Hello "Feel Good" Runners!
Happy March and hope you are reaching all your running goals thus far this year. It is coming up on spring race season with several full and half-marathons over the next three months. It is tough running during the winter, but soon all that hard work will pay off.
Well this episode will be an extended version. Yasir Salem is my guest and he is in the race of his life. Last year, he lost his wonderful, beautiful and talented wife Gweneviere Mann to lung cancer. This story is so much more. Gweneviere survived a brain tumor several years back when they were just dating. During the surgery, she suffered a complication which affected her memory. We discuss the effects and recovery process in-depth during our conversation. The lung cancer on the other hand, came on suddenly last year and spread rapidly and she lost her battle just a few short months later.
Yasir is now running 50 marathons in 50 weeks in all 50 states to honor her. And...through this he is bringing awareness to cancer and to the https://www.gwenevieremann.org (Gweneviere Mann Foundation) that they formed just prior to her passing. They both ran marathons together, a passion they discovered and shared during her recovery from brain surgery. So what better way for Yasir to bring awareness to such a devastating disease such as cancer by doing something extraordinary in a sport they both loved.
As a side note, Yasir was a competitive eater and was in the top ten of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest and several year title holder of the Tour de Donut bicycle race. Listen to find out more about that!
This entire conversation is relevant to this incredible love story between Yasir and Gweneviere. And please check out the links below, especially the https://www.committedpodcast.com/podcasts/i-will-remember-you.htm (Committed Podcast). Gweneviere and Yasir discuss her brain surgery and the effect from it in this very well done podcast. Shortly after they recored this podcast early last year, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. You will get to know and hear the story first hand from them both.
A few weeks ago I was in Honolulu to attend the https://www.greataloharun.com/ (Great Aloha Run) Expo to promote the Maui Marathon. I also ran the race on Monday February 18th, which was a 8.2 mile run from Aloha Tower and finishing inside the Aloha Stadium. This is the same stadium were the annual Pro-Bowl was before they decided to bring it back to the mainland. What a great run and an honor to run with so many of our fine service men and women. If you are ever in Honolulu in February, consider doing this run. You and 16,000 of your closest friends will have a great time!
The main item I talk about is running shoes. Yes running shoes. Does it drive you nuts when you find a pair of running shoes that you really like that fit perfectly on your feet and then the next version comes out and they change it entirely? Well it does me! And I scour the Internet to scarf up a couple pairs before they disappear.
Since we do not have a running or sports store on Maui, I purchase mine on-line from https://www.roadrunnersports.com/ (Road Runner Sports). They have an excellent return policy which you can try them for 90 days and return if they are not working. And if you live in a market where there is a physical Road Runner Sports store, they recently introduced a new technology to find the perfect running shoe...the https://www.sdentertainer.com/lifestyle/new-technology-allows-you-to-find-the-perfect-running-shoe/ (3D Fit Drone).
Finally, I briefly talk about the woman's running self-defense class coming up on March 30th at http://mauipowerhousegym.com/ (Powerhouse Gym) here on Maui. Instructor http://wwd.international/index.php/services (Tasha Ina Church) will teach it. And of course, most of you do not live here on the island of Maui so I am going to bring Tasha to you. She is my...