Episode 11 - Michigan Football and Half-Marathon Training

good morning good morning how are you this morning I'm fantastic it's a big day in the Wilkerson household um this our 11th recording of the table we passed through 10: so it's 11: we're in the we're not in the teens yet we'll soon be teens no yeah for the people who can't see do you want to describe what you are wearing right now sure I have a navy blue shorts a navy blue t-shirt that says hail with a black M on it and then I have a headband with many BL M's I shall take a picture but today my friends is the opening of college football season for Michigan fans so it's a BFD F freaking yeah do you want to describe to the people your affinity for the University of Michigan Wolverines just a brief synopsis of that I would love to so most people I think a lot of people know you know that but there are new listeners maybe they don't know so go I probably don't know why like I always say I'm a very emotional like Watcher of football I'm not a technical Watcher of football yes the X's and O's are not your X's and O's I could care less about I still don't know positions I don't know basic positions um however when I was little growing up my dad had season tickets to Michigan football and lived and breathed it like I can picture my father crying when uh Michigan lost the Rose Bowl and he was like sobbing and saying I can't believe they didn't win this for B what was his connection to University of Michigan uh my dad went to GMI for his undergrad and went went to Michigan to get his Masters GMI is now kering ketering University of Michigan so so what's really cool truly it is very very cool my family has these four tickets that have been in my in our family since my dad was in college and so the same seats that we've sat in like my grandfather who I never met sat in and then my uncles my dad and then my dad would bring one of us usually to at least one game a season the boys always got first preference but he would always make sure that at least one game I was able to go to and so uh so I started to really love Michigan football because of that because of the memories with my dad and then one of the cooler things is that as we got married uh We've carried that on to our children so for me it really is like people say faith family football but like I feel like I grew up in a culture of Faith Family football so I love Michigan football yes why don't you talk a little bit about your experience with college football so I went to a division 2 School Grand Valley State University go Lakers go Lakers # anchor up y um so we were very act we were very good in football we won three national titles when I was in college but I always say it's very easy to be good at football if you're playing community colleges we don't play that's like that's like division we don't play colle but you areal schol we are national champions we have three of them while I was in school um we won three of them so but I would say college football was not a thing for us I do remember going I think when I was 12 or 13 my dad took me to a missing game but I just remember being very crowded and I feel like we left at like halftime in third quar I remember like walking back it was a long walk to get to our seats yeah and I think they like I think they were losing they came back and won that game so I remember going to Michigan game like one time cuz I think he was not a fan of just like cuz I don't think people know like it's just a long bench there's no like seats it's just a long bench with a numbers squished in there aren't you if you yeah you're so if you're sitting next to larger people it is hard to find your seat and like to get a spot you got to like squish squish you have to search your position in terms like this is my seat yes or some people get those little seats with the uh the support the seat support that fold up yeah I don't think those are allowed I've seen them they're cushions they can have cushions in the big house yeah but yeah um yeah so I think that was when we started dating we started doing Michigan football games cuz I I I was watch college football sometimes but I had not like we have like every Saturday we're watching a Michigan game and all the games can you say though that now we are 14 years into marriage I think you would identify as a Michigan fan and I think that you would identify as a college football fan which maybe you were not in the I was identify more as a college football fan I do I do root for Michigan through you but I would say if we weren't together like I wouldn't be as I would not be as close unless for the the kids wanted to we would I would not be watching Michigan as much as I do that's more of a a a thing I do for you and your family and your you adapted to it and you love it because for me like I didn't go there like I I connect to like I know a lot of people who love Michigan but they didn't go there their family don't go there they do like it's kind of like it's either you're a Michigan or Michigan State fan but like a lot of people re for Michigan so I don't do that it's like hey I didn't go to school there so I don't have well in the first years of our marriage before you grew to appreciate all the things about me you're like well you didn't go there so you're not and you still won't let me fly a Michigan flag in front of our house no we cannot do that right we would have to fly a Grand Valley flag we would not fly a Michigan flag so cuz I would absolutely fly a Michigan flag but cuz actually went or you if you want to fly a Franciscan flag but we didn't go there like you have to no I'm just a fan but that makes sense to you though like we would have to fly my flag or your flag before we fly a Michigan flag but I actually think the roots of my fandom for the University of Michigan are maybe even deeper than people that did go there because it is so tied to my family yeah it's tied to your family it's it's tied to your last name um well and I'll tell you when and also brother got his Masters there so you actually have like