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114 - Curveballs & Comebacks: My First Ultra · Getting After It

• 0:00
  Brett: It's the pivot points, the times when you have to readjust your strategy, that you need to rethink your overall goal, and that's what I want to talk about today, because it's a lesson many of us struggle with, myself included, so let's get after it.
• 0:15
  Brett: Thank you for tuning in today.
• 0:22
  Brett: I am pumped you're here.
• 0:24
  Brett: It means a lot that you take some time to sit with your friend Brett, because there's a lot of other podcasts out there, and the fact that you decided to choose this one today means a lot.
• 0:34
  Brett: So I appreciate it and I'm excited about today's topic, because this is something I've learned recently.
• 0:40
  Brett: It's been such a hard lesson to learn and that's the idea of pivot points Like with goals, with life in general, having a pivot point.
• 0:52
  Brett: When things get tough, when life throws you curveballs or when challenges arise, it's okay to pivot.
• 0:55
  Brett: In fact, I would argue it's necessary.
• 0:57
  Brett: You're not going to get very far if you don't change your strategy, if you don't refine your process, if you don't learn from your mistakes and push forward to get better.
• 1:08
  Brett: The first time I learned this lesson was on my 50k.
• 1:12
  Brett: That was my first ultra marathon.
• 1:14
  Brett: Last year I was aiming for Bear Ears ultra marathon in Monticello, utah.
• 1:19
  Brett: It was on June 20th, and up until that point I was training like a madman, more than I've trained probably ever in my life.
• 1:28
  Brett: At that point, when you're training for an ultra marathon, all you're doing is logging miles in the mountains, and it was a lot of hard work but also beautiful, like running in the mountains in Utah in the middle of summertime with the sun shining and it's not too hot.
• 1:45
  Brett: It's not like Arizona, which is where I grew up, was in Arizona.
• 1:48
  Brett: It is a completely different experience.
• 1:51
  Brett: It's a lot different than road running, because that's very, I would say, predictable.
• 1:57
  Brett: The only times it's different with road running is you might have hills on the road or whatever, but when you're running the trails, you have to be a lot more thoughtful with every single step that you take and I mean that sincerely like you have to legitimately look at everywhere that you're stepping, because otherwise it's like you might step on a rock, twist your ankle and then boom, everything that you've done for that race is out the window.
• 2:19
  Brett: And I ran my sub three 2024, february 2024.
• 2:25
  Brett: And so this was a big one for me.
• 2:27
  Brett: It was like right after that I wanted to keep this trajectory going of, you know, staying disciplined and pushing my limits and doing all these things that I always talk about, which are important to do.
• 2:38
  Brett: So I found an ultra marathon, which I signed up for almost immediately after my my sub three marathon.
• 2:45
  Brett: The reason I actually got interested in in ultras is many of the people who I admire and who I look up to in the running community people like Cameron Haynes, nick bear, courtney DeWalter, sally McRae so many people who push their bodies to their ultimate breaking point.
• 3:05
  Brett: They're the ones who inspired me to run this race, because they always talk about the lessons that they learned and the journey that it actually is.
• 3:13
  Brett: It's not until you actually go on that journey yourself that you find out that that is the truth, that it it feels like a Like.
• 3:22
  Brett: My sub three marathon ended February 10th of last year, 2024.
• 3:29
  Brett: And from that point up until June 20th, my whole plan for almost four months was going to be focused solely on ultra marathon training, and so it started off pretty easy, like I would go and do maybe a 10 mile run on the weekends uh, in the mountains.
• 3:46
  Brett: At first it was a little difficult because I wasn't prone to that elevation gain.
• 3:51
  Brett: I wasn't used to it.
• 3:52
  Brett: The more I did it.
• 3:54
  Brett: The better I got, the stronger my legs became in the mountains.
• 4:05
  Brett: 20 milers in the mountains, I got all the way up to 26 miles in the mountains, which was a marathon on its own.
• 4:08
  Brett: In the middle of the mountains.
• 4:09
  Brett: It was beautiful, although the entire time and my wife hates this thought, but the entire time I was like I would never hear a mountain lion coming.
• 4:16
  Brett: Those things would just pop out of nowhere, grab me on the neck and boom lights out.
• 4:21
  Brett: See you later.
