The Chronicles of Curious Characters

Music.

Hi, I'm Konrad, and these are the Chronicles of Curious Characters.

We feature a new character in each episode and their unique story.

We explore their backgrounds and their passions.

We focus on the melting pot of Luxembourg, but every now and then we will have guests from other countries.

We'll be talking to locals and expats about what they love to do, what they're enthusiastic

about in life, and what makes Luxembourg such a special place for them.

Today we have a quite special guest in our podcast, a person who does not live full time

in Luxembourg, but travels to Luxembourg, I would say, often, or at least from time

to time, and he lives far, far away across the pond.

But I will let him introduce himself.

Well, thank you, Konrad, for inviting me to participate in this podcast project of yours.

My name is Dan Verdick, and I live in the state of Maine in the United States.

And as Konrad said, over the last four years, I have been a frequent visitor to Luxembourg

thanks to a job I took.

As we know, sometimes jobs aren't all that fun, but it's enabled me an opportunity to

visit a country I never would have visited before, and I consider it my home away from home now.

So, you've been traveling to Luxembourg for work mainly, but I know that you spent quite

lot of time wandering around the city, exploring the area outside of the city, doing some sports

that maybe you will talk in a minute. But when you come to Luxembourg and Europe, what

are some of the main differences that you see between your hometown and the home country

and Europe and Luxembourg?

That's a good question. There's many things. First, the variety of languages I hear spoken,

you know, being in the United States, we're very isolated from other cultures and other

languages. And primarily we hear English and American English. So when I come to Luxembourg.

I hear languages from all over the world, primarily French. But then in my work,

we speak English as our common language, but I get to listen to accents of English that aren't

American accents, and that's something I've come to find comforting. Some of the other differences,

as you said, I'm a runner and I participate in athletics, and that's enabled me to explore

Luxembourg in a big way.

Running at home, we don't have as many sidewalks and trails. Where I live in

Maine isn't very urban, it's rural, and so you have to be careful about traffic

and stepping off the road and tripping. And that's a big difference and something I really love about Luxembourg and some of the other

European cities I've been fortunate enough to visit, that there's running paths and walking paths and sidewalks and walking is valued. I think that's

another difference is public transportation. Even before the

transportation in Luxembourg became free, I was a frequent user. I really liked being,

able to just get on a bus and be able to get to most places in the country. Same

with, you know, stepping on the tram now that the route is expanded and the train.

And these are opportunities where I live, you have to drive a car.

And so that's another very big difference that we just don't have the availability,

if you will, of public transportation.

And do you find yourself, I think you mentioned that traveling to Luxembourg and to Europe

is comforting, but do you have this transition period that when you are here, you need a,

couple of days or a day to get used to different style of living, sidewalks, public transportation

or does it come, let's say, natural to you?

Or maybe it's the other way around. When you go back to the United States, you need some time to adjust for using the car

all the time.

I had very little experience with international travel up until right after my wedding.

And my wife Amanda and I went to India for my first international visit and we went to

Paris on the way home.

And then the next international visit was after I took the job here in Luxembourg.

And I was scared to travel alone without Amanda because she was an experienced traveler.

And I was standing on a bus stop waiting to go to work and somebody drove by and waved

at me and I didn't know a soul in Luxembourg.

So I thought. It turned out to be the only person I knew in Luxembourg. It was the president

of our company. And he brought me to work. But I think something that's interesting

to me, my very first visit, I started walking, as you said, I started exploring. And I felt

at home immediately here. And it's a lot of because of the climate. It's very much like

what I grew up with in Portland, Oregon, on the Pacific coast of the United States. And

It's the same climate, it's rainy, it's wet, there's lots of moss on the ground.

And I equated Luxembourg City to what Portland, Oregon would be like if Portland, Oregon was 800 years older.

And I've felt at home here ever since.

No, I haven't, since that very first visit. Any sort of acclimation period to coming to Luxembourg.

I've tried to learn a few French words, because that is one of the challenging,

as a dominant language being French, and not understanding it.

I practiced, je ne comprends pas le français, parler vos anglais.

And I've found also, because of the people I've met, I've got a comfort in coming to Europe.

So, you're correct, it is the inverse sometimes as I go home and I listen to only American

accents and I miss the diversity that I experience when I'm in Europe.

Now I also miss my home and my family and my wife, so it's always nice to go home.

But there is that element of transition, yes.

Because you've been traveling around Europe right now for a couple of weeks, I think.

You've been to Lisbon, then to Rome, now you're in Luxembourg.

That's correct. And in a few days you are heading where? To Paris.

Wow. You're more European than many of Europeans, I would say.

What was interesting that you mentioned that the language and, you know, the languages

that you keep hearing, is it easy for you to understand when you talk in English with

Europeans to understand what they're saying, especially when every person or,

persons that you meet in Luxembourg, they will have different accent because they

come from different countries, different cultures, you know, their mother tongue is different. Is it easy for you to understand when they talk to you in

English or do you need also a bit of time to get used to their accents?

