Crimson and Gold Connection; Dr. David O'Bryan

We're required to tell you that before we start. So just go ahead and take your time if you need to restate anything. Go ahead, sell the lead out, whatever. Doesn't need to be there. So it's easy as that. So I will begin now. Thanks so much for taking your time to join us here. What do you teach at Pittsburgh State? Upper level accounting courses. How long have you been teaching at Pittsburgh State University? Oh, I fell into my first teaching position as an instructor. In 1986, spent two years as an instructor. Then left to go get my PhD at the University of Missouri and returned in 1992 and have been here ever since. What makes teaching here so special and why do you enjoy it? Oh, I think back to I was a student here myself and the difference that a few, the professors in particular made in my life. And so hopeful that I can do the same for my students. You are joining us today to not necessarily

talk about what you do at Pittsburgh State University but something that you do outside of your time at Pittsburgh State University. You are an avid runner and actually just recently completed the Boston marathon for the second time. Describe the experience of running with more than 20,000 other people by your side. A lot of fun. I heard somebody describe this as the Super Bowl for runners and I think that's pretty good description. 2013 could not have been more different than my experience last week in 2015. So I'm really glad I went back and coming home with lots of different and better memories this time. Aside from all of the other runners around you, what is the atmosphere like around the city leading up to it and after and during? Well, I was joking with somebody. I'm 51. So some of the audience members that maybe are closer in my age will remember when the future farmers of America, the FFA, used to meet in Kansas City and they used to joke that it was the invasion

of the blue jackets because all the blue FFA jackets would descend on Kansas City. And that's kind of what you see in Boston, as you see the runners descending and they mostly, a lot of them are wearing their Boston marathon jackets from previous years and bright flashy colors. And so it's really just everywhere you look, you see distance runners. And it's really just as good as it gets for a distance runner to be in that atmosphere. A lot of buzz. When and why did you decide to take up running as a hobby? I always, not in high school, but shortly after high school would run a little bit as in maybe a few miles, a couple of times a week. And then gradually in my four days started lengthening the distance and I think showed up but really my first competitive 5K may be about 10 years ago now and was kind of surprised at my standing when we finished. Didn't win the race, but it was just surprised that I was a little bit faster than I thought I was.

And so I kind of stimulated my interest and the next thing of course was a 10K and then runners kind of fall into this trap, I think, once you've done a 10K, then you're looking for the next thing so then it was a half marathon and obviously then a marathon's the next step from there. As we aforementioned, this was the second time you completed the Boston marathon, the first in 2013, which was unfortunately marred by the Boston marathon bombings. How did the second race for you go compared to the first time you ran it? Completely different in a better way. 2013 for me personally running was just an absolute train wreck. I qualified with a time of 3.23 and looking at the course on paper felt like I'd have no problem running the Boston course at very worst in 3.30 and I ended up finishing in 3.48 so it was a pretty miserable day and then of course 45 minutes later, the reality set in that it was a much worse day

for far more important reasons with the bombing. 2015 is much much better last week. Aside from the Boston marathon, you've completed in many other marathons and other races. Talk about just marathons in a general sense a little bit and what makes them enjoyable for you. I think the real challenge I like is that I joke that I should be able to do math pretty good but for me, the first half of the marathon and the second half, the dividing point and a marathon's 26.2 miles for the audience members but the halfway point in a marathon's 20 miles for me and I know folks are doing the math out there and saying that's not the halfway point but from an effort and from a challenge standpoint for me personally, the second half really starts at mile 20 and so it's always interesting to me to see kind of how your mind and how your body's gonna hold up that last six miles when you're starting to feel the fatigue both mentally and physically and that's kind of a great challenge.

Some days you respond better than others but it's always fun to see how that's gonna turn out. How much training goes into getting prepared for a marathon and what is the key to staying motivated mentally and also your body's staying healthy? There are a ton of different training plans out there and I think maybe the best answer to how you train for a marathon is unfortunately it depends on the individual. Not sure there's a one size fits all. I know a lot of the plans I saw when I was first getting started on the internet have a person doing the longest run you do leading up to a marathon is 20 miles and the plans will say that if you can do that you'll be fine for the 26 mile marathon. For me that didn't work very well, it doesn't work so I push on up to I will do at least one or two 26 mile runs before running the marathon at a much slower pace but nevertheless I'll do the full distance before I head out to run the race.

I've been really fortunate. My daughters tell me I do everything wrong. I don't do much stretching. I don't do any strength training. I guess I'm just lucky in that respect that I have not had many injuries and the few that I have I think I've been able to trace back to my shoes. So once I switched out of some shoes that weren't working for me, the few injuries I was having went away. Do you have any running partners or are you just kind of a solo runner? I am kind of a loner at heart and I likewise do almost all of my running by myself except the times that I'm running with my daughters. What are some of your running goals looking ahead to the future? I've done several 50Ks, I've done 140 mile and I've done 150 mile or so I suppose for the any time you get past 26.2 it's referred to as ultra marathons. So the next progression in that is a 100K. And so I kind of hear that calling

but I don't have one picked out yet.