The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-328 – Bobby Gill – The Half-Naked-Hilarity of Cupid’s Undie Run. (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4328.mp3]Link epi4328.mp3MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello and happy holidays from RunRunLive central here at the Mongolian Yak farm. I was going to do a whole bit about the wild reindeer catching the zombie virus, but since it’s the holidays I won’t mess with you. Today we have a really good talk with Bobby Gill from Cupid’s Undie Run about his adventure. I’m always a bit hesitant when a publicist reaches out to me about someone or something. I always worry about doing the same interview as 10 other podcasters. That really doesn’t add any value to you folks. But, I resonated with Bobby and really enjoyed our chat. He does this ‘aww-shucks we just got lucky’ routine but you can tell there’s some focus and talent in the background for him and the Undie run to get so big so fast. In section one I’m going to talk about strength training. In section two I’m going to wax poetic about 9 key moments in the runner’s journey. Last time I talked to you folks I was rolling off of the Mill Cities Relay and getting ready for the Jeff Galloway ½ in Atlanta. I’ve continued to have great training weeks and am feeling fairly strong. I treated the ½ marathon as a pace run and didn’t taper for it. I have pivoted my training from speedwork to long tempo. From the races I’ve done recently it shows me that I have enough speed but I need to work on strength and staying power. I raced the previous Sunday then did two hard 1:20 step up tempo runs during the week. I was also fighting some sort of cold all week. A travel race in the middle of December is just the worst timing, but I had to be in Atlanta all week anyhow so I just went down early. It was an opportunity for me to test out my pacing strategy to meet some old friends from the pod-o-sphere community and to check out a new race. I’m not going to go into full race report mode for you here. And I’m certainly not going to debate the Galloway training stuff. It’s not for me, but kudos to Jeff for lowering the barrier to entry to running for so many people. He’s doing good work with his flock. Overall the race is extremely well managed – everything went off without a hitch. The weather was good – maybe a little warm if you were back in the pack. I ran in short-shorts and singlet. I was soaked when I finished but it didn’t affect my running. The course was actually interesting and had some pretty parts for a city course. The defining feature was the hills. I have worked and run in Atlanta for years. I know it’s a hilly place. Running a ½ marathon through it is challenging. Jeff told me that it’s actually a downhill course because the finish in Piedmont Park is a bit lower than the start. It’s a very hilly course. If you know Atlanta you know that they aren’t periodic steep hills, like in a New England race where you might have a 500 foot monster somewhere on the course. They are consistent long, shallow uphills and downhills. You’re always either climbing or descending. It made it hard for me to execute my pacing strategy. I forgot my Garmin at home and was pacing old-school off my IronMan watch – which isn’t a problem for me. I was intending to try to pace at just under my marathon goal pace of 8 min miles. The hills made pacing kind of impossible so I just ran by feel. This is a course where it would have really helped to know the course. The course is a bit deceptive at the end because they run you by and around the park a couple times. You are essentially circling the finish line for 3+ miles. Tim Cleary had told me there was a big hill at mile 9ish and then a steep downhill into the park. That was the landmark I was looking for. There was a big hill at the 9 mile mark, but that wasn’t the one Tim was talking about. There wa