Braden Keefer: From Smoking in College to a 2:47 Marathon

DFW Running Talk: Braden Keefer
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[00:00:00] Welcome to DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel, so let's get started.

Chris Detzel: All right. Welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel and today's special guest is Braden Keefer. Braden, how's it going?

Braden Keefer: Good, man. Yourself?

Chris Detzel: It's good. Uh, I just saw you not too long ago at the.

Braden Keefer: Vector

Chris Detzel: party. Yeah. Yeah. Vector. We just a couple beers, hung out for a minute and asked you to be on the pod.

I think I asked you a long time ago to be on the podcast.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. I think a couple months ago or something like that. And then, we just got, you were like sometime after. Uh. Sometime after, after you run Indie. I

Chris Detzel: wanted,

Braden Keefer: yeah,

Chris Detzel: I wanted you to do your marathon and then you know, we'd have something to talk about.

Braden Keefer: Exactly. Because then, because that'd be totally boring and wouldn't be anything worth listening to. Otherwise,

Chris Detzel: maybe we'll see after the podcast, see how many people listen, so,

Braden Keefer: right.

Chris Detzel: Let's get a little. The reason I asked, uh, you to be honest, is, is I'm always intrigued about people that get better and better, during [00:01:00] their runs and their races over time.

And really, you're young, you're pretty young. I mean, you're 30 years old and you know, you're doing some amazing things and I think that you're gonna do more amazing things as long as you keep kind of up the work ethic. And so, I just wanna get into it, you know, like, tell me a little bit about your background of running or.

Did you run in high school or what did you do in high school? What'd you do in college before? You know, all that kind of stuff maybe you didn't do in your running. I don't know. That's what we're here for. Talk a

Braden Keefer: little about that. Yeah, so I started running when I was about I guess I could go back from like the very inception of it.

Like we had this thing, my first interest in running, I'd say, was when I was like a little kid. We had this thing at my elementary school called the Oklahoma Jog, and you'd have to run laps around this like small park in Edmond, Oklahoma called Shannon Miller Park and you'd see how many sticks you could get.

And I actually got I got, I was like one of the three students who got the most sticks. I mean, I can't even remember over how long we had to do it. It seemed like a long time, but it could have been like 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Who [00:02:00] knows?

Chris Detzel: It just reminds me of, you know, it's Oklahoma. So you just make shit up to do.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, there's not much to do there. Run. There's not much to do out. Well, it's especially growing up, you know, you're right. Especially growing up there, you know, early two thousands, I mean, it was really, there wasn't much going on. You know, you gotta keep the kids entertained somehow. And so that was things that we did.

But I didn't really, like, I wasn't. Super involved in any kind of running until I was about 12 years old, so that was seventh grade. I couldn't, you know, I wasn't, I couldn't play football. I was too small. I didn't really have any, I'm not really that great at any other sports. I kept getting fouled in basketball because I just.

Just wasn't very good at it. And so I really didn't have, there weren't many sports I was that great at. So running was something that I thought, okay, and I swim about as fast as a rock. So there wasn't, that wasn't going to,

Chris Detzel: no. No triathlons in your future?

Braden Keefer: I don't think so. I can swim. I want to, I want people to know that I can swim.

I just don't swim [00:03:00] fast and I'm very negatively buoyant.

Chris Detzel: I think you, I think you would have a, you're very competitive and so I can imagine. You're getting into a triathlon, you're gonna be pissed. 'cause you know, you just

Braden Keefer: drown

Chris Detzel: on basically, or just

Braden Keefer: a really slow Yeah, pretty much. When I was a lifeguard, when I was 16 and we had to do like, we had to do like a fitness exercise, me and one of my friends, he was trying to outdo me and how many laps he could do and we both.

I think we, we both just agreed to like stalemate it. 'cause we've been doing it for a while. I mean, for us a while, not to any professional, but

Chris Detzel: you can long, you can last a long time, so,

Braden Keefer: well, whatever is long to us at the time. And yeah, we both ended up like throwing up in the locker room. So I mean, that says anything.

So yeah, I didn't really have any other option. So I joined the cross country team in seventh grade. I was okay. I wasn't really that good. I was always like. One of the not very good ones in the beginning. And then as the year would progress, I'd get like into like the better category. And then fast forward to my [00:04:00] freshman year of high school I was gonna join the cross country team, but again, I didn't really have any.

Idea of what that meant or what to do, or even how far we were running. And we had a three mile time trial every year at Edmond Memorial High School. We have Coach David Salmons my, uh, first ever cross, like, well, I guess my second, but my high school cross country coach. He was, uh, he was like the football coach.

He was like a football coach for cross country. 'cause he was always screaming at us in a good way. I mean, yeah, I love him. But, uh, he, uh, the top seven who win the top seven high school runners get a. That's their varsity spot. And so I'll never forget this. I went out and I ran my first mile in 6 52 and then I ended up running a three mile and like 27 50 something.

Yeah. So I was like one of the worst kids on the team and uh, I got tired of just not being that good 'cause

Chris Detzel: mm-hmm.

Braden Keefer: I didn't like the, I just didn't like not being that good and I also just [00:05:00] was like this kind of sucks that it hurts this badly, the whole K. So I'd like to. So I kept working. I did better in track.

I actually won a couple of freshman races in track. Then sophomore year I made it to the varsity spot. I was fifth man for a while, but I would never be able to hold the varsity spot. I'd always be like the top. 10 to 12 in the top, 10 to 12. I mean, we had a big team, but I was never able to hold the varsity spot for state meet.

I was only ever able to be like an alternate, so I never ran a single state meet for high school, cross country or track. Part of that was like distracted. I was involved in a lot of other things, you know, like

Chris Detzel: what? Not working hard enough or

Braden Keefer: I'd say maybe that was probably it. I wasn't dedicating it. I had my first ever girlfriend, so that was kind of a big deal, you know.

Oh,

Chris Detzel: okay.

Braden Keefer: You don't focus as much on that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: I was, I definitely was, you know, digging, I was involved in a lot of other extracurricular activities and that kind of took my focus away. I wasn't really like, dialed in [00:06:00] and, uh, at the time I just felt like it wasn't working for me. So I stopped, I went to college, gained, like, golly, how much I think I got up like 30, 40 pounds heavier.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. I, that's what a lot of

Chris Detzel: were, were you just drinking and eating and just

Braden Keefer: drinking, doing what?

Chris Detzel: What college people do, for the most

Braden Keefer: part, some unsavory habits. I picked up an unhealthy smoking habit for a little while, so American Spirit Blues for about three years. And, uh, wasn't, I mean, like, I wasn't like a packa day smoke or anything like that, but I mean, I'd still like, regularly casually smoke, some other things that I just, I just wasn't, just not taking care of myself.

And then I kind of. I'd say I've stopped, I really wasn't into running for about six, five years. I really didn't do it much. I would like have periods where I'd kind of run, then I'd stop. Yeah. And then I'd kind of run and stop. But the day that it actually stuck was like December of 2019. My girlfriend at the time, she's from Capelle, Texas.

