Running Marathons to Make a Difference, with Mike Kloepfer

For many, running just one marathon is a life goal and puts you in a category with only .01% of the global population who even attempt this feat each year. But imagine running 111 marathons? Now we are talking about a very select group that has ever pulled off this rare achievement. Michael Kloepfer is one of those special individuals who runs not only for the pure joy of it but for the purpose of raising money to support cancer research at Sloan Kettering. Since he started running marathons in 1996 at age 42 through his most recent New York City marathon finish at age 70, Mike and his team have raised over 1 million dollars to help beat cancer through Sloan Kettering. He has run races all over the world and is a winner of the Abbott medal for completing all 6 world major marathons (and leads all Abbott medal winners with 77 total finishes). He has now run 28 consecutive NYC marathons and is one of 108 people with active streaks over 25 for the Boston Marathon. Of course, any achievement like this doesn’t come without challenges which for Mike has included fighting his own cancer in 2024. He has received surgery, is in complete response (successful removal), and is ready to keep going in 2025! Every step is that much more meaningful for Mike now as he continues to make a difference by assisting other patients in need. If you’d like to contribute and help Mike reach his $200k goal (he has already personally raised $100k), go to fredsteam.org and either enter Mike Kloepfer or his team name, Mikey’s team. 

Enjoy this inspirational podcast and listen to the many stories Mike shares about his adventures and people he has met along the way including Grete Waitz, Dr. Howard Scher, and Aubrey Barr (video link tells her story). A word of caution, Mike’s story has inspired many, so know by listening to this podcast you may find yourself thinking about joining the marathon craze and running the NYC streets with Mike raising money for Sloan Kettering!  You can listen here or watch here.

Transcript

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Well, hello with gratitude, Matt. Listeners. It's Bill Maureen here. I'm Matt's older brother. And today I will be your host of our With Gratitude Matt show. As you all know, Matt started the With Gratitude Matt podcast is a place where people can come to find the courage to be grateful, regardless of how powerful the storm. The goal with the show is to inspire more people to practice gratitude on a regular basis. Before Matt was called to Heaven, he embraced the power of gratitude, which helped strengthen his relationships while deepening his faith. Please know that the entire Moran family appreciate all your love, prayers, support, and generosity. We are so grateful and blessed to be part of such a supporting, caring and loving community. Today I am humbled and honored to be here with our guest, Mike coffer. Mike lives in San Francisco with his wife, Helen. He is a managing principal at McKay and associates, a construction company focused on waterproofing and roofing. More importantly, Mike has run 111 marathons around the world since 1996. And I did the math on that. And that's over 3000 miles, 3000 competitive miles in marathons. he's raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research over these many years and many miles. And Mike is also a cancer survivor. Mike, welcome to the show. Thank you. Nice to be here. Good. Well, before we start talking about your amazing journey, one of the messages that Matt always had was to be present. And I think the way that you got on this show is an example of how we could be present in our lives. And, the show listeners will know, Mike, need is the talent behind this production of the podcast. He's been with it since the beginning. But you met Mike in an airport in Minneapolis, and if you could kind of share with the listeners how that all came about. I, my wife went ahead to the gate area prior to me, and I caught up with her and she introduced me to Mike, and they were sitting side by side getting their shoes shined. And not many people do that these days, but, they were getting their boots shined and said, where are you headed? And you're going to Chicago. And, I know I said we were headed there for the Chicago Marathon, and Mike was headed there for a little business. And then, Notre Dame football game. There you go. And so then did you just mention the fact that how do you know you mentioned the marathon? Of course you're running in it. And how did it expand beyond that? Because running the marathon, that's awesome in and of itself. But you've done so much more than that, Mike. So how did that conversation lead there? It probably came up the fact that, asked if I had done it before, and I told him I'd done it many times before, and then as runners are usually kind of Gabby, you know, he asked if I've done other marathons and we went in to talk about