Running Buddies - Interview w/ Michael Darazi 2.0

Jamie Roberts (00:07.823) On today's show, we welcome back Mike DeRazzi.  T. Alhanna's own, our favorite coach. He is a runner. He is aspiring Lebanese national team member. I'm not sure, I think that's why we're doing the pod today to find out if he's aspiring anymore or if he actually accomplished his goal.  Mike is back with us. How you doing today, Mike?

Michael (00:30.573) I'm doing well, how are you?

Jamie Roberts (00:32.491) Awesome. Just real quick as we always do with running buddies at Running Scared Media, where are you running today?

Michael (00:39.357) I running. I started at work and we've got this small little trail that leads me to the Civic Center. And so I'll be running around the part of there. If I really wanted to loop around, I could actually run home, but it's a little bit out of the distance for today.

Jamie Roberts (00:57.458) And I'm just curious, just because we were talking about it before, what's the weather like down there?

Michael (01:03.853) It is sunny. I'm bragging a little bit. Solid 50 degrees. No snow today, but they are expecting some snowfall this Saturday. So I apologize for the truck driving by, but no, I can't.  I can't complain about the weather today at all. I mean, it's perfect.  This is ideal for long run, a race, whatever it may be. Can't complain one bit.

Jamie Roberts (01:08.293) You.

Jamie Roberts (01:22.373) Alright.

Jamie Roberts (01:33.997) No, you can't, you can't complain if you do, nobody listens anyways. Cause, the polar vortex, the polar vortex is, is dipping down all the way down to Texas. But again, the Canadian podcast that we are, we have, you know, three feet of snow outside with blizzard light conditions.  So 50 and sunny sounds absolutely fantastic. I'm, curious, what's the fitness goal today? What are you trying to accomplish in just, in this little run?

Michael (01:37.793) Yeah, exactly.

Michael (01:52.962) Yeah.

Michael (01:58.783) Easy recovery run. Just kind of get back into the swing of things.  I took an easy week last week. So I'm just going to try get back into it, see if I can prepare for a half marathon coming up at the end of next month. So just a little bit of distance and recover from a light workout yesterday.

Jamie Roberts (02:21.081) Sounds good.  Well, you know what? We brought you back on here because we're going to jump right into it. When we had a first conversation, amazing conversation to hear about you and your journey in terms of the goals that you had set out to be a national team member for a country and then to go to the world championships. And then we were also really, you know, transfixed maybe by your coaching philosophy and the work that you do at T.L. Hanna and the school, because myself as an educator, I definitely connect with that. It was a well-received episode and I think you inspired people.  And why we brought you back on today is the story continues. Mike, what happened?  Did you meet that goal of actually getting onto the Lebanese national team? And how did that all go about?

Michael (03:11.565) Yeah, I I almost spoiled it saying why I took an easy week last week, but it was from from the World Championship. So I did end up making the team qualifying and I was able to compete at the World Cross Country Championships and it was.  Oh man, like. It's an experience. I don't even know how to put it into words. It's unreal, so. Yep.

Jamie Roberts (03:16.644) Heh.

Jamie Roberts (03:34.637) Okay, okay. You know, let's let's parse through this. Okay, so first off, congratulations.  That is so amazing. And then thank you for making the time to come back on and talk to us. Take us back to take us back to December, I think maybe or maybe when you went back to Lebanon, how did take us to that moment, you went back there, what happened?

Michael (03:41.601) Thank you.

Michael (03:50.377) Yeah.

Michael (03:58.229) So I went two weeks early.  That trip is like around 24 hours of travel time. So I landed I think Thursday or Friday.  Can't remember exactly. And then we had a 5k race that Sunday and it was awful. It was terrible. I was still tired and it was just one of those things I was just like, I just want to see how my body reacts.  So. It was weird weather. Everyone was like, the sun was off. Didn't do too hot, but then over the next few courses, the next few weeks, you know, some courses of training and just kind of getting back into the swing of things, we had the national championship and I went into it just kind of thinking to myself, hey, go race. And we talked about it like, you know, the last time we were on the phone and you know I just kept preaching to myself like go race everything will fall into place if you go out and compete. So I think the week before we had a race simulation workout and I just blew it out of the water. I remember running past one of my teammates and she was cheering me on and she just said the words we're going to Tallahassee. And that just kind of like that ignited the spark again.  So I just knew like, hey, confidence is key with this one. So race day comes. I'm a little nervous for sure, but I just I just had confidence and I feel like I haven't had that in such a long time.  So it was nice to get that spark back. And I just went out a little bit faster than I wanted to, but I maintained. I started in the back third of the pack and over the first 2k the race kind of was real packed but then each lap, was a five lap race it just started to thin out and I just kept moving up, moving up, moving up and then the last 2k I was just running scared as we said last podcast it was so funny, yeah it was me and another gentleman

Jamie Roberts (06:18.405) Nice.

