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Law Have Mercy!
Law Have Mercy! isn’t just about the law anymore—it’s about life, business, health, and everything that sparks curiosity. Join Personal Injury Attorney Chaz Roberts as he dives into candid conversations that mix legal insights with lifestyle tips, entrepreneurial wisdom, and personal growth. From breaking down complex legal issues in simple terms to exploring the challenges and triumphs of health, business, and beyond, Chaz brings his unique perspective and passion to every episode.
Whether you're here to learn, laugh, or find inspiration, Law Have Mercy! has something for everyone. Just remember: the opinions of our guests are their own, and nothing on this podcast is legal advice or creates an attorney-client relationship—it’s all about entertainment, exploration, and empowerment. Let’s make it fun!
Law Have Mercy!
Why We Run (and Why You Should Too): Lessons in Life, Health, and Hard Work
Ever wondered how a Sunday morning run could change your perspective on life? Join us on a journey where a simple invitation during the pandemic led to a transformative experience for both myself and my friend, Kevin Hernandez. Discover how running has become a sanctuary for mental clarity and physical resilience, and how it can bring unexpected joy and camaraderie even in the midst of life's chaos. Kevin and I explore the rituals that have emerged from our weekly runs, the lessons learned from participating in challenging race series, and the heartwarming moments that make every mile worthwhile.
Kevin shares his inspiring story of sneaking in runs during his kids' soccer practices, proving that even the busiest parents can carve out moments for personal growth. Our adventure in running has been as much about the mental hurdles as it is about the physical ones. We candidly recount our experiences with local race series, laughing at the unexpected challenges and triumphs along the way. With a focus on pacing and endurance, we discuss how running has not only improved our fitness but also enriched our social interactions and community involvement.
Running isn't just about speed; it's about the memories and relationships built along the way. Hear how this journey has influenced our family lives, serving as a model of dedication and perseverance for our children. We highlight the concept of "intentional congruence" where running becomes entwined with family life and travel, offering a unique blend of fulfillment and exploration. Whether you're a seasoned runner or just curious about lacing up those shoes, listen in to uncover how running has reshaped our lives and could do the same for you.
You can watch most full episodes of Law Have Mercy on YouTube!
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If you are in need of legal guidance, visit our website: https://www.chazrobertslaw.com/
This show is co-produced by Carter Simoneaux of AcadianaCasts Network, Chaz H. Roberts of Chaz Roberts Law and Kayli Guidry Bonin of Beau The Agency, and Laith Alferahin.
Hey guys, it's Chaz back with another episode of Law have Mercy. Today's episode we're going to take it off topic. We're going to talk about running, if you are interested in running. If you're not interested in running, I hope to inspire you. If you want to get better at anything in life, listen up to this episode because I hope to inspire you with some thoughts about running or physical health. You with some thoughts about running or physical health.
Speaker 1:It's meant the world to me to sit here and talk about running like I'm some kind of expert. I have to evaluate really what's going on here, because this is the last thing I ever thought I would be talking about. But I started my running journey around COVID when I messaged a friend and said, hey, two of my buddies, iz and Jed, shout out. They had just finished a marathon and I'm an athlete and I'm competitive, and I said, hey guys, what's up with this? And they invited me to join them on a Sunday run. And here we are, four or five years later and I've run four world majors and I've gone all around the country and world running and it is essential to my mental and physical health and I think I've inspired a lot of other people to run. One of those people I inspired to run is Kevin Hernandez. Shout out, kevin. What's up buddy?
Speaker 2:What's up, chaz, good morning.
Speaker 1:And so he's going to pipe in today and talk a little bit about his running journey, which he started July or August maybe August, august, okay and how that has impacted his life and we want to give some advice, we want to talk about it, maybe inspire you, going to give you some pointers of where to get started and, if you are an existing runner, how you can get better and where you could take this right and how you can experience this life and include your family and bring lots of joy to a lot of people. So, without further ado, I'm going to just get started. Like I, I started my journey and, um, we started running on Sunday and I had run, I had run a half marathon, two or three half marathons a couple of years prior and I followed how Higdon's app and I ran on my own and it was fun and I I think I lost a couple of pounds and I did something I never thought I would do is run a half marathon and I started running, lost a couple pounds and I did something I never thought I would do is run a half marathon and I started running with these guys and what I realized is, on Sundays, it became a ritual Every Sunday morning I would run. That's what I do. So I became a runner. A runner is one who runs.
Speaker 1:And what I didn't expect was the camaraderie us having an hour together and, instead of drinking coffee or, in my prior life, drinking a bunch of beers at a bar, we would talk about life and business and family while running. I didn't think that was possible and I really took to it. And then we started inviting more people and then soon, I realized, man, these guys ran a marathon. If they can do it, I can do it. And instead of running a half marathon, I'm going to run a full marathon. And so next thing, you know, man, I was running 12 miles, 13 miles, 16 miles, 18 miles, and I ran a full, a full marathon in Louisiana and Baton Rouge, and I did it in four hours and one minute. And to think of where I was physically before that happened and where that ended up, it was unfathomable. And the thing that you think when you're on mile 20 is I'm never doing this again, I'm never doing this. What the heck was I thinking? I'm never running another marathon again.
