I'm for work with tertiary secretary Steve Minissha and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to select a new World Bank president an American has led the development bank since it was created point than 70 years ago there was speculation Trump herself would be among the nominees to lead the World Bank something White House officials say is false she has worked with the bank for the past couple of years to help raise capital for female entrepreneurs in developing countries still analysts question whether those are good enough qualifications to be part of the team to help select a new president for the institution President Trump has been critical of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank Jackie Northam n.p.r. News Washington at last check on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up $124.00 points or more than half a percent this is n.p.r. News from k.q.e.d. News I'm Brian Watt lawyers for the victims of recent Northern California wildfires say p.g. And E.'s plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection could mean months of delays for hundreds of people seeking compensation for their losses as they try to rebuild their homes and businesses Here's plaintiff's attorney Frank Petri the ripple effect of De Lay will be tragedy on top of tragedy we need to help these people rebuild from the ashes and we need to do it quickly Petri calls p.g. And E.'s decision disappointing and premature he says a Chapter 11 filing will allow all pending lawsuits to be put on hold until they can be processed through the bankruptcy court 2 of the Bay Area's largest food banks are working to help furloughed federal employees a spokesman for the San Francisco marine food bank says the organization is working to enroll dozens of Coast Guard families in Nevada go into Cal fresh which provides monthly food benefits to low income residents 2nd Harvest which serves the peninsula and South Bay wants furloughed federal. Workers to know they can get help a representative for the food bank says federal employees in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties can contact the organization to be connected to food resources 2nd Harvest has been in touch with elected officials and other organizations to get the word out to federal workers and it's planning an awareness campaign for more Bay area and California coverage and coverage of p.g. Any go to k.q.e.d. News dot org I'm Brian Watt support comes from Cisco users can join web acts to connect on video meetings in real time with a single click support for n.p.r. Today comes from Fidelity Investments taking a personalized approach to helping clients grow preserve and manage their wealth learn more at fidelity dot com slash Wealth Fund of the brokerage services l.l.c. And by the listeners of k.q.e.d. a Cloudy day ahead for the Bay Area today with showers likely throughout the day will have high temperatures in the fifty's accompanied by easterly winds between 10 and 30 miles per hour and a chance of showers this evening and more shower activity likely after midnight with overnight lows in the forty's Sacramento today will top out at 54 degrees Napa San Francisco Livermore and Morgan Hill all expecting 56 Santa Rosa will have a high of 55 Oakland and San Jose both expecting 58 degrees later. Welcome to forum I'm Michael Krasny Peter Sagal the host of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell me has been running for most of his life and in his new memoir The incomplete book of running he reflects on how that simple exercise which 60000000 Americans participated in during 2017 has become the avenue for him to grapple with the slots in the increasingly turbulent world he joins us this hour to discuss not only his career but what he's learned after 14 marathons and a lot of time to think and welcome Peter Sagal How nice to see you again Michael even though I can't see it this time yes I'm invisible and it's good to have you with us on form and good to be back with you want to talk about running with you of course and talk about wait wait don't tell me and give listeners a chance an opportunity to speak with you as well and I thought I began by letting people know I'm getting a response to this that as you say in your book at 40 you went from being a person who ran to being a runner and now you can say like Belle boa that you have circled navigated the globe I mean I've actually done enough miles to literally run and run the world I am such a pedant that I'm sitting here I'm going now boa wasn't Magellan I don't know any way and this is public radio I think you're right it was Michelle and force you know I think what we do in public really we're both tested so that everybody better write another Fed Yeah I have I have well I mean as I say my book I calculate that I have actually run anough miles to circumnavigate the globe if I were to sort of head in one direction and keep going I haven't done that of course and in a weird way writing the book was a way of trying to figure out where exactly I had gotten to given all those miles a lot of people say about running people who don't like it that it is pointless and I was trying to argue the opposite case with data from my own life and I'm I hope I've done it well you've got a primary you've got a running manifesto and you've got a book which I was thinking about this in light of this is sort of your virtue book to follow what you called your vice book in a weird way yeah I Funny I've written 2 books now the 1st book of 10 years ago was called the book a vice. This is called Be Complete Book of running apparently I'm incapable of writing a book without telling people it's a book in the title I'm not a trusting person what can I tell you Well that comes maybe from the pedantry that to my guess is well let's let's talk about writing for a moment because there's a kind of narrative drive in telling your story here that I think has its analogies to running than yeah. As I've told people when I 1st set out to write this book it was going to be something much breezier you know a sort of a classic kind of hey here's an amusing guide to physical fitness you know running your way through a midlife crisis and circumstances changed there were 2 explosions one in my life as my as my marriage exploded and by explosions I mean one of those big vivid ones that you know you see action heroes walking away from without turning around to see that kind of explosion nuclear Yeah maybe like the Death Star going up not in the original Star Wars but in the digitally enhanced rerelease I mean a big explosion is what I'm saying here and also because of that explosion I ended up at the Boston Marathon in 2013 I simply needed to have somewhere else to go and somebody asked me to guide a blind runner there and I was a witness of that explosion and those 2 explosions sort of started without my willing you know approval a narrative that the book kind of describes as I went through the following year of my life well there is a line in your book which I want to call attention to her because it kind of brings us into the Boston Marathon early on you say 1st time Boston marathon hours go out too fast at the beginning whooping and leaping in the excitement of starting the greatest race in the world then they get to the tough part and they realize that they were completely unprepared and stupid to even attempt it it's a lot like marriage it is. It and I think that was a thought I actually had in the moment when I wrote that line of like oh wait a minute yeah a lot of. This book is about somebody me