Yeah. And we went to college together. So we were down there [00:07:00] visiting, you know, she was down there and I was just gonna be there for a couple of days before Christmas just to, hang out with her and her family. And they're very into fitness. She was gonna go to the YMCA and, work out at the Y and she kind of, she had like, you know, she's one of those people who does like really long workouts and hardcore workouts.

And I was like, I don't wanna be at the gym for two hours, so I'm gonna go run. And the weather wasn't that great. It was like, it was like cold and rainy, but I just said, forget it, I'm just gonna go around like four miles and I'll come back. So I take off from the Y and I run through. This park that's really close by and I am just like, there's like this, just this headwind just hitting me.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And I remember just audibly complaining, like audibly just whining the whole time to myself. And I was like, you know what, for just like you being that much of a just a whiner, like a piss and moaner, you're just gonna, let's run 10 miles instead. A four. I ran 10 miles and I was huge.

Did you ever, ever

Chris Detzel: run 10 miles before?

Braden Keefer: I had before, but I was back in like high school and then [00:08:00] again I had like just suddenly come back. I mean, and like I had run like off and on here and there, previously, but what really consistently got me back into it was that moment. And I don't know why, but it just re, there was like no external thing other than, hey, doing this.

And then COVID happened and I was like, well, there's not much else to do.

Chris Detzel: So you just started.

Braden Keefer: So just, I've got a lot more free time now, you know, so just guess I'll start running and get better at that. And yeah, that's kind of how I, and

Chris Detzel: were you still smoking then, or

Braden Keefer: no? No, I quit. I, I quit smoking when I was like 21.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: So

Chris Detzel: did you, were you still overweight or did you lose the weight or what?

Braden Keefer: I had already lost the weight by then. I had started like, working out probably around 22. Okay. 21, 22. I had like, gotten back into like, I had started like losing weight and getting back into shape around 21.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: Just 'cause I just didn't like the way I felt.

I didn't like the way I looked and I didn't like, I really just didn't like feeling like crap the whole time. You know?

Chris Detzel: [00:09:00] How'd you lose it? What'd you do?

Braden Keefer: I really just, like, I didn't, I dialed back on the amount that I was eating. I didn't eat as much junk and I cooked for myself more.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: And I didn't drink as much.

I mean, not that I had a problem with drinking or anything like that, but like, I would be like, oh, I don't have to go out, or I don't have to go out and drink. I can just have something else.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. You

Braden Keefer: know, and, but like I was consistently going to the gym. I was just being more active in any way I could.

Chris Detzel: I think there's a lesson to me, I think one of the, if you're really young and you're a little bit overweight, it's a lot easier to lose that weight when you're young.

You know, when you're older. Right. It gets a lot harder. Right. And so,

Braden Keefer: right.

Chris Detzel: All you have to do is cut back a little bit. I like how you say that. I started cooking for myself, started working out a little bit.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, nothing crazy. It was never anything, it wasn't anything extraordinary. I just tried to, I just tried to be like, and if I had, if there was something that I really craved, I wouldn't buy it.

Like I wouldn't get it in my house. Like I'd keep it away. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: I think that's the best way. [00:10:00]

Braden Keefer: I was telling

Chris Detzel: my wife, I was like, please don't buy sweets because you know,

Braden Keefer: well, exactly.

Chris Detzel: I'm gonna eat them all. You know, like I have self control.

Braden Keefer: Exactly. And like the problem with me, like I'm not like, I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but if you have like a tray of Oreos, I'm going to eat them.

I just know myself too well, and that's. And it was like little things like that. Yeah. Little incremental things. It wasn't anything crazy and I just noticed I started feeling better and getting in better shape. I still kind of avoided running a little bit. I just didn't just

Chris Detzel: So you didn't do do cardio though when you were losing the weight?

Did Most

Braden Keefer: people I did, but it would be like getting on the bike or walking or whatever. Like there was no real structure. I didn't have any kind of structure. I want to, like, that's a, a big thing I wanna hit home. Like I did not,

Chris Detzel: there

Braden Keefer: was,

Chris Detzel: well, it sounds like the structure was to me, like eating less and a little bit healthier.

And doing a little bit of exercise. I mean, that's really all you did,

Braden Keefer: right?

Chris Detzel: I think And you cooked

Braden Keefer: right. I

Chris Detzel: think a big, I mean, it's not like you're, go ahead.

Braden Keefer: No, no, no. Please.

Chris Detzel: No, no. I mean, I, I think it's a big deal, right? You start cooking yourself. You probably weren't eating a lot of [00:11:00] fast food. Diet is generally 80% of the thing.

Right? I remember. So I remember when I was 37 and I was probably 40 or 50 pounds overweight.

Braden Keefer: Really?

Chris Detzel: Yeah. You know, you and I are somewhat short. I'm five. I'm five seven. Ish. Five seven. Yeah, I seven and

Braden Keefer: half.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. So we're about the same height.

Braden Keefer: Well, I, I'm five, seven and three quarters according to my bi my work biometric scan.

So I get away with five eight.

Chris Detzel: I'm just gonna pretend I'm five eight. So whatever. We're close to the same height and 40 pounds is a lot.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. No, you don't. You definitely don't. You don't wear it the same way. Like, my brother is like six feet, six one.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, exactly.

Braden Keefer: He's got four, five inches on me

Chris Detzel: and I was one 70 at the time.

Yeah. I'm about 1 45 now. Right.

Braden Keefer: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: You know, and that's about good, you know?

Braden Keefer: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: I was about one 40 when, when I didn't, or 1 39 when I was, did my best race back in September, which was, yeah. Probably a little too skinny, but I kinda liked it.

So

Braden Keefer: I mean, I think if you feel good, [00:12:00] I don't, yeah, I think that's the biggest thing that people need to keep in mind.

Like I think there are a lot of, there are a lot of, and this kind of goes back to the point I was gonna make, like there are a lot of things that seem like just unobtainable. And I think if you make things too, if you make things like if you're like, I'm going to be do this, this, this, it almost can be too overwhelming 'cause life gets in the way.

That's coming from me, like somebody who's like, very driven and it's like the, if I wanna do something, I'm going to like push, push, push, push, push. But I think it's important also to keep in mind like, you don't, like there's not a one size fits all kind of thing. And you know, don't, I think there are a lot of unrealistic standards that we see on like social media, on tv, and it's kind of like, oh, if you don't look like this, then you're like a failure.

And like, no, like the most important thing is, do you feel good?

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Do you feel good? And so if you're, if you're a little on the slim side or a little on the thicker side, like, you know, hey, I mean, if you feel good and you're happy, I'm psyched for you, I think that's the best possible thing you could be.

It's, that's, that's all that really [00:13:00] matters. I certainly was in the category of I don't feel good.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And

Chris Detzel: that was a

Braden Keefer: same way. I know this is bad for my health. I know it's bad for my mental health. My mental health was already terrible at the time, but that's neither here nor there. But it certainly wasn't helping being really outta shape.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And so

Chris Detzel: getting I agree. I mean. Getting outta shape is for me, mentally exhausting, and

Braden Keefer: it

Chris Detzel: sucks. Sucks. Makes me feel really bad about myself, you know? Yeah. And, uh, you know, it can really take a toll on, you know, your mental health, you know? Right. I think, you know, it didn't for me. Right. Uh, it sounds like it did some for you.