It depends sometimes on an individual's command of the English language. I struggled the

most, I think, some of the people I've met from Spain, and not because there aren't

people that are from Spain that have good English, it's just the people I've

met have strong Spanish accents, and it takes me a while to acclimate listening.

But once acclimated, no, I don't have a problem. I've also noticed that the,

Parisian accent I struggle with at first, but again, I overcome it because as I've

learned a little bit of the rhythm of how French is spoken, I'm able to equate

that into listening in English and therefore it makes it easier for me to to listen.

And as I've said, one of the things...

I think, you know, I was a musician at one time in my life, not a good one, but I was one,

and trained my ear to listen for things. And I think that's enabled me to, you know, be able

to communicate in English with people who have a different accent than mine, and that we've accepted

that English is our common way of communicating. I had an experience in India. I was speaking to a

a woman, I had no experience with her native tongue. So, like, if I normally, if I speak

to a European, I have a sense of what their language sounds like, and therefore it makes

it easier listening in English. So I said to this woman, I said, you know, I'm having

a real trouble with the accents, you know, that in India, when they speak English. And

she said to me, what accent? You're the one with the accent. And that was very revealing

to me because I realized that just because I'm an American and just because I'm a native

English speaker doesn't mean I command the language. I don't own it. It's a universal

language that we're all using to communicate. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad

thing, but I think I found it interesting to me and it made me challenge, I think, how

I perceive English as a mode of communication.

And like I said, I don't, as an American, I don't own the language.

And so it's important for me to be sensitive to other people's cultures and what they're

bringing to using the language as a mode of communication.

That's interesting. I think there was, there was something called European English because Europe, especially

with the EU, traveling to different European country has become very, very easy.

There are lots of EU institutions where, well, mainly French and English are used, but there

are more and more people speaking English in Europe.

And of course, they're not native speakers, but there's been this development of, well,

everyone thinks that they speak English well, but at the end, you know, everyone makes some mistakes.

And the more Europeans speak with each other, the more there are customs to, accustomed

to different versions of English and mistakes are more allowed and people pay less attention to those mistakes.

So of course, you know, when you go to England and the UK, you have this beautiful native

English, then in Europe you have also lots of people speaking English, but then it's lower level.

I'm not even sure if I'm explaining that well or how to explain it.

I would have to look it up, but I heard a few years ago about this Euro-English way of speaking.

But now we talked about a bit your travel and from your perspective the differences

between the United States and Europe and how you see them, but let's talk about you.

And you mentioned that you grew up on the West Coast, but now you live closer to the

East Coast. That's correct.

Can you tell us something about your childhood and why you moved to the East Coast?

Those two different sides of the country.

So, my parents met in Newfoundland, Canada. My mother was teaching on a military base.

My father was in the Air Force at the time. And they got married and they were transferred

to Madison, Wisconsin. And I was born in Madison, Wisconsin on a military, at a military installation.

And then the Vietnam War was going on. And my father, they liked Air Force life. They

were going to reenlist. And they, my father's commander said, you'd be going to Vietnam.

And I was just born. And so they opted to get out of the military. And then my father

didn't have a job and they didn't know where to go. And then my father is from the Midwest

near a few hours west of Chicago, Illinois. And my mother was from Providence, Rhode Island,

which is closer to where I live now. And my father found a job in Portland, Oregon. I

was two months old, I think, when we moved.

And I think it was interesting, because at the time in Oregon,

when you cross the border from California, or Idaho, or Washington State,

there were signs at the border that said, have a nice visit, but don't plan on staying.

So there was a lot of regionalism in the area. And my mother had a New England accent.

You know, she parked the car, and was very, obviously, she was from away.

So I think the move was hard on my mother and that caused strain for my parents.

They're still married today, so don't misunderstand that.

But I think it was growing up in a home where, you know, my mother missed New England.

And it was hard because in the end, I loved my city and I loved where I was from,

but what became very important during my childhood was our annual trips to Rhode Island.

And.

My grandfather, he had been in the Navy during World War II. He loved sailing ships and sailing

in the ocean. And he transferred some of that love of New England, if you will, that region

of the United States to me. And some of the best memories I have were those, you know, two weeks

that we had with my grandparents. Part of that experience was going north from Rhode Island to

to a place called Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

And this was a small city that was established in the early 1600s.

It was a fishing village. Now it's a tourist place, but it's quaint

and has lots of Victorian architecture there.

But I loved it there. Again, it was one of those places that was my happy place as a child.

And fast forwarding, for much of my life, I always thought I would move there.

And then things happened in life. I took a few left turns. Maybe, you know, I was

going kind of the wrong direction. But I'd starting to get my life together

and moving what I would consider in a positive direction. And my grandmother

died and I had to travel across the country to Portsmouth, New Hampshire again for the funeral. And there I am in the place I loved as a child, as an adult.

I'm 29 now, and I realized I had to move.

But I hadn't finished my college schooling yet, so I went home, I enrolled in university

to finish my university work, and I planned on moving as soon as I was done and getting a job.

During the first year, because I had two years remaining in my university work, I spent the summer there.

