Mere Mortal Marathon Podcast

Welcome to episode two of the mere mortal marathon podcast, where you'll hear what it's like to train for and run your first marathon. I’m Duane France and each week I'll be joined by Coach Morgon Latimore, and together we're going to share the week-by-week training journey that will take me, just a regular guy in a mere mortal, to the finish line of my first marathon. And if I can do it, you can too.

Thanks for joining us for the mere mortal marathon podcast. I'm excited to be on this journey and invite you to join me along the way. There's a couple of ways to be connected, follow the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and you'll be notified when a new episode comes out.
You can also see where the journey takes me by connecting on Strava, by going to strava.com/athletes/m3podcast, where you'll see if I'm following the training plan like I'm supposed to. And finally, before we get into the meat of this episode, you could find all of the episodes on the fundraising page for my charity partner, The Second Wind Fund www.coloradogives.org/m3podcast.

The mission of The Second Wind Fund is to decrease the incidence of suicide in children and youth by removing financial and social barriers to treatment. They believe that every youth at risk for suicide should have access to the mental health treatment they need. They match children at risk for suicide with licensed therapist in their communities and pay for up to 12 sessions of therapy when there's a barrier to treatment. If you appreciate the show and what Coach Morgon and I are doing show a bit of love by throwing some change in the tip jar by going to www.coloradogives.org/m3podcast.

So, as I mentioned, this is episode two and we're just getting started. On this episode you're going to hear the first part of my initial coaching call with Coach Morgan. What you're going to hear over the next two episodes is our first interactions, specifically related to my training journey.
At this point, we're about 19 weeks out from the marathon and we're going to start the coaching relationship. We're aiming to keep these episodes short and sweet, usually under 30 minutes. So you can listen to them as you prep for your run or maybe during a short run.

So today we'll just be getting started with a couple of questions that Coach Morgon has for me, as we begin the journey together. So take a listen to our conversation and then we'll come back afterwards to hear some final thoughts.

: All right, we're ready to go.
Coach Morgon It's gonna be exciting today.
[00:00:00] Duane: It is gonna be exciting. I like how you shared on your prep stuff that, there's some nervousness. I didn't think I'd be nervous, but I'm nervous. Just wanna put it out there.

[00:00:12] One, it is just two pieces to this. One, we're starting a new relationship. athlete coach relationship is very important. And two, we're recording it for people to listen to.

[00:00:21] Duane Yeah, oh yeah. Like, I mean, this is a thing. I could have done this first marathon thing, just told my wife and my kids and like if it dropped off then nobody would think any better or worse of me honestly. But yeah, I'm committing to this in like probably one of the most public ways possible that I can think of.

[00:00:12] Coach Morgon And they always say like, when you're doing this type of stuff that you know. Post it on social media, tell a friend, tell a spouse, so as it holds you accountable, even though I know you don't probably need that. It's still one of those things that's okay, now I'm in it, like I have no choice.
Even I do the exact same thing cuz there are races where I won't tell nobody about cuz I'm not even sure if I'm gonna do it or not.

[00:00:57] Duane Right.

[00:00:58] Coach Morgon But as soon as I like say, oh, this is what I'm training for, it's okay, accountability. And I've had races where, our, Ultraman, Florida, my ultra triathlon, and as a public figure in the endurance space. I put it out there and it wasn't like doing a sprint or a half a marathon or 5K or something like that. It was like an ultra, you are talking about three days of racing, 6.2 mile swim, 260 mile bike ride, 52 mile run, and I'm like, I wasn’t sure if I could finish it or not.

[00:01:29] Duane Right, yeah.

[00:01:30] Coach Morgon And so I think that's where some of the butterflies will come from.

[00:01:33] Duane Yeah, no, absolutely. and while I'm not to the point of ultras, and triathlons. I think I am definitely feeling that space of, I'm certain I can do it. But barring illness or injury, I'm there, I’m for it.

[00:01:49] Coach Morgon You got it man and it is exciting. And I know we've had a couple calls, and this is a time where, you've seen what I sent you regarding, you know, kind of the introductory and how we talk about it. And I, what I start off doing is, like a lot of coaches start off as like, Hey, well how much do you wanna spend? And. I think when you start off a conversation like that, that makes it very transactional, it is focused on quantity instead of quality. And so what I would like to do, even in this call right here, is tell me about you and I don’t. I don't care about your physical accolades.