• 4:21
  Brett: I'd be gone.
• 4:22
  Brett: That's my only fear with ultramarathon running and getting hurt.
• 4:26
  Brett: I guess I could fall off a cliff, but where I'm at I don't know Necessarily.
• 4:30
  Brett: There's not a lot of cliffs around me, so that's probably not as likely as a mountain lion.
• 4:34
  Brett: There's a lot of mountain lions in Utah.
• 4:37
  Brett: Back to the story, and I was feeling really good.
• 4:40
  Brett: I would have to go back and refine my planning, like in terms of my fuel that I would take on my runs.
• 4:46
  Brett: I had to eat a lot more, so I was like planning my meals in advance, making sure I was getting the proper carbohydrates, the electrolytes I needed to perform well and to replenish my, my sweat and everything that I lost during the run.
• 4:57
  Brett: And I was feeling confident.
• 5:00
  Brett: I was.
• 5:00
  Brett: I was proud of the work I was putting in and I wanted to see it through.
• 5:03
  Brett: I was, I was proud of the work I was putting in and I wanted to see it through.
• 5:07
  Brett: And I um, I was gearing up for the race.
• 5:08
  Brett: So it's, it's race week and I start to carb load.
• 5:11
  Brett: The first day I was carb loading like crazy.
• 5:14
  Brett: My wife shout out to her she's amazing.
• 5:16
  Brett: I came down cause I was supposed to be at a trade show in Salt Lake city.
• 5:19
  Brett: So I went to the office in the morning and then I came down to my car to go to this trade show in Salt Lake and my wife had a baguette on my dashboard, some rice cakes and a bunch of other carbs that were easy to get down.
• 5:33
  Brett: But I was like man, she loves me.
• 5:36
  Brett: And so on my way to this trade show, I'm just pounding carbs, walking around, feeling good.
• 5:42
  Brett: I go home and I start feeling a little bit sick and my parents came up all the way from Arizona to see me run this race and I was not too happy because I was starting to feel really ill and I went to bed pretty early that night.
• 5:57
  Brett: I woke up probably around 1 am and just went to the toilet and I'm sorry for this, but I started vomiting just nonstop.
• 6:05
  Brett: All came out of me and all the carbs that I worked hard to get down that day all came out.
• 6:11
  Brett: It was horrible but I was like, okay, well, maybe that was just a weird thing, so I get back in bed.
• 6:18
  Brett: But then I started sweating a bunch and I started running a fever and all this stuff, so that next day I was like, okay, well, I'm just going to stay in bed, I'm going to rest up, I'll try to eat what I can and I slept most of the most of the day, threw up a few times, um, lost it on the other side, if you know what I'm talking about and I tried like putting down toast saltines.
• 6:42
  Brett: I couldn't get food down and here I am sitting in bed knowing that I have two days until this race that I've trained for months to accomplish and in my head I'm like I still have to do it.
• 6:55
  Brett: I've trained for this point.
• 6:58
  Brett: I know that my body can take it.
• 7:01
  Brett: My wife comes up to me and I'm just talking to her about the whole thing, having a hard time because, you know, I, I, I discussed how I I I've seriously invested a lot of my time and effort into this whole race and I told her I was like I don't want to miss this.
• 7:20
  Brett: Like my parents came up from Arizona, my brother is shouting me on like you're here, I want to see if I can do this thing and the sickness did not subside.
• 7:32
  Brett: So that whole day I was in bed.
• 7:35
  Brett: I couldn't get anything down I think I ate some soup.
• 7:39
  Brett: And the next day was Friday, and so Saturday is race day and we had an Airbnb booked.
• 7:47
  Brett: We had all this stuff ready and I just talked to my wife again and she's like you know, there's no shame in choosing another race.
• 7:55
  Brett: You can still choose another race.
• 7:57
  Brett: You don't have to run this one.
• 7:58
  Brett: It's not like you were predestined to run it.
• 8:01
  Brett: And I thought about that for a while.
• 8:04
  Brett: But the whole thought made me my whole stomach turn in, not in a sick way, more of a disappointment in myself, because again, these were circumstances I could not control was getting sick right before a race.
• 8:19
  Brett: And I listened to my wife and I thought about what she said and I was like you know what?
