The Hobby Jogger Podcast
Welcome to The Hobby Jogger Podcast, where elite athletes and ham-and-eggers lace up their stories. We explore the common ground that running creates from the world-class runner to the hobbyist hitting the pavement, trail or treadmill. Expect a blend of inspiration, laughter and the shared joy that makes every step count. Join us on this journey, where every run is a story worth sharing.
The Hobby Jogger Podcast
E55 | Age Is Just a Number: Joyce Berryman Takes On OCC
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Hobby Jogger. I am your co-host, Casey Coza. I am once again joined by Mr. Rob Myers. Rob, how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_01:I'm doing well. Excited to uh talk to somebody we met at probably one of the coolest restaurants/slash bars at like 7,500 feet on top of a mountain. So it's gonna be a good time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we haven't met too many people at the top of the mountain uh in our lives, but we definitely did that day. And uh very excited to have our next guest on the hobby jogger, Joyce Berryman, uh joining us from wonderful Morgantown, West Virginia, where I have a lot of great memories as a kid at Cheat Lake right there. Joyce, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00:I'm doing very well, thank you, and thank you for having me on.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, Joyce. It was uh it was uh you know, no-brainer for us. Heard a little bit of your story, so definitely an awesome story, one we can't wait to expand on a little bit. And let's just uh tell the audience how it is we met. We were over at OCC, part of the UTMB series we were watching, and ran into a couple of your friends, I believe, first at Argenteer. We didn't meet you there, you were busy running OCC, correct?
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, yes. And what I heard was that how you met was that I believe it was your wife, Annie. Am I correct? Realized that there was no toilet paper in the women's restroom.
SPEAKER_02:Sounds like her.
SPEAKER_00:She knew we were American, or I wasn't there, but that my family was American, so we would be really wanting to know that information. And so when she came out, she immediately told the everybody there's no toilet paper. And that was the beginning of the friendship, and I guess you all just kept running into each other, then uh a few other places.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I believe we then ran into them and we we learned, and and forgive me, Joyce, that I I don't remember their names.
SPEAKER_00:Probably Steve and Claire would be the main people, my son-in-law and daughter, Steve and Claire.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they're from Louisiana, yes, Baton Rouge, yes, and who are the ones from Akron, Ohio?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and that is Chris and John.
SPEAKER_02:Chris and John, that's correct, yes. Um, so uh funny enough, I am actually neighbors with them. Um, I can drive a golf ball to their house. If I hit it straight, I might need a little bit of wind, Rob. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you don't really play, so there's that.
SPEAKER_02:I also don't play golf, but that's how close they live. I'm trying to, you know, give the audience a perspective of we're on the other side of the pond over in Europe, and we just yeah, run into these people. And Annie starts chatting about toilet paper, which makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00:Uh to Americans.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, to Americans. Uh bathroom situation was a little tricky in Argentina. So that that definitely makes sense. But yeah, that's such a such a small world, Joyce, that you know, we go that far and run into to someone like you and in your family and friends.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yeah. It was fun.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it was a blast. Yeah, we we had a great time following along OCC. We had a we we had a we had a great day. And uh, you know, congratulations on finishing it for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02:Now, to to go back, I guess, a little bit where I wanted to start with you, Joyce, is how did you get into running?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, and it's a pretty specific story. So I was 36 years old, and a friend of mine had a son who was about two and needed some speech therapy. I'm a speech pathologist. So I just said, Hey, how about I see him for some informal speech therapy? So with me doing that, and I didn't want to take any pay for it, she bought me a gym membership, a month uh at a gym. And so from there, I started uh lifting at the gym three times a week and also doing some cardio. But it wasn't long before I just had this thought in my head, I remember you, your Joyce. It's kind of like I was in my career, was a wife, was a mother, and I had kind of forgotten Joyce. And and there at the gym, I just had time to recognize that. And so it got paired with um just such a positive reinforcer. And so I just gradually I loved the feeling of lifting weights, uh, gained confidence with that, and then the the cardio part, I just started running, I guess getting a little more fit. I guess springtime came. I started leaving the gym and running outside. I realized I loved nature and just hearing, just being outside. It didn't even have to be really nature, but just the being outside. And then I just started running a little longer. My husband is in parks and recreation. He had a 4th of July uh 10K that probably I started running when or started at the gym when I was 36. Then by probably like 40, so four years later, I might have run the because the kids probably won ran the one miler. And then um I just decided I wanted to try. Actually, a friend of mine said, told me she was gonna run the Pittsburgh Marathon. By that time, I was probably like 48 years old. So we're talking over a period of time, nothing fast. And she told me she was gonna run it. And I went home that night and I thought, I want to run the Pittsburgh Marathon. So we signed up, we ran it, it was wonderful. Pittsburgh Marathon is fantastic. Don't know if it's in there, they have a band almost every mile, it's just a great vibe.
SPEAKER_02:And um what what year roughly did you run it? Do you know?
SPEAKER_00:I got it written down here.
SPEAKER_02:Perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I ran it the first time was in 2003. I was 48 years old when I ran the first time, so then that it just was great. Move forward six years. I I didn't run another one for six years, it was just kind of and I decided I wanted to qualify for Boston, so I went back to Pittsburgh. I was 54.
SPEAKER_01:And whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. So you were in a marathon and then you didn't run another race for six years, and then decided you wanted to qualify for Boston?
SPEAKER_00:I might have run a shorter one, but I just here's the thing I love the process, I love the training, the incremental. So I'm a speech pathologist. I deal in incremental improvement, and I like just observing and analyzing how it's going. So yeah, I I probably did run, surely, but I don't have anything written down, some other shorter races, but really it that was not my thing. It was more about just running uh for myself, time alone, you know, my thoughts to myself, meditation, if you want to say. Yeah. I get it. So anyway, yeah, that's how it happened. I so I went up, ran the Pittsburgh again. I qualified because now you all know the older you get, you don't have to run as fast. So that's what I always tell everybody. I just started qualifying right off the bat because I didn't have to run as fast as the young folk do. So anyway, went to Boston, fabulous time up there. Um, I'm gonna look here. Yeah, ran again in Pittsburgh the first time, four hours and one minute, second time in Pittsburgh, three hours 56 minutes, Boston, four hours and one minute. So you all are getting a picture. I was always aiming for like an 835 pace. You know, that would have been three hours and 45 minutes, and I eventually got there. But anyway, so that's kind of how things started. It just got paired with very positive kind of time for me, time to find myself, and time to have thoughts come to me in our busy world. We just don't have that often.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's a very good point. Yeah, because you don't. I mean, I enjoy, and it's very important to me though, you know, the hour I get out every day to go run. It's just my time and actually try and usually just avoid, which we'll get into the trail running, but I like it because there's no road crossings I have to worry about, don't see as many people, there's not dogs, you know, just kind of out there on my on my own.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I get it completely.
SPEAKER_02:So you you you qualified for how many times have you qualified for Boston?
SPEAKER_00:So I have run Boston four times now, and I just um, and this is jumping ahead a little bit, but I just ran the Pittsburgh again this year in May, and I qualified for Boston for next April because I am moving to a new age group, I will be in the 70 to 75. And I think you're already getting a little bit of my point. Some of this is all about attrition, yes, it last man standing. And if you can you know, if you can just keep going as you get older, you just look better and better because you just keep moving up.
SPEAKER_01:So, what you're saying is you may win Boston.
SPEAKER_00:I won't go that far. And hey, I will tell you this too. I always look at Joan uh Samuelson. Joan Benoit Samuelson, you remember she won the uh Olympic marathon in 1984, and sometimes she's in my age group up there in Boston. Oh, but I always tell myself, okay, so if she beats me, then I can say, well, I got beat, but it was by Joan Benoit Samuelson. Not too shabby, even getting beat there. So anyway, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. Uh, just to give you a little bit of info, the last time I ran Boston was in 2022. I was 66 and I came in 12th in my division. So now we will see this year or next year when I run it, where I fall. Yeah. And I'd like to be in the top 10.
SPEAKER_02:I've got to ask, where were you in Pittsburgh in your your age group?
SPEAKER_00:Uh oh, first.
SPEAKER_02:First, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Because, and I'll tell you this because my son-in-law pointed it out to me. I qualified for Boston by yeah, 45 minutes.
SPEAKER_02:So you're well under the cutoff.
SPEAKER_00:I am. See, doesn't that just make me look good?
SPEAKER_02:That does. You're awesome, Joyce. That is that is absolutely incredible.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:How I mean, you you know, we've discussed your age. How do you do you get out every day? You just go run every day.
SPEAKER_00:No, I uh usually try to take off two days, one or two days a week, and and may even lift on those days. I'm still lifting the three times a week. I feel like that's really important. Yeah. And I think it helps me a lot. So um, like now I'm in a not training block. So I've I will take a month off, maybe not quite a month, and then I'll just get out and run probably five days a week, um, and just run for fun. And running for fun does mean I'm still gonna try to do a speed workout once a week because as I get older, if you give that up, it is so easy to lose a little bit of speed. And then I'll do the longer runs that I really enjoy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, even when I have nothing on the calendar to train for, that's still yeah, same with me. It's like it's yeah, you you do lose it. I mean, I'm man, I hate to say this right now, but I you know, Rob, we're getting a little bit older. We are indeed, and and you do lose speed as as you get older. I'm certainly not as fast as I was 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Probably in better shape though than I was 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, consistency, isn't it? It's key, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Consistency, yeah. That is the number one thing when it comes to running is just being consistent, I feel. Rob, what do you think?
