Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
The Miles That Move Us | Rob Fyfe
Rob Fyfe transformed the Lowcountry running scene by creating Palmetto Running Company after noticing the absence of a running community when he moved from New York in 2010. His passion for bringing people together through movement has evolved from a small running club into America's Best Running Store, creating a family-like community that welcomes runners of all ages and abilities.
• Started PRC as a passion project after noticing no running stores or community in Bluffton
• Created an inclusive running club with 110 members ages 12-82, offering group runs in diverse locations
• Developed popular programs like Pub Runs and Couch-to-5K to make running accessible to everyone
• Helps local businesses through strategic group run locations and partnerships
• Named America's Best Running Store in 2023, beating out 1,500 other stores nationwide
• Timing and organizing races throughout the region, raising approximately $2 million for charities
• Encourages beginners to be patient: "Six weeks is the threshold before you'll love running"
• Attributes his youthful spirit at 66 to 54 years of consistent running and wellness habits
For those interested in joining the running community, Rob recommends starting slow, being patient, and signing up for races to create accountability. Stop by either Palmetto Running Company location for information or join their Saturday group runs to experience the community firsthand.
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and today's guest is Rob Fyfe, co-owner of Palmetto Running Company. Rob has built more than just two great running stores. He's created a thriving community through group runs, local races and a passion for getting people moving. In today's episode, we'll discuss how Rob has used running to build connection, inspire wellness and make a lasting impact in the low country. Rob, welcome to the show. Great to be here, jeff. I'm glad we could get you in here. And before we get started, rob, we've known each other for quite some time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was one of the first members of the PRC running club. Was it a club at that time or we were a racing team?
Speaker 2:Well, we started as a club. Yeah, Actually, that's how this whole thing evolved. We started as a club and you were one of the first members of the running club and then gradually became a running like a team and an elite team. We were elite I got the best runners in Bluffton and we would travel as a team in uniform and just crush it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember when we did the Palmetto 200 up in Charleston and I was like the seventh fastest person on the team or something like just dumb from the perspective of I was a pretty fast guy back then.
Speaker 2:So, if you remember, you guys finished the race so fast, the finish line wasn't even put up yet.
Speaker 1:I do remember that. I do remember that I think we had to have beaten most of the other teams by like an hour or something. Yeah, it was ridiculous and it was. It was such a fun weekend. I remember starting in Columbia, I think, and then going the whole 200 miles, just switching off sub-six-minute miles with folks.
Speaker 2:It was pretty cool. You guys are crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, let's go ahead, dive in In 2010,. You moved from New York to Bluffton and, from what I read, it's because you noticed something was missing. Rob, take us back to what was the local running scene like when you started PRC and what did you envision changing in the low country?
Speaker 2:Well, when my wife and I moved here in 2010, we just moved down here just to get away, get out of New York and come down for a better lifestyle. And when we finally got here being a runner my entire life I've been running since high school we noticed that there wasn't really a running community here and there wasn't really a running community here and there wasn't even a running store. I mean, you'd have to travel just to buy a good pair of running shoes. So we started the running club and I started to meet people who had the same likes and like to run and we would meet at the bagel shop on Saturday mornings and eventually we got a fairly good-sized group together and I had this inspiration saying you know what? I think I'm going to open up a running store, just came to you.
Speaker 2:It was always my passion. I always wanted to do that in New York but there was too many around so I never did it. So when we got here, I saw the need for it Because, I mean, it was a beautiful community. It seemed like an active community when we got here, but there was no running community. So getting it started was pretty simple. I just put it out on Facebook at the time and, sure enough, people started coming and it just grew and continued to grow. Then we started the racing team and the store store opened up and it was just this whole thing and it just continued to grow and grow and grow and, yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 1:So it was just a passion project. You seeing that there wasn't much going on specifically in Bluffton. I had lived on the island for quite some time back then and there was a pretty good scene there. It's so cool to hear that you saw that out here in Bluffton, with the beautiful trails and just the opportunities to run around here, it did grow pretty quick.
Speaker 2:It did, you know, and we just timed it right because, you know, when we got here it was just starting to grow. Bluffton was really just not something that people would know about, but look what happened over the last well, we've been here for 16 years. It's exploded.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so you know, fortunately for us the timing was right because more and more people have been moving here. Even a younger audience have been coming down here to capture that athletic, healthy-minded people to come down and join the club or just come to our stores just for information.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, it's pretty cool. I mean the new store on Hilton Head and then your newest store out here off the parkway. I mean just continuing to expand and continuing to create these experiences for runners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a great success for me and my family. I mean my entire family's involved in it. So it's kind of neat being able to say it's a family business. And with the growth of the Hilton Head store, which really took off for us, and then our newest store, which is in Washington Square over here, it's a beautiful location. It's still a shopping center that's evolving, yeah, but in a year or two it's going to be really something. So it'll be kind of a destination shopping center where you walk around, eat lunch and hit the stores and come and see us. And we're more than just a running store. We do a lot of other things. So even if people just come in looking for information, we have a vast amount of information on just things athletic, let's say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. More than just a running store is definitely the theme for today, and let's go ahead, take it there. You've built more than just stores. What was your original vision for the Run Club and how has it evolved over time? Share the different opportunities that y'all provide for the community.