speaking of pedantry who thought himself to be a pretty smart guy knew how to do stuff ending up in situations that I had absolutely no preparation for and was completely overwhelmed by and as it turned out much to my surprise it turned out that long distance running as silly and as simple as that may seem turned out to be really good preparation for getting through those things that's called an enduring support for a reason well you got through the marathon and you said modestly you help somebody but that's quite a story in itself you were sort of a caretaker overseer for a man who had some disabilities and particular insight but you're also I think alluding to the fact that there was a big explosion because of the son of brothers and your timing was pretty explicit I mean it was yeah. What happened was I was as you say guiding that day a blind runner a man named William Greer who who remains friends he's a great guy lives in Austin and a farmer accomplish accomplish marathoner an altar on of and I am by the way who is visually impaired is cortical blindness and he needed a guide for that day I had never done that before I had never guided anyone let alone a blind person in a marathon but I volunteered to do it again because I needed some place to go and then ended up being an interesting day in the way that all marathons are but of course in a way that particular marathon ended up being as it happened to make a long story somewhat briefer he had a really hard day and was not doing well in the course anybody who's run a marathon will know sometimes this happens with stopping to walk stopping to rest stopping to recover and honestly as he told me did not think he'd be able to run the last mile or so and I encouraged him to do so because the last mile of the Boston Marathon is famous in sports the right on Hereford the left on Boylston you all of a sudden enter into what seems to be a Canyon of Heroes people lining the streets of tall buildings. And he was going to walk it because he felt pretty terrible but at the last minute he had a burst of courage his heart Bruce 2 sizes and he ran that last mile one of the bravest miles I've ever seen given how intimately I knew he was suffering and we crossed the line and we were celebrating in the course of a collapse he was not I mean it's amazing I don't know if anybody I'm sure most people have experiences like this where adrenaline gets you through something and allows you to ignore what kind of pain or discomfort you're in until all of a sudden it doesn't anymore and it all comes crashing back on you and that's how he was feeling so we were sort of still not moving forward in the finishing chute beyond the finish line and with us were only about 100 yards away when the bombs went off much to our shock and as I've often like to talk about and this may have been the thing that started the whole journey of writing this book it occurred to me later that if he hadn't had that burst of courage and grit and determination to run that last mile. Who knows where we would have been when the bombs went off would we have been so far back that we would have been blocked from finishing as many hundreds of thousands of runners were that day or would we have been right in front of Marathon Sports where the 1st bomb was placed who knows talking to Peter Sagal host of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell Me an author of a new memoir called the incomplete book of running well it's thinking about running in terms of something you say no better feeling than starting a marathon and yet also starting a book these to say writing books the toughest thing is to think of some the landings it's absolutely true I mean it's a little bit like a marathon and a little bit like a marriage is that it seems so easy to start and then you get into the middle of it and all you can think about is how far you have yet to go and this is one of my theories about why running is valuable in the face of everybody who says well it's silly it's boring it's too simple because running is about running the mile you're in and. Successful runner a long distance runner will tell you that if you get too obsessed about how far away the finish line is and how much you're suffering and whether you can make it there you're never going to make it there at least not in good form and a good time the way to approach running is to be where you are right I'm in mile 5 of a 26 mile marathon or a 50 mile race how do I do this mile How am I doing what do we need to pay attention to and if you apply that that sort of here I am now what do I need to do to get to make the next step as opposed to the thousands of steps that are looming in front of you you'll find that you'll make it in an even easier and better shape than you would have otherwise you'll have to think about at least I find that I do find I have to come clean with you here running somewhat boring but when I go on long walks for example I tell myself there's a reward at the end the reward being maybe a sandwich or something yeah very soon I work too you know I think though that the problem with that mindset and I've used that mindset to leave me there have been for example during the I think it was the 2007 Chicago Marathon famously hot. And so much of actually stopped the race halfway through although I was able to finish it the only way I got out of that race was telling myself if I can just get to the next aid station I will reward myself with like 8 cups of gator aid so I know that mindset I've used it but the flip side of that to be careful of blood sugar there Peters Yeah I know all that point I was the least of my worries the flipside of that is though that if you if you say to yourself I'm going to suffer. And this is true of anything it's true of anything that's difficult writing a book Running a marathon marriage any any long challenging task if you say to yourself I'm just going to suffer and if I can just suffer this I will give myself a treat you know in the way that So you say train dogs the problem is is your you're taking value away you're not paying attention to the value of what you were doing so let's take writing a book I mean if I say to myself well if I can just finish a chapter then I'll give myself up myself watch t.v. Or whatever the focus should be what am I doing now one of my writing one of my thinking about what am I creating is the value should be in what you're doing now that applies to running as well or doing radio or anything else I'm I've become in a weird way a kind of advocate for mindfulness of being where you are now as opposed to thinking constantly about where you can be as soon as you're done with this damn thing now Rondo said it best be here now and exactly in the here and now and you have fun when you're running I guess because it gets you out of a depression it did and running can be fun and I don't mean that just in terms of you know the kind of wonderful and I have no problem with these gimmick races that are around color races or zombie chases there's something joyful in running around if you don't believe me go find a playground and watch the kids you know because you make sure that people know why you're there it could be a little creepy but just watch the kids and what they're doing is they're running around and they're running around for the pure joy of it it's fun and you can't you take it when you run you do have a stick it's a little bit but there's no better time than to be alone with your own thoughts than when you're moving at a moderate pace through the world I've I've this is actually