Med Student to Marathon Victor: Travis Dowd's Journey to 2024 Dallas Marathon Glory
Travis Dowd runDallas Marathon winnner
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] All right. Thank you for tuning in to another DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel, and today we have a special guest, Travis Dowd. Travis, how are you?
Travis Dowd: I'm doing great, Mr. Detzel. How are you?
Chris Detzel: Yeah, you can call me Chris, but I'm probably old enough to be your dad, but one thing I do want to say is that you won the Run Dallas Marathon in your first marathon, and you've won this marathon.
Congratulations. That's awesome.
Travis Dowd: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, very blessed and fortunate to be here. And I think the only reason that I was able to be even a possibility was like, The number of people that gave me advice and helped me to like, actually be able to know what I was getting myself into.
Chris Detzel: I just think it's amazing. It's your first marathon. You win it and you had a great time of two hours and 26 minutes. We'll get into this in a minute. Let's talk about you a little bit. Did you start, let's talk about your journey, your, did you start in high school, middle school? How did that turn out?
Travis Dowd: So I started running more to get in shape in [00:01:00] middle school. And it was the classic running or soccer to running pipeline. I was a serious soccer player and I said, I'm going to do this. I said, I was the worst. Do this for, through college. That was the goal and I liked the sport, but I started to get in, run to get in shape for soccer in middle school doing cross country.
And I really liked it. I really liked the community around it. And as I got into high school, I was running in soccer, my two main sports. I would play a little bit of basketball and baseball on the side, but like running in soccer, like my two main sports and then beginning of high school, I was starting to get into these.
Get onto these select teams in club soccer, where it was, if you don't choose between running and soccer you're not going to get recruited for soccer, because we're starting to go to these tournaments, and everything, outside of the city, and the seasons are starting to overlap, and everything, and At that point, I think the soccer community was getting a little bit toxic for me.
I didn't like how some of like the playing time worked and like the team selections worked. [00:02:00] And it seems paradoxical just because running is thought of as more of an individual sport. But I think because of that running is also a more collaborative sport, which is weird to think about.
But I think at the end of the day, it really just matters. It's you versus yourself trying to improve on your times and. ~ ~Everyone else is just in control of themselves. If you hit a certain standard, you're going to be able to go to a certain school or you're going to be able to run for a certain program.
And so everyone's a lot more collaborative in that sense. Cause ~ ~I think they it's obvious that training with people that are better than you and running with people that are better than you is going to help you. And that's exactly, so I ended up taking that route early high school kind of committed to running.
And I still played soccer on the side for my school, but I I knew I wasn't going to. Take it anywhere after high school. So it was just like a fun thing to not get myself too focused and too burnt out on running.
Chris Detzel: I think that's pretty mature. Knowing that, during high school, you knew that you weren't, you're going to play soccer.
You enjoyed it, but you didn't want to mess with that because soccer can be very political.
Travis Dowd: That's exactly the word that [00:03:00] I would use. Yeah, maybe toxic is not the right word, but political is probably the right word.
Chris Detzel: Politics can be toxic, I think, not to dive too deep into that, but I think they're probably a little bit of both, yeah, talk a little bit about, because, you have to be pretty competitive, obviously, and nobody's like winning kind of marathons or going into, you actually ran in college as well, right? Yes, sir. So talk about, like ~ ~Competitiveness through high school into college get up there, beat that kid or, I know it's still collaborative and it's fun.
And you probably were friends with some of the people you beat, but, there's probably a lot of that kind of going back and forth. No,
Travis Dowd: for sure. Yeah I've always been a very competitive person. I'm like the kind of guy that. If I, someone, if someone gets too intense in a family board game, like the rest of that night, it's not fun.
Like we are, like, we're throwing down a monopoly. Family
Chris Detzel: is competitive in the board games.
Travis Dowd: Yeah. It's not fun. It's not fun. And I still play a lot of pickup sports outside of running and I try to do at least when I am not hurt. [00:04:00] And I, Like I think just playing a bunch of sports when I was younger like gave me that competitive attitude And I channeled that all into running, but I think there's a certain I don't know there's a certain ~ ~I guess attitude around the running community that I really like and that i've really Embraced and that like you train with everyone and you're friends with everyone while you're training.
But then Like once that gun goes off, like there's there's a, if you're on a 10 K, there's like a 30 minute time period where you're just not friends with anyone anymore. And
Chris Detzel: you're just running, you're trying to win or at least do the best you can at time.
Travis Dowd: Yeah. And I think even even in the setting of something like a marathon, like for the first.
I don't know, 90 percent of the race, at least distance wise, like it is, you're supposed to be relaxed. If you're not relaxed at mile 10, like there ain't no way you're going to be relaxed at mile 26. I can tell you that. And you're going to be, you're going to be in the pain cave. And it's not going to feel fun.
So I think embracing that collaborative spirit of running earlier in the race. Helps you to stay relaxed, and we can talk about that [00:05:00] more when we get into the actual race itself. But I think that helps a lot to keep your mind off of focusing too hard on, dialing up the pace when you shouldn't be.
Chris Detzel: Yeah, I like that. It's pretty mature for somebody that ran their first marathon. No, it is and but you've done a lot of running, so you have some ideas of, how did you get a scholarship? Yeah. To run, you went to Rice, is that right? Yes,
Travis Dowd: sir, that's correct. I went to Rice. I, so in high school, I was fortunate enough to run with a very competitive running group where I was never at the top.
And I think that, that really helped me when I went into college because I think a lot of people have trouble in the transition from high school to college. Not that I didn't have trouble, I had plenty of trouble. But I think. Sure. Lots of the issues come from being used to being the best by far on your team or in your region and then getting to that level where you're not even close to the top anymore and different level with that.
