Breaking Down to Break Through: How Julie Rembold Overcame 4 Years of Health Issues to Return to Elite Running

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

Alright, welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel and today's special guest is Julie Rembold. Julie, how are you doing? Wonderful, thank you. How are you? Good. And this is your second time back and so we, but we didn't get to hear your entire journey. We just heard very small bits of it.

Yep. And so I'm really excited to finally hear your journey. It's been a while, absolutely. So last time we spoke we were, was it was Boston Marathon. There was four or five ladies on. Yeah. And this time I

Julie Rembold: actually came prepared for Boston. I realized last time I didn't wear my Boston gear for the Boston talk, so I thought I'd make up for it today.

Chris Detzel: Perfect. And I appreciate you doing that. We will talk a little bit about Boston, but I want to really dive in deep into kind of where number one your running journey started. So you wrote a bunch of things down. What I don't see is where you started to get into [00:01:00] running, why you started running and all of those things.

And we'll talk some about your marathon journey and things. 'cause I think that's your major, where your major stuff is. But let's talk a little bit about you and Okay. Yeah. Why you got into running.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, no that's a good point. I didn't really go back that far. So the real quick version is I grew up playing sports.

I loved sports, but I for some reason never jumped into track or cross country. Which is funny because when I look back, my strength in all the sports I played was the speed and endurance. So it's like I could full court, press a basketball game for the whole game, but I couldn't shoot a basket.

So I really never got into running until after I started having kids. And actually where it began was our first child. So we have five kids now.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. And done having kids. So five is the number. Our first child moved from California to North Carolina about a month before she was born. And so I didn't know anyone.

Good stuff. Yeah. And I first met this mom who had just had her second child, and she was like, Hey, I'm training [00:02:00] for a half marathon. Do you want to join me? And I thought that sounded like a horrible idea. I was like, how far is that? 13 miles? That sounds really far. But I knew that I was fairly athletic and it'd be great to have a friend, so I was like, sure, I'll get a jogging stroller and jump in on a few runs.

So it was really just about having an opportunity to meet another mom. And then I found out that I actually enjoyed it and and I did pretty well. And so the first time I jumped into a, oh, go ahead. What'd

Chris Detzel: you run? What was your time?

Julie Rembold: So that's what I was trying to remember. The first time I jumped into, I, so the half marathon, I got pregnant before the half marathon.

What? And you know what? Yeah, so I got pregnant with baby number two before the half marathon came, but I still ran it. I did take good notes, but I don't know if my notes go back that far.

Chris Detzel: I don't think they do. It doesn't matter. It's no big deal. I don't

Julie Rembold: think my notes, I don't think my notes go back that far, but I can't remember what I ran, but I was training and then our neighborhood had a 5K and so it's the first time I'd run without a stroller.

And my husband who [00:03:00] grew up running cross country was just surprised at how fast I'd run the 5K. I don't remember what that was either. And then I got pregnant, ran the half marathon. It was fun. But that's what started me just dabbling with running a few miles here, a few miles there. I still didn't know anything about running or training.

And then we moved to Sweden and so I didn't run any there. Yeah. Why did you then we so much so my husband and I both started at Texas Instruments in the technical sales. And so in sales we, we moved around a little bit.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: I quit when our oldest was born, but he was still in that, and so we got the opportunity to move around a little bit, and then we moved back to Dallas and we've been here ever since.

Okay. And then we moved back to Dallas. I still dabbled with running, but I didn't know anything. I thought running 20 miles a week was a lot. Like I didn't know people really ran more than 20 miles a week. And so usually I ran somewhere from eight to 10 miles a week, just go out for a couple miles here and there.

Yeah. And that's where it began, journey. Yeah. And then,

Chris Detzel: yeah.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, and then the next thing that happened was in, let's see, I guess it would've [00:04:00] been Dallas, probably Dallas, 2016. Actually, you know what, it was Dallas 2017. This was after that first marathon. So I had a friend who was running a marathon, and once again, I was like, sure, why not?

How far is that? Let's try it. That's,

Chris Detzel: is it that 5K marathon?

Julie Rembold: Yeah, the 5K marathon. And so that's what led me to that first Houston where I didn't know anything. So that was Houston 2017. I ran eight to 20 miles a week training for it. Again, thinking that was a lot, did you

Chris Detzel: say eight to 20?

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Per week. I thought that was a lot.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: It never dawned on me, maybe you should run more in a week than the race distance. And I knew nothing about nutrition, so I didn't know that you were supposed to like, take in Nobody does anything. Nobody

Does, no. I just was like, okay, like people do this all the time.

It must be something I can do, but I didn't realize there was this knowledge base of information that I should gather before I did it. So in

Chris Detzel: 2000, 2017, you run Houston Marathon, and we'll get into that in a minute. How many kids did you [00:05:00] have then? Just two or all five

Julie Rembold: kids? No, all five. Yep.

So my last child was born in 2013, so that was four years later. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: So you actually have been running for not necessarily marathons, but. For a long time. Yeah. Just five or five to 20 miles a week.

Julie Rembold: Yes.

Chris Detzel: So

Julie Rembold: yeah, just five to 20. So I had been running for a while. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: But 2017, that's a lot later than and then just to run a marathon. So you run this marathon, what happened?

Julie Rembold: Yeah, so there's a little bit more information before that. So my husband was actually that weekend, so we were all supposed to go, my friend and him. And so my friend, her husband, and then me and my husband and the two of, two of us, me and my friend were running the marathon.

And the week before my husband was feeling really sick. And so there's a little more into the 3 47 in addition to under training and not knowing about nutrition. Also, that Friday, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia right before the [00:06:00] race. Yeah. So that was quite a yeah, so he wanted me to go.

I wasn't going to go, but he wanted me to go. So that was definitely just a very therapeutic run. I think I really spent most of the run praying for him. I was like, okay, the only way this is of value is if every mile marker, I pray for him, pray for the situation. So it's still pretty amazing that I ran 3 47 given Yeah.

The low mileage, the no nutrition and the situation that was going on. So maybe that's what

Chris Detzel: got you through, was just zoning out, and praying. Yep. Thinking about that, in some ways it's not good that your husband has leukemia but it was good that,

Julie Rembold: oh, he's great. He's great today.

So we're good? Yep.

Chris Detzel: Yep. Nice. Wow. We're gonna get into some heavy stuff in a little while, but you just made it heavier.

Julie Rembold: Sorry I didn't include that information.

Chris Detzel: No, you're fine. I mean that, but that's a big deal, right? Yeah. Especially for that first marathon.

And it sounds like you did, 3 47 for not training and all the other stuff with your husband, finding out he has leukemia and then, that [00:07:00] fueling properly. I'm sure 3 47 is pretty freaking amazing.

Julie Rembold: I thought I needed to go to the ER after that, though. I was hurting pretty bad after that finish line.

But that was definitely the worst I ever felt at the end of a marathon.

Chris Detzel: So what it tells me though is that you are pretty athletic. Just knowing that time and your first, and not doing a lot of miles in general, most people are gonna hit 4 25 or five hours or whatever, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Not you hit 3 47 completely undertrained and. All that stuff. Wow. I can't wait to get more into this. It's gonna be awesome. Yeah, let's keep going. So you finally started training, right?