cause some weird pushback that I advocate in my book and otherwise that people should run without headphones and that makes people like what are you kidding are you crowd going to keep up with my podcasts or more to the point how can I be alone with my own thoughts. It's for that log and I'm like that's the human condition you know it wasn't until quite recently that we had the opportunity to pump other people's thoughts into our heads 247 I know some people go to sleep listening to podcasts including my own and when you take out the ear phones and put away the flat thing as my friend Paula Poundstone likes to call phones then you are actually returning to what you were supposed to be doing as an intelligent mammal that you're thinking you might find out some surprising things you know I doubt the great works of literature or art or business were conceived when somebody was listening to you know wait wait don't tell me or any other valuable radio show it those things happen when you allow yourself to explore your own thoughts and a great time to do that is when you're out for a run do you come up with ideas when you're running I mean in the sense of not necessarily books but I've done screenwriting in here yeah writing with my writing and so forth you know what I what seems to work best for me when I used to be a playwright and screenwriter dirty dancing to have an a night's one of mine that's right people. Is that it seems necessary to let your fought flow anybody in any creative work knows this that so much of your actual creativity happens subconsciously So for example you may get up and say to yourself well I'm going to I'm going to write a scene in a in a in the play I'm working on to take my example and you might work on that for a while and you write it and you look at it you know and you go and you do other things and you made make a meal or you may go for a run or you may just you know run errands but it's it's allowing your mind to work on it without your conscious effort and sometimes and this happened to me many times during my writing life you'd be a day later or a week later all of a sudden be like oh yes I see how that can work I know what can happen next or I know what that scene needs and that's only possible because you allow your thoughts . To continue unhindered for a longer period of time than it takes to choose the next podcast in your phone reading some tweets that are coming in let me just go to these Jason says the best thing I learned about running from Peter Singer was to leave my ear buds at home as a new runner it's made me enjoy running for its own sake thank you and Erika tweets I'm a lifelong hater of running but while reading your book last week I was motivated enough to run around the block I was very slow in my pants kept falling down but I did it again the next day Surprise got easier and I didn't hate it there you go I can't tell you how much I and ironically love to hear that not just because I love running and I want people to to run I think it's a great thing for people to do it's got no barrier to entry it's available to almost everyone but also because I just like the idea that people are are are deciding to make a change of any kind I think you know I remember reading. The comic x k c d And I think I'm screwing that up and he once said you know you really can get more than one life if you want one you just need to change what you're doing and I think every change people make in their lives most of them can be very positive and I love to hear people are doing that well you are proselytizer and will give her series an opportunity to weigh in here but before I give out the phone number and tell you who are listening how to join us you mention Paula Poundstone how many of those who work with you one way window tell me or the names that are no one to the listeners are runners like you or a serious very few Look Burbank goes for an occasional jog and he likes to complain about it in his remarkable terming style Paula believe it or not and if you know this if you read her book The unscientific pursuit of happiness which I recommend everybody. She's an enthusiastic all things of take Wando she's a great believer in the value of exercise as she goes out and she kicks things for awhile which I think is also great all exercise is great I if anybody is out there doing whatever I got no complaints about it but the biggest and most. Excess full runner on our show is Ian Chillag one of our producers also the creator of the amazing podcast everything is alive which I recommend everybody even is probably the best runner I count among my close friends he's a 239 marathoner. And is an absolute can I say this bad ass when it comes to running I guess except for one or c.c. Regulations I'm not going to ask you about a 3 minute marathon by the way which I did once before a. Couple of pedant searing conversation Peter say go on Michael Krasny and you are invited to join us if you have some thoughts about running in fact Peter was inspired by Jim Fixx And I said on a number of occasions if only maybe Jim Fixx had seen a doctor but he was an important figure in your life and your running life especially an effect your title I think comes from the yeah absolutely in the title of my book The In Complete Book of running and of the cover art the cover photograph are all tributes homages and sly satires of Jim Fixx is complete book of running you and I are old enough to remember this maybe some of your listeners are but that was a central book maybe the central book of the 1970 s. Running boom the one that many people probably only know about through seeing a Forrest Gump falsely take credit for it it wasn't Forrest Gump it was Jim Fixx he was the 1st person he like like a lot of evangelists he was a convert he had been a slovenly guy a 3 pack a day smoker when he decided to improve his tennis game he should probably jog a little bit and he became a proselytizer for the notion of running for its own sake which was a really new idea at that time until Jim Fixx and people allied with him the only people who ran were a people who were trying to win running races i.e. Milers or 10000 meter runners or people who were training for other sports you know famously in of think of the Rocky boxing montage right he's out there running because he needs to get conditioning to punch people the idea of running for its own sake was entirely new somewhat revolutionary so much. So that he needed to write a whole book saying this is why you should do it and nowadays now that we sort of except running is the thing that a lot of millions of people do it doesn't seem that weird an idea but it was back then and he got it started we also ask you do you get a different sensibility or a feeling when you see people packing grocery bags. Are you asking about my my history as a grocer Well your History of God being one of the fastest Packers I think we're not even talking about speed and running we're talking much speed and packing bags I am very good at that. I don't know if this was referring to but I'll go with it my family had a grocery store in Cambridge Massachusetts north of Harvard Square called the ever good market and I worked there going up and to this day I pride myself on the ability to pack a grocery bag like nobody's business because I worked in that store and I think it's you know let me put it this way it's like one of my essential skills and if the apocalypse ever comes and we're all living in the wilderness off canned goods I will pack those canned goods but I also have a special skills at running