Jim Macaluso - Ep 034 Athletes in Motion Podcast

Narrator: 0:10

Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from race to recovery. With your hosts, Tom Regal, and Kenny Bailey.

Tom Regal: 0:29

Hey, Kenny, how you doing today?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:31

I'm doing fantastic, Tom, how are you?

Tom Regal: 0:33

I'm fantastic as well, Kenny, and we would like to introduce you and to everyone. Jim Mallacoota. So, Jim, like, I've been trying to think about how to introduce you. Because Jim and I met back at Badwater as we recruiting a friend of ours, Chris, Carla mono. And Jim seemed like a normal guy. He was a good runner. And he ran a lot. And we got a lot of stories. But Jim is turned out to be a bit of a freak. And in a good way, with lots of love. Got a lot of respect for Jim. Jim has got an amazing run streak going. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. But Jim, give us a little bit of background on you, because you've got some cool stuff.

Jim Malacuso: 1:18

So I was never an athlete. My least favorite sport was running. It's kind of a love hate relationship. And, yeah, just one day. It's kind of a deep story. I used to be significantly overweight, I was about 100 pounds heavier than I am now. And running was part of the weight loss. And then diet, as you as we talked about during Badwater was part of that as well. But yeah, so it was never an athlete just found a little bit of a passion for running and kind of got addicted to it. And that's kind of how the streak started. So passion is,

Tom Regal: 1:50

is an understatement. So take us through that that turn that happened. I mean, what do you what what do you do? What's your background? Now? You're in? You're in the auto business, right?

Jim Malacuso: 2:03

Yeah. Been in the auto industry since 1997? Pretty much with the same employer since then. Right. So that's rare. Yeah, that in my business is definitely rare. But it's a good group. But then they're very supportive of what I do with my running and stuff. So that always helps. Yeah. But yeah, as far as my background leading up to running, like I said, I was pretty overweight, at one point in time and thought I was doing the right thing and played around with a whole bunch of different diets from I've done everything from, like a carnivore type diet to a plant based diet. And they both worked until they didn't, for me, develop a little bit of a food anxiety, you know, going to different places, and not being able to eat certain things and ultimately fall back into the junk food diet, which was never a good thing. And then I had success on both. So I can't say either of them worked or didn't work.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:55

Yeah. What was the what was it about running that sort of? What triggered that? That weight loss was it? Most people that are that heavy, don't tend to want to run? Right? They'll they'll walk, they'll lose a few. But I mean, just the physiology of have that much weight on joints and other things that just make it tough? What what is it that kind of stuck with you about the running, um,

Jim Malacuso: 3:17

it was hard, and I saw results early in progress. So that's when I first started to run, I couldn't run a couple 100 feet without being winded. And, and then I just noticed that the more I kept doing it, the further and further I could go and kind of dislike that momentum I was gaining from from doing it, even though I didn't like doing it. But I've seen progress. So for me, that became like the new goals I would set it'd be like, Alright, let's see if I can do a mile without stopping. And then that became two and three. And, you know, the rest is history after that. But just seeing that progress by putting the work in was really rewarding.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 3:52

Was there a weight that you wanted to be at, or it was more performance? I know, when I was cycling, I first started cycling, I was pretty heavy. And I was trying to lose weight to cycle better. And then I was trying to Well, I was cycling to lose weight and then I was losing weight to cycle better was there was there sort of a weight you wanted to be out are you just letting it be what it was. And the results are kind of what you were trying to get to

Jim Malacuso: 4:14

pretty much the same, you know, there was a weight I wanted to get at and then kind of what you do with your cycling I do with my running, I wanted to lose a little bit more weight. So I get faster to be easier on my feet. So initially, you know, under 200 pounds was the goal. And then once I hit that I was still there's still a little bit more to go. And then I just started taking running a little bit more serious. And then the weight started to fly off, you know, to the point where I was probably eating more currently than I was when I was heavier, but due to the demand of the exercise, so it's kind of like a little bit rewarding in that regard. So

Tom Regal: 4:46

yeah, it's it's got to be challenging because you've got to feel your body properly. I mean, as the distances took on. The thing is that when you're trying to lose weight, we try to coach people to say hey, it's in the kitchen area. We're going to lose weight and the exercise kind of helps. But once you start, you cross that line of training harder and going further distances. Now you need to eat more, because you're going to lose too much your body's going to waste away, it's actually not going to recover. So how does that I mean, your your family jumped in on this wet, like, yeah,

Jim Malacuso: 5:19

my wife is like my biggest cheerleader and support cast and all this. So she's kind of followed along with every crazy diet regimen I've done. She's, she's awesome in that regard. But as far as it's how I'm doing it now. It's just a moderation of everything, you know, I don't focus, particularly on one type of food or one category of food I never like to be labeled. So it's like when I was eating like a meat based diet, or you're a carnivore guy, and I was eating the plant based or vegan. To me, I never wanted to classify myself that way. And when I was doing that, I would find myself kind of getting trapped in that. So when I just did scrap it, I'm just going to eat what I want to eat in moderation. That's when it really started to work out well. But what I really noticed is my kicked up my intensity, my exercise, the frequency of it all, I was always worried about how much I was eating. And I wasn't really worried about refueling as much as I was looking at that number. So it wasn't up until like probably the last year where I really started to focus on how much I needed to replenish. And to fuel those workouts. It skipped breakfast all the time. I miss lunch half the time. And that really caught up, you know, it really hurt, especially during racing season I was wasn't recovering good for my run. So I'm still figuring it out. I don't think any I'll ever figure it out what's gonna be the perfect balance. But I've gotten a lot better in the last year.

Tom Regal: 6:45

Yeah. And as we age, our bodies change our metabolism changes, regardless of how active you are, you're going to, you're going to, you're going to have to keep chasing it the rest of your life. It's so

Kenny Bailey<br>: 6:56

so what was that trigger? Like when you said you were doing the meat based stuff? I it's it has to be more than just hey, somebody's like, oh, you're a carnivore? Was it the reaction that your body was doing? Or was it you were feeling lethargic? Or what was the trigger point that made you decide, hey, I'm gonna try the plant based to see how I feel? Well, that's not kind of, maybe I need to throttle that back. Was it? Was it performance based? Or was it like, this is how I'm feeling? Was it recovery based? You know, like, I felt better afterwards or what? What kind of led you through that, that? That decision point? Yeah. So

Jim Malacuso: 7:27

I was doing the the ketogenic type, diet, Atkins, whatever we want to classify that. And I thought I was doing good, I was losing weight, I felt better. I visibly looked better. And I was like, It's been a long time since I had a fixed physical. So I was, you know, let me go make an appointment, get bloodwork done, let's see where I'm at. So I go into the doctor's office, talking to the nurse about to draw my blood talking to the doctor, and they're telling me how great I look and how great everything's doing. So I walk out of there feeling like a million bucks, and they got it. I figured something out. I don't have my bloodwork back at this point. Yeah, I get a phone call the next morning, say, hey, you need to get back in the office. All right, no idea. But I can tell him his voice. It wasn't never good. Yeah, it wasn't a good call. So I get in there. And he's like, we really got to talk about this. And I kind of thought he was kidding. But then I kind of realized he wasn't. And he starts reading off all my numbers, my blood panel, my my lipid panel, he's like, you know, the most alarming thing is your cholesterol is like 340, which are sky high. And this was fast. And so in my triglycerides, were thinking 100, my blood pressure was not normal. It's like 190 over 90 or 190 over 80 really high. So he's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 8:35

the healthiest looking sick guy. Yeah.

