#106 - Founder of Project Purple and runner, Dino Verrelli, talks about how running positively impacted his life, how he developed fundraisers that incorporate running to help pancreatic cancer patients worldwide, and how you can benefit by supporting a good cause.
Topics Covered:
How does Project Purple help families of those battling pancreatic cancer and fund research
How can running be a positive outlet and therapeutic experience
How can anyone experience the same thrill of running a marathon as elite athletes
Today’s Guest
Dino Verrelli
Dino Verrelli is the founder of Project Purple, which is an impact-driven organization with a vision of a world without pancreatic cancer. Dino's father, Giovanni, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 and lost his battle in 2011. Dino promised his father before he passed that he will never give up on defeating pancreatic cancer! Dino is a runner, CrossFitter, and all things pancreatic cancer.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
#106 - Founder of Project Purple and runner, Dino Verrelli, talks about how running positively impacted his life, how he developed fundraisers that incorporate running to help pancreatic cancer patients worldwide, and how you can benefit by supporting a good cause.
Topics Covered:
How does Project Purple help families of those battling pancreatic cancer and fund research
How can running be a positive outlet and therapeutic experience
How can anyone experience the same thrill of running a marathon as elite athletes
Today’s Guest
Dino Verrelli
Dino Verrelli is the founder of Project Purple, which is an impact-driven organization with a vision of a world without pancreatic cancer. Dino's father, Giovanni, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 and lost his battle in 2011. Dino promised his father before he passed that he will never give up on defeating pancreatic cancer! Dino is a runner, CrossFitter, and all things pancreatic cancer.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Hey, my friend, back in 2016, I lost my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer and, as today is World Pancreatic Cancer Day, I'd like to share a replay of Episode 71, which is an inspiring conversation that I had with the founder of Project Purple, which is a pancreatic cancer awareness organization. Hope you enjoy. Did your dream or goal to run one of the major marathons? Do you want to help others, especially those facing a cancer diagnosis? Well, in this conversation, we're going to talk about how you could do both of those things. Today, we're going to talk to Dino Varelli and I'm going to share a little bit about my experience losing my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer, and Dino is going to share his story as well, including why he started Project Purple and the great work that they're doing to help cancer patients and their families. And we'll also talk about mindset as a release to running, whether you're a new runner or season runner, especially as you're thinking about doing your first or your next marathon. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a season runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host.
Speaker 1:
Richard Connor. Hi everyone, welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Today I'm here with Dino Varelli, who is the founder of Project Purple, which is an impact-driven organization with a vision of a world without pancreatic cancer. Dino's father, giovanni, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 and lost his battle in 2011. Dino promised his father before he passed that he would never give up on defeating pancreatic cancer. Dino is a runner, crossfitter and all things pancreatic cancer. Welcome to the show, dino.
Speaker 3:
Thank you for having me, richard, it's a pleasure.
Speaker 1:
Well, the pleasure is all mine For our listeners. Dino and I met I think it was some time last year. As our listeners may know, I had an experience with pancreatic cancer where I lost my mom back in 2016. Ever since then, I've been volunteering and supporting and raising awareness for pancreatic cancer. Dino and I connected and I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with him on his podcast, which I'm sure we'll talk about a little bit later. Here we are hearing his story and all things he's doing with Project Purple, as well as his running journey. I'm super excited to have you, dino. Maybe we'll just get things kicked off and you can share a little bit about yourself and your background.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, Richard. I'm the founder of Project Purple. We are an endurance-based charity. We're a national charity. I like to say worldwide charity because we bring teams to the Berlin Marathon and the London Marathon, so that makes us kind of global. We also are doing an adventure to Italy this year. We've quickly expanded over the last 12 years 13 years almost. I like to use the term endurance. In your introduction you mentioned, Project Purple was inspired by my dad's journey with pancreatic cancer and the journey we went on as a family to help other people.