Michael (06:24.843) back and forth each half lap and I managed to take it from him and I qualified for the national team and it was like the best 10k I've had you know I think ever really you know I improved by a 10 a minute 15 seconds something like that so it was a really good race

Jamie Roberts (06:39.735) My-

Jamie Roberts (06:46.053) That's incredible. Okay, so just just so we know the distance five laps, was it a 5k race or a 10k race? Okay, so it's

Michael (06:52.117) 10k yeah a little short a little short

Jamie Roberts (06:56.045) Okay, okay. So it's a little short of that, but in 10K. So what, for the listeners out there and just even for myself, to get onto this team and then to go to the World Championships, what pace did you run? Like, what was your time?

Michael (07:11.113) I ran, it was at 32, 20, 4? 32, 20s, somewhere in there.

Jamie Roberts (07:19.491) Yeah, see, that's, I'm, if you, I wonder, you know, I don't know if we can do the math right now, but if that extrapolates out to a marathon, I wonder what that, that pace is, what that time is.

Michael (07:30.375) I think I have the math in my head. Close to a two hour, 20 minute marathon. Roughly. Roughly.

Jamie Roberts (07:39.566) My God, that's Olympic qualifying time. Yeah.

Michael (07:43.785) Yeah, I know. I was doing math, I was like, can I hold this for this long?

Jamie Roberts (07:50.147) That's incredible. I remember doing one 10 K race up in my neighborhood and I'm not an elite runner.  I love running and I love challenging myself. And I came in at a cool 48 minutes and was, I think I finished third in my age group, not the strong.  I did it, man. Exactly. Exactly, man. It's like, not the strongest field, but okay. So, so you, in order to make the national, in order to make that team, did you have to finish first or were they taking the first and second? Like, did you need to win it to get onto the team?

Michael (08:03.951) But you did it though. That's what matters

Michael (08:20.209) No, it was a tough amount. Top seven were for sure guaranteed. I got a little bit lucky getting in because not everyone got their visas. And then some of the athletes also ran in under 20. So I was able to kind of move up in the line.  So I think I was technically two spots out. But then, you know, with the...

Jamie Roberts (08:26.521) Okay.

Michael (08:49.595) One of my teammates going into the under 20.

Jamie Roberts (08:54.859) Okay. So you make the team and talk about the period between making the team until you got on the plane to head to Florida.  What was the training like? Was it how intense? What was the camaraderie like with your teammates? Did you, did you know, did you know the coaches before the ones that were, that were preparing you for the event? Talk about that, that whole, preparation moment.

Michael (09:21.031) Well, I wish I had a slightly better story to say, but when I came back from Lebanon to the States, I got so sick. I took like just about a week and a half off just to kind of recover. Yeah, I know it was tough, but I'm okay with it because at that point the hard part was done. I qualified, you know, you couldn't take that away from me. So I was just kind of cross training here and there that second week.

Jamie Roberts (09:34.159) Man.

Jamie Roberts (09:44.814) Yeah.

Michael (09:51.497) And then I just did like a couple of light workouts just to kind of get into some sort of shape but recovering from sickness and travel and all that is demanding on the body. Let me tell you.

Jamie Roberts (10:06.469) So how much time did you have in between when you made the team to when you had to compete at the world championships?

Michael (10:14.149) Say about a month. Yeah, so a week and a half out of that, I was out of commission. And then the rest of that week, I tried to like just ease back into it. So I really had like

Jamie Roberts (10:15.982) Man.

Michael (10:28.903) Realistically like a full week and a half of solid running light workouts but I did It's crazy to say like even with all that being said I ran a 5k on New Year's Day Did very well because I just went into it with the same mentality go race don't worry about your time and You know, I was surprised at how well I did to be honest

Jamie Roberts (10:55.801) You sharing this news with family and friends, school, or are you keeping this to a close circle?