I don't care about races. I don't care how far you've ran. That's not what I'm asking. Because in order for me to coach you effectively, I need to know who you are.

[00:02:27] Duane Yeah, absolutely. So, really one of the ways that you and I first connected is our shared background military experience. And so that was a huge part of my life. back up even a little bit more than that. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. I used to say I grew up in Missouri and

[00:00:01] Coach Morgon What? Hold on.
Duane Oh yeah, people would think I'd say Missouri and they'd think like, oh, where in the cow fields? No, I grew up in, in Berkeley, Missouri, like two miles away from the Lambert International Airport.

[00:02:50] Coach Morgon You know, I'm from St. Louis, Missouri.

[00:02:51] Duane I did not know that. See, this is a we're, and this is, so folks listening not from St. Louis. So ,what high school did you go to? That's the question, right.

[00:02:58] Coach Morgon I didn't go, I didn't go to high school there. I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. We lived on 24th and Cas, off of, close to natural bridge in, in that area. And then in elementary school we moved to Kansas City, Missouri. So I'm a Missourian my family, oldest part of my family still settles in St. Louis and Kansas City, my mom and dad are there.

[00:03:18] Duane Yeah. Yeah. and being from Missouri, I grew up, right off natural bridge like you're talking about. So really Berkeley, a little farther out of the city. So I lived there for about 14 or 15 years and then my family moved to the suburbs, down to Oakville, so South County. Obviously those people in Missouri will be aware of that. I was thinking that even in the early nineties, college was the thing and I tried college for a semester. It wasn't for me, was tired of living in my dad's basement, and so that's when I joined the Army.
So I was in the Army from, 92. I did about a year in the reserves, and then I went full active duty. And so I retired from the Army in 2014, and that's a whole piece of it, right? That's all part of our, identity. But, five combat and operational deployments.
So Bosnia, way back in the last century, in the mid nineties. We did two tours in Germany, my family and I. Then, we moved out here to Colorado. The army moved us out here to Colorado, one Iraq, two Afghanistans, North Africa there at the end of my military career. And in between all that time, my father was a Vietnam veteran, three of his brothers also served in Vietnam about that time.

And I saw, especially when I was Iraq in 2006, 2007, that this generation of service members would need some mental help the way, you know, I knew I couldn't be my father's therapist, couldn't be my uncle's therapist. So, I began a career as a clinical mental health counselor, specifically for service members, veterans and their families.

Did a lot of work with justice involved veterans for a long time. Did some work here in the community, and then now I co-lead what we call technical Assistance Center for the Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration. Where basically I and my colleague, we lead, a group of people who provide strategic planning for states, territories, communities that are establishing military and veteran mental health Suicide Prevention Coalition. So going a little bit away from the direct clinical side. Now I do a lot more stuff at the national level, on strategic planning and support and community coalition building.

[00:05:12] Coach Morgon And married?

[00:05:14] Duane Yes. Yeah, wife and I just celebrated 24 years. When we met, I'd already been in the Army probably about five or six years. And she asked me very early on, one of the questions, you get it outta the way, and she was like, are you married? You know, this is too good to be true.
She was a Knox County Sheriff's Deputy in Knoxville, Tennessee And so there was one of the first questions she said, you know, are you married? Do you have a girlfriend? I said, well, I'm married to the Army. And at that point, that was my mindset, right?
I was GI Joe, in many ways, maybe still am. But yeah, so we got married in 1999. So, 24 years later, two kids, two adult age children. Our daughter was born a year after we got married and our son came 18 months after that. Got a match set and then said we’re good, one of each.

[00:05:57] Coach Morgon How does she feel about your training and you taking on this endeavor? What does her support look like?
Duane As always, she said, I'll support you in whatever you do. And then there's the, what goes into it? Very early on, I used to drag her to all the races. Right. I used to say, I need you to come here and be at the end of the finish line. And at one point she was like, well, yeah, it takes you quite a while to get there.