Speaker 3:
During that time I was never a runner. I didn't consider myself a runner. Kind of funny. I don't know if I consider myself a runner now. I don't know. Everyone's definition of runner is different, right? People say, hey, you run those marathons, I go. Well, I don't run that fast. It's like a fast jog, right? So is that a runner? Are you considered a runner if you're fast jogging or speed walking? A marathon? I found running. It was so positive to me. It really became such a positive outlet for me during that time.
Speaker 3:
That time for my life was a lot different. I had a dad battling a terminal cancer. I had two young boys under five with my wife trying to figure that whole parenthood thing out with twins. And then I was running my own financial services business. I was actually in the insurance brokerage business and I was the CEO of that company. I had five employees, so life was just crazy across the board and running became so positive for me and I think, just being an entrepreneur, I found a space in this space of pancreatic cancer to give back running to the community in a positive way, to become a positive outlet, and I guess the rest is history.
Speaker 3:
And we literally from day one, were figuratively and literally running to help find a cure and help families, and that's really kind of been the big thing for us here at Project Purple. Naturally, now we do a lot of other things, from traditional fundraising to other types of endurance mud runs, CrossFit, fitness, golf. We even have a pizza eating contest coming up, which has nothing to do with fitness, but it raises a lot of awareness and such. So it's just pretty wild the journey we've been on. But I've been on, I should say Richard. But when I look back at it, running is such a core to that. And running is not only a core for the foundation on how we got started, how we raised the majority of our money still through our marathon teams, through some of the five Ks we do regionally, through our virtual events, which are also endurance based, and a lot of them have running built into them.
Speaker 3:
But also me as a person, as I've changed over the last 12 years just from my running and what I've done personally through that. So running is really a core thing for me. You and I could probably joke about this, right, Like I don't know For me, I think runners I think of like wow, Memka Flesge, Molly Huddle, they're running those marathons. Right, they're winning those marathons. They're winning those. They're running my pace. I don't know if I consider it running, I don't know.
Speaker 1:
I could certainly relate to that and it's funny because I just ran a race on Super Bowl Sunday, so just a couple of weeks ago, and I felt pretty good about the race and I felt pretty good about my time and I had a work colleague who ended up running the race as well when I finished and when he finished we're two totally different times. He got first in his age group and the way we looked when we were done was completely different. He was dripping wet like super spanned from the race and I'm like kind of jogging in, you know, at Richard's pace. So I totally can relate to that. But you know what?
Speaker 1:
One of the things that I've seen quite often and I love is if you run, you're a runner. So you know, regardless of what your pace is, and that's what we try to encourage. You know, the community, because I think there's such a motion centered around running and I'd love to understand and discover why. Because folks who do not run look at it and may say I'm not a runner or I can't do that, and anybody can really do it, anybody can be a runner. So it's super interesting that you say that. I just want to leave that, you know, for the listeners, like if you run, you're a runner.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it's a great point and you know, I think that's something that I saw early on in my first marathon experience at the Boston Marathon in 2012. I was long story but I'm gonna make it really short. I was really blessed. I got a number seven days before the race never had run past 13 miles and so I asked my wife. She's like hey, she's from Massachusetts. She's like it's the Boston Marathon. You got to do it because I was like this is kind of crazy. Like you know, there's no way in seven days I'm gonna get to marathon training. So I knew it was gonna suck going in. You know that helped me mentally prepare for it.
Speaker 3:
But I started very way at the back and this was before. Like I, you know I'd watch the New York City Marathon. You know meb kuflesi went in the New York City Marathon a couple years before, so you know it wasn't naive to the marathon distance but just never had done it right and never really had been to big marathon. So being at the back of that year of the Boston Marathon, it was wild because I remember looking over and there was a guy who was blind. It's probably about six foot five, about 260 pounds. Now I'm six foot one, probably like two, two hundred flat. This guy was big but he was beating me in the start like he was. He was going out there fast and he had a guide with them. Right, they have like a tether and the guides telling them you know, be careful, pothole, you know this. That right left and I was like that's when the light bulb went off for me, like, oh my god, like anyone can do this. And then, you know, being at the back of the Boston Marathon, it's all the charity runners, right, and these people get spots, but you get people from all walks. You get people that are you know, again, I think people think like runners. Are you know these compact, muscular bodies? Um, anyone can do it? Right, like to your point, like so, anyone can do it. And that's when the light bulb for me went off was like wow, man, this is like so awesome.