• 8:26
  Brett: She's right, this is my first ultra marathon.
• 8:29
  Brett: I don't want to go out there and just just compete, like I don't want to go out there and just get it done.
• 8:36
  Brett: I want to see what I can do.
• 8:37
  Brett: I want to see how hard I can push myself and see what I can, what I can accomplish.
• 8:43
  Brett: So I had to set my sights on something else and I dropped out of the race, which is hard to do.
• 8:48
  Brett: I told my parents and they were like, oh, you're fine, don't even worry about it, we're just happy to be up here.
• 8:52
  Brett: But still, deep down I felt bad and I was like when's the next 50K that I can sign up for?
• 8:59
  Brett: Oddly enough, I found one in Arizona.
• 9:01
  Brett: It was called the night runners runners, night insomniac runner events, I don't know something like that.
• 9:09
  Brett: But it was a 50 K in the middle of the desert and nighttime in Arizona, and I was like you know, that's kind of cool, I'll do that, I will, uh, I'll sign up for that race, I'll wash this one out, I'll forget about it and I'll set my sights on this.
• 9:22
  Brett: And I thought I would do better, because the elevation on the Arizona race was like 1500 overall.
• 9:29
  Brett: It was relatively flat for for 32 miles and bear ears was, I think, 4,600 feet of elevation gain total.
• 9:36
  Brett: So quite a bit like quite a bit different.
• 9:38
  Brett: And plus, I was running a little closer to sea level because, utah, I'm running literally in the mountains.
• 9:44
  Brett: So I chose that race.
• 9:45
  Brett: And I was like you know what?
• 9:46
  Brett: Utah, I'm running literally in the mountains, so I chose that race and I was like you know what I'm not going to let this define who I am so that was pivot number one, and I think the lesson I learned there was I had to, I had to be humble, I had to be honest with myself and I had to realize that this goal I set didn't necessarily have a timeline on it.
• 10:04
  Brett: The only timeline it had was one that I put on myself.
• 10:06
  Brett: And so who's to say that it wasn't a bad idea to change the race?
• 10:11
  Brett: Because if I went out there I could have gotten even more sick, I might have gotten a little lackadaisical in my running and not watched what I was doing, stepped on a rock, broke my ankle and the whole scenario would have been worse.
• 10:26
  Brett: Plus, it rained a bunch in Monticello the day of the race and the night before, so they were like flooded out areas.
• 10:35
  Brett: But my whole focus shifted and I think that's what I learned from that point is like you know, if something comes up, if there's a curve ball that life throws your way, if you find yourself having to adjust your plans, then forget about the previous goal Like for me, it was barriers Forget about what you thought you were going to do and just set your sights on what you have ahead of you.
• 10:58
  Brett: So no more barriers.
• 11:01
  Brett: I was all focused on the insomniac running event.
• 11:04
  Brett: So that's what I did, and I still trained hard, I still ran out, I talked to my coach and she adjusted my training plan a little bit.
• 11:13
  Brett: So we went out there, worked hard for it, and it was interesting because at this time my friend Jordan I've mentioned him a little bit on this podcast before, but my friend Jordan Baskins he was diagnosed with colon cancer in February and he was not doing well by the time I um, by the time I decided to run the insomniac race, and so a big thing that pushes me is running for a cause, running for other people, to show them that you're willing to experience a little bit of pain because they're fighting a battle that is incomprehensible day after day.
• 11:55
  Brett: And Jordan was battling cancer and I was like I'm dedicating this race to him.
• 12:00
  Brett: So that's what I did, and team Tim Allie's race that we do every single year for her dad was one of the most like it's.
• 12:10
  Brett: It's always been such a cool experience to do because everyone comes out, they all run for Tim or other people who have struggled with with their own battles with cancer, and it's just a different experience when you're running for someone else rather than yourself.
• 12:25
  Brett: So I dedicated this race to Jordan.
• 12:27
  Brett: I told his wife, I told him, I made him a video, sent it over to him and my brothers they're amazing Like they got hats made, they got shirts made, and so I was like I'm doing this thing, I am not backing down, I'm going after this race soon enough.
• 12:45
  Brett: July 21st came up and that's when the race was.
• 12:47
  Brett: So it was just about a month later and I'm in Arizona.