that. That's pretty cool. So here we are. And I guess that's a really good example of to our listeners to be present in aware of those people around you, and you never know where those connections can take you. So before we get into your marathoning, give us a little bit of background about yourself and, you know, your family and where you grew up. I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and zero ten years there, and then, six years in Connecticut and then six years in Colorado. And then I moved around quite a bit. And even, in 1978, I spent a year in Rochester, Minnesota, fondly and, then we moved on to Chicago. My wife's from Chicago, and many years ago, I was transferred to San Francisco, with the company I was working for at that time. So we've been in San Francisco a long time now. And, but really, we still consider ourselves Midwesterners. Great. Well, we're happy to claim you, as a midwesterner, being one myself. So you started running almost by accident. It sounds like. And I guess this dates back to your days of living in Michigan when, a friend, possibly was running a marathon, maybe, or something of that nature. Yeah. So initially, I wasn't big a big fan of running, when I played, you know, football or other sports in school. If you were late for practice or jumped offsides, that was you're staying after practice or running sprints as all negative reinforcement. So I pretty much hated it. And, then in college I would run, you know, three miles here and there. And then when I was in Chicago, I had a roommate that was running a marathon, and I went along and cheered him along on my bicycle. And I always thought I should try and run one before I was 40 years old, because in AB2 older to run one. Well, I ran my first one at age 42, and, I guess I caught the bug to say the least. Yeah, I'd say, 110 later and still counting. So, that's quite an accomplishment from the age of 42 on. So that would have taken us to, what, about 1996? Is that sound about right? If my guess is correct. Okay. And then what? Just out of curiosity, which, marathon was your first? My first one was, New York City, and I chose that because I figured it was a big one and I needed all the disassociate is, you know, atmosphere and behavior I could garner up. And, you know, they bragged about having tens of thousands of runners and a million spectators, and I, I ran the marathon, in 96. But what I didn't tell you is in 95, I had a friend running, never been to New York. And I said, well, we'll go and, you know, maybe run a few miles with you. And I ran, eight miles with him toward the end. It's a long said run in my life. I think I was sore for a week, but I told my wife in 95, I said, I'm going to come back here and run the whole thing next year. And she's like, yeah, right. And because that's the longest that ever run in my life. And, so we came in 96 and I finished and it was a great experience. And I said, you can't imagine what I saw on all five of these boroughs and what I witnessed. And I said, we're going to come back here every year the rest of my life as long as I can run. And I've never missed a year since. That's amazing. So I guess that and included, were there two virtual races where you won was with Hurricane Sandy, and then I guess another one with Covid, is that correct? Yes. Since in 2012, with hurricane Sandy, we were there and then they announced like at 5 p.m. on a Friday evening that they're going to cancel the marathon. And I part of that was, you know, people on both sides of the fence of that issue. But, they had a front page picture in the newspaper that day of huge generator size of school busses at the finish line. They said, could this be put to better use? And my life. And so that wasn't so good. And, then in 2020, all the marathons, Boston, New York, the big ones in Chicago, they had virtual and you could run those anywhere. And you upload your data. So that sounds like, about two is that 28 and counting? Is that what we can count on? for the. Yeah, I don't count Sandy. but yeah. So it's as far as New York Roadrunners go. Would be 28 in a row on their website. Okay. And then at what point did you. Okay, we're running. You know, you're going to do the marathon. At what point did you turn this into an opportunity for you to give back? I think it was 1998, New York Road Runners to puts on the marathon. They send a postcard to everyone that it gained entry, to run for Fred's team. Fred Lebow was the founder of the New York City Marathon. He's the one that took it from laps around Central Park to the five boroughs in 1976. And he he, ultimately passed away with cancer. He's treated Sloan-Kettering. he's he's the one that sent, letter and plane tickets to Gretta White's, who was, five time European cross-country champion. She lived in Oslo, and she never ran a marathon. She was shorter middle distance runner. And so she flew to New York with her husband. And she the longest. Your mom is 13 