Latest / The On Purpose Podcast / Ep. 354 - Ryley Nahrgang; From Addiction to Ultra Running
Transcript
- speaker-0: You are listening to the On Purpose Podcast. Hey friends, Jared Hardy here. If you've been inspired by what we talk about on the On Purpose Podcast, it's time to take it to the next step. My Excellence and Leadership course is built for individuals, teams, and organizations ready to lead with clarity, accountability, and purpose. Whether you're running a business, leading a squad, or just leveling up personally, let's work together. You can book me for custom classes or speaking engagements, and we'll build something that lasts. Visit teamhardy.net to learn more and take action today. What's up, everybody? Welcome to this week's edition of the On Purpose Podcast, where you know, you know it's our job to get you thinking, get you moving, getting your question life, maybe getting you reminded of something you promised yourself you're supposed to be doing, but maybe you dropped the ball, you got distracted. Just keeping it flowing and remembering. Every day we're not doing what we want to do, it's passed by, right? We don't get it back. So I'm honored to have you here. And this week I'm excited to sit down with Riley Nargang, an ultra runner, EMT, and recovering alcoholic from Montana, who I love. I stumbled across, and for all the naysayers of social media and all the the stuff that goes on, this conversation right here is because of social media, because Riley shares his story authentically and real and our paths crossed. We have some stuff in common. But what drew me to him was that his story is as raw as it is inspiring. Less than three years ago, he was in an intensive care unit fighting for his life after alcohol withdrawals nearly took him out following the surgery. He went to the town of Butte. You know I talk about Butte quite a bit on crutches, restricted, humbled, and determined to rebuild. And today he runs to show young men in the community there is a way out of addiction. There's a whole lot of life waiting for you on the other side if you choose yourself. What I'm honored to do is one, share this story with you. And then two, in late June, share the starting line at the Copper Kings 100 with Riley, Trey, my son, and 147 others. So Riley, my friend, welcome to the show. speaker-1: Well thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What a great intro. Man. Kind of making my head blow up a little bit there. Thank you. speaker-0: Dude, you know, that's the th yeah, I love I I appreciate you being humble on that. But it you know what's funny to me is sometimes we're so reluctant to accept praise for the things we're doing. Yeah. And it's just important that we tell people. And I just want to share with you, dude. ⁓ thank you. Thank you for choosing the making the choices you did. Thank you for choosing to live the life you're doing. And and especially thank you for sharing the story, not the highlights. but the story so that other people in the world can see yours and go, maybe I can do something like that. speaker-1: Well yeah, absolutely. I mean, we all have a story. We all have, you know, something that we've either done in our life or have gone through in our life that, you know, we think defines us. And in a way it kind of does, but not not in the way most people think. It's ⁓ what you do with that, how come back. ⁓ you know. Stuff happens to us, ⁓ some of our choosing, some of not, and you can either let it affect you for the rest of your life in a negative way or you can let it affect you in positive way. speaker-0: Yeah, I love it. And you get a choice, right? Like you're you're you're absolutely thinking to happen. We get to choose how we respond. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Without a doubt. You know, in treatment, ⁓ you know, there's a song, ⁓ I think it's by Cody Jinx, it talks about which wolf you feed the white wolf or the black wolf, and you know, every day what what wolf are you feeding today? Yeah. You know, and I think about that a lot. speaker-0: Dude, I love right. Before we get going, dude, like I I know you're into it. Yeah, you're you're a fit dude. I see you're running all the time, but but I'm a little older. I gotta slow down. I gotta warm up. If I just try to jump in at your pace, Riley, I'm gonna pull a hamstring or something. So podcast is the same. I got warm-up questions for you. Are you ready for this? Okay. Well, you might have just answered the first one, but ⁓ if your life has a theme song, what would it be? speaker-1: Well, okay. Yeah, hit me with them. Let's go. ⁓ gosh. ⁓ I'd probably have to go with the ⁓ O'Reilly themed song, honestly. ⁓ but the other song by Cody Jinx will go good too. speaker-0: ⁓ O'Reilly theme song? speaker-1: Yeah, for the auto parts. Okay. So I I guess that's the best thing. Yeah. Yeah, I guess that was the only thing that came to mind right there. speaker-0: All right. What's a a favorite quote or mantra that you use to help you push through things? speaker-1: You know, I can do all things through Christ. That is absolutely the number one thing. And it's really it is 'cause it takes the burden off of me and it is the truth. And you know, whenever I'm in a rough situation, whether it's in an ultra or if it's, you know, just in every normal day, you know, I can do all things through Christ and I'll get through this too. speaker-0: Love it. What's a habit or ritual you've been doing