July 15, 2021
### Guest Quote
Patrick Loera: [00:00:00]
What I learned from there, one was to always have enough hydration, you know, and not just one. Two, to always have enough nutrition. And even if you're not going to be out there long enough to have more than you needed,
[00:00:12] but what I learned is that, okay, now I know where my end is, so what am I going to incorporate in the next one?
### Episode Intro [00:00:21]
Kevin Chang: [00:00:21]
Hello and welcome to the RaceMob podcast. This is episode number 57.
I'm Kevin entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd. And I'm joined by the head coach of RaceMob and master motivator, the incomparable Bertrand Newson.
### Guest Introduction [00:00:35]
One of my favorite parts of our podcast is being able to highlight incredible members of our community. You know, when I first met Patrick last year, he was a newlywed preparing for his first marathon, a virtual event that he was able to complete. Thanks to the help of Coach "B" and too legit fitness.
At the time he was still learning about tapering and what it meant to tow the line for 26.2 miles. Little did I know the incredible fitness journey that he's been on and how he's lost nearly 70 pounds since 2018.
In this episode, you'll learn how Patrick rekindled a love for physical activity after a long sedentary period. The advice for overweight runners that he wished he knew when he started. Why a chance encounter on a race course changed his fitness journey and the benefits of having a running coach to help you hit your goals. All of the show notes can be found online at https://racemob.com/podcast. And without further ado, here's our conversation.
### Start of the Interview [00:01:35]
Bertrand Newson: [00:01:35]
Hello, RaceMob family. Patrick Loera. A runner who loves the trails, loves the road. Someone who's found his love of running later in life and is completely flourishing. Looking forward to hearing his story. Welcome, patrick!
Patrick Loera: [00:01:51]
Hi everybody. Hi Kevin. Hey coach. Thanks for having me having me on.
Kevin Chang: [00:01:55]
Awesome. Yeah. And I know Patrick, we met just about a year ago. . , we were in the midst of a pandemic, no live racing happening. So you were completing these virtual marathons, these virtual races, and we know you, you kind of got into running later in life.
### Patrick's Origin Story [00:02:09]
So tell us a bit of your story, a bit of your background and how you got into.
Patrick Loera: [00:02:14]
Sure, sure. So I'm originally from Eastern Washington Sunnyside, Washington, which is this is outside of, of Yakima. I don't know if you guys know where that part of the world is. But it's very flat, very hot in the summer. Very cold in the winter. And my dad moved us down to California in the early eighties.
and so I grew up in east foothills to San Jose right up and down, those, those Hills over there. And it was a local kid that, you know, went to elementary school, high school out there. And yeah, I pretty much started running kind of in those days, you know, I play all sports. you know, basketball, football, baseball, soccer, and most of the times I was the fastest on the team or in the school.
And so, you know, I kind of went through life, doing that. I left high school early got my GED, jumped into the workforce.
And so sports for me kind of took a back burner at one point, but you know, just kind of kept going you know, on through life and what got me into running that really didn't start happening up until about 2018, you know.
And the reason for that was was just life changes. You know, I got into running because of things in my life that changed my health mentally and physically, you know, there were, there were starting, I was starting to have some troubles there. And that's just accumulation over time of not exercising. So to kind of jump back just a tad there, I went back to college.
After high school, I just got, I just started working and then I went back to college at about 31 years old. So it was a late bloomer and it was in an interesting time, you know, in my life. And all I did was study, eat, drink, and study more. So very little exercise. And, and within that time span, I think I accumulated maybe about 50 pounds, 60 pounds, right.
### A Visit to the Doctor [00:04:04]
And in 2018, I was having chronic headaches back pain. I was having leg issues and I love basketball, but I couldn't play basketball anymore because things are starting to hurt. You know, these little things I couldn't get up in the morning without, with some really bad backs. So I went to the doctor one day because I was having some chronic headaches and he said, they're going to have to make some choices here.
You know, you are obese. Now at this point I was, what about 255 pounds? And he said, you're going to have to make some choices because it's just going to get worse with us here.
And I mean, for a five, seven Mexican dude who loves tortillas and beer and, you know, everything and fried foods, you know, I, it was difficult to make some changes. But I committed, you know, so that day I went home and I said, you know what?