miles. And they went out and had a big steak the night before and a bottle of Cabernet. And she got up the next day, and she won the marathon and set a world record up, up that. And she, she went on to, you know, went into a total of nine times. And so she was the coach for Fred's team. and this, this Fred's team was to raise money for, cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering. And I met her, I signed up, I said, let's put these models to good uses, let's raise some money. And then I met her, and, she was that she was the coach. And, you know, the the hook was set in me for sure that. Wow, that's pretty cool. So we're trained by, Olympic silver medalists in 1984 and, world record holder and multiple events, including the marathon. That's that's pretty cool. So did she send you, a training log or. How did that work? Well, she put she designed those for Fred's team. And in back in those days, Fred's team was probably, I'd say 20 or 30 people, and we'd get together. And then afterwards, we'd meet at, a restaurant or bar called Mickey Mouse on Central Park, South, and, we, you know, we'd have a few massages and get together and tell our stories through our run. So it was a very small group. And this year it's grown. This year there were 1100 runners on Fred's team. Oh, my gosh, in 1998, when I started, there was. That was the only charity. Now there's probably 200 charities associated with the New York City Marathon. Wow. That's that's incredible. So one of the things that I kind of glossed over and I think I might've even missed it is you have won the Abbott Medal multiple times. And what first of all, what is the significance of that? And how did that all come about? The Abbott Medal is, six marathons Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. And people that complete all six of those marathons receive this large medal with an emblem of each one of those cities. And there's a strong desire for people to do it. Even, John Benoit Samuelson was so excited to receive that medal shoot, but received it this year in Tokyo. And she was a very the first woman to win the gold medal on the Olympic marathon in 1984, in Los Angeles. So there's a there's a strong draw for people want to have this medal. I think there's probably 15,000 or so people in the world that have achieved the six star medal. and they have a website and they keep track of all this stuff. And I've run 77 of those, world marathon major races, which includes 28 New York City marathons and 25 Bostons and 21 Chicago's. And they had those up so that 77 is more than anyone else in the world that is signed up. that is run those World Marathon Majors. So so you're a world leader. That $5 wouldn't even give me a Starbucks. Well, no, that's, I mean, I don't mean to make light of it, but that is that is pretty inspiring and awesome. And then, you know, kind of let's let's shift a little bit, kind of go back a little bit in time. You started as a part of Fred's team, and then we kind of maybe skipped over. But explain a little bit, Mickey's team and what you're doing for Sloan Kettering, Medical Center each year that I've raised money for cancer research for Sloan Kettering since 1998. And then in recent years, they said, hey, you can have your. When I was doing my 100th marathon in 2019, it was going to be in New York. And they said, well, wouldn't it be nice if you raised you pledge to raise $100,000 for 100th marathon? And I said, well, I had raised 50 or 60,000 the year before. And I said, I don't have any idea how I could get to $100,000 for the year. And they said, well, you can have a team. So put together some family and friends, and we combined all of our fundraising together. And that year we raised $309,000. Geez. In 2019. And, so I've had a team, not in 2020, but in the other years, since then. And we're usually between 2 and 300,000 each year. This year I had, 14 team members. it's always a dicey deal because some people get hurt and some people have trouble fundraising. But for me, I've stayed pretty steady. the last four years, I've, always been a little bit over$100,000 a year myself. And to date this year, the team is at, I think, $177,000, but we'll get over 200,000. Wow. That's pretty special. and the cause that you're doing it for is really inspiring. And along this journey, I mean, I know we could spend hours talking about this, and you and I will at some point, but, for the listeners, you've met so many fascinating people. You've met world champions, but you also have met people that have had pretty tough hands, dealt them. And you met a woman by the name of Audrey Barr and, her story and you shared with me, her story, off air. And it was so inspiring. I think the listeners might really, enjoy that, but also draw inspiration from it. Aubrey grew up in new Jersey, and when she was four years old, she was diagnosed with, type of leukemia. And she was treated at Sloan-Kettering. And when I first met her father, he