SPEAKER_01:Most certainly. I mean, and I find the older that I the older I get, um, I can't really cheat. I used to be able to cheat, stop doing whatever activity that I was doing on a regular basis, and then kind of pick it back up, and I really didn't lose anything. Now, if I take a week off, it feels like I haven't run in a month or two months. So you lose it so much faster, and it takes so much longer to gain it back.
SPEAKER_00:That's you just said it so well. I would rather make sure and be disciplined and do it every week than to lose it and have to work so hard to get it back. I feel exactly the same way.
SPEAKER_02:So, yeah, and yeah, that's that's that's a good point, Rob, because it does. It does, you have to work extra hard, especially post-40, to get to get back to where you were when you could have just been consistent every day, got out and you know, done some movement and maintained a lot a lot better.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh another question I have for you, Joyce. What what got you into ultra running? And particularly when I looked at your ultra sign up, you just it looked like you just took a shot, you were like, I'm going to the canyons out in California. What made you do it? You just needed a uh a bigger challenge.
SPEAKER_00:Uh okay. So specific answer to that also. So my daughter and son-in-law are really my coaches. Both of them ran in college. Steve ran at uh University of New Hampshire, and Claire ran at Penn State. And so a lot of our bonding time is spent talking about running, running together, that type of thing. So uh Steve and Claire got into trail running it within the last, I'll say, three years. They decided they were going to go out to Canyons out in the Sierra Nevadas in California and run the 100K out there. And they just plain said you need to come with us. And they said, You you could do the 100K, but I said, Oh no, I'm especially I looked at the age of people who were running it, and I said, Now I'll I'll do the 50K. So we all got to talk the whole time we were training, which is always just fun. We went out there, uh, well, and I will say this about the training. Morgantown, you know, because you've been here, it does have some elevation and hills. So I I ran some of those. I I just tried to run those hills. Anyway, went out, didn't know how it was going to go, and it went very well. I couldn't believe it. Now, there were only three women in my age group, and but I ran it the 50k in seven hours and 18 minutes.
SPEAKER_02:That's very impressive for that course, Joyce. Like that is it's not an easy course. There is a like 5,500 feet of elevation, I want to say.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And it in parts of it, it's not bad if it's real technical and rocky at the beginning because you feel good, but towards the end, that course gets a little trickier and a little tougher than I was expecting. So, not an easy course. Have your first trail 50k at.
SPEAKER_00:I was just shocked. So, anyway, that's how I got to go then to UTMB OCC was because I qualified. Yeah, that was so a little bit about that story, and I'll try to just cut me off if I'm making it too long because my family says I talk too much.
SPEAKER_02:You do not talk too much, do not listen to them, Joyce.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you can just cut it out, can't you? You all can just edit it.
SPEAKER_02:We can, we won't, but we can.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. So I qualified. Well, Steve, again, my coach, he entered the lottery, and he had entered the lottery for the 100 miler, the UTMB, the big boy. And he first time he won the lottery. So he's winning though for the year before me. He won the lottery to run it in 2024.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So we I gotta make sure I'm saying that right. Yes. So we got this plan that our whole family, again, who you met, we'd all go over to Chamonix. Steve would run, we would crew, and I would scout, scout out the OCC course. And Claire and I would run it together. So I start my training for that. Two and a half months into that training, I um end up with a compression fracture of my thoracic six vertebrae. And just let me give you a little aside since you're allowing me a little extra time.
SPEAKER_02:You have all the time you need, Joyce.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So I thought I might be having a heart attack when I had the fracture because it just you they say that you have a little bit of chest pain and blah, blah, blah. Well, so I go to the hospital, they check me out, give me a clean bill of health, and I told them I was having the pain, but they'd push right here on my sternum, and it didn't feel like it was that bad. So anyway, they told me there is nothing wrong with you at all. Run, let pain be your guide. So, what did I do? Because I'm trying to train, I'm looking at my training schedule and I'm due for a 20-miler. So, as Claire likes to say, Mom, you ran 20 miles with a broken back. So, because what happened is then I got this little bump on my back of my vertebrae. People said, You need to go get an x-ray. And then the x-ray showed that I had the compression fracture, which was already healing by the time I got the x-ray. So then uh they just said, let pain be your guide. So I looked at myself as an experiment for the next, you know, till I was going to run uh OCC, which was really then a little more than a year away. But in the meantime, I decided you had some time. Yeah, I had some time to just see how I healed. But in the meantime, I decided to run Pittsburgh to qualify for Boston. So I did that training, which I knew would just piggyback onto the OCC training, which it did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:So that's my story there, and I'm happy to say, with the help of doing yoga and some massage therapy, and then just taking it slow but sure, I had no pain when I ran OCC at all.
