Meet the Nation 337 - Eric Mauricette

All right, you guys is going to be one of those, meet the nation episodes, meet the nation

Monday.

That's when I call somebody that listens to the podcast, just to get to know them a little

bit better, get a little background information so that you guys can know each other so that

when you form a community, maybe in the Tenjack Ross Nation Facebook group or when you get

together at one of the races, you have friends and you know each other and you know something

about each other.

And although it probably isn't a great asset to have in the download history of the podcast,

it's something that I really like to do because at the end of the day, if there's one

thing that I want to say that I can look back and did, it's to build a community.

So today we're going to call Eric Mar set, Morris set, we'll find out, I don't know if I'm

pronouncing it right.

And if you want to do one of these, email me at TenjackMozodemo.com.

This is number 336, which means there's still a lot of people out there, you know, there's

about 5,000 people that listen and only about 400 people that have done this.

So whatever your reason is, get out of your butt and get in there and put your name in

a list.

And that's about it.

So oh, by the way, sign up for the races.

I think today is the deadline for the, it goes up in price.

And Sugar Badger is about 48 spots left in the 50K and the 50 mile 50 spots left in

the, in the half marathon, those things get gobbled up at the end.

So if you want to do it, get in, don't call me and ask me, you know, to get you in after

it's full, because I can't, I won't, I've given you plenty of warning.

So here we go.

We're going to call Eric Moore Set, or we'll find out what it is, I don't know if I'm

excited.

Here we go.

Eric, it's 559, is that okay, or should we sit on the phone awkwardly for a minute?

Yeah, let's sit awkwardly, that's not, no, it's all good.

How are you?

I'm doing great.

Just put out of work and had dinner with the family and yeah, how are you doing?

Outstanding.

Well, what am I calling you?

I am in Maine, Down East Maine, and right near the Canadian border in Baileyville, Maine,

small little mill town.

Man, there's more than one person that listens to this podcast in Maine, too, that's kind

of interesting.

And I think I know, yeah, he's in Western Maine, and I can't remember his name, I'll

call my head right this now, but I'm in the middle of it there.

Yeah.

No, not that kind of other than this three.

I mean.

I think Jeff has lived in the same town as you, Jeff, I think, yeah, I've met Jeff quite

a few times.

Yeah, we've corresponded a few times, and he's coming up some of my races, and have you

done the Mount Washington race?

I did do, I have done it a couple of times.

So the first year I did it, we didn't get all the way to the top because it was snowing

up at the top, middle of June, or you know, the beginning of June, so we only had three

and a half miles, so I had to go back the next year, of course, and get to the top, right?

Yeah, but only that happens from time to time, right?

They can't do the whole race.

It's pretty rare, actually.

I think it's only happened like half a dozen times in the race, it's history, but it's

Mount Washington, it's unpredictable.

You never know what's going to get.

Yeah.

Well, I loved it there, and I loved Maine, and I went and saw a lighthouse, and I ate

a lobster roll, and I can't wait to do it again.

When I make the list of the five races I want to do, if I can ever run again, Mount Washington

is on the list, and going back to Maine is definitely on that list too, so I can't wait

to get there.

Yeah.

What do you do for work?

I'll do the flareo.

I work for UPS as a package car driver, so I spend my entire day interacting with customers

and delivering all their goods.

Now you're in the car all by yourself?

Yes.

Yeah.

We drive by ourselves.

Now, are you a guy that, when you get to the house, you nail the doorbell like a hundred

times really, really fast, or are you like a one ring, like what's your system in terms

of like doorbell ring?

Because there's one guy that's very aggressive in my neighborhood.

It depends on the customer.

Okay.

If the customer is a knife, you treat them with respect, but if it's one of those customers

that just didn't ever come and meet you at the door, yeah, I think I live in a super

rural area, so I always honk the horn when I pull in because there's some dogs that just

get freaked out by a person in uniform or buyer package car for some reason, but most

people, you know, they want their stuff, right?

They want their stuff delivered, so of course they're going to, you're going to be there

to get it from you.

But sometimes, you're going to get a customer that isn't happy with you, and it is

what it is.

