Latest / Adventure Sports Podcast / Ep. 1212: The Life-Saving Power of Running (or Any Sport) Revisited with Dave Scarpello

Transcript

Ep. 1212: The Life-Saving Power of Running (or Any Sport) Revisited with Dave Scarpello · Adventure Sports Podcast

• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: We talk with adventurers from around the globe to bring you the inspiration and motivation you need to get started in the outdoors or to keep you moving if you're already there.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hello and welcome to the Adventure Sports podcast.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is Caleb.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, one of the reasons I think that the outdoors appeal to so many people is because of the healing which we find in beautiful places, in nature surrounded by mountains or woods or snow or in this case, the city streets of Philadelphia.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And often on the adventure sports podcast, that healing is emotional or mental or spiritual.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: but sometimes that healing comes in a more physical way and that's what this episode is all about.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: In this revisited episode Mason interviews Dave Scarpello when Dave was 26 tragedy struck when he was the victim of an armed robbery and he survived.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: But, was told that he would never walk again.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Though strictly speaking, this episode doesn't take place under the usual circumstances of the ASP adventures, and what this episode is about is how Dave proved the doctor's wrong, how he got out of the wheelchair to the walker.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: and then to the cane and then walking without the cane and then eventually to running 5,000 caves to 10,000 caves and beyond.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's an amazing story of how the human body can heal itself over time about tenacity and will and about the power of movement.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Here's amazing.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: Today we have a story.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_04]: We've been one to tell for a while and Bassett or Dave Skarpella.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to the show.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: How you doing?
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing I'm doing excellent.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean now that I like one of my favorite podcasts and now I'm on it.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing great.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_04]: Is one of your favorite podcasts?
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you listen to the other shows or have you heard other shows?
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Because there's a good one out there.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: I do.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's funny.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: Why?
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: I appreciate the kind words.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: Tell us what, where are you coming from today?
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: Where's home for you?
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Philly.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Philly.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: All 54 years.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Philadelphia.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Born and raised.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, what was that like?
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: What was growing up in Philly like?
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: What would you grow up doing?
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, went to high school in North Philly, kind of rough the timing because of my age.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was just about ready to graduate from high school when the crack epidemic hit, and definitely around the neighborhood that I was in.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: for high school and actually you know now that think about it it's probably shaped and affected my life more than I realized because at a conversation with somebody recently that was talking about they had been to a funeral for one of their friends and I said it was only the second time they've been to a funeral for somebody's own age.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought about it and I said, I don't know how many I've been to.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, like, you know, I talk about my PTSD a lot and people are like, that's very brave that you talk about that.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the only difference between me and a lot of my friends that I went to high school with that I grew up with that I was in the streets with is that I have an official diagnosis and I'm not embarrassed to talk about it publicly.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I know almost all of my friends, also, in some form or another stuff, for from PTSD.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why the running has just been a godsend for me because of that.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, do you mind sharing what, what did that PTSD come from?
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: I know that you had some experiences back in the day that led to that.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I guess it was like cumulative, but the really, the event that really was a genesis of that diagnosis happened in 1992.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was assaulted during an armed robbery, and that led to me having back surgery about two weeks later in emergency back surgery, and that became surgery in 1992, had a second
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then actually had a third-back surgery in 1997.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that left me partially disabled.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I still managed to get around, but things would never quite the same.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then in 2003, I always stopped at a red light.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't remember the incident, but apparently I was hit by a drunk driver.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was doing about 70 miles an hour, just rear-randed into me, while I was stopped at the intersection.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I woke up in the trauma center.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they basically said, you know, you're during the hospital, you're in an accident.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just matter of fact, like, you know, you're never going to walk again because of your previous conditions and this just made it worse.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Jeez.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was like one of those, like, bad movie moments where you're just thinking like this, no, it's like,
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not happening and that's what I said them.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, no, no, you don't understand.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to walk and they're like, it's great to have a good attitude and it's great to be positive, but you have to be real with.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, I hear what you're saying, but you don't know me personally and what I've been through.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: What I've overcome and like how like if I decide to do something, I'm going to do it nothing's going to stop me.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, it's like I'm going to be the best rehab patient you ever had.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: but I wasn't hospital for days and I did spend time in a wheelchair.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was really scary.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: Well man, what got you through that?
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, were you able to maintain that mindset that you had with the doctor when you told them that you were going to get through this?
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think to be really honest, I think part of it is like,
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: fake it so he'd make it, you know, was like, I was, I was really good at convincing other everyone else that I was confident.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then when the nurses and the doctors was leaving I'm in the bed alone, you know, in the middle of the night, that's when, you know, it's scary and you're like, I don't like, can I do this?
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess I'm just, I'm a fighter, I don't give up and I guess that.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: being stubborn to sign it like nobody's kind of like the worst thing anyone can do is tell me I can't do something and that's exactly what the doctors did and I just kind of I guess followed that same formula to push me through and you know it went from you're never going to walk again and I'm in a wheelchair to you're never going to be able to walk without your walker you're never going to be able to walk without a cane
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: them progress to you never going to be able to walk without a limp and the thing is like when I'm in a walker and you're telling me I'll never be able to walk with a cane I'm thinking that's great because I'm like I'm walking.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right, but it never got to a point where I didn't try to push a little bit further, but honestly the fact that I became a runner and a distance runner is just like even like I can be cocky have a big ego and even I didn't think like that that that was possible because a few people were like, oh, you might as well just try to take the next step and I was like,
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm walking with that Olymp.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I'm appreciative and I'm happy.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I started doing awkward jogging at the light because it was a way for me to stay loose without putting pressure on my spine.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that really helped me build up the muscles around the back and it took away.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I have sciatica, even to like every day, even now.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just some days are better than others, but I have it every day, but the swimming in the awkward jogging was so great for that.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that allowed me to build up to get to the point where I could just walk forever.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I would go on like 20 mile walk and I was happy and content with that after
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: the local YMCA had a 5K advertised.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I wonder if I could enter the 5K.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I had no idea, like I ran in high school, but I had asthma, so I was a springer.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We didn't have,
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: The joke with it, people were like, oh, did you do cross-country in high school?
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I went to high school in North Philly.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was no country to cross.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, there was no country to cross.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, the subway was a block away.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I went to the director of the race because I didn't know how it worked.
• 9:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, you know, I haven't ran years, literally.
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, I think I might be, I think I know I can do 3.1 miles, but how do 5Ks work?
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, could I start out running, but if I physically can't run, like, finish it by walking?
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, oh, yeah, it's pretty informal.
• 10:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a big deal.
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a lot of seniors that do it, families, and they actually walk the entire thing.
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought great.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in my mind, I went into it with a one and done just like,
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I can say like my success story.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I ran a 5K after being told I would never walk again.
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I got really lucky to actually was able to run the whole thing.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was amazing how when I saw the finish line, it's like my brain went back to high school to be in a sprinter.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you're like, okay, I'm at the point now where I just open up and turn it on.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And without even thinking, I did that at the end of the 5K.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I flaked finished across the line in the straight sprint.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I broke down, like I just won the Boston marathon.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I cried.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was amazing.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I hadn't felt that kind of like elation in so long.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: That I was like, I have to do that again.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're like, when's another 5K?
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: about two weeks later, then I found a 10K, somebody said, oh, now you do a half marathon.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, let's not be ridiculous.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'll try.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that race of pain, I trained, you know.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I did the half marathon.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And somebody said, marathon.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, there's no way it's broken body.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I couldn't do what I just did and then do it all over again, impossible.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: In this scariest moment when I, because my, I just got lucky, I entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon, 2016.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, that was something where I can say, oh, bucket list, I tried to run the New York City Marathon.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And wouldn't that be cool to be my first full marathon to be like a world major.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there's only 8% chance of getting chosen.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember when I, I was okay, doing pretty good and then when I passed the sign is that 13.1, I'm like, I've never run in a race this far and like, I have to do 13 more like, oh, my God.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is real and that just ended up being one of the greatest days ever.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because I collapsed like I crossed the finish line same as I did in the 5k and I you know dropped to my knees And then I just balled like a baby and for a second I was like oh my god I'm so embarrassed but then I looked around everyone else was doing the same thing So unreal Even when I'm telling this story sometimes I'm like you know if I didn't know myself I think this guy's full of it or exaggerates
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: because who tries to get into New York City marathon in the lottery and get to pick the first time?
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: Wow.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: So, is it ever still, you know, with the pain and with everything you've gone through?
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_04]: And you always continue to go through life.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: Life never stops coming at you.
• 13:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's for sure.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: What keeps you running today?
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: What gets you out of bed to go run on the on the tough days?
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've running as like my drugs like that runner's high.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've never been a heavy heavy drinker, even though obviously I love beer.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't ever a heavy drinker, I've never tried any illegal drugs.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It just wasn't my thing.
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was more in the music and sports growing up.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was serious enough about.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: the athletic.
• 14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So like I said, I was like, I'm not a natural athlete.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not tall.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not, you know, physically and posing big person.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the way that I achieved my success was that I just knew I was willing to outwork everybody.
• 14:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I ended up being a captain on my high school baseball team.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it wasn't because I was the most talented player.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I was good.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I was nowhere near the best.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't even the second or the third best player, probably.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I put in the time and the effort to outwork everybody.
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the one thing that I always know.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can count on it just the way I'm built, I guess.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: you want to you want to tell us the story about kind of your most recent thing that happened getting getting a new set of uh... chompers man some teeth you you want to talk about that you don't have to yeah no absolute love to hear because man you've come through so much and you said you've given up you know a lot of other opportunities and there's other things that you've probably held back on because of your smile but that as of this week has been fixed to
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right and and actually and that does tie into the rest of the story because so 1992 I get assaulted during the arm robbery.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in excruciating pain.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They put me on, you know, Perk said and the law did and I'm getting like all the drugs that are given me and I really needed them at that point because I was in that much pain and then
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: basically you know you have a second surgery and a third back surgery and then I'm taking that was back when they were more liberal with the prescriptions.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I spent literally years like a few years just in bed.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It takes away the pain but it also takes away your drive and your life and I literally had a day where I looked into mirror and was like I can't
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: can't keep doing this like I'm breathing but I'm not really living and I went into the the the pain clinic I was going to and I was like yeah I don't need to have the percussette um this month I'm like this is going to be my last visit I'm going to take myself off the pain meds and they're like you can't we'd have to set you up to go into a detox and then rehab and I'm like no I just like
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to matter my system, I need to see if I'm able to survive without them.
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just went home, lived alone, and I detoxed off of all the opioids at one time.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it was exactly how it seems in the movies, it's worse, it's awful.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: You find out that it rewires your brain, number one, so your pain receptors act differently after a while.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it takes a toll on you physically, especially on your teeth, which I wasn't aware of.
• 17:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And towards the end, right before I sit in my, like before I decided, I'm not, like I can't just pop opioid dress in my life.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: whether they're given them to me, you know, the right way or not.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I started to notice, like, oh, the tooth is loose or I'm having problems.
• 18:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it didn't happen overnight, but it happened gradually and increasingly, and then one day you wake up and you're like, oh, my God, I'm missing a tooth.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, what happens if one of the front teeth fall out?
• 18:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: turns into physical, then my back gets tight because I'm upset and it's just a whole crazy, you know, deal.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm on disability, so I don't have dental coverage, I don't have the finances.
• 18:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And even though I had stopped taking the opioids in 2012, by the time I had decided to stop,
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: already been done.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was so for a few years after that, just progressively got worse and worse.
• 18:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they said, do you need that this procedure?
• 18:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, give us what money.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, who's going to pay for it?
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I compensated.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I started trying to talk with my mouth closed.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't smile on pictures.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Certain things that you can't eat.
• 19:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: There were times when I would panic if I'm out with friends all day and they're like,
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're hungry.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go to eat.
• 19:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, yes, and starving.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: We get to a restaurant and there's nothing that I can swallow.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm like, oh my stomach hurts.
• 19:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not actually not that hungry and making excuses because I was missing so many teeth that I literally, the real things I couldn't eat because I couldn't chew.
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, it, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: it literally got to the point where they're said we're hot we you're only option is to have the remaining teeth all attracted and you're gonna need implants and the game is a price on it and I was like oh great I'm never gonna eat salad food again and then I had this amazing amazing girl friend
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: and just convince me, you know, that's not you, it's temporary, it can be fixed.
• 20:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, I've been dealing with it alone for so many years and hiding it and I'm like, no, but I don't have the money and I was really defensive.
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she had this magical way of being able to get through to me where other people couldn't, because I'm very stubborn.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't like
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but for whatever reason, she had the magic touch and could talk to me and he said, what about doing go fun me and I said, I'd have to expose myself, I'd have like, I would be admitting to people and she's like, that's sometimes that's not such a bad thing.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have so many people around you that that love you.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: your friends like they adore you and i'm like i have to agree you are one person i've noticed that when you post something or ask something or talk there's there's people around you man like all the time there's a community that's always interacting with you some i notice about you early on but anyway yeah you know i'm just i'm i'm i'm so blessed with that and that
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: that maybe doing a go-fund me isn't the worst thing and and swallowing some of my pride and showing some vulnerability, which is hard for somebody with PTSD to be vulnerable, period.
• 21:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then I would have to do it publicly.
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was really, really scary.
• 22:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ultimately, I had a friend who said, you know, you're going to really bad time right now.
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You need something good in your life, it's affecting your health.
• 22:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, please let me put up a go for me.
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this was in the beginning of January, and I said, Andrea, I love you.
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate it.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know you're trying to help me.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I need thousands and thousands of dollars.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the middle of COVID, knowing that as money, everyone's laid off.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, you can do it.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll take the pictures of my teeth looking terrible.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we can put them up.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I said, but I would be shocked if it raised a few hundred dollars.
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would be grateful for it.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it won't really put me.
• 22:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he were realistically close to getting the work done and she put it up and it just exploded and obviously the fact that we've mentioned that I've had the procedure done people came out of the woodwork I was so amazed I'm still amazed and my friends just like we told you we got your back like people you know you've done things for people.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: people are now paying to fall, paying it back, and so many people donated so much so quickly that within two months I had to answer all these years I had the procedure scheduled, and I had it done last Thursday, and it's been amazing.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I know there's people at Athletic, if you're listening to, thank you, thank you, and my friends, the people that donate is anonymously, I wish I knew who you were.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even have a list, but hasn't changed my speech, which even the dentist was surprised, and I've been eating foods that I haven't been able to eat for years.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know on life.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's amazing something that you don't, you know, my don't think about what effect that much does.
• 24:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: It changes your, the way you see everything, you know, the way you approach situations, the confidence level, the what's possible.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely because I've even turned down a few roles to be in films where I have friends that are
• 24:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it wasn't even like, hey, I want you to audition for this role.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: There were calls where they were like, I want you to play his character at yours if you want it.
• 24:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just have to say like, oh, man, I'm so I appreciate that, but my teeth are really messed up.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I can't do that.
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, they understood.
• 25:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But so, yeah, the next person to offers me a movie role answers, yes.
• 25:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm taking the role.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: Dave, that is incredible, you know, that's a lesson right there, you know, opening up, being vulnerable sometimes is when you don't want to put in a way you're proud like you said, sometimes that's what it takes to get the job done and to elevate yourself to that next level.
• 25:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely, it's all about teamwork because the proof is in the pudding.
• 25:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I tried to do it by myself for years and I couldn't do it.
• 25:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it could have been 10, 20, 30 more years and all in my own.
• 25:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did not have the resources and the ability to make it happen, but my team stepped up and took care of me.
• 25:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: I'd love to ask you a couple rapid fire questions.
• 25:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: Or just some questions, a wrap up to the interview.
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: If that's all right with you, unless there's something else specific you want to just share.
• 26:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just want to share that I was a beer lover for a really, really long time.
• 26:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: 2018 I said I want to be a better athlete like I want to get quicker marathon times.
• 26:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to finish You know my five keys quicker.
• 26:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be a better athlete.
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: What can I do?
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can just cut out that alcohol And then about five seconds later.
• 26:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh, but what am I going to do?
• 26:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because John alcohol appears trash and I went on Google and I was like, please don't tell me it's those two that used to be like
• 26:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: and luckily it's something had changed and I went out and I searched and I found some non-alcoholic beer as an athletic honestly turned out to be the best one.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fact that I'm an ambassador for athletic like to me like I'm so proud of that to represent the company.
• 27:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean the product is great.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like the message at the company saying, so, yeah, I just want everyone to know how proud I am to be associated and affiliated with that athletic, growing company.
• 27:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: They were proud to have you, man.
• 27:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a pleasure.
• 27:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: Just, you know, your story is incredibly inspiring.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: Just thinking about, I know everybody listen and thinking about, dang, what, what do I need to open up it about?
• 27:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: What do I, what is holding me back that I could,
• 27:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: allow, you know, people in into that vulnerable area to help me with, you know, we all try to be tough and we all try to handle it on our own, but there just comes a point where we got to lean on each other.
• 27:44
  [SPEAKER_04]: So, that's what the whole ambassador community is about.
• 27:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's what athletic is about and just proud to have you a part of it.
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: What would you say your favorite beer is?
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Surveys athletic.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I need that to be around.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: You needed to be here around.
