Latest / The On Purpose Podcast / Ep. 355 – Kyle & Brent Pease; The Power of Inclusion

Transcript

Ep. 355 – Kyle & Brent Pease; The Power of Inclusion · The On Purpose Podcast

• speaker-0: You are listening to the On Purpose Podcast. What's up, everybody? Welcome to this week's edition of the On Purpose Podcast, where you know it's our privilege and our pleasure to show up with you each and every week to get you moving, get you thinking, get you making sure you're not just on autopilot as we get this little short thing we call our lives. And today I'm super excited to have this conversation with our newest guest. And I'm super intrigued to talk with them, to to get into the mindset of what they're doing. But before I do that, I wanna make sure you know that what really captivated me with me with them is the the stories that don't begin with a finish line, but begin with a childhood shaped by brotherhood, challenge and belief that life is meant to be lived together. And when Kyle and Brent Peace entered into their first race as a team, it didn't change what they could do. It really started to change and and under s make them understand who they could become and and It started out as a moment of possibility, grew into a foundation built on inclusion, dignity, and the simple truth that everybody deserves an opportunity to be at the start line. So today we're not just exploring the work they're doing. We're gonna explore the relationship, the growth, and the courage it took to make it all possible. So Kyle and Brent, welcome to the On Purpose Podcast. speaker-1: Thank you, sir. speaker-2: Thanks for having us. speaker-0: ⁓ man, it's my privilege privilege. And I wanna ⁓ I like to start off by thanking you guys for what you're doing. I want thank you for having the courage to live the life you're living and the willingness to share it with the world so that we can find strength in our stories through yours. And I just want to make sure you understand how how important that is and how grateful we are that you have chosen to do that. speaker-2: Yeah, thank you. it's a it's been a special ride for sure. speaker-0: Well, before you guys are athletes now and I I can't just put you into the to the heavy lifting and the fast pace. We gotta warm up a little bit. You guys ready for the warm up questions? Do it. And you guys pick how you answer. You can both answer, you can bounce back and forth. It's it's your warm up. I just gotta make sure we're not pulling any hamstrings, we're not getting too sore too early in the journey today. Sure. All right, here we go, fellas. If your life had a theme song, what would your song be? speaker-2: For sure. speaker-1: ⁓ my book probably got, ⁓ dozed up reading by Johnny. speaker-0: ⁓ don't stop dude, that's like the the best sing along song ever. I think everybody in the world has to know those those l lines. speaker-2: ⁓ we used to come on stage for speeches to a song called Walking by Widespread Panic. And I just always loved the one of the lines, Walkin' your love. And I think that's what we've both been doing for a long time, is ⁓ sharing and and giving out and spreading love as we as we walk through all these miles. speaker-0: ⁓ man, so yeah, that's that's powerful right there. And ⁓ yeah, the world definitely needs more of that for sure. What would you say is a favorite quote or mantra that you go back to to get you through tough times? speaker-2: There's a poem that I used to read to Kyle before our races when we first got started called ⁓ If by Rudyard Kipling. It's a very famous one. and there's many lines in there that resonated, but ⁓ it just talked about, you know, if you can give for one unforgiving minute 60 seconds worth of distance run, the world is your is your earth, ⁓ the earth is your world and everything that's in it, my son. And I just loved kind of the resonation of that poem of you know, working hard for something and losing it all and starting over again. And, you know, that's so much of what Kyle's life has been. It's so much of what ⁓ endurance sports are to us. It's this, you know, this series of intense ups and downs and appreciating all of them for what they are and for what it represents. speaker-1: ⁓ For me, would say the cards that we would delve are not ideal, but you gotta play like a winner every day. We all have challenges, my challenges are visible and more noticeable than others, but we have to do our best to give what life has given to us and make it. make lemonade that are your enemies. So it's really critical that we put our best foot, our best wheel forward every day. speaker-0: I love it. Yeah, we're all dealt a to hand to play and it's like it's our choice on how we're gonna play it. Yeah, I love it. What's a small habit that you've been doing that's giving you energy lately? speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-2: Mm lately. speaker-0: And lately's relative. You could pick what the time frame is. speaker-2: I'll I know this is the warm up, but I'll I'll dive just a little bit deeper. I think it's what Kyle and I both struggled with that we had this kind of purpose that we woke up for every morning for the longest time. It was this singular focus of we're doing this Iron Man and we are gonna charge hard for it. I think right now there's more stillness for both of us. And I think Kyle has better tools in place, ⁓ you know, prayer meditation. he's forced into quiet reflection a lot just by living his life with disability. ⁓ but I think we've both kind of worked at it because we're charging hard and we're not really sure where where's this next finish line. so I think it's actually something that we're both actively aware of and trying to work on, if I might speak for my brother a little bit. speaker-1: Yeah, I I think it hit me on the head for me. The hardest part of my day is when the caregiver picks me up from my bed and puts me in my wheelchair every day for five seconds. It's just a social reality that I have to depend on somebody to get me through every waking moment of my day. then I get to have that mind shift in perspective where I get to do this, I know I have to do this. speaker-0: Mm, I love it. Yeah. Get to versus have to is such a a a powerful way to shift how we approach many things throughout our days. Right. 