And I was used to that. Like I came in, I was like, I know I'm not going to be at the top. And I think throughout high school and college, it allowed me to really channel into why I really love the sport and what keeps me [00:06:00] going and it wasn't necessarily. Getting first place or like winning all these races.
It was beating yourself from yesterday or those days where you really don't want to go out there and do a 8 mile tempo. Those are the days where, those are the days when usually you finish and you're like, wow, I'm really glad I did that.
Chris Detzel: Did I read this right? Is that one, one of the times, and maybe it's not your best time, but you ran like a 15 minute 5k or a, three miler.
Is that wrong?
Travis Dowd: Yes, so my PN on the 5k is 1447. I honestly didn't have the best start out of my career, like I'm not super proud of that. I wish I had been able to go faster, but at the end of the day, I feel like I, Wait,
Chris Detzel: wait, 1447 and you're not proud of that?
Travis Dowd: I'm proud of that given the conditions, but I had always dreamed of being a guy that was going to nationals and everything.
And that's not even that's not even, You're not even talking to nationals in that sense. ~ ~Yeah. I like you to go to nationals now in the NCAA, like you got to be 1330s, like a full, almost a full minute. ~ ~That's crazy. And like I said I learned to accept that and learn to love running, not for the achievement [00:07:00] pretty early.
I learned to love running for the other parts of my life that it betters pretty early and that's what's allowed me to I think stay so ~ ~Religious about my training since then since graduating from college where there's no money attached to it anymore
Chris Detzel: Yeah, I mean was there money attached to it during college?
Travis Dowd: Yes, so I was recruited quite a few places I was lucky to have a great college or high school team that got me To the platforms that I needed to I wouldn't say be super heavily recruited d1 But have recruited enough to where I was put on a very small scholarship going in, but that's not why I was going to college.
Like I running definitely helped sell what college I was getting into, but I knew I wasn't going to run professionally. I knew running would be a great vehicle to help me find my community. Help me like be a better person. More mentally and physically healthy person in the academic year. And so that's why I ended up choosing rice.
A lot of people do that are in the student athlete population there. It's the great combination of D1 athletics and academics that you can get there. So I came on a small scholarship, worked my way up, was able to get [00:08:00] on a much larger scholarship by the time I was a junior senior fifth year.
Chris Detzel: I love that.
That's, it's funny. It's, I always tell people like, no matter how fast you are, In running, whatever, K, 10, half, full, in general, ~ ~there's always somebody faster. It doesn't matter what level you are, always, for the most part, somebody faster. Except for you, in the Dallas Marathon, and you won it. So there's nobody faster that day.
And again, we'll get into that. How did you love the story so far. How did you think about your first marathon, and what went into all of that? You mentioned before, you, you were a little bit injured. You talked to Dr. Logan Sherman. Some other things I'm sure went on, let's talk about that a little bit.
Travis Dowd: Yeah. So I was a 5k, 10k guy in college. So I think it was a natural progression of the marathon for me. It was like, I was a mile, two mile guy in college where the, or sorry, in high school where the two longest distances were the mile and the two mile. I was a 5k, 10k guy in college where the two longest distances were 5k, 10k.
So I was like, okay, I guess I'm the half [00:09:00] marathon guy once I graduate college. ~ ~That's what I did. I was already on high mileage as an undergrad or in college. I was running like 95, a hundred a week by my junior year. And so I think like that cumulative kind of load on my legs, like just putting the miles in week after week really helped me make that jump.
I actually went down after I graduated college. Especially my junior, my, my senior and fifth year, I was dealing with a lot of injuries. I think my body was really just telling me like, Hey, we need a break bad. Like I'm not going to lie. Like it was. It was a difficult time balancing everything that I had going in my life, but I think it taught me a lot about myself, both academically and athletically and professionally and personally.
Chris Detzel: You're now a medical student, so you probably needed that, because now it's just going to get harder.
Travis Dowd: I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for that time, and it taught me a lot about how much I can push my limits.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Travis Dowd: I came out of that took a couple of weeks off once I ran my last collegiate race and then started [00:10:00] to, I had my eyes set on a marathon no matter what med school I went to.
When I made the decision to commit to UC Southwestern and go to UC Southwestern in the fall, it probably around I would say, I guess it was match day technically, which is like in February of the year before. So February of my fifth year of college and I earned my master's degree and I went on the website after that, I was like, okay, what does the Dallas marathon look like?
And I saw a date, so I had, I had my mind set on a December marathon of some sort and then our schedule came out for med school and our last final was on the Friday before the marathon. And I was like, oh my God. Wow. Like this is meant to be. So then I just put all my eggs in that basket.
I said, you know what? We're training for this. This is going to be fun. Still going to not have to worry about it too much. Cause I'll have my last final on the 13th, but also not be stressed about having to take another final after I run the marathon. And it worked out really well. Started to train In the summer and worked my way up in July
Chris Detzel: or whatever.
Travis Dowd: Yeah, I actually, I think I started building in June, but it was recreationally, like I was just like ~ ~very, I was trying to [00:11:00] reset. I was really trying to reset. And I think I did a good job of that. Cause I felt very reset when I hit the ground running in med school and mentally I felt great.
I reached around 80 ish miles per week. I was trying to hit 75, 80 per week consistently.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Travis Dowd: And I hit that kind of right before med school started. So right. What was your
Chris Detzel: longest run before?
Travis Dowd: Our longest run was ~ ~like, I hit my longest run. I think end of October, beginning of November, I ran I guess it was mid November.