Speaker 2:I think about that at mile one sometimes.
Speaker 1:And what's crazy is, and when Kevin started and he said that, I said, by the way, mile one is the hardest. No matter how long you've been running, mile one is the hardest. And, um, you know, an hour after you get through and you got the, the, the metal around your neck and you see what you just accomplished. You're like man, when's the next race I can sign up for? Like your memory is, it was kind of, I guess it's like childbirth, right, I'm never doing this again. And then next thing, you know you can't wait to have another child. Um, I'm equating marathon running to childbirth, by the way. Um, so I'm going to fast.
Speaker 1:While we can go through some of the, we'll go through some of the stories of some of the marathons I've run. But, um, kevin started working with us in July, july 1st, and our kids both play select soccer and so we have to bring them to Broussard and we have an hour and a half there and the parents don't participate in the practice at all. You literally just drop your kids off and most people just wait for their kids. And I say, kevin, what if we start running in that hour and a half? There's a beautiful park right here to run, let's do it. And Kevin said I think so.
Speaker 2:Right, but what you're not telling everyone is the loaded part of that statement. You didn't say, hey, let's run. You challenged me to do the triple crown and I had no idea what that was. Yeah, and so you knew from my personality I'm gonna challenge him, I'm gonna do something to, to put his ego on to and you know on the chopping block. And so I told you what, let's do it, not thinking or even bothering to ask what's the triple crown challenge. You know how many miles. I was thinking it was a 5K.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, so I challenged you to run the triple crown. I said look, you don't have to go to New York run the New York Marathon, just do the triple crown. And the triple crown is three races locally. And can you do? You remember which?
Speaker 2:one, yes. The first one is what used to be called the Big Pete. Okay, so it's 8K, so five miles. The second one is the one downtown, the Cajun Cup, cajun Cup, which is six miles, or it's 10K, it's a 10K. So that's what? 6.2? Yes. And then the one that's in two or three weeks is the Alcoma, or the Vermilion run, which is a 10-miler.
Speaker 1:A 10-miler. So you have to complete three races in the race season and so it's an 8K, a 10K and a 10-miler. Yeah, october, november, january, okay, and you've done two of them. I've done both. Yeah, I've done the first two. I did the october and then november. If you could remember when we were in july, what did? What did it sound like when you knew you had to run an ak? Did that sound?
Speaker 2:like completely unachievable. Yeah, I mean, it caught me off guard to think I'm going from zero miles. I'm'm going to skip a 5K right, the most traditional run I've ever done in my life was a 5K, and even that the idea of running for three miles or 30 minutes or 31 minutes, however long it's going to take me I was like man, that's just miserable. Who wants to run nonstop for 30 minutes. And the biggest challenge in running those 5ks was the time. Yeah, in my head I was like I'm five minutes in, I'm like I have 25 minutes left to go. Oh wait, I'm going slow, I have 28 minutes left to go. And so whenever you, when you finally told me what the triple crown was and that my first race was going to be five miles, I was like, okay, we have to talk about this. Yeah, we're gonna have to talk about this, because I remember our first run, or attempt to run, in august in bruce sword, where the elevation is the hills are slightly an incline right barely.
Speaker 1:Most people don't even call that incline at all At all. To us it's a mountain.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I remember we weren't even a quarter of a mile in and I looked over at you and said I need to walk for a minute. Yeah, and so week one I could not run a half a mile.
Speaker 1:And so I looked at internally, I looked at myself and thought how the hell am I going to run five miles in the next six weeks, or?
Speaker 2:seven. And it's not like you were super out of shape or anything. No, I wasn't. You know, I was maybe 10 pounds heavier than I am now Right, and I've worked out over the years, I've ran over the years.
Speaker 1:I know what it is. You kept yourself in good shape.
Speaker 2:I know what it feels like to run a mile. I know what it feels like to run three miles. Even at that moment, at that time, I still knew what it felt like. I guess my worst enemy of all this was always time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I always thought to myself I have to run it fast. No one ever told me to slow down. Well, I say that my wife's always told me to slow down. But the competitive side of me tells me why would I slow down? Why would I run a mile and slower than 10 minutes? Why wouldn't I run it in eight minutes? Because that's what you hear, right? Someone says oh, I ran a 5k. What was your time, right? Not did you finish. What was your time?
Speaker 1:yeah, but then you got to step back and say I'm 38 years old or 40 years old, right, and it's not a sprint wait, wait, wait. Don't, don't lie to the public I'm 26 and it doesn, and it doesn't look a day over 26.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:But I remember I was bringing you out there and I was like, hey, kevin, wear shorts and shoes and we're going to go run. And how far are we going to run? I said, don't worry about it, we're going to run. And you know, I said, when you need to stop, we'll stop, we'll walk. And you, to your credit, you came with your shorts and your, your old tennis shoes I don't even know what kind of shoes you're wearing at the time and we, we just started running. And august, august, heat at 5 30 in louisiana, brutal, brutal, hot, humid, sticky, brutal, and it was pretty much like at our whole training season august, september, october, it was.