On the south side of Chicago, it's like a whole thing, and then there's like the package

pirates, and there's cars following the UPS truck to like get the packages after they

put them out.

It's like a whole different world.

It's a whole different world.

All right.

Now, how do I pronounce your last name?

Marset.

Marset.

Okay.

I was pretty close.

Marset.

It's like, it's French, but my father was from the West Indies, so yeah, they immigrated

from France.

France, I assume I don't know the family history I should, and then ended up in the West

Indies, and I don't know how we stuck with Marset, I should really learn more of my family

history.

Wow.

You're embarrassing me already.

That's all right.

I'm sure nobody that is most of the people listening to this, they're not really thinking

about your family history.

It's not like your cousins are here on the blower here.

This is like a bunch of runners.

They're just like, why are they belaboring this?

Who cares how to pronounce, where it comes from?

Anyway, don't worry about it.

Okay.

Give me your running story.

Just give you two minutes.

How did it start?

Where are you now?

Give me your progression.

Yes.

I started running in high school.

I originally was on the soccer team, and so my senior year, I actually got the cross-country

coach convinced me much like everyone else, convinced me to join the cross-country

team because I was out running in the summer getting ready for soccer, and so I ended

up doing soccer and cross-country in my senior season.

Much better runner than soccer player, but I really enjoyed both and ended up doing

track and all of that the rest of my senior season, which I wish I had done my whole

high school career, but that turned out there.

Then I gave it a go when I went to the University of May at D1 School, but I wasn't the D1

material by any means, and so I just kind of ended up doing my own thing and continued

running all through college, just chasing personal bests from everything from the five

K up to the marathon, basically on roads, and I've been doing that ever since, so that

was 2008, 2009, and just been enjoying running since, and I've dabbled in the 50K distance,

that's about as far as I've gone, ultra.

I see that.

The great cranberry island.

Yeah.

Have you heard about that one?

I have, but does that still exist?

No, unfortunately, no, it doesn't exist.

They retired it back in like 2014 or 2015.

That was really well known.

That was a notorious race.

It was a fantastic event.

Just out and back on this four-mile stretch of road on great cranberry island, which is

in the same bay as Mount Desert Island, which is where a Katie National Park is, and

just out and back on this stretch of road is just an absolutely unbelievable experience.

The first year I did it, I just totally afford you, you know, kind of like you're Mount

Washington, Mount Washington experience, and that, I think, just, that set me up for future

running, you know, just enjoying running even more than I was already at that point.

Then I went back to the next year and see that.

What are you training for now?

I'm dabbling in the marathon still.

I'm going to do Boston this April, but I'm busy.

I've got a lot of race director duties.

I'm president of our local running club here in Maine and Downey's Maine, and work keeps

me really busy too, with 55, 60-hour weeks.

So what's, tell me about this running club and the race directing.

Tell me, what, where do you, what are you directing, and what, where can people learn

about it?

Yeah.

Yeah, so our, our little running club, Bold Coast runners, we have, we have 75 members

and somewhere between probably 20 and 30 super active members, very small club, and

we host, um, oh, a dozen races or eight, eight to a dozen races here.

There's not a, there's a kind of small like five days, but not a variety of other events.

And so my co-conspirator and I, uh, back in like 2018, we wanted to bring some more well-organized

events to Downey's Maine.

And so we put on a couple of five K, 10 K road races and then, um, couple trail races

for local conservancies that benefit the Conservancies on some of the, uh, nicer trails around

here.

And when I say trails, I'm talking like truly like single track, uh, running over roots

and rocks, running through puddles, cross covers and stuff like that.

And then we also host a, uh, five, or 50 K and a fun run.

And so the 50 K is three laps of this 10 mile, 10 and a half mile loop, and the fun run

is one lap, um, on the, uh, Bold Coast trail.

And so you start, it's been a parking lot on the side of the road and you run down to

the coast and you're just right next to the coastline cliffs that where the tides are

like 30 feet deep or 30 feet rising and falling every six hours.

And, uh, yes, this, this, this bold, so this 50 K, we call it the Bold Coast Dash.

And it's turned into this like signature event for the club.

We sell it out.

Um, we only have unfortunately 80 spots that we can do with our agreement with the state.

