Guides Gone Wild

Starting Over Again (and Again... and Again...) with Trish and Jen

• Guides Gone Wild

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, waking up day after day watching the flames of the dumpster fire we’re living in get higher and higher… so today’s conversation is just the dose of perspective that I needed, and I’m guessing it’ll put a bit more of a smile on your face as well.

My good friend and pod partner Tricia Harmon is back to talk about life changes and new beginnings (and by new, I mean re-new, like deciding to start again for the 15bazillionth time!)

As long time listeners might remember, Trish is a 'hobby jogger' with 11 marathon finishes under her belt (!!), and the first person I tap to do whatever silly, stupid, and/or fun new thing I want to try... because even though she hates being seen in a bathing suit, and always thinks she’s the only newbie on the trail, she’s also the first to cold plunge, and she'll ride, hike or run-walk to the top of any hill, come hell or high water!

Trish is now managing the Marathon Sports specialty running store in downtown Portsmouth (104 Congress Street). Today we're chatting about what it means to start, re-start, and start again and again - doing hard things, doing things that make us feel good, you name it. 

Trish also fills us in on all of the community events and initiatives she’s got up her sleeve this year at Marathon Sports, so if you’re local to the Portsmouth, NH area and are looking for cool people to hang with, Marathon Sports might have to be one of your new weekly haunts!

Check it all out at MarathonSports.com, @marathonsports_nh on Instagram, or search for Marathon Sports or Runner's Alley on Facebook.

Plus a few more links from our conversation:


P.S. Hi Molly!!!

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Jen:

Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild podcast. What is Guides Gone Wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who will inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's get a little wild.

Jen:

Hello one and all. Welcome back to Guys Gone Wild. This is your host, jen. I don't know about you, but I've been in a bit of a funk lately, waking up day after day watching the flames of the dumpster fire we're living in get higher and higher. So today's conversation is just the dose of perspective that I needed, and I'm guessing it'll put a bit more of a smile on your face as well.

Jen:

My good friend and pod partner, trish, comes back today to talk about life changes and new beginnings, and by new I mean renew, like deciding to start again for the 15th bazillionth time. As longtime listeners might remember, trish is a hobby jogger with 11 marathon finishes under her belt, the first person I tap to do whatever silly, stupid and or fun new thing. I want to try because, even though she hates being seen in a bathing suit and always thinks she's the only newbie on the trail, she's also the first to cold plunge and will ride, hike or run-walk to the top of any hill, come hell or high water. Hike or run walk to the top of any hill, come hell or high water. Trish is now managing the Marathon Sports specialty running store in downtown Portsmouth 104 Congress Street to be exact, kind of across the street from the Friendly Toast for all of my fellow Some Like it taught aficionados.

Jen:

We talk about what it means to start, restart and start again and again, doing hard things, doing things that make us feel good you name it. Trish also fills us in on all the community events and initiatives she's got up her sleeve this year. So if you're local to Portsmouth and are looking for cool people to hang with, marathon sports might have to be one of your new weekly haunts. So let's get chatting with Trish, because if I wait any longer, trish's daughter, molly, is never going to leave me alone. Hey, molly, I told you I was doing a podcast with your mom.

Jen:

Here you go.

Jen:

All right. So today it's been a while since we've had a little pod chat, so I decided that after we were chatting the other day last week that it was time to get you back. So yeah, we'll see how this goes. This is going to be totally ad hoc, but Trish has gone through a lot of life changes in the past. You know two, three months as, as you know, while I've been wallowing in the darkness and pretending that I don't, you know, just doing nothing productive, trish has been like upheaving her whole life and going back to, but also participating in stuff. That has been kind of the thing that I've admired about you all along, which is like staying connected with the running community through all of you know your various life changes and we're not going to go into all the life drama, but suffice to say there's plenty of it.

Jen:

But what I want you to talk about today is what you're doing now. What made why you made the decision to kind of lean into it a little bit more at this particular point of time, and then we can talk about all the fun shit that's on the calendar, um, coming up ahead and oh yeah for you and runner's alley.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So, um, yeah, so, trish, take it away my friend yeah, well, I yes, after many years of just being kind of back and forth part-time, um, I've kind of come full circle back to managing the store in portsmouth, um, but tell us about the store first, yeah, back up for people who don't live in the greater Portsmouth area.

Jen:

What's it all about?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So it was Runner's Alley for many years, which is when I first started working there. In the past couple of years we have now transitioned to Marathon Sports, so we're owned by Marathon Sports, which is all you know. There's 25 stores total now, I think most of them in the Boston area, couple in. There's one in Rhode Island, I believe, four in Connecticut and three in New Hampshire now, and the three in New Hampshire used to be runners alley, which is kind of where I've worked for the past 19 years. But 100 years ago you did cut your teeth at marathon. But well, I did.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I got my start there. I was back in the day, you know just as lost as I feel like I am today, trying to figure out what to do with my life and I I was challenged by my brother to run a marathon and I thought, sure, why not? This is a great idea. You know I was an athlete, never a runner. So I went through that whole training and I used to pop in there every Saturday after our long runs. And you know, one day they were like why don't you just get a job here? And I thought why in the world would you want to hire me? Like just some. You know, hobby jogger I'm not really. And so I started working there part time, worked my way up to managing a store, the Brookline store in Brookline Mass. I was there for about a year before I finally decided I wanted to move north.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