• 12:51
  Brett: Carb loading is going well, I did a few taper runs, felt good, my body's feeling strong, and the race was at nighttime.
• 13:01
  Brett: So that whole day, uh, it was wild because I had a.
• 13:04
  Brett: Just I've never experienced this, uh, up to this point in my life.
• 13:08
  Brett: But having a race at nighttime is different because you have the whole day to think about it.
• 13:11
  Brett: Usually it's like.
• 13:12
  Brett: You wake up at 4.00 AM or three, depends on what time the freaking buses load but you get on the bus, they take you to the race point and you're off and you don't really have too much time to think about it.
• 13:24
  Brett: The only time you really do is when you're sitting at the race start waiting for the race to begin.
• 13:28
  Brett: But the whole day I'm thinking about this thing and it's a little nerve-wracking because it's my first ultra marathon, first 50K.
• 13:36
  Brett: But I kept thinking in my head like, hey, I've prepared for this, I know how to do it, I I've, I'm confident in my ability, I just have to bear in and do the race.
• 13:47
  Brett: So it was fun, actually because my parents came up to barriers or came up to Utah to watch me run that race, but because it was in Arizona, I was able to have a crew, and so my parents came, my mother-in-law and her husband came, allie came and my brothers came and they were all supportive and they were like hey, we're going to be here the entire time, which who knows how long it would take me to run a 50 K.
• 14:13
  Brett: I don't know.
• 14:14
  Brett: I didn't know up to this point.
• 14:15
  Brett: So we go to usury pass, which is where the race was, and we all set up our little campsite because my parents and everyone else is going to play cards and eat food and all that fun stuff.
• 14:27
  Brett: So I'm getting ready for the race and I just remember before it was like, okay, it's go time, it's game time, I'm ready for this and I was excited.
• 14:40
  Brett: So race gun goes off, boom, it starts and you can tell when some people are pushing themselves.
• 14:48
  Brett: In the beginning of the race you can see, after you're a runner for a while, the people who are going to burn out and the people who are going to win the race.
• 14:55
  Brett: And it's usually the people who are going to win the race and it's usually the people who are consistent who are start slow, start smart.
• 15:02
  Brett: They're the ones that come in the lead.
• 15:04
  Brett: There's a lot of people who burn out and right out the gate I was probably one of those people who was pushing their limits a little bit too hard, but I felt good Like I was feeling strong.
• 15:14
  Brett: I felt good Like I was feeling strong.
• 15:16
  Brett: So the whole entire race it was a four loop or a four.
• 15:22
  Brett: It was a loop race, but you would do it four times seven and a half miles each time.
• 15:28
  Brett: And so lap one was easy, like I felt so good, I felt strong, it wasn't too hot, like it was probably 95 degrees at the time, but I wasn't dying, like the sun was starting to set.
• 15:39
  Brett: So I was like, hey, once that sun sets I'll be good to go, and I'm like I'm just going to push past this heat a little bit, cause the heat was one thing I did not train for in Utah.
• 15:47
  Brett: I was not ready for that, I wasn't ready to experience it.
• 15:50
  Brett: And as I was running it did start to play a little bit a few tricks on me.
• 15:57
  Brett: One was a mental thing.
• 15:58
  Brett: I was like man, I hope I have enough electrolytes.
• 16:09
  Brett: This is rough.
• 16:09
  Brett: So I get all the way through mile one, I see my whole family.
• 16:11
  Brett: They're all there cheering me on and I'm starting lap two and I feel terrible.
• 16:14
  Brett: And I feel terrible, I feel so bad.
• 16:17
  Brett: And about a quarter mile in I stop and just I vomit in a bush.
• 16:22
  Brett: That was really it.
• 16:25
  Brett: All the food I ate that day, all the fuel I had, it was all gone.
• 16:28
  Brett: And as an ultra marathon runner, or just a runner in general, you need food, you need fuel to help you get through the race help you get through the hardest moments, because if you don't have that, your body's going to start to collapse.
• 16:42
  Brett: It doesn't have enough time to burn fat and turn that into fuel, so you have to rely on carbohydrates.
• 16:48
  Brett: But most of it was gone.
• 16:49
  Brett: I was carb loading a few days before, so I had some muscle glycogen in me and that's kind of what I relied on because I was just worried.