Speaker 3:
And that day sucked. There was no doubt about it. I mean, 2012, I think, might be still on record the hottest Boston Marathon ever in the history of the Boston Marathon. So not only did I have to deal with that, but I never ran past 14 miles or 13 miles ever in my life until that day, so every mile after you know, 13 was like a PR for me and a personal best. And I remember I finished the race in like five hours and like I don't know, five and a half five, four year sign. But I was like like I won the race, man, like I was like this is so freaking awesome, right, but I was in so much pain but I was like okay, let's do this again, like let's sign me up next year for this one again and I'm gonna train for it, right. So yeah, running is just so.
Speaker 3:
I think it's one thing that you know when we look at sports, like if you compare running to like football, basketball, baseball, even golf, right, and golf has kind of like the running aspect to it because anyone can play golf and then and I'm not saying like people can't play those other sports but to have the same feeling I think that a mebka fleshy has or a Molly huddle has, and those are two people that I'll probably say a lot because they're like idols for me but to have that same feeling in Boston or in New York or whatever, five care half marathon that those people get, everyone gets as well, not necessarily winning the race, but actually doing the event With the crowds, with the same experience.
Speaker 3:
It's just really cool. And that's the other thing that I think running, I hope people realize that, like you're on that same stage with those people, like it's wild, like you can't, like we can't go play Basketball like the Knicks are playing tonight. We can't go out on the court and shoot free throws right, that doesn't happen, right, you know the Jets are playing or the Giants are playing.
Speaker 3:
You can't go down in the field and, you know, throw a TV pass to your Buddy in the end zone If you run in one of those races, you can. You can cross the same finish line as these greats do and run the same course.
Speaker 1:
For sure, for sure. And you know, what I'd love to do is learn a little bit about, like, how you got here, because, again you mentioned you were not a runner. So it's super interesting to hear that not only did you get into running, you incorporated that as one of the main activities for Project Purple. So, for you personally, what was that driver motivating for us, for you, to choose running? And then why running for Project Purple? Yeah, so great question.
Speaker 3:
The first one was your first. My first answer, like how I got into it? So I would go to the gym Even before my dad got sick. I was like a four four o'clock crew guy so I'd show up at the gym, you know, leave at my house at four, get there for 430. You know, right when the gym would open and I had this, we had the same crew like the workout crew, women and men. And I think just one day, like right around the time, my dad was battling that we, the gym, we had had a basketball court, so some days we'd mix it up other than just lifting weights. We're doing like I think at that time. Now I'm really gonna kind of age myself a little bit here because I think, like I think P90X was like getting really hot, so they had like a studio where we go in and do like the P90X workouts.
Speaker 3:
Before, like I think functional fitness and CrossFit Kind of really took off of doing those types of workouts. You know the classes were pretty structured and pretty strict, like it was a bootcamp class or it was just like weights. But so we were doing like, right, we would do all these variety workouts. And I think someone in the group was like, hey, let's incorporate like cardio. And so we just started like running. My a mile, like one mile, became like one mile and it was right when the time when my dad got diagnosed, it was kind of like a perfect storm in a bit and it was just so therapeutic for me like I went out. I remember that first run we were out running I live in the suburbs. There's like no street lights, there's the moon and we're like dodging like skunks and raccoons early in the morning, right, especially if it's garbage day and you know that's what you're seeing out there. And it was just so crystal clear to me, dan, like anything that I like, my thoughts, my problems. It just was so, so positive.
