The Gomers
Shortly after Tavia and I were married she introduced me to the world of podcasts. At the time running was one of the most important things in my life so a majority of the podcasts I listened to were about running.
I tried a few podcasts that were just music created for a specific tempo but those didn’t really stick. If I was going to listen to music while I ran I wanted it to be music that I knew, the music I enjoyed.
Then I came across a few other podcasts. Running from the Reaper, Trilogy Running, Running to Disney, Dirt Dawgs Running Diatribe, Vegan Running Mom, Never Run Alone, Four Feet Running, and Marathon Talk were ones that I listened to off and on. Some of them I binged listened to even while I wasn’t running. For a time Megan Stroms from Vegan Running Mom was even my running coach. She helped me prepare for a very warm Saint George Marathon sending me my weekly training runs. I’m still very grateful for the time and effort she put in. I really appreciate it.
Over the years a lot of those podcasts have gone away. The online podcast running community has changed dramatically for me. A lot of that has to do with the fact that running became less important in my life for a number of years and some of the podcasts I listed stopped production. I can understand why it takes a lot of time and effort to create a podcast especially some of the ones that I mentioned.
At some point during my running podcast prime, I came across one called Two Gomers Run a Half Marathon. The first episode I remember listening to Steven or Anthony (the Two Gomers) talk about getting a big exercise ball and laughing about having a big ball.
Big ball.
Big balls.
Get it?
Anyway, I thought it was funny. I downloaded everything they had released. Which was quite a bit because they had completed their half marathon. They did what no one thought they could do OR so they say at the beginning of the intro to the episodes to that season.
Yes, season.
Two Gomers Run a Half Marathon turned into Two Gomers Run a Marathon
Which turned into Two Gomers The Sub Five Strive
Since that inaugural season, the Two Gomers are currently on their eighth season that has spanned the last 10 years and have changed their name to Two Gomers Fun For Their Lives. A great name if I do say so myself since I helped come up with it. I’ll pat myself on the back later.
I have been amazed at the transformation these two friends have gone through and was excited to take part in helping them prepare for their 10 Year Anniversary Episodes. I volunteered to go back through their first season to help compile what they called Gomers Tips. They are what you would imagine, tips that they learned while preparing to run their first half marathon. But they aren’t what you are imagining. They called themselves The Gomers after all.
As I went through and wrote these tips down it brought make memories of laughing and even crying (mostly from laughter) as I ran with Anthony and Steven in my ears like they were running beside me. Most of the running I do, I do alone. But these Two Gomers have joined me on hundreds of miles and hundreds of hours not spent running. While they don’t know much about me or my struggles I have come to learn about them and their struggles. They are really great husbands, fathers, and friends. Anyone, runner, seasoned runner, new runner, or just someone wanting to challenge themselves can learn a lot from them.
It was an honor to take a few hours of my time help them with their project of multiple podcast episodes celebrating their 10 years or running and podcasting. Celebrate your 10 Years Gomers! You deserve it.
Happy Running!