'Cause yeah, I mean, a lot of times you think about like the challenge we're facing today. If we don't have that challenge someday in our life we'll probably miss it. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Amen. speaker-0: Right. All right, you fellas. What ⁓ what's a favorite book or a a a book you find yourselves going back to? speaker-1: I was in so many good books, good movies. I'm not big reader. I'm more of a motivational quote. So I always go back to something that I said earlier about the card that we went down with the honor. You know, never know the impact that you're making on the community. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: to your family, so really the motivational quotes, they really stick with me. speaker-2: ⁓ The Alchemist. ⁓ Classic. Yeah. That one somebody gave it to me when I first started coaching. and it just it's really sat with me very well that I've gone back to over the years. speaker-0: What what is it you take away from that? speaker-2: It seems different every time, right? but for me it's this it's this groundedness and, you know, appreciation of where you are and what you're doing, right? And that so many times we're not able to just appreciate the moments that we're in. And so there's just there's a lot to be said of what Kyle and I do in endurance racing, how Kyle lives his life and ⁓ where we find that, you know, how we find meaning in that, especially in the struggles. speaker-0: Yeah. All right, one final warm up question for you. I think we're there. One more though. What does ⁓ if you could pick a word that describes the season of life you're in now, what would that word be? speaker-2: Gratitude. speaker-1: my morning and day mantra that I read by every day that I have joy in my chaos and that's something that I strive to do each and every day. speaker-0: Having joy in your chaos. I love that. Right. And I yeah, that's that's powerful too, right? Yeah, you think about like we're not trying to control what happens to us around the world, but we can control how we show up in those moments. Which for you guys as endurance athletes, you can control how you show up for the race, but you don't control how everything's gonna go in the race. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-2: Right. Correct. speaker-0: And the sooner you realize and give up trying to control those variables, like you were saying, Kyle, the more you can enjoy the moment you're in. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: Yeah. All right, let's you guys warmed up? You feeling good over there? speaker-2: Yeah, this is great. Love the warm up. speaker-0: Hey, let's ⁓ talk about that first race, if you don't mind. Take us all the way back. And I don't want to spend a lot of time having you tell tell a bunch of stories you've already told before, but I do think it is important to lay the frownwork or grant ⁓ guy, I can't talk the groundwork of how we got here. So talk to me about that first race and when did you realize like this is something we can do, not just for us. But for so many people around the world that don't even know these are an option for them to compete in yet. speaker-2: I mean, it's it's interesting because we've not actually talked about that a lot. You know, the the first major race we did was the two thousand eleven Saint Anthony's Olympic Olympic distance triathlon in St. Petersburg, Florida. And it was this thing we had bookmarked. So we did a couple of prep races, a ten K, a half marathon. And it was really nearly instantaneous that the finish line of where Kyle exhausted himself all day. You know, it was hot, they had to move the swim start, the swim got short, like it was all these things, there's all these factors. And it was really a tough day for Kyle. And he loved it so much, you know, that there was this, like I said, nearly instantaneous reaction of like we have to do this for other people. ⁓ and Kyle always credits me as a co founder, but this is where he should take more credit that this was his idea. This is what he wanted to give to so many, as you said, to the world. ⁓ Whereas I just wanted to help my brother and do something with him and and enjoy it. So it wasn't until many months later where I would say that I could call myself a co founder. But it was just it was just that experience of swim by grun, of you know, nearly three hours of racing in the heat and the challenges and the stress where Kyle was doing the thing I was doing. Like we were both doing the thing and that was pretty, pretty heady. speaker-0: How what was it about that first one that that struck that chord in your heart? speaker-1: I guess, I guess we never, our parents really doing everything in their power, whether it was on vacations or at school, they always included me in every activity. And even though there was a lot of modifications to the activities, they included me. I just remember having that ⁓ moment when we reached. the finish line of that for Triathlon. Well, I want other people to come along with our journey and to be included in everything that we did. And that's how the foundation was born. speaker-0: What what was it? Was there a moment for you guys in that race where you just looked at each other and you're like, We're we're doing this. Like it's no longer something we're talking about. We're actually putting it out here and people are gonna see what we're capable of. speaker-1: I think it was a couple weeks after the race because I had the idea right at the finish line. And a lot of people didn't really understand why I wanted to do it and what the reason behind it was. But it was very crucial that the show our community and to show ⁓ the people what is truly possible. So that's why I started it. speaker-0: What about you, Brandon? That when you fin when you cross that first finish line, you hear the cowbells and you hear the people cheering you in, what what was that emotion like for you? speaker-2: ⁓ it was right after the race and I just remember kind of moving over to the curb and I could see Kyle still celebrating. He actually had some people giving