Speaker 2:It was miserable, pretty much all fall right absolutely, I think, the only up until the last three or four weeks. The only run that I had in good weather was the 8k. It happened to be, I think it was like 59 degrees, 60 degrees, which made that run enjoyable yeah especially compared to the August run, where one I'm barely running a mile and I'm struggling and it's 102 degrees outside and I'm sweating at a quarter of a mile in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and so it was so funny. You got all the parents there with their kids watching them play soccer, and then Kevin and I. The practice ends at 7? At 7. And so Kevin and I are rolling back to the practice area drenched wet, completely wet drinking water and everyone's just sitting there and just playing on their phones. And we're completely drenched wet, completely wet drinking water and everyone's just sitting there and just playing on their phones and we're completely drenched our face fully flush, fully flush right sweat coming down all parts of your face.
Speaker 2:Your, your hat's completely soaked, your clothes are completely soaked and I'm looking at you going where's the water fountain?
Speaker 1:you want to get a read yeah, and I look, and, and so the first thing I did with kevin say, look, man, we're going to run and we're going to run at a slow pace, 11-minute mile, maybe even 1130 miles, and we're just going to have a conversation, and we literally would run at a conversation pace and just talk. And it was a great time because you had just started with our firm, and so we would talk about business, talk, shop, talk shop. Hey man, what do you think about this case? What do you think about this? What do you do in this situation?
Speaker 1:Here's some of the things where I'm, where I think you guys can improve in the firm. Here's where you know how, how we did it here, how we do it, and it was enjoyable, very enjoyable. And then quickly we realized it here, how we do it there, and it was enjoyable, very enjoyable. And then quickly we realized it went from one mile to two miles, to three miles, to four miles, to. I don't know, did we ever get it? I think we probably got up to four or five miles towards the end of the fall.
Speaker 2:Yes, so before the Big Pete right or whatever it's called now, which was five miles, I think we had gotten up to four miles, and so that was in October or was in September, I think. I think. From the moment we started running to the moment I ran the big Pete, I had about six weeks, seven weeks, so I had to go from zero miles to five miles in about six weeks.
Speaker 1:Zero miles to five miles in about six weeks. And so, if you're listening at home, you can literally start walking now and start mixing in some jogging and in about six weeks or eight weeks you can run three to five miles. Yes, believe it, or?
Speaker 2:not, but the key is your pace. Yes, you have to put aside the fact that everyone you know that runs is doing an eight minute mile, a seven minute mile, because at this point right now, my father-in-law says it best. Right, because he was a college athlete and he loves to run. He's done triath, uh, triathlons and every other thing, and he always tells me you're in the building phase. Stop worrying about how fast you're going and just learn to run the distance Slow down. If you're going to run eight miles, figure out what pace you need to move at to get to eight miles.
Speaker 1:Your first tip if you're listening at home your first tip if you want to succeed in running is run slower than you think you need to run. You want to stay in zone two because what that does is builds your mitochondrial base. I'm not a chemist or biologist I don't play one on TV but you need to run slow because your body becomes more efficient at delivering oxygen to your body and continuing to move if you run at a slower pace. If you start off sprinting or running full speed, what you think a running is is really not running, it's jogging, and at times, what is jogging, where you're almost like a walk and a jog, that's how you build up the endurance.
Speaker 1:Go slow and really the first piece of equipment that I would recommend people get is some type of watch to monitor your heart rate, and you want to stay in the zone two area. Kevin has an Apple watch, I have an Apple watch, garmin's another good name brand. You don't need to spend a bunch of money. They make them as probably 100 200, but you want something to measure your heart rate so you can stay in that zone too, right and it requires patience, something that I I like.
Speaker 2:If you ask elena, I like it completely. I always tell her that's all right. God made me in his image and he just left that out, maybe by accident, but it was too late. He just said whatever, we're gonna go with it. But the idea of running a mile that most people can do in eight minutes and saying I'm going to take 12 minutes to run one mile, you don't realize how long 12 minutes feels until your legs start burning. Yes, and you're five minutes in. Yes, and you haven't even made it halfway yet. Right, like you haven't hit half a mile yet and your legs are burning, and so to slow down and just accept the fact that it's going to be 12 minutes to do it.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you how many times I started running in the past. Right, because I picked up and put down running so many times over the years because I said I wanted to be a runner, but I never did it right. I never looked up to see how to do it. Right, I never asked anyone advice, I just told myself I'm going to get out there and I'm going to run what I think is a half speed, half sprint or three quarter speed and at mile one I'm completely exhausted. Why? Because I ran it in seven minutes, eight and a half minutes. I just went out there and gave it my all for one mile and I thought to myself I'm never going to make it to mile two ever.
Speaker 1:Okay, you think you have to be patient there at Broussard Park with me. Imagine you're at the starting line of the New York Marathon. You have 50,000 other people. You've been waiting in a tent for three hours for your time to start because it's different waves. They're shooting cannons, there's water cannons in the waterway under the Verrazano Bridge and you're listening to. They're playing this on the. They're playing this on the loudspeaker New York, New York, Frank Sinatra. Okay Now do you think?