• 17:00
  Brett: But at this point, after I lost all my food, I ran back to, uh, the start of the race and I was like hey guys, I'm not feeling good, I'm super hot.
• 17:10
  Brett: So I tried cooling down really fast, took off my hat and was off again and, sure enough, not too far into that second lap, I threw up again.
• 17:18
  Brett: So I called my wife and I was like Allie, I do not know if I can keep going Like.
• 17:23
  Brett: This is not a good place to be in, the fact that I'm sitting on the sidelines throwing up while everyone's running.
• 17:29
  Brett: I don't feel good, I'm losing all my fuel and I feel like I'm having a heat stroke.
• 17:35
  Brett: She runs up to me.
• 17:36
  Brett: She's asking me all these questions, like are you okay?
• 17:39
  Brett: Like what's going on?
• 17:40
  Brett: Just explaining my symptoms further, and she calls my coach.
• 17:44
  Brett: My coach said hey, if you can just sip water, I think it sounds like a dehydration issue or a heat issue Just start to sip water, see, see if you can get that down and hold it down, and if you can, then I think you'll be okay and you'll pass through it.
• 17:59
  Brett: Um, and so I was talking to Allie after that and I was like I want to do it.
• 18:02
  Brett: Like I told Jordan I was running this race for him.
• 18:04
  Brett: I told myself I was running this race for myself and I don't want to drop out of this race because I already dropped out of one.
• 18:13
  Brett: There were circumstances involved, yes, but I didn't want that to happen again.
• 18:17
  Brett: I didn't want to drop out.
• 18:19
  Brett: That wasn't really an option for me, and I told Allie I would take it slow and she was worried about me.
• 18:25
  Brett: So, the angel she is, she ran by my side the entire second lap and Allie ran 15 miles this day, so she's a beast for this.
• 18:34
  Brett: She pretty much ran an ultra marathon herself, but I ran the entire thing with my wife.
• 18:39
  Brett: Um, which that's blessing.
• 18:49
  Brett: Number one from pivoting to this race is, if anything, how cool is it that I was able to run with my wife during an ultra marathon, like that's wild, and I was pumped just for that.
• 18:57
  Brett: But we made it through.
• 19:00
  Brett: It was a little bit slower than the first lap I definitely was not hauling ass like I was in the first and we get through lap two.
• 19:10
  Brett: I stop at the actual medical tent.
• 19:12
  Brett: They're evaluating me, they're taking my blood pressure, checking my heart rate, and at the end of it they were like hey, you're good to go.
• 19:26
  Brett: But first off, this medical team was not great at all.
• 19:28
  Brett: I don't think they knew what they were doing.
• 19:29
  Brett: I'm sorry, it has to be said, they weren't the best.
• 19:30
  Brett: But they cleared me and I was like, okay, well, there we go.
• 19:33
  Brett: And luckily my mother-in-law's husband, he, uh, he used to be a trainer and so he, like he knows a lot of uh issues like heat stroke, he knows how to deal with them.
• 19:44
  Brett: And so after the medical tent, um, he put like ice cubes down my back and my mom and brothers put like ice cold rags all over my head.
• 19:53
  Brett: I was cooling down, felt a little bit better, and so I was like you know what?
• 19:57
  Brett: I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to go.
• 20:07
  Brett: And I started lap three and I just took it slow again and every quarter mile kept throwing up in bushes Like it did not stop.
• 20:10
  Brett: Until the last lap, until I got to lap four, the throwing up, the vomiting, it didn't stop.
• 20:15
  Brett: And so I'm running basically 15 miles with no fuel, no water, no electrolytes, and I could feel it, um, in the middle of lap three.
• 20:25
  Brett: And on top of that, during lap three, my headlamp died and so it was pitch black in the desert, like there's no city lights around.
• 20:33
  Brett: It's just in the middle of the desert, the same.
• 20:37
  Brett: Like it was crazy, a dust storm started kicking out.
• 20:40
  Brett: I couldn't see really where I was going.
• 20:42
  Brett: I had to pull out my iPhone, which, if you've used an iPhone light, it's not the best.
• 20:47
  Brett: It lights up maybe like 10 feet in front of you, if that.