My intention at the time was to move back to the Portland area because I had gone to the University of Maine and always had it in my head that I wanted to move back to Maine. And I just sort of ended up in Portsmouth and got a job working at the time was Runner's Alley and started managing there and just basically did that until my daughter was born. And then I had to kind of step back from managing because you know it was just too much with having a baby and years of just back and forth part-time working when I can not working when the kids needed me. I just finally decided to go back full-time and jump headfirst, dive, headfirst, jump, you know all in. And so, yeah, back in the fall I, you know, put my name in there in the ring and and got hired back as the store manager. So it's, it's been a whirlwind because I've now gone back into full time. A lot of hours, a lot of stuff, but it's great.

Jen:

Yeah, and not the kind of stuff that you can really do from home. I mean, like this, it's such a for anyone who has not been part of a marathon, sports or you know runners alley experience. I mean it's a very hands-on like, very much like I shouldn't say diagnostic, but like you go in there. Shortly after Trish started working at marathon in Brookline, I went in because I had decided I was going to run a half marathon, because I was a the, the chauffeur for Trish's first marathon experience. She did a team and training and went to Alaska and I'm like, fuck, I'm going to drive you guys around after you completely cripple yourselves running a marathon while we go sightsee.

Jen:

So that's what I did and she was very inspiring and I'm like, oh well, trish did this, I should at least be able to pull off a half marathon, what the hell. And I started, you know, went to the Saucony outlet, like I always did, bought some cheap ass shoes, started running in them and like pretty much immediately got like plantar fasciitis, which you know. Anyone who has ever had that affliction knows that it's. It's pretty debilitating and it bums you out when you're trying to do something. So anyway, long story short, eventually decided I was going to have to pay more for shoes, because like $100 for shoes back then was like so traumatic for me still kind of is, honestly. But I went and Trisha just started, but her, one of her co workers, was kind of like have me walk back and forth, have me try on a few different things and like, when I say, within two days of wearing these new shoes, like all was well with the world, that's exactly what happened.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

And so.

Jen:

I have been a convert to the whole, like hey, maybe there is something to learning about. You know the biomechanics and you know I will say that now I'm back not running again and there's really not a shoe in the world that's going to fix my shit. But at the same time, at the time, it did and it was a great thing, and so I have huge respect.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You never know.

Jen:

I know you do never know it's true, you just never know. Yeah, the orthopedic guy pretty much told me he knows. Yeah, he's like you've been doing that. It's not going to feel good, but you, the hours are tough, the weekends, holidays all that.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

It definitely is a different pace than just working a nine to five job and that was, you know, in my previous life, pre-kids and pre-husband, and it was great because you know I would go into work a little bit later, I would have time in the morning to, you know, go for my runs, do all these things and having a family it definitely adds a whole new dynamic and that schedule is far more challenging. But you know it is something I've enjoyed for the past 25 years and you know I, you know I, like I obviously love it enough that I've stayed this long and kept connected.

Jen:

That's the thing I don't. I want to to talk less. I think it's more in in your case. I think it's a lot more. It's a lot less about becoming a specialist and kind of a little bit of a mini expert in biomechanics and running shoes and that kind of stuff, which which you are, even though you pretend you're not. But also, um, I think what you got out of it from the get-go was really like the community aspects, um, that Janine was trying to. You know kind of had already had some stuff in place with running groups and different participation and community events and things like that, and it seemed like you really took to that, and I think you serve a humongously important role when you show up for that shit.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So I want you to talk a little about that, yeah, I mean, a big part of the job obviously is. You know, it's a specialty shop, so the fitting is what sets us apart from any other kind of retail store. You know, you go in, you're staring at a wall full of shoes and you're just like, where do I even start? And most people are looking at which ones they think are the cutest, or. But until you've encountered an injury, a problem, an ailment, that kind of, you know, makes you rethink. A lot of people wouldn't even think to come in and actually get fit.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

And but aside from just what we do, there is a whole community piece which is the part that I've always loved. You know, training. We've done beginner training groups where we've literally run people through couch to 5k programs, you know, with the goal being a particular 5k race. And I think that part of the job, especially since I can relate, and I a lot of times feel that way myself by no means do I ever consider myself, sometimes I even say I'm not a runner, you know, like the except how many?

Jen:

except how many marathons and half marathons have you run? Can you even count them anymore?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yes, well, I have completed 11 full marathons and I'm not sure how many half marathons, but I think it's just that mentality and customers come in all the time and they'll, they'll lead with that. Well, I'm not a runner but, um, but I think that that's the part of the job that I really enjoy, because I think I can relate to a lot of these people, even though I do need to, you know, recognize that, yes, I have completed marathons, I have completed half marathons. I, you know, I've accomplished these things. It wasn't my background I didn't come from a running background, I wasn't a track star, I wasn't, you know it just something that I fell into, that I really enjoyed and all the things I got out of it, a lot of it was just the confidence that it gave me, the mental clarity.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You know, definitely I'm at my best when I'm, when I'm exercising, and running just was such a big part of that, you know. And so, seeing people that come in that have these goals, like, oh, I'm not a runner, but I'd love to run a 5k, and going through a training program with them and getting them to the race and then to the finish line, it's, it's very rewarding, you know, and you see how excited they are and they're really proud of themselves, as they should be, and and that I think that's the part of the job that I always really loved, you know, more so than just selling shoes. It's, it's just the community that it, that it can create. Yeah, which is, which is awesome.