people in your family actually went to Michigan right it's a big deal I will say too one thing that has been really beautiful over the course of the last year when we they actually win games now well that's fun yeah we were so we were not good for a long time when we bought this house for real like you know this in the year that we were building it all I could think about was uh being able to host parties where people could easily watch football in a lot of them and our house layout is wildly conducive to that I like I remember like think like honestly like going to bed as this house is being built thinking about like what am I going to buy for the tailgates what is it going to look like in my house how many people can we sit and I mean the crescendo for me for sure was the Ohio State Michigan game last year which we won we were if you don't if you don't yeah if you don't watch college football you don't care about any of this last year was a wild ride for Michigan fans and we I think we had like 45 people over here watching that game um I counted Bo he's incling the kids including the kids of course I'm including kids um and at least 30 were locked into that game watching and screaming and it was magical and so this year we're going to level up they won at the last play like that went to the very gosh it was so beautiful and then this year we're going to level up I'm so excited we're going to put an outdoor um what do you call it electrical socket on the house and then get a television that we can easily bring out here so that in theory when it gets a little chillier we'd be able to have like indoor outdoor parties so like I'm way excited about that so our our Falls are football I mean the boys play and then we watch college football all day and I become a lions fan almost through you I did I never watched pro football ever we grew I think that I think that's part of having the kids like I think we would watch a couple Lions games but now we watch like every lions May bad are we only watching cuz they're good I think it's both I think it's boys both it's the boys got older and then now they're more attached to the football and you know what changed it for us they did this reality show on on hard KN what what is that on HBO lot of swearing yeah lot of swearing but we made a choice to let our kids watch it our boys were able to watch Hard Knocks um and it was that got us I think all into because it was on the The Lion so anyway so we are deep into football today is going to be a really exciting day we're doing a tailgate we're already in a fight because I want to buy many things for the tailgate your point is cuz we're going to the game tonight we're the game's a 7:30 game yep uh your point is we're having eight people like for two hours for two hours but I'm going all out no I think it's just being reasonable about I don't want to bring I don't want to have to store a bunch of food in our car and have to bring home of food I'm going all out this is my we're going to fight about it so we'll see what happens we'll shop separately this just being reasonable about eight people Reas in like 2 hours I'm always reasonable but I'm going to buy lots of fun things I'm very very excited but also sometimes your fun things no one eats too so like you'll buy something like no one ate it no stop you're being mean now now you're being mean on the podcast it's not being mean it's just truthful right no it's mean remember the dip you got that no one ate what was that dip you got that no one ate I don't know what you're talking about okay never mind yeah see you're making this anyways anyways a first week of school went well kids are into life on the first week of school it was a teaser week um it was definitely a teaser week because the kids only had um they had a half day Monday and then Friday they had off so it was only like 3 and a half days so we got back into which I enjoy cuz the kids all go to school and I get the house quiet um for about 6 hours and they come home and it's just very loud I didn't tell you I was furious with you um on I'm sure it was reasonable and rational I wasn't really furious with you on Wednesday morning all the kids if they could they all want to go to school with me every day like they would rather drive with me to school and hang out in my office before going over to the grade school um so one of them was like hey Mom if I get up early with you tomorrow can I go and I'm like yeah so we got up but then two others got up and got ready and they're like hey can we come too and you can't say yes to one and not to the other absolutely you can so I ended up bringing all five kids with me and we got there a half hour before their school started and every time I do that I deeply regret it do it I can't do it again because I or say no all you do is say hey one child can you cannot a very fair thing to say you can go we're start do a rotation well my office I should take a picture someday I don't think you understand my office in the morning how much space you have how many people are in my office in the morning like I feel like a theme is you don't know how to say no to people I'm very no no no I mean like I work at a high school so of course I have between 20 and 30 students that visit me in the morning he well and grab no I would never say it out to them but the problem is that's really funny I'm going to tell Ethan that you shouted him out um I uh I uh I don't mind having teenagers in my office it's hard when I have five additional children who are all like I have a candy basket yo kids try to fill their hands with candy and put it in their pocket I'm so surprised so anyway that's not happening anymore I think it's fair to say hey one like Mia can go with you this week next week John Paul can go like you rotate and say only one person can go with me that's fair to say right but I feel like that's nothing to do with me though I feel like that's an irrational anger towards me you think I have sometime think you think Jo didn't want to come with me and you said well if you're taking