I had a job at Starbucks and transferred from Oregon to New Hampshire and got a sense of

where I would be moving.

And part of my story is, you know, part of my misspent youth is I had a lot of troubles with alcohol.

And I had joined a group called Alcoholics Anonymous.

And when I traveled across country, I met just some amazing people in that organization.

That the people I knew in Oregon weren't amazing, but I fell into a really neat

group of people. And that just further inspired the desire to move. And I finished my university work and I was pursuing a career in physical

education, or not physical education, but in the athletic field. And it turned out

I didn't like it. So immediately I quit my job, I sold everything I had, and my,

My cat and I drove 3,000 miles across country.

I had found a nice location of an apartment. It had lots of mice.

It wasn't the nicest apartment.

But out of view of the river, and it was cheap, and she took a $20 deposit from my cousin

knowing I didn't have a job.

So it worked out, but my cat and I moved, and I moved to where I always wanted to live.

I mean, it was moving to vacation, if you think, in many ways.

And upon getting there, you know, I started fulfilling a childhood dream.

And I think that kind of rounds up, you know, you asked a little bit about my childhood and I think...

Why I live where I live now has a lot to do with one of the happiest parts of my childhood which was,

traveling to the East Coast on those summer vacations and,

You mentioned that you travel there one of the first travels. Well, not first, but when you were 29 you traveled,

East for your grandmother's funeral where the two of you close.

We were my we were always closer to my mother's parents. They were just neat people. They were well-educated. My grandmother used

to send us tape recordings of her reading stories when we were little and,

so we would get them in the mail and it was always so comforting. She worked

in a library and read the children regularly and she had a gift for it and it was so comforting to listen to her read a story. So yes, I was close to my

grandmother.

You were so many miles, kilometers apart on basically, you know, these are the opposite

sides of the country, right? And that you managed to stay close to your frontman. You

mentioned that she was sending the tape recordings of her reading, reading books and telling

stories, which is kind of a modern way of, well, nowadays you just have a signal Skype,

Skype, WhatsApp, you have those video calls.

Was there back then some other things also that helped you stay in touch with her?

It's interesting. Mostly it was letters. As you said, technology has really evolved because the first recordings we would get

were on a reel-to-reel recording. Later we moved to cassette tape, but the early ones were reel-to-reel.

And then, you know, now we can call all over the world with our cell phones, but then long

distance calling was very expensive and my grandparents would always...

Hi, how are you? Are you doing good in school? Okay, bye And and they would get us off the phone as fast as possible because of how expensive it was,

So a lot of it was just written word. Um and.

As I said those two weeks we spent together. You just felt love and.

You know, I was the most important person in the world with my grandfather during those two weeks

So to be a celebrity was always fun, you know, are you the only child?

No, I was just the first and I was the only boy and again during that era, unfortunately,

boys got a little special treatment.

And you mentioned before, at the beginning of our conversation, that you were a musician.

Yes. Was that before or after you moved to the East Coast? It was before.

As I said, I was having some struggles, and I thought becoming a musician would somehow solve my problems.

My hair was actually, it's very short now, but then it was very long, and I had a really

nice motorcycle jacket. I looked like a musician.

I bought a guitar, and I wasn't very good at a guitar. My friend said, if you want to get in a band, buy a bass.

I bought a bass and learned how to play it well enough, and I stumbled into a little

group of people. And it was fun, because they were writers, like poets, not musicians, although

everyone was, you know, competent. And for two years, we played almost every other weekend,

Saturday and Sunday, in a little pub in Old Town, Portland, Oregon. The band was called

Masters and Johnsons, which was, they were some people that did, they invented the orgasm.

So we named them after her.

But it was like folk music with a little bit of an edge. It was closer to rock and roll.

But all of the songs that we played, with the exception of one, we wrote ourselves.

And it was a really neat experience where anyone came with an idea to rehearsal.

And we tried to turn it into something.

And although we had two dominant songwriters, Everyone in the band had contributed in some way to creating music, and it was really fun.

And we had a small little following, and the last night we played, you know, the room was

packed and we had at least 150 people packed in this little bar, and they were singing

our songs. And we never record it.

So that was really a special moment. But yeah, that was a fun period.

So you don't have any recordings? None.

Oh, such a pity. Especially that you and your band were writing your text, you were making your own music.

Well, that's a pity. I would love to play it on the show if you had a recording.

No, no such thing. It may be better for people, I don't know.

Did you try to sing or you were just playing the bass guitar?

I sang a couple songs.

One of the songs that we covered was called St. James Infirmary.

It was an old blues cover and that was the song I sang.

Have you continued playing music afterwards or it was just for those couple of years?

It was really just those couple of years.

About every nine months, I pull my guitar, and now I play guitar.

I don't have the bass anymore.

And I start trying to play again. And each time I learn something a little different.

I found now I like to play American country and Western music,

just because it's sad. Those are the songs I play now.

But it lasts for about 30 days, maybe 60 if I'm lucky. And then I put the guitar down.