Speaker 2:that's a good one. You're getting it going.
Speaker 1:So do you think you want to shoot out in a seven minute mile? Right, you're jacked up 50,000 people, cannons, american flags, like the whole nine yards. Everything in your body wants to take off at a seven minute mile pace. But guess what? You got 26 miles to run. 26 miles to run. When you get to 20 miles, which is three hours of running, you're just getting started. You're just getting started, right. What do I always say? When you get to 90%, you're 50% of the way. You're just't start. So you really have to temper yourself. And that's where that watch comes in handy, not only to measure your heartbeats, but also to see your pace. You've got to stay within yourself.
Speaker 2:My first mile tells me how enjoyable this run's about to be right. So my first mile is my key. I have to settle into whatever pace I want to run at in that first mile. Yeah, If I don't, it's horrible.
Speaker 1:By the way, if you look at your watch and you see your heart rate jack up to 170, that's normal, right, because you'll settle in. I go up to 150, 160, 160, my first mile and then I start seeing my heart rate come all the way down. Boom, boom, boom. I don't settle into my run until about three or four miles in and then I start seeing my heart rate continue to drop. It's amazing. I think it's just the way we're programmed. We think we're, we think we're running from a bear or a lion, heart rate gets jacked up and then they realize oh, oh, okay, I can do this.
Speaker 2:You get excited and usually well for me. Like in the local races, 90% of us are amateurs. We've just gone out there because someone said let's go run a 5K, yeah, and the person in front of me is, I don't know, a 71-year-old man.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, I'm about to dust him.
Speaker 2:And I'm thinking to myself if he can do it, I can do it. And he takes off running and my natural instinct is to follow him. Or I see a person of my equal age maybe is in shape like I am, or out of shape or better or worse and I see them. They take off and I'm booking it next to them and do not realize that I'm moving faster than I'm trained my body to do. And at the half mile marker or the one mile marker, I'm breathing heavy right and you're like uh-oh uh-oh, burnout.
Speaker 1:It's called burning matches and you only have so many matches to burn.
Speaker 2:And you can't actually recover.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess you can't actually recover.
Speaker 2:No, you can think you're going to recover, right. You're not. You're going to slow down. You may walk, you're going to grab water or Gatorade. There's burnout. It's now the next three, four, five, six miles. However, whatever distance you're running, it's going to hurt, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the same with pushups, jeremy Holy at Ragin Fitness. He'd always say, hey, break those pushups into smaller sets than you think you can do, because when you hit your wall on pushups you literally can't push yourself up a single time more. So so, pace yourself, don't I know you can do 10 this set, but do three or five and do more sets of five, because when you hit that wall you're done. It's actually in running they call it a wall. I hit the wall before the wall. You've never hit the wall. I hit the wall. Wall means your legs literally don't work anymore. See, what happens is your body has about 1800 to 2200 calories worth of energy glycogen storage, has about 1800 to 2200 calories worth of energy glycogen storage, and when you hit that wall, your body has no more nothing left, and so you, you, your muscles, start breaking down. You literally can't walk and you gotta like you just will them into moving forward. I did that at like 23 miles.
Speaker 2:Why do you want to run 26 miles? What? What possessed you to run 26 miles?
Speaker 1:So it was a challenge. It was a a kind of a bucket list thing. It's as competitive thing. If they, if they did it, I could do it. But once I did it I realized that there's so much more to running. It is creating a callous in my mind because it's literally it defies what the human body should do or want to do or be able to do. But you callous your mind into doing something and if you can do hard things like run a marathon, suddenly being a great parent isn't so hard, or being a great lawyer isn't so hard, or going to court that morning isn't so hard. You just adapt your body to do hard things and it carries over into so many other areas of your life.
Speaker 2:And yeah, well said, you probably used this before. You know whether you did it consciously or subconsciously. I compare a hard task that I have to do to the bar exam. All right, I always you know, Elena, my wife and I talk about this all the time I tell her I endured 21 hours of testing. Right, Three full days of testing.
Speaker 1:You survived.
Speaker 2:How did we do that? I don't know. I don't know, Preparing for it, what? 60 days, 70 days of 12 hours of studying?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, just cramming in information, information information Cramming cramming 7 am to 2 am studying that was miserable it was.
Speaker 2:I've had some form of ptsd from that exam and it usually gets triggered by like a. I call it a stress stream. At 38 years old, almost 11 years after I took the exam, when I'm stressed in my daily life, I have a dream that I showed up to the bar exam and forgot to study. Or I'm late for the bar exam, or I completely forgot to enter a section, and so that is my stress stream. So I always compare running or anything else that I'm going to do to the hardest event that I've accomplished yet. Yeah, and so nine like we ran nine miles. What? Two weeks ago? Three weeks ago? Yeah, yesterday when I was.
Speaker 2:I was on the treadmill yesterday because it was raining. I ain't felt like going outside in the cold. So I ran on the treadmill and I remember I was 30 minutes in and I thought to myself the other day I ran an hour and 40 minutes non-stop and I'm only at 30 minutes. Oh, that's, that's a long time. I'm an hour short of where I ran two weeks ago. The difference was is in the treadmill. It's boring.
