Which leads me to a man I only knew as “RKK34”.  I moderated a forum where athletes posted messages describing their areas of pain and problems that were big enough that all their sport’s activities were out of the question, and they were searching for answers.

​

This story has an ending that will benefit YOU and your ability to enjoy your sport to your ultimate performance level….but first, this is how “RKK34” was the catalyst in helping thousands of athletes.

​

“RKK34” was the high-performance, do-anything-it-takes kind of athlete.  I didn’t know his real name, actually I didn’t know most people’s real names on the forum…there was “Angry Wet Suit” (who I eventually met at IM Utah) and “MamaRuns”.

​

Fortunately, I ended up really getting to know “RKK34” because as he was training to run 100 miles (a Century Run) in Los Angeles he became nervous about his severe calf pain limiting his ability.  He was so committed to completing this Century Run since he and his wife were adopting a child and he knew that this was his last chance to ever have the time to train at this level.

​

“RKK34” had read my book, The Pain-Free Triathlete, that is filled with pictures and descriptions as to how to apply self-treatments, the Julstro Protocol for muscle releasing.  He got results, but still had specific questions which created lots of threads going back and forth on the forum.

Then he stopped communicating so I had no idea what  happened but I held the hope that he followed his dream.

​

Fast-forward a year…I have a table at the NYC Marathon Expo…and a guy walks up to me, holding a baby.  He turned around and showed me his shirt, it said “Century Finisher” (or something like that) and I congratulated him for such an amazing accomplishment.  That’s when he said, “Julie, I’m RKK34!  Actually I’m Ron Kageyama!

​

OMG!! RKK34!!  I ran around the table to hug him.  I was so excited!  He had achieved his dreams, both the Century Run and the adoption.

​

Fast-forward many years…..he popped into my mind again so I tracked him down.  And of course with the way the internet makes it so easy to find people I did!  Since we last spoke he’s run 85 marathons.  That’s amazing!