Speaker 2:So, like we were saying earlier, it started off really small and it just gradually got bigger and bigger and more interest in running. So as time went on, we decided well, let's really make this something. It was just kind of like this little side gig we had with the running store, but let's turn it into an actual running club. So we decided to have it as a kind of a membership kind of thing. You don't have to be a member to come to the group runs, but being a member just gives you a little extra perks if you will.
Speaker 2:And it also makes you more of the family. It's like joining a gym you have a little more commitment.
Speaker 1:A little more buy-in?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little more commitment to get there on a Saturday morning. But the nice thing with our running club is that it's not the same old, same old every Saturday. We run in all different locations, including Palmetto Bluff, yeah, and we run on same old every Saturday. We run in all different locations, including Palmetto Bluff, yeah, and we run on the island. We run on the beach on a beautiful fall morning, watching the sunrise. Running on the beach with 60 people. I mean it's fantastic. And then we'll run in the parks, we'll run in Old Town, we'll run all over the place and when people move here they join the club and we take them to places they never knew existed. Even people that lived here for a while didn't know that existed.
Speaker 1:So they're just it's a great way to find places to go, a great way to naturally mix it up for runners, because you know, I'm an avid runner and you get caught up doing the same old thing and you get caught up doing the same old thing. It's that exposure and those experiences where your club just self-plans for people to create new runs. So it's not the same old, same old.
Speaker 2:Well, that's true, and one of the things, one of our missions, is also to help the local community, and so our group runs are typically start and finish at some business, whether it's a coffee shop, are typically start and finish at some business, whether it's a coffee shop, maybe just a donut shop or something that will bring a lot of people in the morning that they may not necessarily be busy all the time at that time. So it helps the business and they love it. I mean they love, you know I'll give them a heads up saying, hey, we're coming on Saturday morning, be prepared it. I mean they love, you know I'll give them a heads up saying, hey, we're coming on Saturday morning, be prepared. And they just, you know, they think it's a great thing. So it's become, and we call it, a running community, but for me it's a family, you know it's. These are, and we have about 110 members.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, that's a running club, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then there's always people coming in and out and just showing up, and these people are my family. Now we're close and there's been we've had. Do you remember? G, g, oh, yes.
Speaker 1:G and Carlo. Yes, from way back in the day, g and Carlo met his wife in a running club. That's pretty cool, yeah, bringing people together, rob. Yeah, I know that's pretty cool. Yeah, bringing people together, rob. Yeah, yeah, no, no, it's such a good example of what movement does for people, like for folks new to the area, especially jumping in and being able to meet like-minded people and then develop relationships. That's what a family is.
Speaker 2:It is and you know my best friends are in I've met through the running club and the nice thing with our running club and this is where you know a lot of people get a little intimidated when they hear running club. They think it's elite runners, everybody's fast and young, and that's not us. We don't want to be that. We want to be a very inclusive running club. Our youngest member is 12, and our oldest happens to live here. He's 82. Okay, and everywhere in between. So we have a vast age groups in our club. And what happens at a typical group run in the morning is, you know, people eventually know where they fit in, like what pace group, and they just, you know, become like very friendly with that group group and they just become very friendly with that group. And then from there there's splinter groups that take off. We'll have a Strava group that people will go on to and they'll say, hey, you want to meet up on Wednesday, we're going to run over here, and then a bunch of people just meet over there.
Speaker 1:Oh, very cool. So throughout the week, through the relationships that they've formed on the Saturday group runs, you're seeing other people connect at the same paces throughout their week. All the time, yeah, all the time, that's great.
Speaker 2:And then on Saturdays it's like you know, everybody thinks they're crazy. Who wants to get up at seven o'clock in the morning and go run, whether it's super hot or in January when it's, you know, 30 degrees out, but everybody shows up because we all look forward to it. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1:And that's definitely a testament to just bringing people together and then offering different distances. Like I'm familiar with how you lay out these group runs so that they aren't intimidating. So for someone who's even just starting out, there are so many different paces, so many different types of people that it's fun to be a part of that mix and there's something for everybody.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're a walker, we have a whole walking group. Now we have a bunch of guys, women and men that they don't come down here to run necessarily, they just want to participate in a group and they'll come down and walk. They'll walk three miles, but everybody gets back around the same time because the faster runners will maybe run five or seven miles. So by the time an hour is over, everybody's back at the same time and we just I mean we're all friends with everybody, it's great. So they find their niche Very cool.