Julie Rembold: So then the next year obviously was busy with my husband. And then, we got through that season and I think that's probably for another podcast.

But then in January 26th, 2018, a year later, I was like, you know what? I looked back and I was like, I did meet some decent times with no training. I wonder what would happen if I trained. And so January 26th, 2018, I hired a running coach, and that was really where I, yeah. [00:08:00] James McCurdy. Okay.

Yeah. From McCurdy. Yeah. And heard of it. Yeah. And that was really where I started what I call training versus running. Up until that point, I just went out, went for a run. Yeah. And so that's when I began training and I realized I had a lot to learn. I didn't know the distance around a track. I literally didn't know the distance around a track.

I was like, I didn't know what a fart like was. I didn't know. I didn't know anything. And it became very quickly clear, like I was googling everything he sent to me.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: But I learned really fast. Yeah. I'm a very curious person. I love to learn and so I just soaked it all up. It was a lot of fun.

Chris Detzel: Okay, good. So how long did you train for to get to this next marathon? And then when was the marathon?

Julie Rembold: Yeah, so when I hired him, I had already planned to run with my friend, the same friend from Houston. We said, you know what, let's do this again.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: And so I'd already signed up for the Oklahoma City Marathon that April.

And it's funny because I [00:09:00] feel like I see that first beginning of my journey as just this, like everything was great, but when I sit back and look at it, I was like, actually everything didn't go perfectly. I was learning a lot and I was having so much fun. So I immediately, James immediately had me start running 40 miles per week, which I never thought I would run that many miles in a week in my life.

I thought that was, this is a big difference

Chris Detzel: though.

Julie Rembold: And and now I look back and I'm like, okay, that, but yeah. So I immediately started running 40 miles per week slowly building up. So this was

Chris Detzel: January of 2018, right? Yeah. Is that when that started? Okay.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. And when I started, my goal is I was like, it would be really fun if I could run a k at a sub seven minute pace, like 69, 6 40, 59 per mile for three miles.

To me that was like a huge goal at the time. Sure. So to see how far I went. In such a quick, time. Everything was just exciting. So even with the hiccups along the way, it was still so exciting because, yeah, I was [00:10:00] progressing so fast that still made it really fun. So I was doing really good for, I guess that's three months from January to April, and then we went to took the kids to Disney World.

About two weeks before the race. And on the way there I noticed a lump in my leg and I was like, is that a blood clot? And so that became concerning. Yeah. And so I went, I thought blood clots are serious. So I went to have it checked out and they put me on a blood thinner, it was supposed to be a blood thinner for two to three weeks, and then a baby aspirin for the rest of my life.

And I took the blood thinner for three days and I went from, I was running big workouts. The goal was sub three hour already and just three months of training. Oh wow. Yeah, I was running really good workouts. But I went from feeling really good to in three days. Feeling really bad.

So after three days I went off of that and I did some natural ways to remedy the blood clot and it went away. It was great, but I didn't fully recover from those three [00:11:00] days of the blood thinner and time for Oklahoma City. Instead of sub three RI ran three 14. But in hindsight, I think that was really good.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Let's put it in perspective, Julie, given the situation. Yeah. GI given that situation, but also just given that you've only really truly trained for three weeks, three months, right? Yeah. Yep. And you went from 3 47 to three 14 with little bit of hiccups in there with the blood clot, stuff like that.

Obviously that's serious. Yeah. But kinda got through it. So yeah. For listeners that's pretty miraculous. This,

Julie Rembold: Yes. I was very happy with that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. I was very happy

Julie Rembold: with that. And so yeah, and then going into the summer I came outta Oklahoma City and still just didn't feel the same as I did.

I was like two months into training. I felt amazing.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. And

Julie Rembold: I just still didn't feel, I know it's hot and humid and I just chalked it up to it being hot and humid. And so I assumed that was it. And then at the time James was going through bringing on Dr. Ha, Greg and Flagstaff and promoting [00:12:00] getting blood work for all of his athletes.

And so I just did that 'cause that's what was recommended to everyone. And the results came back in June of that summer where I had very low serum iron, very low saturation percentage, and very low ferritin, which I think was probably due to the blood thinner. And so that, that really connected a lot of dots and made a lot of sense to me.

And yeah, so they put me on an iron supplement and six weeks. That came up a lot. And so the interesting thing is for three weeks I felt better and better. And then for the next three weeks I felt worse and worse to the point where after six weeks I felt as bad as I did when I started.

And so I was thinking, wow, maybe it's not working, like what's going on? And then I got the results back and my serum iron had jumped from 21 to 320 take not taking a lot. And saturation percent went from 6% to 84%. And then my ferritin went from nine to 109 in six weeks. None of that sounds good and no.

And so I was like, this is bad. I was [00:13:00] like, this is bad. Because I felt just as bad, but the doctor and my coach assured me, no big deal. It's fine. This is actually great. We'll just ease off a little bit. So I was like, okay. So that's what we did. And I still felt. Intuition that something wasn't quite right.

But I, I didn't know enough and so I just trusted, those that knew more than me. And so I just went on with training and I was still getting faster, so I thought, everything must be fine. So then in October of 2018, which I guess would be what, six months after Oklahoma City, I ran the Chicago Marathon and ran 3 0 1 42.

So that was, how'd you

Chris Detzel: feel during that marathon?

Julie Rembold: Yeah. I think I felt, I remember feeling like I could do more. I don't remember feeling bad, but I don't remember feeling man, that was amazing. I felt like I could definitely, I can do more. And the goal was sub three hour and I was right there.

So I was right within the goal.

Chris Detzel: So something I wanna talk about just quickly is, yeah, you have five kids and you kinda been going through some of this [00:14:00] stuff, but. You have to do all this training and tell me a little bit about, and I think people want to hear this, because to me there's gotta be a support system around you to be, for you to be able to do that and vice versa.

I'm sure you're doing the supporting too. It's not Just tell me about that a little bit.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. So yeah it's busy and I think what we'll get into later is what I'm finding now, it's actually busier than it was back then, which is interesting because back then my kids were a little bit younger, which presents its own difficulties and challenges.

Chris Detzel: Sure.

Julie Rembold: But they can't be left home alone. So there's definitely some navigating around that. But also, they're not teenagers yet, so they're not deeply invested into their own activities. Trust me where, yeah. And so it's interesting because yes, there's aspects that get easier, but I think there's aspects that get a lot more challenging because now they're, passionate about what they're gifted in as well.

So it just, the time I find that weekends it's hard to find a weekend that's available between, theater [00:15:00] recitals and state track meets and all the things. I think that if it's good for our kids to see us do something that we care about and that we're passionate about.

And so as a family, my husband's big into cycling. We're actually leaving this week to head to a big race that he's doing in Utah.

Chris Detzel: Nice. He's

Julie Rembold: racing from Utah to Wyoming. Yeah. I think it's 200 and some miles. And so we just, we all take turns prioritizing each other and making it, it fit as best we can.

I

Chris Detzel: love that. And I, one thing I love that you said is that we have to be the influence for our kid. It's it show, if you show your passionate, I believe it. And so I'm gonna say it is if you show that you're passionate about, like for you, it's running for your husband, it's cycling, then they get into some stuff, whether it's what they do for long term, who knows.