that gives you energy? speaker-1: Sleep. speaker-0: That's a good one, dude. That's an underrated one. speaker-1: It is, it is. I really focus a lot on recovery. Actually I'll stick with that recovery and like sleep. ⁓ you know, I get eight to nine hours of sleep a day. I I mean you can ask, you know, my parents, anybody around me. I go to bed at eight thirty at night, every night. ⁓ I get up about six or five thirty or six. And I get a good amount of sleep and it's good sleep too. And I think that's the one of the main reasons that I keep being able to run how I run. speaker-0: Yeah. Have you always been focused on recovery? Is that ⁓ something new for you? speaker-1: No, no, I've always kind of been burn the candle at both ends of the stick. ⁓ you know, with my in my drinking it was like that, ⁓ work, ⁓ party, live the rock style, rock star life, you know. ⁓ and running can you know, I can teeter in that unhealthy side where I'm doing too much and you know, and so recovery is very, very high on my ⁓ priority list. speaker-0: Yeah, that's good. That's a good balance. What about a favorite book? speaker-1: Ooh, I might have to give you two there because I gotta go with the Bible, of course. It's you know something that I have I lean into. I don't read as much as I should, but I I do. ⁓ but then I have to go to the red badge of courage when I was a little kid. I don't know what it is, but I vividly remember myself reading that book. ⁓ I still like that book. Sometimes if I see it at like a thrift store, I'll buy it. I think I have a couple copies upstairs right now. speaker-0: Okay. Yeah, that's a good old old classic for sure. speaker-1: It is. I don't know what it is about it, but also I don't know. I haven't been always the biggest reader unless if I was in school. ⁓ it's something I've tried. ⁓ audiobooks are great, especially when I'm doing my long runs and I'm out there for, you know, nine hours at a time. It's it's pretty good. Glaze has that great book out right now. I really yeah I don't know if you've read it, but I tie it a lot with his story. I really resonated with it. speaker-0: Yeah, I haven't read it. ⁓ is it something it's like smile? If if you're not smiling, you're doing speaker-1: Exactly smile if you're doing it wrong. Yeah. Exactly. speaker-0: ⁓ yeah, I know him. I know his story a little bit. I should I need to try to get him on the show, but yeah, dude, that books are a big thing, especially like as I've gotten later, old a little older, I have a little more time to read, and I just find that there's just so many just hidden messages in there that you can get depending on what mood you're in when you read it. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, absolutely. I could definitely see that. speaker-0: All right, Riley, one more question for you, my man. If you had to describe the season of life you're in today with one word, what's your word? speaker-1: That's a good one. It's a battle. It's a battle. I'm going with a like a good battle. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. I like that. Yeah, it is a battle, man. I love I love having that perspective too, right? Because that shapes you for shit goes bad today, you're not you're not offended, you're not taken off guard, you're like, Okay, I d something's supposed to go bad. Like that's my test. That's where I grow. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Yep, yep. Something happens, okay. Well, it's here. What am I gonna do with it? How am I gonna make this situation better? I don't have a choice. speaker-0: Yeah, no that's no, you don't. Like you could ignore it, but that usually doesn't solve anything. speaker-1: Nope. Normally it gets worse. speaker-0: Right. Yeah, for sure. All right, Riley, you feeling warmed up? Dude, I I would love, if you don't mind, let's start with kind of the origin of this story and and kind of what led you to the intensive care unit and that that moment when, you know, it kinda looked like your world was collapsing. speaker-1: I am. Yeah. ⁓ the I'll give you the short real quick. ⁓ somebody in a AA room once said, and I I think it said great, you know, it starts with fun, then it turns into fun with problems, and then it's nothing but problems. and that is the best easy way to put it. But, you know, so I was born in a a smaller town, not not too small, in central Montana, you know, grew up playing sports, loved it. I mean, there was a time where God bless my parents, because I was doing archery and then I would go to wrestling and I'd maybe skip a practice there and we I'd have basketball. And then once baseball season came around, they drove me all over the state of Montana, which as you know is bigger than most states combined to take me to baseball tournaments all over. And, you know, I was very blessed to have parents that did that. And being an athlete really ⁓ became like an identity and especially tied around baseball and ⁓ As I got older, we moved to a place in in the Flathead Valley or like right by Glacier Park. I'm thirty minute drive to Glacier or 40 minute drive to Glacier Park. I run trails there all the time. It's great. Went to high school here. Better sports. It was it was like a dream come true for me. The baseball here was great. ⁓ played in a beautiful town of Whitefish, Montana. and I, you know, I had to I blew my elbow out. I had Tommy John surgery and basically it it felt like ⁓ My identity got got ripped away from me. I was no longer