Kamal Datta (00:02.774) David, welcome to the pod. Glad to have you here. Glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Great. Let's start with a quick introduction. If I don't give a quick background of yours, like what do you do? And then I think we want to also chat about the Facebook group that you run or you started a little bit more. Let's start there. OK, so I live in Jacksonville, Florida. I've lived in Florida most of my life. Wasn't a runner. I grew up playing soccer for at a high level for many, years and then was a weightlifter, weighed about 40, 50 pounds more, looked like my head on top of a bigger person's body. And then in 2010, I decided to start running and guess we can get into some details, but I had a few hiccups for the first couple of years, had multiple hip fractures and surgeries and things like that. And never imagined I would ever be a Boston marathoner. because I didn't really, I always thought the Boston Marathon was just for super fast people and elite people. And I didn't think I was either of those. So that's kind of where we are. And from a personal standpoint, you know, obviously I run, I have a large Facebook following on this group that I started. I'm in basically, I'm in a technology business. We help keep banks safer. I'll just leave it at that. That's kind of what I do for a living. Keep banks safer. Give me, I'm also in technology, so I'm very curious. What does it mean? So we help catch bank robbers. So if someone comes in and wants to rob a bank, we have technology that tracks them from the minute they leave. And we're on directly with the local police departments, sheriff's offices, whoever it might be. And they typically will. track them down 70 to 80 % of the time. Those people never get to enjoy their thousands of dollars they think they've won in the lottery by robbing a bank. Interesting. Wow, that sounds fascinating too. Let's go back to 2010. You say it used to weightlifting and some, something happened and it transitioned to into running. If I could deep dive a little bit onto that, what caused it and what drove you to get into running? Kamal Datta (02:26.926) Yeah, I just had always done a little bit of cardio and then some, you know, I had some friends that go, hey, come, you know, come run with us and I'd go run for a little bit. Um, so I started, guess it was December of 2009, early 2010. There's a five mile run on race on the beach. I got a quarter mile in and felt like I had a quad pain, my right quad, but I pulled a quad hurt pretty badly. I dropped out of the race and went back to the finish line. Didn't really think much of it. So I waited a little bit, figured I would eventually I went to the an ortho because I wanted to get a prescription. I thought a massage and stretching would help. Little did I know that I had a right femoral hip neck fracture. So I have, I had a centimeter gap in the hip neck that I've baffled everyone. So They immediately were going to rush me into surgery. Long story short, that doctor hadn't seen something as bad as what I had in a while. So he kept pushing me off to different doctors and my mother was ill at the time and likely was not going to, you know, come out of all this. So I kept putting things off. So I eventually in June of 2010 had my surgery. So I have a plate on the outside of my right femur. with pins into the femur itself and two bolts into the hip socket. And I was told, I would never run, but I would likely never run again. Hmm. And so it took me quite a while to recover in November. started training and had some friends that were going to run the 26.2 with Donna, which is the breast national breast cancer marathon. That's based here in Jackson. I only got up to 10 miles. did finish the race. wasn't pretty. I think I ran for 20 something, and walk a lot because my body just wasn't used to running that far. but that I finished the race and I now was the marathoner and, and I did, so then what happened is another couple of years later, started running and training again and running all sorts of races all around town. My left one did the same exact thing. boy. So Kamal Datta (04:51.214) I've had fractures and surgeries in both hips. But after that, I ran that same marathon in 2013, and I didn't even know what a Boston qualifier was. I didn't know what the term beat Hugh meant. I finished the race, and at that time I was in my early 50s, so my Boston qualifying time was 3.30. I ran 3.30.102. I believe was my finish time. I could have run a lot faster. actually stopped and talked to a friend of mine on the side of the road for a couple of minutes. I could have been a Boston qualifier. So kind of got it in my mind. And then that's kind of how I got back into starting to run again. It's, amazing. So you proved the recommendation that you'll not run again, wrong, right? Yes. Especially over 20,000 miles since then. then. Wow. That's fascinating. That takes a lot of courage and in a tennis city too. push through this and kicking in alive, right? Now let's get back to how did you get to Boston? Because I think you did your first Boston in 2018, if I recall. Yeah, it was, so officially my first one was I qualified and I went out, there's a race in Geneva, Illinois, it's