The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-452 – Caffeine!     (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4452.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-452 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today is Sunday April 11th.   Next week it Patriots Day up here in Greater Boston.  And due to the Apocalypse there will be no marathon.  It’s a strange thing.  I was working in the garden yesterday, turning over my vegetable beds and I realized that for the last 20+ years I have not been working on my yard until after Patriots Day.  I would be deep into the red, misty paranoia of the taper weeks, trying to cling to sanity.  One of my rules has always been not to do yard work during the taper.  Taper time is such a fragile time that I just wouldn’t risk it.  You come out of 3 or 4 months of intense, committed training. Somehow you have miraculously avoided injury.  You’re not going to leave that effort under the bushes in your yard! But not this year.  This year I’m injured anyhow and I’ve got no race, so it was nice to get out into the garden and work a bit while before it gets hot and buggy.  This week we are going to talk to the owner of Caffeine bullet all about caffeine.  I am a coffee drinker.  I usually drink two 16-oz cups of good coffee in the morning.  I like the darker stuff, arabica beans.  I get my coffee from Starbucks and grind it myself.  I love the smell of coffee being ground.  I get great joy from that first sip of hot coffee on a cold morning. I switch over to tea in the afternoon.  I’ve been mixing oolong tea with yerba matte, less than a half teaspoon of each into my silicon tea bag.  Then I refill it all afternoon without changing the tea grounds. Eventually, by the end of the day it’s just hot water! I’ve never been a heavy medicator when running.  I know ultra-runners who take caffeine pills and ibuprofen by the fist full in their events.  To be honest with you, I just don’t think that is healthy.  I think it’s probably a crutch that they could train away from.  But, everyone leads their own life.  I will take a caffeinated gel before a race or when it gets hard late in a marathon to get that boost of energy.   Today we talk about caffeine. Then in Section one I’m going to re-read a piece I wrote in 2013 when I was coming back from my 18 month dalliance with plantar fasciitis.  I have this tradition of writing a piece before every Boston Marathon.  I’m glad I did this because It’s an interesting historical document.  As you listen to it remember what happened in 2013.  I ended up having a horrible race.  I was walking by Newton.  And because of that I was behind where I usually would be.  I never made it to that finish line.  Or, more accurately I made it to that finish line in 2014.  In section two I’m going to talk a bit about pandemic shopping habits.  It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe consumer behavior.  I find it interesting.  When I was working in my garden I had my phone in my pocket and was trying to listen to podcasts.  I realized how noisy it is in my neighborhood on a Saturday.  There are various saws and lawn equipment buzzing.  There are planes flying around overhead.  The dog is barking his fool head off at hikers in the woods and walkers on the street.  It’s a cacophony! I’m still staying off my knee.  It will be six weeks on Friday this week.  I had my appointment with the knee guy.  X-rays didn’t show much except I have very little arthritis in my knees.  I’ll give you a little play-by-play on the dance.  I went into the office early on a Monday.  They gave me a clipboard with paper to fill out.  Each piece of paper asked the same questions about name, DOB, etc.  I got through two of them before I was called in for my X-rays.  Then I was hustled into an exam room with my clipboard.  Changed into a very utilitarian pair of exam shorts.  The lady, who is not a doctor but has the same bas