I ran about. I ran a, I ran two hours and 45 minutes on just to see how it felt to be on your feet for that long. That was the only time I ran longer than I was going to be running for the marathon and like time wise. And I ended up running about like 25 miles or something in that time.
And it just so you
Chris Detzel: think of it more of time on your feet rather than
Travis Dowd: that's how I think of it for those longer runs where I'm running easy. A lot of my long runs. So the way that I structured my training was I would do one hard workout on Tuesday every week. [00:12:00] And then I would do a workout within my long run on Saturday or Sunday every week.
And then the rest was just easy mileage. I'm just trying to see, just trying to get as high in mileage as I could without getting hurt, which didn't end up happening. But I didn't, I had a bunch of injury scares that never fully turned into injuries, which is great.
Chris Detzel: That's good. What happened?
What was your biggest scare?
Travis Dowd: Biggest scare, I would say I had a really bad back problem, which I've never had a back injury. And that's, that was probably the scariest part is that everything else that I had before. And so ~ ~that was knew what to do. That was the blessing of getting injured so many times in my senior year and fifth year of college.
I knew I ~ ~had pages of injury protocols written out, like rehab exercises, and I had already been down those roads. So I was able to ~ ~And then getting connected with resources like Dr. Logan Sherman was that those were invaluable to me, really got me back running as quickly as I could. Did you go to him
Chris Detzel: to get your back done and stuff?
Or
Travis Dowd: is that how you met him? ~ ~Yeah. So I think I went to him the first time for the back. Cause I, I ended up, I actually never even had to [00:13:00] take a week completely off. I had to take Okay. Three or four days off, and I thought I was done, but then I went to him. For
Chris Detzel: three or four days off?
Travis Dowd: Or revived.
Yeah, it felt great. I, before that I had a little bit of a hip problem, knew how to get over that one cause I'd had hip issues in the past. I had an IT band problem right before the back problem. And so I was doing a lot of rehab for that. And I think that's what led to the back problem.
Cause I was like, probably not doing the weight stuff that I needed to, but that went away.
Chris Detzel: So let's back up. ~ ~So a lot of people like runners in general and look, you've had a lot of training and a lot of kind of, but as you think about all the miles that you ran, were you doing strength training throughout those, college and to now?
What's that look like?
Travis Dowd: Yeah, I've been doing in college. I did two strength sessions a week. Okay. I don't think, I think the strength that we did was good. I don't think it was directed enough to where I needed to be in terms of like injury prevention. I think it did good things for my running form and everything, but it wasn't, ~ ~it was a general program that we all [00:14:00] did together as a team, which was great because it helped, To build that camaraderie and like we were just together more working out together more But I think once I got hurt senior fifth year I was I got put on my own injury protocol basically like a bunch of prehab for it band stuff For achilles tendonitis stuff like issues that stemmed from there for capturing all of that.
And so I had a lot of exercises from that and that summer before I went into med school, I did a lot of just go on Instagram following. Thankfully the strength coach for BYU actually has a public Instagram account that I have followed and used a lot of that. He has, because obviously they're doing something right.
And I took a lot of the exercises that I worked with my trainers at Rice with and just, Put that into a little Frankenstein of a rehab routine. And I've been doing that just once a week and that's been doing wonders for me. I feel like I've, my stride is very efficient and a lot more efficient undergrad.
And I feel like I am working the deficiencies that I have in the muscles that have [00:15:00] caused me injury in the past.
Chris Detzel: How do you think about nutrition, from a daily basis into
Travis Dowd: running long? . Yeah. I've been a big nutrition guy for a while, and I think it's, I try not to overcomplicate it. I'm just a big no, minimize the adding ingredients as much as possible.
Yeah. So I just go shopping once a week. I'll meal prep once a week. Get a big rotisserie chicken for any times that I don't have like time for a meal prep and that'll be my For the week big if you've ever had overnight oats, my friends are gonna laugh when they hear this But if you ever had overnight
Chris Detzel: what
Travis Dowd: overnight oats, that's ah, yeah I just have a stockpile in my fridge and if I'm ever running behind or I need a quick meal to grab one I'm running out the door That's the one.
So there's been times where I've had that three times a day, and it's worked wonders for me. It's just ~ ~Oats? Yeah, get I just make sure that at every meal, I'm getting like some type of carbs, protein, fats, and that's I don't over scientify it, but I Just try to get those macros in ~ ~as [00:16:00] natural a source as I can.
Chris Detzel: It sounds super simple, right? But I think it's very important. A lot of people don't think about that, and I just talked to a runner and she was like, I just got a nutritionist or dietitian and that person really helped her go to the next level in her marathon training.
Like she's an older runner in her late thirties. And she's had a couple of and she just ran a two 58, went from a, Three 15 to 3 0 6 to a 2 58. That's a huge gain at that age with a couple of babies. That , ~ ~and I think, a big part of that was nutrition.
She said, if I'd have known about this 10 years ago, and it sounds like you have a very strong view and focus, and I love that at such a young age.
Travis Dowd: Appreciate it. Yeah, no, I'm definitely I think I'm big right now just because my time is so limited outside of school I think i'm Controlling like the 95 percent that you can control.
Talk to a lot of people about this. Just yes, there's a lot of fancy recovery tools out there. And yes, I like, I see the Norman texts in the [00:17:00] background. Like I use Norman texts all the time. I love Norman texts. I think at the end of the day, like 95 percent that I really need to focus on. If I don't have time for the others is are you getting the sleep you need?
Are you getting the food you need and are you hitting the mileage and like
Chris Detzel: yeah
Travis Dowd: That's the majority of it if I have time for the other stuff great But there's weeks where I definitely don't have time for the other stuff. So just focusing on that
Chris Detzel: You're focusing on what you can control and I think that's important.