Speaker 1:So I heard this recently that PRC was voted one of America's best running stores.
Speaker 2:So we weren't voted. We were named.
Speaker 1:You were named, so it's just an anonymous.
Speaker 2:No, we were named by the industry, by the running industry of.
Speaker 1:America Wow, wow, wow. So, given that incredible recognition, what did that moment mean to you and your team?
Speaker 2:So for me it was the pinnacle of my career as far as the running business goes, because I mean you want to be recognized in your community, but national recognition is nice sometimes too. So this is an annual event that happens it's basically our trade show and takes place in Austin Texas every year. It's basically our trade show and takes place in Austin Texas every year, and it starts off with nominations, which is voted by our customer base.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Fans of ours.
Speaker 1:So customers have to nominate you, but they don't have the final say they do not.
Speaker 2:No, so the final say is they narrow it down. There's 1,500 running stores in the country and they narrow it down to the top 50. And then from there, they do their due diligence on more than just popularity, but it's more. You know whether it's financially, social media presence, community involvement, there's a lot of things. And they'll send in secret shoppers into the stores Wow different facets. They're evaluating, yes, store design. You know all this, a lot of things. So we were recognized for being the best in 2023.
Speaker 1:2023,. Okay, man, did they send you a cool trophy or something?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Well, it's actually kind of cool because you go, if you're in the top 50, you get invited to the awards dinner, so it's kind of like the Academy Awards of running Whoa and they have a whole, it's a whole big thing.
Speaker 2:And then the top three are up there and they show the video of your stores and what you do and stuff, and then they make the whole Ramp up to it, ramp up and in third place and then, before you know it, first place, the best running store, and it was Palmyra Running Company and we were just like thrilled with it yeah, I was thrilled and my wife was with me there and my kids and everything. It's one of those unforgettable life moments. It was great and our whole team was there because we knew we were in the top three at least, so we wanted to make it special, so it was a great day.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, congratulations. I mean I've obviously seen you from the very beginning, you and your team, and there's just such a positive energy any time you show up to a race that PRC is putting on or a group run, or even I know you've got the pub run series going right now I've got a couple members. They're always inviting me to come, so I've got to get out there soon.
Speaker 2:You've got to come, so the pub runs. We started. This is our fourth year and we decided to do this because you know there's something about beer and running.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a. Thing.
Speaker 2:People drink beer at 8 o'clock in the morning after a 5K. I don't get it. I need pizza, you know. But the Pub Runs have become a cult following. It has grown like. Every year it gets bigger and bigger and we have about a hundred 120 people show up on a Wednesday night. It's in that ballpark of attendees. Oh yeah, incredible, yeah, uh, and we pick um eight different uh brew pubs in the area Bluffton, hilton head. Uh, and they love it too.
Speaker 1:Such a great example of what you alluded to earlier, of bringing business to other spots, specifically breweries in this case.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we show up. We basically take it over. I bet, I bet which, you know, on a slow night. They love it, they love it and we meet there. You have the excuse of running a little bit. You know you can run a mile, two miles, three miles at the most, or none at all. But it's more of a. It's a social event. You know, we like to say we're a social club. That just happens to like running.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lead with social and definitely more people will be showing up.
Speaker 2:I love that, but it's a blast. We have a great time.
Speaker 1:Man. So four years got the Pub Run series going. It reminds me of when I lived up in North Carolina. There was a series that doesn't exist anymore. It was called Race to the Taps and it was on Saturday mornings. So you felt a little bit better about yourself drinking at 8 am in the morning.
Speaker 2:Well, unfortunately Wednesday nights. We do them at night. It's a 6.30 start.
Speaker 1:Perfect, so way after happy hour. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So when people get home from work and um, then it's very family oriented too, because a lot of these brew pubs. They bring the dogs, bring the kids. You know, some people run with their strollers. So it's um, it's just. It's just an awesome time.
Speaker 1:We just have a blast yeah yeah, that's like that's a cool experience that you've. You've added recently, so your team assists us with our big races and there's no way we could have hosted last year's Turkey Trot at the Village Green Gosh over 700 runners and that setting is just unbelievable.
Speaker 2:It's the best in the little country.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I've only been working here coming on three years and every year it's just there's a vibe about it that it's cultivated, uh, from members. You know now we've had the, the public involved the last year, and just just that start and finish, man Like. Until someone experienced it, it's, our words can cannot do it justice.