It's just not the same passion I used to have for music, or I don't have that passion like I used to.

And you mentioned that you were turning left and you also mentioned addiction to alcohol

at some point of your life.

Do you mind sharing something more about that period? Because although I understand it was potentially a bad time in your life, but you got out of

the alcohol addiction.

You are the person that you are right now, potentially because of that experience,

which I think maybe shaped you, shaped who you are right now and your vision into life.

Do you mind sharing how you got into this problem of alcoholism and how you got out of it? Sure.

How or why I became an alcoholic, I can't really answer, to be honest.

I have some ideas, but the specifics of it, I don't know. I mean, it may have stemmed from, you know,

just the challenges my parents had and not being synced together early in my childhood.

But again, I don't know. What I do know is the first time I took a drink.

Felt like something had been fixed in me. And so for me drinking took a meaning

that I don't think is the same as most people when they drink. And it was very

fun. At first I enjoyed drinking. I found I had good times. But what evolved very

soon for me is drinking, even sometimes just one one drink, created a phenomenon of wanting more.

And I couldn't even enjoy the sensation and the good feeling that alcohol gives you

that often inspires conversation and good times with friends.

And I was doing that on one level, but in the back of my head,

all that was saying is, you need more, you need more, we're gonna run out, we're gonna run out.

And that changed it. That's where drinking, for me, is what's caused me to be an alcoholic,

this phenomenon of more. You know, I've told this story many times, but I,

developed a very sense of self-loathing as a result of my drinking. It's not what

I was, you know, the way I was raised, that's not who I was, I wanted to be. But

I, like I said, that drive for more, I couldn't just walk away from it. That

craving was unbelievable. But one evening I was out when I was 25 years old.

Friends from high school. I was the only person of my friends from high school at

that moment in time that had a real 40 hour a week job and lived in my own apartment. Everyone else was still living with their parents and working part-time.

And I looked at my friends and I said, these guys are losers.

And then that may or may not have been true, but that's what I was thinking at the time.

And then I thought, I said, Oh my God, you're with them. And I said, Oh, this isn't where I

want my life to go. And the very next day I reached out to someone I knew that was an

Alcoholics Anonymous and I haven't had a drink since. How many years has it been? It's over 31

now. Congratulations. Thank you. You said that when you took the first drink, you felt that

that something was fixed.

When I was at the, I was taking some classes, I was going to an American high school,

where there was a class, I believe called, I don't remember the name, it was about health.

And they were also teaching about sexual education as a part of it.

But one of the important things, well, important, interesting things that I learned

is that actually alcohol is a depressant.

So it makes you depressed even more.

I don't consider myself alcoholic, I have drinks especially on the weekends but I also,

enjoy alcohol in a sense sometimes I feel that I feel good after a drink but after the

second drink it sometimes has the opposite effect.

I get depressed, maybe more anxious, more angry at myself or whatever was happening

in that specific week.

So I see and I understand how it can, it could have this double effect, so to speak.

So the double-edged sword. Yes.

Yes. Do you think you have substituted alcohol into something else in your life?

Maybe. That's funny you say that. I'm passionate, as you know, about my running.

After I had been not drinking for five years, I quit smoking as well.

And so I was just about my 30th birthday. And I realized that if I didn't start doing something,

exercising my lungs and my cardiovascular system, I was probably going to smoke again.

So I started mountain biking and the mountain biking got me into the gym.

It got me into road cycling and racing. And I became incredibly passionate about fitness and bike racing.

And passionate enough that you maybe could call that an addiction,

but I think it was a very healthy addiction.

And at that time in my life, I had a job that I only worked three days a week.

It was 12 hour shifts, so I was getting a full work week and paycheck, but it gave me time to pursue that.

So yeah, you could maybe say that that...

Why I asked in such a way is because, well, obviously I know you run, right?

And I have you on Garmin, the app, I have you on Strava, and I see how often you run.

I would say you are addicted to running.

And sometimes the distance and the pace I see, I'm like, come on, it's impossible to

do that distance with that pace in one day and do the same thing in two days again.

So that's why I see this as an addiction.

A positive one, just to make it clear, a positive addiction.

It's also my hobby. It's what I do to relieve stress.

I like feeling fit, and I like a level of fitness that is beyond just, I think, the average person.

I like how I feel when I'm in a top fitness.

So I think that's part of it. It's part of my lifestyle now.

And as I said early on when I was in fitness, I might have equated it to, you know, replacing. I really would have.

But at this point in my life, it's part of who I am. And I've heard a lot of runners talk this way.

What started as a hobby or just something they went and did becomes a lifestyle. It becomes part of who they are.

And I now wouldn't feel complete if I wasn't training. And I don't mean like, I'm not gonna go out and win races,

but I wanna feel that I'm physically at the best that I can be and nurturing my physical self as best I can.

So can you share with the listeners, how often do you run? What distances do you do on average?

And if you are participating in organized races? races? Yes, I run anywhere from three to five days a week. I run distances between.