You know, I wanna kinda go back and, uh, we'll get to the running piece, I promise. But, you mentioned that you moved or did you start living here with your girlfriend or, or did you just

Braden Keefer: so that's actually funny. I, we're, we long since broken up, this is a long time ago. Sure. We were in a weird, like, we'd been together for about three years, broke up.

And then it was like the next year was like, are we together? Are we not? Mm-hmm. And at that point, I'd, I'd gotten a job in Dallas and she was living there at the time. And I, [00:14:00] I can't lie and say, oh, there was no, I didn't move entirely. It had nothing to do with her. It definitely, there was a fast but I also hated the job that I had at the time.

I really just was not happy there. And so when I got the job, my current job with my current company, I was like. Yes.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: That's, regardless of what happens with her, I know I will be much happier and I'm much and I'm, this will be a much better fit for me.

Chris Detzel: I think there's many things that can influence those decisions, right?

Yeah. Certainly a girl's gonna influence at a young age, it's gonna always influence us.

Braden Keefer: Right? Did

Chris Detzel: me, I

Braden Keefer: mean too was five. Yeah,

Chris Detzel: I

Braden Keefer: was. 25 when I moved to Dallas. And so the

Chris Detzel: job helps. And you were familiar with Dallas?

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Right. And I had friends there and I was like, this is just a good next step. I didn't wanna be in Oklahoma anymore.

I was ready to move out, you know, it was just time. Okay. And so that's kind of how, that's kind of how I ended up in Dallas. And obviously it didn't work out and there's fine, there's, no hard feelings or anything like that. It's, uh, I wouldn't have changed it. I

Chris Detzel: mean,

Braden Keefer: [00:15:00] I'm glad I ended up there.

Here.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. I mean there's, yeah, I mean, there's always reasons why you're put into certain situations and then, then you are where you are now, right? So, right. So when you look at, so you've been with DI was just curious about, you know, how. How you get to Dallas and why did you stay in Dallas? And it sounds like a job kind of a girl at first and then, you know, the job kind of kept you here, right?

So right in between, I dunno, whatever. But

Braden Keefer: I would love to live in, like, I have a lot of friends out in New York City. I mean, I've made a great, I've built a great community of friends here in Dallas and it's amazing. Like I love it. You know, I would love to live in a place like New York City. I just have to.

Afford it. I just need to, you know, make sure I have the, I need the funds to do that. You know, now with especially probably three or

Chris Detzel: four roommates.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Or you know, and I've already got a roommate who doesn't pay rent. IE Ralph. Yeah. Your dog. So he's, yeah, exactly. So I gotta think about that Freeloader.

Brake loader. Yeah. You know, that he's just like, he's just

Chris Detzel: freaking at me. Alright. So, [00:16:00] okay, a few years go by and then you kind of start getting back into run. What, what kind of got you back into it?

Braden Keefer: I just liked the way I felt.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Like, I just liked I, I liked the way I felt. I brought back good memories and I was like, well, I need to be in shape for my own, just, I just, I wanna be in shape, I wanna stay in shape.

I wanna do this until I physically can't anymore. Or until I die, whichever comes first. And so I, I, I just decided, okay, like I'll just keep doing this and just try to push the envelope and, you know, see how good I can be. Like, that's what I always tell people. Like, people are like, oh, what are, what are your goals?

Like, what do you want? Like, what's like a goal that you want? I just want to get, I wanna be as good as I can humanly be. I don't know where that limit is because I've found, at least, so far, I'll have like a mental block of something in my head. And I'll know like, okay, I'm gonna keep trying to go through it and if I don't go through it, then it's just, maybe that's my physical limit, but every time I've punched through it.

Chris Detzel: Did you start running like five Ks? What, you know, what was kind of your. Same.

Braden Keefer: I mean, nowadays I [00:17:00] prefer, okay to the half marathon. You know, I like even like if you can find a two mile race somewhere, I like doing those. Those are fun. I'm not the, I run marathons. I've run six, but I don't know the half marathon's always nice.

I think that's the full marathon. It just takes the, it just takes, you know, it takes a lot outta you. Takes it toll.

Chris Detzel: Takes

Braden Keefer: it toll. Yeah. It takes, it takes its toll and um, but that's like kind of what you have to do to qualify for a lot of things. You know, at the time I was running a lot of five Ks, so that was like my big thing.

I was like, okay, I wanna get my 5K time down. At the time when I got back into it, it was like 1758 and I was like, okay, let's just bring that down and over the course of, that's pretty year. Well, thank you. And over the, well, over the course of a year after I had started.

Chris Detzel: When was this, by the way, that. How old were you then?

Because you're 30 now, so I'm just trying to put the time.

Braden Keefer: How old? When I started this, uh, I was 24.

Chris Detzel: Oh, okay.

Braden Keefer: I was 24 and so I went down from that to self coached 16, 50. 50. Okay. [00:18:00]

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Braden Keefer: on my own.

Chris Detzel: Made some progress.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. On my own. Um. And I was like, okay, like cool. I'm happy with, happy brought my mile time down from like 4 56 to 4 52.

I haven't really run a hard, well, I have, but it wasn't as good. We don't need to talk about that one. Uh, but yeah I brought, and then I did a couple of other just races like 5K. Up to the half marathon and then eventually the goal was to do a marathon. First ever marathon I ran was in 2021, ran 3 0 8 and my goal was to break three

Chris Detzel: all.

Let's back up. So you, we jumped right into the marathon. Did you do some half marathons before or did

Braden Keefer: you start Yeah, but it wasn't any it wasn't anything crazy. I mean, my first ever half marathon I was 15.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: So I had done some before.

Chris Detzel: So you kind of knew.

Braden Keefer: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Did you, did you run half marathons before your first marathon or,

Braden Keefer: I ran one.

Chris Detzel: You kind of prepare,

Braden Keefer: like post getting back into it? Yeah. Around one It was. It was the Cinco de Mayo one [00:19:00] in Irving. It was before I moved to Dallas.

Chris Detzel: Okay. So sell by before.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, but I stayed at some friend's place. I slept on their couch and I ran, I got third in like 1 24.

Chris Detzel: Dang.

Braden Keefer: So

Chris Detzel: did you, did you know that was a pretty good time or

Braden Keefer: wasn't what I wanted?

I wasn't really, I didn't have a lot of structured training and I thought I could run like a one 18 and I could not. At the time, I, uh, I remember that was where I first met, what's his name? Chris? I don't even know why I'm like, I blanked on his name for a second.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. That's the first time I met him.

Okay. And, uh, was in that race. And he and I were like, he was kind of screwing with me. Like he would take off and then he'd cut, he'd slowly come back, and then he'd take off again. Slowly come back. And he even, he said afterwards, he's like, sorry, I was playing with you. And I was like, that's fine. But that's how I met him.

He's, he's a good, he's a great guy and great runner. That was kinda like the first, first time I met him. First runner in Texas that I had met. Really? And so, yeah, that I, I knew like. It was okay. I was, I was like, you know what, Hey, it's,

Chris Detzel: yeah,

Braden Keefer: it's, it's something [00:20:00] marathon's not for another six months, you know, five months or something like that.

What,

Chris Detzel: what made you decide to run the marathon? Like, just thought

Braden Keefer: I'd do it.