Jim Malacuso: 8:38

And that's what, that's what he said, he's like, you know, whatever you're doing, it's working for you physically, but it's not working for you internally. So rather than telling me what I could do to fix it on my own, he just starts labeling off all these prescriptions. He wants me to take, you know, stuff for my cholesterol, my blood pressure, I'm like, well timeout a second. If I did this to myself, There's got to be a way that I can correct it. And you start saying, Hey, you could do things with diet and exercise, but you were just dealt a bad hand. It's genetics. So I don't teach doctors. You know, at first I was like, This guy just wants to throw in a bunch of pills. It's his job. So I started doing some research and looked at what I was doing what I could be doing. So I went to Dr. Google and just started typing in how do I lower my cholesterol naturally, or how do I reduce high blood pressure naturally, and it's I don't know if this was at the time, this was probably 2016 or 17. Everything was reverting back to you know, eat more fiber, eat more vegetables, you know, in some places, or eliminate meat or reduce meat, but he started went down this rabbit hole. So it's like Alright, cool. Let me dig a little bit deeper into a more of a plant base. Not a full on vegan plant base, but just more of it. And I started watching documentaries, I think a lot of people have gone through this and some of these documentaries, you watch it really convincing. So, after after the second or third one, I'm like, you know, I gotta give this a shot. So I told my wife, I walked upstairs, I'm like, no more meat, she looked at me like I was crazy. I'm like, That's it, that's what's destroying my my bloodwork. So I went from eating pretty much, you know, steak in some vegetables, and, you know, chicken and everything to kind of figure out how to eat nothing but plants. And there was a ton of good recipes online. So I did that for a while, got my blood rechecked, and it was back to perfect, you know, my cholesterol was normal, my triglycerides were normal, my blood pressure started going down. So that's how I made that transition to a plant based in, I developed like this, you know, headed with the low carb keto diet. And with a plant based diet, just going out and being trying to be going to a birthday party or a graduation party. And I was never that guy was like, Hey, make sure you have this for me. Yeah, type of person. So I would either not eat, or like it's been a plant base, I'd be eaten a hotdog bun, you know, because it was an after a while doing that, I'm like, Yeah, this, this can't, this is not good for me like, and I'm an all or nothing person that can with the running streak, you can see it, it's, it's either I'm doing something or I'm not doing it. So I wouldn't really break that rule of, you know, just having a little bit here and there. And after a while of doing that, and started to get like lost energy. Like when I was doing the plant based and I was supplementing with B 12. And the few other things, but I wasn't getting enough for what my body was demanding. So it was running quite a bit, even when I met Tom, and 2019. So a couple years in, I was still doing the plant based diet and I was running, you know, at that point, probably 6070 miles a week. So

Tom Regal: 11:52

I think you did, I think you ran about 70 miles with Chris on that race 135 You were out there falling asleep with him in the middle of the road.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:00

So the irony is, is sort of you went you went back to a Mediterranean diet, right. So one of the best diets I keep talking about as a Mediterranean diet, which is basically lean, you know, fish, lean protein, not a lot of it right? Go to more, you know, mostly plant based close to the core olive oil, that kind of thing, right seems to be that's the one that people can stay on. And the one that does that and not to defend doctors, but America, US healthcare, the patient, the consumer has that mentality of whatever my problem is, just give me a pill to fix it. And so the doctors aren't, aren't I don't think they're much is pushing it as in that's the answer that every 95% of the people want is just give me a pill to make this go away. And people are perfectly happy that I'm the same way as you are, you know, it's like, Hey, your cholesterol is creeping up. Here's a, here's a statin No, no, I just need to I need to need it. You know, it's within myself, I need to go do that. But those are rare. So most of most Americans just want you know, here's your, you know, here's your pill, and that pill took care, but I don't have to deal with it. You know, let's go. You know, let's go to Cracker Barrel, which, by the way, is a fantastic mashed potato. So you mentioned you mentioned this, you mentioned this streak. So one of the things we haven't we haven't said yet is part of the reason why you're on the shows, because you have this tremendous streak of running, if you could let the audience and viewers know what the heck this thing is. And what day are you on with that?

Jim Malacuso: 13:29

Yeah, so I the exact day, it's just over 1100, almost 1200 days. So I was finding myself falling into this. It's too rainy to run or it's too windy to run or too hot or too cold. You know, I can find any excuse not to do something latch onto it, and it becomes real and you just don't do it. Yeah, so. So, but I just naturally found myself, you know, I went from running five, six days a week to and some weeks is like two or three. I'm like, Man, I want to do this more. And I'm like, why am I not doing it? So I just started like, did a deep dive on why I'm not doing it. And it was just making excuses. And I really wanted to do it more something, you know, I'm just gonna do it every day. And I did it for like a week. And I was like, oh, man, I don't know if I want to do this every day. Another podcast I listened to and yes, sorry. They put it out there that the start of January 2020 or so I'm sorry. 2019. Think that's 2011. So this is my third year. So whatever that makes it so be 2020 that they were going to start a running streak and they're gonna have a spreadsheet form. We're all going to have like a little friendly banter back and forth and, and go for it. So sign up for it. And that's really I could see it on the spreadsheet. I could see where other people were at. I can track my distance, their distance, and then it became a game it became fun. It became challenging, and so many people dropped off. There's a handful that are still doing it. I think there's only seven left on the spreadsheet this year. But in most some of those people are new though. One person that started this spreadsheet she's still on there. I think she might be one other one other guy's name's Rich, he's still on there as well. But yeah, I just started doing it. And the rule was was one mile a day, a minimum of 15 minute mile pace.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:14

So I just not to gloss over because he glossed over the number. So to slow it down a little bit, you're up and running every day consistently for how many days?

Jim Malacuso: 15:22

Just over those three years on January 1 of this year, so it was almost 1200 days, I checked my phone, but I'm using it.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:31

12 right. So you've ran consistently without fail. Vacations, snow, at least the blue, you know, at least one mile, but I think you've done it. But yeah, exactly. But when I

Jim Malacuso: 15:44

everyday, my average per day is roughly nine and a half miles a day since then.

Tom Regal: 15:50

That takes it to another level like, Oh, that's funny. I said it was a bit of a freak. But yeah, good way.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:56

But it seems like your personality is one of like, once you've decided you're going to do something, I mean, like you seem like you know, with your example with your with your with your diet, even with your job, right, you're you've been there since 97. It's like, if you found something that works, and it's going to do it, you're going to do it. How did you you know, you were fairly experienced running when you started as you started stacking on days after days, how did your body react?

Jim Malacuso: 16:18

Um, you know, I gradually built it up. So like, back then I was 6070 miles a week. Now I'm anywhere between 100 125. But I just gradually built up to it. And I'm not very good at listening to my body. So I'm sure I've ran through some stuff that I shouldn't have, you know, not all pain is the same. And I always kind of just do that. Let's go out and see test. And some days. It's like, oh, that's not a day I should do. But I'm out here, I'm gonna get that myelin. So there's a there's a few of those. But the hardest ones are after the the big events, the big ultras. And I found a way to do it. Every, every time she's something I'm going to put myself through no matter what.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 16:56

So if you're on vacation, I mean, your wife supports you and all this. Right? And she ran with you.

