-Morning on STS program continues. Today is Friday. You know that Friday on our airs is traditionally a family day. And, of course, you remember that this week we decided to devote to sports. So now we automatically combine these two topics into one.
-Yes, today we’ll also talk about family matters and, of course, news and events with our guests – it’s the Voloshin family, namely Dmitry Voloshin. For those who may not know this man yet, he is the organizer of the International Kishinev Marathon and also the director of Simpals. And his beautiful children: Misha and Veronica. Good morning.
-Good morning to all.
-Good morning.
-Where’s Mommy Victoria, who we don’t see here.
-Our mom is unfortunately sick with a cold and unfortunately couldn’t make it today, so her representative will be answering all questions about her mom.
-You’ll be blowing off together.
-We’ll try.
-So we have the first question, Dimitri, to you, of course. As the head of the family, I’d like to know how would you characterize your family: are you a sports family, a creative family, or maybe just an ordinary average family.
-Which one – Misha already answered right away.
-Sports family.
-We have representatives of different concessions. We have the male representatives of sports, and the female half, representatives of creativity.
-Not always.
-So tell me, what kind of creative work do you do?
-I do acting and music, and I used to do dancing. Now I play volleyball and do some artistic drawing.
-And you do all these things at the same time, you go to music and…
-Music, acting, art education and volleyball.
-What does Misha do?
– I go swimming.
-Where do we go on Wednesdays and Fridays?
-Soccer.
-Soccer players. And we ride bikes in the yard?
-Is that your initiative, Dimitri?
-And my dad also teaches me.
-To do what?
-Running. I ran a marathon with him alone. In a tunnel, underground.
-Well, tell me what it was.
-Wine run, I decided to run with Mischka. I decided to run a hundred meters with my son.
-What was that in January?
– “Krikov’s basement.” I ran 100 meters with him and I saw he was so excited, he loved it. I wanted to do a good run, to show him the time. And I understand that I have to make a choice: either I run with Mishka and introduce him to this interesting sport, or I run for the result. I, of course, chose my son, scored, another time I’ll show him the numbers. And we ran with him through those awful dark tunnels.
-There were zombies.
-And the young man ran five kilometers.
-Good for him.
-And got a medal, too.
-How old are you now?
-I’m six.
– Six years old, and you ran five kilometers? Good for you.
– See, you got your medal at what age?
-I got my 10 when I was 28.
-But you’ll probably get 42 in a week, right? -That’s what we’ll talk about in a week.
-We’ll talk about that later, Dimitri. For now we’ll talk about family stories. We wanted to ask you and Victoria this question, but you’ll still have to answer it. Dimitri, remember the story of how you met Victoria. I’d like to talk a little bit about the day we met our love.
– About the origins of the family.
-What to remember: we know it well, we remember it well, every year it acquires new details, details that no one remembered before, they slowly begin to resurface, probably, something is added, something really was. But in a nutshell, I met her at McDonald’s. We didn’t really like each other at first, because I looked like a bum back then. I came to the meeting with my belly bare, wearing shorts. My hair was dyed white. And I was blind, I wore horrible horny glasses. But it had already been explained to me that it wasn’t nice to wear glasses on a date with a girl. And I put them away, so I couldn’t see very well.
And our mom came over. And I did not pay attention, but it so happened that after the meeting we went to the company to sit in a cafe. And it turned out that no one had any money, and for some reason everyone was looking at me to pay, because I invited everyone, like let’s pay for five people. There’s no money, I feel terribly uncomfortable. And girls, new people. And I realize that’s it, screw it.
And suddenly I feel someone under the table touching my knee, and she’s sitting next to me. I look under the table, she’s holding out $20.
-This is our tunnel where we used to run!
– And that was it, I fell in love immediately.
-So she saved you in that extreme situation?
-Yes. -And I realized that no matter what happens in life, she will help.
-You said about the way you looked before all those changes, before that way of life, which you now not only yourself, but also attract others, to sports? Has family life become a motivation too, or is it just a separately existing topic?
– Normal family life is rarely conducive to getting involved in sports.
-That’s the thing.
– It’s usually the other way around: let’s spend our best time eating dinner or going out or doing some cleaning, because sports naturally have to take a bite out of family and attention to the spouse. And, of course, not many people can like that. But thank God I have a wise woman. She understands that my efforts are not only aimed at making me learn to run fast. She sees the changes in the country and tries to understand. But, of course, she lacks my attention, not enough time.
– Let’s imagine the situation, if Victoria was against your first run, this idea of starting to run, to do sports, would you also go that way? Would you have insisted on it?
-Yes, but I wouldn’t want that. I am a stubborn person and I am used to achieving my goals. When I chose a woman, I knew that I could always negotiate with her, so it would be strange if she said: “No, it’s divorce or run.” It wouldn’t have been an issue that way.
-We’re watching your family photos right now, our viewers are seeing things. Despite this busyness and activity of yours, do you spend a lot of time with your family?