Chris Detzel: I

Braden Keefer: Just thought I'd do it. My dad's run a couple marathons and my mom's done one, and I just thought, I guess this, I

Chris Detzel: might as

Braden Keefer: well

Chris Detzel: do that. Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Like everybody's talking about it and now that's like the thing in my generation, it's like everybody's getting married or running marathons.

Chris Detzel: Hey, you know, it's, it feels like a healthier. Kind from twenties to thirties, you know, people are doing a lot of this stuff, you know, not necessarily running it, running, doing stuff. So I like it.

Braden Keefer: I think it's, I think it's awesome that more and more people are getting into it. It's like the second running boom.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, it, I mean, look, I've been talking to a lot of people, uh, especially like from the seventies and eighties. There's a huge boom back in the eighties.

Braden Keefer: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: I don't think it ever died, but it just, you know, there's a boom. Maybe in the mid nineties it wasn't as boomy. Yeah. I don't know. But it was starting to boom in the eighties is kind of really when, maybe late seventies is really when it took off, I

Braden Keefer: think.

I think of the seventies is when it really took off.

Chris Detzel: [00:21:00] Yeah. Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Like with like prefontaine and everything, like,

Chris Detzel: well that, yeah, exactly. By the way, I mean, you remind me of a seventies guy, you know, just kind of seeing the mustache and longish hair, you know, like it's just kind of

Braden Keefer: Right. Anyways. I just cut it like once every year or so, and then I let it grow out and the mustache was from Top Gun, so I just didn't wanna shave it.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Reminds me of Top Gun.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Thank you. So,

Chris Detzel: You decided that you're gonna run marathon. How'd you train for this first marathon? What was the

Braden Keefer: dude? I had

Chris Detzel: no idea. I mean, 3 0 6 is pretty good.

Braden Keefer: Oh 3, 0 8. So don't you count it. You gotta, whatever.

Chris Detzel: 3 0 8 was really good.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Don't you know, gimme too much credit.

Uh, thank you. I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I needed to get some longer runs in. Yeah. So I didn't have any kind of periodized training. I didn't keep track of, like, I kind of kept track of like my mileage, like weekly. But like I would also not start early enough in the morning. So I would go out on Saturday morning to do like a 20 mile long run and it'd be like [00:22:00] nine, 9:00 AM and in August in Oklahoma, like in Texas, 9:00 AM is,

Chris Detzel: that's pretty late.

Braden Keefer: Pushing like 90 degrees. And I would just. Running on fumes. I didn't really find gels that worked for me. I wasn't taking enough gels, wasn't taking enough nutrition, so I was just kind of winging it, which I feel like a lot of people do. Yeah, yeah. A lot of people do that in their first marathon. I would advise them not to do that.

I would advise them to, read up on it or,

Chris Detzel: yeah,

Braden Keefer: ask your friends, ask. People who are in the running community or you know, get on YouTube, there's a lot of free information out there.

Chris Detzel: Yep.

Braden Keefer: You know, don't

Chris Detzel: or listen to this podcast. I mean, there's a lot of really great runners that

Braden Keefer: Exactly.

Exactly.

Chris Detzel: Podcast. Tell me the same story that you're telling me, you know.

Braden Keefer: Exactly. Be prepared if you're thinking about Get Prepared

Chris Detzel: podcast.

Braden Keefer: Exactly. And. Some people, everybody handles their, everybody's different. Yeah. Like some people get very, some people have like an extreme blow up from hell.

Chris Detzel: Mm-hmm.

Braden Keefer: You know, and, you know, and get injured. And so don't, don't take that risk if [00:23:00] you, avoid that. You know, take it from me. I think that, and that was, that was kind of how I was training. I was just doing random run runs. Sometimes I'd run hard, sometimes I wouldn't. And then I was running I think I only got up to close to 20 miles.

I think I only got to 20 miles in my first ever cycle because. I could not run further because it was so damn hot. Like I would just be dead at the end of it. And so, you know,

Chris Detzel: what would you do weekly? About, would you, max,

Braden Keefer: do you remember? I think I've got around 60, I think one week I got like 70. But again, I think the way you strategically do your runs is more important than, like, you could say, oh, I hit 70 miles a week.

But did you, were you running each, were you doing the workouts with a purpose or were you just taking off? Is. If you're being kind of reckless about it.

Chris Detzel: I, I know, but I agree just now. I agree. But with that said, if somebody could just start building up their mileage in the beginning, reality is that's really what they need.

They need the miles and the time on their feet. Right. I'm not saying you can't [00:24:00] strategically do things now, get you a coach and strategically do it. We'd be better. Right. Or, go through a plan. But at the very least, even if you're running 60 miles a week, slowly, or at least. A reasonable pace that's better than nothing.

You know, before what you were doing maybe 10 miles a week or 20 miles a week, right? So building your body up for that marathon, kind of, Hey, you're gonna get faster anyways. So I'm telling me anyway, so when

Braden Keefer: I said take off, I meant going too fast.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, I agree. Agree.

Braden Keefer: Like that was the problem. There was a long period of time where I was just running way too hard.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And I

Chris Detzel: think we've all done that too.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. And that's something that, like I, that when I meant, when I said take off, I didn't mean just like going out and starting to run. I meant like running too hard, all the, the time too much and not having any real goal with the run in mind, uh, it's better to run a lot slower and I should have done stuff like that just 'cause it would've been easier on my body.

Chris Detzel: Mm-hmm.

Braden Keefer: But whatever I did worked, I think for me, mileage helped just building that up [00:25:00] and so I was like, yeah, 60 miles typically around that.

Chris Detzel: That's pretty good.

Braden Keefer: Thank you. Yeah. With no real structure. But I'm also like, I mean, if you look at my body type, I'm not really built like a runner, but I think

Chris Detzel: you, you look like you could be a weightlifter if you, if you really put the effort into it, you know,

Braden Keefer: at least.

Mm-hmm. My dad used to be into that kind of stuff. I've never really had much of an interest. Yeah. But like the thing is like. I do think, like, while I don't have like the genetic, as much of a genetic propensity as other people, I feel like I'm pretty injury resistant. Like I really, you know, knock on wood, I haven't had any like really set, really bad injuries, you know, for the most part.

So that's something like, it's kind of miraculous. I didn't get hurt. Yeah. With the way I was training at the time.

Chris Detzel: Alright, so you run this marathon, which one was it? Do you remember?

Braden Keefer: Oklahoma City.

Chris Detzel: Okay. Oklahoma City, which is, you know, used to be a popular one here. ERC would. Pace, you know, you to that, you know, in the springtime and a lot of people here would go run it years ago.

I dunno if they still do, but, and so you run this marathon 3 0 8, that's pretty impressive for your [00:26:00] first marathon with your own training. Geez. So when did you start getting into a group? When did you start running with people?

Braden Keefer: I had been running with people off and on for a while. I mean, I've had friends like from high school that I would run with, or people that I just met out and I'd run with them.

I would say that I can, I mean, I didn't join Pegasus consistently until. June of this year really. But, but I had met two runners affiliated with Pegasus Carina Garcia and Manny Lopez at the track, Uhhuh, and I just became friends with them. And a couple times, there were a few times I went out and like would jog with Pegasus, like, but I, you know, any one time I went to the Katy, Katy Trail Ice house and yeah, a couple drinks, but it wasn't anything like sustainable because I just didn't wanna get up that early.