SPEAKER_02:That's amazing. I I know our our buddy Jason was in uh considerable amount of discomfort.
SPEAKER_00:Did he have like did he specifically say what was it everything?
SPEAKER_02:I think it was a general body discomfort, if I had to guess.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was an OCC discomfort overall.
SPEAKER_00:Well, one other thing I will say, Steve, my coach, my son-in-law, he had put together a 10-mile loop out at Cooper's Rock, which do you know where that is, Casey?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, he put together a 10-mile loop and he told me if you run this loop and you run a couple of times, you run it twice, so get 20 miles or a little more. He said, You will be fine at OCC. Guess what? He was exactly right.
SPEAKER_02:Steve's a smart guy, he knows what he's doing for sure. We may have to hire Coach Steve. Yeah, we we might need to hire Coach Steve.
SPEAKER_00:He should put himself out there, but yeah, yeah, we'll see. I really want to keep him for myself, too.
SPEAKER_02:You know, that's awesome. It is a it's a family event for you. So well, how did Steve do when he ran UTMB? Did he do okay?
SPEAKER_00:Well, he he no, he it he stopped after, I think it was about 35 miles because he a couple of things. Uh, mainly he's living in Baton Rouge, and there just is no way. And he and he also had run canyons again this year, and he has some medical issues with that he's having to deal with because of that. So he was having to cut back on his training. Yeah, he knew it was gonna be a long shot, and I think he always just goes into it, it's a learning experience for the next time. So yeah, then he just put all his efforts into coaching me.
SPEAKER_02:Nice, nice, yeah. So take us through the race a little bit here, Joyce. Uh, because it's it's just such a cool. I mean, we we saw her come through Argentine, right? I believe, Rom.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, that's I think that is where you all I mean, you might have seen me come through because that's that I think you all were there about the same time.
SPEAKER_02:So I we were at the bar, you were busy running mountains. We were at the bar.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. That is a great bar, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So we're I I mean, obviously, your your running background, you were more than prepared for the race, but it's an intimidating race. Yes, you're going pretty high, and you live in Morgantown, which has hills for sure, like very steep ones, but you don't have the same elevation.
SPEAKER_00:It the Cooper's Rock, what I counted was you probably could get if you ran it twice, maybe 4,000 feet of elevation, nothing like 12,000 feet of elevation. It it still gave me, you know, a little bit of the idea, but you're right, totally different. Yeah. And I will say, yes, I was nervous about the unknown. You know, could I do it at my age? What I mean, a lot of times I have a left toe drag, you know, you just catch your toe and then you're down.
SPEAKER_02:I do the same thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so all of those, those things. But um, luckily I had run last year the first eight miles that I didn't get to run the whole thing, but we decided I could run the first eight miles. So I knew from O say, which is the weirdest thing that's spelled with all those R's and S's, but it's just called O say, which I remember because it's O say. Can you see? So that helps me remember the name up.
SPEAKER_02:Now I'm gonna remember that, Joyce.
SPEAKER_00:Good, good.
SPEAKER_02:A little Rob, did we even know how to say that?
SPEAKER_01:No, I think it came up on uh Jason's podcast. We butchered it.
SPEAKER_02:Osiris's or something is what I call it.
SPEAKER_00:Right. That's what I'd been saying. Yes. So I bought a raincoat, and the girl told me how to say it. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:All right. Well, let me write that down so I can not forget Jose, can you see for next year?
SPEAKER_00:So I'm glad I can help with that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I and I think irregardless of age, condition, that is a very intimidating course, Joyce. So it's not like it's just you or me, you know, after being out there, it's like, ooh, wow, that's you gotta climb some mountains. You gotta go pretty high up there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. And then, of course, you know um that they did decide because of the weather to take us off the face of a couple of the mountains. And then I just love how in trail running they just add two miles to the trail race. I mean, I'm like, wow, because I'm used to marathons where every inch is measured. Oh, yeah. Oh, by the way, yeah, well, we made it 38 miles. No biggie.