said to me, he said, you'll never know what it's like to hear the words from a doctor saying, there's nothing else we can do for your daughter. And he said it was just devastating. And they tried to, a protocol didn't work. They tried another one. And finally the third one, it it worked. And she she was traveling back and forth from new Jersey into Manhattan to for these treatments for on and off for seven years. And, since then she's had, other troubles. She's had two wonderful children. and a wonderful husband. And she's become a dear, dear friend. And, I've actually the last couple of years, I paced her and I ran the New York City Marathon side by side with her in 22 and in 2023. And I would do I go to the end of her for her? She's, run 40 some odd marathons. people thought she would never, ever be able to do this. And she's dedicated her to her life, to trying to pay back Sloan-Kettering. Wow. That's fascinating story. And, you know, for those listeners out there that, you know, aren't really familiar with marathons and times, you also had the privilege of training one of the Sloan Kettering, physicians. and and how did you take upon that task that started, in 2021? I got an received an email from the director, Fred's team, and she asked if I would pace this, oncologist at Sloan Kettering who is, you know, very prominent doctor there. And she asked one other gentleman by the name of Chris Busby. And the two of us ran the marathon after, 911. It was probably six weeks later, and he had, asked someone if they would, you know, he was trying to raise money. And so he went to Merck and Pfizer and some of these big pharma companies, and he got someone to say, if you could break four hours, his best time was 406, I think before that, we'll give you $10,000 for the charity. And then they negotiated you will give you $1,000 for every minute under four hours. Okay. He he, two other people that match this deal. So our deal was $30,000. If we could break four hours and $3,000 a minute. And so we thought we'd carry him if we had to. But, he trained really hard with Chris in Central Park. They both lived in the New York area, and, he ran 344. We ran the three of us ran 344 that day, and with additional monies, he he raised $179,000. And in 2001 and he his family was at the end his three young children, his wife, his mother, he was in tears and he said, you know, it's one of the greatest days of his life. And, I we've since gone on to run 5 or 6 marathons with him. And when I was most recently in New York a few weeks ago, I had dinner with him three times. I mean, he's a he's a dear friend. He's 73 or 4 years old and he he doesn't consider work. He just can't wait to get up at 430 every morning and get to work because he can't get to his office because of the research and the breakthroughs that they're accomplishing right now. Well, I'm sure he's very grateful for having you and and Chris train him to, to raise that money for, wonderful, research that they're doing to help those, afflicted with cancer. you seem like a pretty stoic guy, Mike, but I wonder if you ever finished a marathon without any tears in your eyes. I have, but you're always a little bit nervous, no matter how many you do, because you never know you're going to be dealt with that day. How you feel, how the weather is. I wear a, rubber band, bracelet, that I received years ago. And, and it says, Lord, please guide my steps. And, I could do all things through Christ, and I wear that and I repeat that. Those are my two mantras while I'm running. And, I'm very, very blessed. And I thank God every day for the strength that he's given me to be able to do these things and hopefully try and make a little bit of a difference. well, you are, and I know you're inspiring others. you mentioned Chris Busby, and, you know, I, I'd like for you to kind of introduced to the audience, you know, who he is and what that friendship is meant to you. Well, that's how I first met her, was when they asked us to pace that gentleman in 2001. So since then, we've run New York every year together, and we've run in Berlin and London and we've run above the Arctic Circle in Norway and Tromso. We've run in Calgary, Canada. we've we've run a lot of places together and, he is, always run for Fred's team, too. You talked about, some of your other relationships and lives that have inspired you, but you've also inspired, any others that might come to mind? Well, there's there's a couple. There's a going back to Gretta White's, she invited us to Norway. Fred's team. There are 13 of us. And, we were going to run this marathon, 7 or 800 miles north of Oslo and Tromso. Well, Gretta was being inducted into some Hall of Fame here in the States. She could make it so. Her husband, Jack was also a coach. He invited to come. So we went and spent seven days in Norway. You know, we played golf at his country club and we went fishing and we developed a really, terrific friendship as a result of