I need to step up my game. So I stopped drinking alcohol. Boom. That was the first thing. First thing gone and then moved on from there. It took me a couple of days before I decided to go out for a run just to get my head clear and, and body kind of thinking it was in shape. And I still remember that first run.
It was, it was me the night before preparing all my clothes as if I was going out for a race, got my iPod set up, you know, a nice little actual track playlist. And then I set out that the next morning, you know, I thought I was going to get up at 6:00 AM and go for a run. It ended up being nine. And I finally dragged myself out and ran down the street.
I made it to the end of the block and I was gassed.
Kevin Chang: [00:05:40]
Been there. Yeah. We've all been there.
Bertrand Newson: [00:05:42]
All been there.
Kevin Chang: [00:05:42]
I mean, the important thing is that you started, right? Yeah.
Patrick Loera: [00:05:45]
Yeah. Yeah. So I started out and I walked back home and, and that day my legs were sore. The next day I was sore and it's kind of funny, you know, comparing it to today. But I went out the next day, again, eight out of this time, I wanted to try to run two blocks, but it was still that block. So I said, okay, this week, I'm just going to run up and down the street.
That's it. Two weeks later I finally made it, you know, I'm down the block and around the block. And it really took me about, I don't know, about three weeks probably to run a full mile without stopping. You know, my, my back was kind of hurting. My legs had started to hurt a little bit more and ice was my best friend.
I was in stretching at that point and just kept going, just kept moving on. And for me that was the beginning of running right there. And I thought, I feel good. You know, I'm a month in two months in and I feel good so far, so good. You know, let's just keep going.
### Loss and Grief [00:06:38] That's when things kind of changed for me. My aunt Alaina had passed away in April from cancer.
She lost the fight and she had been struggling with it for, for years up to that point. And she didn't smoke. You know, she was a wonderful woman, you know, as healthy as can be at one point, but she caught cancer. Somehow it was lung cancer and it just finally took control.
So in April of of 2018, we lost her. And then about a month later, I lost my grandma. And so just two really big hits in my life. And, and I had just started running. So running for me became that, that outlet, that way to kind of soothe my nerves and to get over some of these things that, you know, like anger, for instance, I had this just this, you know,building rage inside of me.
And I don't know if it was from stuff, from not drinking anymore or from not having, you know, comfort food. We'll say. But it was just this ongoing rage that I couldn't get out without running. So then I became addicted, I guess you could say.
Cause whenever I start to feel this, you know, sort of urge, particularly after driving home from the bay area traffic, I would jump in, you know, on rent it, just go down the block, you know, and try to run it out.
And I did and I got home and I was calm. I was, I felt great. And it also helped me deal with a lot of that, that loss, you know, the grieving that I had going on in me. And that's when I decided to use that as, as my why.
My aunt Elaina was, was big in the church and she would send me daily, daily prayers every day.
And I, and I saved all of those prayers. So I held onto them whenever, you know I highlighted them in my, in my Bible as well. And I started using those. And, and reading those every time I'd go out for a run.
And then I just, I just kept moving. You know, I've used that that was my fuel to get up every mind to keep going. And then when it started to hurt, I would say, you know what? This is nothing compared to what she had to go through.
She's in heaven right now. She's looking down at me and she's probably yelling at me saying, go, you can do it. You know, you have the ability to run, so run and, and get it out.
And one of the things that she always would tell me was just be happy. She was one of the first women in my life that showed me unconditional love, just to be happy. You know, didn't need anything else in life or, you know, just be happy.
And so that's what I did. And when I ran, it made me happy then. And so I fought through the pain. I fought through the, you know, the struggling of all these different issues and kept moving on.
### The First Event [00:09:11]
So after, I guess that season of a funeral's past, I decided I'm going to run a 10K. And I signed up when I signed up for Wharf to Wharf. That was a very first race. And Wharf to Wharf for me, had a, had a history because I would always go out with my, with my mom and dad and aunts and uncles, you know, who were all runners growing up, you know, they're all athletes.
So the competitiveness in my uncles and my dad and my mom, you know, which is, it was, it was crazy. Yeah. Every year. And so I remember that, and then I saw Wharf to Wharf and I thought, okay, I'm going to do that. And boy, was that a tough run? Because up to that point, I hadn't run farther than, than a 5K you know?