I felt like, oh my gosh, I have to get up at five 30. On, easy days and even earlier on hard days, like, ugh, I don't wanna do that. My work schedule allows me to run, you know, whenever to a degree. And then I just said, screw it. I should, you know, I probably should, is gonna [00:27:00] make more use. You know, it's gonna be.

Better time management and on top of that, like, you know, hey, people seem cool. So I just started consistently going.

Chris Detzel: I bet. And, and I could be wrong. And so I wanna get back to a few other marathons. Not, not necessarily in detail, but just kind of where you went or how you did. Yeah. You know?

And then I wanna talk a little bit about this marathon that you recently did in Indy. And so, because that's your pr, right? The one in Mindy? Yeah. Okay. Which was 2 42

Braden Keefer: 47.

Chris Detzel: 2 47. Okay. Because you think about your first marathon was 3 0 8, which is pretty fast. So going from that to 2 47. It's taking you a little bit of time, you know, to, to get to that.

I'm not saying like it is fantastic. I'm not saying, but,

Braden Keefer: no, I get it.

Chris Detzel: You're not really seeing, 20 minutes, 30 minutes of, you know.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. I'd also like to say fast is relative, Chris, you know, well,

Chris Detzel: 3 0 3 0 8 is, I know, but people you run with are really fast sometimes and probably faster sometimes, but

Braden Keefer: Right, exactly.

Chris Detzel: It's all who you hang out with. I, I get that. That's true. Don't, don't, but it's still pretty good. You [00:28:00] know, especially for our first marathon, is it shows that the potential, and so to me, it tells me your potential hasn't been close to being met yet, so

Braden Keefer: I don't

Chris Detzel: think so. As long as you, long as you continue.

Anyways.

Braden Keefer: Right.

Chris Detzel: I, I have a point here. The point is, is that I think, and I could be wrong, but when you start running with people that are as at your caliber or better, that can help you and, and help you understand what it takes to truly train to truly, you know, uh, eat the right things, you know, with nutrition and everything else, and, you know, all of those things helps you to become a better runner.

And I think. We'll, we'll get to that. I don't know if, if that's true, you know, but my assumption is from June to today, you've become a better runner because of the focus that you've put on with the community of Pegasus. Yeah. Right. Because there's a lot of really extreme

Braden Keefer: Yes. They're huge people there

Chris Detzel: that, no,

Braden Keefer: those people are a huge, like the, that training group, the people, the friends I've made, I mean, I love 'em all dearly.

There isn't anything I wouldn't do for [00:29:00] those people. They. That they're huge and you've

Chris Detzel: only been hanging out with them for six months.

Braden Keefer: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: You know, think about that.

Braden Keefer: And that's the thing, you know, cool. But in that six month period, like you, you wake up every day.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And you spend a lot of like very vulnerable hours in like the dark, foreboding elements at times.

That sounds kind of dramatic, but you know what I mean? Like you get to know somebody pretty quickly. I definitely think joining Pegasus was very integral in my success. I mean, I have a coach now, but.

Chris Detzel: Exactly. Now you have

Braden Keefer: a coach that helps. Exactly. That helps as well.

Chris Detzel: Who's your coach?

Braden Keefer: Jeff Cunningham.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: So he's been a big help to me.

Chris Detzel: Of course.

Braden Keefer: Also running with these people has been. Huge, you know? Okay. Having that sense of consistent community to run with, because it's hard to get a lot of my non-running friends out to run for obvious reasons. Like, I mean, they don't wanna do it.

Chris Detzel: They're non-running

Braden Keefer: friends.

Exactly. And that's cool. But it's nice to have. So yeah, Pegasus definitely has, was a huge factor. Just having people there to push you. And [00:30:00] also like, it makes the time go by, like when you're really struggling on a run,

Chris Detzel: you know? Well, you know, if you have a coach, your coach is gonna give you all these things to do.

In some of those instances, you can get people that you know from Pegasus to run with you because they wanna either do the same workouts you're doing or they're running some the same race, or they're just as fast as you, or they want to get faster. And so it's just, it all builds upon they each other, right?

Better. They make you better. They, you make them better. It all, it's all about the community and doing similar things that are helping you. Alright, so let's get back. We'll get more to that in a minute. Just, yeah, just, I wanna get, so what was, you've, you've run six marathons and, and so did you ever see any kinda, oh my gosh.

Like this marathon sucked, or, you know, did you ever

Braden Keefer: Oh yeah. I can, I can speed run through it. So, after OKC 2021 ran OKC again in April when it's originally supposed to be run, but it was run in October 'cause of COVID that year. I was injured with an IT band issue, but chiropractor fixed like literally 10 days before all of a sudden was able to target it, fix [00:31:00] it.

Crazy, yeah, made a believer outta me. Ran three oh December, 2022, so eight months later, hadn't really been preparing. Kind of been screwing around that summer. Ran my slowest yet. Three 12, uh, went out and 1 27 then blew up. Literally the most painful,

Chris Detzel: not bad.

Braden Keefer: I felt it was just, it was miserable. Yeah. That was probably my most miserable marathon. My marathon number three just wrecked me.

Chris Detzel: Good learnings though.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Yeah. But then, uh, prepared, like, yeah. I took like, I took like a month where I was like, I just need to like step away from this for a minute. Sure.

Yeah. But then I got back into it and then. But yeah, that was like, that was probably like my worst.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: But the next one I ran 2 57,

Chris Detzel: okay, so you broke three. What'd you do different? Yes. What was your

Braden Keefer: I had a coach.

Chris Detzel: Okay. So you started getting a coach. Then

Braden Keefer: I started coaching with Jeff in late 2023.

Chris Detzel: Okay, so couple years now.

Braden Keefer: 20, 24 almost. April. Yeah, I broke in Oklahoma City, which is a notoriously like not [00:32:00] super fast marathons. Uh, the course is kind of it, like the hills roll and the weather.

Chris Detzel: You just know it well, at this time.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, exactly. And you also like the weather can be. It's a toss up.

You, it's

Chris Detzel: usually never, I mean, it's hard to find friends to go I mean, Oklahoma City, you tell me if I'm wrong because I, I could be completely wrong, but you know, it's a hometown thing for you. And so, yeah. You're familiar with it. I

Braden Keefer: was born

Chris Detzel: there. Yeah. It's not like you're born there. You're familiar, you've done it a few times.

Plus, I'm not saying you're not running with people, but you haven't gotten with Pegasus yet to start thinking about, well, are these these really cool marathons to, you know, go, you know, like you went to ending, right? Like 30 people went

Braden Keefer: Yep. That was a much, I, Hey, I, I will always, I think Oklahoma City is great.

I think it, yeah. I think it's for, it commemorates all the victims who were killed in the bombing.

Yeah.

Braden Keefer: Uh, 30 years ago. I think it's a wonderful, it's a, it's a well put on marathon. It's, I have nothing bad to say about the energy and just how well it's done. Yeah. But it's not an easy

Chris Detzel: place to,

Braden Keefer: it's not an easy place to run.