four you have to yeah that's I think the people agree that like if you're already taking four then I have to like take car count it's like 15 trips 15 minutes there 15 minutes there 15 minutes back so I'm doing all that because Joy's lazy don't get up like no you get up and you go sorry that's a reasonable thing to say okay um but I think it's fair to say no kids you're not going with me okay another big thing this week another big thing this week we're on a bit of a health Journey we can talk about it more later um just trying to be healthy and as a consequence or as a kickoff again of that because we've been on a health JY since we got married and there's ups and downs and all the things but we are we did sign up for the half marathon now before anybody gets too excited I understand for the half marathon in order to be in the half marathon I have to do 18-minute miles right yes and I'm very nervous about that which I know if you're listening and you're a runner you're like what are you even talking about like we're pretty much planning on briskly walking the half marathon which a lot of people do right buters even briskly walking we had a fourmile walk yesterday we have a six mile walk um tomorrow or Monday y like it my challenge is The Thirst I get really thirsty what their strategy so I don't know people know so I've done three I've done three marathons that's crazy yeah 2018 2019 I did one last year yeah so I think there are strategies that you can do for hydration no you don't care you're like suck it up is your strategy I'm like dying like so I cannot guys I need I don't need a lot of water but I need to have a sip of water every mile cuz my mouth gets dry and you're yesterday you're like stop complaining you push my back you're like pushing me you're like you know because you're not up because you're like you're not going to die it's like hey it's it's UNC but the whole point of that is it's the whole experience is uncomfortable but my mouth gets really dry but but you just had a sip like two 20 minutes ago so so you're not dehydrated so wasn't clean and we're not running so if we're like running I can see but like we're like fastly walking so you're not going to you're not going to fall out from dehy not even that fastly walking because yesterday and this is my fear you're not going to fall out and die this is my fear you don't think it's a rational fear we're doing it I mean we're in the program we'll have our six mile walk tomorrow or whatever the or Monday probably the challenge is like I got to I got to up the time we're at 19 minute miles which I know again remember I'm very out of shape right now tens of listeners so I'm like I I'm very nervous to think about doing 13.2 miles it's easy stop I feel like and you're very mind over matter I am not I am very matter happening in my well once you start like I think that's the beauty if you go early in the morning like cuz you take out distractions so once you like start you know that you have to finish so it's like whatever whatever we got to do to get this done like we're going to get through it we're going to get it done we're going we're going to move through this um yeah so we did two two mile walks this week and then one Four Mile Walk and then we'll have a six mile walk and I think that's going to be the basis on school days I really can't do more than two miles because of the time it takes in the morning before I go to work but yesterday it was funny after we came back from our Four Mile Walk which by the way guys it's like a Four Mile Walk okay and I'm really out of shape like I like sat down at the kitchen table I was like I'm done for the day and it was like 8:30 in the morning I'm like I'm out like that was a fun day that's why I prefer doing it early in the morning it actually and then you feel really accomplished all day long really accomplished you're done for the day it's like it didn't happen it's like oh yeah I did this thing earlier today so you keep saying you keep saying like we got two months we got two months we got two months but I'm like I really 50 days 50 days seven weeks tomorrow just follow the plan seven weeks that's it follow the plan that's the beauty of having a plan you have a plan you execute so every day you follow the plan and you're not nervous that I'm not 18 minute miles no I think we'll get there that's shaving Off 2 minutes like and The Last Mile yesterday was 20 minutes long but you weren't really like trying to chilling but I was also tired when we got home I mean I know your body I know you're older but your body's still recover you just got a factor in recovery I we're trying it'll be it'll be very cool to do it with you I told you though it's a long time like yesterday I think our walk was like an hour and a half and I was bored of you after like sixes that's why you just got to sometimes you just don't need to talk you just do it like that's that's the beauty of it like it's it's um it's your it's your cross that you carry right so we'll basically be walking for four straight hours hours for the marathon which fine I've done a marathon in like 6 hours I know yeah so we'll see it should be fun I'm I'm looking forward to and when you're there like I think people like people encourage you people encourage you there's water stations there's water stations I think there's a lot of water St there's many water stations there's a lot of water people I get so thirsty and the Gatorade you get water and you get Gatorade I Gatorade I just and you get to cross the bridge uh the Canadian kind of uphill I'm nervous about that too we're doing we're doing flat land right now and then can you get to go Canada our Canadian friends are very nice there's that Assumption Church you get sometime they had like a big uh poster board of the Pope standing there saying you can do light a candle in the church there's in church and I don't have time for that I don't have time for anything can't go in the church I don't have time for anything okay we're going to it's a great experience I'm very excited to do it with