But it shows that they're passionate about whatever it is. Theater, like you said, or track or cross country. I don't know, whatever it is that they're into, but I think that it is huge. I, every kid is different, right? So it just depends, [00:16:00] at least you're being that good influence to me.

Yeah. My hope is I appreciate that, been like that for my son, right? I'm passionate about running, my wife's passionate about running, and so he sees us and he's very passionate now, right now about band. I love that. Yep. He's doing drums and he's really good at 'em. And so the point is I think there's something there for that, like you said, the passion.

So I'm very happy that you're doing that and that you actually said that, and that's pretty cool. Thank you. So you run the Chicago Marathon. You do? 3 0 1. Did we talk about that? I don't know if we hit the

Julie Rembold: Yeah. And then it was really from yes. 3 0 1, but it was really from Chicago to Boston where I think things really took off.

Yeah. Yeah. So coming off of Chicago, I felt like it was good. It was good marathon. I think going into all this, a 3 0 1 would've been like my lifetime dream. Sure. I would've been like to run even that close to three hours would've been a dream.

Chris Detzel: Let's back up. You say lifetime dream.

You really only been running since, yeah. Marathon. That's true.

Julie Rembold: 2017. Good point.

Chris Detzel: And it's still only 2000.

Julie Rembold: That's a good point. [00:17:00] It would've been a lifetime dream having started at 37.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, that's a good point. It's amazing what you're doing. Let's put it realistic here. You've literally had five kids during this whole for a while, but you really didn't stretch your marathon journey until after your five kids.

Julie Rembold: No. I was, let's see, 2018. Yeah, I was 37 and a half years old when I really started training. Yeah. Anyways,

Chris Detzel: keep going.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. So although I mean starting this whole thing, I would've dreamed of running a three hour and one minute marathon. I think that given like the workouts and the journey of the, 10 months that got me there, your items 10 months, at that point, I felt a little at that point I knew I could do more.

I could do more.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. And so I love that. That's awesome. That's what drives you, right? Yeah, it's you know what? I could do way better than that.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Yeah, so that's how I came off of Chicago. And then it was really Chicago to Boston where things really took off. Although once I got to Boston in April, 2019, I still only was running 60 to 65 miles a week.

I wasn't run running, big mileage yet. And I [00:18:00] think my longest run was like 18 to 19 miles leading into that race. But the paces were picking up. I remember early January, February, I just something clicked and I just was able to run some really strong workouts, strong paces. I ran the really hilly half marathon in Austin that February and took 10th in that race, I think 1 24.

And it's 800 feet of climbing. It's a pretty hilly race. That's which was good leading into Boston. And then Boston turned out to be, that year was a really hot, humid day. Now the goal was two 50, but a lot of people struggled that day. And so that 2 51 you can see in the placements I took 77th female.

And that kind of shows how tough the weather was for people because 2 51, shouldn't normally do 77.

Chris Detzel: Is that a normal thing for you? Or

Julie Rembold: I think that my fitness was just better than that. Looking back at workouts at the time, again, still we're only 14 months into training. You're doing, I'm still learning at this point.

As I mentioned to the other podcast at this point, I was still starting at the wrong point on the [00:19:00] track. I didn't know I was starting at the straightaway, not the curve. I didn't realize, and it wasn't until I met a friend later, I was like, oh, you're supposed to start up at the curve. It made sense to me to start at the straightaway.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: So I still didn't know a lot and so I don't, at the time I, looking back I didn't realize how well I was running those workouts. Yeah. I just, I didn't have any concept of understanding. And so I look back now and I was like, wow, I was running some pretty quality runs back then, so I think my fitness was just good enough to overcome the heat.

The other thing I think I did really well on that race is twice I came to a complete stop to get water. And I think my intuition was just really good. And I remember running and it, and it was really humid. It was that, that Boston, I don't know if people remembered if they went, but it was lightning storms all night and all morning.

And so people, we were standing in athletes village just trying to stay dry as much as possible, tons of lightning storms. And then right before the race went [00:20:00] off, the storms cleared and the sun came out. So kind it was one of those. And Dallas, we know that right where the sun comes out and it just bakes all that rain that just came down.

Yeah. And so I, towards the end of the race acknowledged that with those little cups, I was just getting little sips. Yeah. And my body needed more water than that. And so I remember thinking, I think if I come to a complete stop and fully drink the water, that it would be better for me. And so I would grab a cup and run to the end and then stop to get the full cup of water in.

And so I did that a couple times and I think that made a big difference. Okay. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: And you, what'd you run? Like you, I don't think you said the time.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Two hours and 51 minutes and 46 seconds.

Chris Detzel: So that's another pr.

Julie Rembold: Yep.

Chris Detzel: Big time.

Julie Rembold: At this point, I'm just shaving 10 minutes off every

Chris Detzel: every, so here we go.

Next time do two 40. That's

Julie Rembold: kinda, which actually I was fit enough for 2 41 the next race. So yeah. So that was the goal. Yeah. So coming off of Boston, I was running about 60 to 65 miles a week. I thought. We said, you know what, let's bump this up. Let's back up and

Chris Detzel: talk a little bit [00:21:00] more about Boston.

Yeah. Was this kind of a huge, I don't know if it's a dream, this is. This is what people is their, oh my gosh, I wanna do Boston Marathon. That's the elite of all the elites. How were you feeling going into that?

Julie Rembold: Yeah, if I'm being completely honest, I really didn't even know anything about Boston until I started training.

It was soon before that, I didn't even know until soon before that, that you even had to qualify to get into Boston or what month Boston was even in. I'd love to say that I was a fan of the sport my whole life, but I just really, I am now. I love the sport. Yeah, of course.

I just really wasn't I didn't know anything about Boston, and so yes. When I was there, it was incredible. Yeah. Still, I think 2019, Boston is one of my lifetime favorite moments.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: But going into it I didn't have this I've always wanted to be here, if that makes sense.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, no, it does.

That, that makes sense. Yeah. I was just curious, how kinda your mindset. Yeah. You still, you're a very new runner and it's like you're just like killing it. Yeah. [00:22:00]

Julie Rembold: Performance I think was a big factor. Yeah. I cared about performance. You 38,

Chris Detzel: 37 at the

Julie Rembold: time. Yeah. So Boston, I would've been almost 39.

Okay.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. So it's not like you're, you're not an older runner, but it's not like you're in your twenties. So Yeah, you in early thirties. Yeah. So you get that done and then you, then what happens? I know some stuff is starting to happen, or,

Julie Rembold: yeah. So then I came off of Boston and I was still working with James McCurdy and we were like, you know what?

That went well and so let's bump up the mileage. So that summer we bumped it up and that was when I started running 85 miles a week. And I was feeling great though. I was like, this is just amazing. I loved everything about running, I loved training, I loved the easy days. I loved the hard days.

I loved meeting up with friends at 5:00 AM I just really loved, I was like. Why did we wait 38 years for me to start doing this? This is so fun. And and yeah, and then that, it was late August. I remember it was late August. And the other [00:23:00] thing I guess I would say is I was really consistent.