Um, but it's turned into this fantastic event, uh, regionally and really kind of a signature

event for a little running club, um, and it's brought in, uh, a lot of great people

for the area as well.

And so the signature event is the, is it public land, the Bold Coast, yeah, right?

Bold Coast, that's in November and, uh, is, is the registration still open or is it sold

out?

Uh, we'll open registration in August.

Okay.

So if someone's listening to us, we've learned a lot of like down east main thing.

I didn't, I didn't even know that was a thing.

Now I'm looking at a picture of what down east main is.

Well, it's like that.

Yeah.

And I'd be remiss not to mention, mention the other events that I'm involved in, which

is separate from the running club, um, but this, uh, the other event, which is right

around the corner, uh, is the Bay of Fund, the International Marathon.

Um, I'm one of the co, co directors for it.

Um, I kind of inherited that role, but, uh, it's, uh, it's one of the only, like, fixed

events in the United States that I'm aware of, or in North America that I'm aware of that

crosses the, uh, international border, um, US and Canada and back.

I know there's one in Detroit.

I know there's another one down in California, and I believe there's one or was one, um,

maybe Minnesota or, uh, Wisconsin at one time Detroit Marathon goes, goes over there.

I know that.

Mm-hmm.

So this Bay of Fund, Bay of Fundy, uh, it goes into New Brunswick.

It goes into New Brunswick, a small little island, um, which is, uh, Campabello Island,

part of New Brunswick, but the only way to get the Campabello Island is over this one

lane bridge, well, it's one lane in each direction, is one lane bridge and get to come in,

the Canadians have come into United States in order to go all the way around.

They have to drive an hour around to get back to the mainland of Canada.

Uh, it's, it's just naturally this spectacular place that everyone needs to consider coming

at least once in their lifetime.

Well, I'm going to put a link to the Bay of Fundy Marathon and the bold coast runners

in the show notes.

So if you read, if you're listening to this, you want to learn more, I mean, and I've

already learned, I mean, we'll start with what is down East Main and then, you know,

the rest of this, uh, but it looks lovely.

And I got to say, I've not, I've never not had fun in Maine.

So I mean, if I could run, this would be definitely something I'd be interested in.

Yeah, well, uh, I've been following your story along, you know, with gang shows and all

that.

It's fun.

It's a, it's a true pleasure to have, have you in the, have you in my ears and the whole

gang and just, uh, following everyone's stories.

It's, that, that's what makes the whole podcast.

I know I'm jumping ahead here, but that's what, like, makes runners and the 10-drink

mile podcast so enjoyable is it's just, it's just a story and just the conversation about

runners about everyday life, but we all deal with, right?

Well, thank you.

And, uh, and as a side note, I ran today, I ran two miles today, um, point one, jog, point

one hike, but, uh, when I got done, I went upstairs and I said to my wife, I said, I think

the shit's going to work.

I think it's going to work.

Um, so I'm kind of excited.

I mean, any minute now, I could just snap and then I'm fucked, but, you know, I feel

like, I feel like I got a shot at this thing.

This could be, I could be doing the, uh, the Mount Fundy, the Bay of Fundy International

Marathon.

Who knows?

So I'm going to put this on my list because you know what, there's one place, well, there's

three places, but one of the three places that my wife would always say yes to is main

because she had such a fucking good time there.

So we're going to have to do it.

Yeah.

You get lobsters right off the boat, um, much cheaper than getting them flown into the

cargo area.

Yeah.

That's great.

Okay.

Tell me something about you that nobody would ever believe, not a million years.

Um, yeah, I think you already kind of told you what the one thing that I'm the co-raised

director for this internet from marathon, but the other thing, um, I grew up in the US

Virgin Islands.

I was born in St. Thomas and then my parents moved us onto a sailboat, a 45 foot sailboat

until I was six years old.

I don't recall a lot of it, but like what I do recall is like just jumping off the boat

into crystal clear waters, just swimming anytime we wanted to.

Well, whatever anybody asks you where you're born, you have to say the British Virgin Islands,

right?

US Virgin Islands.

US Virgin Islands.

Yeah.

I mean, that's an interesting conversation started right there because for some reason,

where you're born is a, is a relevant fact for the rest of your life.