Speaker 2:No one's there to talk to. I'm trying to watch the football game Notre Dame and Penn State. I'm trying to watch it, but all I can think to myself is man, this is boring, this is miserable, it is. It's tough, and when we ran the nine miles, it was enjoyable.
Speaker 1:So our second tip to running is find a running partner or a group. It makes it so much more enjoyable. There's accountability there. Someone else is showing up because you know it's cold at 6 am, 5 am, it's 40 degrees outside. You don't feel like doing it. You're never going to run 10 miles by yourself, 14 miles by yourself. You want some accountability partners and when you're running it's enjoyable to talk to someone.
Speaker 2:What they say misery loves company. Yeah, I remember the first time I went and run with y'all on Sunday morning and the idea of waking up at 5 o'clock in the morning to go to Red's yeah, to run. I was like they're insane, why am I doing this? This is, this is crazy stuff. And so I remember waking up, trying to squeeze in your, your plan right wake up, coffee, eat, shower, just do something to get your body going in a 30-minute time frame so I can draw from youngsville to reds. And I'm thinking in my head I gotta calculate, like right, I want to sleep as much as I can before I go do this. And I remember getting to the parking lot and christian shows up and he's hype yeah, playing music and I'm like what are they hype about?
Speaker 2:what are they excited about?
Speaker 1:we're about to run, yeah, six miles it feels like you're going duck hunting in 55 degree weather.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's still dark outside. Yes, there's 10 cores in the parking lot.
Speaker 1:Four of them are ours yes, but we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna talk about the sunday ritual after, because that's a whole experience yeah, it is, but my point was is that you know you got nine miles down, eight miles down you're with your buddies, everybody's sweating, having a good time, and you look around and there's not a single car on the road, much less other people running.
Speaker 1:There's something that happens there where you look at yourself and say, okay, I am built different. I'm drawing my line in the sand. I am built different. I'm a dude that does hard things. I'm a dude that does unreasonable things. I am built different and I can tell you, whenever we run all the way to my house from Red's and I say, hey, christianian, let's go pop in here. There's a. This is a good water spot, my house, we don't have any other water around here and my kids are up playing video games and they see me come in sweaty and they say, where, dad, what's going on? So I don't, we still got to run back to reds. They're like, dude, that's the other side of town. Y'all ran here. Yes, yes, son, we did. What is that? What kind of mark is that leaving on them?
Speaker 2:Well, it shows my kids are the same way, right, no-transcript, now they are, but they weren't at first. And so when I first started running, my little girl would say Camilla would say, how far did you run? I was like a mile, Okay, and she wouldn't pay any mind to it. And then a few weeks passed, how many miles you ran this time, Daddy? I ran three. That's kind of four. Like yeah, it is, it's pretty four. And then it just progressed and Like, yeah, it is, it's pretty far. And then it just can progress.
Speaker 2:And so when I ran eight miles, I came home. It was after the Sunday run. I came home getting dressed for church and my little girl goes Daddy, how far did you run? And I said eight miles. And my little boy's eyes got big and he looked at me goes, how far is eight miles?
Speaker 2:I said, well, you've been to daddy's office, right, You've been to Mr Chaz's office. Yeah, I said, if you left our house right now and ran to Mr Chaz's office, you still have two more miles to go, Because it's six miles from my house to the office. I said so if you run from here to Mr Chaz's office, you still haven't ran as far as I did. You still have two more miles to the left to go. And so he was like well, how far is that he goes? No, it's very far he goes.
Speaker 2:It takes us a long time to get there in a car. And so now when I come home, when I run, the first thing they ask me is how far am I going? And now they get on their little bikes when I tell them I'm going to run four miles or five miles, or I'm running three miles in the neighborhood because during the week you do the short miles, right, yeah, they want to come with me. Yeah, Like now they see that and they're like we're getting on the bikes. My little boy did four miles with me the other day and he was pumped up about it.
Speaker 1:If you sat around and ate fast food every day, all day, if you sat around and watched Netflix all day, what? What would?
Speaker 1:your kids become, they'd do the same thing, right? So if, if you make doing hard things and running on a healthy lifestyle the normal, what are the kids doing? They're thinking that's normal. Now, now, now put two years down the road where you continue to do that every Sunday and you're running 10 miles and 12 miles and 16 miles. That is not crazy. That's just what we do around here is we do hard work and we run like crazy, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's an example that they can understand very easily when my little boy is tired of practicing and he says my legs are tired, I go. Well, my legs get tired too, and I'm running, but I still have to finish. Yeah, so he understands now. Well, my legs are going to get tired halfway through practice, but I have to finish. My legs are going to get tired during the game, but I still have to finish. He started to understand the concept of you just push through it, so in turn, he's getting stronger. I'm making pushing through hard stuff a norm in my household.
Speaker 1:Kids learn from observation. They don't learn from you preaching to them.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:They learn from observation, and so if they observe you doing hard things and finishing your run and getting up at five in the morning when you don't feel like it, they're naturally going to take those attributes on.