SPEAKER_01:It's a 50k-ish, right? Ish.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's all ish, ish, it's all-ish. That's exactly right. Um, but to kind of go through it a little bit, because it does kind of blur together some as you're running it. But um I would say, you know, the part I was a little concerned about because of running it last year when I was not in as good a health, I'd had some, it was really hard going up the first big uphill to get to uh Champay Loch. And but I had my I was good, it went fine. I mean, it's hard, but it wasn't as hard as I remembered it. And then I love going from Champay Loch to uh the next, it's not an aid station, it's uh plan de law. I'll say I know I'm not saying it right, but plan de law, and I love because it's a little bit rolling and it's beautiful, and there's pasture and the distance you can see the Mount Blanc and the mountains, and I love that. And then of course you get to um next going downhill. Now, this was a big eye-opener for me, is why I'm talking about there are roots, and you you have to hit the roots, and everything's downhill, and I'm used to flowing downhill, and this was you lock your knee every step, and people were coming behind me, and I could feel them coming. And you think about it, we're only 12 miles in here, and I'm like, I was nervous about how do I let them get around me because it was really tough to pass. So I tried to speed up my running. I got out of that uh steep downhill, and I thought, okay, Joyce, here's your you better get it together. My legs were shaking, and I thought I can't do that again. So I just realized I'm gonna have to go my pace, run my race, and I'm gonna have to just step aside however I can to let people pass. Or if I can't do that, they're just gonna have to wait. But I and I also really fueled up there with another goo, and I just slowed my running down, and I got my legs, I got my legs back, and I did that the whole rest of the the race. I ran my race at my pace. I went as fast as I could to feel but feel safe.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's something very difficult for people to do of all skill levels is to yeah, run your race and and I'm sure I have no doubt based on the time that you ran that you were probably going by people towards the end of the race.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know about the end of the race, but let's we'll talk about that because Steve and Claire, who I like to call Claire and Steve, Cleave, because then it's don't you like that? Yeah, that's but anyway, um, they told me so I got to the second aid station. Is that Martin Knee? Martini M-A? Yeah, and I was there a while. I was actually even in the bathroom a while. They are looking and they're thinking 300 people past me while I was at that aid station. They were all flipping out. They may have even told you that if they saw you that, but they were sure something terrible had happened. But then I get back out and on the course, and uh they said, next thing they know, I'm going up the steep hill, the six and a half mile or Up to uh it's going to end up at triant. I'm going to end up coming back down a little to triant, but up. They said I passed 150 people. I I don't I don't know how that happened.
SPEAKER_02:Did you take polls?
SPEAKER_00:I oh yes, and I used them. And they and I am because I lift weights, you know, even though my arms are really skinny. I guess they were fine. So I I passed 150 people getting to Treant. Anyway, that was great. And then I got back on the course after Treant, went up to Cold A Bomb, which was the bomb. It was fantastic. It's above the tree line. Okay. Everything is stark and and wide, and it just was beautiful. All of it was beautiful. But anyway, I passed another hundred and fifty. So I was back to even. The bathroom shampoo didn't really. I'm back to even. So anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's a very difficult climb, too, up to Cold De Balm, correct? It's very rocky, Rudy, I believe. Um just just going off of some, you know, things that other people have said. So not again, not an easy climb, but I I feel like you did right by taking polls. You should always have polls out there. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I think everybody, just about everybody, was using their polls. Oh, and I will say one other little thing that made me feel so good. So going up to the the cold de bomb, there had been a few young women that I don't know where they're from, and I've never really looked at them. I only looked at their socks basically, because I was always looking down to not fall. They had seen I had my bib on uh on my back on the back using Steve's bib belt, which I don't know if we mentioned that, but we did.
SPEAKER_02:Well we'll yeah, we should plug that too.
SPEAKER_00:It because it was great. And and you can wear it in the back. You can anyway, it was great. So they could see because I had my name, Joyce, in big letters, and uh they they would say to me going up, they'd say, Oh, here Joyce comes again. Joyce, you're the bomb, Joyce, you're a machine, you're so strong, you're passing us again, because they'd pass me on the downhill.
SPEAKER_02:Anyway, that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_00:They just made me feel so good. So I saw them two or three times, and they always made a big deal, which for an older person to be you know included, it just was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Well, well, you you crushed our friend who's like 43 years old. So all right. Joyce, can you confirm that they were uh because I think it was aid station three or was it four that didn't have water? We've had a couple folks, uh a couple racers from OCC that said there was no water at some of the aid stations. Did you notice that?
SPEAKER_00:No, I got water at every one of them. I refilled to uh mix my um Martin's, and then I always got another flask. Wow, I don't know. Maybe I was jumping line or something.
unknown:I don't I don't know how that happened.