Michael (11:01.978) It was, I was so excited, but I was still, I waited until like, I got the email that said, you know, world athletics, please sign this to compete. And then that's when I was like, okay, it's real. At first I was only my closest friends and my family. And then when I got the guarantee, I was like, okay, you know, it's here.

Jamie Roberts (11:12.911) Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (11:27.589) All right, so the journey continues. Okay, take me to Tallahassee. How many days were you there for?  You meet up with the teammates? Was there time at the Lebanese national team, a dinner?  Was there any media involved? What was that process like from when you got to the city to when you got to the starting?

Michael (11:50.44) Yeah, so I ended up driving there because it's for me it was only a six and a half hour drive a little bit more with all the stops and stuff so very convenient and I Got there on Wednesday.  I got there a little bit before my teammates. They were traveling from Lebanon and one of them from Australia as well And one other teammate from California, so we were all spread out I got there second, but I didn't get to see any of my teammates the day of. They got there late at night, but that Wednesday I check into the hotel.  Originally I went to the wrong hotel. So if anyone knows me, it's just typical.  I wouldn't expect anything less for that story. And, you know, I finally got settled in and everything like that. Even funnier story. during the check-in process, they kind of gave me the wrong room. So my teammates ended up showing up at like one in the morning and they woke me up and they're like, hey, we need to switch rooms.  So it was just a long night for everybody. But over the course of the next few days, I got to meet some new teammates that I have never had on the national team. Some of them were teammates from my club prior to. So I knew most of them and it was a truly bonding experience, you know, being able to show a lot of people who haven't been to America some of the things you get to experience every day. And there was like so much more I wanted to do, but we had such a short time. We had meals together and the coolest thing was like eating these meals in the cafeteria area, we'll call it. You know, with Team Kenya, Team Ethiopia, Team Uganda, and you're like, seeing all these people, you're like, I'm eating dinner with them? So, of course I took pictures with Team France and as many as I could with everyone else. So, it's just like, almost imposter syndrome.

Jamie Roberts (13:56.921) Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (14:15.853) Yeah, I was just, was, that was in my head right there, just how you feel, almost like you, you belong, but you don't know if you belong, but you are kind of, it's all new and you're just getting used to it.

Michael (14:24.634) Yeah!

Michael (14:28.846) Yeah, it's like I qualified but you know these guys are so much faster than me, you but you know, you still did in the work you're able to get there. So that's that's the journey, you know.

Jamie Roberts (14:43.045) All right, so before we just get to the start line, what were your goals and expectations for this race? Like you just said, you're so much faster than me, but you set a goal for yourself, you were persistent, you had some failure, but you came back and you accomplished it. So what was the, they always say goals should be lofty, but attainable. that, you know what I mean?  Like, so did you have a time set goal? Did you have a place goal?

Michael (15:01.734) Mm-hmm.

Michael (15:06.138) Yeah

Michael (15:10.518) Thank you.

Jamie Roberts (15:11.267) What was, or did you even just have like an intrinsic, this is kind of what I'm, what I'd like to get done in this particular race, whatever that may be. What was your goal and expectation?

Michael (15:21.478) I know it sounds silly. My goal was to not get last place.  And I really didn't want to get left. But that course was so tough. But as they were releasing more and more information about the course, I kind of was like, you know what, I really wanted to run like a 33. You know, I felt like I could based off of my previous performances. But when they started releasing like, we're going to have this man-made hill and we're going to have these alligator jumps and, you know, it just like basically steeple barriers, but they were lower and like a water pit. And yeah, yeah, it was, it was interesting, you know, but like the more they released the obstacles we were going to have to, you know, trek across the more I was like,

Jamie Roberts (16:01.925) You

Jamie Roberts (16:06.344) My gosh, really?

Michael (16:21.22) You know what? Whatever happens, I just need to finish the race and not come in last place.  Those are my only goals. I kind of just threw a time goal out of the window.

Jamie Roberts (16:33.015) Okay. I didn't, I had no idea that in a cross country course like this, they would put in obstacles.  And I figured it might, it might be kind of like, you know, trail light sort of. Yeah. I think about when I was a kid running cross country, when my son does it now, you know, maybe some grassy fields, maybe some road, maybe a little bit of that, but I had no idea that they had actual obstacles.  That's, that's interesting. So, okay. So you know, the course, what's the,

Michael (16:40.955) Yeah!

Michael (16:48.73) Mm-hmm.

Jamie Roberts (17:02.755) What's the pre-race meal?

