The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-433 – Eric Runs Across Missouri  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4433.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-433 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Been a weird couple of weeks for me. I’ve been working out of the house, which I’m a bit used to, but the new bit is this part about being on video calls all day long for many days with no break.  It can be really exhausting.  I’ve got a guy replacing all the trim boards on my house over the last couple weeks as well.  So I’ve got him banging on the wall while I’m trying to talk to people.  Which is the new normal.  People just forget they’re on these calls and all kinds of crazy stuff goes on in the background.  Him ripping the boards off has disturbed the hornets that live in the eaves.  I had one wandering around my bathroom one morning.  And as much as I tried to avoid it, it ended up stinging me a little.  Hornets are ferocious little critters.  Bad attitudes.  Up here in New England the seasons have flipped and all is green.  The mosquitoes and ticks are out. I’m harvesting lettuce from my garden.  Good year for lettuce. Immediately after we last spoke I woke up with a back issue.  I don’t know what I did but my back locked up.  It’s a problem I’ve had before when I do too much snow shoveling or something like that.  It is very painful.  You can’t bend and it hurts to sit, hurts to walk, just hurts.  Your lower back is such an integral part of everything you do.  Got up the second morning of this and basically had to crawl on my hands and knees to the bathroom.  Went to my chiro on the third day and got some immediate relief.  It’s still pretty sore this week but I think that has to do with spending so much time in the chair.  I’ve started doing some of these meeting standing up, but you’re still constrained and hunched.  The end result was I took a week totally off from training and it was surprisingly relaxing.  Was a good break to reenergize and rethink what I want to do with my training and racing going forward.  I’m still on my nutrition plan and hovering around 170 pounds but I’m losing enthusiasm for it as we move into summer and all the good eats and drinks that are part of that! I’m back to running now and feel good.  I’m going to pivot to some longer trail based training.  I’m working on cooking up some events in the fall.  Today we talk to our old friend Eric who I ran Leadville with last year.  He did something amazing by running across Missouri on Memorial Day weekend. In section one I’ll talk about taking a week off.  In section two I’ll talk about some ways to recharge in today’s weird hyper-work world.  As I write this on a fine cool morning that looks like it will emerge into a humid summer day I’ve got a purple T-shirt on.  I have been wearing shirts with collars all week to try to look somewhat professional on the video, but this morning I saw a nice purple race T under the pile so I’m wearing that. Did you know that purple is the royal color?  It was a prized color in classical times.  The Greeks and Romans somehow figured out that a predatory land snail in Lebanon, that they called murex, secreted this color and they could make that into dye.  In the Eastern Roman Empire, what we would refer to as the Byzantine Empire, but that’s a construct of modern historians, they just called themselves Romans, anyhow, they referred to a person being of royal blood or royal pedigree as “Being born in the purple”.  Isn’t it amazing how we humans can make the leap from snail snot to justification of royalty?  We really do have an outstanding ability to make stuff up and believe in it.  On with the show. About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations