001hello and welcome to Around the Clock I am your host Yolanda Greaves we are here with Maggie Moke Maggie welcome back to Around the Clock cuz this is not your first time we've had you here before as part of area but now we have you here because you are one of the runners that has an Ashlin bib for the Boston Marathon yes very exciting uh so what made made you decide to take a number and run the Boston Marathon this year wow uh well first of all thanks Yolanda for having me here thanks W TV um very excited to be here and share my story and hopefully Inspire others um well being an Ashland resident for almost 20 years and watching the marathon it literally just became a part of our family events to look
002forward to but from watching that I caught the buag what they call and having also run when I was you know younger in school and high school and all this I so it was easy to get back there so and then also with my kids sometimes in the summer time I like to rest with them you know these days they beat me I'm not as fast uh but uh basically uh when the when the opportunity came I was like every every single year I I kept telling my kids I'm going to run the marathon one day I'm going to run the one one day and they're like Mom you say that every year now like it's old so this past year you know I was like you know what let me let me just do
003it uh running is something that also helps me physically and mentally I think some people can relate some people like boxing don't you do some boxing y I've started working out at uppercuts yeah yeah so that's some of it's It's My Thing what running and not very fast like even jogging um it's something that I feel like you know it puts me in a different place so when this opportunity came up I um I did uh ask around and I think I spoke to Brandy I'm like I want to run how do I get a number yeah and Brandy is like you should you know give me help me out told me you need to you know apply and okay so I did all that I was nervous yeah but then uh gladly I was
004uh selected selected so I um the email came and I read the email I'm like wait this is real now this is real I was like okay uh yes I I think I spent maybe a day I can't remember then I responded back like yes I accept uh nice then uh training you know I had some other medical issues I waited on training a little bit but um knowing that I had a short time to train I made a goal I told myself okay by this month you must be at these miles to be able to catch up with others I joined some face group you know groups yeah like team team Framingham they have like they seem so organized like these guys so I started learning from them and what they're doing so I
005I knew that at a certain time I need to be at these miles be at these miles to be able to you know yeah to it to make it in April yeah and so Le let's go back a little bit so you did run when you were younger it was did you compete in high school or you just ran for fun I did compete but not not fast like cross country okay when I was younger Maybe 10 11 we used to do the is it 100 m when you're young like Teenage a freshman then I did cross country okay nothing nothing like the B Marathon quite this long not a marathon not a marathon did you do any 5Ks or 10ks along the way or you just said okay I'm just going for it uh
006nope I just said I'm going for it and after that I hear people talking about the boss of marathon they're like it's one of the hardest it's one I'm like well I'm I'm in it now I just have to train yeah and I told myself you know you're going to have fun Y and just try to finish under six hours but having fun is the most important for me and so so one of the things when you run with an Ashlin number is you have to raise funds you commit to raising $3,000 and that goes to our Boston Athletic program where we give out grants to different Community different events and things in town right so you're of helping yourself cuz area has gotten a grant before absolutely what are you doing to raise funds
007to meet that $3,000 yeah actually going back real quick sure I when I decided to say I'm going to run I asked Brandy I'm like I'd like to run I may also raise money for area yeah she's like no you run for the town and then the money goes to you know different programs including areas like okay let's do it so uh now moving forward to answer your question um um one of the I think the most fun things that I've discovered with the fundraising is actually I'm running okay I'm doing something that I enjoy but then giving back it's been so it's been so fun yeah it has its challenges but it's been so fun so fundraising uh we have been fundraising asan requires you to fundraise like 3,000 y so I was a
008little bit nervous about that but uh Brandy encouraged me and like know you think you'll do F you'll get it yeah so and I was like okay so right away I looked at you know of course what are the programs that are funded and wow what this money and I mean I'm going to put in my pach at the end guys fundra but this money supports local program asand local programs and services that are really important to our town and make it what it is uh we all fall on hard time you know I've been I've been in difficult you know positions before and uh I've been helped out so this came as like a Plus on icing on the cake to be able to fundraise for my town that I have and some of