Speaker 2:Nothing like running through Palmetto bluff and finishing in in uh wilson village, village sorry wilson village. Uh, it's just, it's just a, it's a thrill yeah, it's fantastic yeah, well we're.
Speaker 1:We're super grateful to be partnered with you, especially as our community grows. Yeah, so I wanted to ask you a bit more on race organization timing. It's a big part of your business. Did this begin part of PRC's mission? Tell us about the evolution of your race timing component.
Speaker 2:Well, after about three years of having our first store, we were and somebody contacted us about doing a 5K and I was like, hmm. I was like, well, we need to get involved in this because it seems to be like the second part of a running store. You need to have the store, but then you also need to have a racing division. So I started looking into it and I've always been pretty decent with arranging things, organizing events and things like that through my entire life. So we put this one together.
Speaker 2:I hired an outside timing company to do the timing and it was great. It was. I mean, you know, if you're a runner, you know how to do these things, because you have to lay out the course and map it out and make sure it's safe and all this, but you have to get the town and the police involved. It's a bit of a job putting it together, but once it's set, you're good to go. So we started with 5Ks and then we just started doing more and more. We did a lot and continued to do more in Old Town. But then one day somebody contacted me from Palmetto Bluff and said hey we want to do a half marathon here.
Speaker 2:So I was like that sounds awesome. So I came out. We decided we were going to do it out of Wilson. I'm like man, this is going to be unbelievable.
Speaker 2:Start and finish here, party on the green, have a band, oh my God. So we put it together and the first year was good. We got good attendance. But then the word got out and it just started to explode and it was open to the public and it became the race, because who doesn't want to run here? And word of mouth, you know, it's not like one and done, it's one, and I'm going to invite all my friends next time because this place is awesome. Uh, it was. Uh, it was a. It was a great event and I wish we could still do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll see, we'll work on that, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:We did it for uh, let's see eight years, eight years running, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember when I was racing like, uh, just a crazy person. It was always on the list every year and the timing March, april I think it was like the beginning of spring.
Speaker 2:If I remember, you won one year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I alluded to that earlier in this episode and gosh, I was like man, there must not have been fast enough people who heard about it that year.
Speaker 2:No, no, you were king back then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. No, I appreciate that, rob, but no such an iconic kind of start. It sounds like to your race timing component of the business and it's just kind of evolved from there. You pretty much do most of the races in Old Town now and it sounds like you get more requests these days. Oh, we get requests constantly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's become a great way to raise money for a certain charity and I mean, over the years we've raised probably close to $2 million, I bet, for local charities and you know the 5Ks are great, they're never huge or anything, but they raise enough money to at least the charity gets something out of it. You know, and that's that's what we, what we take a lot of pride in is we again go back to community service. Community, uh, helping the community and giving back community's been great to us over the years. We like to give it back, uh, and so we do a lot of that five case. We do, um, you in Old Town. We do tons of them there. Hilton Head we do some, some on the beach, some out of Celebration Park. One of my favorite races is the Tunnel to Towers race.
Speaker 1:Oh, so you're the timing company for Tunnel to Towers down in Savannah.
Speaker 2:No, there's one in Bluffton now. So they moved Savannah to Bluffton three years ago. Yeah, this is good to know about November right November, it's Veterans Day weekend, Okay, and we've been doing it for three years now, and it's over at Rose Hill, which is a great, great venue for that. It has a huge field which they use for polo and then a beautiful course that goes through the neighborhood. There it is. Even if you don't run, you should just go to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a very patriotic day.
Speaker 1:Well, a member told me about Tunnel to Towers last year and I think I was out of town. It is one of those races you can kind of organize teams right and do some fundraising a little bit around it.
Speaker 2:They have a. So Tunnels to Towers, you know, is a big organization and they do these races all over the country, but the fundraising is done through their website. So that's the Tunnels to Towers website. So you can raise money that way, through corporate sponsorships or just donate money yourself. Last year in the Bluffton race we raised over $100,000 in one day Dang.
Speaker 1:That's incredible what impact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great. It's the biggest race here now. We expect about 1,600 people this year. No way, oh yeah, it's huge. And in Rose Hill, in Rose Hill, the fire department's out there. I mean, it is red, white and blue all over. We have a guest speaker, a survivor from 9-11, one of the firemen, and he gives a very emotional speech. We have Gold Star families come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's quite a day. Yeah, it sounds like it's emotionally impactful too, and just bringing people together for such an incredible cause.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an important race, it's very important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, let's. Let's keep going with just stories around races. Are there any other standout memories or race day miracles from the events that you've led?