Jen:

Yeah Well, and also I think what's what is which I which this is what you helped me with a lot is like the whole. You know, keeping on top of the stop moving you, you know you feel sick, you have other things like shit derails what you're doing. So then you're back to where you started, sometimes even more backwards than where you started because, like you know, midlife, whatever but yet you keep coming back. You're like the phoenix, like rises again, rises again, and you know there's some DNA DNFs along the way.

Jen:

Uh, not as many cases there are in my case but, like you know, whatever, but the fact that you just like, are continually reinventing yourself and, you know, making the little tweaks that like, okay, well, this stage of my life I can't do X, Y, Z, and you know, you and I talk about that a lot of like. When you know, like when you feel like you're plateauing or I feel like you know, just I can't get out of my own way, you just constantly remind me that, like you could start over, just start over, yeah, oh and well, and I and I have had to start over.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You know, I, for years, was just kind of in the routine of running and running and, again, just, you know, more for my own personal benefit. I was, yes, I was participating in races, but you know, I just was doing it for fun, I was doing it for the social aspect of it. But then, you know, as we talked about life kind of hits you in the gut and one of the things that I I mean I can't say I regret it because it's just where I was at the time. But you know, I did stop running for a few years because I was dealing with a lot of life crisis and I didn't put myself first and at the time it was what I felt like I needed to do.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

But here I am, you know, eight years later, significantly heavier, less in shape, older, you know all the things, and you know I decided okay, this is something that I really miss, I want to get back to it.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

And I I just had to go back to square one, basically back to that person who was doing the couch to 5k and just getting out there and, you know, having to accept the fact that you know, right now for me to go out for four or five miles and run walk is awesome, as opposed to feeling negative about it Like, oh, you know, why can't I do what I used to be able to do? And it's just continuing to kind of move in a forward direction, I guess. And that's hard, though, when you're used to being able to do something. And that's hard, though, when you're used to being able to do something, and it's hard to like accept that I can't run like I used to run, or, you know, my knee isn't the same, or this and um, but you know, I want to still be out there and I want to still be moving forward and it just looks a little different than it used to look, right.

Jen:

Well, I think, given the age we are, it's more important than ever, and it's funny, I was out last week with some of my friends from town who are, all I would say, between you know, like eight and 10 years younger than me, and I'm like don't stop. Whatever you're doing now, don't stop. I'm like let me just tell you I am like the ghost of your Christmas future coming back to be like don't do it, don't stop.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Oh my gosh, I feel the same way.

Jen:

Like we're in a, we're in very different. You know we're we've always been on very different pages with, like the type of stuff that we enjoy doing all the time. Like I fucking hate running so much, but you know, so that was the very first thing that I stopped doing, but I like to do other things, and so, like I think we kind of inspire each other in that way of like, hey, let's go for a bike ride. Hey, let's do this, hey, let's do that, but like yeah, it's the same, no matter what it is that you like, it's almost more important to find something you like and just keep doing it, and anything over zero is a win, you know.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah.

Jen:

If I don't go to the gym, which I don't usually cause I just also hate the gym, but it's like all right, well, if I went out for a walk at lunchtime. That's a walk I wasn't going to take this morning when I didn't go to the gym.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So you know well exactly, and I think you know, I have to say I give credit to you, jen, and the podcast for helping me to get out of my little funk, because I think one of the first adventures was, you know, the bike trip up to Vermont and me agonizing over oh my god, I've gained weight, I have no clothes, what am I gonna wear? Am I gonna fit in? Am I gonna feel like ridiculous with all these you know intense bike people and um, and then getting there and realizing that these are all people just like me and everyone's got their own struggle and they're on their own path and like five years later, five plus years later, probably, right, we look back on that like oh my God, it was so.

Jen:

That was such an amazing time.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

That was seriously one of the best weekends. It was so much fun. It was. It was so emotional too, like just I don't know at the end that you know everybody's sharing about, you know what they're grateful for or what positives came out of the weekend, and I mean that that was, I feel, like the start of me trying to come out of the little hole that I'd been living in for several years. Yeah, yeah, and, and just taking baby steps and not feeling, and I still struggle with it. It's still a daily struggle when I show up at an event or a group run, or it's still a daily struggle with my own brain, you know, to say no, you do belong here, you do do fit in here. Like just get out of your own head and show up because why not?

Jen:

you know well and and that's, and that's the thing. Like your tenacity over the past five years has like, literally been just that's what keeps me from, you know, going into the abyss, because you know, unlike, yeah, like what we found out when we were vertical was that, like everybody's got their shit that they're dealing with and like everybody's getting stuff.

