Phedippidations review: “Run Long, and Taper”
Last week I discovered Phedippidations over at SteveRunner.com. I have been working my way through the archives and have gotten through almost 20 of the episodes already. Steve is a middle of the pack marathoner who records the majority of his show on his Sunday long runs, and then edits it together into (something of) a cohesive whole. He has episodes recorded during races, including the Lowell, Cape Cod, and Boston marathons.
You can clearly hear his footsteps and oncoming traffic as he runs. For the most part, it is fairly easy to hear what he is saying as he goes out for his running. He splices music into his show that is usually themed about running or about his topic for the week. Some of his topics have included the races he is running, why owners are at fault when you are chased by a dog, and ponderings about why Massachussetts drivers are such idiots. That last seems to be touched upon at least a few times. He also talks about running legends such as Bill Rogers, John Kelly, and Emil Zapotek.
In one episode, he is discussing the difference between a runner and a jogger. He eventually concludes that the baseball rulebook contains the best definition, which seemed pretty close to the distinction that I always used by George Sheehan:
The difference between a runner and a jogger is an entry blank.
Of course, before I could email him my thoughts on that matter, he then quoted Dr. Sheehan and mentioned how what had taken him 15 minutes to explain only took Dr. Sheehan 12 words. I did email him that (now pointless) tidbit and to let him know that I enjoyed listening to his show, and got a response back from him within about 3 minutes. Not too bad for a random unsolicited email.
His show is definately worth checking out. The first few episodes are a little rough, but once he got onto a weekly schedule things seem to have gotten to a fairly consistent quality. One thing I could stand to hear less of (and since I am only halfway through his archives perhaps he has stopped already) is how much he degrades the quality of his own work. It is quite plain that he puts a lot of work into producing the show every week.
- Additional Podcasts
- Portland Trails 10k
- I (barely) made the front page of the Portland Press Herald
- Podcasts for Runners
- This Week Last Year: Books and Marathons
April 29th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Not bad at all (surprising since I’m anything but a runner). The name puzzled me at first, until I remembered my high school Greek history : Phedippides was the original marathon runner.
Good find.
April 29th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Yeah, he goes into why he named it that in an early episode. He has not done a lot of worrying about search engine optimization or anything like that; if he has to tell somebody how to get to the page he just sends them to SteveRunner.com.
May 25th, 2006 at 9:39 am
[...] I recently wrote about Phedippidations, a Podcast by Steve Walker for and about running. At Strength News, Chris has listed some of his favorite podcasts that he has been recently discovering. Check out his page for a short list of fitness and strength training related podcasts. [...]
September 14th, 2006 at 11:01 am
[...] As a bonus, a photographer for the Portland Press Herald will be there to take pictures of folk who listen to the Phedippidations podcast. If there are any Mainer’s that listen to the podcast and would like to speak with the lady from the Press Herald [...]
September 25th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
[...] A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by a woman from the Portland Press Herald about my habits listening to podcasts, particularly the Phedippidations show produced by Steve Walker. [...]
October 5th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
[...] Have you ever run a half marathon, or have you ever wanted to? Steve Runner, the host of the internet radio show Phedippidations, has organized a half marathon race that takes places in 23 different countries this weekend. [...]
March 19th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
[...] on the list has to be Phedippidations. Ireviewed the show about a year ago when I started listening to it regularly. Steve “Runner” Walker [...]