Speaker 2:Sure, I mean, there's lots of them. There's lots of lots of success stories. You know, people have done their first marathon, kind of thing. But one of them that always stands out to me is one that happened here. Actually I don't remember what year it was, but it was kind of probably 2016, 17, maybe here at the half. And there was a woman here and she was. And there was a woman here and she was blind no way, yeah, she was blind and she ran with a guide and did her first half marathon here Amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think before we got on we were just talking that there are so many stories that you've witnessed I'm sure in that case were there people at the finish line just cheering on. She had a whole group. Her husband was there. I was just waiting for her to come through.
Speaker 2:It was really an amazing thing to see, to see that happen. But there's been a lot of things. We had one lady, just real quick. We had a lady that's in our running group and she's 63 years old, let's say she just started running a couple of years ago, okay, and she came to our couch to 5k training program, which we do in the fall, never ran at all Ever, her entire life Ever, and wanted to get in shape. She has grandkids now and she's like I need to get in shape. That was her motivation, yeah. So she started with the Couch to 5K and I was one of her coaches and we literally went from Couch to running a 5K in an eight-week period. And so we started off with a run-walk program and a lot of walking, with a little bit of jogging in between, and then eventually, by after eight weeks, you're doing a 5K On that steady jog.
Speaker 2:Well, steady jog, you can take a break, we don't care if you stop, it's just a matter of it's more endurance. At that point, speed's not even a question, and it was. The goal was to finish the Bluffton Oyster Run and we had a whole team that went to do it. Yeah, we had like 27 people that did their first 5K, but this one lady, she not only did she stick with it, she just did a first half marathon, man that's got to feel, so rewarding it is.
Speaker 2:It's like the ultimate success story for us as a running club and group and somewhat coaching, to have somebody that sticks with it, because that's the hard thing is sticking with it. It's not one and done. You want to continue with it.
Speaker 1:It's not one and done, just continue with it. I think that's such great perspective. Perspective we talk a lot about, you know, not only having accountability and support, like you provide through groups, but how do we build that habit, how do we build that routine so that we can participate in life with our grandkids? And it just sounds like she came in with the right mindset and then y'all were just that, that guide that allowed her to find something that she could stick with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she, uh, and she's a big part of our running group.
Speaker 1:She's out there all the time, every weekend.
Speaker 2:Every Saturday morning, every pub run and just every single race that we do, yeah, Well, what a good pause.
Speaker 1:No matter where you are in your wellness journey, you can start today, and sometimes it's just all about getting around the right people. It's never too late, yeah, will. One last question on the local racing. Obviously, I'm a passionate guy when it comes to races. Some of my fondest memories are through, you know, either traveling with my life, my wife Lindsay, to participate in a race, or just with a group of friends. This connection piece that we're talking about what, in your eyes, makes a great race. Could you share the two or three non-negotiables to an incredible race experience?
Speaker 2:Venue is very important, okay, because when people experience a beautiful venue, whether it's here, palmetto Bluff, rose Hill, running on the beach on Hilton Head it's something that people remember and talk about. There's tons of races all over the country and some of them, to be honest with you, are kind of boring. You just run around. But when you're running and we are fortunate to live here because there are so many beautiful places to run here, so that's very important, something that's a memorable venue. And then the cause is important too. You know, like what's this race for? Yeah, you know, is it for a local? It could be the Palmetto Animal League, you know, for the love of dogs. Everybody loves dogs, so you'd be amazed how many people come. And one thing that we do that we're pretty proud of is we allow dogs to run in our races. We actually have a dog division and give medals to the top three dogs.
Speaker 1:No one does that. It's always a spectacle when you try to get the dog to sit on the podium.
Speaker 2:But how much fun is it though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love it. Everyone's smiling after the race, yeah no, they love it.
Speaker 2:It's uh, it's a lot of fun so we got venue, we've got cause.
Speaker 1:What would?
Speaker 2:be the third. Uh, I mean, there's a lot of there's a lot of things, but I think that I think what's what? One thing that's important is when you, when you do a like, especially when you do your first race, because you don't know what you're getting into right seems intimidating, even though you've been training and you're running with a group. A race is a whole different ballgame. Okay, because it's something that now it's not that you have to be competitive, but you're in a like with hundreds of people in this organized racing scene with finish lines and music and all this stuff going on, and it can be intimidating but exciting at the same time. Yeah, but when you finish that first race, you're like, wow, that was awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times we give out finisher's medals and you get your first medal, you want to do the next one, you can't wait to do the next one. I mean, how many times and you've done it too how many times I've run a marathon and you're at mile 21 and you're like I am never doing that again. Yeah, and when you've crossed the line, I can't wait for the next one.
Speaker 1:Yep, right that is the truth.