allowed to do the one thing that I loved. You know, when I was younger, all the way back in Lewistown, I had one of those pitch backs, which is just a net you throw a ball into and so you can't catch with yourself. I would be out there for hours just doing that. And it was just all gone. You know, I was hoping to go play college baseball and you know, all those good dreams. And it was it was gone. ⁓ you know, I kind of went down the the rodeo path that I kind of tried my hand at bear back in saddle bronch riding. ⁓ I wasn't very good at it. I mainly got my butt kicked, but at the same time I kind of ⁓ everybody was drinking around me. and baseball, we partied, we did what was called B team bondings, which was we'd go up in the woods up by Glacier Park, have a big bonfire and party. ⁓ and then soon the party became an everyday thing. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ it was well, I'm all alone, I'm kind of bored today, might as well have a couple beers and play some video games. And then it turned into, okay, I'm really stressed out at work. ⁓ I'm just gonna have a couple beers before I go home. And then it became okay, now you know my significant other knows that I'm drinking and she's mad, or my friends and family know, and I'm hiding bottles, and then all of a sudden You wake up in the morning and you're shaking so bad and you're covered in sweat and you wish that you were dead. And the only thing that's gonna help you is what's making you sick. So you sleep with the bottle in your bed. At three in the morning, you know, you wake up to drink so you don't have to feel that way. And you know, there's times where, you know, I was living in my parents' shop, which was out back of their house, and I would be so sick I'd throw up and the amount of blood that would be in my vomit that I'd vomit in the yard would Would scare me and I'd try to forget about it and I would be upset that I lost that alcohol and I would drink more. And you know, down downward spiral, you know, getting in trouble, ⁓ losing jobs. ⁓ you know, I speaker-0: How old were you during this? speaker-1: I really I started drinking when I was probably a freshman in high school. So you know, I kinda started with drinking, smoking pot, doing all that, ⁓ skipping school. and yeah, and you know, I try to get sober a couple of times with the treatment, a few times. ⁓ I think the longest I ever made it was like sixty days, if that. You know, I'm a I was a pretty good liar, lied to everybody. I mean all most of us alcoholics and addicts are. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ never really worked in and out of the hospital. ⁓ multiple suicide attempts. ⁓ you know it was it was a really tough time. ⁓ living living out of my truck for a little bit at the end there. ⁓ you know, losing all my friends, you know, my my you know, I did I don't I wouldn't want to be around me either. I was a very mean person when I drank and ⁓ but You know, I ⁓ luckily this is, you know, I I ruptured my ACL playing rugby. I tried, you know, I'm picking up all these new things, trying to figure out well, I wanted to get healthy in a way. So I picked up rugby and I ruptured my ACL. I'm not even kidding, like the second or first game ever playing rugby. And I had ace I had to get my ACL repaired. And my parents told me I can come move back in with them, you know, for this recovery. And I did, and that's kind of when I made That what's called like I call it that jumping off point the or the turnaround point where it's time. I have this time off of work, you know, I got like six months off. I'm gonna get physically better because I was physically bad. ⁓ my liver was shutting down. My liver's bad. ⁓ that means the vomiting of blood. I was gonna get better. And so I will go in, I have the surgery. I remember I drank the morning of my surgery. ⁓ it was pretty sad. ⁓ but that was the last drink I had. Had the surgery and I was sitting in my parents' house and I don't I didn't even know it, but I started hallucinating thinking that people were coming to like attack the house. It was bad. And my parents decided to take me to the ER. I don't remember any of it. I just remember waking up in the ICU ⁓ a couple days later and realizing this is this is insane. And then then the Butte stories after that. speaker-0: What was it, ⁓ when you wake up in the ICU unit? Are your parents there? Are you by yourself speaker-1: When I first when I first woke up I was all by myself and they had ⁓ an extern external catheter on me that was leaking so I pissed myself. Yeah. I was laying in my own urine and I was all by myself. Yeah, I remember that very vividly. ⁓ yeah. speaker-0: And w and was that the one you were like, Okay, I gotta fix this. speaker-1: No, honestly I didn't feel anything at that moment. That was I was in shock. I w I I don't think I was in shock. I I knew I finally was there. I was like, okay. You did the back of my head I always knew. I was gonna die from alcoholism. I I knew I was gonna die and I kinda wanted to. speaker-0: Yeah. Well we'll You did. speaker-1: Yeah, I didn't I didn't want to wake up like that anymore. I didn't I didn't like disappointing everybody. I didn't like I didn't like all that. It was just it's just a spiral because then you drink to cover that up. Yeah, you know, I never knew about my issues of dealing with feeling inadequate and all of that that I figured out, you know, later on in treatment. I didn't it just