him some champagne straight out of the bottle. And I just remember sitting on that curb exhausted, thinking that was really special, you know, and that was really special to be part of. speaker-0: So what was it that day, would you say, looking back now with all the experience you've had, what was it that shifted in you that day? speaker-2: It was to fully experience something with Kyle. I mean, we'd had all like I remember when I first started working, a buddy of ours moved out to Napa to do something in the wine industry and we all went out to see him. And it was like the first time as adults where we like, you know, we paid for our vacation, like we did our thing. And remember sitting on a patio having a glass of wine, being like, ⁓ this is why my parents always did this. Like I'm so relaxed right now. So I'd had experiences with Kyle where I was fully immersed as a kid. But this was the first time that, you know, he and I said, This is what we're gonna do, and we're gonna fully enjoy this. And sitting on that curb, realizing that we had done that thing and how good it felt, that we had like totally been in that experience together, you know, from start to finish, through the good and the bad, the tension, the anger, the elation, the you know, euphoric feeling of the finish line, like we were in all of that together, and it just felt like that was what we were supposed to be doing. ⁓ that when Kyle said, you know, we're gonna do this and we're gonna help more people, it was like, Okay, we're in. I I want that feeling for everybody, what we just experienced together. speaker-0: If you had to pick a word, what would you what would encapsulate that feeling? speaker-2: Together. Yeah. The origin the original tagline of the foundation was Together We Wheel. You know, and there was so much meaning behind that. You know, that the together piece was what resonated the most for me and Kyle, I feel. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting, right? Because I'm I'm hearing a story and the thought that comes back to my mind is just the the bond that is built through shared suffering. It's something that that you can't replace. Like you you just can't get that without the suffering. So what was it like in that moment to see one see each of you suffering? And how did one of you pick up the other in those speaker-2: Amen. speaker-0: those moments where like, I'm not sure I can get this done. speaker-2: So I Kyle and I've talked about this as adults. Yeah. And we've talked about it in our speeches sometimes too. That for me, Kyle being, you know, a kid with a disability was like this kind of heartbreaking, you know, tragic experience for me where I wanted to step in and help Kyle. I'm gonna help him, that's gonna make me feel better. It's gonna be better for Kyle. He's gonna have a brother. But I think Kyle also was like, Well, I'll let you help me because I think I'm helping you now. You know, ⁓ you wanna you wanna go do like we used to take like we used to go to the golf course is a great example. We would strap Kyle's wheelchair seat into the golf cart and we'd drive him around and then we'd like pull him out of the golf cart and let him throw balls at the hole or just hang out with us, like to just be together. Yeah. And as adults, what we realized is we were both trying to do the same thing. Like, I'm here to help you, you're here to help me. And so, you know, that's what really resonates in what I think about is that you know, that connectedness of you're struggling right now. I see you fighting this chair and I see you digging in with all of your energy to make sure that I'm fully present in the race so you can help me. And we're both suffering right now. Like you can't explain to people what that suffering is like until they like you said, until you've shared it and been like I can't tell you what an Iron Man's gonna feel like for you. But if we did it together, we can both really connect on that. And so that was the best part for me. was that I could see Kyle struggling in similar ways or or and there was parallels to his struggles as a kid with a disability. Yeah. But to watch him as an adult thrive, ⁓ not because of ⁓ any disability, but because of all of his abilities, ⁓ was the same thing I was trying to do and we were trying to share that together. speaker-0: Kyle, what was there was there a moment in that first race when you you looked at your brother and you're like, Okay, it's on me to help push him through this a little bit. He thinks he's pushing me, but I'm actually bringing him with me. speaker-1: You know, I think that's a great question. think ⁓ it took me a while to understand how to help and support my brother through the darkest times. And it's kind of like Greg Mannes on the mound. So Greg Mannes is a student of the game. So we learned. about picking through other pickers and other advanced that he saw versus opponents and he studied filming all day. And it wasn't until like our first Ironman that we did together that I fully covered ⁓ what this sport was all about. It was truly something that... You just can't show up at a race and expect to get to the finish line. I mean, that's a big part of it, but you have to do the work to show the work, right? So I can't just show up and expect to go on a 15-hour journey with my brother. I have to put the work into it. I have to study the course. So it wasn't until... Our first time in the F4Way couple had done my role in our team. What's it all about? speaker-0: I love that. Dude, Greg Maddox is such a great example. Mm-hmm. And and as a baseball fan, I love that you brought him up because he wasn't the most talented. He didn't throw the hardest. He didn't have a ton of physical gifts, but you're right. He studied his craft. He honed it and he's one of the greatest pitchers ever. speaker-2: Did you see the doc on Greg Maddox? I forget what it was on. If it Okay. So do you remember there's a there's a thing in there where he talks of where they talk not him, the catcher talks about how Maddox calls him out. They're they're winning some baseball game. It's like four to nothing. And somebody from the Astros, Bagwell or Biggio's up and he's like, Hey, I'm