And I couldn't, I couldn't sustain that that much in my body. So that, that was the first one, but that was what I did. And yeah, I think I think after
Kevin Chang: [00:10:03]
to Wharf is a, is a 10 K or I thought it was a little bit longer than a 10K.
Bertrand Newson: [00:10:07]
Six miles, six miler.
Patrick Loera: [00:10:09]
It's a six mile run. Yeah. And at the time I thought it was a 10 K, but I didn't, I didn't really know 10K six.
Kevin Chang: [00:10:16]
It's about the same. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. About the same. Yeah. Yeah. I, to war, if, I mean a fantastic event down in Santa Cruz area, right? I mean I think Scott McConville, who's close friends with the run local crew. He's been running and race director here for that event for, for years and years and years.
### The First Race Experience [00:10:33]
What was that first race experience like? And I know you, you want it to run the entire thing. Not everybody runs that entire race. So did you have to pause, take a break walk? What was that first experience?
Patrick Loera: [00:10:45]
It was interesting. I started way back in the field, probably wouldn't, you know, one of the last corrals that was there. So had a lot of time to sit there and stretch and think about my strategy.
And of course at the time I didn't have a strategy, you know I think I might've looked at some, you know, a couple articles online, so running articles, you know, on how to, how to run a 10K you know, or six miles at this point.
And it was all just a bunch of the same stuff. So one of the things that stuck was to walk up the Hills, you know, if this is your first time ever running something and there's, there's going to be Hills there, I decided to walk up the hill. So I run on the flat, try to walk as much as I could up the hill and then and follow the people that ran my same speed.
And it was funny for me growing up, playing football. I would always mimic those moves, particularly when I'm in the mall or I'm with my friends or, or something like that. So running in a race where there's a lot of walkers, I started to feel the same way. You know, I started to get my little Barry Sanders jokes going on, you know, and...
Kevin Chang: [00:11:47]
I love it.
Patrick Loera: [00:11:48]
Kind of moving through the people, figuring out my lines, you know, and I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, let's go.
You know, and then my body just naturally I started to feel this energy. I started to pick it. up. I was having a great time, you know, in fact, I think I even started to cradle my, you know, I started to move my arms almost as if I was carrying a football, you know, and just kind of watch out, you know,
Bertrand Newson: [00:12:10]
Yeah.
Patrick Loera: [00:12:10]
I had my music blasting and it was just, it was a great experience and about halfway through. I think it was probabl down Cliff Drive, San Jose state was there. I mean, they just had a big set up, they had oranges out there. They had, you know, fruits and other things. And that was big for me. Cause I think at that point I might've started to crash, you know, I don't remember exactly, but I was out of energy for sure.
So that orange helped me out. I grabbed some water, walked it out a little bit and thought I'm gonna incorporate a one, a runway. Strategy from here on out. And, and so that's what I did. I would, I would run for about a minute, two minutes and then I would walk for about the same amount of time.
And so, and then I would just, I would see people, you know, and when I started seeing guys and, you know, men and women who were older than me pass me by that just started to light fire. I need, I need to run. Let's go. You know, and that competitiveness in me just told me, Okay.
just stay with them. If you could stay with them up until the end of the light, then you're going to be fine. Then you don't. And so I would do that, then I would walk and I would find somebody else, you know, and, and move on.
And when I started to see the end of the race there's a downhill. Well, right before that downhill, there was a big bridge and there was a photographer up there and I thought, I need to run. I'm not going to walk and do my picture taken by this walk. No, to look good. Let's go. And so that's what I did. And I passed the photographer and now today, downhill leading into Capitola, just a beautiful scene.
When you look it to the right, you got a cliff right there. It's just ocean, that specific ocean out. Right. And and I started running and that downhill just felt great. I felt the wind, you know, that ocean breeze kind of, kind of come over me.
And I just started jamming down the hill and I thought I was sprinting, you know, but I was probably going pretty slow and it just, it felt great to move downhill and to feel, you know, just my feet to feel my body kind of do this for the very first time.
And I crossed the finish line. And he was just. I was high. I felt this, you know, before feeling kind of come over me to sensation. I have my, my dad who was there, who had braced the, you know, who'd run this race, you know, several times throughout the years, my girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife, she was there as well, cheering me on.
They were both really excited. She didn't give me a hug right away, obviously, cause I was sweating. So it's probably drenched. And my dad though, on the other hand, you know, he embraced me and he said, great job had, I didn't think that you would do it.