009the programs like the food pantry you know a lot of food insecurities um and helping people out when they're in a tough spot help you know that way they be able to help themselves get back up um Ashland emergency fund um which also uh it helps temporary you know it offers financial assistance tempor for people who need it uh you know the house has burnt down or you know they need some rent or gas for for a little bit as they figure things out um I've discovered basically running for Marathon I found out other where all these monies go and I'm I'm like humbled to be a part of this um should I just would like to talk a little bit more of other programs as well uh let's let's talk a little bit more
010about you cuz I think I I think it's it it helps people understand a little bit other than these programs that you're learning about and you you you excited to be running is there something that said to you I have to do this you talked about how you've watch the marathon and I mean I've watched the marathon but it's never said to me I need to run that so what what what was the moment when you said okay I'm going to do this well great question uh I think just having been around R kind of before like I said but then also having watched it with my kids y I wanted to you know when they say something it scares you it's something scare it's so big it scares you it did but I just
011felt the urge like this is something I think I want to for me I just want to accomplish it and also for my kids like uh to inspire them that you know what if you want something you go for it you work hard you actually can achieve it so so let let's let's talk a little bit about that so you're you've been in town for 20 years how many children do you have I have four um okay and what are their ages my son Ben 24 years old uh Patrice 20 and maybe 17 and my last one is uh Meg who is 11 wow um uh so it's it's quite interesting about a couple years ago I think right after covid when they had canceled the marathon that was the first time I think yeah
012uh I was at the one of the little things we usually do with my kids is we go to the a start line in h hington the night before there's a lot of fever and energy and there's a lot of energy the night before so I usually just drive there and park and just enjoy it and talk to the runners with my kids so that's something we had done you know a few times uh when the marathon is done here in asheland we drive and follow it in niic like it's something I I feel like has been and you look at all different kind of people uh this is something I feel like a lot of us can do it MH um I looked and seeing you know different groups going I'm not fast I'm
013I'm just going to enjoy this Marathon uh but looking at different people run and the energy uh the positivity and you know despite of of what might be going on in their life or disability you can also find your joy something rather than focusing on the tough part that's going in your life so I I look at it as kind of also an escape for me uh to get my positive energy back if I'm going if I'm going through a tough time nice yeah so nice good good so you're running to help raise funds for Ashland what what one organization other than area cuz I know you hope that funds go to there um what other organizations do you hope get some of the funds from you actually uh as we have uh most of
014the funds are going to Ashland emergency fund like I listed before Ashland Youth and Family Services um Community enrichment Library y I mean guys who doesn't like the Ashland Library you know it feels so intimate in there the kids have their space you know it's safe so uh community outreach programs uh the senior citizens I mean whoever knows me I love you know I've worked with the elderly for over 20 years so just knowing that there is service for them there to uh prevent things like isolation to be able to you know the transportation they able to pick them up from their homes and bring them to the senior center or different appointments for me that's you know I don't know it touches me differently cuz I've worked with the Elder for a long time
015and isolation you know is one of the things that you know causes other things uh then there fire and police I actually learned that the fire police they work with uh the youth to firefighting camps for kids and also they used to have uh the women's they uh Lynn morahan our uh assistant chief used to have a camp for women unfortunately I don't know that she's going to do that again but some of our funds some of the funds from the runners sometimes went to help that but also they have other fire prevention events and some of our funds go to help them as well yeah okay well that's great and then the anti-bullying I guess I read about that that the fire and police they work on that with the high school and middle
016school kids so that's important things that impact our communities directly and you know and Beyond yeah and then the food pantry obviously guys you know yeah Services food insecurities and other supplies that families need so I if I have to pick any particular program I mean I I I unfortunately you don't get to pick you just you just give the funds and then yeah correct you raise the funds we say that right so I I'm supporting all the programs like I'm you know I'm happy that select board and the town of Ashland you guys uh have this great idea and I'm happy to be part of it and I'm ordered and also it has its challenges but I mean look at what's where the money is going yeah you know so so we're now at
017about 22 days to the marathon what is your days who youa may maybe maybe a little bit more right because it's April 15th and so maybe it's maybe it's 30 days cuz it's the still uh so what is your training schedule going to be like between now and Monday the 15th of April that's a great question as I said like I don't have any like personal trainer or any of the special Parks some people have so I joined some groups like team Framingham and also heart Heartbreak Hill group they have a running group and Ashland I did start like a little group thing for us to everybody to just kind of put messages there what they're doing so I've been learning from everybody and right now uh we kind of last week we did like
01818 miles wow uh uh from start line to Brean in Newton okay and next week what I've not learned from teams and which what I'm also trying to do is one or two other long runs Y and then just step it down yep and make sure you continue to you know have have you hit tried Heartbreak Hill yet okay what was that like it was it was tough but actually there's another Hill in I think Wellsley that I for me personally I feel it was the hardest oh interesting because it just goes on it's not very steep but it just goes on forever I'm like jeez so for me personally that was almost harder but heartbreak heel I can understand and appreciate because when you run after running all those miles at Mile 20 then
019you start heartbreak here that's what kills you but it's all and I learned today that you do Heartbreak Hill and then there's supposedly nice little downhill and then the uphill before you finish on Herford is what I've been told from an from an event today so I guess that's something to look forward to yeah there's a when I when I did heartbreak heel I stopped right before the little down here okay okay um I'm not very very familiar with the route yet I did run to the Finish Line once so I'm just learning the road but I know once you finish Heartbreak Hill it's not that it's not that bad yeah after that yeah fun fun so you said you're looking to do a time about 6 hours right is that what you're under six
020I'm hoping for under six okay so when you're doing these longer training miles what's about what rate are you going well I've done my speed I think I'm about five something so we'll see we'll see because in Ashland again it's about having fun to stop I'm stop there's no question about that I'm stopping you're going to be stopping along the way what should people have for you as you go by anything in particular well actually uh Runners one thing I think one thing uh one of the runners told me is that first of all to be able to find your friends and that are supporting to say hi or maybe a quick picture if they have a balloon or something that shows your name and they let you know ahead of time where they going
021be where they going to be okay so you can because it's a whole bunch of people at the start line and Ash we almost still together yeah so you start you waste a lot of time trying to figure it out so if I know ahead that Yolanda is going to be by um typically we're at Marathon Deli so Marathon oh okay all right all right okay so now I know so if I know that you're going to be a marathon Deli I'll plan ahead of time to kind of start and be on the well and we've been told that it's best to be on the right side Anyway by that curve because if you're on the left side you have to run a little further run a little you see I'm learning some tips I'm
022learning some tips like this is great you know so yeah so that's what I plan to do so in asheland I'm definitely going to lose maybe maybe 8 minutes or something and which is worth it because it's it's about you know me having fun raising funds and also you know interacting and thanking people that have been there for me and are you are you working or training with any other Ashlin Runners so that you can run together for the route or not really yes so I started a group so everybody posts in there what they're going to be doing um and we meet up if we can so I have run with um I think the last time we did a group I run with Justin hi Justin Justin and so we still continue to
023post in there what we do so if I know about what another like team firmingham or uh heartbreak is doing right you try to join put there yes I put in the group and tell them guys this weekend I'm doing this if you guys want to join in nice so they they do the same so as we haven't had like a group run together I think it would be great if we can try to maybe after this I'll post something and say guys let's try to run maybe five miles together it would be really great because I I see with team firmingham they have such a nice energy because they meet together uh and they're really inclusive so I appreciate that that's nice so yeah and and what do you expect to be doing Tuesday