gonna, you know, throw this pitch 'cause we're going to see these guys in the playoffs and that's what he's going to expecting. So he gives up his shutout and gives up a home run. And then in the playoffs, they're in the same exact situation and it's like two on bases loaded something and he strikes them out with a different pitch where it's like he like and I Kyle and I and when we did the Hawaii Iron Man in 2018, the first time we did it, Kyle had had seven years of racing with me to learn how to best work with me and what I struggle with during a race. Because we like you said, it's a shared suffering. But not only that, he had learned how to be a better athlete himself. You know, and in Kona, he showed up with oak leys and sunsleeves and like shaved legs and lycra and like he knew what he was supposed to be doing. But every race experience we had had up to that point was helping Kyle prepare. It was like you know, he was a computer program on on October twenty-sixth or excuse me, October thirteenth, twenty eighteen. And all of his inputs up to that point were things like wind in Florida in twenty fourteen, you know. ⁓ altitude and boulder in 2017, like extremely hot races in July in Atlanta, like all of these things put Kyle in a position that when he said jump, I knew what he meant. I didn't ask how high or how far. I just knew what he meant because we had learned those experiences together. And that's I that's why I love the Maddox comp even more. It's like Kyle was remembering things from 2011. On top of just remembering his own struggles of living in a wheelchair To say something to me like believe, right? Believe was a mantra that he repeated to me ⁓ in many junctures. And it was like, what's he really saying to you? Right. It's like this is this is all of his being coming out of him right now. Try to tune into this, right? Like the alchemist, right? Try to connect with this in this moment because you're right here where you're supposed to be with him. speaker-1: Mm. speaker-0: That's powerful. That that's good stuff. What about this? What about all right, because now now I'm picturing this, right? And we got we got these two brothers out there and they're pushing and there's gonna be moments where you're like, ⁓ man, it does. What about a miscommunication or a misunderstanding you had in those early days, maybe about your roles or or the teamwork that you and how did you work through that? speaker-1: I think it's, yeah, there was many miscommunications all the way for every race. know, whether I showed up late or whether I was in the wrong location of a park, we had to go through those mistakes so that we could see. how we could learn from those. And sometimes in life you have to make mistakes in order to be better. And I truly believe that mistakes made us better and more aware of how to communicate with one another. speaker-2: I have this like sick kind of communication joke sometimes where it's like, you know, you come push the pedals, right? Like you you see how hard this is. And his response is, well, you come sit in the chair. Yeah. Right. And that like goes back to 2015, which was our first real adversity in a race. And when and our wheel shattered in the New York City Marathon, we've told this story before. where the wheel shatters and the end of the story is two strangers helped me carry this mangled wheelchair for thirteen miles and we finished. But what was missed in that sometimes and that it really took a it took too long for Khan and I to talk about it was that when the wheel first broke, I did everything in my power to try and keep my brother in the race. Because if, you know, if my shoe comes untied in the marathon, I bend down, I retie my shoe, and I just keep going. But when a wheelchair breaks, you what most people would say or what what might happen is like, ⁓ well, it broke, I'm out of the race. Well, people don't sign up for races to not finish. Like their goal is to finish. So I'm running around, the NYPD drives me to a bike shop. I spend probably an hour trying to fix Kyle's chair. And I'm exhausting myself. I'm not eating, I'm not drinking. And all the while Kyle's laying on this cot in a medical tent with people who aren't sure what to do with him. And they don't know how to help him. And he's just lying there, right? He has no wheelchair, he no phone. And when I come back, we decide to finish. Well, at this point, I'm exhausted, exhausted, exhausted. Well, Kyle doesn't know how I've shown up for him. But I also don't know what he's been going through, that he's been lying on this cot helpless with no idea what to do to help me. And so there's a really weak moment for me. You know, we go from running like seven and a half minute miles to twenty-two minute miles. And I look at Kyle. We've got these two strangers with us now. And I would I kick the strangers off the chair for a minute and I was like, I need to talk to my brother. And I was like, Hey man, this isn't us. I don't know what we're doing. Let's just like this is ridiculous. Let's quit. And Kyle looked back at me and said, You know, you can quit, but I'm gonna keep going. And again, we didn't know how to share that with each other, where I was trying to say, I'm helpless, please help me, brother. And he's saying, I know how to help you right now because you gotta stay with me. Like I promise, if you stay in this, just like I stayed on that cot waiting for you, we can do this. But we never talked about it. And eventually we spent the last three miles of that race not speaking to each other. And there's these photos that are amazing where you can if you know the context of the story, it looks like I am glaring off into into space. Yeah. And Kyle is looking up at me like with this like loving, like, please, I'm trying to help. And we fought the whole way home from that race. We were in the back of a cab screaming at each other. And, you know, where it ended was I had to help put him to bed. Yeah. Nobody else was there with us. And, you know, what it really what it really was was this moment of what Kyle just described in his answer of like understanding what each other needs and what that means and how to show up for each other. You it'd