Yeah. That's the only thing I [00:33:00] would complain about. But going to Indy was different because. That was like the first marathon I feel like I've run where I was like, okay, like the conditions are kind of prime, like the weather's good and the course is pretty flat and I've got all these people with me.

Yeah. Uh, you know, well

Chris Detzel: talk a little bit before that marathon. Let's talk a little bit about your training block and

Braden Keefer: right,

Chris Detzel: how it went, who you ran with that really helped you kind of through it, you know, let's, let's talk about that piece first,

Braden Keefer: right? Let's see. Training blocks typically. I mean, I'm always, even before the training block, I'm usually sitting around 60 miles a week, typically like.

After I've recovered entirely from a race. That's just a comfortable, that's just a very comfortable spot for me. Everybody's different. And then, but it's more like just going into Indy, it was more about just getting acclimated to the heat, you know, getting your body, you know, getting your endurance back.

And then I'd say about, you know, 16 weeks out, you start, I mean, I still had like harder workouts like every Tuesday and every like Friday. But then once we started putting [00:34:00] in, once we got, you know. 16, 12 weeks out, we started doing harder stuff, like longer track sessions, more tempo oriented work, embedding like doing, you know, embedding marathon pace or faster in our long runs.

Those, I think make you, I think those are the best ones. I think the things that make you really good or make you, you know, faster in the marathon, my opinion, not a doctor, but what have worked for me are doing harder reps, like doing three mile repeats in your long runs at marathon effort or faster.

Chris Detzel: Rough.

Braden Keefer: Yes, sucks. And doing faster stuff on the track. So like doing 800 meter repeats with like 60 seconds rest. That's a big thing. That's a workout that I do a lot of. Like I'll do 10. What

Chris Detzel: do you think about, did you ever do two adays or anything like that?

Braden Keefer: I haven't done two adays. Think probably for this neck, for Boston, we might start doing two a days.

I don't think, I think if you, if it works and it helps you get the mileage in, then yeah, that's great for me. I'm able,

Chris Detzel: it's an interesting thought there because I was [00:35:00] talking to Brent. Did you listen to that podcast at all?

Braden Keefer: I didn't listen to the whole thing.

Chris Detzel: When you get a chance, do it. But one thing he said is for him, he's not telling everybody to do it, but.

There's this kind of thing going around in the community and, and I'm, I'm curious about your thoughts. 'cause I, I don't know. I, I'm not gonna do that, but, you know, instead of running like a 20 mile long run and during the day you do two 10 miles because the first 10 mile you get, your body gets to rest, your body gets to recover and everything else.

Right. So and, and then because that 20 miles really just kind of. Breaks your body down. It just really kind of, not to say I don't think he ever did a whole entire, he was doing, you know, a hundred miles a week, you know what I mean? But

Braden Keefer: yeah,

Chris Detzel: he would do a lot of two-a-days. And so instead of doing these really long runs, he breaks it down and then you could do speed work in between and or inside those runs.

Braden Keefer: Yes.

Chris Detzel: And so

Braden Keefer: I think that's, so you're not saying he, he was doing his long run, like his Sun Saturday long run. He wasn't breaking that up. He was doing.

Chris Detzel: Well, he might actually, I [00:36:00] think he was at times, but

Braden Keefer: I mean, he's faster than me, so if it works for him, it works for him. I think the long run's important to have like that continuous 23 mile run.

But I do think if you're trying to get like a hundred miles a weekend, you almost have to, because a hundred miles a week is like 14 and a half miles a day. But I mean, obviously if you're doing a long run.

Chris Detzel: But his thinking was, his thinking was the more runs you can get in a week, the better the number of runs.

Like he'd get 13 or 14 runs a week in rather than six or seven like you and I. You know what I mean? Right. And so it was counting the number of runs. Obviously he's doing all the work 'cause he's doing, I think he told me one time he kept 110 to 120 miles like in a month.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, that's,

Chris Detzel: Hey, the work

Braden Keefer: shows,

Chris Detzel: I mean, he's, he's extreme.

He's, I mean, this guy, the mind, like, he's, he's very much of a, very focused, you know, you can tell he's very, which I love. I mean, it was really fun to kinda listen to some I was just curious to kind get your thoughts around some of that. And you might even ask your [00:37:00] coach. You might say, Hey, you know what is, listen to that.

Kind of hear what he said. You know, and just

Braden Keefer: Right.

Chris Detzel: Might think about that.

Braden Keefer: I think once you get past a certain amount of mileage, you do need to start incorporating two a days. Yeah. And I think, like I said, for this marathon cycle, I will 'cause for indie, I got up to 80.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: That was, that's pretty good.

81, something like that. But I think if you wanna start doing like a hundred mile weeks, like realistically you're gonna have to do some two a days just to get all that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Braden Keefer: and so I'm pro doing two Aday, if you're doing them correctly, which I think most people who are doing two aday who are, they're probably knowing what they know what they're doing.

Chris Detzel: I would mean in Brent's case, certainly.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Brent, I have no doubt he knows what he's doing.

Chris Detzel: I'm sure Mimi Smith is pretty smart on these things. You know, she's, I think they all do those things, you know, it's lost guys, you know. So have a feeling you'll be running with those guys soon enough.

Braden Keefer: I have run, I did a rep with Campbell,

Chris Detzel: a rep

Braden Keefer: at the end of my [00:38:00] workout once, and I didn't know how fast we were gonna go.

It was like a one K and I took off and I thought that I would burn him in it. And he came back and just smoked me. And I was so like, oh my gosh, what the

Chris Detzel: that's fast.

Braden Keefer: I, he, yeah, he's, yeah. I was like, okay, I've been humbled. Thank you for doing that. That was. I,

Chris Detzel: yeah. Just don run with those guys for a minute.

They'll humble you.

Braden Keefer: Well, I, yeah, I just, yeah. I'll get there eventually. I'd like to. Do you hear

Chris Detzel: about the ladies, Maddie, Melanie and, uh, grace running all under. Two 50. That Pretty

Braden Keefer: cool. They're fast. They're fast. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Crazy.

Braden Keefer: All those people, they're insane. Yeah. I, I strive to run as fast as they do.

Chris Detzel: Well, I mean, you did actually. You did.

Braden Keefer: Well, you know, I, I strive to be at their caliber, consistently

Chris Detzel: Be at their caliber as a man. Right. You know, and

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to get into the, I, I'd like at Boston to get close to two 40, ideally. I think that's doable. Yeah. You know, we'll see.

Chris Detzel: Let's talk about Indy then.

How did, how'd that go? You know, like what? When you first, when you first got, [00:39:00] so when you first got there, starting line or what'd you do before the night before and then. Let's get into the,

Braden Keefer: so, um, the night before, well, we had our shakeout the day before, the night before. I just made sure to eat things that we had.

What did we eat? A lot of us got together and ate. Was it kava? No, it wasn't Kava, it was some other place. Oh. It was Sweet Green.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: And I, me personally, like my stomach is pretty, you know, it's pretty, I don't, I'm not, I don't have a very sensitive stomach.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: I don't have stomach issues typically.