And I didn't think I could, could've done it. You know, I, for, for a short time there, my legs hurt. And, and I just, I didn't think I was gonna finish. And I just walked it out, ran it out and walked man around.
And finally I was there. So it was great feeling to finally finish. And then at that point I knew I could do more. I could run longer, but I don't want to stop running. This is where I want to be.
Bertrand Newson: [00:15:12]
That's that's great. That's a great story, pat. We can thank you for sharing that. First, first race and we all have that and we've all been there. We've all had. You know navigating, the wheels getting a little wobbly, you know, dealing in the pain cave. Maybe starting out a little too aggressive and not knowing what our patient is.
Certainly in that race, when you start out in some of the talented, the you're navigating, you're weaving through a lot of walkers and runs. So you had you, like you said, your inner football player had come out, but also just kind of taking a step back where you set your, your family. You have a fan come from a family, runners, your parents, and particularly your father who was there on site.
And for you to finish your first race, we're talking with 2008.
Patrick Loera: [00:15:51]
Yep.
Bertrand Newson: [00:15:52]
Yep. So you're in your late thirties at the time. Your father, a lifelong runner who probably wanted his son to run a little bit more. And for you to do that, you know, with him present, I can only imagine how proud he was and then to see where you are right now.
And we'll going to fill in some of those, those life, life progress from a running perspective and other just yeah, good stuff, man.
### Weight Loss, Accomplishments and Tips [00:16:13]
Kevin Chang: [00:16:13]
I do want to dive into a couple of things real quick, and that is how much did you weigh? You know, when you're out word for word. So you, you talked about 250 pounds. You know, what was that weight journey like? Especially in those first couple of months.
And then I think a lot of our listening audience would really get a lot of value. If you talk about tips that you learned, especially when you were, a little bit on the heavier side how you actually got your body up to a six mile event, because that is quite an accomplishment.
### Getting Started - First Challenges [00:16:41]
So talk to us a little bit about that initial journey. , getting yourself off the couch, initial motivation, some of that stuff up to the first time.
Patrick Loera: [00:16:48]
Okay. It was consistency for me. I had a little bit of drive in there, the grieving and some of that, those emotions that I wanted to get out and I wanted to print every day. But, but you're right. The weight held me back a lot. And so some of the things that I did, obviously I stretched, I had a small foam roller at the time, and I knew that foam rolling was, was a way to kind of work out those kinks.
So I would do that every day. And I, for me was, you know, my best friend at the time and it still is, you know.
But yeah, I was, I was 250. I had, when I stopped drinking, I might've lost maybe it just a little bit, but I wasn't paying much attention to my diet at the time. All I knew is that I had to get out, I had to run, I had to run this off. And in my mind, I thought all I need to do is run. It'll just magically disappear. Yeah. But that wasn't the case, of course.
And so as, as I started to move And ran down the street and started to pick up the mileage. Particularly AF you know, leading up to two world war. I had a lot more friction, you know, I had man boobs at the time. And as I'm running now, I'm feeling this extra weight, you know, I'm feeling my belly kind of, kind of move and jiggle around and it was embarrassing. I felt embarrassed.
And then the shaping started to happen. You know, I'd get pretty bad chasing between my legs. I'd get it in, you know, in my chest. And at the time all I had were basketball shorts, so I didn't have any running shorts. And so it would happen between my knees as well.
And it was uncomfortable the entire time I would start to run. It was just really uncomfortable and not to mention when I would get into the shower afterwards, you know, and that was, you know, alcohol on an open wound.
And so these, these types of things I started to, I would just Google them. Okay. How to get over chasing. Okay, vaseline, you know, or, or maybe it was band-aids on the nipples, you know, it was, you know, other types of, of gels that would help with, with chasing, you know, like the glide tech stuff.
I started to discover those and, and so those helped with chasing, but now I had this extra weight, so I'm carrying around this extra weight. And at the time I didn't know what to do with it. And it took me, I think, a few months after Wharf to Wharf when I finally found weight.
Somebody had, had mentioned, Hey, a lot of runners do weight training, and this might help you particularly because you know, you're heavy. And I thought, okay, let's do that.