I mean you can always Focus on food. You can focus on nutrition and, the best you can on mileage, especially with the time you got as a med student, so what made you decide to run a marathon? What was your thinking? Hey, I'm going to, you said you're going to do it, right? And you told us about the planning and things like that.
What just said, just because it's the next step, that was it. It's Hey, I got to do a marathon.
Travis Dowd: No, I think, That's that's great. I definitely think that was the natural progression for me. I think that was a small part of my motivation for it, but I think the big part was [00:18:00] having been injured multiple times in college, having seen what a normal routine is like in college.
And. Like how productive I can be when I'm running and feeling good and feeling Healthy both mentally and physically ~ ~I think it just became a very powerful tool for me to ~ ~Keep myself accountable in other parts of my life. So if I i've explained it like this It's like almost like a ph strip or something like you It's a good test on whether you're healthy and you're doing well in other parts of your life So if I am not getting the sleep I need or i'm not Or i'm way too stressed out about school or anything like my running suffers because of it and I can notice it very easily Versus when i'm injured if i'm not running or like in my normal routine I can fall down a spiral really quickly where I just don't even notice like how much I'm running My routine is getting messed up and how that's affecting my quality of work and my efficiency in getting work done.
Yeah, I
Chris Detzel: love that. Running is just who you are and part of your life. So as [00:19:00] you get close to Dallas running the marathon, did you think you had a chance to win it? What was your thinking in that? Because, I'm sure you had some ideas of where you are and looking at. Maybe who's going to be there and that kind of stuff.
Travis Dowd: Yes. There's a ton of conversion charts out there and I had obviously done my fair share of looking at those just like times converting 5k times. And I had looked at the times from the past two years and I saw Joe Hale's name up there. I'd never, I've never actually met the guy yet. I really want to, if you're watching or listening, Joe Hill, I would love to get it running with you in some time.
But I think I saw I saw his times up there Low to 25, like the highest you 24s for the last two. And that was right aware, right around where my 10 K time had me projected. So I
Chris Detzel: think.
Travis Dowd: I really set that goal. I was like, I'm going to go win this thing from the beginning of the summer, because I think that kind of gave me something to shoot for outside of school that allowed me to not get too caught up in school.
Cause I'm the kind of person where if I don't [00:20:00] have something to shoot for outside of school, like I am going to get so absorbed in my studies. Like med school, anyone will tell you med school is the kind of thing where ~ ~you could study for 23 hours a day if you wanted to and get one hour sleep and you would not run out of things to study.
I get sick. It like the subjects are ~ ~Incredibly you can go incredibly in depth into each thing Like there's people that have phds and like what we learn in one day but we just go surface level over so many things and you have to learn to efficiently understand what you need to be able to So you have to effectively synthesize information across different subjects and across within one given subject, and ~ ~then be able to apply that in clinical practice.
And I think
Chris Detzel: Do you feel like, so not to get completely off, we'll get off a little bit though, is that AI, you think about the chat GPS, clods, or whatever, do you think some of that is helping with your studies, or does it not, how do you think of it that way?
Travis Dowd: I actually Admittedly, I have not done a good job of that.
I have not done a good job of incorporating AI into my learning. I know a lot of friends that [00:21:00] have, like a lot of my classmates have done a really good job of it. Like using AI to help synthesize the information that we're learning in class, to put it in flashcards, to really get big picture concepts. And all the way from that to like making basically like.
Large analogies to be able to memorize a ton of information really quickly. So like in relating it to stuff that you already know about so that you're able to memorize it more quickly. I'm trying to do that, but I'm learning it's not one. Yeah.
Chris Detzel: You might try it out and see what happens, but all right.
So you're here, you're thinking, okay, I have a chance to win it. That's what you're going in for, just trying to win. And so you get there on race day. How are you feeling? What's going on.
Travis Dowd: So I had another injury scare. Like I was like, okay, six in the cycle, what a better way to finish the marathon build than to get one last injury.
So last workout before my taper. Yeah. Last workout before my taper, I start to feel a little I'd already had a strain on the [00:22:00] inside gastroc or inside, like part of my calf. And I, Dr. Sherman helped me out with that. Boom, back to running within like a couple of days.
Chris Detzel: So what does he say in doing your conversation?
He knows you're going to race and he probably knows that you're trying to win it. What's that conversation like?
Travis Dowd: It was honestly so good to have him just because he understood, like I had gone to a couple of other people before him, just because admittedly he is a very valuable resource and a lot of people want him.
So it was hard to get in, but I think he had so much understanding for what I was about to do. Like he is one. The marathon I think is he won the marathon and half marathon or just I think he's one book. Yes. Yeah,
Chris Detzel: and he's won the Caltown half full and 50k.
Travis Dowd: Yeah, like dude's a monster like he's so good at what he does and he understands What what I am trying to do and I think that was huge because I felt like he wasn't just gonna say Okay.
Yeah, this is the cash train like you need to take two weeks off. Yeah ~ ~I'm five weeks out. This is what I'm supposed to be hitting my highest mileage. And so I think understanding that getting [00:23:00] me back on my feet as quickly as possible was huge. But anyway, I had like last work out of the cycle before I tape when I was tapering had an outside strain of my gastroc.
And I'm like, okay, that's not like the worst possible time to get an injury because I'm starting my taper now, but it definitely affected my taper and made me really antsy leading up to the race because I. Had only run like I started I basically had more or less a 10 day taper and I Was running probably every third day of that and then working on the elliptical or art trainer Which is like a modified elliptical for the majority of the rest of that time Just trying to get some zone to work in like as much as possible And I didn't know if that was going to make me feel really fresh for the race Or if that was going to make me feel really flat because I'd only run in that 10 weeks a day period I only ran Three miles at gold marathon pace.