Like I was thinking about that today on my long run as I was thinking about this conversation. And I remember back then I was really consistent in terms of how I felt. If I, I knew if I was starting to get sick before any symptoms because I knew how my easy runs felt and I knew how my workouts felt, and I knew my workouts felt on paces.

And I got so in tune to my body and how it, it would feel that I would be like, something's off. I must be getting sick. And then sure enough, the next day I'd wake up with a sore throat or whatever. Like I was very in tuned in my body and very consistent. So late that fall when I ran a couple workouts and I was like, that didn't feel like it was supposed to.

It was late. Of 2019 and I was like, something's just off. It was just a little bit off from how it had felt. And so that was when things began to turn a little bit. And I did some blood work and my blood work was really inconsistent. It was just a little bit all over the place.

And so throughout that fall, at first for most of the fall, I never really felt bad and my runs were still really [00:24:00] good. And I actually ran amazing workouts, really showing 2 41 fitness. So the goal for Indianapolis that November was 2 41. But it wasn't until right before the race. About a week and a half or two weeks before the race, ran what should have been a really, actually, it must have been the week, I guess it would've been two weeks prior.

I ran what should have been a pretty easy marathon run and I felt. Horrible. And I was like, something is not right. So I went to go get blood work and we got that blood work back, I think it was the Sunday before Indianapolis. So six days prior to the race and it showed an iron saturation percentage of greater, it just said a greater than 94%.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Not bad. And I was like, that's not good.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: And so I told my coach

Chris Detzel: The interesting thing about you is you seem to be like, look, there's something off. I gotta go get tested right now. You know what I mean? Yeah. So not a lot of people do that. They just deal with, I'm just feeling bad.

I don't know. So you're very in [00:25:00] tune, like you said, with your body, but you're actually trying to do something about it.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, I was like, there's a problem, I wanna fix it. I'm an engineer by degree, so I think the engineering mind is, Hey, there's a problem. Let's find the root cause of this problem and let's fix it.

Yeah. And yeah, so that was definitely my mindset. And so with that information, both my co coach and Dr. Aj, Greg looked at it and they were like, this doesn't make sense. You wouldn't be running like you're running, if that was accurate. And so the conclusion was, 'cause I was thinking, should I even run this race?

Yeah, this looks bad. And so the conclusion was that maybe the lab messed up. I didn't think that was true though, because I knew I felt like something wasn't right. So my intuition was something's not right. But at the same time I was like let's go and. And see what I can do. So I showed up to Indy, just hoping I felt great on race day.

Chris Detzel: Okay, wow. So we'll get into what actually really happened here in a bit, but, and so you run what was that like? What, tell me about that.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, so that was, oh wait, I said [00:26:00] Houston was the hardest race at the end. Indy was, but I don't really feel like that first. Houston really counts a lot.

I didn't know what I was doing. He, Indy was definitely my hardest marathon. Yeah, that's a whole story within itself and I'll try not to make it too long. That's fine. But essentially, I have pretty good intuition. But I also go out a little fast on races. That's just my natural thing is I think a lot of people do that, but I tend to go out a little too fast.

So the goal was 2 41. The race plan was, there was another girl named Crystal Bacon, who was also uncle with that. So we were gonna try to run together. So I got to the starting line. I didn't find her, so I just, took off. My intuition was saying that I was running too fast.

Because based on how I felt, it felt harder than it should feel.

But my watch was showing that I was running too slow for the first two miles. So this is about two miles in. So I debated, right? So I was like GPSs can mess up and watches can be off. I'm gonna go with my intuition. So I eased back a little bit and hoped that my, my, my feel was accurate.

And I got to the 10 K point and I looked at the [00:27:00] time and where I should be, and I was like, oh no my, my watch is correct, not my, yeah, not my, not how I feel. And so I had a moment to have to make a decision and I was like, you know what? I came here to run 2 41 and that's what I'm gonna go for, man.

And I was like, I'm just gonna trust the training. And, I think I was going to, although sometimes that would be really bad advice for me. I assessed the situation and I was like, you know what, if I gave it all I could and trusted that I could do it and fell off because I wasn't right, I would feel better about that than being worried and not giving it my best.

Fair enough. So

Chris Detzel: that's what I,

Julie Rembold: yeah.

Chris Detzel: Go after it. That's why you're there.

Julie Rembold: Yep. I, A 10 K was like, all right, I gotta find this 2 41 group. So I took off. So I am, so I'm running and I'm picking up the paces, trying to catch this 2 41 group after the 10 K mark, and I think about nine to 10 miles in I caught up with a big group, and so I was like, all right, maybe this is my group.

So I [00:28:00] pull up alongside them and I'm running for about a half a mile and I'm still looking for this crystal bacon that I'm supposed to be running, but I didn't see her, so I was like, okay, maybe this is the wrong group. Maybe she's. Not in it. So I, casually ask Hey, is this the 2 41 PACE group?

And they were like, no, we're 2 45. And I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, see you later. See y'all later. Peace out. So I was like, all right good luck. And I took off Again, that may not have been the best idea, but I took off again and about the actually it was right at the half marathon point, the halfway point.

I did catch the 2 41 group, so I was like, all right, I'm there. I've

Chris Detzel: never even heard of a 2 41 group, but, okay,

Julie Rembold: So this was, yeah, it is interesting, but there was a group of people all going for 2 41 that day. Fair enough. Yeah. And

Chris Detzel: You just never heard of it.

Julie Rembold: I think usually there's not, but there, there was this time,

Chris Detzel: 42, 45, 2 50.

Yeah. And not 2 41, but, okay.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, there was a group of people that were going for 2 41 that day, which is, I agree. I was thinking about that in [00:29:00] hindsight. I guess I didn't question it. That's what I was told to do, so I did it. Just do it. And yeah, so I caught up with them and there was, crystal and a couple others that I knew that were supposed to be in that group, and I'm like, all right, I'm here.

So for about three miles I ran with that group. And then about, since obviously at the beginning of the race already, paces felt harder, and then I had to pick it up to catch up with them. By the time I hit 16 miles, I was, it was starting to hit me and I was like, all right, this just isn't my day.

And so I started to fall off a little bit. I still hung in there, gave it the best I could, but about 23 miles, that was when it really hit hard. So I actually. Half walked, half ran the last three miles of that race. And the only reason I remember going down that final stretch, and everybody, I'm walking and and everybody's, it's such an awesome cheer, on the sidelines there.

And everyone's you got this. Keep going. And I'm like, man, I wish I could. And so I did make it to the finish line thinking about bananas the whole way. I knew once I crossed that finish line, there was gonna be some bananas. [00:30:00] And actually, that's all I needed though. And the reason is because I guess I didn't add that the weather was tough that day also.

It was subfreezing and 20 mile an hour winds.

Chris Detzel: Oh man.

Julie Rembold: So that, that aided to the challenge. And so I remember it being really cold. I had bottle service in that race. And I remember the last one was like, so freezing. And I was struggling. I couldn't get my, so then I switched to a gel. I couldn't get the gel open 'cause my hands were too cold.

Chris Detzel: Oh man.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. So I got across the finish line, but I still set a pr,

Chris Detzel: I understand that you want what goal, and it sounds like you actually could have hit that goal, if you would've known about the 2 41, where it was and all that kinda stuff. But potentially, or at least faster, but still two 50 is pretty amazing.