024a ail 16th huh the day after the marathon ah yes I'm going to be very sore so I'm going to be uh what do the kids call it what is it um rolling oh rolling rolling and icing and all that recovery uh that's I think that's one thing I'm going to be doing and hydrating you know doing all the things to recover recovery has been a challenge but I'm getting bit at it okay you you were saying that so when you say recover has been a challenge so you do a long run and then recovering from that run has been has been challenging yes yeah um but again it's learning and the good thing is you know as they say sometimes even a younger child can beat the drums and you dance to it so
025my kids I've learned from some things from my kids like they'll tell me one time I was telling my daughter maybe I should take some medicine I'm so sore like when I first started training mommy tough it out like we do I'm like I'm not your age but they told me things what they do you know cuz they're all in the cross and right crawling and all these things and I've tried icing y ice baths I'm like uh oh ice baths oh I don't know those you got to be really strong to do those yeah I I give it up I give it up I was no but I do ice but um so so with all this training and this this commitment is there anything you've learned from doing this that's a yeah that's
026a great question I I feel uh both physically and mentally for me uh I feel like my spirits are up and uh physically you might think that you're fit but actually until you start running or doing this extra pushing yourself the next out of your comfort zone which is definitely out of my comfort zone this B marathon and then you're like after the training you're forced it has told me you're forced to live healthier life a healthier life I should say um something I just discovered because when you don't sleep well or you're not eating the right things you're going to pay when you're training if you have to run those 10 miles or 15 so that has told me that if you pick up an activity or a healthier habit it leads to more
027healthier habits um and discipline as well so that's one thing I've learned because I realized oh I didn't sleep and tomorrow I'm running that's a problem I need to figure it out I didn't eat the right thing so I didn't you know yeah so what what has been the food that has helped you the most as your training for the for the longer runs and then for the marathon itself I want to say I'm still learn I'm I'm still learning okay uh I mean it's what you say almost a month in almost a month left I'm still learning uh I heard people say you have toat heavy meal like Cubs the day before so I'm trying to think what I'm going to be eating maybe some rice and I don't know some soup or something
028but people say uh like some other Runners experienced Runners they've told me peanut peanut butter sandwich or almond so I've done almond before um what else and they have some gels that I'm learning about now and you have to try the gels don't wait for the marathon you got try them some of them can make you sick so I've been experiencing with experimenting with those um different fluids like you know the Gatorade and all these other things um yeah so special food I haven't really nailed down but I do try to eat as healthy as I can okay and do you know what your number is yet do you know your number no uh we all again it's funny like as and I'm not the only first runner I think they like four of us
029a few it's their first time so we're all asking ourselves when do we get the number where do we go and they said I think the end of this month yeah we go to get the number well typically it's the weekend just before the marathon so the marathon is Monday the 15th and they have a Runners exhibition that is happening I believe it's the Friday Saturday and Sunday just before the marathon okay all right well I'm excited and have you started planning what you're going to wear or not quite yet oo I don't know if you guys can see this nice jacket I'm planning to wear this jacket it's lightweight it has enough Pockets I already uh tried practiced with it it has enough pockets for snacks and I'm going to have some white chocolate
030uh thanks to you buy that um some white chocolate and other little snacks so it has enough space and it keeps you a little warm but not too warm good so definitely I'm going to wear this jacket and anybody Ashland that's one to makes a funny heart I'll wear it funny headband headband actually that way fall so yeah anybody that's Art Is Creative can make one something for Ash and I wear it great and then the outfits these are the shoes orange shoes I love orange nice so so if someone would like to donate to help you raise your $3,000 how can they go about and do that yeah thank you so uh I think the easiest way I've seen is just Google Ash town of Ashland Boston Marathon okay it will come right up
031and it will just bring you to the runners and it has um donate button right there uh it will take you that like the city hall pay system and you select Thea Margaret Moke and you know and you donate there um I I I just want to thank uh you know everyone the individuals and businesses that have donated so far um um like I have a third left a third of my 3,000 left that's not bad yes so uh please go there and donate and you know let's uh continue to make Ashland a great town as you know like it is and I would love to thank like some businesses that have go for it if there's businesses who have supported you let let our residents know because as we know if there are businesses