I don't know why, but you know, everything you do, it's where we, where was your, where

you want.

So, uh, how did you, how did you find 10 job miles?

Um, I do a ton of driving.

I mean, I spend eight to 10 hours driving around.

So I think at one point, for probably 2019, it was just on Spotify or whatever podcast

staff I was using and I bring across 10 drug of miles and I just became hooked.

Like I said earlier, they know the conversations are just, they're just great.

You know, at some points, you're going to be crying and other points are going to be laughing

so hard.

People driving past, they're going to be looking a lot like, uh, was there an episode that

you particularly liked?

Hmm.

That's hard.

Um, now I was thinking about this earlier.

I, I think I really enjoy the gang shows.

I don't know.

They're, I don't think I have a favorite.

I really enjoy, I enjoy, I enjoy everything all, all of your, your meat, the nations, the

gang shows, the long form interview is long runs, um, everything has been just, it's a

great way to learn something about an individual, um, and really kind of escape in the moment.

Um, I'm not going to let you out of it, that easy.

I'll, I'll ask you a good job.

I'll ask you a different question that could make up for it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Give me two podcasts that people should know about other than 10 junk miles that you

really get it because you spend a lot of time driving around.

You must know all the podcasts.

Is there, give me, give me one or two podcasts that people should give a try that they're

really good.

Uh, um, I'm not trying to make it hard.

I don't even, I don't even know where to take that.

Uh, I, I listen to a lot of news podcasts.

So that doesn't help, you know, that's not related to running by any means.

Well, well, what's one podcast that every time it's in your feed, you're going to listen

to it right away and not 10 junk miles, um, probably the roach is David and Megan Roach.

I mean, that's, that's also a good stuff.

Yeah, I, I should circle back and get him on the show.

We were, I was going to interview him, but then he did that lead field thing and he was

on every podcast.

And I was like, oh, you know, I don't want to have somebody on that's on every podcast.

But I should circle back and get him because he was willing to do it and he's a nice guy.

So I'll definitely put him on my list.

Uh, what if I was to strad you on a desert island for the rest of your life and only give

you one book, one movie and one album, and you can't pick the Bible or I'll give that

to you already.

What would you pick?

Yeah.

Um, I definitely go for my movie with the, uh, instruction, um, that, that always drags

me.

I can watch that book that over and over again.

Um, as for a book, I really enjoy John Griffin novels, um, the firm is usually a one that

I can go back and reread, but any, really, any John Griffin novel, all right, the firm

and music for an album, not big into listening to music, um, probably listening a lot of, uh,

D music, but I don't really have a particular, I don't have a particular favorite album out

there.

And I'm, I'm horrible with, uh, remembering any of that also, I'll just pass on that one.

Pass.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's all right.

It's all right.

Um, what about trivia?

Are you going to play trivia?

I will give it a go.

I can't make any promises.

It's not, not any better.

I'm not going to do as well as the loud, the person to people ago, um, that person did

fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He crushed it.

All right.

Uh, question number one, where on the stage did Bob did, where did the stage guy at the

Bob Dylan concert tell Scott to sit during the concert?

Because I listened to the meeting in the nation this morning from last week.

Um, I know this one, the side of the stage.

Yep.

There we go.

Side note, I'm, I went up when I get done with this interview.

I am literally getting in the car and going to see Bob Dylan tonight.

That's what I have on the agenda.

It starts at eight o'clock.

It's going crazy.

All right.

We don't have, there's no concert within two hours of us.

Not in the, not in the down east of Maine.

They don't, they don't have any.

No, no, you know what?

You're wrong.

Bob Dylan has played Banger Maine several times.

Is that near you?

Yeah, that's about an hour and a half, two hours.

See?

He's played there.

So Bob, Bob likes down east Maine.

Okay.

What did Bob Dylan tell Scottie a story about after he was, after Scottie asked what you've been up to?

What was the story you told me?

How he, uh, I don't know for certain how he went to a record store and found one of his favorite albums.

That is not correct.

You were, you were close.

I thought you were going to get it.

I was really excited and then you kind of took a bright turn.

But, uh, this is something that people will figure this out though eventually.

It won't be like that salty thing that last forever.