that. And I actually had dinner with him two weeks ago when we were in New York. Wow. Greta since passed away, but, we've run remain great friends now for the last 24 years. So I guess that's another example to our listeners of kind of putting themself out there, being aware of and being present, but also, being open to what the world is giving them and really what God is, is gifted them and then using those gifts in and to their fullest. What are the things that I, you know, we talked about in your introduction and, and I don't want to gloss over this, Mike, because I think it's really important. And I know you're a humble guy and you're very selfless, but you battled cancer yourself recently. And if you're willing to share that with the listeners, why don't you share that and explain how that has gone? I got a call. I was in New York City in March this year, and I got a call. I was there to run a half marathon, and I got a call from my dermatologist here and a biopsy came back and, said it was, you know, test positive for melanoma. And so first thing I thought was, well, I'll get a hold of Doctor Shear, my friend that I spoke about earlier that I paced. And so we had dinner with him on that weekend and he said, well, let me see what I can do. and I sent him all of the reports and, emails that transferred to him so you could take a look at that. And he texted me back. He said, how many marathons have you run for? Fred Steen? And I texted him back 54. He said, okay, that's what I need. One of the things. So I thought I but I wanted to make sure I had the number right. I woke up the next day at 5 a.m. on Monday and he sent me a text and he said, here's the phone number. The head of the dermatology oncology department, Sloan Kettering, this is his cell number, is expecting your phone call. Call. So I called the gentleman and he said, he was not in New York City that day. He was out in Westchester County. And I said, doctor, I said, you just tell me when and where, and I'll be there. And that, you know, he he gave me, you know, 50 minutes of his time. We did everything. And I, he said, you know, you need to have this, surgery. And I said, well, this is March 18th. I said, is it any way we could put it off for three weeks? He said, well, I wouldn't really recommend it. Why I should well, because I said, on April 15th, I said, I'm going to run the Boston Marathon. He's like, yeah, so what? you know, and I said, well, there's a little more to it. And there I said, it's going to be my 25th Boston Marathon in a row. And the only opportunity I'll ever have to go into the Quarter Century Club at Boston, because you have to do it consecutively. And so we we brokered a deal that I could hold off from the surgery for three weeks so I could run that and get in. There's 108 active members in the world in the Boston Marathon Quarter Century Club. So we got that done the next week after Boston, I had this surgery as a 5.5 hour surgery, and they were luckily, it didn't spread into my lymph system. They took out lymph nodes. And as a result of that, oh, you know, it's a minor deal, but I'll I'll deal with the lymphedema probably the rest of my life. But, I am so appreciative. And when I was in New York a couple weeks ago for the marathon, I went back and saw the same oncologist for six month follow up. And I walked out of that building at Sloan-Kettering. I felt like I was the luckiest guy in the world. I was so fortunate, so appreciative, because that's a building full of people that have, a lot of serious things going on. And, you know, I've been so blessed to, you know, where I am and what I have. Yeah, it's a pretty sobering experience being there in the oncology, waiting room and, seeing all those inspiring people, facing their battles head on. So your partner in a lot of this, we haven't really spoken too much about Helen, but your partner in all this, I assume, is Helen. And what is that relationship meant to you? And how special has that life been together? Well, I'm pretty lucky that she's, hung around with me for 42 years and put up with me, for starters. actually, I guess maybe more than that. We met in 1979, Chicago and, anyways. But. And she's been a absolutely number one supporter putting up with anytime you got to put up with just one spouse, it's a runner and the other one's not a runner. You gotta you gotta listen to all these boring stories and you know, things that you really don't you got to pretend to be interested in. But, she's probably attended 105 of those 111 marathons, been a tremendous supporter, and we've traveled all over to do that. And, trust me, I couldn't do it without her support. Yeah, well, I'm sure you're blessed. And I'm sure she, feels the same way about you and what you've, you two have accomplished together. Because I think it is together, really, I do. So running a marathon is is one thing, but kind of take us through that. Some of the challenges that some of our listeners might face