called the Last Chance BQ 2. And I ran that in September 2015 and qualified for 2016 Boston. So I was ready to go. was registered for 2016 Boston. And we had a little another family personal emergency, which was not going to allow me to be able to go to that because there are some other things I needed to attend to during that time. So I missed my chance in 2016 for the race. 2017, I was busy, didn't try to qualify for 2017. So I went back out to that same race. in September of 2016, qualified again, excuse me, 2017, and then qualified for 2018 with, I can't remember what my time was, but I was definitely in as my, so that was my first Boston Marathon was the monsoon, the snowstorm, the windstorm, whatever you want to call it. I know that year. Yeah. So yeah, you know that year well. I ran that too. I'm still cold. I'm still cold from that year. I know the... Kamal Datta (07:16.91) Boston of 2018. Yeah, it was brutal. Yeah. At some point, I don't know if you had that experience, you're probably differently faster than me. At some point I felt like I'm running, but I'm not moving forward because it was so bad. weird. was like, yeah, yeah. It was, uh, unless you were there, you, there's, there's, can describe it. Yeah. But I still recall two things. Normally, you you wait in queue and you've got to get in with what we just started walking and they're like, okay, just go. There was no, there were no correct. mean, basically they weren't stopping anyone. Just go get, you know, if you're in your wave and correct, just start. other things is I still recall the weather would calm down a little bit and then it would kick back up. And I remember seeing other runners just like yelling up into the sky. Like, can we stop? I mean, just stop raining, stop being windy, stop. Yeah, it was a, it was pretty interesting. And, my, my entire family was tracking me, which I didn't know. Yeah. So I got to my phone, after the race and kind of blew up with my family and, friends that were following me. So yeah, my first official Boston marathon was in 2018. You know, suspicious start. So what followed after for Boston? So obviously after that, I just kept training it and signing up every year. And I'm thankful that I have the ability that I can qualify. I know a lot of folks can't qualify and need to to charity route, I think charity runners are rock stars. I, again, I'm thankful I'm able to qualify. But if I was not able to, I don't know if I could go to my family and friends in my community and ask for money. Like most of us, we're probably not good at asking. I'll help you in a heartbeat and probably vice versa, but when you wanna help yourself, you don't wanna do those things. So I just really love the lore of the Boston Marathon. And I've run two other majors. I've run New York multiple times and Chicago multiple times. Not done any internationals yet. Kamal Datta (09:43.116) have had the ability, have had some opportunity to just chose not to at this point. but just everything about the race, the fans, the spectators, the town, everything that just goes into the Boston Marathon is just really super special. And you run it, the people who have run it come back and go, wow, that was, that was amazing. The crowds, just the town embracing. And because Boston, well, I think Boston is a large town compared to where I live. It's a very small compact town, but it's actually a rather small town in the fact that the crowds are that big. know, people talk about New York, New York's population is massive and there are wonderful crowds, not taking nothing away, but they just have massive amounts of people. But I still recall also in 2018, fans still out there in a pouring rainstorm watching us run. The volunteers, I think back about the volunteers in 2018, we were running, we were generating heat. Volunteers were standing there handing us cups of water. Yeah. In that stuff. They had to be freezing. So thank goodness they were there. You still have the screams at the scream tunnel too, I recall. yes, absolutely. Yeah, they were definitely there. They were always out there in force. Yeah, yeah. I remember my son was five that time. that time and usually the my best part of any race is to give him a hug at the finish line he'll be there and I remember he was shivering and cold and with these things and I felt bad for him that I thought it was a race like he was standing there for an hour to give me a hug it does it does yeah I know it does different brutal let's get back to 2025 you did run this year's 2025 right? Let's walk through a little bit of our experience. Obviously, you BQ, so you qualified for Boston. One thing I want to maybe, if you're going to expand a little bit, what is your usual strategy to BQ fight? Because there are a lot of ways people can qualify. People sometimes can create like, this year's Boston for next year's qualification. That can be one way. Or you run another race to that. What is your strategy for going for BQ? Kamal Datta (12:02.958) Well, I'm lucky enough, typically I have bequeathed at all the races that I've run. Okay. I did. I missed 2024. I had an injury in the morning of I decided I wasn't going to run. So I spectated that day. It was a lot of fun. So