Speaker 3:
And then you know the idea for Project Purple and how I got into that and why running the first piece was because it was so good to me and I realized like, hey, I wanna give this back. And initially this group that we were running together, they knew what was going on with my dad and I think someone was like, hey, let's just do a 5K and we'll give it back to the hospital where your dad is doing. That's a cool idea. And I was like, yeah, but you know, I don't know how much impact that really makes. And again, I think I was thinking just bigger.
Speaker 3:
I consider myself an entrepreneur. And I was like all right, like if we do the 5K, like does that help enough people? And I just felt like you know what, I think we can do something here to have a greater impact, to help people locally, nationally, like I'm a big dreamer, big idea guy. And so I was just like you know what, what about this? And they were like that's kind of crazy. But okay, I'll go along for the ride and the rest of this history as they say it again, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:
I really love that. And so, first off, kind of going back to why you got into it, I'd love to bottle that up and share it with others who, again, may not think they could run or maybe don't remember what it was like to run and you know that serenity and tranquility that you get from running and the piece you get from and it's your time right and I love that. You said that and you just got into it as part of your workout crew and that's how some folks get into it. They're invited by someone to run a 5K or come to the gym and that's their way of getting into it. But also what you're doing in Project Purple.
Speaker 1:
What I've learned through many conversations is that some people get into running through these types of activities. It's they know someone, whether it's a family member or friend, who is going through something or battling something, and this is a way to raise money and support them and support the cause. So love what you're doing personally in terms of running and fitness, as well as with Project Purple, thank you. So let's talk a little bit about how does this work for Project Purple, if someone wants to get involved and run and support. How does that work and how does it benefit the organization? How does it benefit the other cancer organizations or whomever you're supporting through that, as well as the runners Like? How does that work?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so we have a full turnkey program. So we have a couple of really strategic relationships with Marathons. We are our official Marathon Cherry Partner of four out of the six world major Marathons. There's six world major Marathons in the world where official Cherry Partners in New York, london, chicago and Berlin so we provide access to those races via the charity platform. All the races have different sorts of fundraising minimums.
Speaker 3:
I always say our job is to provide access to those races and give our participants an amazing experience from start to finish. And what that involves is training, making sure that our runners are trained. So like people listening like that have never run one of these Marathons before, never run a Marathon before might be a little intimidated, but we provide that training and we have a coach on staff that works individually with our runners and designs tailored programs for them based on their goals. Everyone's goal is gonna be different. Some people just wanna finish, some people wanna qualify for other races or finish in certain times, so that can all be accommodated. But then also the bigger piece too, which I think sometimes maybe scares people away, is the fundraising piece. Now, we've been doing this for 13 years. We're a multi-million dollar organization. We've raised a lot of money over a sense inception.
Speaker 3:
I always say our job is to teach people how to fundraise, how to make that proper ask, and clearly, with social media and technology, like strategies have evolved but I'll dial this really down, richard is it's the most impactful piece of fundraising. Probably the most important piece is that person's why and why you're doing this, like why are you joining Project Purple to help find a cure for pancreatic cancer? What's your story? And everyone has a different story, right, whether they are impacted or not, that doesn't really make a difference. It's really, though, being able to communicate that, and so that's something I think that we really stress here and really work with our teams and our participants. Like our run coaches, our fundraising coaches, I should say I call them run coaches, but they're not training you to run. They're like our team managers for our participants. Their job is to really work with each individual participant to help them fundraise as much money as possible. I use a lot of terms. One of them there's a science to it, but it's not rocket science, and I always tell participants like we could share all the best, latest and greatest fundraising ideas, but you got to be willing to make that ask, like I can't ask your friends to fundraise for you, you've got to do that. But I can teach you the strategies that really work. And so that's really where I think our job and kind of that's the oneness is on us to work with each individual runner to make sure that we're providing all the tools necessary for everyone to be successful.