Jim Malacuso: 17:02

Maybe twice.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 17:04

So when you're on vacation, it was just, it's just assumed right for you. It's like, Hey, I'm having breakfast. So I just need to go get my run. And it's just part of your, your employer knows that everybody sort of knows that. Right? Sounds like you have a support system that just kind of like that's your thing. Yep. And I'm assuming some people are on you, if you if you even consider, I mean, this point. What do you do now? Are you? Is there a? I don't think there's an end in sight. Right? I mean, it's it's sort of how you are right? Correct. Yeah, you know,

Jim Malacuso: 17:31

a couple of people that work that are curious about it, people like to joke about it and have fun with it. But going back to the vacation. I mean, I just was in the keys from December 30. Until January 8, I ran over 140 miles the whole time I was in the keys. So I definitely run during my vacations to me, it was like kids wanted to go fish. I went with some friends and their kids and you know, their fishing, fishing, fishing. I wanted to run I made sure I did you know, I got a couple of 20 mile runs in, you know, the first Saturday I was there was 22 miles. And then every day after that, I got a coach now. And I told him I was going on vacation, like don't change anything, you know, I'm like, Just take into account that I'm going from 20 degrees outside to 80. You know, it's gonna be a little adaptation. So I'll just but

Tom Regal: 18:16

and you're yours. What's your average pace because like we talked about, you're talking about going like nine and a half miles as a as your your, your shorter runs, you're not going to get out a lot quicker than most people would knock out nine and a half miles. So what's your what's your average pace?

Jim Malacuso: 18:35

So the first the first year, so Strava gives you this cool little recap. And the first year the streak was like 3300 miles at an average of 720 pace. The second year was roughly about the same a little bit slower and the pace like 730 now now that I've hired a coach and he's like, you're just crazy, you're killing yourself running all these, you know, seven minute miles every run. Now it's an eight to 830 range. So you know, it slowed it down by about a minute a mile. And that was that was hard for me because I was always a numbers guy. No. Yeah, I didn't. I felt like I was going backwards. I was going slower and quite honestly, that's like then the last six, eight months since I've hired my coach, that's when my runnings really taking itself to another level is just slowing down and understanding what easy means like easy not a number easy is a feeling so I had the input that and I've learned so much in the last you know six months since I've been coached by him and he's a phenomenal coach. I'm fortunate to have him

Kenny Bailey<br>: 19:35

what was the reason for the coach? Did you are you are you doing runs that you just wanted to go faster? It sounds like you're doing Ultra distance so was the impetus for the coach to just get more efficient out to get faster at it or what made you decide to go after coach? I mean, that's a lot of miles. It seems like someone like you naturally need somebody to go hey, teach me how to run but it's more than just teaching me how to run right? Right.

Jim Malacuso: 19:55

Yeah, I knew I was missing something and I didn't know if it's something just beyond I capabilities that I needed to figure out like if I'm doing everything and this is the result and that's the result. But I I've been in races where stuff which is great until it wasn't what it was a nutritional aspect or, you know, injury, poor recovery or poor prep, whatever it was. And this was this summer it was 100 mile race and I started the race off with the guy who was by far the favorite to win it. He's going for an Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon. He's like, to a tee marathoner. He did. He won tunnel hill it like 12 hours, 14 minutes. So I started off this 100 mile, literally right behind him for the first like, half a mile and he reaches back. He's like, Hey, you want to run with me? I'm running 730. So that was definitely not my plan. My plan was

Tom Regal: 20:46

your coach. Like, freaking out? Yeah, I

Jim Malacuso: 20:49

was thinking your 10 minute pace, you know, 200 mile. So yeah, I hung with him for had to be two hours. And it was I felt like man, I there's something I could do this. I knew I could run that pace for that long, but I shouldn't have done a 100 mile race. But yeah, you know, I told him like, hey, go, go run your race. I'll run mine. And I backed off and 4050 miles in, he wasn't that far ahead of me maybe was an hour ahead, which in an ultra isn't that much. So I stuck to my plan. I backed off. And then when the evening came around, it was getting cooler. I was like, I'm gonna go faster. Again, if I have it, me. And I still had the same legs ahead in the morning in the evening. So it was I knew I was doing something right. But I'm like, Man, I got to figure that out. If I can just maintain that the whole way through this would be an easy sport for me, but never. So after that race, I came home and it was like, finished, like second or third in that race. It was my best 20 Or my best 100 mile time was like 20 hours. And I was on cloud nine. And this is fantastic. Mike, there's something more so that's when I reached out to a coach and and I'm kind of a goof I didn't want to hire just any coach. I did some homework, some research and I found out Camille Herron, who's probably the best Ultra runner on the planet. They coach so often email to him. And then her husband kind of replied, she's like Camille's, not available to coach but I am I'm like, Well, I don't know what's better having the best Ultra runner having the best ultra runners coach. Yeah, we hit it off right away. We had a conversation about it. And you know, he's, he's been great for me. So he's, he understands me, I told him about my streak. He's he's supportive of it, but which I was blown away that a coach would be supportive of it. And yeah, like, there's my training this week is seven days and 120 miles. So only,

Tom Regal: 22:39

only an ultra runner coach would support a nonstop run. Yeah.

Jim Malacuso: 22:45

He's huge on recovery, he definitely made sure that he puts most of my runs are what most would consider an easier recovery run. 80% of them usually gives me one, one pretty big volume workout, like tomorrow, I got a big workout. It's like an hour and a half. But it's pretty intense workout. And then strides are mixed in there long runs. But

Kenny Bailey<br>: 23:07

the way your recovery run is what most people's like distance runners do. So we're clear on on the scale. So you mentioned one of the things is you were kind of a slave to the time, right. 730. And it took a little bit into what are those aspects of that coach? Other than, like, what are those key things that they started changing about sort of your, your decision process or your mind, your mindset that that you felt like really was was a benefit?

Jim Malacuso: 23:33

I had to try it. So once you know, he let me kind of do my own thing he sent over my program. He's like, you know, run easy. Well, I don't know, to me easy was 730. Because I did it all the time. Like I know I can do it. And I do it all the time. So I'm just going to do it. And I put it I sent him every run. So it seems like you need to run easier kidneys, like you're going way too fast. Because like what are you trying to prove? And he's like, just slow down. Alright, so I had no idea what that meant. So I'm like, You know what, I'm just gonna go until it feels easy. And I kind of found that pace like that. 830. I mean, 730 to 830 Doesn't sound like a big difference. But when you're used to running 730 all time, and you back it down 830 It's a world of a difference. And I feel like I can go all day at this pace. Like my, my long runs were enjoyable for the first time. Like I wasn't dead halfway home, I wasn't looking for nutrition. I wasn't dehydrated, I felt good. So I started to believe in what he was telling me. He had no reason to guide me in the wrong direction. And it started working like it started clicking. So I immediately bought it and like after a week I was sold like I get it now, like totally makes sense. You know, there was some runs where I just catch myself going too fast and see if I still couldn't slow down. But just testing