I know it's only a one minute goal or PR or not even, let's see, two 50. 2 51. Yeah.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. One minute. Exactly.

Chris Detzel: One minute. Yep. A

Julie Rembold: minute. Exactly. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: So it's pretty good.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Given that I walked half of the last three miles and still ran two 50, I was, you walked [00:31:00]

Chris Detzel: were you happy with it?

Julie Rembold: I was. I was happy with the time. I was happy with the way I ran the race. I also was like clear there, clearly there is a problem. Yeah. There was a problem and my blood work highlighted that and I need to find a solution and so I came off of that going. Yeah, I just think

Chris Detzel: because you're so in tune, 'cause we'll learn more about that in a minute, but to me, like you ran a two 50, right?

Not much of a problem. How bad off could you be? But I understand that. Oh, a little things off, but, so let's talk about what so you finished this marathon and what was next after that? What happened?

Julie Rembold: Yeah. So then, yeah, so I finished the marathon next up was actually my coach at the time was debating should I run Houston Marathon and still go for the 2 45.

This was the Olympic trials year. Yeah. And so that was why there was a lot of big groups in Indie going for 2 45, 2 41, in that range. That's the reason there was, yeah, that's the reason there was a lot of big groups there for a minute we debated, should I run the Houston marathon and just go for 2 [00:32:00] 45?

I knew something wasn't right with me. Yeah. I was like, there is something that's not right and until I run another marathon, I need to solve that. Yeah. And so the plan was to run the Houston half. But coming off of Indy, I started having more symptoms come up. And I think the first thing I remember.

But the first two things I remember coming up was one actually text. I remember texting my coach and saying, if someone could morph into a dragon, I think this is what it would feel like right before it happened. Because I felt like my chest was just on fire. Like I could just breathe flames. Like I just remember feeling like my chest was just on fire.

And then the other thing that happened that Ja, that December January was really symptoms of, I didn't really know what it was. Again, I'm still learning. I'm still new to this sport. So at the time I didn't have a label for it. I didn't and I think it benefited me that I didn't have labels for these things.

But what now, looking back, I think was symptoms of runner's dystonia. And the way I can describe it is I would be, I would start running effort and about two to three [00:33:00] miles in of running effort, every time it felt like my right leg completely disconnected from my body. And you know how like you're out running and your muscles contract and uncontracted and you're not mentally controlling it.

Like you're not, you don't have to. You're just running and your body does it all for you. That, that stopped happening with my right leg. I would get two to three miles into efforts and it would like contract when it was supposed to un contract and it would un contract and supposed to contract.

Yeah. And it just felt like it had like completely disconnected from my body and I would have to like mentally try to like, okay, track like it. I have to like mentally try to like will my leg along with the rest of my body. And so when I went into the Houston marathon, I was dealing with that, the half marathon.

Yeah. What would've been January of 2020. And so about three miles in that started happening. And from mile three to mile, probably about 10 or 11, I was just, I was trying to not fall. I was like willing my leg to keep moving. Wow. [00:34:00] And did not fall. And then about mile 11, I think it like, I don't know, reconnected to my body.

And so then I was able to run the last two miles really well. So I ran 1 21 in half marathon, wheeling my leg for eight miles of it to, you're just having these

Chris Detzel: horrible races.

Julie Rembold: I know. And that's, honestly I think that through this four years of health issues, which we'll get into it being so long, I think that was the biggest struggle is it's like I would try to tell people what I was dealing with, but because I was running fast times so well, nobody, everyone just seemed to

Chris Detzel: not,

Julie Rembold: Yeah. It just didn't look very, it just didn't sound very authentic, even though it was very authentic, the struggles I was having.

Chris Detzel: I'm sure.

Julie Rembold: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: So that was that. You hear some of these races and you're doing very well, even though. You're having some of these issues, especially this half marathon.

1 21 is great, so it must have been hard because you're thinking in your head, I know there's something wrong. Yeah. And I gotta figure it out. So it sounds like eventually you're like, I gotta do a deep dive here.

Julie Rembold: Yeah and I and I [00:35:00] wasn't looking for, I think the challenge when I started seeing lots of doctors about it, which came a little later because as, I guess as you could key in, this was January, 2020, so we're about to go into COVID.

Yeah. And so everything was getting shut down and so I came off of Houston very sick, picked up what I think was COVID at Houston. So that was a struggle. Got through that. And coming off of that, again, there wasn't really a name for any of this stuff yet, so I was dealing with everything before there was any names.

But coming off of that, then that's when I started later that spring, getting, what I didn't really know until late fall was pots type symptoms. So I would get really dizzy and my heart rate was all over the place. So I would begin a warmup and two miles into a warmup, my heart rate would spike up to the one seventies.

And I would get like really dizzy and feel like I was gonna fall over and I was thinking I should just shut it down and go home. And then I remember being like I'll start the workout and see what happens. And then I'd start the workout and then I wasn't dizzy and my heart rate would be like one 50 through the workout, which was lower than what it should be.

So it was just like, it, there was [00:36:00] like so many like inconsistencies with what was going on in addition to all the other, all the other stuff didn't go away. It's just, more, more strange, 'cause of the puzzle as I'm trying to solve this pu these overlaying puzzles. So that kind of took us, through 2020.

And then also, I had a lot of syndrome.

Chris Detzel: I don't even. What that is,

Julie Rembold: it's, I'm not sure if I'm gonna say it ortho it, it essentially, it's it's a vascular I'm not gonna say it so I'm not, that's, I'm not gonna get into the technicality of it and I'm not even sure if that's what I mean.

Again, I'm not labeling anything that I dealt with. I'm just saying that in hindsight, symptoms were lining up with other things that I'd heard.

Chris Detzel: Got it.

Julie Rembold: So it's, I think it's helpful for people to have some names I found. But for me, I'm just looking at symptoms and trying to say what's going on and what was the root.

So that's where I think it got tricky is I wasn't looking to label anything. I wasn't looking to say, okay, I have pots. How do you treat pots? I have Estonia. I treat Estonia. I was looking to say. I was [00:37:00] great.

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Julie Rembold: I've been healthy my whole life and now all of a sudden I have all these issues.

And so for me, I was like, something changed that created this and I wanna be back to where I was. And so I need to find what changed and what do I fix. So that's, yeah, that's where, that was my mindset through it. So what'd you do? And then, yeah, and so then the only other thing I guess that really came up a lot was a lot of the brain fog, like thought processing.

My intuition was not near as good as what it was. I found that I've always been very intuitive and I lost a lot of intuition. I had trouble like, processing, making like sound decisions. I just remember feeling just very a little bit lost mentally. Yeah, so I, I saw as many people as I could.

I saw mainstream medicine. I saw, holistic, integral, functional, and. And I think that, again, I wasn't looking for a label with a response. I was looking for, I was telling my story to them, saying what happened before? Yeah. Because I need to know what happened before [00:38:00] that led to this. If I went to fully, I believed that I was gonna be fully killed from all of this.

And so I really didn't get any answers. I had people say things like, they'd see my high eye Meyer and be like maybe that's normal for you. And I'd be like, it doesn't make sense. I got a lot of, and, but also I was sharing like, Hey, also I'm runner and here's my times.