spirals. speaker-0: So talk to me about that conversation to to send you to Butte and to get you into treatment. Were you open to it? Were you resistive? Like who'd you have to talk? speaker-1: That was all me. Okay. That was all me. I was like, all right, I'm going. You did. I'm like, okay. So I I I called up the first treatment surgery I went to the the last two times. They want to take me for my insurance and the fact that I was fresh out of ⁓ knee surgery. ⁓ I finally kind of got a little like, okay, ⁓ we might be able to take you. And so I bugged them. I was calling them like crazy. Finally, like, well, you you need to go to your surgeon, get cleared. So I'm like, Okay. And I can't drive. So I'm like, call I'm like talking to my parents, like, hey, we need to go up to the doctor, let's do all this. And finally they said, Okay, we have a bed for you, come on down. And my parents brought me down there and but it was a fight just to get in because nobody wanted me with ⁓ you know, fresh out of knee surgery. I mean, while I was there, I I wasn't allowed to grab my own chair. I couldn't grab my own meal. 'Cause I had to be on crutches the whole time. Right. They did this walk around the block there that I tried the first day. I tell you what, that was probably harder than my first fifty K. That was so hard. And I got in trouble to the point they were gonna kick me out that if they saw me without my crutches, ⁓ they were gonna kick me out. But I tell you what, coming from somebody who never really liked to ask for help, it taught me to ask for help real quick. speaker-0: Yeah. What was learning that like? Right. What was learning to put your ego aside and say it's okay to ask for help? I don't have to do everything myself and have all the answers. What was that was that process like for you? speaker-1: So at first it it was horrible. Yeah. I felt I felt I felt inadequate, you know, and that's kind of where I wanted to run from. So but once I did and that was so like asking for help was one thing for me. I but actually following through and doing those actions were another. Once I asked and started following, I I felt free. I didn't feel so chained up anymore. I felt like, okay. I obviously I don't know the way. Like this person or this program knows the way. Okay. I can lean into this. I I'm not strong on my own. I can lean into this and be strong. speaker-0: Right. Dude, that's so powerful to hear that and to to recognize that, right? Like being humble enough to know when we need help. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, I think ⁓ for me it wasn't being humble, it was just enough was enough. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah, you hit that point. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ I learned the hard way. I've always I always have. Ask anybody around me. But yeah. speaker-0: So when did r r when did running start becoming part of your recovery story? 'Cause you weren't much of a runner prior to this, right? speaker-1: No. In fact, I started running in twenty the end of twenty twenty four was and that was like a mile. Or no, I did five K. ⁓ I remember I was sitting on the couch with my girlfriend at the time and one of my friends posted a photo that she ran the whitefish half marathon. And I was like, ⁓ god, that would be really cool. Now keep this in mind, I played baseball. I hated hitting doubles because that meant I had to run more. You know, I just running was a punishment. You know, I I hated running. The mile hated it. Pacer test. I I actually liked the pacer test. Maybe that's why I run ultras. I just like just punishment. But I saw her run this. I was like, God, that'd be cool to run a half marathon just once in my life. I said, If I give myself a full year, 365 days, I bet I could run a half marathon. So I said, Okay, I'm gonna do that. I said, How am I gonna do that? Well, I'm gonna sign up for a five K. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I need something to motivate me. So I signed up for five K. I was kind of going to the gym. And this was at the time I just finished a PT on my knee and I was feeling pretty strong. I play softball still, but like I don't really do anything else. And I'm really competitive. So I go to the gym and I just bust out a five K on the treadmill of like forty five minutes and I wanted to die. It was horrible. And then I remember my first 5k was just it was the coolest thing ever, I thought. You know, I got a medal, I thought it was great, and I wanted to show it to everybody. And then I realized, ⁓ I'm gonna go a little bit longer. And ⁓ you know, I I was at in EMT class at the time, and there was this called the Blazer fifty K on Big Mountain, beautiful fifty K. And I signed up to be a volunteer, a medical volunteer. I'm seeing and I'm at the halfway aid station. I'm seeing these people come rolling in. I'm like, all of these psychos. I was like, I want to do that. I was like, that looks amazing. I was like, okay. And they had races set up the next day. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna do the longest one there. And it feels like 10K. But for me, that was long at the time. And I think after that, that sealed it. And the next day or the next weekend, I went to one of the local mountains. I did 18 miles around it and I was hooked. And that I didn't I didn't actually do that half marathon, I did the full marathon instead. speaker-0: Nice. Yeah. What is it that that run and provides you? What have you found there? speaker-1: Discipline, peace, and a sense of pride. I'm I'm working for something. ⁓ you know, the peace, maybe it's just because I like running in the mountains, but ⁓ but definitely the discipline. I'm since I've gotten sober, I'm very structured, very I like routines, I like I don't like being late for things, I like everything to be exactly the same almost. That's why I like training blocks so much. Yeah. ⁓ I like having everything lined out. I don't know. I used to not like stuff like that. I used to be like, ⁓ I'm just gonna wing it and see what happens, but speaker-0: Yeah, that's yeah, that's interesting. So how do you handle then when something goes wrong on the ultras? Because you know it's not like what's gonna go, like something's gonna go wrong, something's gonna not go according to plan. How do you stay disciplined enough to to be there but flexible enough to solve it? speaker-1: It it comes into what's that old saying? Piss for ⁓ piss or what is it, poor ⁓ preparation, ⁓ piss poor performance. Yeah. I I have to have plans. ⁓ but when something like this happens, what what's like my procedure list, like my standing order of oper my standing orders? What do I need to do? ⁓ say if it's a blister on the foot, what do I need to do? Do I need to like plan Z, sit down, pop it? speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Like, what do I need to do? Do I need to apply some lube? ⁓ don't really get too many blisters. I'm pretty lucky there, but ⁓ say I was really sick for that fifty K that I ran this year, the following year after I did. And it was okay. I couldn't eat any solid food and I I I PR'd the race by two hours for my fifty K. But I was I had the flu. I work in an urgent care. I get sick all the time. And so it was okay. I can't eat solid food. What am I gonna do? We brought in a couple flavors of bone broth. And I actually drank bone broth the whole time along with my electrolytes. And you know, had a little bit of bread. And you know, that was my entire fuel for a fast fifty K. You know, and it's it's kinda like, okay, it's here. okay, like it's here, gotta do something with it. And it's just ⁓ what is what what do the Marines say? Adapt and overcome? speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's good. What? Have you done the Copper King one hundred before or is this your first time? speaker-1: It's my first hundred miler and I'm actually really excited about it 'cause it it starts and finishes right across the street from that treatment center I went to. speaker-0: Right. I thought I was gonna ask you, what did what did you think when you found out like, ⁓ man, this is full circle here? speaker-1: ⁓ dude, I still I'm getting goosebumps right now. ⁓ well I I wanna I wanted to do a hundred miler so bad. It's always it's been on my radar since I started this whole running journey. And I was looking him up, this was 2024, and I saw he was doing the fat ass race, and I was like, Okay, so we only have one real like 100 miler in Montana. I'm like, okay. And then he said Then they came out and they did the inaugural year last year and I was like, ⁓ I gotta go back to Butte. It's just gonna be great to run that in the same town. And then I go and I look at the map and I'm like, wait, the Belmont mine was right there. We used to walk right past that. Sure enough, I look and I got goosebumps. I couldn't it yeah, I'm still kind of speechless. It's insane. I actually am speaking there the night be the night before. Pretty good. I get to talk to the young men there and share my story. Which I'm very excited about. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ stupid. You know what's super interesting, Riley, is when you were talking about your first walk around the block on your crutches, right? So I have a lot of family in Button. We were actually back last year at the same time the Copper King was being run and we went up to the finish line to watch finishers come in. And the residents of the treatment center were out on their walk at the same time. A bunch of people were coming in right around the 30-hour mark. speaker-1: Yep, yep, yep. That would have been the ⁓ C D C group. speaker-0: Yeah. Which is is so cool, right? Because like who know and I think this goes back to what I was talking to you earlier about is sharing your story and and just being willing to put it out there. Like, who knows which one of the the people in the program walking last year saw a runner came by come by and maybe got inspired to put their life in a totally different track now. speaker-1: Exactly. Like you ne you never know. ⁓ like when I started making these like videos and stuff, it was more I wanted I wanna remember this. Like I wanna remember all this time and hard work I'm putting in. ⁓ I'm loving it, but I wanna remember it because this is a great time of my life. I haven't really been this happy in a long time and I wanna remember it. And I noticed some people started liking it and then I was like, Well, I bet if I could help at least like one person with my story That'd be pretty cool. And then I was like, okay, if it comes around to like the whole full circle with the hundred miles, I'm like, maybe God's trying to tell me, hey, kind of giving you something here. Go help somebody, please. speaker-0: Yeah, for sure. That's a good way to look at it, right? Like he's putting it right there in front of you. speaker-1: Yeah. But I