Jen:

You get thrown down the stairs probably four or five times a year, like pretty much routinely, and have been for the past five years, not literally, but like shit just keep kept happening and happening and happening, and like we call you Job in our house because like not just one thing after another, that's like life altering and just fucked up honestly, like call it like it is and we're not going to again. I don't want to get into the details of that, but rest assured, if anyone had an excuse to crawl into a hole, it's Trish, it's Trish, and yet you know, and and yet you had that little figment of like clarity from maybe from that weekend or just from something else that happened in your life.

Jen:

You're like, no, you know what. There is another way. This can you know? I, I, yes, this sucks. Yes, this is a setback, yes, but like, everything has a beginning and an end, and you know everything, nothing lasts forever. We yep for good and for bad, and so it's like just write it and write it out, and then you know everything, nothing lasts forever, for good and for bad, and so it's like just ride it, ride it out, and then you know you get to a place where you're like, okay, I can, I can make a little change. And now I'm going to make another little change, and you know, it just really can pull you out of some dark places.

Jen:

So it's.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

It's definitely a work in progress, but I will say you know every the past, I don't know however many years, seven years or eight years. I mean, the thing that I keep going back to is just trying to keep things in perspective and the reality is is that it can always be worse. Like, and I've learned that kind of through everything. You know not to get into super details, but obviously you know, the biggest kind of gut punch that we initially had was, you know, molly getting sick. My, you know, my daughter, Molly, had got diagnosed with brain cancer and she's great, she's fine, she's healthy.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

But I think what you learn is through that experience and spending time in hospitals and meeting other families, that we were the lucky ones.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You know, because we've met families that weren't so lucky, and I think I I really try hard and I don't always do a great job of it, but I really try hard to just keep everything in perspective and because I know that it could always be worse and as challenging as it is, you know we are lucky, you know she's, she's healthy now she's in a good place.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I mean there's other challenges that come along with everything that she went through, which are going to be things we deal with forever, but she's healthy and we were lucky in that sense, and so I think it's just trying to keep things in perspective and not get too caught up in. You know, I've definitely been somebody over the course of my life who would easily fall into that feeling sorry for myself, like have a little pity party, but trying to remember that no, this is, this is not, this is not the place. You know, this isn't the time like she's, we're, we're very fortunate and you just got to keep, just keep adjusting as as life's throwing, you know, obstacles at you, just keep ducking and moving and and changing course. But but yeah.

Jen:

Which is hilarious coming from the person that, like 20 years ago, couldn't decide whether to get a salad or a hamburger on a menu Like this is my problem.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I am terrible with decisions. I am terrible with like yes, because I always am afraid I'm going to make the wrong choice.

Jen:

And then you get dealt like one hand after another of, just like a shitstorm that needs a lot of decisive action, and you just handle it with such grace, such a good point. And actually we're coming full circle too on this because, like the event that both of us found so life race, um Anthony has just, uh, been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer again, like he's had cancer already once. Beat it, now it's coming, it's come back, um, obviously you know, we all know what that means and um, you know, and just, but, but both of you are people who can find beauty, and you know you have to, you have to find beauty in every day and like there's so much good that comes with just the shovels and shovels of shit, and that's what you need to, you know, be be aware of and try to find, because you know otherwise not good, not good.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, she was. She was so inspiring and I think that's what made that weekend so amazing was just, you know, I just I got there with not any idea what to expect and again getting into my own head about you know my own insecurities, and I just left there being like wow, like that was amazing and she was amazing and super inspiring, and and again, it puts a lot of things in perspective and I think that's what's what I'm trying to. You know, I try and keep that in my head, like okay, just keep moving, keep moving forward, you know, and and I think that that definitely was the start of me kind of trying to get back into doing things I love doing and not letting myself talk myself out of it for silly reasons, like okay, so I've gained some weight, so I'm not the way I used to be Doesn't mean I can't go for a bike ride, doesn't mean I can't go for a run, Doesn't mean I can't go skiing. And I think I put so many of those things on the back burner for so long that I was starting to not feel good about myself because I really missed doing those things and I missed the things. I mean I, I remember it's kind of funny.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

But this past summer, when we were at Tanglewood and I literally just burst into tears like listening. We were Brandi Carlile at Tanglewood and she I adore and just one of my favorites, but it was the second time I had gone to her concert and the first concert that I cried at was that I had gone to see her in Maine and it was right after COVID and I was standing there and it was like this beautiful night and the wind was blowing, the stars were shining and she just started singing and I just it was like I just felt so happy to be back doing things that I love doing, because I think for so long I didn't, I couldn't get out of my own way, I couldn't like I was saying no to social things, I was avoiding going places because I wasn't feeling good about myself, I wasn't feeling good about where I was at and instead I just kind of was hibernating a little and I finally realized, like you know, I miss doing things and going to see live music and just being out and with friends. And she started singing and I literally it was like the floodgates opened and I just started crying and I was like standing there, like bawling my eyes out like this is ridiculous. But yeah, it was just kind of like a reminder that no. And then the same thing.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

When we went skiing last year, we were on the chairlift it's freezing cold. And Jen's like oh my God, it's freezing, Get me off this chairlift. And I just was so happy to be sitting on a chairlift that I didn't even care that it had stopped. I'm like, oh, I could just sit here all day.