Like at Le never, I've never had a stomach issue. During a race, like it's just not something like that. I really

Chris Detzel: have a stomach issue, but I had

Braden Keefer: once. Yeah. I Not like a lockup. Yeah, it's, I mean we've all had that, but in a race, not so much and I just try to make sure I eat plenty. Yeah. I actually have to give credit.

What helped? I was really making sure I was carb loading, like eating more than I was comfortable with eating because Kendall Rose was like, you need to eat more. And I was like, okay. And she showed me everything that she had eaten the three days prior and I was like, well, I'm not gonna track that.[00:40:00]

Because Exactly. I was like, that's gonna give me anxiety.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: But I will eat. And I noticed one of the things that she was eating a lot of were graham crackers. And I was like, okay, cool. So I'm gonna eat a sleeve of graham cracker. So I was just shoveling graham crackers in and just, you know, making sure my carbs were up.

I just did stuff like that. You know, a lot of bread, pasta stuff, you know, like that. Not really, and not worrying too much about like, oh, am I eating too much? But the night before I had sweet greens, so I had some protein. I used to get super anxious before races. Nowadays I'm just kind of like, I've done the work, I'm gonna do the best I can.

Chips will fall where they may, I still get anxious, but like not as anxious as I used to be at. I, I'm not find that I do better if I just kind of go, okay, like, you know, I'm here. I know, sure it happens. I know I can. Yeah, yeah. I know I can do this. Like I'm not. Fully confident in my ability. So yeah, the night before I just made sure to stay off my feet,

Chris Detzel: yeah. It's normal

Braden Keefer: stuff. Stay up too late and just treat it like another day,

Chris Detzel: yeah.

Braden Keefer: I think, I think you can oversight. I think you can psych yourself out too much and if you psych yourself out, sometimes it's game [00:41:00] over

Chris Detzel: a hundred percent.

Braden Keefer: You show up on race day and your mind's all zapped, and that's, that's really important.

So for me it was just about relaxing and just.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: Just being like, you know, hey, it's gonna be a 26.2 mile long run and last three miles will probably suck. And they did.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: So, you

Chris Detzel: know, it always does.

Braden Keefer: I mean, I kind of made a, I made a, a tactical error in the race, so it was kind of, you know, that kind

Chris Detzel: of, did you, any story that stands out besides, you know, like hanging out with anybody, you know, somebody did this weird thing or,

Braden Keefer: oh, beforehand?

Chris Detzel: Yeah, before or during, you know,

Braden Keefer: well. Beforehand after we ate at Sweet Green, I was walking back with Drew and he wanted to stop at the liquor store, and he was under, the entire time he was under the impression that I was gonna drink this bottle of whiskey with him after the race. And I just said, well, I'll just come in with you because after the race I'm gonna want a beer.

I'm not gonna drink a bottle of whiskey with you. And I, the entire time he was like, Hey, we, we've got some nice whiskey waiting for us. I was like, no dude. I'm not drinking. Like I do not feel like that. There were a [00:42:00] lot of funny things. Just a lot of, you know, just a lot of random stuff. Definitely four people do a hotel room.

Chris Detzel: Oh wow.

Braden Keefer: It's good time.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. You know,

Braden Keefer: it's cramped quarters, but we all had fun. Anybody got too outta hand afterwards.

Chris Detzel: Oh, okay. Well, I'm saying beforehand that would really suck if somebody got outta

Braden Keefer: hand. No, no. Not beforehand. Not beforehand.

Chris Detzel: Everybody,

Braden Keefer: everybody's

Chris Detzel: doing business there, you know, it's like,

Braden Keefer: right.

Exactly.

Chris Detzel: Alright.

Braden Keefer: But during the race, I remember taking off and I had Michael Ryan and Davis Weston, they were in front of me and I was kind of just like, we're gonna run together. Like, that was like kind of the goal. And they kind of like just crept away from me for a while. And in the beginning that kind of made me nervous.

I was like, oh man, I, maybe I should have gone with them. I just said, you know, no, you're fine. You're gonna be all right. Just do your thing. And so I kind of just zoned out for a while. Yeah. And got through, up into like the halfway point with the help of some other people that I'd met, you know, just running with them and, uh, came through in like [00:43:00] 1 23 and then I made the tactical error.

This is where I made the tactical error. I was, I felt really good and I started pick, like unconsciously kind of picking it up. I remember I looked at my watch, 'cause I always do. I put it on the lap setting when I do races. Yeah. Because I wanna see what my actual pace is overall for the mile. And I was like, oh, that's like six flat, that's too fast.

And then I tried to slow up and I ran through the mile in like 6 0 7. And so I was clicking off a lot of like low sixes. Yeah. But little shots, lower sixes, not low, low sixes. And then mile 19, I saw Michael in my sights and I slowly was just creeping up on him a little bit and. I caught him there and then I split like a 5 58 mile and I was like.

That's not good. And I was like, this is going to hurt later.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And sure enough, sure enough, he and I were working together the next couple of miles together, like as he says, uh, we were in the G logs.

Chris Detzel: Mm-hmm.

Braden Keefer: Like it was, it was brutal those next few miles. And [00:44:00] then I thought I got away from him. Mile 25 comes by he just goes by me.

He's like, come on dude, let's go. And I physically couldn't go any faster. I kind of. I still, I still held it together. Yeah, I was wishing I hadn't gone so fast in the, you know, second. First half of the second portion of the race.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. But you got a pretty big pr, so

Braden Keefer: Yes, it was about a 10 minute pr.

It was,

Chris Detzel: I mean, that's pretty awesome.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. Which I was still, I was still thrilled about that. I was not, I was not disappointed. I just, every time I do a race, I always think about, oh, what could I have done a little bit differently?

Chris Detzel: I think you should. Yeah.

Braden Keefer: And that's just, that's, I think that's most of us, you know, most of us.

Do you think I'll do indie again? Excuse me.

Chris Detzel: Do you think you'll do India again?

Braden Keefer: I'd like to. I might do New York this year.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Braden Keefer: I go out there a lot. I have a lot of friends out there, but I would like to run a really fast one in Indie again, so we'll just see,

Chris Detzel: yeah.

Braden Keefer: We'll see how I feel after Boston.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. You know, Boston's, have you ever run Boston before or

Braden Keefer: No.

Chris Detzel: Okay. That's your first one.

Braden Keefer: First one. That's exciting. And I got in through my [00:45:00] company. I technically got in through my company.

Chris Detzel: Oh, that's right.

Braden Keefer: Like a lottery. But I was able to upgrade my time.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, because you, you actually got the time.

That's cool.

Braden Keefer: I got, I got, I got lucky, but I'm, you know, I'm still excited either way.

Chris Detzel: Hey, you're gonna,

Braden Keefer: and I qualify for next year, so I'm pretty,

Chris Detzel: yeah,

Braden Keefer: I think that's the best possible outcome for me, for anybody.

Chris Detzel: So you think you go two years in a row then?

Braden Keefer: For sure. For sure. There's no

Chris Detzel: doubt.

Braden Keefer: There's no doubt. Like might as well, I've done OKC four times, I think. That's enough for me. So I,

Chris Detzel: do you

Braden Keefer: think

Chris Detzel: Boston is doable for a pr?

Braden Keefer: It's happened. I've talked to people who've said they've done it. I just have to run smart and not be an idiot.