mean it it's it's all fun at the same time and all all we're doing is just being the best we can. speaker-0: Yeah, but I th I think there's something to stepping up and taking that challenge, right? Stepping up to something where you're like, okay, this is gonna be hard, right? I don't think anybody goes into a hundred mile. This is my first one as well, but so I'm just making some assumptions here, but I don't think anybody goes into it and goes, ⁓ this is super easy. Right. Like you know stuff's gonna go h wrong. You know things aren't gonna be perfect, but what like attracts me to it. is that there's a hundred and fifty other people willing to share in that experience with you. speaker-1: Right. I think that is such a amazing thing. Like, ⁓ I've talking to another guy who's also running it. ⁓ he's ⁓ he seems like a pretty cool guy, but like we're worried about the same thing. We're like a little nervous about the night section on the Nez Perce trail about getting lost and we're like, Well, if we're probably running the same pace, let's just we'll stick together, we'll take it slow. Right? Like we're we're all like, what are you nervous about? Like, okay, okay. And we it's it's great because we're doing this is a This is a huge thing. I mean, it really is. ⁓ you know, you look at I I kind of fall down that YouTube rabbit hole of, you know, ultra marathon running where ⁓ it's just another hundred miler with, you know, less than twenty thousand feet of vert, but it's still ⁓ it's a hundred miles. You know. You know, you talk to most people, they're like, Yeah, I I'm not driving that far. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, dude, it's funny, right? It's funny you say that 'cause I I find because I love ultra marathon stuff. ⁓ Trey and I my our son and I did a thirty miler last year. And it went awful. It went totally awful, dude. The first fifteen those are the best. The first fifteen miles we were on like record pace. The last fifteen were terrible. And we immediately were like, All right, next year we'll do a hundred. Like there was nothing in between. We were I love that. speaker-1: No. speaker-0: We were gonna do thirty again, we're like, no, we're going to Butte. We're doing the Copper King 'cause we got family there. This is a big deal. ⁓ and what I've found, Riley, is I love consuming ultra stuff and like watching things. But I also need to separate it 'cause sometimes I find myself, like you were saying, like it's to to the pros, it's just another fifteen hour a hundred miler. And like I might be halfway at that point. Like that's their range. is not my race. And and what I love is I'm not competing with you. I'm not competing with I'm competing with me in the trail. speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. speaker-0: And we can all be successful. speaker-1: Exactly. And I think that's it's it's great too because when we run into each other on the trail, it's not like no, give you stay behind me. It's hey you good, you got it, you got enough fluid, you got enough food, like, all right, let's go. You know, we're helping each other out. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, it's funny you said you're you're afraid of getting lost. ⁓ my son and I were doing a little documentary. Did you really? speaker-1: Download the map already. Yeah. I had to get on that. speaker-0: ⁓ that's funny. I haven't done it yet 'cause I don't want it to take up my watch space 'cause I have to download the trails down here in Bisbee that I'm running 'cause I'm not that familiar with them. But we were joking that like I'm afraid of getting attacked by a grizzly bear, man. speaker-1: ⁓ Not not out there, I don't think. No, I'm not worried about it out there. speaker-0: How cool would it be? Like think about that's a whole nother sport, Riley. It's a hundred miler plus you wrestle a grizzly bear at some point in the course. speaker-1: Sounds Russian. I love it. It sounds like running in Glacier Park, honestly. I ran into a ⁓ Grizz Sal and two Cubs last year on the Highline trail. Got off trail. Ooh, I didn't know it was a I didn't know she had Cubs until I saw the Cubs and I was I was a little nervous. speaker-0: ⁓ man. Yeah. Did your splits pick up drastically at that point? speaker-1: ⁓ no, I saw me go way off trail. I got way off trail and let her pass. Yeah. She didn't even look at it. I got a pretty good video. I think it's on my Instagram. It's pretty, pretty cool. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, that's my so what are your so part of this series of June is sharing some stories about the Copper King. Just 'cause I I just love the personal connection and and the people getting there. So what do you think is your biggest challenge coming into something like that? Your first hundred mile or what you were like, okay, I think this is my biggest thing I have to overcome. speaker-1: Not trying to win the damn race, honestly. ⁓ I go out so hard a lot. ⁓ especially now that I be I'm becoming a lot more competitive in shorter races, like in the ten K to half marathon, that I just want to go hard. that I'd say that and just Staying awake would be the best. I've done some night training where like I do a full shift at the urgent clinic and then I come here and I I did fifty miles one day on this treadmill, staring at that wall after working a shift at the clinic to just know what it felt like to be so deprived and mentally just drained. And so I'd say