Chris Detzel: Wow.
Travis Dowd: I was a little bit nervous going into it, but it turns out it made me feel pretty fresh. So it's happy with that.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. It's, we worry about some of the craziest things. It's not like you [00:24:00] shouldn't worry about it, but sometimes worry just Is in the, gets in the way, sometimes you just gotta take what the day gives you and take what your body will give you. And, sounds like you did that, you're still worried a little bit, just like everybody else in the world. But if you can learn how to not worry as much, because you can't control everything, just can't. And and you had a good race, for sure.
What, so you get there on race day, a little nervous, but tell me about the race. Let's get there let's talk about that.
Travis Dowd: Yeah I've been super lucky and blessed to be plugged in with the Dallas running community through getting a couple of good connections, running with Completely Sloth Run Club, or the Sloths.
They've been huge. Did you say
Chris Detzel: Sloth Run Club?
Travis Dowd: Yes, the Sloths. That's the Okay, I don't think I've heard of those. They're an offshoot of Pegasus. Okay, yeah, got it. They're led by Dr. Matt Campbell, and He's been an invaluable resource for me. Just like getting me involved with with the Dallas running community and I've met quite a few people through that helped calm my nerves right before the [00:25:00] race and also enabled me to get pacing and feel very comfortable in the first couple of miles of the race.
Cause at the end of the day, it's just about like conserving, conserving, conserving. So race day, get there. I'm in the hotel lobby and just trying to think about everything other than the race until 30 minutes before and I did eat some
Chris Detzel: stuff, drink, whatever.
Travis Dowd: Yeah, exactly. And so I was able to just chat with them for a while before that's pretty cool.
And then lock in when I needed to, even for the first four ish miles of the race. I was pacing with Mimi who's like my idol. So that was really cool.
Chris Detzel: I'm trying to get her on
Travis Dowd: by the way.
Chris Detzel: Mimi Smith.
Travis Dowd: Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. She's yeah she's going to come on, she's been busy, but that'd be a good one.
So that's good to know.
Travis Dowd: Yes. So like she was trying to start out right around the target pace that I was trying to start out at. I wanted to go out a little bit harder. I was trying to hit five thirties beginning more or less, but, and and I was thinking about maybe even going a little faster than that, but then with the calf injury and everything, I was like, I want to take the first couple of [00:26:00] miles, chill,
Chris Detzel: a warm day or as in it was warm but very muggy, like humidity was like at 90 plus percent,
Travis Dowd: I think. Yeah. And that was definitely another concern going into it too. So with those two things combined, I was like, I'd rather start out a little bit slow and then.
Chris Detzel: to
Travis Dowd: it and make, I made my race plan as I went more or less.
Chris Detzel: You had a plan, but then it's slightly changed, that's just, I think that's a smart thing to do. So for the first four miles you're running with Mimi, so then she, you just break off or what is that?
Travis Dowd: I forgot exactly how it worked. I think I, there was a couple of, I actually like the fact that the half marathoners and marathoners started together. I was able to like just walk in with a pack of half marathoners. And that was my goal all along was just five 30 to five 35 for those first eight miles while you're with the half marathoners. And so try to start to run in that range and then just find a couple of people that are running in that same range and just try to like.
Either tuck in behind or alongside or just someone to like, take your mind off of each stride, more or less. And so I did that. [00:27:00] It was great. And then I broke off at mile eight, and I was looking around trying to figure nobody is there with me and no one was there. Because
Chris Detzel: you never know. You're right.
Until it splits off.
Travis Dowd: Yeah, you're by
Chris Detzel: yourself.
Travis Dowd: I was really ready to be with at least two or three other people at that point. Yeah. But then I just had to refocus and, Decide, okay, do I want to just wait for someone to catch up for me? I feel great right now. Why not just send it? So I sent it.
Well,
Chris Detzel: of course you don't want to wait. Then you could get beat,
Travis Dowd: Wait, but just sit back. I actually, if you look at my splits, the other thing was right at the mileage split, I had a big group of friends there. And there was also just a huge crowd right around mile 8, right on that left turn.
I forgot the two seconds. ~ ~And that, if you look at my splits, that, that mile is significantly faster than any other mile. Just because it ~ ~was also downhill. Yeah. It got me really pumped up. And that's when I just flipped that switch. I was like, okay, we're just going to go for it and see if we can just gap everybody.
Chris Detzel: So from 1 to [00:28:00] 8, there seems to be a lot of crowd support, until that, cutoff, or where it turns from, the split off. So what'd you think about, and I know you just said you took off, but the crowd support dies down a little bit during White Rock Lake. Of course, because it's harder to get to and things like that.
Did that bother you at all? Or was it just whatever,
Travis Dowd: No, I think that even the support, even from mile eight out to White Rock Lake was also really good on that kind of ~ ~part was amazing. And then once we got to White Rock, there was a huge crowd right on the kind of turnoff, like where you went around White Rock one way clockwise, but then also when you were coming back.
So they got you twice there. That was huge. And then I had my sister handing out gels right after that crowd. That gave me another boost of energy. That was great. And then around the lake, I got surprised by a few people. I had a friend like at the back of mile 12 that I didn't know it was coming.
And so that was like a huge boost. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it was great. And then one of the guys Dr. Mick [00:29:00] Leahy, I don't know if you know him but he's recently moved here. Saw him at like mile 11. That gave me another boost. Saw a guy wearing a rice track t shirt. I didn't know him. I think he graduated before.