• 20:51
  Brett: And I'm trying to navigate in the dark not to break my ankle with all this dust flying in my eyes, and I'm just thinking to myself like this is wild.
• 21:00
  Brett: Like what did I sign up for?
• 21:02
  Brett: I didn't.
• 21:03
  Brett: I never thought I would be in this position in my life, where I'm struggling, where I'm battling and and pushing through pain and difficulty dress, just to see if I can run this race.
• 21:12
  Brett: Um, luckily, I made it to there was an aid station in the middle of the lap and, um, luckily, I made it to there's an aid station in the middle of the lap and so I got there.
• 21:20
  Brett: Uh, they had some extra spare batteries, so I put them in my headlamp and I was off again.
• 21:23
  Brett: I was feeling okay.
• 21:25
  Brett: They also had like sponge buckets, which were cool, that were full of ice, so I put like that on me.
• 21:29
  Brett: Um, and it was wild, like here's what I'm talking about, with like these things being a journey.
• 21:37
  Brett: During this ultra marathon, there was like this pack of coyotes I don't know if they were feeding or what, but it was the most insane sound I've ever heard in my life.
• 21:46
  Brett: It was like times 30, 30 coyotes doing that, but screaming at the top of their lungs.
• 21:53
  Brett: And I'm like I don't know if I'm going to get attacked by coyotes, like if my headlamp goes out, it could be gonzo.
• 21:59
  Brett: But hey, this is an adventure, this is a journey.
• 22:02
  Brett: And my headlamp something was going on with it but it died like right after I left the aid station again.
• 22:09
  Brett: And so I'm running down the trail and I see this headlamp bouncing back towards me and I'm like that's weird.
• 22:15
  Brett: Why would someone come back Like, did they get hurt?
• 22:18
  Brett: And as that light gets closer to me, it's again my angel wife, literally glowing and shining a light on me, and she's like, hey, I just wanted to check on you and I was like, good, because I can't see anything, like let's go.
• 22:33
  Brett: And she ran back with me.
• 22:35
  Brett: So she's going back and forth, back and forth, making sure I'm okay, logging up miles herself.
• 22:43
  Brett: And again I say that I ran this race for Jordan, but the support that I felt from this specific one was incredible.
• 22:54
  Brett: It was it's hard to explain because I'm.
• 22:59
  Brett: I'm here like sitting there fighting my own battle in the middle of the desert at nighttime, battling through dust, storms, can't see anything because my headlamps dead, don't have fuel in me.
• 23:08
  Brett: And here comes my wife, my number one support, like let's go, you got this.
• 23:14
  Brett: That's pretty much what it told me.
• 23:15
  Brett: So I pushed through lap three.
• 23:17
  Brett: We switched headlamps Actually, no, I switched the battery out again.
• 23:23
  Brett: Obviously, I didn't learn my lesson that time, but that was just another blessing I realized it's like when you have support, when you have people who are there to help you through trials, it makes it a lot lighter.
• 23:37
  Brett: It doesn't make it much easier, but it allows you to share the weight with someone else, which is why, like any race now, I want to dedicate to someone battling their own battle.
• 23:48
  Brett: It makes it more meaningful, to myself at least, and I thought about Jordan, that entire race.
• 23:56
  Brett: Um, I don't know if I did anything to help support him in terms of, like, I don't know if it put a smile on his face or anything like that, but I just wanted him to know I was willing to do it.
• 24:08
  Brett: And I got through lap three and I was like okay, I got one more.
• 24:15
  Brett: I've done 7.5 mile runs on a weekly basis.
• 24:20
  Brett: I can do this, I can push through and see it to the end, and that's what I did.
• 24:24
  Brett: I pushed through.
• 24:26
  Brett: My headlamp died pretty close to the end again.
• 24:28
  Brett: Um, I was able to start sipping some water.
• 24:32
  Brett: I was able to keep it down as I was starting to feel a little bit better, a little bit cooler, and I finished that race with a stupid smile on my face for a few reasons.
• 24:45
  Brett: One, because I proved to myself that I wasn't willing to quit, even when it felt like all was against me, when my headlamp died, when I couldn't stop vomiting, when I literally was running through a dust storm and I just kept going.