So I started training my legs. Didn't really start looking at Hills, but I just started looking at things on the treadmill and different plans that that would help me out. Started doing little, little things, you know, a five mile run. Okay. Let's try that. Let's do a two mile run uphill, you know, or maybe it's up and downhill little programs on the treadmill that kept me moving on the weekends, it was looking at different workout plans on my apps.
So I use the Nike app as well. That would give me beginner runs. And, and at the time. I didn't know what fartleks was, but that's what was incorporated in a lot of these, you know, giving your best effort right now for the next 60 seconds, it would say.
You know, so I run as fast as I could, you know, and, you know, get that wind under my wings and thinking I can fly, but I'm really just probably trading at about 11, 12 minute mile, you know, but I felt great.
And over time the weight started to go down. It was about 230, maybe 220 ish in that area when I got to August, you know, so some gradual changes were, were, were being made.
Kevin Chang: [00:20:15]
I mean, that's only a couple of months. I mean, for our listening audience, that's what we're talking to. You know, what like four or five, six months, something like that. And we're talking about. 20 pounds, 30 pounds almost. I'm in weight loss during that time. Wow. That's fast.
### Diet Changes [00:20:29]
Patrick Loera: [00:20:29]
Yeah. Yeah. And I think really. Okay. So it's not, so I'm drinking alcohol in January and then Lent came, you know, so, so I'm Catholic and we practiced the season of lent. And I decided to stop drinking soda. And that, and that was huge for me because soda in itself, I mean, I'm not going to get into all whatsoever, you know, does the body, But it was tremendous.
It almost started dropping. I almost started dropping weight right away just by killing soda from my diet. And, and, and the one thing that I did to supplement that those bubbles was a carbonated water.
And so that, that really, I still, I kept running, stopped drinking soda. On the other hand, I was kind of still eating like, like a mess. You know, I was eating pizza. I was eating burgers, my comfort food, because these are the things that I felt made me feel better.
You know, if I can't, if I'm not going to drink beer and I can drink soda anymore. All right, then what else do I have? Okay, I got pizza. I got hamburgers. I got French fries. You know, I got the munchies and these things made me happy.
Kevin Chang: [00:21:29]
right. I mean, getting, getting rid of the alcohol and getting rid of the soda, those two, those are two big things that really do lead to obesity in America. And so, you know, getting rid of those two things and then incorporating a little bit of exercise. I mean, at that point in time, when you're not exercising very much, you have a lower minimum effective dose.
So, you know, even going down to the, to the end of your block, or even going down two blocks, you are starting to increase your metabolic rates, right? Your body's just natural metabolism. And so just the, just those small little changes in your life can lead to big shifts, you know, and then I'm sure you're starting to feel more energy. You're starting to feel a little bit more confidence. You're starting to see changes in your life after doing a little bit of that exercise.
### Consistency and Improvement [00:22:14]
You said the consistency was the biggest thing, the most important thing. So was it a daily exercise? And if it, if it was daily or a couple of times per week, then, you know, I think what has worked well for a lot of people is not necessarily putting like, Hey, I have to go this distance or this many miles, but just getting yourself out the door , and putting those shoes on.
So talk to us a little bit about the consistency. What worked for you in terms of consistency?
Patrick Loera: [00:22:40]
Finding the time was, was always there. I had a full-time job as well. Fortunately, they had a gym so that we're thinking pre pandemic. So what got me out of the door, really? I would, I would wake up earlier and I would start to incorporate those my runs a lot earlier, just so that way I could, I could work during the day.
And and if I miss that, let's say I wanted to sleep in. I thought at the time I needed to run every single day, whether it was one mile or three miles, four miles, you know, probably at the very most five miles, I think on the weekends, I would consider those my long runs at the time.
And so I would just, in my mind, I thought I needed to go every day. So I would get out there and I would do that. I would go into gym and do that. I would strength train every single day.
And I i had no concept of what rest meant I need to do this. This is something I need to do. Okay. Why do I need to do this? I need to do this because my cousin, Mike is here. You know, leg issues. He can't go my mom and dad, they can no longer run. I need to run for them.
And this was me kind of putting everything on my back and just moving through when there was a lot of pressure, I put the pressure on myself, I need to run. And so that is what kind of started to help me out.
And then I started to see the physical changes. I started to feel the mental changes, the clarity in my mind, the calmness throughout my day after I would run.