Jen:

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Trisha and I got stuck on a chairlift for a very, very, very long time on a very cold and windy day, and, yeah, yes, I started to be cranky, that's for sure. I was trying to remember. I'm like oh yeah, I remember, yeah, last week.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I was just so happy to be there.

Jen:

We thought we were going to have to get rescued.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, I know and.

Jen:

Trish is just like a beam of light that was keeping us motivated, so it's good. Well, and it is so true.

Jen:

It's like the easiest person to disappoint is yourself, like you're not you know, like the first person you're going to, you're going to go back on a promise to is yourself, and I think most people are like that. You know what I mean and and you just got to keep reminding yourself that. Like no, yeah, you know, yeah, and and in your case, like I, it's been so great to see you come around to like it doesn't fucking matter if your equipment's 20 years old, it doesn't matter what you look like.

Jen:

And no, that doesn't fit you and it doesn't matter, don't wait for it to fit you again, just buy new fucking equipment. Just buy new gear. Buy what you need to get out there and be warm and comfortable and dry and safe. Like, yeah, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

It doesn't matter, it doesn't, it really doesn't, but it is hard to get out of your head. It is when you're, when you've been in that space. But I think that that was the start of you know, just all those little things string together. You know, going on that bike trip, going on, you know, just meeting some of those amazing people at some of the events at the lodge that you hosted, and then eventually just yeah, going skiing again, going on a bike weekend. You know, getting back.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I actually signed up for a half marathon training group last fall. I mean last spring. I ended up having to stop because I tore my meniscus, but you know, it was just the. It was just making that commitment again to I'm going to sign up, I'm going to start from scratch, I'm going to go through the program, but it didn't derail me totally from running. You know I had to stop for a few months but I've started back again and it's just kind of stringing all those things together. Opportunity to came up to go back to work, it was just kind of like the next. The next kind of logical thing was you know, I need to start doing things for myself again and you know I love my family I'm. Obviously they come first, but we're in a good place now where I can make this switch and I can, I can commit this, I can commit myself to, you know, work in these hours and being part of the store again on a different level, and it's been great to be honest.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, and we've talked about this. I do think it's important to model for your kids, not necessarily like working if that's not your thing, but like putting yourself first, sometimes like they shouldn't grow up with a mom who's constantly putting their needs first, all the time, you know, in, in, in, in, uh, in negatively impacting her own mental health. And so I do think it's good yeah, it's good, it's good to remind them that like yeah, okay, you know there's a whole world around you and, and sometimes mom comes first and sometimes mom is going to do something that brings her joy, because that makes mom a better mom.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So yeah, well, they're not quite there yet. I'm still getting the guilt they had a lot of years of you.

Jen:

Yeah, I know.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You're never home. Same thing as like husband reminders Like oh yeah, yeah, yeah, what's for dinner. You know what's for dinner, mom. I'm like I don't know What'd you make tonight. Yeah.

Jen:

Who's been home for the last four hours? Not me there you go. Yeah, it's a work in progress, for sure, yes, and I it's been, and and you know as difficult as this like rebalancing has been, like the shift in your energy has been palpable.

Jen:

So it's like it's challenging, I think, as sometimes these transitions can be, the net effect often can be very positive, like it's like yeah you just you just got to get it, you just got to figure it out Like the transition time is going to be chaotic and it's going to be like. You know there's gonna be some stuff that's gonna be hard to manage. But if, at the end of the day, you have you're bringing more energy to your life and you feel like you're in a better place, then all that chaos is actually not a bad thing, you know.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's worked out really well at work because I feel like you know I can, I can be a positive influence on somebody else at work. You know, because you know, especially with the customers will come in and and it's it's interesting to see this shift in even the customers that we serve. Like when I first started doing this job, I felt like it was a lot of just runners and and it felt very, you know, a lot of people would come in and they were, you know very, it was the Strava set yeah.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, and there's been a huge shift in the industry to where, because we provide a service and we're, you know, we're kind of customers will come in and we're, we're watching them walk, we're looking at their feet barefoot, we're scanning their feet, where, you know it's a whole process and so it's a lot of. We get a lot of referrals now from, you know, medical people, doctors, podiatrists, physical therapists. So you do see a huge amount of people that come through the door that aren't. They're not there because they want to run a marathon, they're there because they need to, like, be able to walk across the room.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, and it's, and it's all walk pain free, just as important, exactly, you know, and so it's it feels good to be able to kind of help people with that. And then you know, kind of I don't know I think I think, because I was sort of just down in the dumps for so long, I feel like I I can be more motivating to them. You know, like I can, I'm more relatable, it makes me more relatable and they'll come in and by the time they leave, you know, I hope that they leave feeling good about, you know, the service that they got and the fact that they can now walk and and it's a good feeling you know, yeah, no, it's.