-I try to follow the rule: less is better. You can spend the whole evening with the kids, watching a movie with them for three hours, or you can spend 15-20 minutes with them eye to eye, that is, have a real conversation, not just looking at some box. So I try, when I spend time with my children or my wife, to do it qualitatively.
-I have a question for the kids. I’d like to know how Dad is at home. Is he good, is he a sports coach and does he play from morning till night? Do you have to keep to a routine – do you get up early and go to bed early, or do you have a free routine?
– We used to have a free schedule, now we have a special regime. We go to bed and get up at the same time. There are times when we go to school and come home from school and kindergarten.
-Tell me about the children’s fast. We invented the children’s fast.
-We shouldn’t eat junk food and sweets.
-No sweets at all?
-Yes, never.
-No, not until May 1st. Adults have an adult fast, and there is a children’s fast, when sweets are forbidden.
-Do you fast all of them? -Yes.
-Yes.
-Anything at all?
-When they have a breakdown that he watches, bam! He’s in control and suddenly realizes that it was out of his mind, but his hands put the candy in his mouth and he ate it. And then you have to squat.
-Fifty times.
-This is something for all parents to take note of. You can have a craving for sweets, but you have to work it off. Of course, we’ll also talk about an important upcoming event – the marathon. This will be right after a short pause.
(Screensaver)
-Today we have a guest with the Voloshin family, Dmitry, Misha, and Veronica Voloshins, who are telling us about their family secrets. Of course, unfortunately, there is no Victoria. We wish her a speedy recovery. And we’d like to talk about the II International Kishinev Marathon, which will take place on April 17. Almost the whole city is preparing for this event. No matter which park you go to, boys and girls are running everywhere.
-And the STS presenters are even training.
-Too hard. I even have Dmitry, we kept the medal. This is my medal, and there is Sergei Albanin’s medal, this is the medal of our employees who ran last year, who dared to run 10 kilometers. This year everyone decided on a different distance.
-How much did you dare?
-I decided … By the way, exactly one year ago we were sitting in this studio the same way, and after the shooting Dmitry said: “Why don’t you run 42?” I said: “I could never do it in my life.” – “You can, you just have to start training.” And a year later, on April 17, I hope to run my first marathon 42 kilometers and 195 meters. Thanks to Dmitry. But that’s ahead of me. And I would like to talk about how the second International Marathon will change in comparison with the first one, because the first one was huge. As far as we know the second one will be even more ambitious.
-That’s right. Firstly, we’re planning to increase the number of participants by about two times, people who run 10, 21 and 42 kilometers. And one and a half times the number of the fan base. According to our calculations there will be about 15-16 people.
-Was it about 10 last year?
– About 10. We’re even starting to worry what we’ll do with the square and where to put people, because there may be as many as 20 people coming. And where to put them.
-There’s also support.
-We’re working out a contingency plan right now for where to put people in. Secondly, we’re going to have a nice finish. It will not just be separate laps, but there will be a special turn. You run laps, and when you finish, they tell you, “Finish here,” and you run, a beautiful lane, fences and flags develop along the fence, support groups shouting at you. And the announcer announces your name, that you finish. And all the photographers are all over you, and you fly to the finish line happy. You have a moment of glory. Fantastic.
And when you run past the finish line, you snap, snap, and you fall into the arms of a massage therapist. You get a massage on your dead calves, on your feet, they give you something to eat, something to drink from our partners. And you come out enlightened from the relaxation zone with a medal. And then with your medal you can go to about 20 places in Chisinau, with which we have agreed. You go there, show your medals and they pour you a free glass of beer. All the marathoners are watching. How to find addresses where you can come, claim your medal and get a beer.
-How you change an athlete’s starting bag. We know that this backpack contains all the essentials.
-First of all, the backpack itself. Last year we had a cloth backpack, this year, it will be a backpack that you can use for training.
-As far as we know, the medal itself has changed, the design of the medal itself has changed.
-Yes, the marathon runners will get those kind of T-shirts.
-So we’re talking about progress in all directions.
-We go around the world, we look at what people are doing and try to replicate. There are such wonderful bracelets.
– There’s still registration going on as far as we’re concerned.
-Yeah.
-Till what date?
-Registration is still going on, but there’s literally a week left, so you should hurry up. There’s only a limited number of spots. If we get 2,500 early, we’ll close registration early, so it’s best to do it now.
-The new medal is bigger, so I would say.
-Yeah, bigger and bigger.
-And brilliant.
-It’s not yours yet.
-And another of the changes: we’re going to have a watering station for runners. I looked that up in Jerusalem.
-Are we expecting hot weather that day, most likely?
-We don’t know, but just in case it is, you can run in there, you’ll be splashed with water on all sides, like a car wash, just for runners. Plus there will be sponge stations where you can grab a sponge filled with water and run with it, pour it on your head when you need it.
-Water will be the same way.
-Water, food. Increased food stations, there will be more water stations. There will be more music, more entertainment, more entrée along the trail.
-And gifts.
-That’s the most important thing.