Speaker 2:And look, kids are smart. When you tell a kid you have to run hard at practice and you don't run hard or do anything hard on your own, they're going to look at you and say he's a hypocrite. I don't see you running hard, I don't see you sweating, right. And so I didn't have to explain to my son that you run hard through, push through it. He's just seeing it. He's seen, he's observing, right, cause I can tell my little boy right now hey, I need you to kick the ball without saying anything and he's gonna look at me goes, how did you get it to do that? Or he's gonna go and his coach is gonna tell him use the inside of your laces, and he's gonna come home. Go, daddy, they taught me something new at practice. Like what was that? Watch this. I mean, that's what I've been showing you for three weeks, right? They don't listen to us that way, but when they observe us doing it, they immediately pick up on it.
Speaker 1:What else do we need to buy to run, watch?
Speaker 2:Shoes, shoes Inserts. Inserts I didn't think inserts were important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been beating that drum for a while.
Speaker 2:Have you ever heard people say I have flat feet? Yes, have you ever heard people say I have flat feet? Yes. I didn't know what that meant. I just assumed that their foot was flat. Who cares? That's just how your body's anatomically made up. Oh well, and so I had my feet scanned or measured, or whatever the terminology is, and they told me that I have a normal arch on one foot and less of an arch on the second foot. I'm like okay, and so they recommended that I use these inserts and I said no, I don't need it. I don't need arch support. You're telling me my foot has an arch, so why do I need arch support? Like I'm not worried about it and so I buy these shoes. You make fun of me, right, because I bought the 160 or 170 shoes versus the hundred dollar shoes.
Speaker 2:and you look at me go big or go home well, well, you can't complain that you don't have the right shoes, that's it.
Speaker 2:And so I start running, and mile one, no problem. Mile two, no problem. Mile three, no problem. And all of a sudden we're running four and five miles and I go home. I tell Elena I'm not sure what's going on, but my left foot is cramping. And then I point to it, she starts laughing. She goes remember you didn't want to buy the inserts? I go yeah, she goes, go buy them. I'm like, why would I go buy the inserts? Now, back story. I tell you this all the time Elena was a track store in high school right and a swim store, and so when she tells it to me, I know she knows what she's talking about. But I'm one of those people with it, just like you, just like your son, you need to observe. It doesn't apply to me. And so I go fine, I'll go buy these inserts, and it took me about a week of running with them to get accustomed to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it takes a while, but now, eight miles, nine miles, no, no injury, there's no pain in the arch right I have inserts too, and it took me a while to get used to them, but I can't run without them now, so shoes right, but find shoes that fit you right, because what, whatever you run in, is probably going to be different than when I run in go to go run, or um, that's where I went, yeah, and they they make you stand on this little machine and it takes a full scan of it and they send it to you.
Speaker 2:So I know which of my heels is smaller than the other one, which one of my arch is different than the other one. They even look at it and tell me that technically I'm a like size nine and one foot and a nine and a half, or eight and a half another foot. So you think about that right, because our feet aren't exactly the same, so you have to account for that too when you're running.
Speaker 1:So if you're listening at home, if you want to start running, get a good watch, get some shoes Think about arch supports or having a scan done of your foot so that you can wear the proper shoes Get some headphones and find a running group. You need to find a running group to motivate you to run those long miles and to hold you accountable with others.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I wouldn't get. I wouldn't normally not get up at five o'clock in the morning on a Sunday. If it wasn't for y'all, I wouldn't go to my little boys practice and run five miles in the heat of October or September if it wasn't for you.
Speaker 1:So on Sunday I said, kevin, you, I'm about to change your life. You said, I don't I. So on Sunday I said, kevin, I'm about to change your life. He said I don't see how that's possible, kevin. I mean to go run that early. I mean we're going to do duck hunt. I said, listen, bro, just trust me. So he comes. We have an unbelievable run. The runner's high is like nothing else. You endorphins it through the roof. You feel like you just did some drugs or drank some alcohol or something. You're on a different level. Then we go inside, we do the cold plunge, which is woo.
Speaker 1:Right, that'll wake you up. Hot tub, we change, and then we have this delicious breakfast at Red's and the standard is a croissant with sausage, egg and cheese, and the egg is about the size of an omelet. Get some water, get some coffee. Finish up our conversations. Put our clothes on, look like a million bucks you out the door at nine, 30, 10 o'clock AM and you're ready to conquer the world. Is there any better feeling? Oh, absolutely not. Is there world? Is there any better feeling?
Speaker 2:oh, absolutely not is there is there any money that can give you that type of experience no, and if you would, when you, when I first went, if you would explain that to me, I would have thought you're full, you know? Yeah, full of bs. Now I look forward to it. I look forward to that middle part between when we finish running and when we're about to start the cold plunge, and all that because for that 10-15 minutes, I can look back and reflect on the fact that I just ran eight or nine miles, seven miles, whatever it is, we, we did and I completed it.
Speaker 2:Yes, and on most days, with your battle buddies yes, and on most days I I think to myself I could have ran one more mile. Yeah, I had one more mile in the tank, but that's okay. No, but my point is is ordinarily yeah, you'd be, I can't wait to the finish line?