a radio program that's very popular and people will want to talk with you about that and about running a let me get out the phone number if you want to join us with Peter Sagal you can do that right now our toll free number is available to you it's 866733676 Feel free to join the program and the conversation couple pedants here we welcome or peasants who work on our callers 866-733-6786 is the number to call you can also join us of course by e-mailing us forum at k.q.e.d. Dot org or going to our website k.q.e.d. Dot org slash forum and click on the segment or you can tweet us or Twitter handle is at k.q.e.d. Forum and I'm looking at a question from Ali who are Allie who wants to know what your favorite wait wait guest is or who and your favorite marathon and why but before we go there is there a moment the should be an amber in your mind in terms of perhaps one of the funniest moments that stays in your consciousness its people and in regards to wait wait yeah one of the things I get asked that a lot and my answers are always the improvisational moments as opposed to the stuff that we prepare and you know because we do we have people who write scripts and come up with jokes that I get the voice and those are great and I can maybe some of my favorites but I really favorite. Moments are all the spontaneous things usually involving Paula Poundstone but not always one of the nice things about our show is that. Unlike a lot of the you know other people in the comedy space as you guys like to say in Silicon Valley. Who rely on amazingly good writing production a very tight you know like watch John Oliver That is an amazingly brilliantly crafted you know half hour we're improvisational we don't know what's going to happen I don't know what's going to happen and sometimes the best things are the things that just come out of nowhere there was a famous riff when we're doing a show in Seattle about Clippy the paper clip that remains one of the best things I think I've ever been a part of where we imagined his sad and lonely death I know it was funny at the time. So those are the things that I love I love the fact that we get to throw all these elements together and then crazy stuff that happens and when I am amused you can tell because I haven't a knowingly high pitched girlish laugh most infectious laugh too I appreciate that Michael but by the way I was thinking what it would be collective now would be for a gathering of pedants I think it would be a correction a correction of pedants I like that. This question from Ali though are coming up at a break here but want to know your favorite wait wait get a story your favorite marathon and why you know I found a very People asked me that question constantly Who's your favorite guest or what do you say and say it's almost impossible to choose you know what area we're talking about mainly because I do a talk programs very clock tick in the cover so many different areas to so much territory in different subjects but do you have a favorite guest I have a favorite genre of guests and that is those people who I admired when I was much younger and have had the opportunity to talk to and find out that they were as great as I thought they were when I was growing up and I include those people Dick Van Dyke Carrie Fisher Adam West of ladder 2 are no longer with us sadly some really grateful I got the time to talk to them just got a few weeks ago I finally got to talk to William Shatner. Which for a young Trek nerd like myself was an amazing dream come true so I do love being able to do that I didn't event with him years ago and therein lies a tale but maybe if we have time in the meantime we're coming up on our break we're talking to Peter Sega host of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell Me an author of a new memoir called the incomplete book of running and your calls and e-mails when we return you're listening for Monkey cutie Public Radio. Who's what's coming up tomorrow on form u.c.s.f. Physician and researcher and author Dean Ornish will join us to talk about his new book undoing how simple lifestyle changes can reverse most chronic diseases and we'll take your questions listen to passion those enjoy the discussion visit k.q.e.d. Dot org slash forum and for the latest updates on our programs and guess find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter we're at k.q.e.d. Forum and stay tuned for more of my discussion with Peter Sagal of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell me. Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Stanford health care where patients turn when it matters for breakthrough medical advances designed to prevent diagnose and treat us learn more from Stanford patients stories at Stanford healthcare now dot org And by accidentally expanded a voice is a home phone service that keeps customers connected to family and friends around the world customers also get calling features like caller id on their t.v. . I'm Chairman Hobson Roald Dahl's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory was written in the sixty's it's been made famous on film and now in a touring musical I think especially in our version the message is that truth and kindness and selflessness is what wins we'll talk with the actor playing Willie Wonka next time around here in. The Here and Now program follows form it gets underway at 11 o'clock this morning here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio this is forum I'm Michael Krasny We're talking with Peter Sagal the host of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell Me an author of a new memoir called the incomplete book of running and if you're a runner you might call in and let us know why you started running and when did running become more than perhaps just a workout for you at one point in the book Peter says of running marathons and maybe endured sports in general are a little bit like s n n that sounds maybe in the realm of vice Peter but doesn't explain a little over my themes. It is a little bit like I said up to you what the leisure of was and actually this is actually something I devoted an thought to is that when I 1st started doing it I honestly thought that the whole point of running a race was to see how much you could suffer there's a famous I couldn't track down the source of the quote but it's a sort of common wisdom or a mile or so that the perfect mile race is one in which you lose consciousness on the other side of the finish line right you should you know run until you drop but not yet and that's a mindset that I had that a lot of people have that when you go out to do something difficult the idea is to see how much you can endure in terms of discomfort and pain and I think that's in a weird way tempting and even attractive in the life we live now in which we go from place to place with remarkable ease in which most of us and again I qualify this that you know this is not true of everybody but it's true of a lot of us we don't have a lot of physical difficulty in our lives and I think for some of us that you almost want that you know it's like let me see what I can endure and you certainly see that unlike those Spartan races and tough mothers where you're going to you know you see the pictures and guys are like you know crawling under fire and all that but in the Ultimately I got to move beyond that I think maybe I became more and lightened when I realized that the object of a race of an endeavor like running a race is not to see how much you can suffer but to see how you can prepare to see if you can prepare enough so that