was about 50 pounds heavier when I started running. I didn't, I didn't get into this to lose weight. I, just as I started running more, my weight started going down. We don't have the live video of this, we just do audio, so no one will be able to see me making the grass, unfortunately. But I and I saw one of your posts about body positivity and I think it gets mentioned a lot, but I don't think people get in too in depth to what it really means, and I'd be interesting to hear your tape, because you you mentioned in one of your posts that you were heavier Because you were like, kind of like I wasn't.
Casey Koza:You wouldn't have looked at me and said, oh, he's fat, like he's obese, he's out of shape. I was playing rugby, so I had. You know it's, it's a tough sport, it's not easy. So for me, I didn't get into it to lose weight, I just got it to be healthier, mostly mental, which kind of ties into the treadmill where I feel like I'm exercising, rather than outside, kind of on a mental escape from my workday, anything else that's going on, I can just be alone. I can solve problems for work actually, which I quite often do while out on my runs. But I did notice your post about that and you had a weight journey yourself, but it seems to have come natural over a course of years.
Omar Posadas:Yeah, I think that, looking back in those 20, or 25 pounds heavier than I am now, but at the time I didn't feel like it was a different mindset at the time. So when I say body positivity, I think we all come in different shapes and sizes. Some folks, like you mentioned, they start running because they want to lose weight. Others just want to be mental clarity or for mental health reasons. I started running I think in part for both. It was to lose weight and I'll be honest, what I've gained so much more has lapped. That that's just how I started. But I've got mental clarity, the confidence that I've created. It's my outlet for a lot of things now. But looking back at those photos, I didn't see myself as heavier. I'm clearly heavier, you could tell. But I was also happy. I didn't know, I was happy. I think that when we look at somebody maybe even running, because there's just a stigma of folks looking a certain way and running you may think you'll see a lot of things from them, but you don't know what's going on. Maybe they are happy, but that's the right way to get to the feel and they may not see how you see them. And that was the intent of that post is. It's really deceiving when you're looking and you're kind of judging somebody from the outside because you may not know what's going on inside, and then looking at me, then I looked so different. It does look rather bigger. I knew I was Going up the stairs, would be losing breath here, but I was okay with that, and not until I started running.
Omar Posadas:And as I get older, I think my priorities have shifted as well. Not, I don't care to be the strong. It's weird for me In my 20s and 30s I'm five, I'm five, six. I'm not a big guy, so I was never the biggest guy in the room and I'm never in the gym or strongest. And I think in my 20s I don't think in my 20s I was chasing something that it wasn't reality for me. So I spent a lot of time chasing something that I don't know why I was chasing where. That was the stronger person, the six pack. Looking back at it now I'm like, oh man, I wasted so much time chasing something that it wasn't me. I'm happy the way I'm now. I'm not even my speed with my strength. I'm happy with my body, and it does take time I think maturity to get there, but I'm not wishing to look like somebody else or being somebody else. I'm happy the way I look and I am.
Omar Posadas:And that takes a lot, I think, for me taking a lot of time that self love and looking at something that's who you are. Because it's hard. Social media is very selective of what people show. I have to unfollow a lot of people that I thought were kind of toxic for me, because there was folks that I thought I would never get to that or look that way and I don't need it in my face every single day. It's not good for me in my mental health, so I had to let go of that and that helped us as well. And, being true to myself, being OK with 9.5, 6 pack or being smaller, 25 pounds or muscle in fact, it's fine. I feel stronger mentally and I'm more agile now, so my priorities have changed.
Omar Posadas:I think it older as well. That's what I mean and I see a lot of folks talk about body image and running and how runners should look one way, and I see that I love friends who actually follow that, talk about that and they go into that and it's true. Sometimes we portray what's out there as looking very thin and lean and that's how you need to look to be faster. But it's not true. I know a lot of folks are bigger and are very quick and very fast and are crushing it and that's awesome and inspiring to see. And age too. Also with age, I'm getting faster. I'm getting older. That's crazy, well, because I started with 40. So that's my base. The recovery part is different, but also in running, you could get better with time, with anything. So I'm noticing that there's no limit. You don't want to limit yourself, just want to go and be the best you can.
Omar Posadas:Getting Boston at 44. That was amazing. I was 25 this year, so my time for Boston goes to 20, which is a nice little gap. It goes up, so it's awesome. But I think that when I started running, I'm like I could never be as fast. I'm older. Why even think that? I don't think that anymore. I'm saying my own limitations to myself. So once you free yourself from that or the comparison, it's free. And that's what I think going to come in 2024 is I'm getting rid of all that and not saying limitations and or comparison, and just running your own race, which is my theme for 2024. So you run your own race.
