The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-266 – Iram Leon lives life
(Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi3266.mp3]
Link epi3266.mp3
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Introductory Comments:
Hello and welcome to episode 3-266 of the RunRunLive podcast.
It is the hot month of July up here in New England.
Today we talk with Iram Leon who is living his life. I struggled with this interview because I’m not Geraldo and I don’t have a fascination with pathos but I do believe we have something to learn from the transformative nature of Iram’s life and that transformation comes in many different forms.
In Section one I’m going to talk about living life and in section two I’m going to explore an archeological expedition into my medal rack.
I’m busy working on projects and trying to stay fit. I’ve got no injuries but my running has been a bit Jekyll and Hide. I have really been struggling to get my long runs in. Two weekends in a row I’ve tried to go out into the woods and run long and have had to stop. The deerflies and the heat are beating the crap out of me.
Even so I should be able to tough out 2-3 hours of trail running. I think it also has to do with not having done much trail running so it’s not as comfortable as it should be. Both times I went back to the house, ate something and took a nap then went and finished the workouts.
The first one was a 20 miler that I did the first 6ish in the woods then went to the gym and finished it on the treadmill. I don’t know which was worse, the heat and flies or 14 miles on the treadmill. At one point I was running and zoning out and I stepped off the treadmill and did some acrobatics before landing on my feet.
The lady on the treadmill behind me freaked out. I told her Fred Flintstone does it all the time and never gets hurt.
This week I got 9.5 in on the trails before I had to bail. I was slogging so slowly that I didn’t see how gutting it out was going to be beneficial training for a road marathon. I had 3 eggs, a pound of bacon, some coffee and took a nap. Then I headed out onto the road in the afternoon to knock out another 5.2 in my Hokas at close to race pace.
This is not the ideal training scenario but I do what I can. Those were the Mr. Hyde runs.
The Dr. Jekyll runs, the good ones are my tempo and speed sessions, I did a nice set of 1600’s at a sub 7 pace down at the track that felt great. I did a set of 3 X 14 minutes at MP – 40 seconds pace and felt awesome. That’s almost 6 miles of tempo. Those workouts are probably good for road marathon training.
Which is a good thing because…
I manage to wheedle my way into a marathon…next week! Yes I’ll be attempting the 24 hour around the lake marathon in Wakefield Mass. On Friday night July 26th at 7:00 PM. One of the great things about living in New England is that you’re never more than a stone’s throw from a crew of crazy runners doing something crazy.
Pros are that it is a flat as a pancake 3.2 mile loop course in a park and it’s about 20 miles from my house. Cons are it’s a 3.2 mile loop course and it’s July. I have no idea at this point where my fitness is at but I think a flat course gives me a better shot of making my time if I can control myself early and it’s not too hot.
It’s late enough in the summer that we are starting to acclimate so I think I can manage anything up to 80 degrees with proper fueling and patience. But, we will see. As the name implies it is actually a 24 hour and 12 hour endurance event but they have it setup so that there is a certified marathon course built into it.
Should be an adventure.
On with the show!
Section one:
We are all going to die, so let’s live – http://www.runrunlive.com/we-are-all-going-to-die-but-that-doesnt-mean-you-cant-live
Featured Interview:
Iram Leon
2 years ago, I turned 30 and was bullet proof. Unfortunately, I had a seizure a few weeks later and then never having called in sick, I all of a sudden was in the hospital, had a biopsy and had a brain cancer diagnosis. I would put off brain surgery to run the Austin Marathon… to try to figure out how to get my brain back if something went wrong… had a physical therapist in place and neuropsychological rehab both formally if needed and informally through Lumosity.com. The surgery went well… the complications were some of what I feared and some I never saw coming… Discouraged, I was unable to get myself together to even get back to running for a while and then on my first birthday after the surgery 8/8/2011, the Austin Runners Club president sent out an email billed as Austin’s First Race raising money for brain cancer research, the Brain Power 5K. I signed up for what at the time was my first 5k… I trained as best as I could and by one of those combined graces of the universe, I was fortunate enough to win the race and raise the most funds.