the effort becomes effortless I mean when we when we think about the people who we admire in terms of athletics or anything else they're not sweating and grunting and suffering and you know sweating blood there doing whatever we admire them doing with apparent ease you know with grace and that I think is a better goal than you know to see how much you can stand prompts me to ask you another question and then we definitely want to go to our callers many people want to talk with you and many people are e-mailing in and so forth but essentially what you're doing now and way way to tell me is being a performer. And were both pedants who are both performers I must say that a long time ago they asked me if I would be interested in hosting what later became Wait Wait Don't Tell me and I think they made the right decision in a give me and I think give me an audition actually but they've got the right guy for the job no doubt about it and yet in many ways you're expected to be funnier and upbeat guy and that certainly helps in your high energy and passionate about your work but at the same time you went through a pretty serious depression and my question to you and it's a little bit of an intimate one is how you get yourself up when you're working under those kind of conditions Well it's a good question and you know it's something I had to think about to write this book I wanted to be honest both with the readers and myself. On one level you know being funny was always my way of coping and you'll find this with a lot of comedians out there. That for a lot of people becoming funny finding that way of dealing with other people was a way of managing one's own anxieties depression and inability to connect in other ways or you know whether that's real or just imagined you know I was in it when I was growing up I was a theater kid I did all the plays at my suburban high school in Berkeley Heights New Jersey and just realized I realized one of the reasons why that was so appealing to me because it was a way of being in front of people with instructions when you're acting a role when you're performing you know exactly what to do which is not often the case if you're socially anxious and insecure and being funny is the same way you know it's like. If if I'm making a room a group of people laugh. I know that moment that they like me that they're happy to see me all right great you know that can by the way lead to not good outcomes I know people who knew Robin Williams during his San Francisco stand up days and they say about him is that in Robin Williams was always a genius but his problem was he couldn't stop you know you're in the bar afterwards and he. Still doing routines and still trying to crack everybody up and well I got to correct that in a sense because I knew Robin and sometimes when you get stop performing he just wind down and he become very soft tender and extremely quiet many instances so I defer to your knowledge and never had the pleasure of meeting him but I'll say that that certainly that can be seen as a it's a great way to be in front of other people but it also is it's not the only way and sometimes those of us who are in the business of performing need to find a way to be in front of people were not on stage. And that's you know sort of a goal the the other thing though is that it turns out that if you're going through a hard time. Sometimes having a job like mine is the best thing you can do as opposed to being how difficult and how how how how how hard it is to be funny and cheerful when you're having some personal problems it turns out to be the opposite that having the job helps you. When I was going through the worst of my divorce. I was offered a chance to take a leave of absence from wait wait don't tell me it was made in a spirit of generosity from n.p.r. Because I was really struggling and I turned it down that generous offer because my immediate reason was I had to pay a lot of lawyers and lawyers are expensive. But it turns out that doing my job I can't fake being happy to be there I can't fake being cheerful and amused not beat I have to do that to do the job I'm not as good an I'm not good enough actor to you know pretend to be cheerful when I'm not and having to do that every week not only that but having a connection with an audience and a group of people who relied on me to work with them to perform for them help me tremendously it turns out that this is actually backed up by psychology science that if you're in a terrible depression or going through some terrible difficulties sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to actually distract yourself from it as opposed to dwell ing and because of my job I was able to do that I think it really helped me get through and I should mention just as a promotional item will have Dean Ornish on with us tomorrow who has written about a lot of this and other related things in terms of getting out of depression and also helping with chronic diseases but that's tomorrow's program now with Peter Sagal and I'm just going to read a comment here which I think will make you feel good Peter this is Julie who says I found Wait Wait Don't Tell me after clawing out of an abusive relationship I was isolated I had no friends I had lost my love of learning nearly everything and listening to wait wait felt like sitting with friends and it was a huge support when I felt lonely and helped me discover much that I had lost I now plan my Saturday morning Iran joining you all thank you I'm I'm very grateful to hear that and I'm very flattered to hear that and. 1st of all I love to hear that I've heard over the years from a lot of people who went through things from as you know as troubling as a loss of a job to is deadly serious as the death of a child and those people have come to me and said that listening to my radio show that my friends and I do was of comfort to them it didn't solve their problems we're not going to do that but we did make it easier and I not only am I grateful to hear that I am honored to hear that I was a very self serious young man I still am in some ways and for a while it was like What do you mean I'm going to be making fart jokes on public radio that's at home and change the world how is this going to work out and I've come to realize that actually just being the kind of person who's able to provide an hour of comfort every week to somebody who needs it that's a privilege and I am a I'm a lucky guy to be able to do that I don't know you don't fart jokes that's a runny nose really that surprising if a little more careful let's get a caller on Bill is joining us 1st bill you're on the air. Good morning how are you hi. I 1st I want to reiterate the recent comment about wait wait don't tell me it's a highlight of my day whenever I can catch it so thank you very much for that. Also . Being an older person and not not really trusting my knees and my hips too much. Beyond the cardio benefit of running you know you said you know what you call it the. Cross trainer has you know has had the same cardio benefits but how do you get that same philosophical benefit out of cross trainer when you're stuck in a gym somewhere Well that's I am I am well known as is a hater of treadmills I think you know treadmills were and I know you didn't ask about treadmill treadmills were invented as a form of punishment Oscar Wilde was sentenced to walk on a treadmill in reading jail reading jail sees me patents and I think that's appropriate there a form of punishment that's sad. For some people to say Oh I think it's available to them maybe it's because