[00:06:16] Duane So , I had these memories and this will be part of it too, but I had these memories growing up of going to races. My father was a long distance runner. And so I like to say she supports me from afar. She doesn't go to all my races, especially if I'm doing the half marathons and, especially marathons and stuff like that.
She will support me, she'll be there, I think, when we finish the marathon and stuff too. But, like many long suffering wives, she's been through the deployments maybe. So this, this might not be much, but she, you know, she'll ask me, you know, how my training's going, how my run's going.
She was excited that we're gonna be doing it this way and doing it in a public way and helping other people hear what it sounds like. So yeah, she's really supportive. my kids are sort of like, kids are like, dads are, they're like, cool, that's what you do. Right? . So you know, they're not out there, cheering me on during every race, but there is a lot of support.

[00:07:07] Coach Morgon So, when you said, she's said some races and what is the difference? Like what are you feeling when at the races that she doesn't attend with you? Like, and I want an emotional answer, not a logical answer.
Duane I think that, one of the first thing that comes to mind is when I'm racing and I'm a solo runner, even when I'm in a crowd, I'm alone in a crowd. And so she knows that I'm like dialed in anyway. I'm not maybe the husband while I'm there and I'm getting ready for the race I'm in my mind a lot, right.

[00:07:37] Duane And so I don't know that I really notice much of a difference if she's there or not there. Knowing that, I don't know if she's sleeping in or whatever, right? But I know that I have her support, and I know that I have her encouragement. And I guess I don't need her there at the race to show me that because I'm so much in my own space.
Coach Morgon I gotcha. And it is always good to talk about the spouses because we as athletes, and this may not be in your case, but it may be in a listener's case. This is not only for you, but it's educational for those that are setting out to accomplish anything beyond the norm, right?

[00:08:10] Coach Morgon That's really what it comes down to. And having that support sometimes brings a little bit of guilt and shame for people. Like, why am I doing this? Or I shouldn't be doing this, and they shame themself and and it's just not healthy. And so I always ask those questions because I need to know as a coach, what am I dealing with?
And it's easy to say, oh, I'm coaching you, but I'm coaching your life literally. And so if for example, if you're married or someone is in a relationship and they come to me and they say, I wanna do this, and they wanna do an Ironman, or do a marathon because it is time consuming and you will, you'll be tired more often.

So all that quality time that you were spending with her might just be time. You might just be existing in the same room cause you probably falling asleep or something like that. When you have those people that are not in your corner and they're not supportive and you don't feel like they are either, then you have these little voices in the back of your head.

It is like, should I still be doing it? Should I be here? Should I be doing something else? And it pulls you away from your focus, which is not healthy. And what I start to see, then that starts to show off in your training. You start, you know, I had to do this, or my wife.
And I'm like, as a coach, I'm gonna tell you the hard things. My job is to tell you the things that other people won't tell you, that you won't tell yourself. Like you can go, my philosophy is always family first. I learned that the hard way as a coach and as an athlete, that if you don't put your family first, then obviously, you're gonna have some resistance in that area. And putting family first doesn't mean oh, I need to put them before my training. It’s really understanding where each role plays and being more informative. Involving them when you can, and things of that nature, it just really comes down to communication.

But it lends to a very healthy training cycle when we have the people that we care about in our corner, and that's always a benefit. And just understanding what the family is and who, who you are with them. When it comes down to it, like you've done obviously some physical stuff in the Army. If you would be coming directly from the military, I would say forget everything you know. And I say that to some people that have come from other coaches or other organizations because sometimes people are in old science and you know it in the healthcare, you got people that are really good at it, and their way works. But sometimes you come across people that are like still teaching two decades ago information and they said, well, it works. Yes it works, but there's something better now. And so I sometimes I ask people to purge everything. And as for you, I will ask you to do the exact same thing because my goal is to challenge your being.
Challenge you physically, mentally, maybe, sometimes even spiritually, right? And really force you to grow in a way that not only makes you a better athlete, but a better person, and that's the key. With that being said, all the things that you have done, can you share with me your athletic endeavors. Like things that you've accomplished that you're very proud of. I also wanna hear what you've done that you're not very proud of when it comes to your athletic history.