Tom Regal: 24:43

it. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 24:44

Well, it's easy, right? Like you said, it's so easy. Why not do the last couple of miles, you know at speed just to see if I still got it. Right. Is there anything else he was changing kind of on that other than just speed? Was it? Was it your approach to a race how else was? Yeah,

Jim Malacuso: 24:58

definitely, man Until approach to the race nutritional approach to the race training leading up to a race. The most interesting thing was is he doesn't believe in much of a taper so and I had hired him really, interest. Yeah, I hired him about a month and a half before I had 100 mile race coming up. And he sent me he doesn't send me my training that far. It's one week, and I get it literally the day before. So I don't know what's coming up even next week. And I was kind of expecting a taper into a race. And he told me didn't believe in much of a taper, but he doesn't really believe in anything. I had to double the races on a Saturday morning, I had to run scheduled the Friday before they're shorter, you know, at four and five miles, but it's still, you know, regular double run. And I lined up that day and the race day, and our goal was to, you know, have a PR break 20 hours. And he's just trust in the process because you put in the work. He knows I haven't been being coached by him for one point at that time. But from what he saw, he gave me all the confidence in the world. We chatted about and he's like, just go break 20 hours. So I just went out there ran a pace, and I ended up winning the race and 15 hours.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 26:06

Wow. Wow.

Jim Malacuso: 26:08

So it was it was a monster, a monster PR. And I I wasn't shocked. Like I actually, that race was pretty unique for a lot of reasons. I made a lot of mistakes. I ended up falling asleep, like, I don't know, was it at 90 miles in the race it sat at an aid station and just zonked. I. So when I say made mistakes, I definitely made mistakes. But my hope

Kenny Bailey<br>: 26:32

for you out was it just like 15 minutes and you woke up or what?

Jim Malacuso: 26:35

20 minutes. So race. It was

Kenny Bailey<br>: 26:41

but you feel good. When you're done. Right? You're like 20 minutes. That's perfect.

Jim Malacuso: 26:45

Well, I told the aid station person my age give me like 1015 minutes asleep, you know, maybe 20. And by that I had a pretty good lead. Like everyone was telling me where I was at for a lot of the race. And I was trying to channel it out. But yeah, I was listening to some of them. And I knew I had a pretty significant lead. But there was a 50k that starts at night. That starts at so there's 50k left in the race. So I started kind of with a lot of them were way back. And then I'm going I'm napping, I heard footsteps, and I had no idea if it was somebody I didn't care. I wasn't my goal wasn't to win the race. But I knew I was in a position to so I can't say didn't care, but it wouldn't bother me if I didn't. But I heard footsteps go. I thought somebody had passed me and I was going to come in second or third. There's a video on my Facebook when I crossed the finish line. She told me I won the race almost like what? You know, I knew I did well, but I didn't know I'd won the race. So that's a pretty fast race. And it's the Hennepin hundreds a really flat fast race. It's gotten maybe 1000 feet of gain over 100 miles. That's pretty good. Yeah, it's done a canal so it's literally you know, the level of water

Kenny Bailey<br>: 27:54

you prefer on those $100 Do you prefer a Hillier one do you for prefer a flat one? What's what's sort of your jam?

Jim Malacuso: 28:01

Flat? Yeah. I'm a road runner. I mean, I live in a mountain Beverly Hills and road. So that's funny.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 28:15

So when you talk to people, I mean, it must be a little, you know, for you go to a dinner party or you know, like you say you meet new colleagues and all that. And you mentioned those things. I mean, it's for people that run marathons. Just just a marathon. It's Wow, you do marathons, right? Here you are, you're not only are you doing, you know, 100 miles, you're averaging about 70 plus miles a week, but you're also have that streak going. Do you? Do you like to tell people that or do you find it sometimes kind of annoying? What? You know? I mean, you probably told you were crazy, what? 988 times in the last day, you know? Yeah,

Jim Malacuso: 28:51

I was gonna say yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 28:53

How do you? I mean, do you just sort of, like, yeah, that's kind of who I am. So yeah, whatever. Or is it? Do you sigh when you have to say it or when people start asking?

Jim Malacuso: 29:03

It depends. Some some people I can see they're kind of having fun with it or joking about a lot. You know, a lot of people will tell me what they're training for so few people at work, like I'm doing a 5k like, yeah, it's just that they'll say it's just a five minute timeout. I'm like, doing something that not a lot of people are doing like forget the distance like I I've suffered more than five K's and some five K's and I haven't some 100 mile races. So the distance doesn't mean anything. So those people I just try to tell them don't minimize what you're doing based on what I'm doing. Like you what you're doing is awesome. Doesn't matter. So, and then you get a lot of people that's telling me I'm crazy. It's gonna be bad for my knees. It's gonna have all the problems down the line, and I'm looking at them and like, you have a hard time getting off your ass off your chair and you're telling me it's bad for my knees? Yeah, I'm not saying I'm gonna have the best knees when I'm 65 but I know how I feel right now. So it's it's mixed. I don't mind talking about anybody who's actually interested in And I love chocolate. I love running I love. I love everything about it. So I if it helps one person that's I'm not I don't have a big social media presence. And I do only really post my running stuff on there. It's more for my family and friends to see my parents. They have a house in Florida and in Michigan, and I'm in Illinois, so they get to see it that way too. But yeah, it's to me, it's just part of what I do. And if anyone wants to talk about it, I'm more than happy. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 30:27

Do you find too that sometimes I noticed when when you talk about and Tom, you probably know this too, like when you when you tell people what you're doing, like, you're doing Ultra man or you're in an Ironman or you're doing 100 mile run? Sometimes you hear this pause, and then they tell you like the 14 medical conditions they have or else they'd be totally out there. Do you get that a lot too? Like I totally do that. But you know, I got this knee thing I've been dealing with and

Jim Malacuso: 30:48

I tell you the knee seems to be everyone's yeah to smoking, not drinking, not the drugs. It's the knee. So the poor lifestyle choices at the knees, knees, knees, actually. I'm telling you, it's all about the knees and knock on wood. That's the one issue that seems to not bother me is my everything else bothers me, my calves, my thighs, my glutes? My arms and knees. So, yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 31:16

I've got a torn meniscus that I had previously. I just want to let you know. Yeah. So when you when you talk to people, I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people that ask advice, right? And so, you know, so let's, let's kind of chunk that into three sort of sections. So if you have a new runner coming at you, if you have sort of a an experienced runner that wants to go to do the hundreds, and if someone's, you know, wants to try to follow you on the daily thing, how do you what do you want divided into sort of three sections? Right? Yeah. So what do you call that a new runner? And we'll start with at first,