of the weather maybe it's because as with your problem because you can't run because of your knees you you've got to be on one of those cross trainers or ellipticals and to which I say that's great it's better to do that than nothing. I though and such an advocate for getting outside when possible especially in beautiful Northern California a friend of mine told me once about driving by a spinning studio in guess was up somewhere up in rim and as he was standing there all these people showed up with their incredibly expensive road bikes dressed in spandex pick them off their racks in their cars in rolled them into the studio so they could connect them to rollers and have a spinning class inside and I'm like dude you're in northern California the most beautiful place in the world go outside so so again I appreciate the fact that you can't you can't go running in a way that I'm lucky enough to be able to and I know that's the case and if you can get your exercise neurological that's really great and better than nothing but if you can spend time outside maybe on a bicycle maybe just for a walk I think that it does everybody some good just begin order California you spent some time in a tree house in Lafayette didn't you I did although I've promised the people who provided me that opportunity that I wouldn't go on too much about it but yes I am I don't need to go on about it just want to get you I am lucky and I am lucky and friends and their remarkable homes all say that I give you more credit knowing your way around Northern California let's bring another caller on it's Caroline Good morning Caroline Oh hi good morning thank you so much for taking my call here but timing of this show is so wonderful for me thank you so much for having it I'm going to go right out and buy the book my car my call is similar to the last caller's question I'm going through the process what I think is being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis I've been a runner and high school I I like I just always have run it is part of my life it's the way I wear. Stress and the way I think and I'm learning just within this week that I may no longer be able to run anymore I probably won't be able to run anymore I'm trying everything I'm trying when you know I'm trying to go and I'm trying I'm trying to do brisk walk I'm just wondering if you have any advice for me much like you just have to lack all or I guess on alternative forms of exercise that give me the same relief that running like you said it's if you beat yourself up and I can't find anything that beat me up as much as running money sage advice from you Piers Well I mean all I can say is the same thing is I understand that this happens to people that might happen to me someday and I need to be ready for it if it does happen to me I will probably turn to biking which I already love. You know that biking has more logistical and financial difficulties bikes are more expensive than running shoes you need to find someplace to do it but I find riding my bike especially with other people which is important for safety by the way to be almost as good as running the main problem is it takes more time to get the same workout from running your bike have to be out there 2 or 3 times as long but I love it I think swimming is is a wonderful exercise again there's a there's a bar to entry you have to get access to a pool this can be very expensive but swimming for me is is extremely meditative it's a good full body workout but I'd look I'd look at riding a bike I think that's a good way to go and you know I think it's just important for all of us to accept sometimes that things have changed I'm sorry that they have in that way for you oh good luck to you Caroline and thank you for the call on Peter Well here's a question since you mentioned shoes about shoes for me and the Good morning. I. Could use. Your tools your running shoes and by the damage your channel boy chose for them and bait Oh thank you thank you basically my advice is running shoes good running shoes are important but not essential i.e. If all you've got is a pair of sneakers and go running in those and see how it works out again I want people to understand that the great thing about running is you don't need anything you probably don't already have however good running shoes can be a tremendous boon it. Will make it easier to make it more comfortable and if they're appropriate for you they'll protect you from injury which is really important and the way to get those running shoes is to go to a dedicated independent running store not only will they know what they're doing far more than a chain store or you know some online company to look at you many running stores now have a quick Mint treadmills sometimes even camera set ups to examine your gait that's what happened to me I was running fairly seriously and was having persistent pain in my feet I thought I needed inserts like padding I went in somebody at a running store said you're not you have the wrong shoes for your style of running and put me in a pair of Brooks adrenaline's and I've been running with them ever since and I can't say that I've been completely injury free but the problems that I was having ended those shoes were great for me other shoes will be great for you the the trick is to make sure that the person you're buying them from knows about running and wants your repeat business somebody who want you to be part of their community rather than just a one time sale and independent running stores are great not only for getting your shoes and other you know shirts other things gels but also for creating communities I've been able to visit a bunch of running stores and the great thing about running stories is there a center of people they come together they do races they they get together for events and parties and running in addition to the physical benefits. We've been discussing is a really great way to find a community of like minded people are my best friends are people I've met through running the people I spend the most time with outside of my family and work or my running friends and those people are waiting for you down at your local running stores to go check it out now let me thank you for her call and read some comments are coming in Madeline writes tell Peter I 1st sake my household duties to listen wait wait Paul is my favorite who did that research and why but would he please say a good word for walking I'm 85 now but I walk 3 miles a day and I love it I think walking is wonderful in many ways I've read this that walking is in fact the best exercise because it gives you the benefits of running cardiovascular exercise and being outside and all those other things we've been discussing without any of the stress or at least most of the street you get a lot more robotic workout from Ryan running Yeah you're from walking that the advantage of running over walking is primarily you get a much more intense workout in a much shorter period of time which for a lot of people is important I can spare an hour to go running I can spare 3 hours to walk the same distance however if because of age injury illness whatever it may be if you're a walker and not a runner that's great and I think that I applaud or at 85 to be out there walking every day means will probably make it was a better chance of making it to 95 and doing so in much better shape there are studies that show regular cardiovascular exercise have very positive effects not only on your obviously your health and your heart but also your mental physical mental faculties so get out there