Hi Jochen,
We appreciate you taking the time to email us. We like to hear all feedback positive and negative. We will certainly keep your comments in mind for the future.
Mark and Elena
Embrace Running is a podcast hosted by Elena and Mark who fell in love with running and present an enthusiastic and informative podcast about this sport, that so many people like. They have a very nice website, basic, simple, pretty. I have listened to the third episode of their podcast today. Embrace Running Episode #106. The podcast is released every week and I think Elena and Mark are doing a great job, and us runners a great service. Because it really is a good podcast to listen to while running – especially the length of 1 hour.
However! When I listened to episode #106, I found it extremely boring. I thought that I am having too big of an expectation, and that once in a while these guys may release a podcast or discuss a topic that is not for me, but for others it might be interesting. So I let it go. Commuting for one hour and 35 minutes on foot, on bus and on train you get patient and don’t expect much.
However! Discussing “The 5 stages of running” – even Elena realized that this was not very scientific. Other topics were passing by – the material of medals, an American 2-mile-indoor record – I must have stopped listening for a while. The announcement in the beginning of the show to discuss February’s calendar of races around the world turned out no information at all. The Antarctica, Florida, Dubai, and others? Interesting places. Unfortunately neither of the moderators knew the temperature in Florida. Maybe talk about how it is to race at 5 o’clock in the morning? “An 18-year-old kid made his debut in Dubai at 2:04:32. Amazing, such a young runner.” That’s it? No name, no competitor names? No clue why we should follow up on that kid? “I believe he’s from Ethiopia.” You believe? You practice a sport and follow its competitions but you don’t know anything about the winners of the most important races? Elena had the name written down but didn’t dare to speak it out loud because neither of them was able to pronounce it. Tsegaye Mekonnen Asefa, come on! That’s not so hard! It’s actually showing a lot of respect being able to pronounce someone’s name.
Anyway, maybe the details are not the main focus of the show.
However!! The next subject discussed is the question of a listener about carbo loading before a marathon / long run. That’s when I really started to get annoyed. I will make it quick: They start out by saying: Don’t think about your nutrition one day before the race. You don’t start your practice one day before, you don’t pick your shoes and clothes one day before. And then they go on to talk about the meals on the day before the marathon! Oh, you can’t say anything specific about a healthy diet? Or a carbo-loaded nutrition weeks before a marathon? But you suggest to go to Chipotle, a fast-food chain, because you will be in a hotel in some strange city where they probably have no food except anywhere except the places with the neon lights.
There are so many recommendations to be made concerning carbo loading. So many ways to enjoy a rich diet before a big race. My favourites are sweet (cocoa, cinamon, honey) spaghetti in the morning, and beer! Yes, beer. Being from Germany, they offer free beer at all the races I have ever been to. Hold on, it’s non-alcoholic, and it is loaded with carbons.
The point which I am trying to make here is: Be more conscious, and not so superficial. This sport is all about consciousness. None of your listeners will ever achieve anything great. They will only learn endurance and the joy of the endorphines. And consciousness of their own body. So do not recommend: Gatorate or Fast Food. Recommend something sustainable, something that is organic, good for your health, good for society as a whole, good for your mental spirit. Chicken is not sustainable. It’s evil and cruel to eat chicken unless it comes at a high price, from a very nice, sustainable farm. That’s consciousness.