Jim Malacuso: 31:49

yeah, that that comes up quite a bit, you know, especially around the New Year, everyone's starting their, their new life. You know, how do you how do you get into writing, it's just one day at a time and you're not gonna go from zero to 100. Overnight, it's a process. I tried to make the mistake by doing too much too early. And I paid for, you know, either with injury or fatigue, or just lack of motivation. And just, I would always tell them, just do what you can for, you know, that's comfortable until you can't do it anymore. And then you know, the next time you go out whether it's a day later, two days later, try to do that or a little bit more. But baby steps, pretty much you know, you need to hold walk before you, you know, or crawl before you walk mentality. So with those, and I've gotten good feedback on that. The people that are kind of casual runners that wanted to start doing a little bit more tomorrow, the same, like you can't run every day unless you build your body up to be able to do it, especially, you know, 910 miles a day. It's not sustainable. If you haven't have a pretty solid background. I mean, even when I stopped taking an off day during the week, I felt that that recovery day was so important, like chips and how I felt so and then the people that want to get into the hundreds, most of people I meet that run are in the ultra community. The few of the 50 K's that I showed up to people are curious about that other actually had a good conversation with the guys totally seasoned Ultra runner. He's done every he just did western states. He's done every part of why he's on every big mountain race actually wants to do the race that you just did, Tom. I know business. Yeah, yeah. That's one of his go races, but he's never done a flat 100. So he was very curious and how I approach that. And this is a guy that's got got he's probably got 10,000 running miles underneath his belt just racing. You know, he's He's a freak for those 200 milers and those 48 events, which I have zero interest in.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 33:40

Which is funny. This is what cracks me. You you're running for like, you know, 1000s of days, right? You're doing hundreds and then when you talk to somebody I'd like it to and you're like I have no business for that. I think that's, that's what makes it kind of hilarious, right? Someone I would automatically assume a 200 miler for you would be like, Well, who cares? Right? Once you get past 100 You're insane. Anyway, I mean, you guys, you're 50k and above to me is like, Yeah, but yeah, so the Mises a 200? Is that is the limit, like what is it about the 100 between the one and the two or the 48 hour? But

Jim Malacuso: 34:14

yeah, I think doing something for a day as crazy as it is. That's why I'm really happy. I found a way to get a little bit faster, so I can be out of there a little earlier.

Tom Regal: 34:22

Yeah, I haven't found that speed.

Jim Malacuso: 34:25

You'll find it. I've had some pretty rough sales at my early on. I got a little ahead of myself, my first 100 And I think I'm sure I told Tom when we were at Badwater, but my keys 100 experienced. Yeah, horrible. But just the fact of being our good friend Chris, he loves these crazy long races and I hear him and he's telling me what he goes through during I'm like, I just couldn't it's not for me not right. I'm not never ruling it about I'll never say never when it comes to something like that. Moab 240 is on the radar, but not for a while.

Tom Regal: 34:58

Badwater on On the printer, it was

Jim Malacuso: 35:02

for a little while. I'm going to probably put a hold on that just I think I'm gonna wait a couple more years. Financially, it's really expensive to do Badwater. I never got the amount from Chris but adding it up in my head. And it's, and this board isn't cheap, especially if you want to go outside of your hometown. I mean, yeah, if you bring crew you know, the etiquette is to pay for your crew and pay for their flights. And it adds up quick. I mean, just bring I brought just to the keys, we did the keys 100. Again, this year, I finally finished it after three attempts, by the way. That was ugly. But you know, talking seven 8000 bucks, you know, so in bad waters, you're in the middle of nowhere, you're kind of at the mercy of the vendors that are out there for lodging. So it gets it gets pricey, but so Help

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:49

Help. Again, some of our some of our viewers aren't kind of well versed you guys are sometimes we can shorthand right on on some of this stuff, because you're so well versed on it. So when you're looking at a give us a I'm going to be the everyday man. Sure. Give us sort of an idea when you're when you're when you're getting set for 100 mile run. What is the what is that structure? If you say you have a crew? What specifically do you need to bring? How long are you there? How many people does it really take to crew and when you're cruising something? What does that mean? What it is? Is it there to hand you socks and a and a Coke or what's give us a kind of a makeup of what that looks like?

Jim Malacuso: 36:29

Sure. So for any 100 miler for the for the most part, majority of them have aid stations, so you can do them uncrewed if you're if your goals are aligned with not having a crew and you don't need quick handoffs and you're not really racing it for a PR or something, you can use all the the aid stations are totally stacked perfectly, they have more options and you can think of but doing it on the crude aspect of it all, two or three minimum, you know, and 100 mile you got to make sure someone stays awake because even if your goal is 20 You never know what's gonna happen. You could end up being out to 3540 hours, whatever the cutoff might be. So gotta make sure you have enough people to stay awake for you. And they're doing everything from I mean, I don't know a really good way to go they're like your servants when they're out there. I mean, they're there for you. You know when we crude for Chris we anything he needed. We gave them a lot

Tom Regal: 37:23

of work. A lot of work and you to do it right. It's it's a lot of work to be prepared to white feet to, you know, pop blisters, to tape things up to change socks to you know, allowing people to sleep to you know, watching the clock and yeah, feeding. Yeah. It's good. But

Kenny Bailey<br>: 37:44

it's remember call like on the Barclays like they would you know, the Barclays is the infamous one where they're doing fine, you know, you know, that guy's insane. But it seems like like when Antonio, this is right, like you're sitting in a chair, right? Your job as the runner is all you're thinking about is okay, this hurts, I need this and they may be ready to give you something. But you're like, if I eat that right now, I'm going to vomit on you. Right? So I'm assuming it's sort of a little bit of a slow NASCAR, right, I need I need this. I need this. Sox feel good. I'm assuming there has to be some personality that you add some trust, that there's some people that that are like, Look, you need to stop for a second do this, or you need to do this, that you need that that person in your corner to make sure that they look out for you not not killing yourself, right. Absolutely. So

Jim Malacuso: 38:33

I haven't been fortunate enough to have anyone crew with me that is an ultra runner that's experienced it. So that's been a little bit interesting. For me. It's my wife, who just called me at every race had been cruised by my wife, and my good friend and his wife of crude, me and my kids. So yeah, but they do everything like Tom said from wiping feet, poppin blisters, and basically is there the nutrition aspect of it all and making sure you know what I transfer all my water bottles, if I bring one back that's half full or drinking up. Next time I see I'm gonna get smacked for like, Hey, what are you doing? Like, gotta need this stuff?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 39:08

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Right? Yeah, yeah.

Jim Malacuso: 39:10

When you're, when you're doing these races, you're focused on how you feel at that moment. So you might feel great, you know, 50 miles into the race. So you back off a little bit on your nutrition, well, five miles or an hour or two hours later, that's gonna catch up and you're gonna feel every bit of that, you know, your electrolytes are gonna go down your your hydration is gonna go down your, you know, you're just your general calories. You don't focus on that. Those are mistakes. I made it, the last race, you know, it was just let my nutrition slip away and I paid for it. So

Tom Regal: 39:40

and that's where you want, you want trustworthy people, people that will be there for you. Because if something happens, where you start to bark, you really start to lose energy, you're not able to make decisions. Ultimately, they become the person that makes the decision, your crew chief, the person that's in charge of your crew He can make the decision to pull you from the race. If the medical team doesn't do it, they can do that. So you need to have the trust in that person that they're going to do what it takes and to and to not pull the trigger too soon. Right things go bad, and they don't always go back. But sometimes they do it, sometimes it gets really bad. And it's a matter of managing what you're going through. Like, I think Chris's stomach was turning on him, and we couldn't get food in him for a little bit. So we managed to get him going along. And then we had to keep kind of forcing him some stuff, you need to have this now you need to try this, get this and we got him back on his mode and going again, but you know, you need crew to do that for you and make those decisions. It's,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 40:44

it feels like it may test the marriage to like, I'm not wholly sure it's

Tom Regal: 40:49

never recommended that your spouse be on the crew like we've that's like, number one, but number one, I have have wives dilated, that raising that that have been through it. And there's the one race that I did, where Wendy had to push through some watching me suffer more than she's ever seen before. With the ultra man with a broken foot where it was that was the most painful thing. And she that was not easy for right. So and that's, that's where it is when it goes south, watching someone you love go through the suffering and you know, like, it's, most people can't handle that.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 41:30