• 25:02
  Brett: I was battling heat and it's something I wasn't used to, but I'm proud of myself for doing it and that's why I had a stupid smile on my face.
• 25:10
  Brett: You go look at the race finisher pictures.
• 25:13
  Brett: It's hilarious.
• 25:14
  Brett: But there was a lot of moments where I look back now and I'm like you know what?
• 25:21
  Brett: I'm glad I did that one.
• 25:22
  Brett: I'm glad I did that race.
• 25:24
  Brett: Number one reason being is that I was able to run it for Jordan.
• 25:26
  Brett: I was able to show him that, hey, I'm aware of the battle that you're fighting and I'm going to dedicate this race to you and show you that I love you.
• 25:37
  Brett: That's really what it came down to is a place of love.
• 25:40
  Brett: I also saw just insane support from my family and so much love from them too, like they were making sure I was okay.
• 25:50
  Brett: And when I finished that race, I felt like a damn celebrity because they're all on the other side.
• 25:55
  Brett: Like no way, you just did that.
• 25:57
  Brett: Like that's insane.
• 25:58
  Brett: My family does not run ultra marathons and it was just a cool feeling Not trying to hype myself up or brag or anything like that, but I wouldn't have had that if I didn't run barriers and at the time of of choosing this race, I like choosing the insomniac race I would have never known what I was missing out on if I ran barriers.
• 26:23
  Brett: I would be missing out on that dedication to Jordan.
• 26:26
  Brett: I'd be missing out on being supported by my family by learning what it's like to throw yourself in an uncomfortable situation that you're not used to like heat in in Arizona and dust, storms and darkness, no fuel and see if you can push through.
• 26:44
  Brett: It taught me that it was a mental game.
• 26:46
  Brett: It really was.
• 26:47
  Brett: I knew my body was strong, I knew it can handle it, but when it came down to it, I had to tell that weak voice in my head to shut up.
• 26:54
  Brett: I was doing this race and that's, that's what I was going to do.
• 26:59
  Brett: I also learned that you know what.
• 27:01
  Brett: It's okay sometimes to change your plans and in fact, I think it shows strength, because that 50K itself turned into a crucible for me from making peace with deciding to change my plans, pushing my body further than it wanted to go and ultimately staying true to a promise I made to a friend.
• 27:15
  Brett: Deciding to change my plans, pushing my body further than it wanted to go and ultimately staying true to a promise I made to a friend.
• 27:23
  Brett: Like I'm proud I didn't quit when I wasn't able to run barriers and that I decided to find something else, that I wasn't going to let that sickness and that experience dictate what I do in the future.
• 27:37
  Brett: That wasn't going to be what I did.
• 27:39
  Brett: No, the whole point of getting after it is to set your sights on a goal, reach it or, if something happens, set your sights on another and go after that one Because, as I mentioned, life will throw you curve balls.
• 27:52
  Brett: But transformation happens when you decide to swing anyway, when you decide that you know what.
• 27:57
  Brett: Swing anyway, when you decide that you know what.
• 28:02
  Brett: That's okay.
• 28:03
  Brett: This isn't the best thing I've been dealt, but I'm choosing to make the most of it.
• 28:05
  Brett: And that's what you have to do sometimes, because life is shitty.
• 28:09
  Brett: Sometimes it's hard to wake up in the morning, work out, go to work, come home, take care of your family and still make time for personal development, to work on your hobbies.
• 28:23
  Brett: That's all hard.
• 28:24
  Brett: And then things come up like maybe you lose your job, maybe there's distance in a relationship, maybe you get injured All these things could happen.
• 28:34
  Brett: It's all realistic, but you always have the decision to choose how you react to those things and to choose what you want your story to be, because do you want to be the guy or the girl who, when faced with adversity, pulls out fast because it's uncomfortable?
• 28:50
  Brett: No, have a conversation with discomfort and always ask yourself can I take one more step or can I push myself a little further?
• 29:00
  Brett: Can I have that hard conversation?
• 29:02
  Brett: And if the answer is yes which it typically is you should do that thing, because your pivot is out there too.
• 29:11
  Brett: It's lurking in the chaos of everyday life and it's not waiting for a perfect day.
• 29:16
  Brett: It's waiting for you to decide.