All right.

So I'm going to put, so in, you're the race director of the bold coast and, and you said

that thing sells out.

The bold coast.

Yeah.

We still out because we have such a small field.

We're limited by our permit with the state.

Is that the limit?

I would expand it.

The 50K is limited or the 10 or is it all together limited?

It's all together limited.

We split.

So we have, we have, uh, somewhere between 80 and 100 spots and we split it between the two distances.

So how many people do you think you turn away?

Like how many could you sell?

Oh, God.

I mean, our weight list got to over 50, 50 folks just on the 50K weight list.

All right.

So let me ask you this as a race director.

Let's say, let's say I'm getting better and I feel like I could run 10.5 miles and I'm like,

you know what?

Fuck it.

I'm going to Maine.

All right.

And I get on the weight list.

If I fly to Maine and I am on the weight list and I show up at the race, you know,

just based on the number of DNS is, is there a likelihood that you get in?

Or do you cut off with other people?

I mean, I don't, I don't want to say this on air, but here we are.

You know, as a race director, you have a little bit of leeway, right?

And so there's going to be people that don't show up on race day.

And so you show up and you want to run.

I'll probably be able to get you in no problem.

But, but let's say I was a stranger and I just showed up there.

Do you let people in that day for DNS's?

I don't know.

Yeah.

It doesn't.

I'm going to have DNS's are our DNF rate.

So our DNS rate, we usually get somewhere between, you know, three to five people that don't show.

Like we make it up.

We make it a serious effort to get everyone to tell us if you're not going to show or not.

We send so many freaking emails.

We have frustrating.

Because there's all these people waiting to get in.

You know, and then somebody just doesn't fucking show up.

And you're like, I mean, and it's not the money.

Like who cares about the money?

It's just the whole idea that there's someone that wishes they were here.

And you're just, you know, your shit's just sitting in the back.

That's what we want to know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've gone to the point where I almost want to blacklist people, but I'm not that kind of person.

I'm too kind.

Yeah.

I want everyone to have a good time.

But yeah, it's part of the game.

And in the DNF rate is somewhere between, well, the, the finisher rate is only like 45%.

It's almost half the field in the 50k isn't going to finish.

What about on the fun?

It's, it's a top 50k.

Fun runs usually 100% finish.

How much time do you get for the month?

Someone gets heard out there.

For the fun run, you have basically eight hours.

Okay.

You could walk at no problem.

Like at a good clip.

Talk about this.

The 50k unfortunately is limited.

That's a ten and a half hour cutoff.

Okay.

Just generous.

But we get, we get like I said, serious amount of DNFs.

Okay.

I'm going to talk to my wife about this tonight.

This is on my list.

You know what?

I'm not just saying this.

Like, like, I literally will show up at this if I can run.

Not necessarily this year, maybe next year.

But, you know, this, this sounds like something that it would be really fun for me to do.

And I know that she really likes Maine.

And I look at the map and I look, ooh, where would I have to drive?

I fly into Portland.

And then I drive around in Maine to get them in.

That sounds like fun right there.

So I'm putting this on my list.

You might see me, my friend.

You might.

Well, if you show up, you'll have a bit.

We will get you in no problem.

Just, just because.

All right.

Well, we'll make it up.

Don't be surprised if I show up.

I'll let you know ahead of time.

This would not be.

I'm not going to be like, hey, remember me.

I'm not here.

I'm here.

You know, like, no, I'll let you know.

But yeah, I'm going to talk to my wife about this tonight because it looks really fun.

All right.

Very cool.

Anything else before I let you off into the rest of your Monday?

I'm going to go see Bob Dylan.

So.

No, everyone says this.

But we appreciate what you what you're doing for the running community, Scotty.

And the entire gang too.

It's, it's truly a pleasure.

Every week, no matter what they show it.

Well, I'm just a young young man with a dream.

And thanks for being a part of it.

And let me be part of yours.

And.

Have a great night.

I'm going to go watch Bob Dylan sing.

Thank you.

All right.

Yeah.

Hopefully, hopefully I'll see you soon.

Keep the lobsters warm for me.

Yeah.

Ten four.

Bye.

Bye.

Yeah.

Ten four.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.