Well, and I think to your point, you know, you're gonna suffer. So it's that hairy edge between Do I just let them go? Because they're gonna come up where if it's a loved one, they're gonna look at you differently and the fact that they're their jobs their whole life, right, you signed up to be the protector, right? You signed up to, you know, and trying to get that person to push through. I you know, my wife and I've done Ragnar, you know, that's a much smaller race. But you know, we've done Ragnar together twice, and we seem to get along really well on that one. You know, I had a nine mile stretch where things are falling off, things are going really badly. The heat was a lot more than I expected for the middle of the day. And, you know, she came out three miles doesn't say a word. And I had three miles to go. And I just handed the band and she finished the three for me. And it was like, you know, it's like she knew it right? And she was like, just just give it to me. And I'm like, God, thank God. It wasn't. So it's interesting to me to go back to the Florida thing like you were you were saying that, you know, you had three of them. This is the third one you've done, given your experience and giving, given the fact that you're running every day one would think that, you know, you should be able to knock these out. What was it about Florida that it took you three times what what kind of what lessons learned? Did you did you learn from that one?

Jim Malacuso: 42:41

The first time I just wasn't ready to do it. I did my first dog show was in North Carolina. It's called Badwater Kate fears. It's actually where I met Chris in 2019. It was a 52 mile or 51 mile run. I did, I did good. I felt good after I was sore as hell, but like, mentally, physically, I recovered fast. And they had a flyer. So the race director of Badwater is really good friends with a gentleman named Bob Becker, who runs all of his races. And he was hosting another race in Florida. And it was the pamphlets and it was it called the keys 100. My wife's like, Ah, you shouldn't do that. I'm like, well, that turned into what sign up for it. And this was only a few months after this is the longest run I've ever done by far, like just flat out not ready for it. I got there was running and I blew up, like literally blew up 30 miles in my wife pushed me back out there for another 14. And I did have to like 44 miles. And the second time around was so supposed to be in 2020 COVID happened. So that race got pushed to 2021. And I thought I learned a whole bunch, you know, go on there. It's the only race I've ever gotten blisters in like my feet were like ground beef. They were gross. So I took my read about it took measures to hopefully eliminate the blisters and about the same spot. And the first time I did I started getting blisters again, and hotspots like 30 miles and again, and I pushed and pushed and pushed and I made it to like mile 70 something. And I was pissed. I wasn't happy. I was like, man, what am I what am I doing wrong here? Like, something's not right. So I wrote that race off forever. Like, I'm never doing my race. Yeah. So fast forward me on that too much longer. After that. We're sitting at my friend's house and my wife, they have a relay option. And my buddy says, Hey, we should go back down to the keys. And all four of us do the 100 is a relay. And my wife comes and goes Yeah, well, since Jim can't finish the 100 Oh wow. I grabbed my phone and I sign up for the race. I'm like, You seem like

Kenny Bailey<br>: 44:45

the type of personality that big giant fu I'm gonna go do this.

Jim Malacuso: 44:50

So that Wow. All right. I eliminated my no more keys 100 a model and I signed up for it again. And I think I became a had a runner, you know, since that I finished them on their 100 Since then, and I signed up and we went there. And again, it was more of the same really, I just wasn't not going to not finish that race this time around. And I didn't show a lot of the issues that I was having in my crew, my wife was there, my friend and his wife were there. So they took a lot of time out to support me, and they were awesome the whole time. And there was no way I was not gonna get across that I was like a 25 hour finish. And it was ugly. Like my wife did your last 1580 miles with me, and we literally just logged like I was dead.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 45:33

So what did you say to her when you got across the line? Was there? Was there any sort of like, you know, smarmy?

Tom Regal: 45:40

little snarky reply. No, I want to see that again. You want to say that? Yeah. So all smiles, all smiles we

Jim Malacuso: 45:49

had, we had been talking about it as we were walking through, we're just kind of talking about everything our kids and, and about finishing racing. We had about five months. So we put that behind us at that point. She once once she knew I signed up, you know, after she had made that comment. She knew I was gonna finish it one way or the other. So that that was a race I had to get done.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 46:07

So yeah, I get that. So are you kids runners too? No, not at all.

Tom Regal: 46:13

Running. They see 15 and

Kenny Bailey<br>: 46:18

12. And they just they're like, no, no, no,

Jim Malacuso: 46:21

they are both in a lot of cement. And my youngest is in basketball, baseball, football. He snowboards My oldest is in basketball. He wasn't football. He's done with it now and he still does baseball. So they're active. They're athletes athletic, but they do not like running. That's how they get you know, that's their punishment for school.

Tom Regal: 46:39

Schools punishment. Yeah, yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 46:42

Yeah, I tried to get my kids, my kids are in their 20s. They, they were cross country runners. And in tracking through high school, and then the end of high school, they're like, I am never running again. Like they hate it hated it, because it was just constant. Just and there's a lot of pressure, right? I mean, you're going from cross country to my oldest one was literally throwing up at a bush when he got done with a race, you know, that kind of thing. And he's like, Look, I just so none of them are running, let alone I'm trying to get him to a triathlon. So it's not going to happen. They're in their 20s. And I'm waiting for them to get old enough where they start getting sedentary, and they're like, I gotta do something with my life. And then I'll be like, welcome. where everybody's Yeah, I'm alive by then. You know, it's like, come to the dark side. But none of them have done that yet. That's funny. So yeah, I think I think the thing that I keep going back to is that trigger in your head, if I'm trying to determine is it just a, is it a personality thing with you is like, you know, like you said, you're bound and determined, right? Is it a Is it is it just becomes a part of you. Because I'm trying to figure out how to do what I'm trying to pull out is sort of a larger lesson for people on on, this isn't just about, you know, you going over 1000 days, it's the idea that you've committed to something you're gonna do something where it becomes so part of your habit that it feels weird not to and we're trying to get to people. And what I love about what you said is, the word just just needs to be and I just said that the word just needs to be removed from that, right? I just did a 10k or I just did a 5k. How do you how do you help people try to say, hey, just there's that determination in your in your brain that I'm trying to figure out? How do I how do I bottle that and give it to other people? How do you how do you tell those other people, I guess, if I'm rambling on I'm trying to figure out just know how to do that.