I. Became a freshman, but saw him, one of my friend's parents was out, were out there. So like I had support interspersed and then a lot of support, all that. Yeah. On top of all that, I also had every single long run I did was at White Rock. ~ ~Okay.
Chris Detzel: So you knew,
Travis Dowd: yeah, I felt so exactly
Chris Detzel: where you
Travis Dowd: are, where I know and love it's so pretty around there.
And the pictures that came out of that part of the course are sick. Like you get the fog all around you. You're you look at your locker, you're sweating. Oh my gosh, it looks so cool. What was it
Chris Detzel: I'm looking at one of your pictures on, it's your last picture. I don't know if it's saved it on Instagram to where, what, it's you holding up going, I don't know if, Hey, I'm number one or whatever, but basically it's a cool ass picture basically.
Yeah. I love it. But as you were going down that, winning kind of thing, you knowing that you already won things, or at [00:30:00] least you haven't hit it. What was that like with the crowd?
Travis Dowd: It was great. It was great. I. I definitely wanted to put on a little bit of a show like just not show how much I was hurting because I was hurting quite a bit.
I've told my friends like probably from mile 23 on you know how like when you finish a jigsaw puzzle and then you if you like hold it up by the corner it like starts to like
Chris Detzel: In
Travis Dowd: different directions. Oh, ~ ~that's how I felt from 23 on. I was like, okay, just hold it together. Just don't fall apart.
Like you're almost there. And ~ ~those last five miles or so. The way that they have it set up with the half marathon running right next to the marathon is amazing. I love, ~ ~so you didn't have to constantly cheering for me. That was the only thing that got me through those last five miles, I think.
Had my mom at like mile 24, like that gave me another boost. That's cool. so many just boosts of adrenaline that got me through. And then ~ ~I was holding it together really well until a hill that I didn't even know about. I was so ready for a hill at miles 19, 20. Killed those felt great. Yeah, I still had energy [00:31:00] coming off of those and then at like mile 25 There was a small little like rinky dink hill right after.
Yeah, I wouldn't even notice if I was just doing But I was already at that point. I was already trying to hold it together and everything and then I hit that Oh, I looked at my watch at pace 640. I was like, oh, this is not oh man, but got up that And then turned right. And I think it was like one right turn and then one veer left.
And that's when you're on the home straight. And that's when the clouds started getting big again. That's when I I just forgot it. Like it was the weirdest feeling. I just forgot about the pain for
Chris Detzel: a
Travis Dowd: good half mile. It was crazy.
Chris Detzel: That's pretty awesome.
Travis Dowd: I love that.
Chris Detzel: And so if you get to the finish line, did you feel like super emotional?
Your first marathon, Travis, you win. And I know you're an experienced runner overall, you've, but there's nothing like, a marathon, you never know what can happen. You just mentioned that mile 23, you started to really feel it. And even slightly before, and you could have, Yeah.
died down there, but you [00:32:00] didn't. What was that like, that emotional piece at the end, very end?
Travis Dowd: Honestly, you finish. I don't think I got too emotional right after because I was tired. I was elated. , like I so many cool people. Yeah, my that's awesome. My friends right over the other side of the bridge, like waving at me and I was just, it was like, y'all gonna have to gimme like an A And I think it, I also, I don't know how long it was, but after I finished.
I walked over to the side and I started to try to give people hugs, but then that's when my hamstrings just my hamstrings, quads, calves, everything just started seizing up. But this is like crazy. Like I started to panic. I was like, Oh my God. So I sat down on the curb. And then every single time I tried to get up after that, couldn't get up, probably had to have been sitting there for at least 30 minutes, almost an hour.
Before I was fine, I chugged three coconut waters, four Gatorades. Finally was able to get out
Chris Detzel: of
Travis Dowd: the water. Oh, yeah. I was so dehydrated, I didn't even feel it that much later. It was crazy. I felt like normal again. But it was electric. I love that finish, finishing line [00:33:00] atmosphere.
Chris Detzel: Think about it. Even though you're an experienced runner, you've never run that fast for that long. Think about that. Have you run 26. 2 miles that fast, that long? No. No. I mean, maybe you've run that long, but you've never ran that fast for, it's got to be your PR, for now.
And That's normal though, all the things that you're feeling. And has it been a long time since you felt that way? When you think of 5Ks you've run, the 10Ks, maybe halves or whatever. Have you ever felt that way before?
Travis Dowd: I think I have a couple of times. I think of my collegiate career, like at conference, the 5K and 10K double I did there.
I felt the double.
Chris Detzel: You did the double?
Travis Dowd: The 10K, 5K double, they do set it up well to where you have a day rest in between. So I will give props for that. I like it. It's very doable, but I think just like all the emotions. Cause I almost didn't think I was going to get to run that track season cause yet another injury, but I like ~ ~busted my ass, excuse me, sorry.
I like worked really hard during training and like cross training just to make sure that like, when I finally got healthy, like probably, it must've been like eight weeks [00:34:00] out from conference. I was able to hit the ground running, took a risk, bump my head right up to 90 and then just sent it for eight weeks and It ended up working out so that was like a really emotional time But I think this almost paralleled that this was close.
Chris Detzel: There's this race It's it's just a very local racing grapevine close to the airport and they do this k5k So you do a 5k first? Yeah, and then no, is it no it's like this So you do a 10k first and then an hour later Ish it depends when you finish about an hour later you do the 5k
Travis Dowd: Interesting.
That's like a workout.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. No it is. I mean It's a fun. It's a very local there's not a lot of people there Maybe a few hundred people at the most and it's just fun. It's like a it's in grapevine It's called it's with the grapevine. I forgot what they're called, but point, you got me thinking about that.