I'll try to make this easier for the European listeners, but 5k to 30k. I tend

to run, and now I'm going to have to speak in mileage, but I tend to run around an

8.20 pace if you were to average all my runs out, 8 minutes 20 seconds per mile pace. And part of that is I was, I'm a gifted athlete. I was a good

athlete as a child. And I've nurtured it. So here I am at age 57 and I'm still able

to perform. Not quite as I'd like to, but still pretty good. But yeah, that's the frequency I run.

And the races, organized races. I know that you've been running a few and there is one

upcoming, what are the distances that you do in those?

I used to race a lot of 5k's because then I could run faster and it was rewarding to

run fast and 10k's as well.

But I've started running more marathons, so that's what 41k.

I've run 250k's just to see if I could do it, that was not competition.

And I've also reduced how many races I run because I've struggled psychologically with

with not being, my body just can't do what it used to do.

I still wanna run fast and my body doesn't run as fast as it used to.

But upcoming, we have the Paris Marathon that'll be in a week.

And my wife has been training enthusiastically for that.

And I have had some hiccups in my training. So we're gonna actually run our first marathon together,

which is exciting.

And I'm hoping to pace her to her best time ever, so.

And do you find yourself competitive in those races more than when you run by yourself?

Yes. I mean, there's something about being with a bunch of other people with the same passion who are trying to get the most out of their body that I think raises the bar for me.

I'm never racing to win the race. I'm racing to run the best race that I possibly can for myself.

I think that's part of just, I didn't start running until I was 40 years old, so I knew I wasn't going to be winning races when I started.

Started and it's all about you know competing with myself but I've always run faster in a racing environment than I ever have in a training. And when you

were starting running I guess you know you did it progressively so you you didn't start immediately doing 30 K's. Was there a special program that you went

through that brought you from you know starting let's say three or five K's up

up to those 50k's that you've been running?

I did not. I ran my first half marathon after I'd been running for almost five years,

and that was the first time I ran with a running plan.

Mostly I'd ran by feel and as you said I progressed. I started at smaller distances and worked up over time,

and my speed increased over time with that.

But again, what I liked about running is you could put on some shoes and step out the door and just go. And I liked not having pressure of training.

And again, I was blessed with a gift with athletics.

So it was always very easy for me. But I've always been that way.

I surf, and a lot of people get really into surfing with the technology or the terminology and the technique and again I'm an okay surfer but I just got into surf.

Same thing when I raced bikes. I just went out and raced bikes. I didn't, you know, adopt a

new language or that didn't become so much of my world that, you know, I changed who I was.

I just went out and and do what I do and,

It's always interesting because I surround myself with people who are pursuing these passions and

they always have great language and they know the science of the sport. And I'm like this

rogue guy just out there, standing around doing my thing. But I know a guy who also runs and.

Once I saw on his desk a huge book, a really thick book. And it made me interested,

especially it was at work, so I was wondering if it was a book related to work and I just

looked at it, it was a book about running. And at that time I was also running myself.

I was like wondering, it's running, you just put on comfortable shoes, make sure you don't,

you know, you don't destroy yourself and you just go for a run. If you make 1k because you're out

of shape, then you just do 1k and then you continue and maybe in a month you will do 2k, etc.

But I never thought that there are very thick books about running.

So I was also very surprised, I have similar, I think, approach like you about running.

Although I think I'm a bit more competitive, I did run a 5k once, I almost killed myself

because I wanted to be the fast in my age group.

Of course, I was not.

And at that moment, I was fit. I could do at least 10Ks,

but because I started the run so fast immediately,

I got very quickly tired.

I think I had to do at least one or two stops in a 5K run because I was out of breath.

My heart couldn't keep up. It was crazy.

Before you run, or after your run, do you have any specific set of activities that get you prepared?

No, nothing ritualistic. We have one of those massage guns, which I've started using after a run now.

I am a toe runner, I run on my toes, and so my calves are often very tight.

So this massage gun does wonders. So that has become a not regular routine, but more often than not routine.

And I drink water after I run. There are specific technique that you have learned or for using this massage gun.

Why I'm asking is because I have one as well. I haven't used it for anything specific, but I also started running on toes.

I had some problems with my feet before and I have exactly the same problem.

My calves are very stiff afterwards.

Is there any special techniques that you use for the gun?

Well the gun came with three different attachments and there's one that's like shaped like a fork almost.

It's two prongs and I use that prong for my calves and they say to start from the lower

part of your calf and slowly move up. And that's pushing the blood with all the,

no I can't think of what it is, the, it just pushes the blood back to your heart. And so that's the technique. Start far away from your heart and then slowly

push towards your heart. And then if it's extra painful, stay on that spot for a

while until you can increase the pressure and that you know as you know

or you're probably aware sometimes it hurts so bad that you can't touch it at

all and so you just need to be patient until you can the pain kind of goes away

and it loosens up. Thank you for sharing that I will have to use it that I was,

always asking my wife for some massage which was a good excuse you know get

some foot and calf massage.

You mentioned that your partner, your wife, also runs. Do you run together with her?