Chris Detzel: And you know, the only thing I would tell you is I've never done it, but my wife's done it 13 years in a row.

And then, yeah, I've talked to a lot of people. You're

Braden Keefer: telling me about that.

Chris Detzel: And the first several miles, first 3, 2, 4, or whatever it is, it's kind of downhill, you know? Yeah. So you've just gotta remember like, because you're gonna go fast. You know, and then, then you get some rollers [00:46:00] later in the miles, you know?

And yeah, so that's where a lot of people, make the mistake. They're not feeling, they, they start going up those hills and you see it even in the, in the elites, you know?

Braden Keefer: Oh yeah.

Chris Detzel: I've seen

Braden Keefer: footage

Chris Detzel: of them start falling off. And so, you know, you just gotta be, I'm not saying it's, it's not doable.

It's certainly doable. And if you have

Braden Keefer: a

Chris Detzel: training block, I think you're gonna do pretty well.

Braden Keefer: I hope to run a, I hope to run well, if not I mean, if I don't get a PR I hope to at least run. Well, and I mean, it's Boston, so I'm just excited about that

Chris Detzel: dude, you're gonna have a blast.

I'll be there. Of course my wife will be there. That's reason, the only reason I'm now. Hey,

Braden Keefer: you. That's awesome. Either way I

Chris Detzel: get

Braden Keefer: to go. She's been there 13 times or something.

Chris Detzel: Yeah it is. So what'd y'all do after the race? Felt good. I mean, when you were finished, first of all, like, did you like, oh my God, I did it.

Or were you like, yeah, finally, or what, how did that feel?

Braden Keefer: I, I don't, I was just like, I was stoked and I was tired and I remember saying, I want a beer. Yeah. So I immediately, I saw Michael and his [00:47:00] wife and we were there together for a minute and I was like, I'm getting in line for a beer. And they were like, we're going back to our hotel.

And I said, okay. And, um, we, I got into the front of the line. They were like, Hey, people need to have their id. And I was like, dude. I have a mustache. I literally told him, I was like, I a mustache. I'm 30 years old. Yeah. I just turned 30 like a couple of days ago. Can I free this

Chris Detzel: marathon

Braden Keefer: a beer? He just, he looked at me and he was like, you're fine man.

Just go get your beer.

Chris Detzel: Good.

Braden Keefer: And so, and he said to be there. I had a mustache like yours when I was 17. I was like, cool, probably. So like,

Chris Detzel: yeah. Yeah.

Braden Keefer: That's fair. And uh, yeah, I was, it was more just hanging around seeing people who had finished, like seeing friends, some of them non Pegasus friends. And then we all got together, we went to this afterwards, we all got together and went to this place.

It was like, um, it's not a Chili's,

Chris Detzel: kinda like a Chili's.

Braden Keefer: What's that?

Chris Detzel: Kinda like a Chili's.

Braden Keefer: It was kind of like a Chili's, except it had games there too. And we were there for a couple hours, just had some drinks. I went home, I went to back after that, I went back to my hotel and I took [00:48:00] like an hour. Nap. It wasn't really much of a nap then.

Um, Michael, his wife and Davis, we all went to Ruth Chris, which I'd never been to a Ruth Chris before, and it was actually really good. And so, yeah, it's a nice, yeah, it was nice. It was a good time. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Awesome, man. It's

Braden Keefer: kind of like, it's hard for me to, it's hard for me to like eat and drink after a marathon.

Like I just, it's like my body like won't take anything. I'm just like. Like I said, like stomach locks up. It takes a

Chris Detzel: few hours a lot of times for most people.

Braden Keefer: Yeah. But Ruth, uh, but Ruth, Chris, I was like

Chris Detzel: ready to eat

Braden Keefer: the wine the steak, everything

Chris Detzel: makes me wanna get off this call right now and go to a steakhouse and drink some wine, you know?

Braden Keefer: There you go. Well, hey man, it's your world. You should do it.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, exactly. I might do something this week for sure.

Braden Keefer: Oh yeah.

Chris Detzel: Is there anything that I missed that we should have talked about or that you were like, man, we should have talked about this thing?

Braden Keefer: I think it's important, one of the things I tell people in running, like we, we brought this up, I said goods [00:49:00] relative, but I think one thing, and this is something I'm bad about, but something I've noticed, just people in general, they always like just want to compare themselves to like other people.

I think that's something that, you know, comparison is the thief of joy and I know a lot of people who are like, oh, I don't wanna get into this because I don't think I'm gonna be that good. I, I can understand not getting into running because you just don't like it, 'cause if you don't like it, that's fine.

I, I am very much against people spending their time in this life doing thing. Of course. Spending their free time doing something that they're not really that into. Like, I've met people who are like, I think I'm passionate about this or that. I'm like, you're not that into it. That's fine. Go find something else.

Yeah. But if your fear is, oh, I'm just not gonna be as good as other people. I mean that, that doesn't matter.

Chris Detzel: That's right.

Braden Keefer: Like it's really important to, you know, set goals for yourself that are in line with what your abilities are like. Yeah. Like it's. It's great to aim high, but be, you know, be smart and don't just do something [00:50:00] to be like, oh, then people will see that I'm this caliber.

Do it because you want to do it. I run like for example, like I run for myself. I don't run for anybody else. Like, I do this because I love it. Yeah. And you're like, yeah, like I'll run for charity. But I do it predominantly because I love it. It brings me fulfillment and joy and. I don't care if I come first or last in a race.

I'm doing this entirely because I wanna do it. I think that's important that a lot of people miss. A lot of people don't, they get too caught up in oh, how they're gonna. Compared to other people.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Look, I, I think that's very well said. And, and I think that, look, there's always somebody gonna be faster than you, period.

I mean, I, it doesn't, I mean, as fast as you are, there's somebody way faster

Braden Keefer: oh yeah.

Chris Detzel: There's always, always somebody new coming up, you know, like,

Braden Keefer: yep.

Chris Detzel: And I think that, for me, I do it for my health, I do it for the community. I do it because I do like to compete, and

Braden Keefer: yeah.

Chris Detzel: Can get better times or can beat certain people.

Like you do [00:51:00] what motivates you? You know, if you and I were in a race, obviously you have more, you know, speed and things like that, you know, so it'd be dumb for me to compare myself to you, you know? Like it just, it is what it is. You're gonna be faster than me. Who cares? You know, like, but I'm here, I'm talking to you about, you're racing and how you're doing it.

Those kinds of things and, and the reason we do it is because we love it. We wanna be smart about it and things like, we wanna get better, we wanna get better. And so does everybody else. And I think that's

Braden Keefer: exactly

Chris Detzel: very well said, Braden. Well, it's been good, man.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, thanks dude. Thank you for having me.

Really appreciate it. This has been awesome.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, it's, it's a lot of fun. Braden, thanks so much for coming. To another DFW Running Talk. Thank you everyone for tuning in. Please go to our newsletter and subscribe to DFW running talk.sub.com. We also have a YouTube channel and Instagram and all kinds of things.

Just type, just Google, uh, DFW Running Talk and you'll see all the fun places we are. Until next time, Braden Keefer, great to talk to you. Take care.

Braden Keefer: Yeah, thanks a lot. See ya.