Can You Run and Laugh at the Same Time? Comedian Jeffrey James Binney 10-21-2020

The obesity-related death of his mother was a wakeup call to
young, overweight Jeffrey James Binney. He could continue down
the same path, or he could change his fate. And so he started
running. And running. And running. All the way to the grueling
Leadville 100 ultramarathon.


 


Jeffrey’s film Once is Enough chronicles his journey from couch
potato to ultramarathoner.   Fueled by grief and the desire
to write jokes, his film is part documentary, part standup, and
definitely unique! 


 


Jeffrey and Coach Claire tackle such interesting subjects as why
on earth he set his non-athletic sights on doing a 100-mile
ultramarathon, how he trained, his plant-based lifestyle, and the
scourge of blisters and chafing. If you like your motivation
served with a side of laughs, this episode’s for you!


Jeffrey is a Salt Lake City based actor, singer, comedian, and
"athlete."  He grew up on a farm in Laredo, MO before moving
to Brooklyn, NY and later Los Angeles after receiving his B.F.A.
in Musical Theatre Performance from Missouri State
University.  Jeffrey has been seen on Late Night With David
Letterman, in the 1st National Tour and Chicago Company of the
Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and
at comedy clubs and festivals across the country.


 


Questions Jeffrey is asked:


 


5:22 The reason I wanted to have you on the show is because I saw
your film Once Is Enough on Amazon Prime this summer with my
family.  I subject my kids to a lot of documentaries and
this is one that they actually liked!  Can you tell us a
little bit about the movie and why you wanted to make it?


6:42 While sitting in the hospital waiting room, you happened to
pick up a copy of Trail Runner Magazine.  What happened
next?


7:54 Most people don’t go running a 100-miler basically off the
couch, let alone the Leadville 100. What were you thinking?!?! :)


9:51 What was it like running the race under-trained and
overweight? That must have been a huge challenge physically for
you.


11:20 Don’t you have to qualify for Leadville? How did you get
into Leadville?


12:26 What was your typical training week like or how did it
progress over your 14 months of training?  


13:51 How did you change physically through training?


15:23 Speaking of nutrition, you and I have a couple of things in
common besides our gorgeous red hair. You and I are both
plant-based! How did that fit into your training, your nutrition?
What kind of things were you eating?


18:26 Most people think, “Oh, you’re on a plant-based diet. That
means that you’re only eating twigs and potatoes and you’re going
to be super thin, and clearly that’s not always the case for
everybody, right?


19:17 Without giving away too much from the film, what kind of
lessons did you learn?  Just going through it and the whole
filming and making a beautiful movie? What kind of lessons?


20:26 Do you think anybody can do this?


21:03 I would like to talk about the ultra running community.
It’s kind of a special group of some very strange and wonderful
people. Would you agree?


23:20 The aid stations are much better for ultrarunning, right?


23:40 I would love to talk about gear, like what kind of gear
that you were using. 


24:19 Do you still wear a bro?


24:49 Every ultrarunner, every runner, has to deal with chafing
obviously. How do you deal with that?


26:58 There’s a point in the movie where you talk about your
blisters that you had, and how did you deal with that? You look
like you were in some serious pain there.


28:10 You manage your blisters better nowadays when you get them?


29:10 What kind of misconceptions have you come across in your
running journey? When you started this, you had so much optimism
about what this was going to turn out to be. What changed
throughout your journey? What things were you surprised about?


31:21 What’s next for you? Are you still running? Obviously,
COVID, there’s not a lot of races on the horizon, but what are
you doing?


32:36 Some of the smaller trail races are still going on in
person, so maybe there’s something you can sign up for that you
could actually do in real life.


33:07 You’re still being coached by Ian Sharman, or are you on
your own?


34:09 Questions I ask everyone:


 
If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started
running, what advice would you give?

 
What is the greatest gift running has given you?

 
Where can listeners connect with you?

 


36:08 Any new films on the horizon or was once enough?


 
Quotes by Jeffrey:

 


“I just went on a hike a few years ago with some friends to one
of the taller peaks here in Utah. I was getting to the top and I
was really beating myself up because I just could not keep up
with them. And I finally got to the top and I was like, ‘Why are
you beating yourself up? You have 100 lbs on all of these people.
You don’t come from a lifetime of fitness other than five years.’
And you’d think after this whole journey that I’ve been on that I
would be able to keep that in better perspective, but there’s
still time like that when I still have to check myself.”


 


“I never considered myself particularly outdoorsy. I certainly
didn’t consider myself tough. And it turns out I was wrong. It
turns out I am way, way stronger and tougher than I realized.”


 


“Most of the time I was running 20-plus hours per week on top of
a full-time job. It’s literally a part-time job.”






Take a Listen on Your Next Run


 


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Mentioned in this podcast:

 


JJB.life


Once is Enough film


Leukotape


Ultra Ladies


Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community


RunnersConnect Facebook page


claire@runnersconnect.net






Follow Jeffrey on:


 


Facebook


Instagram


Twitter


YouTube






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