Yes. Now, when we first started dating and when we were early married, when we'd go running,

I was still a lot faster. And we would run together and I wouldn't be breathing hard at all.

And she would get very angry at me because she'd be struggling because she was running faster than

she was comfortable with because she was running with me and so we didn't run together for

a long time and then, you know, as I said, I've aged a little bit, her fitness is better,

so she's a little faster, I'm a little slower and we started running together and it's been really nice.

She doesn't get mad at me anymore.

Do you also talk during running? Why I'm asking is not related to your relationship and whether or not you talk a lot between

each other, but I know that when I run, okay, I can keep up certain way of breathing or

tempo, but I know that I would not be able to have a conversation when I run.

Are you able to have a conversation or do you enjoy having conversation during running?

Sometimes. I have a running partner, his name is Jake, and Jake and I will usually start our run

slow and we'll catch up on, you know, the day, the work, how things are going, and then

speed up to the point that we can't have a conversation. My wife, she has a running

partner and when they run, I can hear them coming down the street because they're talking

away. Especially in the summer when the windows are open. But when Amanda and I run, we'll.

Talk a little bit, sort of like Jake and I do in the beginning, but then she usually,

when I run with her, I'm pacing her to try to let her go a little faster. And so she's

not in conversational mode. I mean she's focusing on her breathing and keeping

the most out of herself at that moment in time. During your runs have you

experienced anything unusual? Anything dangerous? Anything that stayed in your mind or memory.

That's a good question because there are certain runs that you just sort of remember.

I've had times where deer have jumped out in front of me and I can picture one instance right now on the road that

I run frequently it's called River Road and,

the deer pop out and.

They walk up the street and then they hear you behind them and they run into the woods,

sometimes I run at night and I would use a headlamp and,

And one year, and this is kind of interesting, when the acorns, which come off the trees,

a year there's lots of acorns, the next year there's lots of squirrels, and then the year

after that, if there's foxes in the region, there's lots of foxes.

And so one year we had lots of foxes in the woods, and I was running at night, and there,

was all these little fox pups in the woods with their little eyes.

I couldn't see the foxes. All I could see was their little eyes.

It was so freaky. You were sure those were foxes? Yes, and it was quite scary.

Yeah, to me anyway. They wouldn't have harmed me, but just seeing all the eyes

and the darkness was something.

And then there's the other, you know, the close calls with cars.

Oftentimes people will be pulling out from an intersection and they're only looking at what the cars

that are on coming towards them.

And because you run on the opposite side of the street, they're not looking your direction.

And, you know, over time I've learned to be very, make sure I make eye contact with the driver,

but often they won't look your direction, they'll pull out right in front of you.

And I've almost gotten hit a couple times by that scenario. And I think also when, especially if it's in the area

when there are not a lot of pedestrians, people walking,

potentially, especially in the United States or certain parts of the United States,

the drivers don't expect pedestrians.

So they focus their eyes and eyesight on looking for bigger things,

such as vehicles, cars, trucks.

And they just, you know, that you could be just in front of them waving,

they will still not see you.

Well, that's why I dress very bright. I like fluorescent yellow and fluorescent green.

I like to be very visible.

Music.

So, if I understand well, running and sports play an important part in your life.

You use it to feel good, you use it to release stress and relax after work and on the weekends.

It's also created like a social community for me.

You know, when cycling you tend to join a club. Running is more of an individual sport, as you're aware.

But eventually, whether it's at a race or an acquaintance, somehow you find somebody

that you can run with.

And I've developed a very strong relationship with a man, Jake, who I met at work at a job

I had over 20 years ago, and we were always friendly, but not friends.

But when he got into running, I helped him, you know, become a better runner.

Now, Jake takes the science of running very seriously, and I'm chasing Jake most of

the time when we're running now.

But we've developed an incredible friendship, and we have a really strong friendship now,

Amanda and I and his wife, and Amanda's made some friendships as well.

So now every, I don't know, January 31st, February 1st, my wife and I host our own race.

And we invite our friends who run, and it's probably a 12k to 15k race, 10 miles.

And afterwards we have pancakes, and we have prizes, and we have age group winners.

There's only two people of the crowd that are in the same age group, so there's only

one real competition. And we have a PR record, so if you make your personal

record for the distance, there's a prize for that. What are the prices? It's usually

running socks. That's been, and the next year I've designed a t-shirt. It's called,

so there's a boat launch right near where we live, and it's called the Dead

duck in. At least that's what the locals call it.

So it's called the DD. We call it the DDI the dead duck invitational and at the sign some local,

member of our neighborhood so it says the Elliot boat launch and,

Underneath it on chains is the shape of a duck made out of steel. That's upside down and.

So all the locals know it as the dead duck in and And that will be the symbol on the t-shirt

and then it'll have some text saying what it is, that it's an invitation when you finish the race.

But it's become a really fun event and everyone looks forward to it.

It's never more than 10 people. But it's- So it's a very exclusive run.

Is there a way for an outsider like myself to participate in a run like that?

Absolutely.

What do I need to do? I think you already did it.