Jim Malacuso: 48:34

I just, you know, I just made it part of something, what I do, I mean, we brush our teeth every day, hopefully we all shower every day, there's a lot of things that we do every day, we sleep every day, you know. So for me, it was this is just what I'm going to do every day. And then after doing it 30 days became 60 days, 90 days, and I hit a year. And that's actually going to stop at a year. But then I was like, Well, I don't have a reason to stop, let's just keep going. But now it's to the point where I'll actually get a little anxious if I don't get my run out in the morning, and I gotta wait till the afternoon when I get out of work or the evening. I have like an anxiety about it, you know, like, I don't want to do it, but I want to do it at the same time. And, you know, in my, my kids, I put it out there. My kids know I do it. My family knows I do it. coworkers know, I do it, you know, and it gets brought up and I don't want you know, if I'm physically able to do it. I don't want to be like, Well, I just stopped just because I stopped you know, I didn't feel like doing it. But I think after all it's like anything else like you start a habit, you know whether it's a good or a bad one. And once you've created that habit, you keep going back to it. So fortunately for me, and I'm not saying that running every day is a good thing. You know, especially I've ran on days where I know I shouldn't have ran I actually was hospitalized after a race. And when they told me they were admitting me, I wasn't worried about my health. At that point. I was like shitting my streak might be over. And I actually made up an excuse to the nurse too. Go to my car to get my laptop. I told her to do work stuff. I was gonna go run a lap in the parking lot. And I started to and I saw her staring at me out the door. I'm like, What am I doing? At some point, I had to read IV bottles at a PICC line in my arm because,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 50:15

exactly. And this, just like, I need to make 15 minutes, just 15 minutes just.

Jim Malacuso: 50:20

And I kept saying, What am I getting out here? What am I getting it? You know, I don't know why they gave me so many tests as they did. But it was kind of cool. I learned a lot about my blood that day. And what it what it's like a day after an ultra because I went in there a day after a race. Actually, the the day after I went in there. And I just kind of that that point, I was like, Man, this is over the run streak is over. This was just back in November. And I told my wife and my kids, I'm like, Well, this is the one thing that's going to be done with the streak. And lo and behold, somehow the nurse miraculously walks back in and like seven o'clock at night. She's like great news, you're being discharged. That's your asset. And I got I got home, hopped on a treadmill and banged out a couple of miles and went to bed. Oh, good.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 51:06

Yeah. And your journey is kind of neat. Because I think you know, you were obese. Right? Yeah. You know, the idea that it's just like, it's a little bit of time, a little bit of time. It's like you said you didn't wake up, you know, not doing anything or sedentary and all of a sudden you're doing running every day. I mean, this was this was an evolution. And I think that's one of the things that, that that folks, and I know, Tom, when you talk to people that are trying to figure out how to do like Iron Man, they always think of the bigness of it, right? It's 140. It's like, you don't think that you think in small segments, and I'm assuming that's what you guys do on the hundreds, right? Look, I'm, I'm going to the aid station, and then I'm gonna go right next aid station. And then I'm going to the next aid station. And I think it's the same way to get started for people on on like you said, it's their fitness journey is probably just now starting, and it's a newer year, you know, how do I just, I think it's just you start stacking up small little victories, that'd be a fair assessment

Jim Malacuso: 51:55

100% Like, and that for me with the running, like, every time that I would go a little bit further, that was it, little victory ahead. And that's when I started to see the momentum, and I started to see progress. I think we're a lot of people that I've talked to where they start something and they stop, they fall in that excuse mill, you know, time seems to be the number one thing, I just don't have the time. And that used to be one of my excuses. You know, I used to, you know, now unfortunately, my hours at work are much better. But I used to work 1215 hour days, and I always lived an hour away. So there would be days, I'd be out of the house for 1416 hours. So and this is why I was starting off on my running journey with the streak. So there's 24 hours in a day, you know, and I looked how much time I was screwing around on my phone, you look at screen times, like I spent three hours on, you know, playing a game or Facebook or Google whatever it was, it's like, I could have been doing something then. So I knew I had the time I just actually had to do it. So I started, you know, four o'clock, 430 in the morning, I would squeeze those runs in or at 11 o'clock at night. And it just, there's there is time. You know, that's that's the biggest excuse. I think that people you have to if you want something bad enough, you got to make time, you know, 24 hours in a day is a lot, you got

Tom Regal: 53:05

to prioritize it once you once you make it a priority. Once you make your priority, once you make your family a priority, then it goes to the top of the list right and the top three. And then the consistency, as you said is the same thing. Just it doesn't matter the distance, just get out and move your body. Get up to get up in the morning, move your body for 10 minutes, but you got every day. And then you can do 20 minutes, and then you can do more and then you can decide to do other things. But if you don't get started, what was it this is that the Strava numbers were saying that I think it was this weekend. Everyone goes about 14 days. I've heard anywhere from 14 to 20 days into January, before they give up on their goals. That's 80% Yeah, we'll give up on your goals at that point. They go really hard for two weeks. They don't see results, they get tired, they're sore, so they take a few days off, and then never come back to it again. Right. They never get out of to that first plateau of actually okay, now I can get some results from fitness. Because that's like six to eight weeks before you actually start to get the benefits are like well, I'm supposed to have all this energy like I'm tired. Well, you had no shit. It's just not Yeah, you're two weeks in you're not doing anything right? No, you're

Kenny Bailey<br>: 54:20

that's why I skipped January altogether. Right? I don't start until February. I just start getting everybody on the gym to

Tom Regal: 54:28

now so but it's that consistency right it's that little bit little bits just do a little bit and then that consistency turns into a habit and a habit turns into a nightmare for your family maybe. Definitely. For my

Jim Malacuso: 54:46

shoes, but yeah, I think a lot of people when they start they want to see results too fast. And they expect all these changes to happen overnight. You know it took them 15 years, you know to put their body in the shape that they're in. It's not going to happen overnight. You If you just find, you know, some people need a coach, some people are self motivated. Some people need that outside force to go, you know, to push them along. And whatever that is, they got to find it because I see it all the time you show up at a gym on January 1 or January 10. It's packed, you go there on the 11th. It's empty. And a lot of it just people didn't accept the fact that they needed to take a day off or recover. It sounds funny me saying day off, but recover. But it's

Tom Regal: 55:27

off with the streak. Right? You started? Like how I ran?

Jim Malacuso: 55:30

Yeah, couple years? Yeah, with several years of running pretty heavily before

Tom Regal: 55:34

the district before the street kind of toll. So you got to everybody's got to think long term like, this is a lifestyle. Right? It does. And

Kenny Bailey<br>: 55:42

I think you know, you're an anomaly on this one, right? I mean, you're self aware on that one that you like you said, there's seven? Well, there's seven on the list. But I mean, of the of the crazy you guys are like at the tip of crazy, you're looking at

Tom Regal: 55:55

rifle in the world, or whatever the number is. There's about 100 people like Jim. So that's, you know, point 000000. I just

Kenny Bailey<br>: 56:04

I liked the fact that Jim looks at the 200 milers like and the people that are doing 48 Like what are those guys? Do? You know? Who do they look at those guys are crazy.