Speaker 2:So it's really a thing of experience, experiencing the first one and being motivated to continue that on, and that's one thing that I do recommend for people if they're going to start running or walking. You can walk my wife walks a half marathon, yeah, and she walks pretty fast. But one thing I recommend is sign up for a couple races, because what that does it's on your calendar now, and now it kind of gives you that commitment to oh man, I got to get up early and train for this thing because I want to be able to finish this, not win it. Finish it, whether it's a 5K or a marathon. Uh, just, and it's an accomplishment. Believe me, the first marathon I did was new york city. That was kind of silly for me to do that.
Speaker 1:That was the first one you decided to do. Yeah, super hilly, difficult course. Uh crowded tons of people tons of people you got to wait in corrals for like six hours before you start.
Speaker 2:It was brutal but you finally get out there and you're on the Ferrazano Bridge and it's like wow, this is unbelievable. And you just get pumped up and you know when you do finish it's like, wow, that was just amazing. Yeah, so it's a great accomplishment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what I'm hearing is a solid race provides that sense of accomplishment back, and I think that's a great message is whether it's running a local race or participating in a different activity say it's pickleball or something that not only keeps you fit and healthy, but it brings that self-fulfillment that you might be missing, oh sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like you said, anything active, you know you don't have to be in the running world. You know, so do that If you play tennis, you, uh, you swim, whatever you do, it's being active. You know, getting off the couch and, like they say, body of movement stays in movement. It is so true. You know, I'm going to be 66 next month. Okay, I feel like I'm in my 50s. I really do. I mean it's because I've always been active. I've never, you've never, stopped. I never stopped. I. I've been running for 54 years And-.
Speaker 1:I feel like when you own running stores too like Well you kind of have to, you've got to represent the brand. I joke about that all the time here at Pomona. Buff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you do, you do, and I'm not anywhere near as fast as I used to be, but I I still enjoy going out and running, and half marathons are still doable for me. I do two a year and I really enjoy them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is it for you? What keeps you coming back to running Like let's set the stores to the side?
Speaker 2:Well, it's part of your lifestyle, you know. I mean, it's like anything else that you've done every day in your entire life. You can't let it go, you know you. Just, if I don't run, for I mean once in a while you don't feel good or whatever, for whatever reasons, but if I don't run for a couple of days, I feel like I'm missing something. It's funny, it's a weird thing. I don't want to say it's an addiction, but it's kind of like one you know, where you got to get out there and running.
Speaker 2:For me, and I think a lot of people is, it's a sense of freedom, because you're running, and especially when you're running by yourself. You're running by yourself and you know. Most of the times you are running by yourself and then you do your group runs, but for the most part you're running by yourself. In the morning it's still a little cool out here. Uh, sun's just coming up and you're running through. You know whatever beautiful community that you live in, or a park or whatever, and you just look around. You're like man, this place is, this is great yeah, you know, and you just kind of lose yourself in the run.
Speaker 1:I connect with that deeply. It's almost this immersive feeling of gratitude during a morning run and then to what you said earlier. You don't feel like yourself almost when you don't run, and I think all of us. When we build a new habit, we get to a place where we create that feeling, but sometimes folks just don't get to that point where it is that normal for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it takes a while. I mean running again. I started when I was in high school. But if you're going to start running today, let's say and you said, you know what I'm going to do something. You got to be patient. You have to be patient because running is just like any other sport. You don't get good in baseball overnight. It takes a long time. Same with running. Okay, and the biggest mistake that people make is they go out and they start running fast. You can't do that. Because you're going to run fast, you're going to feel like crap the next day and you're like I'm never doing that again.
Speaker 1:It's like just beating your body up very quickly.
Speaker 2:Your body can't handle that. You have to train properly, just like anything else. Train properly, gradually, get your endurance up. Forget about speed, just get endurance up. Forget about speed, just get endurance up. And if you finish a 5K in 35, 40 minutes, good for you, yeah.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of other people who didn't participate that morning. That's right, yeah, and you're putting yourself out there on that starting line.
Speaker 2:You're up at 7 am running while everybody else is still sleeping. Yeah, okay. But I tell you what when you get back from a run whether it's a race, a group run or just your own run you have a tremendous amount of energy. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, changes the landscape for your whole day.
Speaker 2:It does yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, Rob, I appreciate you sharing your personal perspective and your relationship with running. I think there's a lot in there for folks to cling to. Who are, you know, thinking about building any new movement habit and just just creating that mindset of start slowly, Don't have have serious expectations behind the beginning and don't go out too hard. Like life is a marathon, and when we treat it like that, I think a lot of things go better.