obviously I didn't have my normal qualifier. And 2024 was, I just had a random injury. dog ran in front of me and I slipped and rolled my ankle, all sorts of different small things. It just added up to, had no mileage. I don't even believe I had a thousand miles for the entire year. mid part of the year, I was talking about how should I go try to run a qualifier? I mean, I hadn't run. So in July and August, because of my injuries, I might've run 30, 40 miles in a month. And so I decided, ill-advised, most likely, to go out and run that BQ2 race again, because I knew the course well, on no training. In fact, I was asked, are you going to try to ramp up the last couple of weeks? And I said, I'm not going to run at all, because I'm not going to get any fitter. Let me save my legs. I had an ankle injury. Luckily, I was able to. Kamal Datta (13:32.398) I was 64 for that qualifying. my BQ was 350. So I targeted 337 and I ran with a 337 pace group, finished just under 337 last September and got back into Boston. So normally I qualify at Boston like I redid this year. I'm aging up, I'll be 65 for 2026. So my BQ now is 405 and I ran 320 or just a little under 320. So I'm in, so that's typically how I do it. I'm not going to would. I'm thankful enough that most of the time I read BQ in Boston. Now kudos to you and I hope you can continue as long as you can. That's pretty awesome that you're able to do that. Cool. Now you're lucky to be in Jacksonville for the training part getting ready for Boston. So you're lucky to be in a place where you don't have to weather the weather. to get the training part. Anything that you want to highlight for your training for Boston? Yeah, so the good part about being where I am is we don't typically get weather that we don't get ice and snow and things like that. So when we're training starting, know, mid January for Boston, we have decent weather. Now, if we're running like at this time of the year, we're running different races. We're going to run the Boston half. I've got other races on our schedule. I'm running the Chicago fold this year. you are. Okay. I'm not in marathon training yet, but you go outside. Like I walked out to bring something outside to my car a few moments ago and it feels like the the air is trying to destroy me because it's already in the mid 80s. We've had mid 90s temperatures with the heat index in well over 100. So we were hot and humid. So we typically, I'm part of a big running group here in town and I race for one of the local organizations here too. But we start our long runs on Saturdays at 5 a.m., sometimes earlier. Kamal Datta (15:55.51) I think we've actually had many groups start at 4 a.m. just simply we have to get done before the sun comes out because it's just so hot. unlike others like yourself that in the fall months and the winter months in your training for Boston, you've got ice, cold temperatures and things like that. That's when our magic days are during those. We're kind of flip-flopped from what you guys are doing up in that area and those in the northern parts. Yeah, so you have the challenge of training for the fall races, but the spring races are pretty smooth, right? Because you have the best way that you can ask for any runner can ask for. can get exactly that's correct. Yeah, cool. How was your Boston experience this year? David, I just love Boston so that we get in. We go in early. We go in on Thursday. I started doing that a few years ago. Couple reasons I've been there many years where. there's weather incidents and people trying to fly in are delayed a day or so. I see. I remember, I think it was 2019, there was a massive storm went through the middle of the country and nothing moved across that for a day or two. So people that were supposed to get there Friday and we're now arriving Sunday afternoon, having to scramble to go get to the expo and things like that. So we typically come in Thursday, relax. go, we're not the first ones in line at the expo. We also know the secret is going into the Sheraton versus going out. Things like that. I learned that long ago. I told somebody on my page that or posted it. They're like, you ruined the secret. But we go through the expo. Obviously the expo has changed dramatically since COVID, just like most. So we typically just go and we go get our bib. We see a few people. take a quick look around and then go about our days. But we kind of have it planned out. This year we ran the 5k as our warm up. We typically don't. And I've got a lot of local friends and just people that I've met throughout my Boston experiences since since 2018 that are now close friends. It's amazing how many people and then running this this Boston page. Kamal Datta (18:14.094) I know a bunch of people and people just recognize my face sometimes, which has been a couple uncomfortable incidents, not in a negative way. guess it was 20, when I first started the group was just over four years ago. think May 8th, I started this group. It was called Boston Marathon 2026. Now I continue just to change the name. I was a member in on the, admin side of another large Boston group and decided that I wanted a nicer place for Boston Marathon memories to reside. So I started that