This is the fifty-first edition of The Duluth Runner Interview Series, where I get in touch with (mainly) local runners and athletes to share a bit of their story while inspiring others to pursue an active lifestyle.
Intro
“Namaste. I’m 56 years young. I’ve been married for 31 years to an amazing, beautiful, strong woman and have been gifted the greatest purpose on earth: I’m called dad by two beautiful, healthy, happy kids.
I love people who see all of this as a gift and they don’t waste one second of it.
Jack Kerouac said it best – “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center-light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!'”“
He loves getting outside and enjoys a multitude of fitness challenges, today’s guest is…Scott O’leary!!
Interview
Why is running important to you?
It creates space. To breathe. To be.
It’s a meditation. Where the mind goes empty enough to consider and reconsider who I am.
It’s therapy. It’s healing. It’s a cure.
It’s an outlet for darkness and a place to receive light.
It’s a place of joy and a teacher of suffering.
Every once in a while under the right conditions it’s a holy experience that simply brings me to tears that I have no idea where or what the source is.
It’s insanely humbling and a reminder that the human body can do amazing things.
It’s an escape and a sanctuary.
It’s allows for disconnection, solitude, peace and also incredible connection with other humans.
What are the top two or three things that you do to prevent injury? Have you been susceptible to certain injuries in the past?
I’m not sure I prevent injuries, I kinda feel like I just duck their punches until I get caught with a good right hand. Then I have to get up off the mat.
Things I do that help me duck punch’s:
Strength training. Lots of hours and days moving heavy and not so heavy weight in basic, functional and compound movements.
Stretching and rolling. I have a love/ hate relationship with it. I love when I do it because I recover faster, train harder and feel better. I hate when I don’t because I’m usually being lazy and not accountable for the damage and torture I’m putting my body through.
Taking a rest day. Trying desperately to listen to my body and not my ego.
Inflammation police. Staying away from food and drink that cause more inflammation than I am causing. Consuming lots of turmeric and ginger and drinking water when I don’t want to. Icing whatever needs to be iced. I’m 56, $h*t hurts.
What keeps you motivated when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a workout?
I’ve made a simple bargain with that voice. I call it the quit voice.
I will put the gear on. Drive to the trail, hill, gym and start.
If the voice wants to quit okay.
But I’m not quitting sitting on the couch in my living room. It doesn’t get that from me.
Who is in your running support group (training partners, people to bounce ideas off of, etc.)?
I guess the lazy but true answer is everyone. The cool thing about social media is exposure to so many incredible people doing amazing things and being generous with their knowledge and mistakes equally. From elite athletes to someone who just did there first run they all have something to offer.
We are all teachers. We are all students.
I am also as comfortable training with nobody as I am with anybody.
Less lazy answer is my wife, I call her coach. No one knows me better. She has given me such great advice and on a day to day basis is a true source of amazing strength and support. Literally no one. No one loves race day more than her.
On race day she gets up and the first thing she says every single time, loudly is, “What’s today? Race day!”
And starts dancing.
Kinda makes you want to get on a start line and race with joy and get after it.
When/what is your next race?
There are only two for certain as we speak.
The Moab 240 mile endurance run.
The 260 mile Minnesota Voyageur Kruger/Waddell Challenge in the boundary waters (which isn’t running but there is 20 miles of portaging in the woods) to go with the 240 Miles of paddling.
Do you prefer roads or trails and why?
Trails.
Running in nature allows us to tap into ancient wiring. To plug into something much bigger than ourselves. To reconnect with our natural environment and ourselves. The only road I want to travel on is too the trail.
What do you think about while you run?
On the best and kindest days. Nothing.
The Buddhist seek empty mind. Freedom from thought. Freedom to just be.
Running gives me that gift.
You have your own website at over50badasses.com (an amazing name if you ask me), please tell those who don’t yet know about it what your mission is with that site and some of the neat things you’re doing.
Our mission: This project is dedicated to telling the stories of inspiring people over age 50 who rage against the clock and openly rebel at the norms of age. To be heard.
What I do is interview people over a extended email conversation that can take one month to close to a year. It’s a process of sharing their story and a transformation for myself. It’s a beautiful experience.
I also write some personal pieces. They don’t have a rhyme or reason other than I want to share something or I had a thought I want to share in my life at this age. Stories are a great way to heal ourselves and others especially when shared with honesty vulnerability and compassion. I’m just telling stories.
What is your most memorable race or running achievement?
2018 was a very special year for me as an athlete and human
The 2018 zumbro 100 miler.
The 2018 Spartan killington ultra beast in Vermont.
I could go on much to long about these two days in my life. They both made me deeply understand what is possible and how little I know about that idea. I always think of those two races like how it must of felt for an astronaut when the craft they are in breaks earths atmosphere and you are suddenly in a endless and unknown universe in front of you and you look back and you realize how confined you truly were.
They were my spacecraft.
And I’m out in the unknown, searching.
Name one racing experience you would like to forget (please describe).
I don’t want to forget any of them. I wish I could remember more about them. All of them.
I wish I could remember every single detail, feeling, emotion, and thought.
They become blurs, films with missing frames.
Surreal instead of the intense reality I felt in the moment.
I wish I could recall every detail of every environment, every rock, tree, feeling.
I look at photos and it seems like I’m looking at someone else or some imaginary event. I can’t be any more alive in a race
I never want to forget that.
What is something non-running related you would like to share with readers?
I’m not sure we are ever not in a non-endurance activity.
Life. The human experience is a ultra event. We just don’t know where or when the finish line is. But existing and having a amazing life for 70, 80, 90 years is a task of endurance, strength and commitment.
Marriage is a ultra event. Loving another human. Unconditionally no matter what this existence throws into our path.
Marriage is the simple act of putting your love and heart towards another one step at a time, one day at a time until you covered 30, 40, 50 years and you never want to see a finish line.
Being a parent is ultra event. The most beautiful, difficult, bring you to your knees, and deliverer of joy that any human could sign up for.
I don’t know if anything important in my life isn’t a non- endurance event.
Closing
Many thanks to Scott for agreeing to stop by Duluth Runner and share some of his knowledge/experiences with everyone. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Interview Series – stick around for more to come!