Casey Koza:And I think that's great advice and the journey you went on it's incredible to hear. Again, just huge congratulations to you for that. That's a great message you have Positive. That's one thing we do. A couple episodes prior to this we had Andrew Glazon. I don't know if you know our buddy Andy, but he's another guy, just super positive guy out there for the good vibes, the feels and having a good time, and I think you and Andrew embody what running should be and that's one of the reasons. When we were just going through people to have on the show, they were like, well, hey, look at our buddy, omar, ok, and I just got down like two or three pages. I was like, absolutely, this guy is a positive dude and we certainly appreciate you coming on. One question, because I was actually going to open up the show with Whistling Farmer in the Dell Did you watch the show the Wire? Yes, ok, so Omar's coming. You know what? Omar's coming in, all right, yes.
Casey Koza:I figured, everyone named Omar had to have seen that show. Rip to Michael K Williams, one of the great actors of the last 20, 25 years, probably the most in-depth character I've ever seen on a TV show, most depth to a character I've seen on a TV show ever One of my favorite TV shows, the Wire. So that's what we were referencing there. It's a fantastic show.
Omar Posadas:I agree it's awesome. Yeah, and this is many that have been.
Casey Koza:yeah, it's great. Yeah, I actually asked Rob. I was like Rob, you think we could cut out the one scene when he's coming and whistling down the street? We can't use that. We can't use that.
Omar Posadas:Realities. You've got to pay for that. I think, yeah, well, thinking of hiring me on. And back to the positivity of things. This is who I am.
Omar Posadas:My goal in social media is to provide, if you go through my account, folks that are using to this, that are probably having heard of me or I make fun of running. I poke fun at it. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's not. The best part of running is when it's done. Sometimes and I'll be honest there's good days and bad days.
Omar Posadas:Training for a marathon is tough. Let's not glamorize it with beautiful aids. Yes, the glory is great when you're done, but the process is even better. So I make fun of it. I joke because it's just humor to it. Don't do yourself too seriously, it's just funny.
Omar Posadas:But I also want everybody to feel included and accepted and seen. There's folks that don't run, don't race, and it's fine. They're out there and it might be difficult for them to get out there every day and running a couple miles. It's tough to get out there and run, so I can't do anything that does that and I want to support everybody that can. I'm more impressed with somebody that went from a couch to a fire car. Those folks take so much effort to do so, and sometimes confidence, and you know what's going on in their mental state that they may not feel comfortable running in public.
Omar Posadas:That's a thing, too, that people don't talk about. It's just all these things that I want to make sure folks feel like they're being seen and heard and supported. So that's how I want it. My people I connected with have been those kind of folks. The regular moms and dads and folks that are regular jails are just running and working, and that's my core base right there, and I love those people. Now that you do with the elites, everybody's great, but the reality is we all have lives, we have families. This is not our full-time job, but we're still making effort to do so. So that's my spin, and then I sometimes do work from flashy clothes.
Casey Koza:It's just thank you to Nike, which is awesome, and that's why we are the hobby jogger, omar, because we want to talk to all the people in the middle, all the people at the end, those people at the front of the pack. They talk to enough people and get their message out there enough that they don't need to be on the hobby jogger. That's what we're here for. We just want to relate to regular people that get out and run and, once again, time is valuable and spending an hour with us, so we do. Thank you very much, omar, and I'll follow you up Boston. You'll be one of the guys that I'm following along there. I'm hoping the weather is good for you, because you're from Napa and this East Coast weather in April can be. It can still be snowing there. As everyone knows, boston weather is unpredictable in April, so hopefully you get some good Napa-like sun.
Omar Posadas:Rain or shine, I'm going to run it, and I'm still thinking I'm going to maybe just run it as a celebration run. I think that's my intent going into it. I haven't decided that. I mean we're having training though, but my heart is OK just have, enjoy it and brace the community, have a good time. So I think that's how I'm going to approach this race.
Casey Koza:Awesome. Well, we look forward to following along and cheering you on at Boston. Such an accomplishment the way you did it. Your coaches should probably ask you for some training tips when it comes to mental preparedness for races because, like I said, I've never seen someone run their fastest 5K miles 21 through 23. So thanks again, omar, and have fun out there.