group. literally thought I'd have me and about a hundred of my local, my local running friends and people that I could drag onto the page. And now we're, we hit 19,000 right before the race. And then we dropped off a little bit because a lot of people drop on our training. So, but they'll come back. Yeah, I've got almost 19,000. But I actually had someone ask me for my autograph lunch, which was, you know, kind of scratching my head. I'm like, you know, I'm just an average runner. I'm not famous. Things like that. My friends tease me. They're like, you're, you're an influencer. And I'm not. I'm not sure what that is. I mean, I do know what it is. But I just, I love Boston. I love the lore. I love the people. And, you know, it's a challenge. mean, especially where I live, I live in the land of flat. Yeah. The only hills we have are when we go across either the river or the intercoastal waterway and they're 30 feet high and they're over in, you know, less than a quarter mile up and down. So for us, flatlanders coming to Boston, I didn't run as well. Back when I first started doing this, I had a different coach. And then when I got my new coach, he is a former marathon Olympian. His name is Keith Brantley, ran in 1996, the Olympics. He lives just south of me in St. Augustine, Florida. And he knows the course very well. So he literally spends 30 minutes the night before the race talking about exactly where to be in all sorts of different stuff. Kamal Datta (20:37.422) That's kind of where I'm at at this point. Well, that's great. I mean, you know, if you start doing things you love, you know, the serendipitous moment, like you mentioned, somebody asking for a photograph. It won't happen. It did happen with you, which is pretty awesome. think you are an out of town participant. I'm just curious. I know you mentioned you come here on Thursdays so that you don't have to figure out the logistics. What if the flights get delayed and all this? But how do you plan from logistically? Like where to stay? How do you plan getting to the start line and all the logistical aspect of getting into the start? So in 2018, I have a high school friend of mine, very good high school friend that lives up in Redding. 2018, he knew I was running. says, come stay with me. He's got big house. His kids were all off in college. So I stayed with my friend and his wife and had a wonderful time until I got my drop bag and in the pouring rain had to try to change in the pouring rain. Yeah. And then walk in the rain to get on the train to go back up to reg. And I'm like, I was miserable. I was wet. I was cold. I was tired. Yeah. So fortunately, I've been able to stay at at or near the finish line. So I've stayed at the Hilton Park Plaza multiple times and also like to stay at the Lenox. So the Lenox is right there. It's the iconic hotel. So we've always stayed as close as possible. I know it's expensive and it's our little splurge of Just don't look at the credit card bill and just just pay it and move along because it is expensive. The whole trip is expensive So that's kind of our philosophy of I like to stay close because I remember in 2018 I would have loved to be able to get back to my hotel Change into really dry clothes warm up a little bit take a nice shower and then go back out and enjoy myself and Even if the weather is good. Yeah, go back to hotel Kamal Datta (22:55.662) and we've been Unicorn Club for a few years. We get to sneak through the back and get back to our hotel without having to go through the rest of the finish. So that's kind of our philosophy is get there early, relax, don't stress. And then we leave on midday on Tuesday. So we don't have to, we get a little sleep in on that Tuesday morning before we head back. That's cool. That's good to hear that people met. may not be out of you, stayed in Redding. So it's probably around half an hour drive from finish line, given everything is kind of planned. getting out of the town can be little tricky as well, at least that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, and then that year with the rain, cold and wind, I think you add some more, plus the uncomfortable that you have to deal I walked basically from the time I changed to the time I got to the train and got to Redding. was about, was all over an hour. And again, I'm lucky, I'm fortunate enough that I can stay, stay closer during that time. So I'm pretty happy about that. Cool. Cool. I have to talk to a little bit about your Facebook group. So I know you mentioned that you started it. You wanted some nicer group. what it takes to actually run a Facebook group of 19,000. I think you are the kind of started the group and I see that you're very active, keep things sane in the group and I see you very actively involved and engage the folks there. What it does takes to actually be engaged and moderate a Facebook group that you do? So I started it on my own, but then so now I've got four other admins that are on my page. They're all friends of mine one. I've one of only met once I have Anna lives over in the UK I've got John that lives in the Boston Connecticut area Scott lives in Boston and Chris lives in Boston as well So I've got local Boston people that really understand