Speaker 2:yeah, right, but what I so? For everyone listening, here's a tip that I find works for me I learn to run at a pace where I will enjoy the run. Yes, right, not just finish the run, that I will enjoy the run. When Christian and I did the 10K, he was like, hey, you want to push the pace. I'm like, no, I don't want to push the pace. He's like come on, physically, you're able to I go. Yeah, can I can push the pace if I want to, but it's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt more than what it already hurts, and when I get to about mile three, I'm only going to look forward to finishing yeah, not taking in the sights and the smells, not enjoying the run.
Speaker 2:Yeah, making it miserable and I told him I want to finish this run and think to myself when is the next one? Yeah, not, I'm not doing this again you're, you're, you're playing within yourself.
Speaker 1:yeah, and I and I, I. I respect that because I'm at a point now where I could run much faster on saturday, on sundays, but I enjoy hanging back and running with you and you, you know, just enjoying myself. Why, if I run too hard, I'm going to be on the couch the rest of the day and I want to bring the kids to the park or I want to go do whatever. We have baseball practice in the afternoon. I want to enjoy myself, right Cause, what is this really about? I'm not. I'm not going to qualify for the Olympics anytime soon.
Speaker 2:Well, my legs are short, so I'm not getting that, for you know, I'm five, six. I always thought you know, my joke is is it takes you less steps than it takes me.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say, I'm going to tell you this one experience I talk about intentional congruence, and it's when everything you do feeds everything else. And what I have learned in running and I want to get you there is when you can go on trips to do marathons, because now you bring your entire kids. Just like they see you running, they're going to experience something being with you at the event. And so the best example is the extreme example is New York. We go to New York to run the New York Marathon. That's the big deal. If you told me 10 years ago a dude ran the New York Marathon, I'd be like whoa, I mean just running a marathon in general, but like the New York Marathon, like how do you even get there?
Speaker 2:I've done it twice, little dude from Siccilia and look, I'm running with you and I'm still thinking to myself how do you get there? At the moment? As you're running 10 miles. As we sit here right now, my brain is not telling me go figure out how to run 26 miles. Yeah, I'm still trying to tell it. Figure out how to go run a half marathon, right? So 13 miles. We got 10 at the end of January and you've already challenged me to the half marathon, the Zydeco, in what March or?
Speaker 1:April, march, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm already thinking to myself how am I going to get to 13 miles?
Speaker 1:But to go to New York or to go even to Baton Rouge for a weekend for Louisiana Marathon and bring your kids to experience not only the marathon we could talk about that in a second but, like dude, we went to the 9-11 Museum, we went to the Statue of Liberty, we went on high buildings, we went to nice restaurants, we went to Central Park and just having that whole experience with them there and knowing that dad's running a marathon and that's what all these people in New York are here for. And then seeing me on a route with 50,000 other runners and they're on a street where there's a million people on the road. And then, of course, you saw that video that I posted on social media where we reunited after and they came give me a big old hug Super proud, my business because I was posting it on social media my family and my health all together congruence Right, you create an everlasting memory, a positive one, and it creates good vibes.
Speaker 2:Right, you joke about the good vibes, but it applies to everything that you do. Your job, cause you used it for social media. Your kids they now saw dad run a marathon, but they were in New York. Right, they got to expand. I think you talked about this not long ago, how excited they were to go to the Lego store. Yeah, and your legs were completely shot.
Speaker 1:Killed. Now you have a better appreciation for that story.
Speaker 2:And you got up and you walked, however many blocks it took you to get there, to bring them to the Lego store.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's a picture. There's a famous picture of me in the Lego cab and I have no soul left in my body. I'm sitting in the Lego cab after running the New York Marathon. It was 75 degrees. It was a brutal race, one of the most difficult New York Marathons of all time, and I went to the Lego store because I promised the kids I was going to bring them to the lego store after the marathon, right?
Speaker 2:so at the moment they probably don't understand that, but when they're 18, 19 years old and they're talking about new york with someone or they're going to run, they're going to remember. Wait, dad took us to the lego store after he ran 26 miles in new york and traversed five bridges or how many bridges you? Have yeah, five big bridges, the of having to go up a bridge and back down a bridge, yeah because we don't have hills here.
Speaker 1:I tell people I could do heat or hills. I can't do both. And on that New York Marathon I had to do both.
Speaker 2:I don't like running over the Vimian River when we go by Rufino's. Yeah, at the River Ranch. Yeah, you know so. So where do you, where do you want to take this man? Where do you want to? Where do you see yourself taking this running?
Speaker 2:journey as far as I can Right and I say that one step at a time, baby steps, cause you want to enjoy the, the, the route. Yes, I'm trying not to put the court before the horse, yeah Right, so I don't want to run 13 miles before I run 10. I don't want to run 26 miles before I run 10. I don't want to run 26 miles before I run 13. I want to take it one step at a time, because what I'm learning is I'm enjoying each step. I figured out that it doesn't matter how fast I run it. As long as I run it at a good pace, I will enjoy it. And when I enjoy it, it makes me want to do it again. And when I do it again, it usually gets a little bit further than a little bit further than a little bit further.