I think you will end up on the invitation list next year and you'll get a little email

from a Google Doc and an invitation to join and you can respond in kind.

Wow, thank you in advance. I look forward.

And who knows, you will be surprised if I show up at your doorstep.

My friends and colleagues from Europe have been so welcoming to me.

Anyone is welcome to come to Boston or to where I live, it's an hour north of Boston,

we'll have lobster and my wife will show you guys a good time, I hope.

I have an idea for you and your wife.

Why don't you make two of those runs?

One in the United States and one in Europe. Especially I know that you and your wife are in Europe quite often.

Like you mentioned, you will have a marathon in Paris in a few days and she will be also

coming to Paris. So I think she, you know, the two of you are in Europe quite often. Last time,

the two of you were here was I think in Q3 last year, Q3, Q4? Yes.

You may have just inspired a new idea. And I, you know, as a local, I can help you organize it.

No, that would be great fun.

But I think you know much more different running places than I do in Luxembourg, because you,

use running to explore Luxembourg and you even run from Luxembourg, I think, to Belgium.

So there's a story behind that and it actually started when I started running,

almost now it's 15 years or so. But my, like I said, I like to feel fit. But the

way I got fit 15 years ago was riding a bike and going to the gym. And when I

moved from Oregon to Maine, I got out of my routine. And so I would go through

periods where I'd get in my routine and then I'd go on a business trip and I'd

come home and it would take me months to get back. I'd get back and then I'd go on

business trip and I had to lose my fitness. So I started running and I would,

go on business trips and I'd go for runs. And this is pre-GPS so I would have to study maps and...

But I would start going places. I once got lost in Austin, Texas and almost missed the meeting I was there to go to.

But I've seen, I think I've run in 20 different states and run in cities in some parts of cities that I never would have seen.

And sometimes I do my routes based on tourist attractions and sometimes I just go to neighborhoods.

And as I said, once I started visiting Europe, and now with GPS technology, and you can see

where the trails are, it's just been an amazing way to see something and get to know somewhere, a region.

Now you combine the free transportation here in Luxembourg.

I had the great idea that I would do point-to-points, and I usually stay in Limfurtsburg, so I

would take the bus or the train to a destination, and then I would run back to Lundforsberg.

And the destination, or the run you were referencing, was the day I did 30K. And so I took the bus

out to one of the trailheads for one of the Luxembourg National Trails, and loaded that

route onto my GPS, and it had me going in and out of Belgium at first. And then I can't

think of the name of the city I ran to but it starts with an M and there's a

train station there but I ran to the train station and it's just like you said it's a way to explore it's a way to pursue my running career and keep my my.

Body fit and it gives me a sense of where I'm visiting if that makes any sense like the run the run that we're referencing then Luxembourg the 30 or,

the 50k I ran. I ran in the woods. I ran past, you know, ruins. I saw castles. I went through

little villages. And it happened to be a day that it was pouring down rain and it was kind

of cold. So no one was out. It was like I had Luxembourg to myself. It was an amazing

experience and I've had many of those in different places. Like on my trip to India, on the return

we were in Paris. And I would get up early when it was still dark and go do my running.

And I'm running on the cobbles on the Seine River, jumping over rats, literally. But I,

got to see parts of Paris that my wife and I wouldn't have seen otherwise, because of

that, my passion for running, you know, and it's kind of funny how that works. Just the

here and now today, what was really funny is I'm running from Hesperange, I think is

the name of it back to Limpertsburg and I was just entering into Luxembourg City proper.

And somebody yelled my name and an ex-colleague of ours rode by me on a bicycle.

So it's like I go to a foreign country and I have friends. I don't know, it's been a great

experience. And so it's a small country, so it's quite easy to bump to your colleagues or friends.

And when you run, do you listen to music? No, I actually, if you really want them a strong,

I have actually a strong opinion about that, although I wouldn't normally tell people about it.

I like, when I'm running, I want to hear my body. I want to hear the sounds around me.

As I said, in the area that I live, it's not always safe, so it's good to be able to hear the traffic.

But I get satisfaction from listening to the rhythms of my body and my breathing.

And if I'm listening to music, I'm not able to hear that.

And so that's kind of how I approach.

Part of it's safety and part of it's how I sort of meditate when I run.

And you don't find it difficult, especially for those longer runs, 30 plus kilometers,

you're able to continue listening to your body, you don't need any other distraction?

Not usually. Maybe sometimes it might be a good thing when your body's starting to hurt, but no, I, like I said, I do turn running sometimes into a meditation.

I have some mantras that go along with my breathing pattern and my footsteps.

A very comfortable one is inhale four steps, exhale three steps.

If I'm slowing down, I'll inhale five steps and exhale three.

Three somewhere I heard that if you do odd numbers that you don't you're less

injury prone I don't know if that's true or not but it's something I put into

practice and you were able to count the steps I yeah first I rehearsed the mantra and the mantra so run fast run smooth that's four steps run fast run

smooth. And then for the three steps it's 1 2 3 run fast run smooth 1 2 3.