Well, it’s one year later now and my birthday again and I realize that the race is more important to me now. This 5k is a mile marker, well it has 3.1 of them anyway. I am trying to break 18 minutes for the first time in it compared to last year’s where I was nowhere near that. But the more important things that to me is this is a way to keep celebrating that birth that this diagnosis gave me. I made friends at that 5K that got me to realize how fortunate I am and keep being. Last year I just went somewhere afterwards not realizing how important it was. I am a single dad and this year I am bringing my daughter to do the kids K and have invited more friends than it occurred to me last year. Life, with or without brain problems, gets better and better connections with more time and more effort. Here’s hoping that’s where I focus my brainpower.
Support Iram – > http://www.kintera.org/htmlcontent.asp?cid=630495
Facebook -> https://www.facebook.com/iramjleon
Media pieces lately
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323419104578374870179274496.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/iram-leon-marathon_n_2869802.html
and there were a couple of YouTube videos I did for Livestrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5cKt9vBeFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h2vZB0388E
I’ve kept a blog all along but there are dozens of just train of thoughts entries
http://www.donationto.com/Sports-Society-Fund-for-Iram-Leon
Section two:
Looking back on the races I have run – http://www.runrunlive.com/looking-back-at-races-i-have-run
Outro:
The long summer is here. We are all on vacation. And episode 366 is nearing the end.
I’ll tell you a funny story. I had to get Buddy to the vet last Friday for a checkup and some routine maintenance. He’s fine, but he’s miserable in the heat and has to spend too much time in the house. I got caught in traffic. In the summer, there’s less traffic so that’s when they schedule all the construction. You can’t win.
I was running late so I couldn’t get a poop sample for the worm test. Later, when I took him for a walk I collected my sample in a plastic bag. I needed to save it to bring by the vet in the morning, and I didn’t want to leave it out in the heat. I decided to put it in the fridge, but that’s not very appealing so I put the bag inside a Starbucks cup and wrote ‘Dog Poop’ on it. My family was amused.
Then I ended up missing the vet’s open hours anyhow so I was riding around with dog poop in my cup holder.
I’m hitting the 24 hour around the lake marathon next week and should be able to pick up my qualifying time. If something goes wrong I’m still scheduled to run the Pocatello marathon in Idaho on August 31st. That will give me 5 months in a row if you include the Boston fiasco. The training effect has to kick in one of these months! Anybody wants to join me in Idaho, I’d love the company. I’m going to couple it with a business trip so I’ll be out in Boise anyhow.
I’d like to keep this marathon a month thing going. I’ve got a target marathon in Florida in November but other than that I’m open to suggestions. You know what I like. Something interesting. Send me your suggestions, especially if it involves an invitation to couch surf.
I’ve been pushing through some new projects on the side. I am just about done recording an audio version of my second book of running stories and will get that up on my site over the next couple weeks. Then I’ll get both books up on audible too. If you are interested in my work just visit my site www.runrunlive.com. You can find them there!
Hope everyone’s doing well. Enjoy your summer.
And I’ll see you out there.
Outro Bumper
Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.
I also love to meet folks so feel free to reach out to me at Gmail or any of the other social networking sites. I’m CYKTRussell. And as you know that’s Chris-Yellow-King-Tom-Russell with two Esses and two Ell’s.
My Website is http://www.runrunlive.com and most if not all of this content is posted out there. If you want the show notes to magically show up in your inbox when I publish a show in a beautiful HTML wrapper you can subscribe to the mailing list at my site. It’s a useful thing if you are moved by something I say and would like to see if what I wrote is the same thing! It also has all the links to everything and everyone I talk to and about.
Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.
Ciao
Happy Song – Super Hero – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Superhero
Links for this show
http://www.runrunlive.com/messing-around-with-a-kickstarter-project
Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in
The Mid-Packer’s Lament
On Audio (Read by the author)
The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy
Standard Links:
Contact:
Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube
Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804 (to leave an audio message for the show)
Bio
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.
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You handled the awkward pathos quite nicely, Chris. I’m from Pennsylvania, but will be visiting a friend in Mass. this weekend. I’d cheer you on at your Friday night marathon, but unfortunately I’ll be lounging at the Commons watching some Shakespeare. Ahhh…rest days.
Looking forward to your report,
Duane
Everyone has a story. Got those pre-race jitters today.
C-,