So I think also they'd hear my times and be like, okay you're fine. And so I really wasn't, I really wasn't getting a lot of answers. So that went on until until 2021. So 2021, I would say was my worst year. I just was really bad off in 2021. My heart was really stressed. I honestly wondered if I was gonna go into cardiac issues.

'cause my heart at that point was just really, I could just feel it was under stress constantly. And so I started spending every spare second I had pulling up scientific literature and I knew it was either in the way Energy's made or because I also felt I remember at one point telling my coach in early 2021, I was like, if you could feel a lack of a TB production, I think that, [00:39:00] I think that's what, because I, it's like I would go out and I would like, I could run a good workout if I.

Really conserved a lot for it, but then it would like totally, I feel like garbage for five days. Yeah. And I wasn't like overworking, like at this point I knew how to train. And and so I was like, it's almost like my body couldn't recover from anything. And so I had no energy, like total fatigue.

And so I was researching the scientific literature of how energy's made. I knew clearly there was issues with my blood based on the blood work, so how blood's made. And so I was really trying to dive deep into the weeds of what is the missing component? Like what am I missing? Or what have I done wrong?

And so then it was in January of 2022 that I started to get the answers. Yeah. And so what I started to understand is that so copper and iron need to be in balance. So to not go too deep 'cause now we could spend a whole, we could spend an hour or two talking about this, but there's a few things that are really important and one of 'em is copper and iron needs to be in balance and iron carries our [00:40:00] oxygen.

But copper is what places the iron in copper is what is essential for creating energy, for creating the red blood cell for slicing and dicing the oxygen. But really iron is like the foot soldier that carries it around, but copper's the chef that like does all the work. And so back in 2018 when I was given iron, what I really needed was copper and retinol.

And so retinol's another key player and and now what I've really learned is that 'cause I was like why did I fall so fast? Doing what most people do. But we go back to seeing that I had five kids, so yeah. So I put a lot of nutrients into growing those kids, nursing them for a whole year.

And so I came into training already a little fragile in some of the most important components. So you, which really was copper,

Chris Detzel: is that what

Julie Rembold: I did? Yeah, all five of them. All for a year. Yeah. Yeah. And so I came in, already, which is why I got the blood clot already a little fragile in copper, fragile in retinol, fragile in potassium and [00:41:00] magnesium.

Important things that are needed to grow and support growing a baby and nursing them. And so back in 2018, what I really needed was not what I was given. And so that's what then compounded and led to, I was benefiting from the training, but meanwhile my body was deteriorating further and creating really just imbalances.

Everything needs to be imbalanced. And so a lot of times we see highs and lows and we go, oh, I have a higher or low, but what we need to look is the balance when your body's balanced than it can do what it needs to do. So

Chris Detzel: it sounds like a lot of that came from the breastfeeding that you did for a long time.

Julie Rembold: Anna Growing the babies.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, growing the babies and not getting your body's not getting what it needs is really what it came down to at the end of the day. And then you were just always, never got it back,

Julie Rembold: it

Chris Detzel: sounds

Julie Rembold: And then when I was given synthetic minerals. So yeah, so that's what had me come in at a little bit of a deficit.

But then when I was given synthetic minerals, so I was given iron, I was recommended to take iron, I was recommended to take synthetic [00:42:00] vitamin D I was recommended to take a lot of things 'cause synthetic vitamin D deplete your retinol and your potassium. Yeah. So I was recommended things that was further imb, balancing the things I was already depleted in.

So now the iron further depleted my copper, which was already low from growing babies. And then the synthetic vitamin D further depleted the retinol and the potassium, which already was, which was already low. So it was basically creating this, I had this little bit imbalance and then it like further imbalanced everything.

And then when we're very imbalanced, that's when the real symptoms start to, to come in and play a factor.

Chris Detzel: So what'd you take to, yeah. Would you that,

Julie Rembold: so 2022, I learned that and I was like, all right, I'm onto something. And I just I kept studying, I kept learning and actually I really dove into I felt led to.

Research alongside Morley Robbins and the Root Cause protocol. He's been researching this for 14 years and so he so he had a lot of information and and I learned so much. So I [00:43:00] took his institute training and started to understand how blood's made, how energy's made, how bones made so the metabolism of all these different components that are really important.

Through that, I was able to understand that these synthetic compounds made in a lab aren't necessarily what our body wants. And really what we want is the same things but from nature. For example synthetic vitamin D can deplete retinol and potassium, but we can take con liver oil and that gives us a natural retinol and a natural vitamin D.

And our body receives that so much better than it does these synthetic components. And so I switched all the way over to saying, you know what, I'm gonna get all the nutrition I need from nature. Instead of getting protein from protein powder, which also depletes retinol. I'm gonna get mine from raw milk.

'cause raw milk is very high in natural protein. Oh.

Chris Detzel: But yeah.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. And so over that, I healed my body. So now yeah, I think I'm better off than like, when I originally began, I think my health and my physiology is stronger than [00:44:00] before I even began training.

Chris Detzel: So did you stop running for those four years completely, or what?

Julie Rembold: I did not. So I really think, I really felt led to keep running. Sure. And I really, I looked back at that and I really felt like that was really important. And the reason is, and this is kinda the way I view it, is, if you have an engine, if you have a car and it just sits parked for a long time, then.

It's actually worse on the engine than if you keep it moving. And I really think that keeping the engine moving is really what caused me to never have anything get to where it was like, I think I was like on the edge of a bad situation.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: But I think the fact that I kept the engine constantly running every day, no matter how hard it was, I think is really what kept me from going over.

So I ran through all those four years.

Chris Detzel: Did you decrease the mileage or something? What was the I did,

Julie Rembold: yep. I decreased the mileage, increased the intensity. So yeah, so for those four years I pulled back a lot and I did take some time off here and there. I wasn't as consistent. I just really tried to listen to my body and go, all right, am I back?

[00:45:00] Am I there? Can I handle this load again? Really tried to regain that intuition I used to have, which was hard 'cause my intuition was broken through it. Yeah, I mean I think

Chris Detzel: that sometimes, besides all the health issues that you had, sometimes taking a little time off like that is helpful because.

It puts it in perspective, right? And plus, is the body really, made to continue to hum like you were going, right? For the year and a half you're going and just, and obviously most people get injured at some point anyways. And so maybe it helped a little bit, to say, okay, this is what it's like to just go jog, five to seven miles or, like just to Yeah. Enjoy it.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. Yeah. And I did keep doing workouts and stuff. Sure. And yeah, I I think that yes, there's definitely an element to that. And I think too, I knew that if I wanted my body to heal. Then I needed to give it the space to do that. And I'd gotten to where I was and I learned what broke me.

And I was like, the running didn't broke me. It [00:46:00] broke me. I was doing great with running. Sure it was the mineral balances that broke me, but it definitely needed to be, it needed time to rebalance and time to get everything back to a healthy level again.

Chris Detzel: Is Julie back? You know what? What's going on now?

What you know?

