[Kamal] Welcome, Trevor, to this podcast. I'm excited to have you here. Great. Let's start with a quick background of yours. [Trevor] Nice to see you. So my name is Trevor Lewis. I live in the north of England in Cheshire, which is about 30 miles West of Manchester. I'm a physiotherapist. I'm 55 years old and I've had a very long journey with running. [Kamal] And you just wrapped up Berlin Marathon, right? How was the experience? Any key highlights you want to share? [Trevor] Yeah, it was amazing really. I felt that the organization in Berlin was amazing. The thing that really impressed me is the fact that they just said for the whole weekend, all runners have free travel on the public transport. And then on the day itself, the organization, the way in which the course was mapped out, it was almost as if it made a postcard of the city, you know, all the fantastic sights that you could see. I mean, I've done a few marathons and that has to be the most inspirational. It was just incredible. [Kamal] Yes, absolutely. That feeling is so serene. So you did Chicago and you did Berlin. Are you chasing more majors, I would guess? [Trevor] I am, yes. So I ran London quite some time ago, in 2004 when I was still fairly new to running and my time was quite slow...And then it was 2019, 15 years later. In between, for years I'd watched the London Marathon on television...And the year I did it, it just rained all the way through and it was cold and dark and grey. And I can't say I enjoyed it. So yeah, my next marathon was 2019. That was in Chester. And then I ran a much better time and I thought, well, let's see if I can get to the stage where I could maybe qualify for some of the majors. So I managed to qualify for Chicago and then I got in on the ballot for Berlin, and I'm hoping that my time in Berlin would get me into Boston via the qualification time pathway. [Kamal] That's awesome. So you'll probably shoot for 2025 I guess? [Trevor] Yes, yeah. The only problem is I ran 3:31 and the qualification time for my age is 3:35. So I've got 3 1/2 minutes of buffer. But apparently this year you needed 5 1/2 minutes of buffer. So I'm hoping it's a bit kinder next year, but I'll just keep my fingers crossed. [Kamal] I know a lot of folks who are disappointed this year like they're on the cut off, though they qualified. Still it wrapped up a little early as we mentioned around 5 1/2, so hopefully wish you all the best you never know how it plays out next year. Oh, great. So I think you went back a little bit. And I want to also go back to your journey a little bit, 2004, That's almost 20 years ago. You did your first marathon. So how did you get to marathon like where you active and athlete or like hey, I love long distance running. I started to run one day. How did it all happen for you doing long distance running? [Trevor] So if you were talking to 16 year old Trevor, I would say I hate distance running...But then as I went through university and into my 20s, I started to do lots of quite diverse sports...And I realized once whilst I had power, I didn't have much endurance so I just used to go on 5K runs to try and build my endurance...And then in 2000 I decided to run Liverpool Half Marathon. So that would have been my first half marathon...And then, yeah, 2004, I decided to do the full marathon and did not fall in love with that at all...And then I would say two things changed quite significantly for me. So in 2015 I started to look quite closely at my diet...And then in 2018 I joined a running club for the first time...And then in 2019, for the first half of the year, I was just getting more and more personal bests at all distances. And then a little voice said to me, well, try another marathon and see how you get on. So I took my marathon time from 2004, which was 4 hours 50, and I took that down to 3 hours 31. [Kamal] That's great. You said 100 plus halves and yes, half a dozen since 2019. That's pretty impressive. And the amount of time you cut off from your first run, that's yeah, I'm sure you feel awesome about yourself as well. [Trevor] And it was brilliant because I was 51 years old at the time. So it's often an age where people are considering shortening their distances or giving up running. But the weight loss was a big change for me and also the stimulation and input from joining a running club. [Kamal] Great, great. So you already eluded couple of facts. What do you get out of the running since you're spending a good amount of time in races and training for races? How do you say it has impacted you overall like aspects of your life? [Trevor] Yeah, I would say that the confidence that you get from achieving your goals in running, I think that permeates other areas of your life...I don't know. It's not an active thought process that, oh, I've run a marathon, so nothing's going to beat me, but I just think it makes you tougher, it makes you more resilient and it just gives you the ability to go that extra mile. I think it's also really good for my mental health as well...Sometimes I'll go for a run. I'm not actively thinking about the problems or challenges in my life. Then when I come back, it's almost like the computer has been working in the background and I come back and I think, OK, that's what I'm going to do about this and that's what I'm going to do about that. [Kamal] And exactly how it works and wonders. You don't realize, like, OK, you had, like, for me, I think I was sharing with someone I love lunch time runs...And you? I think if you're not a runner, you would think I can't do that because I'll be really tired in the afternoon. But it doesn't work like that. It invigorates you, doesn't it? You know, kind of gives you a lift. [Trevor] So it is a wonderful thing to get into your life if you're capable of doing it. [Kamal] Great. Now that's thanks for sharing. I think this is amazing, a beautiful way of looking at like how it has impacted you and and what you get out of running as well. So you're definitely chasing world majors and best of luck for Boston. So what's next for Trevor? Goals? [Trevor] So I don't know whether it's realistic or not, but just prior to the pandemic my 5K times were getting lower and lower and I actually managed to get a PB of 20 minutes, 29 seconds. And my goal for the second-half of 2020 was to go under 20 minutes, which I felt was realistic. And then of course the pandemic came along and then all the races were cancelled...So next year the challenge is to try and go under 20 minutes for 5K. [Kamal] I'm just curious why you're focusing on 5K time improvement. How does it play out over all other aspects of running goals you have? [Trevor] It's just a target...I won't run an autumn marathon next year because I've run an autumn marathon for the last three years, so I've got Manchester Marathon in April. And I'll try and go a little bit faster to give me a bit more buffer for Boston. So I'll hope for that. And then once I've done that, then I'm going to spend the summer working on my 5K and then if I'm successful for Boston, then I can spend the winter of 2024 and the spring of 2025 getting ready for that. [Kamal] Great. That sounds like a year mapped out. You all ready for you more than a year mapped out with the goals and the races that you had to focus on. I'm really hoping you get to Boston with the time or with their marathon coming up. Are you sure? It looks like you're shooting to beat your own record of 3:31 there as well. [Trevor] Absolutely. Yeah. No, I think, you know, if everything goes well and I train really hard, I'd like to think I could maybe get 3:20, but we'll have to see. [Kamal] That's awesome. That's almost 11 minutes off your PB that you have. So you said a couple of things about your that you know you ran first time in 2004 you asked your wife a friend to sign up for one. Similar thing happened in the next one. But you after that you continue to run 100 plus halves and and a dozen plus up to 2019. I'm sure there is a support system you build over the years around you which allows you to achieve these goals and these aggressive goals you have because you are not getting younger. Like age coming in, but your goals are getting more focused, more targeted. You know you're trying to beat your own best in every race or every category of race you're chasing for. How does your support system look like to help you achieve those? [Trevor] I just want my family to be proud of me.