Jen:

There was nothing more intimidating than to walk into a specialty retailer and get kind of like side-eyed, talked down to or like feel like the person that you're interacting with has like zero intersection with your lived experience, which is the way it, for sure, used to be. And I think even when you started working at Marathon, you were definitely very different than most of the other people that worked there. It was like a lot of bros, a lot of skinny bros that ran a lot and were like really into that, and they were all very kind and very helpful. But it's a whole different experience when you walk in and you see somebody who looks like you, like we. You know we talk about this all the time and we're white women, so we can find that pretty easily. Just imagine every other goddamn person on the planet that's not a white guy yeah yeah.

Jen:

So I think that I, I do, I do really think that it's been awesome and I'm, you know, I'm happy that that's, that you're doing that right now, and actually that helps me segue into what I wanted to talk about too, is wrap up with maybe is like what you know what, what kind of community events are happening, like you're, you're, you're throwing a lot of balls in the air at the store right now. So what's going on? What do we have on the docket for the spring?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, I mean that's a big push for the store right now is the community piece and getting. I think, you know, covid was a big factor in kind of crushing some of the run groups and some of the social events that happened around the store and it's been. Even though it's been several years now. It's taken a while to get a lot of these things back in motion, so that's been a huge push. This year is bringing back, you know, the running groups.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You know we right now at our store in Portsmouth, and you know each one of the stores has a different day or night that they offer run groups, but most stores at least have one night of a run group. Ours happens to be Thursday night and then Saturday mornings and it's, you know, been a slow kind of process. But we just, you know, we just kind of had to make that commitment that you know what, we're just going to keep showing up and if one or two people come, it's a success because you know we're here for them, them, and so, no matter what, we're just going to keep showing up and eventually, hopefully, you know that that will grow, but it's been, um, it's been fun because you know we're starting to do a lot more events with, you know, vendors and having demo runs. So you know, marathon sports puts on this. Well, it's actually sponsored through ASICS, but it's a Winter Warrior Challenge and it's basically an incentive to keep people outside running or walking as many days as possible in the month of January.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So on those days when you just absolutely don't want to go out, here's your incentive. You've signed up for this challenge, you're tracking your miles, they're keeping track of it, and so they've had a lot of events around that. So we had a. We had a run at our store last Thursday night. It was bitterly cold and I thought, oh geez, no one's going to show up, but we had probably 20 people show up 25 people and you know our level with that wind and everything that we had last week, so that's pretty awesome.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

And Portsmouth is like a wind tunnel when it is cold. But I was impressed, you know people had signed up, they committed to it. We had one of our you know vendor reps from ASICS was there because they're the sponsor of it, and you know we had a big crock pot of hot chocolate set up for when people got back. And so those are the kinds of things we're trying to get more on the calendar more often, whether it's just through our store or partnering with other vendors and just having some fun you know fun things to do. There's definitely a lot of races that we're trying to kind of get back involved with. You know that have some of them have, you know, fizzled out a little, but I think that whole scene is starting to grow again where people are back wanting to sign up for races and wanting to run races and participate, and Portsmouth has a lot of really great events. Market Square Day is always a huge day in Portsmouth where it's a big street fair, but it starts with a 10K race event.

Jen:

Such a beautiful area to run into. By the way, if anyone's close to Portsmouth and can participate in these things like there's a lot of beautiful roots down there.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I mean it's just the community in different ways and a lot of it is through, just like you know, run groups and events and social things. So it's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun. I mean Portsmouth has, you know, a couple of demo runs coming up just in the next couple months alone. You know most of them are Thursday nights, when that's our, when our run group is. But you know, we're also trying to come up with some new creative ideas. You know we've we've tossed around the idea of trying to do a run through the Sandy Hill farm which is like the light display and it's like a mile.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, you know my mom there this year it was awesome yeah yeah, well, we just found out that they're open till March.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So we're like, hey, let's, let's try and see if we can work with them and maybe one of our Thursday nights we all meet there and it's like a mile loop so we can maybe have, like you know, do like you know, a couple loops and have like a fun. So it's just, it's just finding creative ways to to kind of find fun things to do. But everything you know is posted through our social media. So there's always people can always find us and find events. And but again, just even getting back to doing the Thursday night run group and the Saturday run group, that's been, that's been awesome. We've had so many people that have come in. You know, oh, I just moved to town, I'm looking people for people to run with and I mean that's, that's such a great way for people to connect and see the area, so it's awesome.

Jen:

And it's not just hardcores, right, it's like people across the whole spectrum of run, run walk.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Well, to put it into perspective, yes, I have a bum knee and I'm like run walking and I'm just out there hobbling along with the rest of them. But well, you know you're running sweep trash.

Jen:

I'm putting that in quotes Like you're playing a critical you're, you're, you're doing a critical role. You got to sweep and make sure everybody's like I can't leave any.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I can't leave anyone behind. I got to be that person. I got to be that person in the rear, you know bringing up the rear, but it yeah, no, it's definitely. We want it to be welcome to all and I think you know some run groups can be a little more intimidating than others and there's always going to be those people. But you just have to kind of let them do their thing and you know you do your own thing and our goal is never to have anybody feel like they don't belong because they're too slow or they're walking or they're. We want it to be kind of inclusive for everybody. So there's always, there's always going to be somebody hopefully that will be catering to those people and making sure nobody gets left behind. And sometimes you learn that the hard way.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

You know, we had a run when I first took over as manager. It was an event that was already in place. That was, you know, marathon sports does it at all their different locations and it was already planned for me. So I just was like, okay, great, it's happening. And a group showed up. There was a ton of people that showed up on a Thursday night and they took off like at a blistering pace and this one woman who had driven all the way up from, you know, salisbury, mass or something she's like. I thought this was a fun run and, you know, luckily I had my bike with me and I was running sweep and I just was able to stay with her. But but that was a lesson that. No, we need to make sure that this isn't happening, you know, and that was a good reminder that nobody should feel that way, cause that's not what it's all about, right?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

It's definitely not what it's all about. So you know, we want it to be more welcoming to everybody and inclusive.