and I applaud you and there's Mary who writes those of us who are 6 hour plus marathoners know the 2 hour runners are basically lazy I ran 7 marathons in 18 months after never exercising the 1st 50 years of my life I had the great distinction of coming in last in both the San Francisco and St Louis marathons I wonder if he was running when you were in your underwear Peter but any possible No I said was right in my underwear was not a marathon it was not say Lois I thought it was a little it was it was but it was a marathon of the. I do it for charity by the way yes there are people none of whom I know or I'm friends with I will be proud to say who think that if you run a marathon over a set time say 5 hours maybe you're not really a runner you're not really doing it you're not the same as those of us who can do it in under $330.00 sec and I I thumb my nose at that I dismiss that that's snobbish that's terrible and there's something that is true but what you just said to be out there for 6 hours is really hard in a way that's different than the people who run it in 2 and a half hours last year and I was actually 2017 I guided to help to guide a blind runner I wasn't on my own at the New York City marathon and it just so happens that this guy who we're guiding had a really hard day as happened as I've said and he finished around 5 hours and 30 minutes which is the longest I've ever been out there in a marathon course and it hurts it's tough my feet ached my legs ache in a totally different way just from being on my feet and moving for that long so I have nothing but respect for anyone who finishes a marathon in any time in fact there's a story toward the end of my book about a guy named Jay could sign for who was morbidly obese and decided to run the Boston Marathon took him 7 hours but he did it and when I thought about how his achievement was so much more difficult than mine who had run at the same day in about 3 and a half hours that he has actually become one of my heroes who you write about writing as a metaphor for life and it really fits in when you have to tell a story like that I mean about insurance about pacing yourself if you think about so many things that have to do with even about competition with marathon running and the way we live our lives let me bring some more callers aboard though and let me go next to us saying you're on the air Good morning. Good morning I had some really tough the last few years really personally trying for me not kind of fell into depression and started having more anxiety attacks when one time I actually thought I was having a heart attack I couldn't breathe and my heart was literally pounding and I had to pull over and call 911 and running was actually kind of the linchpin that brought me back and what I found was that out with the help of my doctors was that the breeding issue much of much of our breeding not all of it but much of it is tied to our nervous center and so running really helped me out. Gave me the ability to control my breeding like for example if you get scared you take a deep breath and that's what I mean and it was running that really helped with that and really brought me back thank you good to hear your testimony Isaiah and I thank you for that Peter comment. And I know what that's like and I think one of the things I've been trying to say in my book for anybody is going through anything like what I say described what I described in my book or with some of your callers have described you are not alone and I think that's important to know but it's obviously true that we all know that there's a feedback loop between your breath and your mind and your mood people say to you when you're upset Hey take a deep breath hate count to 10 Hey just breathe they say and that's really important is that there's a physical aspect to breathing slowly and deeply that calms the mind and there's also you know a mental aspect if you can if you can just focus on your breath there's a there's a way of of of getting doing an end run around your anxiety I used to practice a martial art called I Quito I still miss it and one of the things we consciously practice though even though we were putting ourselves into artificially tense situations you know simulated combat. The emphasis is constantly on breath on constantly keeping your breathing deep and shallow and slow as a way to control your emotional reactions and it works so why do you give up a key to just basically time I once I had a wife and kids it was just hard to justify taking an additional hour a day plus time to get there and back. To to practice enough so that I could keep up with it but I do love it I know that San Francisco in the Bay Area in general is a capital of a joke and I all I can say it out there is I wish I was still out there doing it with you well. I love the martial arts when I did it and I think it's a great workout too I mean those are actually focuses you it's just good in so many ways but now let me read some more comments that are coming in. Certainly lots of questions about wait wait don't tell me let me throw one at you from Allen who says How are the palace chosen for the show you get a lot we do get a lot in the panelist are chosen I mean we have a core group of people who were there with us in the early years of the show and you know those names are Adam Felber and Roxanne Roberts and Roy Blount Jr And they were assembled by the Irish original scheme of producers these. Days we're very actively looking for new panelists and I hope people have heard that and appreciated it as we've added some people sometimes they come on you know just for a one shot just to enjoy them somebody like you know a superstar like Patton Oswalt but we're also looking for people who we just think are funny and charming and most of the point whose voices we want to hear who have perspectives I mean look I'm a middle aged white guy and I know stuff but my version of the world is limited so in order to make our show more interesting to the viewers we bring on people who see things from different perspectives we bring on women or people like a Mazda Bronnie or and again for sod who come from a Muslim tradition or we bring on and what we find from him appears interesting though you said viewers because you're thinking of the audience who do live visit Yeah I know I guess so that's a mistake People lot of times people say to me Oh I watch you on n.p.r. And I'm like no you don't I guess I just made the same mistake. You know and I think you know diversity is is is great in and of itself but we're not doing it to be diverse we're doing it to be better as a show and I think it's been working out and so we're constantly looking you know just for somebody who might be able to sort of contribute to what we do read a comment from Peter is a most amazing wait wait show to me was a broadcast that aired right after 911 I almost didn't tune in thinking there was no way they could do a comedic show with the nation still reeling in shock and mourning but Peter and the gang got me laughing on a day when I didn't think I'd ever laugh again that's that's really great to hear I talk about that show a lot when I speak about how I figured out what our show was for when I was talking about it earlier because you didn't think the caller didn't think that we were able to do a comedy show after 911 we didn't either I mean we. Here I'm actually at w.b. Easy not 50 feet from where this meeting happened and at the time I saw from the producers were like how in the world can we ever make fun of the week's news when basically the week's