SPEAKER_02:The mystery continues, the varying reports, yes, yeah, and yeah, and you and you were not at the back of the pack, so uh yeah, you wouldn't have just run out, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:I'm thinking maybe they restocked or something. Maybe I was towards the back and they restocked.
SPEAKER_02:Could have been, could have been hard to know.
SPEAKER_00:It is a mystery, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You had water though, and that's yes, I did.
SPEAKER_00:I never had a a problem.
SPEAKER_02:That's good, yeah. And I I guess one thing I want because you've you've run a lot of marathons, qualified for Boston. What do you think of the difference from your perspective between the two? The the mountain ultra running and and the marathons. I know it's a little bit we're jumping here, but I guess while we I have a second to just yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I have not thought about that, so I don't have a ready answer. So I'm I'm gonna have to think a little bit. Yeah. You know, I know people talk a lot about the camaraderie and the uh the vibe of the um ultra running, trail running, mountain trail running.
SPEAKER_02:That's what made me bring it up with the the younger ladies that were cheering for you, is is kind of because you don't hear about like I don't ever hear about that in the marathon. Yeah, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so the difference there might be, so you're right, and there is the I love the vibe in all of chamony. I that when all the runners are there, it's just an unbelievable vibe. And you're right. I mean, I never had any interaction that wasn't just so welcoming and friendly, but I will say all the marathons that I have been to, it might not be so much the runners having that camaraderie, but the uh the always the spectators because I always try to have my first name pretty big, so and they always people are yelling, yay, Joyce go. So I guess I'm thinking you know, there aren't that as many spectators in the mountain trail running because you're up in the mountains where they're so I still have gotten a a feeling of camaraderie, but on one, it's with fellow runners, the other it's more with the spectators, and I really had never thought about that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, yeah, because you're around the same people and you pass them, they pass you, and you leave Prague and and whereas in the marathon, especially Pittsburgh, which you've run a bunch. There's there's a lot of fans out. I was out there this year, so yes, gut saw.
SPEAKER_00:And I was there.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, I was spectating. I I didn't I didn't run it, but uh yeah, I was out there. Uh Annie ran the the half marathon.
SPEAKER_00:So oh, did she? My niece ran the half.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_00:The my niece that actually I went out to Washington State with, and she qualified for Boston now. She got the bug.
SPEAKER_02:Hopefully, you take her on your next mountain adventure with you.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yes, good idea. Good idea.
SPEAKER_02:See, Rob, we're we got thought-provoking questions today and good ideas.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love when we can take a roadrunner and pull him over to trail running. Absolutely, it's always a good feeling. Check the box, we got another one.
SPEAKER_00:There you go.
SPEAKER_02:All right, Joyce. So back to the OCC. Awesome. You you come down Trion, beautiful town, nice pink church there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, beautiful.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. You still got another tough climb up over the mountain. Correct.
SPEAKER_00:That would be, yeah, to cold a bomb. I had to hold the bomb. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So you're there, you come down, long, long descent, down, down to Argentier, where we met your your friends and and family there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:What were you because you're you're pretty deep into it. I know Jason was hurting. He was talking about what did he want, Rob? He wanted red beer and a red hot tub.
SPEAKER_01:Red beer and a red hot tub.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. So we weren't sure what that meant, but we were happy for him because he he left the aid station uh moving pretty well. So, what was that like getting into Argentina? You could see your family and friends. And how were you feeling?
SPEAKER_00:So I did have, and I think it was from taking in so many calories, because I knew I needed to really take in a lot because I my longest run had been five and a half hours, and I knew I was going to be doing way more than that. So I had a bit of a bellyache. So I was having to try to kind of still take calories, you know how that is, it's a balancing act. So that would be physically. As for well, and I didn't mention I had a little bit of an ankle nagging something, which I have had before, and I just hoped that it would be fine. It was like that before I started the race, nothing bad, but I just I knew I could run on it if it didn't get worse. It's it was still fine, never got worse the whole race.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, not not to sound sadistic, Joyce, but I'm glad you had some pain and and some discomfort. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna remember you're saying that, Casey. So anyway, I would say there was something I wanted to tell you about. Oh, yeah. At that would be at Argenteer, where Claire and Steve told me one of the women in my age group, who of course I had we'd looked them up, so we were I told them, please follow them. Not that I had as a goal to beat them because Sue Meltzer's her name, she's from New Zealand, and she has a list this long of races she's run. So I knew that was probably out of reach, but they were watching and they told me I was 15 minutes behind her. So I had a decision to make should I try to pick my pace up, think, remember the rain.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, it was rainy.