Speaker 3:
And the reason being and this may sound, I don't know if this, hopefully this comes off the right way the reason why this to me makes sense is because without everyone raising as much money as possible, we don't get to do the great things that we do right. And what do we do with that money is provide patients with financial aid. So we have become one of the leaders in the pancreatic cancer space. Anyone who is battling can apply for financial aid assistance. Last year we paid out over 140,000. I think the total since inception of the program is over 650,000, over a thousand families We've helped nationwide. So anyone battling pancreatic cancer in the country can apply and we help them pay their bills. And so that's our first program.
Speaker 3:
The second program is research, and we are actively involved in helping to find early detection or curative treatments for the disease.
Speaker 3:
And really the crux of our research portfolio has been in the last five years, as we've continued to raise millions of dollars over the last five years. That's really been our growth spurt is when we've been able to really put substantial impact into research. During that timeframe it's over close to about $3 million in various projects for early detection, for curative treatments. But why we're able to do that is because of the success of our participants, right? So if we're not doing our job in supporting our runners, making sure they meet their goals and making sure they if someone wants to raise $20,000, we support it. If someone wants to raise $50,000, we support it. If someone just wants to raise the minimum and the minimum is $2,000, we support that as well. Right. But that's really our job. I always say is our job is to really support the runners, support the participants, regardless of the event, and really give them all the tools necessary so they can be as successful as possible, so that we can do so much more with the funds that they raise.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that Well, really wonderful programs You're running there and you're making a lot of great impact for patients. That's really wonderful to hear you know. Personally, I'd love to do more, so I love to sign up for these types of races and activities to help support, but I'm not very good at fundraising. So I'm learning from you through this conversation and hopefully going forward so I can be more effective and fundraising to help folks like yourself and organizations like yours to do what you do right and to do it. So thank you for sharing that and I'd love to talk a little bit about some of the work that you've done, or some of the races you mentioned that you participate in the four out of the six majors.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so we are our raised portfolio. So we have we're official marathon cherry partner of four of the six New York. I go to New York, london, chicago, berlin or Berlin. Chicago that's actually in size of field. New York usually is the largest in London, then maybe Berlin and then Chicago. But there's rumors this year it might be flipped because Chicago might have 45,000 and Berlin will have 42. And I think London usually falls anywhere between like 46 and 50. New York's always like around 50,000.
Speaker 3:
But we do have other relationships. We have relationships with the Lincoln Marathon, grandmas Marathon, twin Cities Marathon, just to name a couple. And then there's some regional races, like here we're in Connecticut. So we have a relationship with, like the Sonoh half marathon down in Norwalk, which is a newer race. We've done stuff with the New Haven Road Race. We also have a relationship with the Chicago half fall marathon and spring half marathon through the Lifetime series.
Speaker 3:
But what's great, richard, is if none of those races kind of fit your calendar or you know, it just doesn't work out, we have a great program called our Pioneer Program, so anyone can select any race that they're doing. It could be a local race, it could be a race that we're just not affiliated with for whatever reason, but you gain your own entry. So with most of our races I should say all of our races in that race portfolio that I mentioned that were official cherry partners, we will help provide entry into those races or we have entry into those races. Right, that's how that works. You know, for the fundraising commitment. But our Pioneer Program is a little bit different because we're not supplying entry. The entry is on the runner, but you can support the cause, you can support the mission. So, but our Pioneer Program really is flexible, allows people to do endurance events and, you know, use this platform to still support the cause and still support the mission. That's great, that's great.
Speaker 1:
Well, I hope to be, you know, working with you and your organization one day. I think that's a great opportunity to support the cause, so I'm personally looking forward to it and having you teach me how to fundraise. So looking forward to all of that, we're ready. We're ready for you.
Speaker 3:
When you're ready we're here, all right. All right, that sounds good.
Speaker 1:
So, you know, let's talk a little bit, you know, kind of back to you personally. I love to hear your story, your running journey and where you are today and before this conversation, you're telling me about your journey, You're telling me about what's next for you. So one of the questions that I like to ask all of our guests is what was the biggest obstacle that you face in your running journey and how'd you overcome it?