I have a number of mantras. That's just one example. Can you share a few more?

One's a prayer. Let go, let God. One, two, three, let go, let God. I don't even know if I believe

in God per se, but that's one of my mantras. I have another one where it's a five count,

mantra where, and I can't remember the actual terms, but it's when I once listened to, it was a martial arts guy talking about using your power in your

breathing to push energy out of your body. And so one of my mantras has to do

with trying to inhale and then exhale with my diaphragm and push my positive

energy out into the neighborhood. I've used this technique like by thinking

about people occasionally, like I'm wishing them well, and twice I got phone

calls from those people. Like they said, oh I just thought of you today and I

thought I should call you. And it, I don't know, I'm being a little

superstitious here, but it was, I mean the coincidence was a little weird. I don't

do that often because that takes a lot of concentration but that's another form

of meditation that I do when I'll run. The reason why I ask about about the

music it's because from my own experience I know that you know for 5-10.

Case I can run without music but longer distances I need distraction because I

start to feel pain and I need something or someone to talk to me and and before

Before I was listening to music, recently, thanks to my wife who suggested that I should

try listening to a podcast, I started running and listen to a podcast.

And I have to say that for the first, you know, the first 10k, it goes smoothly and

I, you know, I forget that I'd run and I'm on tired later, you know, a longer distance

When the pain starts to be harder and stronger, listening to podcasts helps as well.

Do you ever find when you're running, your thoughts go to places you don't want to go?

Yes, but I don't find running relaxing like you do. For me, the problem is maybe not currently, but in the past, I think at the point of seven

kilometers it was when I was starting to think about work and at that moment

especially the work, the stressful situations or the issues I had to solve.

And I noticed every time that was happening that my heart rate was changing, my pace was changing,

and that's when things were going south during my run. So I really did not enjoy that feeling.

And I knew that seven kilometers or eight kilometers, that's this difficult period that I

I will have to overcome somehow.

But at that moment, because it was happening so often, I was usually not running more than eight kilometers because I could not.

No, I'm the same way. I've learned, I don't think about the things

that cause me stress or anxiety when I'm running

because my heart rate goes up.

We've been talking about running for most of our conversation,

but I wonder if there is anything else that brings you joy and passion in life?

My wife and I, we had a dog.

We also have a cat. But the dog, for me, was very symbolic because I was in a bicycle accident that a dog caused.

And as much as I didn't wanna become one of those people that now hates dogs because you were injured by one,

I did become that one.

And Amanda had a black dog that looked strikingly similar to the dog that wiped me out and put me in the hospital.

And I had a cat, and the dog had a history of chasing cats, and a history of really kind of bad behavior.

But as Amanda's and my relationship progressed, I realized that I was going to have to make peace with the dog.

He was eight years old at the time. I didn't want to wait, you know, for him to die before Amanda and I could move in together and get married.

And so Amanda and I both travel for business and I started taking care of her dog Ollie was his name and then he would come and he would sit on the deck and I'd work outside because working from home and then I'd take him to the, you know, wherever he would stay for the three days or whatever.

And then eventually he'd stay with me one night.

But the cat and the dog met through the screen door of our porch and they got comfortable with each other.

And I got comfortable with him.

And moving forward a little bit, we got married and Amanda and Ollie moved in with myself and my cat.

I fell in love with this dog.

And she and I would take him for a walk every single morning to the Dead Duck Inn.

And it was about a two mile walk.

And that became something that meant something to us. It was like our time together and we a shared love of our pet and then you know he started to get old

and,

You know, really having to care for this animal became something that was a passion.

I had to carry him downstairs in the morning. He couldn't navigate them anymore.

He could still go up. And he just had to start learning. He was an old man,

and he needed special care. And we walked, our walks went from two and a half miles a day

down to a quarter mile a day. But he wanted to go every single day up until the day that he died.

He went for a walk. On Wednesdays I would go meet some friends and when I would

come home I would call Amanda at 8 and I'd be home by 8.15 and I'd give Ollie a

treat. Well over time Ollie started informing me at 8.15 every evening that,

he needed a treat and it was just so endearing but that was something that,

You know, I didn't get married until I was 50, 49 or 50, and being married has

been the best thing that ever happened to me. I married my best friend, we have a

great life, and then to be able to share something like that with Ollie, and then

when he died, sharing the grief, you know, and it's been almost a year, and we both

are still talking about some of the pain of the loss. Our cat still hasn't recovered from the loss. She misses him terribly. But that's a

passion of mine and I don't know how I think Ollie symbolizes it. But I want to

the best husband I can be to my wife.

Music.

A big thank you to Dan for coming on this show. I talked with him at the end of March and the Paris Marathon that he mentioned took

place on the 2nd of April.

Now we know that Amanda, Dan's wife, set a personal record in that marathon. Congratulations!

The music in this episode is thanks to Boddington Bear. Please subscribe to this podcast in your favorite podcast listening application and tool.

And as always, you can visit our website chroniclesofcuriouscharacters.com.

Thank you for listening, and have a great day.

Music.