be really easy for us to be like, well, what does Kyle do? It's like, ⁓ he screams, believe, believe, believe, like, wow. But some people might hear that and go, Yeah, whatever, that doesn't inspire me. But everybody gets this that they've been in a really tough time and you haven't been able to share it with the person that was there to help you. But eventually you found an understanding because of what you went through, like what you described, that shared experience. So the New York Marathon is probably one of the most absurd, ridiculous, challenging experiences of our athletic and and brotherly lifetime. You know, in that we loved each other, we cried, we hugged and we screamed at each other. We had every range of emotion. And it's just the fact that Kyle knew to keep me in it is what allowed us to learn from that experience. speaker-0: Yeah, and now I would venture to just take a guess. If you had if you had to say, Okay, you gotta take one race out of your history, that would probably not be the one you would choose to take out. speaker-2: Definitely not, yeah. speaker-0: Kyle, what do you what do you think on that that race there and that time? What is what was it that you saw in your brother says this, I need to step up for him? speaker-1: Alright. It wasn't really about how to step up for Brett. It was more me realizing my full potential and I really wanted to show him that I am never quitting in my life. So I need you to come with me. Either you're not in it right now, I still need you to show up for me. Because I never quit and I'm not gonna quit right now. So through hard work, through love, through dedication, we found a way. And sometimes in life, that's all you have to do is show up and find a way. And when you do that and you give it your best. Because at the end of the day, we all owe it to ourselves to try. That's all we can do, we just try. And if you don't make it, that's okay. But at you gave it your best and you tried. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. What about this for our community members? What about our community members that are listening right now that aren't showing up for themselves, that that have this thing out there they want to achieve, that they want to try, but they're listening to the doubters, they're listening to the naysayers, maybe they got that inner critic going that says they're not quite ready, they're not capable. What would what would you guys say to them to get the momentum started, to get them up to that first start line? speaker-2: Action follows I mean, motivation follows action, right? Like you don't know the power of what that next step will do for you. Right. We so Kyle and I have this long version of the story, which we can certainly share if you need us to, of kind of this seven year odyssey of getting into Kona. And it was just basically a series of disappointments of rejection, of no's, of you don't belong, like just every possible reason. And like in twenty eighteen we were both kind of ready to give up, but we said, Let's just do one more race. Like we just have to do one more. And when we finished the race, they handed us a golden ticket to the Iron Man World Championships in Hawaii in 2018. And and we told that story recently. And Kyle, you know, added the context of like, you don't know the power of what that like, if you don't try, you owe that to yourself. If you don't take that next step, you don't know what you're missing. And we tell this story at a corporate speech. And the CEO got up afterwards and and retells the story of being down to his last hundred thousand dollars. And thinking, you know what, there's some money in the bank, like I'll just start over. And his dad basically was like, No, like you gotta keep at this, right? And now he's got this, you know, hugely successful company. He's he's gotten more success than he ever envisioned for himself because he took the next step, right? And so I don't know what that looks like for everybody that's listening here today, but if you can just take that next step, like what motivation comes from that? What action are you creating? And what does it look like to try? And it's it's probab it quite frankly, it's probably the greatest gift that Kyle gives all of us is that he's willing to keep trying despite the limitations that we see. Because Kyle doesn't see those. I mean, it sounds cliche to say it, but it you know what? I've I've been watching it for a long time and I've been watching him do it at a really I mean, what Kyle does is un it's ⁓ who does Iron Man's like that? It's it's really I'm gonna I'm gonna pound the drum of Kyle Pease because when he says you owe it to yourself to try, it's like, Yeah, I believe him. I I know what he means. I've watched him do it. speaker-0: What do you think on that, Kyle? speaker-1: I mean, I know no other way. That's all I know. And you know, like, are times in my life that are very dark. Very dark. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: But these Iron Man's having way of touching my soul, making me feel a part of something, making me feel that I'm not on the opposite side of the fence. I'm on the same side of the fence as Brad and all the other competitors are. So I'm feeling the power of community and that goes a very long way. speaker-0: Yeah, let's talk about if you guys don't mind, let's let's talk about community and the foundation. Cause I think those are when I was researching this and and getting ready for it, those those are two of the things that that really stuck with me because community is so important for all of us. And and in a world where we're so connected, yet disconnected from each other. That's one of the goals I have of all of this is building that community and bringing people back. So when did you so you're having the races and you're seeing and feeling how you're feeling and you're wanting to share it with others? When did you kind of say, Okay, we're gonna put as much energy into creating this so that other people can share it as we are into training for our own races? speaker-2: Well, I think the two always went hand in hand, you know, because we were it was the ⁓ it was the old hair club for men ads, you