Speaker 3:
That's a great one, you know, I think the biggest obstacle is mental. For me, the like if you look at the averages right, I think like if you're lower center of gravity, lighter body frame, quick on your feet, you know, running is really like an easy sport for you in some ways. I'm six foot one, hover around 200 pounds. That tends to be on the bigger side.
Speaker 3:
So I'm always amazed, like Gail, and Rob is really tall, right, but he's super thin. He probably weighs like a buck 50, if that right, and so, like you know, he's light on his feet, which clearly you know, allows him to do what he does. But he's kind of, like this anti, because he's really tall and usually you even see, like these international runners are not very tall. So for me it's always kind of been this mental thing, you know, and I think that's the biggest piece because I don't think it's been a physical thing for me. I actually really, really and this is going to sound sick when I say this I love the training, like, and that's probably part of this mental piece, and I go back to, like, my days in college.
Speaker 3:
So in college I played collegiate basketball at a very low level. I love preseason, like people some people hate preseason workouts. I used to love being in the gym like getting stronger, like pushing your body, like to get stronger, and I kind of love the marathon training, marathon day. I don't I'm not a really big fan of that, I don't know. Like I love crossing the finish line, don't get me wrong. There's no better feeling than completing 26.2 because you trained for it, but I'm really for me. I love the training, I really love pushing your body, but it's those mental hurdles, richard.
Speaker 3:
You know like this morning I had to do a track workout and it was freaking cold man and I was like I sat in bed for like 10 minutes and I was like, dude, you gotta get up, man, you gotta get up. And yesterday I was supposed to do it yesterday and I flipped my days. I did a five mile run yesterday and then today I was supposed to do this like 14, 200s and a one mile warm up, one mile, you know, cool down. But I had to get to the track before the high school opened. So that meant I had to be there, you know, before you know 6.30. So I was getting up around 4.30. It was not light out and it was cold. I could hear the wind whip in here in Connecticut, so I wasn't looking forward to it.
Speaker 3:
But you just gotta find that mental fortitude to push through. And so I think the mental piece for me has been the biggest challenge, you know, because I don't think running has been as easy for me physically, just because of my body size and I wasn't like a long distance guy. I was always like basketball short bursts, you know mile to mile. When I started to do CrossFit I don't think that really helped me a bunch. That was like after my first four marathons and I jumped into CrossFit because my body had broken down a bit, because I wasn't really cross training properly. But it didn't really help me long term for my marathon training when I got out of CrossFit because I felt like again CrossFit's like this short burst, like fast twitch muscle versus, you know, slower twitch, which is more marathoning.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1:
And for sure the mental part is really important and I can relate to it because I ran CrossCountry in high school and track as well, which is 5K or less, so anything above that. I never really considered 10K half marathon marathon and it wasn't until just a few years ago, like I mentioned, where I started to run that half marathon distance and I'm thinking, well, that's the farthest I'll ever go and I'm only going to do it on race day. Well, now I've changed my coaches, changed my training program. I'm running on heart rate and time versus pace and speed. So 12, 13, 14 miles is just another Sunday, whereas two, three years ago oh my gosh, I have to run 13 miles for this race. So for sure it's all mental because physically it probably was able to do it just as well two, three years ago as I am today. So I really appreciate you sharing that. I think that's important for our listeners to hear that, if you put your mind to it, that that's something in us cliches, it sounds it's something you really can do.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely. And I remember reading something you know, like the brain is like the most powerful organ in the body, right? Everyone you ask that question like oh, the heart, and like we can do some amazing things if you put your mind to it right. We've seen that, you know, and I'm not talking athletically, but you know just from a society standpoint. But then if you bring that to athletics and you have this mindset and you get rid of that subconscious I talk a lot about subconscious and conscious, like our subconscious drives our conscious but if you can get rid of those delusions not delusions, but those misconceptions, I should say in that subconscious, like man, it's too cold out, or hey, I can't do 13 miles, because you know that's a lot right, and you just change that thought process and that mental and having this mental gymnastics and having this positive conversation in that psyche, it's wild what you can do, right?