when preparing to do one, and how they might be able to solve some of those challenges. But there's always challenges because any marathon runner you talk to, there's going to be some niggles along the way. you know, whether it's a soreness or a pain or an injury. much less, you know, cancer or some dear family member that's going to get married on the day you plan to run the marathon or, I mean, you know, life happens and, you know, running a marathon is not the most important thing, but to to put together these crazy streaks that I've referred to is, you got to be careful. I mean, I have a, good relatives getting married next April. I said, well, don't plan it for the third Monday in April because I, I can't be there. But so there's silly things like that that happen. But for some to suggest to someone, I, I think that, you know, anyone that puts their mind to it can do it. You see all sizes and shapes, and there's no pressure on people to run a certain time these days. The marathon craze right now is incredible. And this six star thing is made it even more so at the big cities. 800,000 people applied in the lottery to get into the London Marathon next year, and they they accepted something like 20,000 out of 800,000. In New York City, 185,000 people applied in the general lottery. And I think they took 9000, people. So it is so tough to get into these marathons. But and unless you're running for charity and they have hundreds of charities associated with them, but you can start off, if you could just run to the corner around the block, I could I could give you a training program that would, that would get you to a marathon. You just you just start with baby steps and the next day you run two blocks, and the next day you're on three blocks, and maybe you walk a minute in between each block. but anyone that wants to put their mind to it could do it. That's. Yeah. Well, I, I think that that's, I think it's a all the encouragement a lot of people need is, is the mind over matter and getting it done. what's your go to, pre-race meal the night before? What do you what do you kind of go with? I'm kind of old school and boring. I, I eat a lot of pasta, probably for three days ahead of time. Okay. And, so I, I don't deviate too much with that and nothing too spicy. And, in the morning, I'm a bowl of cereal and a banana kind of guy. There you go. So you and Chris have shared a lot of pasta together, along with a lot of miles. What's your go to running shoe? I it's a funny story. When I was ten years old, living in Stamford, Connecticut, we had neighbors down the street. We had a family of five. They had a family of seven. And I was an altar boy. And my mass captain was one of those seven kids who lived down the street. And his brother, went on. Of those seven kids, four of them spent a minimum of 30 years each at Nike, and for their careers. One of them went on to be the CEO and chairman of the board. And he's 44 years and he's still there. He's he's the vice chairman of the board now. And, so I don't think you'd ever catch me wearing anything besides Nike's. Okay. That's, that's exposure. I'm a shareholder for the last 40 years to. Okay, okay. Well, well, there is a vested interest in, both on both accounts. Well, I'm glad to hear that you're a loyal, Nike, supporter. And, endorser of their products. one of the things and, and, I'm going to assume something based on your age that you're familiar with the Beatles and maybe, maybe, even a Beatles fan. But what are the things in one of the lyrics? And one of their songs was the love you Take is greater than the Love You make. And I think in looking at your life, I know you've given a lot and believe me, I can see it in and not just the money, but the time, the energy and the effort. But what have you gotten out of this life experience of 111 marathons and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, meeting, world renowned athletes, but also inspiring young people on their cancer journeys? I'd say the, the most, valuable thing that I've received is, I'm at a place now because I kept showing up, you know, I just, I, you know, just keep showing up, and I. And by doing that also. And I never had a goal. Hey, could how many could I run or how many or how to make any number. So it just evolved into that. But the what's special about is I'm in a place where I've made these friendships, not only with people at Sloan-Kettering, but also with the 2 to 300 people a year that I'm trying to get into their checkbooks every year for 20 some odd years. And so it's it's rewarding for me. I've kept in contact with friends, every year they're expecting an appeal for me. And we have some emails or texts or a phone conversation. So the friendships are incredible. And the new friends that I've made under Sloan-Kettering Journey the last 25 years, I just couldn't put a price tag on it. It's unbelievable the friendships. And then when you're trying to get that many people to