remember those? Not only not only am I a not only am I the president, but I'm also a member, right? It's like but that was us. Like we we've been making that crappy joke for fifteen years. ⁓ we did the races alongside the people we were helping. I mean, the very first athlete we served, ⁓ Kyle and I ran a five K with this young boy and his mother. And we ran step for step with them for for three point one miles. You know, that was like what we wanted to do. We didn't need to run in front of them or run behind them. We needed to run with them. And, you know, that that built up over the years where what we started to learn was that, you know, the racing was just a catalyst for, you know, hope and inspiration and for community, you know, where we were including people not just in a race in sports, but in life. And You know, so it was wonderful that those two things were, you know, sympatico. Like th it just we'd got to do it all together. speaker-0: What was the first big hurdle you had to overcome in and launching the foundation and and getting it going to to become what it is today? 'Cause I think we're and and I love concepts like this because we're in such a highlight real society or everybody thinks like, ⁓ they just they just hit it and it it happened today. But we sometimes forget all the hard work that goes behind the scenes to create momentum, to create that success. So what was the The biggest hurdle you had to overcome and whether it was, you know, self induced like a belief issue or logistical that allowed you to propel. speaker-1: Yeah, I think for me, I thought that we had this foundation and actually we're just gonna come right away and took us about nine months to get our first assery. And then from there it took several other months to get more assery. And so I I guess truly. speaker-2: Mm. speaker-1: Believe that I'm deaf. speaker-2: It's the same thing. We didn't know like we had to keep taking those next steps, you know. Like it it like Kyle said, it took us nine months. And so our first marketing plan was like, we'll just go race every month. And in January of twenty twelve, we met ⁓ a mom and her ⁓ and heard her story about her son, and that became the first athlete we served, right? And so we just we needed those little wins to happen for us to understand why the steps were important. So I think a lot of those early struggles were just in understanding Like how does this even work? We just like Kyle said, like we have a mission and we're gonna help people. Why don't you want our help? But the reality was is we had to kinda keep proving to them how we could and and why we why we should. speaker-0: What was it like when you had your first athlete and they competed with you? speaker-1: It was truly one of the best events of the foundation. That people that did not know us that well, that they believed in us and that they trusted what we said and trusted the process of how we were going to do it and take care of their family. speaker-0: Love it. Yeah, you you I had a thought and you hit it right on the head. And I think it took nine months to get athletes because that you had to build trust. Right. And I think that's a skip, a step we like to skip in society so much now is the time spent building the relationship to the people do trust you. And we just want to skip to the results part, right? Like we want to open the business and have everybody flock in. But a lot of times they're they're wanting to see who you are, especially in in an athletic endeavor like this, right? Like I want to make sure that the coaches are the right people to be around. They're gonna be positive role models, they're they're in it for the right reasons. So what what consciously did you do or not do? Consciously or not to build trust, to make sure that people understood. The service you were trying to bring. speaker-2: ⁓ I you know, I think we learned to slow down, like you said. I think we just thought, like, here's all the equipment, here's what we do, look at us. ⁓ without kind of showing how to do it and walking through it. Like running side by side with that mom, you know, without realizing it. Like we did it 'cause we thought it was the right thing to do, without realizing the way that that instilled trust to say, Hey, we're not only are we giving you the opportunity, we're gonna make sure it goes great for you. And and that's continued to expand. So speaker-0: Right. speaker-2: You know, look, it it the more important thing to me is the willingness to put yourself out there in a world that it's so easy to here's a picture of my perfect life. Yeah. ⁓ by the way, it's in shambles, right? Like, yeah. How many times have we heard that s how many times have we heard that story? Right. Instead, we were like, Okay, we will fail. And we would tell those failure stories. We would get up on stage and speak and we would stand in front of a room full of people and and tears would start to flow because we just felt ⁓ so passionate about what was happening. Like it allowed us to build trust to say we might screw this up, but we're gonna make sure we do it together. speaker-0: Yeah. And you're gonna do it by moving forward. Mm-hmm. Right? We're not gonna screw it up because we're sitting, like you said earlier, Kyle, we're not just gonna sit on the sidelines and watch. If we're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna make mistakes because we're in the mix. It y you guys remind me of the Roosevelt's speech, The Man in the Arena. Yeah. speaker-2: I'm with you. speaker-0: Right. Like the it's not the critic that counts, it's the man in the arena. speaker-2: Right. So the other side of that too is like in this day and age, like it's much easier to criticize people. Like it's just more out there. Like what we do. Maybe if we had done this 30 years ago, it would have still been a very big thing. And it but it might just have been to our local community. And so sure, there may have been some critics there, but now we have to have somebody ⁓ you know, a a world away of the across the country that would just say, you know. I mean, I remember a video that was posted on YouTube where it was like, it doesn't look like he's doing anything