Speaker 2:There are a lot of apps now on your phone, on your watch, that help you do that Couch to 5K programs. There's tons of them that you can just download for free and just follow those. It's an easy guideline. If you have any questions, you can just stop in one of our stores. We'd be more than happy to help you. And yeah, I wish everybody good luck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Good stuff. Well, let's go ahead. Let's do some rapid fire, some more tactical questions here. Yeah, you've done some good job already giving some advice to our listeners here. Yeah, you've done some good job already giving some advice to our listeners. Let's go ahead. Best running advice for someone just getting started. We've been all around it. But go ahead. We touched on that.
Speaker 2:Be patient, Be patient, Be patient and it'll come. Six weeks is the threshold. If you can stick with it for six weeks, you're going to hate it for six weeks. After that you're going to love it. And once you start to love it, you'll never stop.
Speaker 1:Boom Six weeks. You've got a very specific timeline, folks. Secondly, your go-to recovery strategy. After a long run, I'm talking 10 miles or more, something big Easy.
Speaker 2:Rest, stretch and eat. Good Rest is important. Your body needs to recover. The older you get, the more recovery time you need Stretching. I stretch, I do yoga every single morning.
Speaker 1:Nice, you got like your own little routine that you participate in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have my own little yoga studio in my house, sweet yeah so. And it honestly prevents injuries. It really does so. Stretching is super important. And then eating properly, hydration I can't stress hydration enough. I mean again, no matter what you're doing, hydration is key. And then just eating good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, kind of hitting those three variables. Yeah, got it, got it. Now for our product geeks out there, favorite piece of gear could be related to items that you sell or just anything from an active community perspective. Favorite gear that people don't talk about enough.
Speaker 2:Okay, two things One is simple and one's high tech. Okay.
Speaker 1:I like it. One is simple and one's high tech.
Speaker 2:Okay, I like it. First one a water bottle. Okay, I see so many guys running without a water bottle. Yeah, like on their long runs specifically right, I mean handheld water bottles. It's a water bottle that's insulated and has a handheld carrying thing. You put it on your wrist, you don't even have to touch it, it just like hangs there. But when you're out there running you need to stay hydrated because you're just going to drop.
Speaker 1:So water bottle is key, and that's pretty much almost all year round, because even in the wintertime you still get dehydrated, yeah, you just don't feel the same effects like in the summertime here, yeah, as far as high tech goes, a watch, whether it's an Apple watch or Garmin goes.
Speaker 2:A watch, whether it's a uh, an apple watch or garmin, anything that's going to help track what you do. It not only is a guide for you, but gives you motivation, because you can now with any of these things. You have these and it connects to your phone and you can see how your progression is you know whether or not you're getting better. Maybe you had a bad run. You check your heart rate, check your cadence. I mean, it's a lot of information on there it's giving you even a vo2 these days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, pretty impressive, kind of cool so it's uh, I think that's important, um, especially if, um you know you're getting into it and you want to, you want to keep track of your progress.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, I, I would push back on the handheld water bottle For me. I like to hold nothing. Well, depends on the runner, I think. But what are those brands? What brands would you recommend for the handheld? Because you are right, if you're going to hold a water bottle out there, you want to get that fancy one. Nathan makes a good one. Okay, nathan's the brand.
Speaker 2:And it's also the case itself has a little pocket in it so you can put your keys in there. Okay, maybe a credit card. So it's something that you don't have to carry, and in the beginning it's kind of a nuisance because you're carrying something, but after a while you don't even know it's there.
Speaker 1:It sounds like I didn't give it six weeks when I tried. I don't think so, jeff, well. Well, if you get dehydrated one day, you'll remember this story. I will. I will, yeah, and I totally agree with the watch. I feel like when I just started my running journey. It's great to kind of have the different routes. You start to learn routes in your home community that are three miles, five miles, whatnot, and not that you have to be over analytical with the data, but it is something that helps with that sense of achievement, yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Great Rob. Well, you nailed the quickness to our rapid fire there. Let's go ahead and wrap up. We've spent some great time together and I just look forward to continue working with you in the future and bringing the community together here at Palmetto Bluff. Final question what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:Well, to me, at this point in my life, wellness is feeling young, feeling good, feeling healthy, getting up in the morning and not having those aches and pains that you would normally have if you don't do any form of exercise. Because you know I get up, all right, it takes me a few more minutes to come around, but going out, I have a cup of coffee and I'll go out and I'll go for maybe a three mile run just to wake up and I come back and I am like, energized and you know, for me, being healthy is being able to do pretty much whatever you want whenever you want, and I've been very fortunate, I've been very healthy my whole life, haven't had any issues, and I think I have to say I think running has a lot to do with just overall health. It's good cardio, obviously great physical helps your muscles stay strong and, yeah, that's for me Just being healthy, eating good and enjoying life. Nice, Enjoying life, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks, Rob. This has been absolute pleasure. Thank you for all you do for our community, the local running scene that you've created around here and cultivated.
