First of all, it’s Steven’s birthday! Please wish him a happy birthday!!!

My holiday gift to myself (um, along with all the rock painting supplies) was a VIP ticket to the Ali on the Run Show Live virtual edition with special guests Shalane Flanagan, Des Linden, and Aisha Praught Leer.

The VIP ticket will include a bunch of swag (it’s in the mail!) – AfterShokz headphones, Goodr sunglasses, UCAN bars, and some Lululemon stuff, but what I was really interested in was the 15 minute post show intimate setting with a few VIP folks and the special guests. I love love love Shalane, and the other ladies as well, and thought it would be so cool to get a chance to talk to them and ask a question. (A dream of mine is to meet Shalane in person someday!)

So first! What is the Ali on the Run Show? It’s a podcast hosted by Ali Feller, where “she talks with inspiring people who lead interesting lives on the run and beyond” (from here). She interviews all sorts of runners – elite, sub-elite, middle and back of the packers, and the show often talks about running, but that isn’t always the focus. Most episodes have the same format – a warmup (introduction), the Q&A conversation (the bulk of it), and the cooldown (fun rapid fire questions that are the same for each episode).

The virtual show followed a similar format – warmup, Q&A, and cooldown, but had some fun surprises, like pre-recorded interviews with Shalane, Des, and Aisha’s loved ones. They talked about the holidays, highs and lows of 2020, and some of the random cooldown questions (best running song, race day ritual/superstition, who’d they interview if they had a podcast, etc).

Ha, that description makes it sound boring but it was engaging and funny and heart felt and I was either laughing, smiling, or on the verge of feel-good tears the entire time. And while I would love to listen to this in podcast format on a run, it was so awesome to see them all on screen! And my internet only cut out twice! (eyeroll)

AND! Shalane’s baby Jack made an appearance!

The big show with all the guests (maybe 500 of us?) was a lot of fun but I was really excited for the after show with the 25 VIPs. Ha, so excited that it took me three tries to call in on my phone (I was worried my internet would cut out again so I went the phone option).

The big show ran late (yay!) and Ali wanted to be respectful of everyone’s time (understandable) so not everyone got to ask a question (but it seemed like everyone who wanted to did!) but I got to! All day I was thinking about what I’d ask and had a few things in mind and decided I’d adjust based on the conversations. Then I came up with something completely new! Ha.

It’s a silly semantical question I probably could have googled, but it’s something I think about every time the word is said in an interview* (or I read it in a book). I said “I’ve always wondered why you call your workouts practice. We call it training – do you call it practice because you are meeting in a group?”

Shalane said that was a good point and she’d never thought about it. She said they’re practicing running, but practice means a workout/training and when she says “we’re having practice today that means the team is getting together for a hard workout.” She also mentioned Alan Iverson and said it may be an “AI” thing but that went right over my head – I need to look into that!

Des said practice is the meeting of the people, and we’re getting together to practice. And a session or workout or recovery run is the activity.

So it was basically what I thought – because it’s a group meeting (to do a similar workout). But if you’re running alone is it still practice?!?!

Ali commented that there needs to be a runner’s lingo guide! Which is so true. She was like, “someone might overhear me saying ‘Did you run a PR? Oh, you BQ’d? Oh, you OTQ’d? At CIM?'” Ha, I know what all that means, but non-runners probably don’t! (Also, I work for the government and love acronyms. It’s basically required.)

Long post long, it was a great night and I was super pumped after and had a hard time falling asleep! I’m so glad I got to do this and got the VIP ticket! And I’m able to watch both sessions again which I plan to!

At one point I had the Zoom on speaker view when Ali was talking and it showed me with Aisha, Des, and Shalane, so of course I had to take a screenshot!

*Mostly because xaarlin has told me how her mom calls her training “practice” and that it makes her giggle