And then when I started to see the decrease in weight, oh man, that was even more of a motivator. You know, now I got this fire, right? No. You know, particularly when, you know, things started to shaping up towards the end of the year.
But Yeah, I think part of the consistency was, was the fire to get myself up and out to use the energy, the extra energy that I had to get out and go for a run.
Kevin Chang: [00:24:21]
Yeah, we see a lot of success with people, you know, streaking.
So going on kind of these longer extended streaks and the streaking doesn't mean that you have to go at fast paced, quick pace, you know, wearing your body thin and, and but sometimes, you know, just every day doing some level of activity, whether that be a walk, whether that be a slow pace, you know, something aerobic or whether that be strength, training, and adding a little structure to that consistency.
So now that we've dove into like what works for beginners, cause I'm always curious, you know what, especially for them later in life athletes, you know, I'm later in life athlete. Bertrand, you know, this has been an athlete all his life. Later in life, I'm always particularly interested in what was that switch? How did you turn it on?
### Patrick's Running Journey [00:25:03]
You know, what was that life change that life changing moment. Now that we've dove into that a little bit. Talk to us about your running journey, where you've been kind of these last couple of years, and, and now we see you really crushing it every single week.
Patrick Loera: [00:25:16]
Well, well, things progressed, you know, after 2018, I thought, okay, let's, let's go January. I'm going to plan this out. Let's let's really do this span. And later in 2019 the Silicon valley half showed up and I thought, okay, this is a great 10K, let's go do it. And I chose the story because this is particularly when I met to legit fitness.
This is when my, my running game, completely changing the Silicon valley half marathon, right through downtown San Jose.I had initially signed up for a 10 K and when I went to go pick up my bib and my shirts, I saw that they had these really cool backpacks. And I thought, how do I get one of those?
And this really nice young lady came over and she said, well, if you upgrade to a half marathon, you can have this backpack. I said, okay, let's do it. They charged my credit card and I walked away happy as can be, you know, it's free stuff. Let's go. And I get back to the car and I think holy smokes, I just signed up for a half marathon.
### A Half Marathon and Community Encouragement [00:26:14]
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. All I saw was free stuff. I need a backpack. And you know, honestly today I'm still kind of in that same mode. And so I went through that. I went through that experience. I said, okay, I'm not going to go take this back. I'm just going to go forward. That's moved through and now.
That run was the first time I had ever run a half marathon. And I thought before that, I thought I need to train. Let's go, let's go do some training. And up to that point, I still hadn't run a half marathon. You know, I hadn't even gone over eight miles before that.
And I thought I'm just going to do it. Just get out there, run, walk, follow somebody, you know With a nice pace in this move. You're just, just keep going. Just don't stop one foot in front of you and just keep moving. And so that's what I did.
And once you came across me, I was, I was dying. I was ready to give up. I was probably mile 10 mile 11, and I wanted to cry because my body hurt it was, you know, that, that physical feeling, I think I think I can equate it to those moments when you're lifting so much weight that your body's just like, whoa, you know, it's screaming at you and then you, and then you stop and then you feel that you're like, oh good I finally did it.
Well, that's what I was feeling at mile 10, 11, my body was screaming. I was ready to give up. I was walking. Didn't want to run and all of a sudden this big, you know, this group of guys, just group of people, sorry. Came, came from behind me and started yelling at me. Come on, man. You got it, you can do a, come on. Let's go. And boom, fire let's go.
And I started running and that was one of the people was the professor was Jason PV house. Another one was, was Randy. Who's, who's also in the group and I just started running with these guys and all the people around everyone, he looked happy and I was upset.
I got so happy. Come on, man. This is for the urge. But I pushed through. And when I got to the end, I was happy. I won, I won this time. I wanted to cry in, in enjoy. I made it, I, I'm not dead. I can do it. You know, my legs, they hurt, but I'm I'm here.
And I didn't I found those guys. I took a nice little picture. I blogged about it as well. And and then, and then the rest was history because after that, now I have this courage I can get out there and I can do it. Even if I have to walk it, I can make those. I can make those miles.
So for the very first time in my life, I thought let's, let's move on. So that was the very first moment where I felt accomplished in, oh, you know, in these longer distances.
And so then I moved on 2019, went by 2020, I thought, Okay. I'm going to try to run another marathon. Another half marathon later this year. Let's see what happens. And that turned into a marathon.