Julie Rembold: Yeah, so I jumped in a few marathons. I didn't feel like I was completely back, but I knew that it was important to ease back in. So four years after my two 50 Indianapolis, I was like and actually then I started working with Roy Linkletter. So Roy Linkletter is my coach now.

I started with him in 2022. That makes sense. And yeah, and so about a year after that we were like, all right I still got some improvement I need to do, but let's jump into a marathon. I felt like it was safe to run a marathon again, honestly, through those four years. I was signed up for multiple marathons that I canceled.

So I was signed up for the fall of Austin in 2020, and I was like, it's not safe. It's not safe for me to run it. I just knew my health wasn't good. I was signed up for Chicago in 2022 and I canceled that also. So I was [00:47:00] canceling marathons, just not feeling like it was right. But 2023, I was like, all right I'm not back, but I feel like it's safe enough to run a marathon again.

Sure. And so I jumped into Indianapolis and ran three hours and 51 seconds.

Chris Detzel: That's back, it's not two 50 back, but I mean it's

Julie Rembold: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Still pretty darn good. You had to feel good about that.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, I did. I felt really good about that. I was like, all right, this is a really good sign.

I felt good at the end. The goal was sub three hour, the funny thing was is that last mile, I could have run sub three hour, but the last couple miles, I was just feeling so grateful that I could run a marathon healthy again.

Chris Detzel: That's awesome.

Julie Rembold: That. I just, I remember just taking in those last two miles.

I was like, I could have dug deep and I could have hit that goal of sub three hour, but I was like, instead, I just wanna enjoy this moment. So I really just enjoyed the moment. It was a very different last two miles than back in Indy 2019 when I was walking it in.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: So it's funny that I ran the same race four years later.

So that was fantastic. And then but [00:48:00] I knew I wasn't fully back yet, so I kept training. Also some things changed in my life. The kids got older as we talked about. And I also took on some other responsibilities through learning physiology. I started working with and helping others. And so that made me busier.

So now actually I have a business and I work with health coaching with others. And so that, and I wanted to keep researching really. I'm so curious. And it just really piqued my interest. And so I was spending a lot of time researching, a lot of time working with others. And then I actually taught chemistry at our kids school for a year.

Cool. And so I, I got busy during that time too, but I also think it was important to give my bo my body more time to heal. Sure.

Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Look, we all get busy. None of us are at the end of the day, for the most part. We're not pro marathoners and runners, we do this just 'cause we love it, yep. And I think that's a hard part for us to think about. It's okay, look, you have five kids and now they're all into a bunch of things. You have a husband you have running. Luckily you get to do that, but at the end of the day you doing pretty darn good.

Yeah. [00:49:00] Yeah.

Julie Rembold: And I just really believed really ever since Indy 2019. Yeah. I just have known that. I'm gonna run a 2 41 marathon. Although I'm getting older, that was still the goal. I felt I was there and and so I think too, part of my motivation of being careful letting my body build back is because I knew my body needed to get healthy before I was ready to really push it again.

And although I'm getting older, I'm 45 now and not 39, but you know what? I think I'm healthier than what I was when I began. And so I was really, I was really letting my body heal. But I had, I always had big goals out there in my sights, and I knew that I just, I had to take the right steps to get there.

Chris Detzel: You did take almost a year off to do another marathon from 2023 to. Yeah. 2025 show you

Julie Rembold: just over a year. Over a year. Yeah. Yeah. A year and three months. Yeah. So I was like, all right chemistry

Chris Detzel: and all that stuff. Is that,

Julie Rembold: yeah, I was busy.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Julie Rembold: But also I think that I was like, okay, that was a good marathon.

It showed me [00:50:00] I'm back but I still needed, I felt like I still needed more time. Okay. And then I think getting closer to Houston, January, 2025, I was like, okay this is good. Let's give this another go again. And I only ran a minute faster. I ran 2 59. So I got back under three hours again.

And so that was exciting. That was also a cold day. Some people loved that day. I struggle a little bit in the cold. Yeah. Some people were like, this was so much better than Boston weather. For me, the really cold is a little harder for me. It was

Chris Detzel: Windy at first from what I remember. Yeah. Like real windy in Houston.

And I in Austin half, but it is the same weather. And I remember, yeah, dude, it is freezing.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, and it was changing throughout the week. Like I remember in like on Monday talking to Rory and we were like, it's gonna be a perfect day. And then every day the weather got colder and windier and it was like every day you'd wake up and check the weather and you're like, it's gonna be colder and windier.

And by the time it got to race day good, but rainy

Chris Detzel: and cold, it is just miserable, and I found is even

Julie Rembold: that's true. Cold and windy and [00:51:00] rainy. I found the one benefit though, do a very cold, windy start to race. And that was, there was no lines at the porta-potties.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, exactly.

Julie Rembold: Zero. None. It was amazing.

I went down there to, to the start and everybody was walking the opposite direction back to the building to go to the bathroom and I was like, perfect. Yeah, exactly. Get all the porta-potties to myself, porta

Chris Detzel: potty kind of things, I should have a show around, let's talk about your porta-potty kind of stories, kind of stuff, right?

So you get done with Houston, you did pretty well, 2 59. Were you happy with that or Yep,

Julie Rembold: I was happy with that. Yeah. I felt like I still, I was hoping to, I still felt okay, where's this turning point? But I think too here's another lesson that I learned.

I feel like I've learned all the lessons now, so now I'm ready to go. So the other big lesson that I learned now that I got my health back from January, 2018 until really until the summer of, even through the health issues, really until the summer of 22 I was really good at doing strength.

[00:52:00] And so I was very consistent. I did strength twice a week, but then for some reason in 2022, I just was like, you know what? I got a lot, my body healed. So I backed off from running and I also backed off from strength training. Okay. And I found it was hard to get it back. And so I went into Houston going, you know what?

My health's really good. My health's really great, but I did strength five times in three years.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, that's not good.

Julie Rembold: I, that's not good. And so fortunately it didn't lead to injury issues, but I was much weaker physically. One,

Chris Detzel: as you get, you talk about getting older, especially as I'm 50. And so 45 to 50 is a big jump, trust me.

Yeah. And you start to really feel it. Women go through menopause, you go through a lot more than just getting older. Yeah. Your body's gonna change and that's just the real and more so than men, obviously. Yeah. And that's gonna be another opportunity for you, once that starts.

Yeah.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, so coming off of, so coming off of Houston, I was like I was like, all right, I gotta get strength back. And and so I think [00:53:00] between, in that timeframe I was like, all right, I'm ready to go now. I just need to get my strength back. Started doing strength again, build up the mileage again.

And so I only had a couple months there before Boston. And I can't remember if I shared, but I actually got the flu right before Boston. Yeah. So that but I was back to a hundred percent. I really started feeling a hundred percent about two days before the race. And and I wasn't worried about it.

I was just so excited to go out there and take in Boston. Yeah. So I ran 2 56 there, but I think that now is, I'm really excited. I'm really excited. So

Chris Detzel: have you been doing a lot of shrink training from Boston till now as well? Is that, how does that

Julie Rembold: the summer was tricky, but I definitely picked it up.

Okay. Yeah. So I like I said before, I was like back in the day I was very consistent about at least twice a week. But through the summer, just with family and trips and stuff, I'd say I probably was about, once a week sometimes, but now since the summer ended, I've gotten really consistent.