– And presents for sure.
-Will marathon runners come from other countries this year. Because in the past there were a lot of people from other countries. This year I also realized that even from exotic countries there are applications.
-You can go to our website and see the countries. The ones that I did not even know existed. More than 50 countries are coming, only from Romania 156 people are coming. There’s also Niagara and Tokyo. And exotic enough.
-Was one first marathon enough to sprawl so seriously?
-Not really, there was a lot of work done over the year about PR and promotion. We went to many marathons, exhibited our stands, told about the Chisinau marathon. And we did PR in various Facebook groups, on websites, thematic mailings. There is a department that deals with promotion all year long.
-We found out that even Mikhail himself, who can’t sit still in any way. Mikhail, you have so much energy, you decided to enter a children’s Ironman. For those who do not know, there’s an adult Ironman – one of the toughest competitions for athletes. And what is the kids Ironman, do you know what you’re in for?
-Yes.
– Tell me.
-You have to swim, run, bike.
-How much do you have to run? Three kilometers?
-Bike three kilometers.
-And run how many?
-Run 500 or 600 meters, a little bit.
-After five kilometers…
-Yes, that’s nothing. We’ll run for sure, we’ll do it. It’ll be Budapest. We’re taking a group of Moldovan beginners to Budapest.
– It will be in summer.
-Half-Ironman and quarter-Ironman.
-Preparatory stages?
-We already have a group of about 30 people from Moldova going there. We’ll take them through our Sport & Travel. And there they will show their results. And there is a competition for children – Ironkids – as part of this event.
-Veronica, do you and your mom join your daddy during the races sometimes? Misha, we got it, everywhere with dad.
-Not always, sometimes.
-Did you run in the last marathon?
-Yes, I ran three kilometers.
-Did you enjoy it, how did it feel? -Yes.
-Yes.
-Does mom Victoria run with you a lot? -No.
-Never.
-It’s not my mom’s thing.
-It’s not a mom thing, that’s right.
-Let’s talk more about Ironman Kids. Did you start it, Dimitri, or did you suddenly realize that Misha on your experience suddenly wanted to.
-Dad participated in the adult Ironman.
-I began to probe, because I wouldn’t want to impose my models, my stereotypes, my desires on my children, because we’re all different. Nika is a little bit farther away from sports. I started to try it with Mishka, and I see that he’s moving in that direction. He’s interested in it, he’s ready to work, ready to suffer, to go to training. And so I thought, why not. I bought a bike last year, started riding, learned how to ride. We swim two or three times a week. Now soccer, running.
-Now we’ve changed, I want to go to a group.
-And he’s already interested. And that’s why we’re working hard with him. Nika does volleyball.
-But she likes her art more.
-Yes. -That’s totally normal.
-We’ll follow your progress, and maybe in the near future we’ll invite you in separately.
-You don’t bend, you don’t break.
-You’re breaking, you’re bending yourself. You’re constantly setting yourself new standards, very high standards. And I already know, that you are going to participate in ultramarathon in the nearest future. You also prepare very seriously. What is an ultramarathon?
-It so happens that I’ve run marathons and Ironman, and I want to move on, I don’t want to stand still. And after the marathon, ultra-long distances begin. Anything over 42 kilometers to run is called an ultramarathon. And the biggest ultramarathon is held in South Africa, in South Africa. It’s called Comrades, 20,000 people come there from all over the world. And I have to run 90 kilometers and I have nine hours to do it all.
-If you don’t do it in that time, they take you off the course? -Yes.
-Yes. But there’s more, there’s 14 hours for those who just want to get a medal. But I have a strategy, I have a plan to get… There are different medals for different times, too.
-You’re not even from the first plank, you’re jumping?
– It’s very hard to do that kind of distance. I will also have an interesting competition in September, it’s called Swimrun. It’s a competition where a person runs, then jumps in the water, swims, comes out of the water, runs again, then swims. And so there are 38 stages. The Swimrun World Championships will be seen in Sweden on September 5. We’re going there with Livio, my partner. And we will swim there, defend the honor of Moldova. In cold water. And you have to run in a wetsuit, and you have to swim in sneakers. You cannot take anything off, you cannot put anything on. As you went out, so you must run.
-Survival contest.
-That’s 65 kilometers of running and 10 kilometers of swimming.
-Dmitry, we want to wish you and your family to always be healthy in the first place, and that Misha and Veronika will always be successful and look at you and be proud of your dad, because it’s a reason to be. And to you, Dmitry, success in the near future, of course, in all your sporting activities. We’ll wait for the II Chisinau International Marathon on April 17. Of course, I think that everyone who hasn’t entered yet will have time to do so. Dimitri, at marathon.md you register at all?
-Yes, you can go to marathon.md, register, call the office, if something is unclear, they will tell you everything. And we hope that as many people as possible will come to the marathon.
-Your family’s gold medal for today’s program. Thank you so much for sharing your family secrets with us. The Voloshin family was a guest today.
-We’re moving on. Weather Forecast.