Okay. Wait, let me back up a little bit. And at the end of 2019, I had met Bertrand and I had met more of two legit and he put this fire under me that said, Hey man, you could probably run Taji 100.
And I said, Okay. well, let's give that a shot. What is it? This is a, you're going to run a hundred miles a month. Oh, hold on, hold on, wait a second. A hundred miles a month. I don't know, man, because it's intimidating, you know, you hear 100 miles in you're intimidated. You know, and I say that as, as we pass by Western states, right.
These people running a hundred miles in, in, in, you know, in one sitting
Kevin Chang: [00:29:35]
Yeah.
Patrick Loera: [00:29:36]
Two
Kevin Chang: [00:29:36]
Or in one day.
Patrick Loera: [00:29:38]
Right? You know, three hours. And I thought, I can't do this in a month, but he said, okay, well, what are you running every week? I said, maybe about 15 to 20 miles at the very most. And he said, yeah, you can do that. And it's a shorter month, but you can do that.
And I said, okay. And really, I think what that was, was the motivation from somebody else to say, you can do it rather than myself here, you know, trying to walk through my, you know talk myself up and say, yeah. you can do it. You can do it mid, mid run. This was somebody else saying Patrick, you're, you've been putting in the work you've been running consistently. You can run a hundred miles in a month. You just have to believe in yourself.
And I did it, I signed up and and at the time I got a shirt that was an XL. And I, I love this shirt right now because I wear it and it's like a pair, right? 2000, 19 Tazi, 101st time ever completed it. Boom. And now I'm hooked in this group right.
Too-Legit Fitness just can't get rid of me after that, because now I see these, these inspiring runners, people running marathons, people running half marathons, smiling, most of the way through. And I wanted that. I really wanted that.
And then 2020 came and pandemic. Boom. Okay. What am I going to do? I'm pleateauing right now at about 180 190. So I've lost a few more ponds there. Pandemic hit I moved in with, with my wife or at the time was my girlfriend. And then my diet changed, you know.
Up to this point, I hadn't drank soda. I just stopped. I gave it all up. I was it, no alcohol, no soda. And then When I moved in with her, my diet changed, it was rice, veggies and meat.
### Virtual Runs [00:31:15]
And that boom, it started to decrease again, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick down about 170. And the energy start again, energy filled up. And I, I moved through, I, I continued moving through the pandemic, continue to run, signed up for all these virtual friends. And that was fun.
But one virtual run really stood out above all the others. And that was the big Sur and the big surreal challenge was, was one race after another, not a race, but it was challenged as, you know, friend what was a two mile check-in, you know, something like that run 10 miles run, you know, and I had done those. I had done those.
And so after I signed up for that, it was all of a sudden let's run 80 miles, but I didn't know, we were gonna run 80 miles that one day. This is August. This is August, 2020. Yeah. That's how we're going to go out for a nice 10 mile run, you know, eight to 10 miles. It was. And through the evergreen Hills and boy was, I enforced surprise that day because I had, and not just because we ran 18, but because I did it and I didn't do it alone, I did it with, with a team.
So if there's anything that helped push me through, it was finding a group of people who wanted to do the same thing that I did. It was people who were happy, running for happy with the discomfort and all they wanted to do was get up the hill. And I thought, yes, I need to be around that because more I was around that.
It became contagious and now I want it to run next to them. I wanted to run back and then run with them again. You know, I wanted to make sure that nobody was left behind and I just want to keep going. Now I'm not alone.
After the 80 miles, I thought, okay, What's next. Let's just let's keep moving. The biggest real challenge was that motivation to, to run a marathon. I think it was September, I think September Coach? September, October, or something around there when, when Boston...
Kevin Chang: [00:33:13]
It was September. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Patrick Loera: [00:33:15]
Right. So now we're running virtual Boston. And as he, everybody out there who didn't prepared emails and text messages are getting sent out and I thought, you know what, coach? I think I can do it.
He said, you're damn right.
You can do it. Let's go. He didn't say he didn't say damn, but
Bertrand Newson: [00:33:32]
Maybe God damn. God damn.
Patrick Loera: [00:33:36]
okay. And so I said, you know what, let's go. Let's just let's do this.
Kevin Chang: [00:33:39]
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