So this fall I'm planning to really get consistent. I think that's gonna be a really key switch here through this fall for me. Yeah,

Chris Detzel: I think if you wanna hit two [00:54:00] forties, you probably have to, you'll have to do the training obviously, but throw in some strength and you'll be ready to go, I think.

And what's your up and coming marathon?

Julie Rembold: Yeah I feel like this next race is my first race since the whole journey where I feel like I'm like really dialed in. I'm ready to commit again and have a big goal. So I'm running the marathon project December, 2020, or, yeah, December. December 20th.

Sorry, December 20th of this year the Marathon project and and I really wanna go for 2 45 there. I think that's

Chris Detzel: doable. Kinda looking at it from a 2 56 to 2 45, but knowing that you have the ability to hit the 2 45 is there, there's no doubt. I think so.

Julie Rembold: I think it's finding, I think if I can find the time to get the consistency back in training and get the consistency back in strength, I think that's gonna be the key.

But

Chris Detzel: yeah, I

Julie Rembold: just, I really feel good about my chances if I can dial back in. I'll

Chris Detzel: be watching where's that marathon at? I don't even know. It's

Julie Rembold: in Phoenix.

Chris Detzel: Okay, alright.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. So it's brought back [00:55:00] from 2020 and really the reason I picked that is I mentioned earlier that now that I have so many teenagers, I have four teenagers.

So we are always waiting for the day. We would have four teenagers and we have four teenagers we're there. Okay. Yeah, we have a 19, 17, 15 and 13 and then 11-year-old. So yeah, one under the teenage years. But so with all their schedules, it was hard. Like at first I was registered for CIM, but then CIM there was stuff that I didn't wanna miss with the kids.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: So I was looking around for that race where the weekend was available, and then the marathon project came open and I was like, Hey, that weekend works sweet. And it, it sounds like a fun race. The family can come and it I'm nervous about the looped course, but I think the benefit of it, 'cause I love the point to points which is very different from a looped course, but the benefit of it is the family's gonna come.

And I, I can't remember how many times they said they can see you, but they can see you a lot. They can see multiple times. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Julie Rembold: So that's gonna be really fun. Be fun.

Chris Detzel: It's just another, you'll see that. How [00:56:00] many loops is it?

Julie Rembold: I don't remember. I, yeah, I think it's six. So it's not a lot. Maybe it's a lot.

I don't know. I don't know. I need to go back and look at it again. Don't quote me, don't quote me on that. I won't, I don't

Chris Detzel: even know myself.

Julie Rembold: But when the family came to Cold Houston, they, I remember taking off and they're like, looking for me and I'm looking for them. And and I remember catching my son's jacket in the back corner of my eye and they're still looking backwards.

And I'm like, oh no, they missed me. They missed

Chris Detzel: me. Like

Julie Rembold: they came all this way and they only have one more chance to catch me on the way back. And they did catch me at the finish. So as, so in contrast, they'll get to see me hopefully. They see a lot. A lot. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: And that's really cool to be able to have your family there, all the kids and they're gonna be cheering for you, yeah. And all the things that you're gonna do no matter how the marathon turns out. I'm sure it's gonna be fine. It seems like you have a pretty darn good marathon. Every time.

Julie Rembold: Yeah. I feel like, yeah. I mean it's, I've been happy with every single finish, it's all part of the journey [00:57:00] and it's all, even indie where I came in, nine minutes shy of my goal in 2019, made for a great story.

It's, it's all kind of part of what gets me where I am today. So I don't have a single race that I'm upset about.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, you shouldn't, you have some great races. I'm not saying that, we all wanna do better at certain points, but, sometimes that's just what the day gives you, yeah. And you just take it and the days have given you from a time standpoint, very good times. Yeah. Most of the time. Absolutely. I know your body, is shut down at times, but you still did pretty well and it's pretty amazing to, to see you get through what you've gone through. Pretty impressed.

I'm very impressed because thank you. Not a lot of people would, I would've been like, they're not feeling good today, so I'm just. Walk it, so good for you for getting through and good for you for figuring out, what was wrong with your body and taking, it into your hands and making the right choices and good things happen to yourself, yep. 'cause you're the only advocate for your body, which is

Julie Rembold: That's what I figured out. And I'm happy to [00:58:00] say that all the symptoms are gone. I was even thinking when I was running, I was like, I can't remember the last time I had that, where the leg disconnected. Which is super strange.

I can't remember the last time that happened. It was so far in the past. Yeah. So I'm happy to say that everything's great now.

Chris Detzel: This has been awesome. Julie. Is there anything that I didn't ask you or we talked about that you're like, oh man, we should talk about this thing?

Julie Rembold: No, I feel like we really covered the whole journey.

That was great. I was wondering if we were gonna get through it, but we get, we did.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. I figured we would,

Julie Rembold: Sometimes when I'm telling, when I'm thinking through in my head, it can take a lot longer. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: You're very organized. You had it written down, you sent it to me.

Yeah. So that helps you to get all the things right that you wanted to talk about. And Julie, this has been really great,

Julie Rembold: Yeah the only other thing I would add in is I'm just, I'm also really excited 'cause I feel like the Dallas running community's growing.

Chris Detzel: Oh. Big time.

Julie Rembold: Through the last podcast I was able to meet some more people and I feel like that's such a fun [00:59:00] part of it is just, meeting up and running.

I coach my kids cross country team also.

Chris Detzel: Oh, wow.

Julie Rembold: And I tell them all the time, I'm like, one of the things that makes this so fun is, yes, we have our workout days, which are fun, but the other days you're just meeting up with friends, chatting about the day on your easy run. That's right. So it's really fun to meet more people through what you've done, what you've built, and just, starting to get to know other runners in the area and get to meet up and run with them.

Chris Detzel: Very well said. I couldn't say that any better. And, I love the Dallas DFW running community. It's growing like crazy. I just talked to this guy Theo Murdoch he's the run it up guy that start, I don't know if you know that group or seen it. I don't,

Julie Rembold: but yeah, another group to meet.

Chris Detzel: It's a huge group. They have 200 people plus coming on Mondays and Tuesdays and they meet on Saturdays and things like that. But he started that a little over a year and a half ago or a year ago, and I'm like, what he's accomplished and what the group's accomplished Wow. Is pretty amazing.

And just to see it grow. But it's not just that all these groups are growing [01:00:00] Pegasus and, others, the saucer, the elite type of group within Dallas anyways. And yeah, you're. And then just people getting into running is really fun to watch, and but yeah, it is fun and it's crazy and I get to hear stories like yours that are inspiring to me and hopefully it's inspiring to others. It is. Obviously people are, the podcast numbers are going up that's great. Part of is, people are listening and so yeah, they're interested.

Julie Rembold: Yeah, it's really fun to see the Dallas running community grow so much. That's really

Chris Detzel: cool. Crazy. Yeah. Julie, it's been great. Thank you everyone for tuning into another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel. Please rate and review us and go to DFW running talk dot sub stat.com to join our newsletter that I send out mostly every week.

But Julie, thanks again for coming on DFW Running Talk. We really do appreciate it.

Julie Rembold: Thank you.

Chris Detzel: Have a great day.