• 27:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I tell you what.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if I could do that, but I do know that at Surveysa is as if I think this week or next week, it's the new season of beer.
• 28:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: So it is taking over for the season.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: Springs here.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: So Surveysa is coming.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I still have someone to fridge.
• 28:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: Here you go.
• 28:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: We're going to have to send you some.
• 28:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: So let me ask you this.
• 28:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: Let me ask you this.
• 28:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: What would you say the biggest goal you have that isn't yet achieved?
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_04]: What we say
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I'm going to try to run an ultra.
• 28:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have one in mind.
• 28:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, COVID is making in person race is difficult, but that's kind of the running life, the goal.
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_04]: I have to get you out on one.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: I have to get you out on one.
• 28:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
• 28:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: I've plenty of them around.
• 28:48
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's for sure.
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: There's a lot of athletic beer at the finish lines of a lot of those.
• 28:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of athletic beer at the finish line at every race I do.
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I make sure I make sure.
• 29:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's awesome.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: I love it.
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: So let me ask you this.
• 29:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you have a hobby that folks don't know much about or you don't talk about much?
• 29:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: My friends have known me for a long time, have known it, but my background is in the music industry.
• 29:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've performed at the Apollo's Theatre in Harlem.
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, his girlfriend was in my graduate in class in high school, so Jazzy Jeff was a DJ at my prom before he was famous, so I knew him free fame and then I ended up as a DJ on a local radio station.
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: Funk Wizard Snow.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, that was my hip hop name, Funk Wizard Snow.
• 29:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I met Will Smith through Jeff and ended up in one of his videos and have just done a, like, I have a, you can actually still buy some of my own releases online as digital downloads.
• 30:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Somewhere in the dark corners of the web.
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, but there's a whole bunch of people that don't realize I had like this whole previous life as a,
• 30:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: like as an early rapper and I was actually at this time really proud of.
• 30:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was inducted in the greater Philadelphia hip-hop hall thing.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_04]: Are you serious?
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah and my name was probably the only thing that I think made me as proud as being inducted into like the local hall of fame.
• 30:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: down a long hallway between terminals, celebrating Philadelphia DJ culture.
• 30:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they took the top, what they thought were the top 100 DJs and the history of Philly, not just hip hop, but you know that mixed and scratch, but then it was also radio DJs.
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like myself, I worked at a station called Power 99.
• 31:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one of my friends called me,
• 31:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: said, uh, looking at your phone, I'm sending you a picture.
• 31:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it said, on the mural, funk wizard snow, so that was pretty cool.
• 31:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: David, you've got just some wild story.
• 31:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I told you, and I told people this all the time, I'm like, if I didn't know me, and I didn't experience all this like firsthand, I would think I was so full of it.
• 31:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like there's just no way that like all this stuff happened in one person in one lifetime.
• 31:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: But hey man, that's that I believe I know some crazy folks and have gone through a lot of stuff.
• 32:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: So this is, but you're right there at the top of the list man, this is awesome.
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: So what does it mean to you to live without compromise?
• 32:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're all at all times and doesn't even matter whether you win or lose as long as you've given your best, you feel good at the end of the day and take care of the people along the way while you're doing it.
• 32:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can take care of other people without compromising yourself.
• 32:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a way to take care of yourself and other people.
• 32:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, and that's obvious.
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just got my teeth done, and that's because other people obviously had that same mentality and they looked out for me.
• 32:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: So, well Dave, it's a long time coming.
• 32:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: We've been needed to interview you, but yeah, I'm glad we waited until see your story, you know, takes them incredibly positive turns and some some some highs.
• 33:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, man, just happy to have you on a team.
• 33:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm sure something else bad will happen that I'll get it over a calm, it's my life, it's my life, but whatever it is, whatever it is, I'll kick its ass too.
• 33:30
  [SPEAKER_04]: First of all, thank you so much for listening, and means the world to us that you choose a lesson of this show.
• 33:36
  [SPEAKER_04]: If you'd like to help us further, you can leave a review on iTunes, share us with your friends, your family, it goes a long way to grow in the show.
• 33:43
  [SPEAKER_04]: You can also support us financially through patreon.com slash adventure sports podcast, link is in the show notes.
• 33:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: And also, if you have an idea of who could be a good guest for the show, we're always looking for people to tell their story about the outdoors or adventure.
• 33:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: So if you know someone, please reach out, email us at infoedadventuresportspodcast.com.
• 34:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: And until then, get out there and have some fun.