Like it's not something you just go compete and win it, but
Travis Dowd: it was, they didn't give him a full day on that one. Quick turnaround. No, they just
Chris Detzel: give you an, it's eight [00:35:00] o'clock. You start this race and 10 o'clock, you start the next race or nine or whatever. It's not, it has nothing. It's, it's not a.
It is, but it's not, what kind of thing that you're talking about. So how long did it take you to recover from the marathon?
Travis Dowd: This is honestly being new to the marathon. I think this is one of the hardest parts for me. I like, I'm still trying to figure out how to recover. So if anyone has any tips, please let me know.
But if you have any tips, I would love to hear them, but I just been taking the last week off, more or less. Did a seven mile run on Thursday and realized I had to take some more time off. Both my Achilles were in shambles. My left IT band was very tight. My quads were still sore. I did three miles yesterday and felt good though.
So I think it's just three miles every other day. Slowly. Yeah,
Chris Detzel: look, you're not gonna go compete like in the next month or two, are you? ~ ~Yeah, so if I were continue to ramp up the miles very slowly and then, make sure you're eating, drinking, and I think the stretching and the other exercises are going to be key for you, don't just go right into it, you'll be fine in the next two or three weeks, just be smart, [00:36:00] how to be smart, just go seven miles sounds like a lot, if you're going to go too fast, but, You'll be fine.
Just go slowly. Don't ramp up the miles to 90 miles a week. Okay.
Travis Dowd: Anytime
Chris Detzel: soon. ~ ~We'll say it again.
Travis Dowd: We've done something similar, like week off and slowly go. Yeah.
Chris Detzel: So so I haven't run a marathon in a while, it's, ~ ~I would say like I'll do half marathons and things like that. And for me, I'll take a week off.
Like I might go jog three or four miles here and there, but I'm taking a complete week off. And then the next week I'm slightly ramping up, and then I'll, the third week I'll be fine. Like you can, if it's a marathon, give it three or four weeks before you start really diving in hard.
You just ran the fastest. Time you've ever run for that long, right? And so your body's yes, I know you're a runner and, but you still gotta be smart about that. Dealt with injuries and stuff. Let your body heal, man. Just, you might go back to Logan if he can and just get a little whatever.
You might go get a massage and things like that. That [00:37:00] maybe you're not used to doing. I don't know. But. The Normatex, do that once a day, just stuff like that is, get your body healed, you've done a lot of running, ~ ~drink, you know what to do. I feel like I'm not sure I can tell you much to do, long, long stuff is just let yourself relax a little bit more than usual.
It's probably not in your mindset. You gotta do that.
Travis Dowd: Yeah it's definitely a work in progress. But we're getting
Chris Detzel: there. Yeah. What's what's next for you? I know school is gonna be highly intense and things like that, but do you have anything, any thoughts on what's next?
Travis Dowd: Yes. I think right now I'm of course if I can get healthy, I'm not like putting this on my schedule and signing up for it until I really know that I'm a hundred percent back to normal.
'cause I know once I sign up for something, I'm like, I'm gonna sign. You're on percent. Yeah. So I am tentatively looking at the half marathon for cowtown. Cool. Just 'cause I've heard the environment's really cool there as well. It's awesome.
Chris Detzel: I've done it like 10 times.
Travis Dowd: Yeah ~ ~I love it. It's probably
Chris Detzel: the second.
It used to be the first best and [00:38:00] it's still really cool because, it's in downtown Fort Worth or, you go to downtown and it's just the crowds are cool. The, it's very well organized and if you can win that thing, I don't know if there's money or not, but I think there might be, or there's, they've had a, ~ ~what do you call it?
The, the world, something, for the marathon And half marathon elites, like one of the courses. If you get that, then you get to the, I forget what it's called, but it's a great course. It's harder than Dallas actually, cause it's Hillier. But if you can, I would love to see you there.
I'll be there.
Travis Dowd: Awesome. Are you around the half there? Are you on the road? Okay.
Chris Detzel: I don't, Travis, I don't really do fools anymore. I found that. To me, I've done three fulls, I've done a few 50ks, I've done lots of different things, 20ks, 30ks, I do, I've done trail running a lot of, I do a lot of half marathons, it's just, it's a lot to train for a full, and it just, when you get kids and things like that and, work full time, life becomes a little different, and so [00:39:00] for me, ~ ~I haven't told, I told my wife this, but I said, I might think about doing Dallas this next year full for the first time in 10 years, to do actual erase a full, anybody, I can go out and jog probably. But I'm not gonna, who wants to, ~ ~I don't know.
We'll see.
Travis Dowd: Yeah,
Chris Detzel: I'm gonna probably leave it all out there.
Travis Dowd: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: What's that?
Travis Dowd: I said hats are also easier to recover from too. I'm learning that the right now
Chris Detzel: thousand percent. Man, I could go run a half marathon every month, and be fine. So full though. Just think all that training you put in it and what if you have a bad day, I just like, oh my God.
It's just, it's a mind. Mess up, I would say something else, but probably shouldn't. So all right. Caltown half. I like it. That's not too, any fools that you're thinking about, like maybe coming back next year for Dallas. And
Travis Dowd: I think Dallas is definitely the cards for next year.
I think it really depends on, I would love to come back to Dallas just because I actually,
Chris Detzel: I'm
Travis Dowd: definitely going to run Dallas in some capacity. I just don't know if I'm going to [00:40:00] make that my main marathon and try to send because I might end up doing something very. Like in the same timeframe that puts me in a good position to get an OTQ or something like that.