probably that. speaker-0: Yeah. The staying awake. speaker-1: Yeah, and to the point where I'm not tripping over rocks and, you know, busting my butt. speaker-0: Yeah. What are you hoping you'd learn about yourself out there? speaker-1: Whatever God wants to tell me. That's what I'm there to there to find out. speaker-0: Yeah. Are you a a music guy when you run or do you keep your ears open and listen to nature? speaker-1: I do a little bit of both. ⁓ especially on longer runs, I like to split it up, kinda use music as a reward. ⁓ audiobooks, especially the audiobooks where they sound like ⁓ where they have like a full cast. That's just amazing. I could run all day listening to that. I mean I ten hours is non stop. Listen to that, it's pretty easy. But yeah, listen to music. I like I like good nineties country actually when I run like Chris Ledue and ⁓ like older Tim McGraw is pretty good. Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. speaker-1: George Strait and then sometimes I listen to him like techno remix, which is kinda interesting. speaker-0: Like no country? speaker-1: Yeah, it's pretty interesting. It'll get you moving pretty quick on the trails. You should check it out. speaker-0: Well yeah, I I didn't even know that was a genre. Yeah, I have to give that a listen every now and then. What what would you say to the other people that are are showing up for the race or that are either the Copper King or they're just listening and they're like, Man, I want to do something hard too, but I just can't get the that first step. What would you say to them? speaker-1: All you need is the five minutes of complete insane blind confidence on Ultra Sign Up and you'll do it. You'll be fine. Just just sign up and just start moving. You'll be fine. Like ⁓ last year I absolutely fell in love with Cocodona and what everything Cocodona is. And so this year I was like, Well, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna at least put it I didn't know it was gonna be a lottery. I was just hoping to get in and sign up right away, but Like that scares me so much. I mean Hunter Miles scares me, but Cocodonna also scares me. So it's just like I'm signing up. Let's see what happens if I DNF I DNF. But D N F really only stands for do not fear. speaker-0: Yeah. So yeah, two hundred and fifty miles. speaker-1: Yeah, we'll see. speaker-0: What'd you ⁓ speaking of Coconut, what'd you think of that that race this week ⁓ this past week? speaker-1: It was amazing race. I love it. For all the way from the ⁓ Rachel just killing it to our final finisher. I was watching that live at the clinic. We were slow. Yeah. And I had the doctors around me and they're like, ⁓ he doesn't look good. And just watching with a bunch of doctors and talking ultramarathon is great. Trust me. speaker-0: They don't ⁓ I'm assuming they don't recommend that in the health protocols. speaker-1: No, no, no. They just keep waiting for yeah, day they wanna draw a whole bunch of blood on me after this hundred miler. And see where all my levels are. speaker-0: Really? What what do they think? What do your what do your teammates and your peers now think of you, this new version of Riley? speaker-1: ⁓ I don't know. I think I don't know, they they think I'm crazy. ⁓ they had ⁓ the local running community put on this ⁓ if you ran the longest distance of these races, you won this thing. and it was the last two races were a fifty K, the one weekend and the weekend right after was a fifty miler. And I never ran a fifty miler, but I decided to sign up for both of them and ended up winning that thing. And I think that was when people were like, huh. At least my one of my friends told me, it's like So you're actually gonna start taking this seriously? Or are you gonna quit after this? And I like, I think I'm gonna keep going. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, that's good to get that feedback. What ⁓ what is your goal for Copper King? speaker-1: ⁓ twenty eight hours is what I have planned. speaker-0: So that's what you got your training tried to dial in for is a twenty eight hour finish? speaker-1: Yeah, my training's dialed more for closer to twenty. ⁓ but I'm planning on twenty eight. Yeah. But in reality, I just wanna finish. I wanna have a good time. You know, we used to drive through Butte on our summer vacations from Lewistown to ⁓ you know, Anaconda there's got that Fairmont Hot Springs. Yeah. We used to go there every year. And, you know, we'd be driving through, you see the pit, you look up, you'd see Mother Mary, and I'm so excited to run up to Mother Mary that is gonna be 'Cause I used to sit there and, you know, stare at her ⁓ out the car window on her way on the way to vacation every year. So you know, it's I just wanna enjoy it. I wanna I wanna see everything, I wanna experience it all. I wanna I wanna feel the pain, I wanna feel the highs and all the lows. So I just wanna experience it all. speaker-0: Yeah, there's something about that, right? Like knowing you're gonna go through everything in a twenty four hour period. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: What would what advice would today's Riley give that Riley that was on the brink of of not being here? What would you tell that version of yourself? speaker-1: Do not give up before the miracle happens. It's coming. It really is. Just don't give up. Even if you're moving an inch forward a day or a centimeter forward a day, just move a little bit. speaker-0: Dude, forward is a pace, right? speaker-1: Forward is a pace and and I really I I I tell people all the time, especially to like the docs at where it could tell me, You're running too much, I just say, No, no object in motion stays in motion. speaker-0: Momentum. speaker-1: Exactly. Moment I b I believe momentum. I believe in it. Keep it rolling. speaker-0: Well, I hope yeah, the the episode that we just released last week was Momentum Over Motivation and I broke down the importance of just getting things going, not waiting till you feel like it's gonna be perfect, but just moving the ball, moving the needle today. speaker-1: That is so true. It is so true. speaker-0: Right. Yeah. I mean that that's honestly that's one of my biggest lessons because I was like you, I've been an athlete my whole life and running was always a punishment to either lose weight or because we didn't play well. Right. Like it was never something we did on our own. And now when I run, I'm like, okay, I have a hundred miles, but I can't just get out of bed and be at a hundred miles. Like I have to run the first mile and the second. So I might as well enjoy the first quarter of the first mile. Right. Or this is just a complete waste of all of our time. Like why are we not having fun? speaker-1: Exactly. Right. We paid for it anyway. We might as well enjoy it. speaker-0: We've paid for it and there's food, dude. What sport was exercises, snacks? Like that's the best sport ever. speaker-1: ⁓ it's the best sport. I mean, I tell people all the time, I'm like, Yeah, you just run restaurant to restaurant and they ask me what I eat and I'm like, Well, kind of whatever I want. Normally I got candy here. I'm not a gel guy, so I got candy here, uncrustables are a lifesaver, ⁓ watermelon, Coca-Cola, and they're they just look at me. I'm like, ⁓ yeah, and then ramen quesadillas. I had a baked potato one time, that was great. They just stare at me. Like you Yeah Best food you'll ever eat. speaker-0: Yeah, you're putting out the energy for sure. Riley, what would you say to our community members that are listening and just aren't sure anymore? Just aren't sure about speaker-1: That's fine. It's okay to it's okay to not be unsure. You know, it's okay to have those bad days. ⁓ do it again tomorrow. Just try again. There's just try again. You have another day. You know, just like I said, just move forward a little bit. It doesn't have to be sign up for a hundred mile race. It doesn't have to be sign up for a five K. It doesn't have to be run a mile. It could be what find what maybe that old joy was when you were younger, maybe Maybe it's fishing for somebody, you know. I I know a lot of friends that have just started going back and hunting again. Yeah. And how happy they are that they get to go hunting again. You know it's okay to just not be okay sometimes, but just it identify it. Yeah. Let yourself feel it. Because if you don't do it, you're just balling it up and it gets worse. speaker-0: Yeah, I wanted to ask you before we wrap up, is there do you have a a a a checkpoint for yourself or a system when you where you realize, okay, I should be asking for help right now, but I haven't to keep keep you from falling back to the the ego driven where we we think we solve everything ourselves? speaker-1: Yeah, ⁓ I do and it's actually it's it's how I act in traffic is my gauge. ⁓ if if somebody cuts me off and I'm like, Okay, whatever. I'm okay. Somebody cuts me off and I was flipping the burr and I'm yelling every obscenity I can think out the window, okay, something needs to happen. But I think that puts it great for me. speaker-0: Okay. Yeah, it's a good barometer. speaker-1: Yes, it is. speaker-0: Ask it, Riley, where can our audience follow your journey and connect with all the good you're doing in the world, my friend? speaker-1: ⁓ I am on TikTok and Instagram. Riley runs Montana. It's just R Y L E Y runs Montana. speaker-0: Yeah, dude we'll keep speaker-1: it. I think I'm on YouTube, I think I don't know. I'm getting into this though. speaker-0: All right. Well, this will be on YouTube for sure, man. We'll ⁓ we'll put your links in the show notes. And Riley, I want to tell you again, thanks for what you're doing, my friend. Thanks for sharing your story, the highs, the lows, and all the realness. And ⁓ dude, if you're finishing in 20 hours, I'm definitely not keeping up with you. Twenty-eight, I can maybe run alongside of you for a little bit. speaker-1: Yeah, I don't know. We'll see. What wh ⁓ like I said, that's pretty rough, but that's what I'm really hoping for. speaker-0: Yeah. Dude, I love it, man. I I'm excited to be up there and to share some time with you. And ⁓ again, keep up the good work and thank you for joining us. When you're training with purpose, your fueling can't be an afterthought. That's why I use Never Second, the simplest, most reliable system I have found for staying energized, hydrated, and steady through their long efforts. Their C series carbs take guesswork out of performance, no stomach drama, no complicated mixing, just clean, consistent fuel. speaker-1: Awesome, thank you, man. speaker-0: That actually works when the miles get long. If you want to train with more intention and recover without feeling wrecked, check out Never Second. Click the link in the show notes to get dialed in. And remember, team, life is far too short to live any other way than on purpose. We'll see you all again next week.