you I think it's good and I think this fall it's neat it's kind of like a passive we've gone really hard before so I've lost a lot of weight before you have to going hard with like super discipline in terms of eating and things like that I'm I'm not really up for that but I am up for increasing the quality of life through health so that's what we're trying to do so consider amount of travel that you plan to do in our old well that's what we say it is hard though like I um a lot of people are motivated by like body image issues and I'm so lucky that I'm married to you and that you love me and I love you and it's all good but what I'm motivated by is 60 70y old Mary and my desire to see the world when our kids are older when I talk to most people who are there in 60s and 70s they're like I wish in my 40s I would have done X Y and Z so we're in that age where people like I wish we're in the age where most people like I wish I can go back to that age and like do things differently I also feel like very accurately I mean I'm 44 so I think when you hit that like 40 mark life depending on where you're at that's when it gets too intense to really care about your health and that's when a lot of people gain weight that's when I've gained so much weight like it's just hard to make that a priority very hard but I feel like we're trying yeah and so and like last year was the house and everything so things kind of put on pause but I'm looking forward to doing this with you so that's a big deal too yeah anything else from this week do that um football games last night yes they had football games last night so we're back into the so I dropped I dropped the boys off at 4:00 because they have to be there early for the JB 5th and sixth grade but I think I didn't leave until 9:30 so that was a Solid 5 and half hours Al it was very bold of you we have these your friends who once a head coach of a basketball program and once's a head coach of the football program at the high school and you tried to compare your time at school to their time at school oh my gosh I feel like and I'm like they literally do that all the time that's not a comparison though you compare I don't compare I that was a statement of fact because I feel like the the coaches there give so much time at the high school it's wild but we were there a long time yesterday it was missing a spark for me last night I can't figure out why they were slow they were it's the first it just that it was a slow game like usually the time goes by so fast and I'm so in and yesterday I was like okay um but I did miss the ending which our boys beat a team that are seventh and eighth graders that they have not beat before they said holy family yeah they said they've never beat them before um yeah it's always different each year they're always different set of kids so we got win this particular team Aaron just said it kind of quickly and under his breath so I will say uh if there is a team whose behavior is not always a team that I like the a behavior that I admire it may be this team this team is always stacked like with people seven times the size of our kids and so winning against them yesterday after they had I think two unsportsmanlike calls at a CYO game felt pretty sweet it felt pretty sweet and Aaron came home buzzing man little Aaron was like I mean he said to me he's like did you hear how loud it was mom he's like I couldn't even hear the quarterback call I'm like I feel like maybe that's an exaggeration but he was so pumped right yeah he was pumped yeah they let all all of them like it um they like the football yeah we got one sitting on the sideline this this year he one did to that last year he didn't play at all that's what people keep reminding me of I hate when they have to do it it it's character building but even when they go to high school if they want to play in high school there is no guarantees that you'll play like you see on sideline there's like 40 50 kids there you know all of them ain't playing so but I was talking to a mom and this won't all be football content I think football is the hardest sport to be involved in physically like it's just there's no other coo sport that you're doing six days a week that you're doing you're putting in not the actual like I'm talking about it's I think it's a hard sport to be involved in and I think it's really cool that our boys love it and want to do it even when they're not on the field I think athleticism why soccer is up there um yeah oh soccer's Next Level isn't it football is like I don't know it It's Tricky uh yeah it's up there it's it's a lot of it's a lot of but they do it like they I know a lot of kids they did it for one year they didn't like and they quit our boys we've been involved since thing one was like four years old like in flag football or kindergarten kindergarten so eight or nine years we've been doing this um and they love it yeah they love it they'll keep going even the one even like when they sit on a sign it's cuz I worry like as a mom you're like when they work so hard and they can't even get in for a snap then I want to punch the coaches in the face but like we said early last night it teaches them to like discipline and it gets them off of like if they were here they'd be on screens watching TV and like like fighting each other so it gets them out of the house and it gets them in an act which I think why a lot of people do sports like year round because it's something for their kids to be involved and it keeps them out yeah it keeps them off the streets I was proud of off the streets out of trouble out of trouble and off the out of those gangs out of those gangs those knife gangs those ltown gangs knife gangs all right so upcoming week just got more school more stuff hopefully don't have to buy more school clothes we should be I think we're good with school clothes I think we're good with school shoes We're going to buy some Michigan gear today for those that have outgrown theirs and then go team go yeah all right friend until next time until next time have a great week