Jim Malacuso: 56:14

I'll tell you what, you know, this sport is so cool. So you can have athletes at every level from complete novice beginners don't have any idea what they're doing to elite athletes that are sponsored and paid. And they line up at the same races. And the weird thing to me about this sport is all the accolades and all the attention seems to go to the people at the top. Nothing gets to the people at the back, it really seems like those are the people out there that 3040 hours, and some races that are taking people 12 to 15 hours. And I always try to I actually talk to them more than I talk to the people at the top. Because I want to get that mindset, I want to get that mentality, I want to see what they went through. Because someone who finishes a race in 1518 hours, it's a long time. It's grueling, and but they had a lot less adversity and a lot less decisions to make and a lot less challenges overcome than that person that was out there for 25 3040 hours.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 57:14

So they're going through that and some stuff, right. I mean, that's, yeah,

Jim Malacuso: 57:17

it's a demon, some battles. And you know, the mentality I see from that, but that's why I think the sport is so awesome, because there's every level of fitness is in there. Anyone that wants to get into it can eventually find a way to do you didn't really have to be super trained to finish 100 miles

Tom Regal: 57:34

now, shapes and sizes to it's,

Jim Malacuso: 57:37

it's great, it's a great sport, and there's so many races out there now, that actually do reward the back of the pack in the middle of the pack. And they do now they had a golden hour that they do at Western states as little publicity that they do, which I think is awesome, because those people deserve just as much credit as the people at the top, you know, and I always people ask me what the difference is from when I first started running when I was a 2530 hour finisher, to being able to go sub 20 into 15 hour range. And it's just the amount of that you want to dedicate to it. You don't you know, I wasn't doing as much as I am now before. So the more I put into it, and the more I learned and the more I recovered and whatnot, then I became a faster, stronger runner at that. But I had to do all that stuff and fail before and be slower and not train as much before when I started to now we're random and crazy mountain running, it's you know, 15 hours, 18 hours a week just in running. So I'm gonna before I wasn't doing that, so if you want us is a sport where you can kind of limp into it and do what you want to do and guide your way through it. And if you want to get better and you get a good coach, or you have the right plan and process, you can definitely get faster at it. There's no doubt you'll get better. I'm 41. And I'm getting faster. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 58:53

that's cool.

Tom Regal: 58:54

Okay. That's the key. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's fantastic. I had a thought I was going to add to that, and I just totally forgot about it. But one of the things that I love the most about the endurance sport world. And as you go longer distances it seems to be more prevalent is when you finish the race. Everyone congratulate you because you said the first place the last place doesn't Yeah, it doesn't matter. Not one of them asked you what your time is? No. All they say is did you finish it? Yeah. Congratulations. And they treat you just like you won the race.

Jim Malacuso: 59:31

Absolutely. And that's what hooked me into it because the first time I finished 100 It was the experience when I won 100 And when I first finished it wasn't a whole lot different. It was a little bit more ceremonious. At first, I was the first first person to cross so that was special in that regard. But after that, it was like oh, just another runner, which wasn't expected me anything more than that, which was awesome. And I actually went back the next day I went back to my hotel and slept and we came back morning and watch out people finish in 100 miles. And that was so much fun, you know, seeing people that were out there, you know, another double the amount of time that I was out there and seeing them finish and that was fun to go and congratulate them. They had no idea that I had won the race before. I didn't care. I wasn't broadcasting that just being able to go there. Like I saw people do that for me. In the past where I saw that person that I heard whispers won the race came back and they're high fiving me at the finish, you know, 10 hours later. So just a cool sport in that regard. You know, it's a small sport, but it's got a big reach in that regard. Yeah. Cool.

Tom Regal: 1:00:35

What else is going on? Jim? What's what's what's next? What races you have coming up? Or?

Jim Malacuso: 1:00:40

Yeah, so the only thing I have on the calendar right now is Abilene on 100. In October. I'm between two races right now for the spring. My coach is trying to kind of put something together to last minute so in mid February, but that doesn't happen I'm probably going to do jackpot 100 in in March. That's in Vegas. That's a fun one. It's a nice little 1.1 mile loop or something. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:01:07

100 Miles really?

Jim Malacuso: 1:01:09

And a loop. My street that I live on is a loop and it's 1.1 mile so I do that I did that Sunday 20 miles of it just round and round we go so I'm definitely mentally prepared for a race like that. And then that's something I'm not sure about the summer I definitely want to pick a race in there for this summer but I'm not sure what it's gonna

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:01:30

be. Yeah, it's funny that you you know it's feels like you know, when you guys talk about 100 milers, your traverse your forwarding rivers and fighting off bears and coyotes you're in this some sort of like you always think of Western states right where it's got this just beautiful you're going through you know Tahoe to you know through the and then you're like no I'm gonna go into 1.1 mile loop or 100 Vegas and dry disgusting and and I want to stab my eye when I'm halfway through but but yeah the bubble for me on what a really cool one.

Jim Malacuso: 1:02:06

They come in all shapes and sizes. Well

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:02:08

I could do that.

Jim Malacuso: 1:02:10

I'll tell you what, you know, everyone everyone minimizes these flat and fast ones and have a pretty low finish rate because a lot of people they go out hard and they go out the wheels come off quick, you know, I've done some I've haven't done any mountain type races I've done some Hillier 100 K's in 100 minor holders and they slow you down and they definitely it helps you you know going out these things too hard and too fast. It's a lot of bad stuff happen.

Tom Regal: 1:02:36

man Yeah. Crew for you. If you do no big,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:02:40

just you know business

Jim Malacuso: 1:02:41

can be heard that race. Yeah, that's supposed to be an epic race. And I can't believe you chose that for your first.

Tom Regal: 1:02:48

I'm not very bright. My wife was nice enough to send me a video that somebody had sent her from at work or something and said, Hey, there's the state parks and stuff that are really nice and beautiful. You should go out to an eastern Tennessee and sent this thing and she found the video and she's looking at it. She goes, Hey, look at this. This is really nice. She said she hit send. And then she went, instantly regretted it because my instant response was, Well, this looks like fun.

Jim Malacuso: 1:03:16

That is a brutal

Tom Regal: 1:03:18

research into it. I would never recommend that as a as a first 100. I would never recommend it as a first 100 It was like I scared the crap out of myself. And I had to do a lot of work and put a really good plan together. And to follow that and I only had one crew because we had issues and Wendy wasn't able to be there and my buddy had flown in and never experienced crewing before. I had never done Ultra distance races anything and he kicked butt Jerry, my buddy took care of me. In a way that's just as it was incredible. So everything kind of fell into place. But it could have gone wrong in so many ways.

Jim Malacuso: 1:03:56

Oh, sure. So sure. Yeah, that's the ultra world and in any given time, anything could go wrong. It's inevitable. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. It's not it's not Oh, it's one it's definitely gonna happen.

Tom Regal: 1:04:09

Well, we'll certainly keep watching the streak and going through what your instinct is you have it on Instagram, right? Is that

Jim Malacuso: 1:04:17

on Strava all my runs run Strava it's a public profiles on anyone's more than happy to go with it that if they want to bore themselves with a run every day.

Tom Regal: 1:04:26

People follow those numbers. I'm like, whatever. Yeah, Facebook,

Jim Malacuso: 1:04:30

I might have I might be up to 50 friends on Facebook. So that's a lot of the races. They finish I put on there. And some of the streak milestones I put on there. But yeah, I'm not huge on social media.

Tom Regal: 1:04:41

Yeah. Because you're out running. I'm not running, which is the proper thing to do.

Jim Malacuso: 1:04:47

So everything does everything is on Strava. So yeah, well

Tom Regal: 1:04:50

good luck with the with the streak and everything else. Stay unhealthy. I really appreciated chatting with you today. It was great. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, Yeah, thanks for having me on. So everybody, give your give your comments and feedback, subscribe to the channels, five stars, thumbs up all that good stuff. You know, that helps the algorithm get out there and we can get a bigger expanse on this. We're we're having a great year. We've got some great guests coming up as well. And so thanks, everybody, we appreciate all your support. And Kenny Jim, we'll catch you on the next one. We'll see you