Jen:

Awesome, keep everybody moving. Keep everybody moving is right. So what? What are the social handles and stuff that? So it's marathonsportscom, right, is the me? Yep, all right. And then how do they get visibility into your store specifically, is there any way? Is there a Marathon Sports Portsmouth or anything like that?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Well, there's different Instagrams that I think there's one main one for the whole company, runners Alley Marathon Sports Portsmouth, which was Runners Alley, still has a Runners Alley Facebook page that occasionally I do post running events on, only because I am old and challenged and have no idea how to change it from Runners Alley to Marathon Sports.

Jen:

I'm looking for it right now. How?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

how is it? Technology is not my thing. Um, the Facebook page is runners alley run group or runners alley Portsmouth run group. Um, yeah, and that is one place people could check too and that's like a direct Portsmouth only page. Yeah, um, but a lot of the stuff gets posted on Instagram and it's a lot of stuff through marathon is now done at kind of the the corporate level and they have one. They have like a social media department, so a lot of stuff runs through them, so it gets posted out on the general page. But you know, they can always call the store too if they want to know, or or I mean, you know our that that's always never. We certainly don't mind people giving us a call and checking in. Oh, so you guys are probably.

Jen:

You guys are probably marathon sports underscore and H in um yep On Instagram. So, okay, cool, all right, I'm just looking at my phone right now.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah.

Jen:

So so that's been.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

That's a funny. It's funny you brought that up because I would say, taking over as manager that's one of my biggest challenges is, you know, I'm old, I don't really do a lot on social media and I don't have computers and technology are not my thing. So it's been, that's been a learning curve, but I'm working on it, I'm definitely working on it.

Jen:

I'm old enough to now fricking hate Facebook so much I can't. Every time I go on there I get hives which is like bad, because that's where all the Gen Xers are hanging out pretty much. But I can't, I just can't do it.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

It just, oh God, I know, I know it's funny, I just have to ask all the little kids. You know, there's a we have some college age kids that work with us and anytime there's something computer related I'm like help, you know, and they just come to my rescue All right.

Jen:

So all you want to be influencers out there, head on over to Portsmouth's, you know, marathon Sports branch and introduce yourself to Trish, because she's got some some really good unpaid work for you to do for her.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, exactly, I know.

Jen:

You could start influencing the hell out of her store.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

She'll be so excited. I definitely need I know I'm, I'm not even I mean you know what's an influencer Like seriously I don't even.

Jen:

Oh, my God, you're influencing me right now, so there you go.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I'm not that bad, but yeah, that's not my strong suit, but I, I I promise everyone I am working on it. I we had a run, a bagel breakfast run, and you know we wanted to put it out there that we're going to have coffee and bagels after one of our runs and I was so proud of myself that I actually managed to get it posted onto the Facebook page. It was like such an accomplishment. I was really proud of myself that I actually managed to get it posted onto the Facebook page. It was like such an accomplishment. I was really proud of myself.

Jen:

Well cause. Now you know it's like, then you have to start juggling all the accounts, like your account, professional accounts, personal accounts, all the things, and, like you know, then people get mad that you only put it in one place, not the other. It's just like.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I know and it is a slight conflict, because the company has now changed names, so we are marathon sports, but there's so many people that live in the seacoast that associate that store as being runner's alley, so it's hard to completely make that switch and you know, a lot of people still follow that page.

Jen:

So I've kept it, I've kept it and there's nothing wrong with being nostalgic to when it was a woman owned company. I think that's a great thing.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, I know it's, it's, it's, you know, in my heart, yeah, yes.

Jen:

Awesome.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

All right.

Jen:

What have we missed? Trish Anything? What did we miss? I don't know. I think we've, I think we've covered a lot of ground. I appreciate you making the time for this I know you're busy AF right now with all of the things.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Well, it's okay, you know, it's okay.

Jen:

Working on your day off.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, well, that's all right. Yeah, just had stuff to do, yeah. But yeah, I mean, we have hopefully a training group gonna. We're hopefully going to do another beginner training group here in the spring, so that's something that we're working towards getting going again.

Jen:

And what's the?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

race at the end of that one, so that most likely will be Memorial Day weekend and it's what used to be the Runner's Alley, red Hook 5K which has since yes, so I'm honestly, if I'm being honest, not even sure what the race is called anymore. It went from being the Runner's All red hook 5k to then the Cisco brewery 5k because Cisco, um, Cisco brewery has since closed.

Jen:

Didn't it start out as, like the Smutty Nose, like way back when I feel like I did that Um, the one that was in PEDS.