Michael (17:05.157) For me, I always loved to do protein the night before. I think we had chicken and fish at the hotel because they cater for all the athletes. So I really went like chicken fish, rice, as many carbs as I could get. You know, I didn't want to stray too much, but at the same time, I didn't want to be too superstitious. So I was like, whatever we have, we got.

Jamie Roberts (17:24.858) Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (17:33.701) All right. Okay.  So you wake up what time's the race? What time's the race in the morning?  I'm assuming it's in the morning. I don't know. Is it an afternoon race? Cause I'm thinking.

Michael (17:36.962) Thank

Michael (17:41.156) This one, see this is where we can dive, deep dive into it.  The not so happy, it was at 1220 in the afternoon for the men. Yeah. And the weather for us was close to 80 degrees.  I think it was like 76 to 78 when we started. Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (17:52.295) Okay.

Jamie Roberts (18:02.533) Ooh, warm with some humidity too, I'd imagine, down in Tallahassee. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael (18:06.306) Yep, Florida humidity for sure. basically as we were racing the goal just became survive. It went downhill so fast.

Jamie Roberts (18:22.925) Is it because of the weather and just, was like sucking everything out of you and, just, just really the, the weather plus like the confluence of events, right?  It's a difficult course. There's a lot of really competitive runners. The weather's hot. know what I mean?  You've also been sick. You've been traveling, you know, globally for the, you know, the previous month. And it's just this whole, all these things play into these factors play into performance.

Michael (18:32.547) Yeah

Michael (18:49.144) Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (18:49.729) How's, so then how did the race start? How did it go in the middle? How did it finish?

Michael (18:54.18) It's so funny because the night before my coach came down, the one here who really helps me with my workouts and stuff, he met up and he was like, what's your plan? And I was like, I'm going to start out slow. Kind of like how I planned for the 5K before and Nationals in Lebanon. I was like, I'm just going to start out slow and then work my way up. So we had that in mind. and then I end up starting like 25 seconds too fast for the first K and I was like, no, this is going to be tough. So the first, cause each lap was two K the first two laps I was, I was good. Everything was good, but laps three, four and five, I think it was the accumulation of the obstacles amplified by the heat. Cause if it was just the heat for by itself, think I would have been fine.  But just the obstacles by itself, I would have been fine. But the two together got it, for sure. And then each lap I just kind of was like, alright, you got three laps, alright, you got two laps, okay, you only have to go up this hill two more times. You know, just breaking it down section by section and then being able to just finish.

Jamie Roberts (20:22.469) Are you happy with the outcome? Maybe happy is not the right word.  You, not even did you meet your goal? Cause you said, you know, the course was just so much tougher.  Are you okay with how it ended? Can you kind of be at peace with yourself or did you, is there, and we can get to sort of where you go from here, but where was your mental state? I guess was what I'm asking when you finished it.

Michael (20:34.658) Yeah.

Michael (20:52.265) It was definitely disappointing in a sense because like that was the worst, slowest 10k I've ever ran, like in a race. But, you know, I was telling myself afterwards that like the journey outweighs the result, you know? So even though was quote unquote my worst race, I'd still finish smiling because I mean, it's such a significant race.  You know, okay, you know what? I ran terrible for me, but at the end of the day, it was at the world championship. You know, at least it wasn't at the qualifiers where I didn't get to race possibly a once in a lifetime experience. So I definitely wish I went out a little bit slower, but at the same time, you know, race tactics wise, I was kind of telling myself, if I started out slower and I slowed down too much, you know, that pack, that group of like five athletes that I was with, would they have pulled away too much in the beginning, I wouldn't be able to catch them. So, you know, I'm glad I went out a little bit strong and then I'm glad I was able to do it at the world championship. And I think that just outweighs the time that it took me to finish rather than, you know, being upset about, could have done this, could have done that. I took a risk and, you know, I didn't come last. So the ultimate goal was there. But you know can look back and say I wish it was a little bit different but at the end of the day I still appreciate the journey more than anything else.

Jamie Roberts (22:34.307) Yeah, I'm kind of getting from you that the, you're almost the learning that happened with the experience isn't valuable, right? And you can prepare and you had some barriers that made it a little bit difficult to prepare maybe as best as you could, but even just going there and just be at firsthand, right? You know, the pressure, the stakes, it's a bigger race. There's, I'm sure the competition, it's the best in the world globally.

Michael (22:42.967) Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie Roberts (23:03.479) So all these things have to factor into your preparation.  Are you thinking about, it would be interesting if I did it again? I wonder how I could do.