Speaker 2:Well, we love it. I know it's. I had a different career in New York, came down here, wanted to change, change a few things, and I started this and it's the best thing I ever did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, haven't looked back since You've kept running.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great yeah.
Speaker 1:It's very rewarding. Yeah, we'll appreciate you, rob. Listeners, feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. We were running down a path in this episode that I thought would be perfect for today's Healthy Momentum the analogy between running a marathon and life. For you non-runners out there, stay with me for a few minutes here and let me explain.
Speaker 1:Life is absolutely a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's not about how fast you go when running a marathon, but it's how deeply you are willing to endure, grow and keep moving forward, one step at a time, just like life For many people out there. You may fall into the thinking that running a marathon is absolutely crazy, but I would challenge you. Even if you're not a runner, you're in a marathon right now. You're pushing. Each day, challenges come up, there's different checkpoints that show up in your life, and, as someone who's completed over 14 marathons, I can tell you that on every race course that I have completed the distance on, I learned something new.
Speaker 1:I have a vivid memory of either something that went wrong or some other memories of when things went really well, and this is just like life. You see, when I began my career, I started at a retreat center on Hilton Head Island called Hilton Head Health, and for me, in conversing with Rob today, it brought up this memory of a presentation that I would provide for our guests, called Conquering Cardio, and I always began the presentation discussion with a six-minute video that walked through the lives of three different runners training for the Chicago Marathon. And for me in my early 20s someone just getting into racing it was inspirational because you had a more elite runner, you had an older runner, over the age of 80, with his perspective, and then you had just that middle-aged back-of-the-pack person who was sharing their story. And I want to pause there. Back of the pack isn't anything negative, just painting the picture for you that we all turn to the marathon for different reasons. We all have different stories that are a result of our life, and this video would amp me up because every story was emotional. Every reason that each of those three people ran was deep to them, and that's how I want you to think about life this week.
Speaker 1:We all have deeper reasons for how we live and why we live, and the marathon is exactly like life, for three reasons. Number one you don't have to be fast, just keep moving. Most people don't run the entire marathon. The majority of people who sign up for something crazy like this, they are splitting up the distance, they're walking and they're running, as Rob said, typically a jog-walk ratio, and sometimes we need that in life. It's the same. We don't have to win every single day. The only thing that matters in life is progress.
Speaker 1:The second reason life is like a marathon is that there are so many highs and lows, many highs and lows, and the highs and lows are normal. There were plenty of races I showed up to where my Achilles felt a little off or my knee was a bit tender, and so not only physically does the marathon challenge you, but emotionally. We stumbled into that 20 mile, 21 mile conversation where you're thinking you're never going to do a marathon again at that point in a race, but for some reason you sign up for the next one, and that's just like life. Sometimes we feel strong, sometimes we get hurt, and there's a lot of times that we experience discomfort. But what I found, just like with the marathon, as I do in life the more discomfort you're able to experience, the different courses you expose yourself to, the better you become at not only knowing yourself, but facing challenges in the future.
Speaker 1:When it comes to running races, I like to make the comparison between running the New Hampshire Marathon. That was an early race in my tenure of endurance events and it was so hilly. I had a great crowd of family waiting for me at the finish line and it was a well-run race, but this was grades of eight to 10%, sometimes on the hills up and down the entire 26 miles and, yes, it was challenging. But then I have these other courses that I was a part of, for instance, my PR in Rhode Island, where it was perfectly flat. Think about that in terms of your life. We go through seasons when things are a little flatter, or we go through seasons where there's a lot of highs and lows, there's a lot of ups and downs, and whether it's emotionally or physically, that's just normal, that's what happens. And then, finally, life is a marathon, because the finish line isn't everything. We're all going to have a finish line at some point.
Speaker 1:But when you think about the marathon, it comes back to what James Clear has polarized and popularized excuse me as one of the biggest keys of life. As one of the biggest keys of life, it's not the actual goal of completing the marathon. It's who you become because of the work you put in. You train for months. The race is hours yes, it's a decent time, but you train for months and you have different experiences that transform who you are, and that's the beauty of anything in life.
Speaker 1:Life is a process. Training for a marathon it's a process, and the most beautiful things come from staying involved, keeping moving and knowing that there's always another course to run. There's always something that's being called for us to do, and so let's use that as our healthy momentum this week. Let's think about where in our lives where we may need to slow down, speed up or just keep moving, and let's recognize that highs and lows are normal. It's an everyday process, and that process is actually pretty beautiful when we think about it. That message brings us to the end of our time together this week. Thank you for joining the conversation and remember to actively participate in life on your terms. We will see you next week.