was said about Kyle. I forget the exact quote, but it was something like that. It was just like I remember somebody like somebody said to me, they were like, I'm so appalled by that. I'm like, Well, that's okay. They don't know. Like, I know what we did. I know what was being shown from that video. It was an Iron Man. Like, I know what Kyle did. Right. Because I watched it. I watched it for fifteen hours, you know, and I know what I went through. So yeah, like it's it's also it's easier for critics to arrive on the scene and it's harder for you to stay in the arena. ⁓ so that resonates with me for sure. speaker-0: Yeah, so let me throw this one at Kyle. C how do you stay in the arena? How do you s how do you keep your mind sharp on that when when people are saying stuff like Brent just said, or or your doubt creeps in, right? How do we keep ourselves going? speaker-1: I think you have to stay present. You have to really commit to be present and to focus on what you can do rather than what you can't do. And so when you commit to be present, you're there to support. You're there to love. You're there to break barriers. You're there to prove what you can do. I just let my ad kids do the talking. I don't understand my kids. And if I live in the comparison of social media and all the negativity, then I'm not gonna get anywhere. But if I could teach you to prove. what I'm able to do, then that's what I'm all about. So just stay present and focusing on the whole idea of being still, being grateful we are present in the moment. speaker-0: I love it. Yeah, that's ⁓ so I'm training for my first hundred mile ultra marathon this summer. Yeah. ⁓ we're doing the Copper Kings 100 up in Montana. ⁓ my son's gonna run it with me, and the family's doing the crewing and the aiding. ⁓ Kyle, what you said is exactly it, right? Like when I go on my runs and I'm thinking like, ⁓ man, I'm so tired at and I'm only at 20 miles in, how am I gonna do a hundred? speaker-2: Which one? Nice. speaker-0: lose the fun of the the process. I lose the joy of wait, I'm twenty miles in, like I don't have to worry about what's gonna feel like at a hundred. I just need to enjoy the next step at twenty and the next step at twenty one. And I think that's a good lesson for a lot of us, right? Is we're in such a rush to get to destinations. That we don't enjoy the steps along the way. speaker-2: Amen. With you all the way there, man. Like, but the best part when you look back on this hundred mile experience is all this time you had with your family on the ride up, right? Like the race is such a small moment. I mean, it's it's a special one because it it shows you what the tip of the iceberg can look like. It shows you what we went through ⁓ in a small setting, but you don't know what that full experience like the best part like I can see our Hawaii Iron Man pictures behind us. Yeah. They're over my over the computer here. And it's like, man, I look at those and I just think about I had this amazing year with my brother and we did this amazing thing, but it was really the year that we had together. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, no, I'm so excited. Like, you know, people are like, Why would you do that? I go, at worst, at worst, we're gonna have thirty hours, Trey. Our son and I are gonna have thirty hours in the beautiful woods of Montana running the Continental Divide Trail. Like if you if you would tell me any point in my life, okay, you're gonna have a terrible day, but you're gonna be in the woods with your son, having conversations, enjoy, pushing yourself, like we talked about that shared suffering. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: I would say that's a pretty damn good day, no matter how bad you think it might be. speaker-2: Yeah, I agree. speaker-0: I wanna ask you guys, where have you found that you've had to grow the most as brothers? Not just through the athlete, but now the foundation and business partners and speaking partners. Where have you had to grow as brothers? speaker-2: I think it's because of all of those things, you know, that you just list like you listed out the whole list, you know, like the business in the last in the first five months of this year has been especially challenging. Like Kyle's being pushed really hard to, you know, maximize his time doing all the things. And he's being pushed by me, ⁓ his older brother, but yet at the same time he's the founder and it's his name on the door. And so he's now pushing me. And he's demanding more of me and like we've had to push on each other so hard. But two years ago it was the athletic piece, right? Seven, eight years ago it was the the challenge of like Kyle, I have a newborn and Kyle's trying to be like, Well, why can't I get a hold of Brent? I call him every night and he never picks up. It's like, Well, he's with his baby. Like he can't. That's the worst time to call. You know, like it's just been the fact that we've like everything we talked about about just staying in it, right? Like The fact that we've stayed in so much of life together is what's really allowed us to grow immensely as brothers. You know, we were we were traveling the other week and it was just the two of us coming home and ⁓ I was kind of helping Kyle get situated in his plane seat and he was like, Hey, I'm just so glad to be here with you, buddy. ⁓ and like I felt that, you know, like I felt that in my core of what he was saying to me. It was like I heard him say, like, I'm so glad to be doing all of this with you. Like, hey, I know yesterday was hard. We traveled all day, we worked till you know, eight o'clock at night, then you left me to go meet a donor and I had to wait ninety minutes for a cab and it like, What a day. Yeah. And I'm so glad to be doing it with you. I think that's where I've seen the most growth. speaker-1: I think it's important that you carve out time. That you carve out time to hang out and make the effort to be partners, be business partners, be teammates and all that. So just carve out time to be in touch with the people that you love. speaker-0: Yeah, and I wanna just ⁓ man, like I'm just listening to that story and just feeling you guys and I I wanna