Yeah, right now I'm eyeing CIM for next year, possibly, which is always usually the week before Dallas. And I'm also eyeing Chicago, possibly, which both of them are fast. Great race could get me either. I first 220 and then OTQ, but yeah, that's
Chris Detzel: extremely doable for you. ~ ~I would tell you this is that because you're so young and you've had a lot of experience that's gonna help you That's one two is that This is the time to do it, and I know that you're in, look, you're just gonna start dealing with life in general and that is what it is, but, this is the time like in your 20s, maybe 30s, but 20s for sure is when you're the most fit you'll ever be and just the strongest you'll ever be and if, this is the time for PRs, this is all I'm saying, for your, [00:41:00] look, somebody told me the other day though, and I like this, and, I see it as his name's Jose Lopez, he's a very Great runner.
He didn't, he's in his late thirties now and he did college running all this stuff. But he said, I now look at PRs as different decades, right? In my twenties, I did this. In my thirties, I did this. Forty, he's not 40 yet, but that's how you're going to have to see it at some point, is but for now, this is the fastest ever that you'll probably run.
Probably.
Travis Dowd: Exactly. I definitely see it in the same mindset. And also because we'll be getting on clinical rotations, which is basically where we go into the hospital and where it's definitely a more intense environment. Like right now we're just in the classroom, learning a lot of things, getting into the clinic a little bit, but
Chris Detzel: stuff you're already used to.
Travis Dowd: Exactly. It'll be a lot harder to like, To have a really intense running schedule outside of school once I hit after once I hit 2026 more or less. So I'm just trying to get as much of it and much out of it as I can now. And if it works out after that, great. But if not,
Chris Detzel: I
Travis Dowd: [00:42:00] think at the end of the day, like what I went back to when I was talking about high school, like if I outside of running, if it gets really stressful, I'm still going to put as many resources that I feel like I can into running.
And at the end of the day, I'll be proud if I feel like it. Yeah, I gave it everything I could for that given my condition or my like
Chris Detzel: Yeah, I, I think you've set yourself up well, from a running standpoint, whatever you do, to be smart and to, hopefully have a journey that it's a long lasting journey for running.
One thing that same friend Jose, I was running with him yesterday. He goes, my goal after college, a little after, was to think about longevity. Yeah. And how do I stay, it helps me to stay fit focused and all the things you mentioned, even like when you're running.
But it does, it keeps you your sanity a little bit, and I love what you've done. And while, you started extremely young, you're still young, but and you've got a lot of running ahead of you and life. From a running like, I don't know, man, I'll be watching [00:43:00] you for sure.
And I'm really excited to see what you do. This is, first marathon, you did great. You want it, but like you said, like CIM is really great. The person I talked to today, her name's Chantelle. She, that's that same woman that ran, uh, just kept making. Big progress. And she ran CIM at 258, which was her best, and so, and that was just two weeks ago, so I think you're going to do great things, man.
Travis Dowd: I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
Chris Detzel: Did I miss anything that I should have asked or whatever that you were dying to tell me?
Travis Dowd: Shame, shameless plug. Like I'm honestly just out there trying to make the Dallas running community a better place and trying to encourage people to do a lot of things and realize a lot of the things that I was talking about.
So I think that's like kind of my main motivation going forward is showing other people that, it, it just takes a couple of months of. Really putting yourself through the ringer and making yourself very vulnerable. The hardest part is starting, [00:44:00] I would say. And I think that's where people need the most encouragement.
And that's something that I strive to do is give them that encouragement as much as possible in the first couple of months, because running is very unique in that, like you can't hide behind your teammates or something as something goes wrong. Like those first couple of months are tough if you've never run before and I would say just start with RunWalk, start running with a group that's very supportive, because ultimately that's how I started as well, and that's how everyone starts.
Chris Detzel: The advice was amazing. I love it. One of the things I always tell people is be active and be active consistently, whether it's running, cycling, swimming, it doesn't matter. You've got to be consistent at it. And to me, running has always been that outlet for me from a, yeah, I can stay fit.
It helps me think clearer, do better at work or school or, whatever. And it helps me to be a better person overall, and I think fitness. Is highly important as you get older, and I'm not saying life doesn't happen to where you can't do as much running or whatever, but if you can just [00:45:00] gravitate to let's just say running in this instance on a consistent basis, and know that, Hey, we're not, none of us are perfect, but go back to it on a consistent basis, health wise, it's going to help you.
It helps me to think better how I can eat better, I want to run faster, but the way to run faster is to eat healthier, not McDonald's and shit like that. You know what I mean? But I love your message, man. You're so like, ~ ~you're doing great, man. I really love again what you're doing.
So thank you for coming on telling your story.
Travis Dowd: Yeah. Thank you so much, Chris. It's been, it's honestly been an honor to you having me on and thank you for what you're Like I said this before, but I think one of the main ways that you would grow the running, the Dallas running community too, is just like getting more people to talk and getting more people involved, like outside of running and being able to like, listen to these different stories and like the perspectives that you share on your podcast have been really cool too.
Been listening to that. Cool. You've
Chris Detzel: listened to it or?
Travis Dowd: Yes, sir. Yes.
Chris Detzel: Really? Okay. There's a lot more coming up. Hey, we have the run Dallas [00:46:00] champion of 2024 on Travis Dowd. Thank you and congratulations on your win.
Travis Dowd: Thank you so much, Chris. Have a nice day.
Chris Detzel: Alright, and thank you for everybody that tuned in.
Please rate and review us. The stars are important for us to get the word out there for our Dallas community our DFW community, and we'll talk to you again soon. Thanks, everyone.