live it breathe it like you you live and breathe it every day I come in, you know once or twice a year Kamal Datta (25:12.64) It takes it is a lot of work. It's trying to create some content that will keep people engaged and let people learn from others because I'm not the expert. I know some, but if you take, know, if you go look at the other folks that are on my admins, they run a lot more like John's run. can't tell you how many marathons Scott's is a streaker into the 35, 40 years plus. So it takes a lot of work and it takes, but it's fun. I don't really call it work. Right now there's not a lot of content comparatively. We're getting close to the time when the BAA is gonna start making an announcement as far as when the registration opens. And there's some historical data that probably lends us to believe when that's going to be. Yeah. And I also look at there's multiple last chance races. There's two BQ two races. Erie typically has a race and they always are on that Saturday before the before it opens up. So we'll see how that comes about this year. So we're planning for those type of things and just getting ready for next year already. There's a lot of a lot of things that go into it. But as far as you know, back to being the admin, things like that. We've got a lot of really collectively within the group and immense amount of knowledge. are thousands and thousands and thousands of people that live in that area, have run more races. You know, they've forgotten more than I will ever know about the Boston Marathon that are not admins, but just, you know, you know, come on in. And I like to make it like the nice group. Yeah, there are some times as long as people aren't being egregious, we kind of let them go and hopefully, you know, we're all adults and we can, you know, kind of get along. One of the bigger challenges is there are, we decline typically two or three to one of people trying to get into the group because they're, Kamal Datta (27:37.088) either bots or fake profiles. I see. we see a lot of different things. So we have to actually, so we ask for simple questions. once we have to actually type something, not just yes, no, or whatever the case may be. And that weeds people out. it is a challenge, but it's a lot of fun. And I love just seeing all the stories. I've learned an incredible amount from the collective of the group. and just about everything it's, it's, it's fun. And then I love seeing those at it's a first Boston or their 10th Boston or 50th Boston, but in seeing those experiences, I mean, you've been at the finish line, you've been a first timer. You've been with others at a first time. I still remember in that rainstorm, I finished and, I, I remember turning on Boyles and street. dodging all the thrown down raincoats that were making the road slippery. It was definitely an obstacle course. And I turned there and I'm like, I'm gonna be a Boston Marathon finisher. I never would have thought I'd ever run the Boston Marathon. I thought it was literally just something I'd watch on television or a few of my super, super young, fast friends that I know. And every year, I, when I turn that corner, kind of tear up a little bit. like, it's, yeah, I've run it a few times and there people that run it 30, 40 times, 50 times, but it's not a given, right? I mean, we are lucky that we're healthy enough and that we have the ability and, or the resources to go and do that. And it's, it's pretty magical. it's, yeah, I'm glad that you continue to do so. And a great job and kudos to you running a very nice group, a Facebook group where people can come together, share their experience and it's the collective learning, helping someone else too. Especially the first time runners that you mentioned. And hopefully you can keep the bots away. That's an interesting challenge for sure. from there. All right. Now, a couple of quick questions. Let's see. Treadmill or not treadmill? Kamal Datta (30:00.822) No treadmill. hi. That is a hundred percent. I cannot. I, I can't, I can't even imagine trying to run more than like 30 feet on a treadmill. I I'm looking at, yeah, I'm not mentally strong enough. Yeah. takes a lot of, yeah. It's a, it's a love hate relationship with runners and treadmills for sure. Your favorite shoe to go to for, for races. So there's the challenge for races. was the Nike Vaporfly version two, which there are still a few left out there on some websites, but they're two or three years old. so this year I tried the Alpha Flies. They just did not do well for me. So I'm going to go back to my Vaporfly next percents. So that'll be my ratio. How did you get to that? That is your issue. Like what is the story behind it? Yeah, cause I had just run, used to run in, racing Brooks. I can't remember which Brooks model, think Brooks Boston model. And then they kept changing it. And then finally I ended up with, I've been on the race team for locals running a local running store here in town that has four locations. have a race team. And so I get good discounts on that. So. I tried the original version, the Vaporfly, the four percents. And ever since then, I've just loved that shoe. It seems to fit whether it's really faster or just makes me think I'm faster. I