sponsor you, any time I shape and say any time, but many times if someone in their family is ill, or neighbors ill, they come to me and they say, hey, could you help us out? And that's what's rewarding. I mean, I was on the phone today with, with the friend, and, he has cancer, and he happened to have an appointment with at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota today. And, you know, I got the results of that day, but I'm trying to help him with can Sloan-Kettering also be of help? And so I spent a great deal of time. And that is so rewarding to me to be able to be of some help and to give back with your experience with cancer. And you talked about the Boston Marathon, and then you were able to have the procedure done it. Did that interrupt any of your training or any of your preparation for any of the other marathons? Then? It certainly ended up the train interrupted the training, but I plan it to where I run Boston April and then not my next marathon, typically in recent years is Chicago in October, so I had lots of time to, okay, you know, crawl my way back. And obviously you and Mike need met on your way to the Chicago Marathon. So that's where we are. So one of the things that I always like to ask, is there something in your life that you've experienced or a challenge that you've faced that you're grateful for having gone through it, or you're grateful for having done it, or you're, you know, you're grateful for that experience? Well, I'm great. I'm really grateful for, you know, having the God given ability to be able to do this, that's probably the most important thing. And we talked about the support, because you can't just do it alone. And, every single day I am, you know, humbled and and grateful for being able to do what we've talked about before. Now I it's it shows and and and you're giving back also also is inspiration to us all. you know, it's funny I, you know, I'll, I'll digress just a little bit. My brother started this podcast and, and, I know you never got a chance to meet him, but one of the things that I thought of is I was literally just kind of writing down some notes to prepare for. This was in 1999. Matt decided that he was going to run a marathon well before that, I had run the inaugural Flying Pig Marathon here in Cincinnati. And the only reason I completed it was because Matt met me about 6 or 8 miles out and basically walked me in through the finish line, and he was so inspired. As he saw the crowd, he saw the people, as you mentioned, finishing all shapes, all sizes, all abilities, that he decided that he wanted to do the Chicago Marathon. So he joined team in training and then raised, money for pediatric cancer research for the CSA Children's Medical Center. So we're kind of bringing this full circle with you doing the Chicago Marathon here in, 2024 and meeting Mike need on your way to do that. And then, you know, Matt doing his, his actually his one and only marathon, but also trying to help raise awareness and cancer research money. So I thought that was kind of an interesting coincidence. I don't think there are coincidences. I think so things happen for a reason. But I thought you might get a kick out of that. So yeah. That's terrific. Yeah. Pretty cool. So, we're kind of getting near the end of our time here. A couple things I just want to thank you, Mike. This has been pretty inspiring for me, and I know it will be for our listeners. you're I think your superpower is your ability to do it, and your superpower is your ability to stick with it. You know, you've made a difference not only for cancer patients, but for all of people that, want to run a marathon, want to be a part of of this. And I think the connections that you've continue to make with your friends and the the entire marathon community are really impressive. And it shows what can be done if we just are aware of that. So so thank you, Mike. I really appreciate that. And on behalf of thank you. I think, you know, and then, we're going to encourage our listeners to, follow your journey, on Mikey's team and we will share that link in the show notes so they can, contribute and support that to the extent that they can and will. And we hope that that will help you get over your, 200,000 mark sooner than later. To our listeners, Matt always reminded us to do three things every day to live life to the fullest. Number one, find something you're grateful for regardless of how powerful your storm is. Be truly presents with those that you are with. Pay attention to what you're feeding your mind, your body, and your soul. And again, a huge thanks to our guest, Mike Cofer, for always being present to those around you and for joining us today. To our listeners, remember, if you've been inspired and motivated by the show, please subscribe to the show, download it, share it with friends, and comment with gratitude. Matt. Listeners, until the next time, find the courage to be grateful and Godspeed my friends.