Speaker 1:And so and so if someone's listening at home and they've never run more than a mile, they're overweight or are in shape, it doesn't matter. What can you say to motivate them to get off the couch and try this?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, do it, okay. And I would tell them don't think of distance, think of time. Elena tells me this all the time. Even my father-in-law tells me this all the time he goes don't worry about how many miles you're going to run. Go and see if you can run five minutes nonstop and if you can, the next time you run. See if you can run five minutes nonstop and if you can, the next time you run, see if you can run five and a half minutes nonstop and then six minutes and then 10 minutes and then 11 minutes and then 12 minutes and 13 and 14. He's like and you're slowly going to realize that you're increasing distance, right, because the longer you run, the further you go. And so get up and do it.
Speaker 2:But I mean, it's changed a lot for me. It's changed a lot from a perspective standpoint, like even a health standpoint, a physical appearance standpoint you lost 10 pounds Mental standpoint yes, you know, I used to think of running as a moment of misery for 30 minutes. I'm going to go run for 30 minutes because I want to look good for this summer, so that my shirt fits right Now I run and I enjoy my 40 minutes of running especially if it's nice weather Like I'll woosah for those 40 minutes. I'm like, oh, this is nice. But also because I'm in that first mile, I'm finding my pace, I'm finding where my legs settle in. And I'm finding my pace, I'm finding where my legs settle in and I'm like, okay, I can enjoy this for 40 minutes, so let's get it. So, run and do it for a goal, right, whatever your goal may be, and that goal may change.
Speaker 2:When I first started this, it was all about Chaz challenged me. I can't, I'm not going to lose this challenge. He challenged me and now I do it for all kinds of other benefits. I do it because my kids are learning from it. I do it because they're proud of me. When I come home and I say eight miles, when they ask me how far I ran, I'm realizing that they're keeping track of how far I'm going, and the bigger the number gets, the more impressed they are Right. And then, whenever they start telling me they want to ride their bikes with me while I run, like that's an awesome moment. Right, everyone, the congruence, right.
Speaker 2:At that moment I'm spending time with my kids. I don't use my headphones when I run with them. I talk to them. The entire time I'm running, they're passing me up, coming behind me, they're doing all that and for that hour that I run, my wife's at home and she only has to take care of the baby. She knows where the two other ones are. We come home, they're exhausted. So they got to have activity, they got to spend time with me. I got in shape, I got to run, I got to clear my mind, and so running has so many more advantages. Benefits than I thought it ever would have. Right, and from a health standpoint, look, everything's improving. Benefits than I thought it ever would have.
Speaker 1:Right, and from a health standpoint, look, everything's improving. Running is everything. It's a healthy hobby. It's one of the only things you can do where, the entire time you're doing it, it's maximum efficiency. Yeah, you're working the entire time.
Speaker 1:It's allowed me to clear my mind. It's reduced my stress. It's reduced my blood pressure. It's reduced my waistline. It's allowed me to develop unbelievable bonds with unbelievable men. It's allowed me to see the world in a different way. It's allowed me to enjoy the smell of bacon that someone is cooking in their home when I'm running and jogging and I pass in front of their house. It's allowed me to appreciate the squirrels running across the street. It's allowed me to understand the nooks and crannies and nuances in the city that I live in. It's allowed me to go to new cities like San Francisco and even New Orleans or Atlanta or Las Vegas Orleans or Atlanta or Las Vegas and, putting my feet on the ground and running, I see so much more of the city than I would see from a car. It's allowed me to see beauty that's been around me the entire time, that I never even knew existed. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:And you can do it anywhere, at any time.
Speaker 1:For no money, for no money. It's the cheapest hobby, it's the most efficient hobby, right.
Speaker 2:You know the fact that we utilize that hour and a half while Samuel and Luke are practicing. My wife doesn't even realize that I'm going from the house and access the house. Well, she does. But my point is is I'm not taking up any family time. Right, I know where Samuel is. He's at practice. I know where Camilla and Ellie and Elena are. They're at home doing their thing, homework, whatever it is and I'm running and I'm not taking up anyone's time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm running away from the homework assignment.
Speaker 2:We're not going to say that out loud, but yes, um. But even when we run in the morning, everybody's sleeping, they're sleeping. And at nine o'clock in the morning, when I bust through the door with a bag of donuts and coffee, they're excited. All right, coffee for lana. Hey, babe, wake up. We gotta go to church. Here's your coffee. Hey, kids, I want some donuts. And I've already ran eight miles. I've already showered. I already sat in a cold plunge. I already ate breakfast. I already got dressed. Guy time yeah, hang out with the boys.
Speaker 1:Guys, I hope this episode has inspired you to at least start walking and maybe even running. If you have any questions, shoot me an email, crchazrobertslaw, I'd be happy to help you, or shoot us a DM, and if you ever want to join us on a Sunday run or a weekday run at St Julian Park love to have you.
Speaker 2:Hey, and look, last tip for everyone. You taught me this tip, christian reinforced it and Logan actually reinforced it as well. Even if you get tired while you're running and you have to walk, as long as you keep going in the same direction, you're good. Keep moving forward and you're good. Life lesson.
Speaker 1:That's right, All right brother.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks.