[00:11:17] Duane Yeah, so I think that this idea of signing up for a marathon was always the thing. I've shared with you my father, being a long distance runner, and this was always a goal of mine. I had planned on running a marathon, I think back in 2006 was when I was training for it and then some things got in the way. But, for a period of time in my life, I saw myself as a long distance runner. I was running a half marathon every year. And from about 2006 until I got injured in 2012, I was keeping up with that. That was my goal and that's what I saw myself doing.

And I always knew that sort of the marathon would be there someday. Got hurt in 2012 and then, a lot of stuff happened, and then mid 2021 decided to make some life changes. So over this past year, 2022, have made a commitment to run at least one race a month. Which doesn't make for a very easy training cycle when I’m doing a 5k and then three weeks later I'm doing a 10 K and stuff like that.

[00:12:10] Duane But the whole goal was to really like, reengage my training, my running career. But then, finished up this past December with, my first half marathon in 10 years, which is really why sort of some of this idea of the coaching came in is because that half marathon. Here I am, just turned 49, and so that half marathon that I did the first time in 10 years was a PR for me. So two hours and two minutes, was the fastest half marathon I ran from any of the half marathons I ran between 2006 and 2012. And I was really pleased about that. And I said, well, you know, I did that on my own, just me knuckling it out off some training plan.

[00:12:46] Duane And so how much more could I do? How much better could I be if I had a coach? And obviously coming in to this marathon, this has been a big goal for me, is how much more can I do it with a coach? Half marathon is the longest race that I've run. Probably the longest that I've run on any trainings is probably about 14 or 15 miles, is the farthest that I've run.
But again, like you said, going back to the military, we, we did the good old ruck marches, right? So I've gone on, 18, 20 something mile hikes and things like that. Endurance really is the big thing for me, I'm not a speed guy. I always told my soldiers like, you may run faster than me, but you're not gonna run longer than me and you'll stop sometime and I won't.

[00:13:24] Duane So I will catch up to you. So for me, the physically and the mindset piece, it's really an endurance thing. But yeah, I think that's really the idea of what maybe was the thing that I'm least proud of. I think, is that 10 year hiatus. I could have picked it up a lot sooner than I have.
I let the injury, and life, and things get in the way. Again, this is the whole mindset piece. I used to tell myself, I'm a former runner, I used to be a runner. It was a thing that I put away. And so even though I had the injury and some of that still lingers and I'm sure we'll talk about that.
Even though I had the injury, I could have been doing this thing that I loved a lot sooner than I am now. So I think that's one thing that's challenged me.

[00:14:06] Coach Morgon Yeah, that makes sense, man. And so while we are on that subject of your training that you're doing, I would ask that today, when you have some time. Send me the plan that you use for the half and let me evaluate it to see what you've been doing with the volume that you've had and intensity and things of that nature and the frequency and go from there.

So a bit of a cliffhanger, right? In the next episode, Coach Morgonis going to share his coaching philosophy, so you get to learn a bit more about him and how he approaches coaching. I'm excited to be doing this, but I'm excited to be bringing this experience to those out there who may be wondering what it's like to train for your first marathon. So make sure you follow the show in your podcast player of choice, and thanks again for joining us for the mere moral marathon podcast. Where you can hear mere mortals like you and me reach our goals as I train for the 2023 Denver Colfax marathon. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach out to me @duane@veteranmentalhealth.com.

You can also follow along on our training journey by connecting with me on strava @strava.com/athletes/m3podcast, or just search for my name as long as you spell it right, I won't be hard to find. If you want to support a great cause I'm a charity partner with The Second Wind Fund. The mission of the second wind fund is to decrease the incidence of suicide in children and youth by removing financial and social barriers to treatment.

They match children and youth at risk for suicide, with licensed therapist in their communities and pay for up to 12 sessions of therapy when there's a barrier to treatment. You can donate to the cause by going to Coloradogives.org/m3podcast.

Do you want to reach out to Coach Morgon to show appreciation for the excellent work that he does or sign up for the People's Coach newsletter, you can find him @morganlatimer.com. All of the links to each of these are in your show notes. So thanks for joining us for another episode of the mere mortal marathon podcast, and remember mere mortals like you and me can do amazing things.