032that are supporting our Runners they're supporting our community and we can go in and support them yes absolutely it goes all around right it does it's it's cular so actually um when I when I knew that I had to fundraise 3,000 you know I started by asking friends and family uh but I'm like what can I do to like so I decided to uh that printed out the letter that we get from the town and take it to different businesses over 10 businesses I took to and uh um make Mexico City got back to me and uh shout out and also uh blush bouquet uh you know agreed to collaborate with me and uh we fundraised and we did well so I would go and promote their businesses and we then most recently we did
033Subzero that was the kids kept telling me we need to visit Subzero but i' never gotten a chance so I actually met uh Lauren at when I was promoting blush okay and she's like could you come to my business so I went there too and we had fun um what I've realized actually doing this work two things uh by promoting the businesses they're getting new customers people that didn't know because some people came in and they're like this is my first time we saw the post in the Ashan group and we're like this come check it out and support so hopefully you guys continue to support these businesses you know uh in town and then also what I learned is that some people were saying they didn't know some of this about some of the
034services and the programs that Ashland is supporting so so I was able to communicate to people that way as well so they know about these programs that's some positive that came out of this that I didn't even know um and then also just want to thank other businesses like sties kitchen he donated and 126 Self Storage my Ken he also donated to all of us um and you know um everybody else I I I don't want to mention any names other names individually but I I just want to thank that Ashan community and people who actually don't even live in town nice because if I'm hungry in Ashland and you're hungry in firmingham we're all human beings it's the same thing help each other out they help each other out and that's what I've seen
035different towns have donated to me to my fundraiser well so it's really been fun well it's been great talking to you about this and I am one of those people who I love to support the runners if you would like to support Margaret or any of our Runners you can go to the ashon town website and all the runners are there and if you want to give them each a little bit it would be helpful they each have to raise $33,000 we did get two extra numbers this year from the Boston Athletic Association we got 24 instead of 22 which was nice and we have a company that we work with that we give 10 to so that's they raise funds and and do that so uh but all the funds that get raised as
036Maggie has said go through our Boston Athletic select board account process where we you apply for the grant and we provide grants to different organizations here in town to help them do whether it's sports or activities at the library or some Arts events so it's it uh Ashlin day things like that summer concerts so thank you for running and taking the time thank you to your family for supporting you to run because I know it takes a lot of time to train and just thank you for what you do for Ashlin because as people always ask me well what do you love about Ashland and I say the people and the volunteers and it's amazing what a wonderful Community we have we love and people like you that support it and do what you do
037is what makes it that much better thank you so much now before I let you oh no I've asked you this question I was going to ask you something about yourself but we've already done that because you've already been here at around the clock so thank you so for much so much for coming on and telling us your story uh as I said we'll probably be at Marathon Deli or we'll let you know where uh cuz we love it when our Runners you know stop by and tell us how they're feeling now granted you're only a few miles in but we can maybe give you an extra boost to keep going absolutely and somebody thank you so much thank you so much Yolanda for having me herecome good luck with the rest of your fundraising
038and your training and if not before we'll see you on Marathon Monday sure sure and people told me to put some like my name on yes jacket or something so they can yell out your name and give you some energy that's always fun which I've I've done it on the other side but I want to hear it on you want people to say go Maggie go yeah that's the energy actually felt like I feel yeah I can't wait to for Ash and as a team to run together but what I noticed with other Runners because we've run here like more than 100 people and as you're slowing down some slowing down somebody comes behind you and they're like keep going you got this you got this nice so it's really mentally helpful good yeah yeah
039good well good luck and thanks again for coming on around the clock well thank you so much for having me here at around the clock that Rags up wraps up this segment with Maggie Moke and we hope that she and the rest of the ashon runners have the right day to run on weatherwise on Marathon Monday which will be April 15th and thanks for watching this segment of Around the [Music] Clock