Speaker 3:
Because then you clip off the 13 or the 15, or, like you and I were recording you know what we were talking about before you know, I went out and I went out too far. And then I realized like, oh man, I got two choices here. I could either, you know, suck it up and do a couple extra miles, I feel pretty good, all right. Or make the phone call come get me. No, no, no, I'm sucking it up and I'm doing the extra miles.
Speaker 1:
Right and it wasn't that big of a deal. And you know, I also love what you said about before. We were talking about the enjoying the process or enjoying the journey, how you love that kind of preseason time and being in the gym or where the training, more than the race day, and I think that's really important too, because you know that's really where you're putting in the work right. It's kind of you pay now or pay later. So if you don't enjoy that man, that's going to be really hard for you to kind of get to. It's a race day. So it's great that you do that, having that mindset to say no, I know it's cold, but you're going to feel so much better when, either when you get out there or when you're done, you're going to feel great that you did it, but you got to get out there, you got to do it yeah.
Speaker 3:
And this morning I share with you just a quick antidote.
Speaker 3:
Like I was running and I was like I was on a track. So I was trying to like run with the wind in my back, you know, not coming at me, and at one point I was taking the turn and I think I was going the wrong way. I figured it out, like I realized it, I should say, but then I was like you know what, like in 49 days when I'm in London, I will be so pissed that I did this workout, you know, in the freezing cold, because you know that's when it's going to pay off. You know, on race day which you know, maybe that's something for me that I just have to like work on my mental mindset. As I said, like I enjoyed more of the build up in the process and stuff and I don't necessarily enjoy race day. So you know, now, as we talk through this, maybe on race day I kind of have to like work on that mental psyche to just remember like all that hard work, all that grinding that you did pays off and enjoy it.
Speaker 1:
For sure, for sure. So you know, I love this conversation, I love everything that you shared with us. You know, kind of, as we wind down here, one of my questions would be what would be the one thing that you'd say to our listeners to help inspire them to run?
Speaker 3:
The one thing to inspire people to run and you said this, and for the listeners listening at home or wherever you're listening, just do it. Just go out and do it. And just because you may not look like a runner, you may not have the body, someone may have said, hey, you know you never could run or you weren't athletic just do it.
Speaker 1:
For sure, for sure. So you know how can our listeners find you, follow your journey online and support Project Purple.
Speaker 3:
So I'll go into reverse here. So projectpurpleorg is our website. That's the best place to learn all about the latest and greatest of what we're doing races. We have available anything that's happening, you know. That's the best place to follow us. And then you can naturally link through our social media, down at the end of the page or the footer of the page, and it gives you links to every single social media our YouTube, our podcast, facebook, instagram, twitter, tiktok all of them.
Speaker 3:
Me personally, I'm not really a big social media guy, but I am on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me on the website. So if someone wants to email me more and learn more about you know getting involved, or you know has been touched by pancreatic cancer and just wants to talk, you can email me at dino, at projectpurpleorg, or you can go to our website and you can hit the staff and contact. You have the ability to contact me through the website as well. If you're on social, you can always follow me on Instagram and it's real easy. It's dino D-I-N-O, project Purple. So I think I'm the only one on Instagram with that. Hopefully, hopefully, no one's taking that as like a shadow or something or trying to pretend to be me, but you'll see a lot of Project Purple content on there. So if you want to follow and learn more and follow along on my journeys with Project Purple, that's the best place, for it is on Instagram.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, awesome, dino, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on the show, sharing your journey and all the great work that you're doing with Project Purple. So I'll put this information in the show notes to make it easy for our listeners to find and follow you. And with that, thank you again for coming on the show.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, richard, for having me, and thank you for continuing to be a positive light in the running community and also in the pancreatic cancer community.