• 29:19
  Brett: It's waiting for you to decide to get after it, and maybe it's a dream that you've just shoved aside for a while, or a habit that you've avoided correcting or building.
• 29:31
  Brett: It could be a fear of life's been calling the shots for too long and you're no longer in control.
• 29:39
  Brett: But I want to get this across Don't worry about seeing the entire path.
• 29:45
  Brett: Just take the next step.
• 29:47
  Brett: That's the only one that you can see.
• 29:50
  Brett: When my headlamp was dead, that's all I could do, because the iPhone is not great at lighting things up.
• 29:54
  Brett: I just had to take the first step that was in front of me and if I asked my body can I do it?
• 30:00
  Brett: And the answer was yes, then that's what I did.
• 30:02
  Brett: It takes discipline, it takes grit and it takes drive.
• 30:07
  Brett: You have to be driven to get these things done, but you should dedicate whatever you're doing to someone else.
• 30:17
  Brett: It could be your wife, your kids, a loved one like Jordan, or dedicate it to the future version of yourself that you've always wanted to be, because that's the secret is pivots don't promise easy.
• 30:31
  Brett: They promise possible.
• 30:33
  Brett: And I want to ask you what's your next move?
• 30:35
  Brett: You listen to this, you heard my story.
• 30:36
  Brett: I want to ask you what's your next move?
• 30:37
  Brett: You listened to this, you heard my story.
• 30:40
  Brett: What's your next move?
• 30:44
  Brett: Most likely you'll have to pivot, but those pivots are solid points of your journey that you'll look back on and recognize that you had lessons learned during those times, like get after it.
• 31:00
  Brett: Get after whatever is nagging you in the back of your head, if no one's rooting for you, if you don't feel like anyone has your support.
• 31:07
  Brett: I am because I've been there before where I had a dream that I was afraid to go after.
• 31:13
  Brett: I was afraid to try and push myself in some direction and I'm not just talking physical here.
• 31:19
  Brett: I'm talking like with college having to go up and study alone with no friends, dealing with crazy roommates and living on a very tight budget, taking a chance on myself and moving up to Utah for a job that I didn't really know too much about.
• 31:36
  Brett: I just knew it was a sales position and I wanted to get into that industry, but I had to leave my comfortable home in Arizona.
• 31:42
  Brett: I just knew it was a sales position and I wanted to get into that industry, but I had to leave my comfortable home in Arizona.
• 31:46
  Brett: I had to go, find a place on my own and work hard as hell.
• 31:48
  Brett: Odds are you'll probably have to do the same thing.
• 31:50
  Brett: You're going to have to take a chance on yourself and work hard as hell and be consistent, evaluate yourself, audit your habits and your actions daily, and that dream that you always thought was unachievable is possible.
• 32:07
  Brett: Just understand where you need to pivot right now and make them happen.
• 32:11
  Brett: It's okay to pivot.
• 32:13
  Brett: What's not okay is quitting.
• 32:16
  Brett: If I quit, this podcast would never have happened.
• 32:21
  Brett: I've had to pivot so many times with even creating this podcast.
• 32:24
  Brett: I don't have as many guests on as I'd like, so guess what, I still want to create episodes, so I do a lot of solo deep dives, which is fine.
• 32:32
  Brett: I enjoy doing them, I like it a lot, but I'm getting content out there that I'm proud of.
• 32:38
  Brett: That's the goal of this thing.
• 32:42
  Brett: All these lessons that I'm trying to get across to you are lessons I wish I would have learned earlier in my life.
• 32:49
  Brett: And so be honest with yourself and take the next step and don't be afraid of what comes next, because you're built for more.
• 33:01
  Brett: You're meant to do great things, and if you didn't believe that, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, so go, do the thing that you're afraid to do today.
• 33:12
  Brett: I appreciate you guys listening.
• 33:13
  Brett: It's been fun kind of going through and thinking about the lessons I learned Just in experiences like that, because when you're in it, you don't necessarily think you're learning a lot of lessons.
• 33:23
  Brett: It's once you look back, and it's that Steve Jobs quote where he says you can't connect the dots looking in the future.
• 33:30
  Brett: You can only connect them looking back.
• 33:32
  Brett: So connect the dots, find out who you want to become and get after it.
• 33:37
  Brett: Thanks, guys.