The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-356 – Talking Communities with Kevin Gwin of the Extra Mile  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4356.mp3] Link epi4356.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hey there!  It’s a new year! I know we lost a lot of celebrities in 2016, but you and I made it, right?  So welcome to a new year.  And welcome to the extra-mile edition of the RunRunLive Podcast.  That’s right I grabbed our friend Kevin Gwin away from his Beatles albums and Galloway chatter to talk to me about communities of runners and how the world has changed since we started doing this a decade ago.  How was your 2016?  Glass half-full or tank half-empty?  I’m going to quote my favorite race ‘A’ goal.  “I didn’t die!”  The rest is gravy I guess! Let’s see what I can remember… I think we started the year running the Hangover Classic 10k on January first and jumping in the ocean.  Then in January didn’t trundle the wife off to Phoenix for a quick vacation that included the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon and a bunch of cool sight-seeing? Did I not run a bunch of the local races leading up to Boston?  Like Derry and Stu’s and Eastern States?  Did I not Have a great training cycle? The best in 5 years right?  Then we ran Boston and learned that lesson about going out too fast that somehow never gets learned.  But, we checked off our 18th Boston, didn’t die and raised some coin for the Hoyts.  Do I seem to remember capping off 10 years of Race Directorship of the Groton Road Race?  The race and the club managed to survive my term and handed it off to someone even more capable! There might have been a couple weeks in May where all that caught up with me and I slowed down with a small case of pneumonia, but you can’t get rainbows without rain.  I jumped out of that rough patch by running the Grand Canyon with my newly graduated Daughter.  How cool is that for a bucket list checkoff? The summer was a bit doldrum filled, but I capped it off with another nice vacation to Chicago, yes I did see a Cubs Game in Wrigley Field.  Apparently my good karma rubbed off on those fellows later in the year. I shook off the heat and placed in that trail marathon in Indy.  I returned to my old friend the Wapack Trail for a long outing in the rocks on Labor Day.  Then I turned around and spanked that Spartan Beast a couple weeks later, making a fair amount of young people cry.   Somewhere in there I lost 15 pounds and showed up for the Portland Marathon lean and light.  I got lucky with the weather and requalified.  I joined my club for the Ayer 5k tradition on Thanksgiving and our end-of-season shindig at the Mill Cities Relay.  This past Saturday I ran the 4th edition of my very own made up marathon and I’ll tell you about that later.  Goodreads tells me I read 27 books.  I know I wrote at least 52 articles.  I pushed out 26 podcasts.  I trained almost every day.  Pretty good year, right?  Was it perfect?  Was it filled with challenges and accidents and side turns?  Of course, it was.  If everything is smooth sailing and your life isn’t filled with challenges you’re not living, you’re waiting to die. I don’t know if any of that stuff would be considered worthy, or good or bad.  I try very hard not to waste time keeping score.  It’s simpler.  Get up and do stuff.  Do what you can do.  I have a sign by y desk that reminds me that consistency and practice are a reasonable substitute for genius, it says; “Work the Process.” Anyway, today we talk with Kevin.  In section one I’ll talk a bit about breathing.  I was thinking about this topic this week and wanted to poke at it a bit. In section two I’ll probably pull some more nuggets out of the Drucker book I’ve just finished.  (that would count as number one for 2017, if I was keeping score!) … BeforeI let you go I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.