Michael (23:15.061) Yeah, exactly, exactly. Now it's more like, man, I want to do better than what I did.  So that like spark of like, can I beat it next time? It's always going to be there.  But the only thing is it's in three years now instead of two years. So we'll just have to see.

Jamie Roberts (23:35.385) Well, it's an amazing accomplishment. So I'm curious, how did you leave it with your teammates in terms of, I know you were meeting some of them for the first time and then some of them you had known for a while from the club. What was that experience like when you come together at such a big event, a large scale, that camaraderie, that bond that's created?

Michael (23:48.578) Mm-hmm.

Michael (23:58.337) It's hard to put it into words, honestly. You become a small family, even though it's such a short time, even the teammates I met for the first time, it's just such an experience that there's a connection that if it wasn't for that, I may not have been there. And you really get to appreciate the moments with the people that you're with.

Jamie Roberts (24:06.019) Yep.

Michael (24:27.137) Luckily, there was no drama or anything like that. We all just had fun.  We were all laughing the entire time. I was able to help them out, know.  Take them the grocery store, take them here. Whatever was needed, I could help with. Because, you know, people... Some people were going to the States for the first time in their life. So, you know, good thing I was there to help guide them for some small things. Yeah, I mean... It's definitely... Like I can explain that feeling with my college teammates because we spent so much time together over the course of, you know, four years, but it was just amplified into four days, five days.  So. It's a small family, basically.

Jamie Roberts (25:14.861) Speaking of family, I know how passionate you are about coaching and how much you care about the kids that you work with. What did you learn from your experience that's going to impact or influence how you coach track, how you coach running?

Michael (25:18.763) Mm-hmm.

Michael (25:31.553) it might stay the same. I definitely have a huge appreciation for the kids that I coach because, you know, aside from my friends that were there at the meet, just the thought of them watching, cheering me on from home, because it was on TV and I knew they were watching.  Just like that. Yeah, it was. You can see in the first little bit, so like 10 seconds, it's so funny. But,

Jamie Roberts (25:51.521) It was on television? Amazing.

Michael (26:00.577) Just knowing like, this kid's been cheering me on and it pulled me through for sure. Because I know they wouldn't want me to stop and I wouldn't want them to see me stop.  But coaching wise, it's almost the same philosophy. Just appreciate the experience. Sometimes the journey is a little bit bigger than the destination. Because we'll get to the destination, but sometimes we don't know how. I think that's going to be a little bit of the mentality that I preach to them as well.

Jamie Roberts (26:37.861) So what's next for Michael DeRazzi?

Michael (26:43.008) I I can PR again in the 5k on the track. I'm gonna think about doing a half marathon in a month. after, I think I have one last dance on the track for sure. Either the 5k or the 1500. I do think I can run a big PR one last time. And then probably the marathon, honestly, as much as I've been avoiding it. Over the past few years, I think it's time to start training for that and see what I can do there.

Jamie Roberts (27:20.537) How did you leave it with Team Lebanon?

Michael (27:25.075) What was that? I apologize.

Jamie Roberts (27:26.927) How did you leave it with the Lebanese national team?

Michael (27:31.103) It was good.  mean, granted it wasn't the result we all wanted. Most of us weren't too happy with the time we ran, but everyone was happy to just experience it. I hope that I can qualify again, whether it on the track or half marathon or marathon. I don't think it's the last time I'll be on the national team for sure though. Like, there's more to be desired.

Jamie Roberts (28:00.293) Yeah, that's amazing, right? The start of the journey, right? Listen, Mike, just a huge congratulations from everyone else over here. It's such a great story and just, you know, the fact that you're coaching the kids and then you've just had this that you've been working towards. Then, you know, from the first podcast, you know, from what I learned about not quite getting there to actually getting there and then going and then experiencing it and then

Michael (28:04.37) Exactly.

Jamie Roberts (28:29.381) taking all that back and all that learning is just gonna make you a better runner, a better person.  It's an incredible story, it's an amazing story. Thank you for sharing it with us and we're definitely gonna keep in contact over the next little while to find out just what you're up to again. And just again, man, thank you very much and we will speak to you soon, okay?

Michael (28:29.545) Mm-hmm.

Michael (28:49.673) Yes, sir.

Michael (28:54.897) Yes sir, thanks for having me, I appreciate it.

Jamie Roberts (28:57.285) Alright, take it easy.