don't know which, but I put them on and I go run and I don't think about my shoes anymore. cool. You're qualifying, says you're big, run. So I'm sure there's something happening there. any favorite for training part or it's the same? Yeah, I use Sockany speeds for my trainer. I, yeah, right now I guess are the Speed 4s, but I've been using those for about four or five years now. that's cool. Any favorite smartwatch that you use for your training or running? I've got my Garmin 265. Yeah, it's got, it's one with music. I don't use music. I used to run with an iPod years ago. Kamal Datta (32:20.65) until I came home and I put it the same spot. The next day I couldn't find it and I moved since then and I've never found it. So since then, so guess that's gotta be over 10 years ago, I don't run with music. wow, that was my next question, music or no music? So you already answered it. you find a huge difference between when you used to run with music versus no music? I used to race even marathons with music. I just now, I guess I'm just so used to not having that. And I like it from the perspective of I can, you hear and see things. It's one thing if you're on a training run, it doesn't matter other than for safety. but in a race, it's like just hearing the crowds, even if they're not, you know, they're cheering, they may be cheering somebody around you, but just seeing the people with the signs and really kind of in taking in the whole experience. I yes, it's a race. We want to do our best at all times. Even if we're pacing someone or we're hurt, whatever it might be, we still want to do the best we can. And just taking in the experience. I've never gone over and kissed one of the coeds along the wealthy line because they're younger than my daughter. that's okay for those who do. So I've never done that, but I like going by close because I love reading their signs. they're so creative. The fact that we can send them, you they have a, you can send in a list of what you want on signs and they'll choose, sometimes we'll choose, you whatever you want, put that out there. That is so true. I think the funny part is also sometimes, and I can recall recently I ran a Nebraska half and it was at May 4th. So I wore the Star Wars May the 4th with you t-shirt and I took my Airpods with me and I forgot in the hotel room so I did not had any music But I could hear everyone screaming metaphor teacher because I was the only one wearing probably that teach I don't know how many you were there But you miss those moments if you have the something going on, especially, you know some races I know in Berlin a lot of people say that people are screaming because you have the name printed on your babe Scared screaming about you and I you miss those special moments that you know, give you some little boost right, you know from there Kamal Datta (34:42.456) Favorite race day energy, gel, or any nutrition source that you go for? So I do, during the race, use Never Second is my gel of choice. I used to use Morton and I still will grab a Morton along the route just in case. But typically once I get past about 20 miles, I can't eat or drink anymore. it probably isn't the greatest tactic. going to last, well, typically once I get to, you know, the haunted mile heart Boston college, I stop at that point, but I use Morton for pre-race. do the three, you know, the one sixties and three twenties. And then during the race, I'm typically using never second. cool. Hiring a coach, virtual coach or no coach. I have a coach. I've had a coach. Gosh, for. Uh, my first coach was a gentleman named Paul McCray who started our, big running club. Um, he's a New Zealand guy, uh, been here forever. Um, and he's got a twin brother that lives over in Sweden and runs a running club over there. So it's kind of interesting. He was my coach up until probably 2018 or 19. Um, and I just had an injury and I took some time off. didn't really take time off, but I just did some cross training. Um, And then I had recommended to a friend of mine, Keith Brantley, who is a 1996 Marathon Olympian, as I mentioned before. He was the golden boy back in the day. He was on the cover of Running World Magazine, blonde hair, good looking, smart guy. He was that guy. And ever since I've gotten to know him, so now he and his wife, who's also a running coach, been using him and he's just phenomenal, a great guy, perfect for me. I've referred anybody who says you need a coach. go talk to Keith. Yeah, everybody has their own what they need in the coach. I don't need a bunch of rah rah or things like that, but just to give you a quick example of why I use him and why I think a coach can be beneficial for those who want to do so. So before this last year's race, Kamal Datta (37:04.302) He for 30 minutes or maybe 45 minutes. All right, if you're at this point, he literally does temperature dew points all along the course. starting in Hovington, when you get to, Nate, when you get to Wellesley, when you get to all these different points, the wind's gonna be coming from a different direction. The temperature is gonna be different. And so will the humidity and dew point. Right. Make sure you drink early and often. If you're in this area of the course.