SPEAKER_00:Really rainy. So I was and I and it was getting dark. Oh, yeah, it was it was I had my headlamp on, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Do you wear glasses?
SPEAKER_00:One contact, and it was fine. Yeah, so no, no problem there.
SPEAKER_02:Because I have a hard time when it's at night, especially in the rain, because I wear prescription and it's yeah, that can be with the headlamp because it's so bright and it's illuminating all the raindrops. Yeah, it can be tough for me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I bet. Just one more thing to deal with.
SPEAKER_02:So that was pretty tough. The the weather, the the condition, the condition, the course, and just about everything over there was pretty tough.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, yeah. So I I thought to myself, we had looked at the new course because remember, they changed the course as we talked about, and we thought it was going to be rather flat. If you even looked at how they had it on the map, it looked flat, and we thought it was going to go by the river. Well, then if in that case, I knew I probably could pick it up a little bit if we were talking just basically gravel flat. Well, boy, oh boy, did I have a surprise? It was not flat. In fact, it was rocky. I don't know if anybody described it to you. It was rocky up. There was uphill, downhill. I was climbing over rocks. It was so what I told myself was look, you gotta run as fast as you can to be safe, but you just forget about Sue Meltzer. I didn't want to run my race thinking about her. I wanted to run my race thinking about me. And so I just made the decision. I'm I'm not chasing that 15 minutes. If it happens, it happens. And that is what they said. Keep doing what you're doing. She beat me, I think she even beat me by more than 15 minutes, like maybe 25 even. So it was good I didn't try to chase it.
SPEAKER_02:It was only your second ultra, and one of the toughest there is. So yeah, we'll for we'll forgive you for there's always next year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh this one went well enough. I think I might I might run the course, but I don't know that I want to run the race. Does that make sense? For sure.
SPEAKER_02:You just want to go out and enjoy the course and hopefully see it in a little bit better weather, especially the part maybe you didn't get see at night.
SPEAKER_00:But oh, I went back. I ran that. I talked Claire into which didn't take much. I said, I have to see because we I'll kind of finish up the end of the race. So climbing over those rocks, we also went by this little hotel that had oh, you all have been there. Annie told me it's uh has twinkle lights. You all went to the bar part, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Is that where we ate, Rob?
SPEAKER_00:You all parked your car.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Had all the outdoor seating.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I talked Claire. I said, I have to see it in the daylight. I think I know what I think it looked like, but I want to see it. So we just ran, it was five and a half miles up, and I had to find that bar hotel restaurant, and we stopped and had a drink there.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. I'm glad we could influence it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then Jeff came and picked us up. My husband came and picked us up. We didn't run back because my I really was still pretty sore. It was a couple days after.
SPEAKER_01:That was a great spot. I think we did we go there twice, or maybe we tried to go a second time and it didn't work out. I don't know. It was a cool place, though.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think they might have been close. They might have just been closing when we were walking back after CCC. Yeah, food was excellent, food was excellent everywhere. So so okay. So you go back and and run it. You you you finished second in your age group, we should mention, right, Joyce?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes. And I'm not gonna say how many there were, but because people say, don't say that, just say you came in second.
SPEAKER_01:You were at the Super Bowl and you came in second, right? Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. There you go.
SPEAKER_02:It doesn't matter how many there were. You were you because you were there.
SPEAKER_00:That's right.
SPEAKER_02:Let's do the free. We'll look talk about the finish, which is awesome there, because you get your family, your friends, and the crowd there bringing you into wonderful downtown chamony. It's uh yes, it's just a whole I'm I'm I've never been to Boston, never run Boston, but I imagine it's there's some parallels probably. But what was that like for you with with all of your friends and family there?
SPEAKER_00:Fabulous. Um, they because think of it, they had been waiting for me probably two hours in that downpour.
SPEAKER_02:We remember.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you know, you lived it. Uh yeah. And so it just felt so good. I mean, I think in a way they felt like they ran it with me, you know how that is. Yeah. And um, just it was wonderful. They, of course, made a huge deal about everything.
SPEAKER_02:And it is a big deal. It's a huge deal, Joyce. You've run two ultras. You went out to California, and then you the second one is in in the mountains of the the Alps, where you finish second to this lady Sue, who, you know, who's has a like you said, a whole chart of them. That's a that's a that's a big deal. That is a big deal.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. And I am so happy about it. I it just was so many good memories. I wondered and wondered how it would go. Would I be able to finish? I mean, that was my C goal, was just to finish. And then I did hit, I said, okay, I'm gonna make my A goal 12 hours, and I did 12 hours and four minutes, and uh yeah, it just it could not have been better.