news leapt out of the sky and killed 3000 people it's not funny anymore but we consciously made the decision real like all these people have gone out and done their jobs firemen rescue men sometimes it at the loss of their own lives if they could do that than the very least we can do which is our job which is to make jokes about the week's news so we did our show that week was a great show I think if you were to go back and listen to it the jokes probably wouldn't stand the test of time but we tried and just as your listener just said so many people were so grateful not that we were brilliantly comedic but that we just gave everybody permission to laugh a little bit things were so tense people were so scared and upset and worried and we came on the air and said hey we're going to screw around for a while and then you can go back to being scared and worried and people were very grateful and that's when I began to figure out what I was in fact put on this earth to do which is to make fart jokes and otherwise serious times per you know there's that line that always runs through my head by Bertolt Brecht the man alas you could add women to that has not yet been told the terrible news and yet. Knows we need laughter and when he knows we need it for cry Exactly and there are certainly many people now saying these grim times we're living in now presently we need a baby more than ever and you bring it. Says of Peter ran the Boston Marathon between 188-1904 perhaps he passed me standing at the side of the intersection of beacon and Harvard streets calmly eating in a clear and contemplating better and worse usages of the finite bit of life that is and will get Sadly I missed you my 1st Boston Marathon was in 2007 but I do appreciate the fact that you are out there were I wonder if he's out there every year with an eclair was like a thing he had to get in a clear that morning and stand at the same place and eat it and if he ate it did he just eat it at one time so that only if 6 small group of people got to see meat the eclair. Or did he have a series of of Clare's so that whenever you came by that point you could see that guy eating an eclipse who had a contemplative philosophical Why do you have. Such a running into Pendry now and then let me get Emily on next Emily join us sigh. I grew up in Cambridge Mass I remember ever good but more importantly I'm an e.m.t. Ultramarathons here in the Bay Area and my son has is visually impaired and has become a trail runner with a group of trail runners from the California school for the blind and thank you for being a guide runner you make that possible I'm wondering if you still do guide running for the blind. Last marathon I. I ran was the New York marathon I ran with Achilles international as part of a guiding team for a blind runner there I haven't done it since I've run a marathon since but I'm certainly thinking about it again for this year it is a great thing that I've been able to do and not only to help individuals which by the way is something that I think is important we talk about you know helping people and sometimes we talk about making donations sometimes it's really good for you to just go out find somebody who needs help right now right here and just do that thing for that person it does a lot for you as well. And also because I gave I brought some notoriety to the possibility of guiding blind people team with a vision the people I work with at the Boston Marathon say that my talking about it has led to many volunteers showing up which is great the short answer though which I will finally get to after the long answer is I hope to do it again I'm not quite sure where I have a couple of chances this year that I'm trying to figure out and would love to do it again I think it's an honor to get out there and help another runner finish his or her goals and it's also dare I say a mitzvah and I commend you for that high kudos indeed and for the book and for all the work you do and let me end with a comment from a listener named Eric who says I'm a high school running coach I say a small prayer after every run Thank you for the ability thank you for the desire thank you for the heart and thank you for the courage of running or any athletic pursuit as a gift I appreciate Peter spreading that gospel Well thank you thank you good to have you with us again Peter always great to talk to you Michel thank you Peter Sagal again as host of N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell me his new memoir is the incomplete book of running we're with you Monday through Friday 9 to 11 you can continue this discussion online k.q.e.d. Dot org slash form Thank you for being a part of this morning's program I'm Michael Krasny. Funds for the production of forum are provided by the members of k.q.e.d. Public Radio and the Germanicus Foundation and the generosity foundation Stay with us now for the here and now program it's coming your way right after we check in once again with Elaine Lee young to get a look at Bay Area traffic Elaine it's been a tough ride for Hillsborough on to 80 it's a rollover crash southbound to 80 before Bunker Hill a vehicle ended up on its roof it's in the center divide but we've got emergency crews both sides in the left lane so do expect heavy traffic to 80 This is near Bunker Hill meanwhile a crash Novato just occurred south when one look out there right before Alameda del Prado Bayford still heavy from the Maze Elaine Leon for Keith Reed thanks Elaine her report brought to you by unbound dot org And support for k.q.e.d. Today comes from an Simi sleep world providing a large selection of quality mattresses to enhance a healthy night's sleep adjustable comfort beds memory foam mattresses and more at man seniors 33 locations and seniors can help find a mattress to fit your budget. Thanks for joining us here at k.q.e.d. F.m. San Francisco and. North Highlands Sacramento the time is 11 o'clock am for here and now comes from Mathworks creators of Matlab and Simulink software accelerating the pace of engineering and science learn more at Mathworks dot com from n.p.r. And Boston I'm Cherami Hobson I'm Robin Young is here and now. Coming up in hearings today Attorney General nominee William Barr says he will allow the investigation to continue if confirmed I will not permit partisan politics personal interests or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation also airline passengers are missing flights because of the government shutdown. And. Charlie in the chocolate factory made famous on film now is a touring musical I think especially in our version the message is that truth kindness and selflessness is what wins we'll talk with the actor playing Willie Wonka coming up here and now his 1st. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying members of the British parliament are about to hold a historic vote on Breck said after more than 2 years of political stops and starts in negotiating the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union lawmakers will finally get the chance to vote up or down Prime Minister to resign May's plan to carry out cracks it N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt reports on public reaction to Bracks it which was approved by a majority of voters outside of parliament right now there is a very large rally a few 1000 people a lot of a blue European Union flies with gold stars and people here calling actually for another referendum they think the person was a mistake and they want to remain inside the European Union inside the house of parliament the members of parliament are.