Jen:

is that that?

Jen:

Yeah, it's always been red hook but, um yeah, but maybe yeah.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

So it's that race which is Memorial Day weekend but so the training group you know for that will start in. Usually it's like an eight week if it's going to be a beginner training program and she's going to be hosting a, but she's doing it on her own and you know we work with her just in supporting her groups but it's her own business that she runs. But she's also going to be hosting a 10K training group for the Market Square Day 10K, which is a huge race for Portsmouth. It's a lot of fun because it starts with a 10K and as soon as the race goes down the street the roads all close and it's just a big street fair. People put tents in the street. It's like craft fair, street fair and it's a lot of fun and a big day in Portsmouth. So there's usually a training group around that race as well.

Jen:

What's the date on Market Square Day?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Or like more or less, like about, it's roughly june 8th, okay um the first weekend in june or yeah, so there's usually a group that'll be training around that. We have in the past done half marathon training groups, but we're still kind of slowly working our way back to having enough staff and having the resources to be able to pull that off. We've always done one around the Seacoast half. It would be great to think we could do that again, but you know that's another opportunity.

Jen:

If there's somebody out there you know anyone who was out there that lives in the area that would be stoked to be part of that type of a group should reach out to the store because you know, maybe you can be, maybe there can be co-leaders, or you guys can you know guys and gals can can formulate something in and among yourself that the store can support, even if they're not necessarily staffed for it. Right, right, this second it sounds like right.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean we definitely there's a lot of people that are meeting at the store, that are training for different events anyway. So if you're looking to meet up with people, we have a woman who just moved to town and she just she's training for her first Boston Marathon. You know she got a charity number. She's really excited and she just needed people to connect with. And you know, even though a lot of us right now aren't training for that distance, you know slowly she's starting to meet other people through the group that you know that she can connect with. So you know we want it to be like a hub where people can connect and hopefully make those connections. So if you are looking for somebody, maybe you know maybe they're not doing the exact same race you're doing, but maybe they also have to run a 20 mile run on a certain day and you know, yeah, that's that way.

Jen:

That's a great prompt too, because it's like OK, so even if you can't go to the group all the time like if you show up at a couple of nights run group and you start talking about what your goals are inevitably you're going to get hooked up with somebody, because, whether it's somebody at the store, who works at the store, who has talked to somebody who's doing something, who can give you a name, or whatever it is like, you know that's how these things work. Yeah, that's exactly the whole point, so that's awesome.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Yeah, it's all. It's all about connections and making connections with people and and obviously we want to be supportive in any way that we can. So, whether it's, you know, if we have a group of people going out that need to get a 20 mile run done, and you know, we can drive out halfway and be a water stop, you know. You know we're certainly open and willing to to do all those kinds of things. So, you know, we just we're just trying to get the ball rolling again, get the groups going again, get people connected and and see where it leads.

Jen:

Yeah, that's like the through line to this whole thing Just keep going, just keep moving forward you never know what's going to happen Be open to whatever's going to happen. So that's awesome. Yes, exactly, exactly, trish, you're the best.

Jen:

Thank you so much for showing up on my screen today, you have made me so happy.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

I don't, maybe not as exciting as some of your other guests, oh, stop.

Jen:

But I mean, this is like what it's all about, though. Like, why, why would anyone even listen to this if they're not going to, like you know, resonate with a message and, like, feel like they're being seen? Like I want, I want all of us who are just not, you know, super athletes, nor are we aspiring to be, but like we're- still important.

Jen:

We still have voices.

Jen:

We still need to be, but like we're still important, we still have voices, we still need to be heard and we still need to spread our own little good vibes right?

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

so let's just do exactly exactly I, I'm, I'm, I'm out there to inspire we're showing up for the masses trish showing up. I'm out here to inspire jen. Just send them my way. I will inspire them all the time, all right?

Jen:

thanks, all right see ya.

Tricia Harmon, Marathon Sports:

Bye way, I will inspire them All the time. All right, thanks, trish. All right, see ya, bye-bye.

Jen:

Big, huge thanks to Trish for the swift kick in the proverbial butt she administered with her awesome inspiration and perspective. You can see what Trish and Marathon Sports Portsmouth is up to at marathonsportscom, on Instagram, at marathonsports underscore New Hampshire and on Facebook by searching Runners Alley Portsmouth. You can also search for Marathon Sports, but Runners Alley Portsmouth has the New Hampshire specific stuff. I've dropped all the links in the show notes, including the Facebook group for the Portsmouth Running Store group. Go make some new friends. And speaking of the show notes, I wanted to draw your attention to a new feature. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the show notes, you'll see a new link Send me a text. It does exactly what it says. If you click it, you can send me a message through my podcast hosting service, which I think is super cool. Do you have a guest you think I should have on the pod? Send it my way.

Jen:

Liked the episode or something you heard. Tell me about it. You can even troll me or tell me my voice is annoying and I interrupt too much. Trust me, whatever it is, I've probably already heard it from my kids, so I will be a big girl about it. I hope to hear from all of you. So give it a try and with that, farewell, fair listener, until next time, be like Trish and keep getting a little bit wild.