SPEAKER_02:So we agree. I'll speak for Rob there. Now, now speaking of memories, Joyce, there's we we heard possibly there was gonna be a beer mile at some point. Um, Rob was in talks, I forget with who.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that was a training beer mile for beer mile. Yeah, the important one. Yeah, and and you know, different kind of race, right? Not the same as OCC, but equally important. Well, maybe not equally important, but we still need to talk about it.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, and and well, one, we we'd like to hear about that, but we you know, we we also want to extend an invite for you to to our beer mile that we have on the fourth of July here in Akron. So since we know you have friends right next door who, again, on a good day, if I hit the golf ball well, I can I can hit their house. So yeah, we want to make sure that that you're invited uh to our 4th of July beer mile.
SPEAKER_00:You've you've earned an entry into it with the thank you, thank you, thank you very much. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes, you are you are qualified. So so was there a practice beer mile?
SPEAKER_00:Uh so it never happened, did it, Rob? The beer practice went over in Chamonix, and I think it was that my family came to the conclusion that trying to get us together for that was like herding cats, basically. We just couldn't get it together, and I know it was a disappointment because it would have been so much fun doing the practicing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it is it is a lot of fun to practice the the beer mom I practice later tonight. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. There you go. But I really appreciate that invitation.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. You're on the list. You're the first invite. Well, except for Will, because he bugs me a lot. But yeah, other than that, yeah, yeah, you're you're first on the list, Joey.
SPEAKER_00:It's hard to get in that as it is to get in the Barclays marathons.
SPEAKER_02:Some would say harder, some would say harder. It's it's pretty top secret. It's very exclusive, it's an exclusive club.
SPEAKER_00:I feel very privileged that I'm invited.
SPEAKER_02:We're happy, happy that you you feel that way. So, yeah, hope hopefully we would be able to see in. There is a fireworks display walking distance as well in the evening by the country club.
SPEAKER_00:So nice.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so not a bad spot for it. Yep, yeah. We got a lot going on here in the Fourth of July in in Akron.
SPEAKER_00:Sounds like it's it's gonna be worth the trip.
SPEAKER_01:Joyce, when you first joined the call, you mentioned the actual Beer Mile race that we would have been training for.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:How did that race go?
SPEAKER_00:That race went very well. All of these fellows now have children. It is amazing how this has changed over the last five years. And all the kids, the little kids were there, uh helping clean up the beer bottles. I thought that was real nice. They're training them young, but it went well. They're all a little slower, but they all gave it their best. Tyler, my son, did win, which you might have heard me say, but his usual time is like 7.15 uh minutes for it, and he was at 8.25 this year. So you can tell he has a child also. A lot of talk about what beer to use, and they usually require Budweiser, but this year they went Coors Banquet. Tyler says he's going back Budweiser, he doesn't like the shape of the Coors Banquet bottle.
SPEAKER_02:This sounds like our people, Rob.
SPEAKER_00:Does hey? We have a slogan for our beer mile. It's all about beer management. Nothing about the running, it's all about beer management.
SPEAKER_02:There's something to be said for that. Yep. So, Joyce, uh, what's next? You have Boston coming up. What's next for you? I'm very interested to know this. Like, I because I don't think I've just seen anyone just oh, I'll I'm gonna run a mountain race and go out and do so well. So, what what do you got planned next?
SPEAKER_00:Uh, middle of December, I'll start. I have an 18-week Boston marathon training plan that I used the last time and it went well. So I'll how Higdon is part of it, and we kind of cobble some things together. Um, yeah, and so I'll train for that, as you know, and then I don't I don't have any plan. I know our family probably will head back to Chamani. So it may be that I train just to run the OCC course because I don't the only way I can get in would be if I win the lottery or unless I run another race, which they I'm sure Claire and Steve have a plan for talking me into that. So to be to be continued.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, nice. We look forward to to seeing what it is you do next. We're glad you decided to hop over into the the trail world where Rob and I mostly mostly run and where we spend a lot of our time. We we talk to runners of of of all sorts of roadrunners, uh trail runner 5k, everything. So yeah, I I thank you so much, Joyce, for for taking your time out of your day and and talking to us and and walking us through the OCC. It was it was such a pleasure to meet you and and and your family was so awesome. They were so cool to meet. And just, you know, Steve Clare, Chris, and John were awesome people. Always cool when you just meet someone on the other side of the planet that lives right down the street from you.
SPEAKER_00:So okay, sounds great. Thank you all so much. It's been fun, wonderful talking to you all.
SPEAKER_02:It was it was it was a blast, Joyce. So thank you very much. Thanks, Joyce.