just say thank you, Kyle, for being willing to share that with your brother and to tell him what it meant to you. Right. I think so many times we forget to just share that that emotion that we have for the people that are around us for for the gratitude for a small moment, for a meal together, ⁓ making time in your day to have a conversation with a stranger across the computer. Like those are moments that you just don't want to get in the habit of rushing past because when you look back, those are the things that make this whole journey worthwhile. speaker-2: Amen. Love it. speaker-0: What would you guys say you would hope if if if you could give our community one thing that you would hope they would get from watching and listening to you too, what would it be? speaker-1: I would go back to what I said a few minutes ago, that you always do yourself to try. You always do yourself to be there for your loved ones. And perhaps, you know, if it's a strange relationship, perhaps you might need to be the one to take that first step to reach out. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-1: So you owe it to yourself to try and build your own race to keep up with the people that you are. speaker-0: Yeah, that's good. speaker-2: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: Yeah. No, and what what w what what kind of a day would it be? Right? What what what how would we feel if we spent all of our day as much as we can just being grateful for our problems, opportunities, the rel yeah, they just all of it, right? Like you know, it's funny you guys say that and we're talking about this 'cause ⁓ our youngest daughter's here visiting us in Arizona right now and and we still chuckle because one of Her favorite childhood memories is I don't know if you guys are Darius Rutger fans or not, but when he redid the song Wagon Wheel, and we were stuck in a traffic jam, and we're gonna be late getting her to gymnastics practice. And a train was the cause of it, and we were first car there, and she sees the train go by, and it's just at the same time as the verse in that song talks about a southbound train. Right? And we just joke and like. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-0: How many times have we been angry in traffic or just frustrated? And if I hadn't been paying attention, I'd have missed a moment that now she's what, twelve years later, she's still like, Dad, do you remember when we were sitting stuck in traffic and we saw the southbound train? And Yeah. You know what I mean? That's that like nothing can ever take that away from us. speaker-2: Yeah. Like it so much of what you were talking a little bit about about, you know, the the like the tip of the iceberg, like understanding the work that it took to get there, like so much of it is is being able to just pause and say, This is a great moment right now you know. As hard as this may be, like this is it, you know, and to stay in that, as Kyle said, to try. Yeah, you know, those are the ones that stick with you. ⁓ good, bad in between, because of like just like being in that moment in traffic, if you had been super frustrated and just got done like snapping at her or you were sitting there clenching the steering wheel, instead of like hearing her go, isn't that amazing? And you're like, You watch the train go by, like you could have watched that train go by and been like, Can you just be quiet? I have had the longest day. Yeah. And like, I don't think you understand. I'm saying this because like I did this the other day with my kids. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-2: You know, I didn't stay in it. Like and look, I'm human, right? Like I'd had a particularly hard day. Yeah. And they were just hammering me with questions. It's like, man, one day they're gonna get in this car and they're not gonna even talk to me. You know? It's like, but I I I broke in that moment. Yeah, you know, and that might be one that sticks with them instead of like taking a deep breath and going, Hey, give me thirty seconds. Like let's all will you guys take a deep breath with with me? You know? It's like why? Like, ⁓ you know, I had a I had a rough day, like I wanna answer your questions, I wanna talk. ⁓ it's gonna make me feel better, but I just need like one nice deep breath. You guys wanna do it with me? Yeah. Sure, why not? You know, like calm, I do that in racing. Yeah. Like we're really good at that. Of like, hey, like I know this is really hard, but could you just do like five more feet with me? Like that's literally happened to us, you know, and and for you in that moment with your daughter to actually be present and grateful that like you're late. And that you're still together watching a southbound train is such a wonderful stor like that's gonna sit with me for a while now. That's funny. ⁓ and you could have had a completely different experience, right? But you didn't. You guys were there with each other for it. speaker-0: I think that's the beauty of shared experience, right? It's because it's not always up to you to catch the moments. Sometimes the greatest moments are the things that Kyle points out to you that you might have missed. speaker-2: Right. speaker-0: Right, because he just sees it differently. speaker-2: Exactly. Exactly. Like I it could be raining and I could go, Man, it's raining and Kyle could go, Man, it's raining, right? And like I there's a line that we'll say to kids that we we both love. I forget where we heard it or if if we can credit ourselves, it was like something like the man who says they can and the man who says they can't are both usually right. You know? And like why not just look at the rain and go, This is amazing, you know, instead of speaker-0: Hundred percent. speaker-2: Here we go again with the weather. Here here's that darn weather. Yeah. You know, you may not feel those raindrops forever. speaker-0: It's ⁓ for sure. And someday you're gonna miss the rain. Yeah. ⁓ fellas, I'm so excited to have you on the show and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to get to meet you and to share your story. Where can our community connect with you to support the foundation and all the amazing work you're doing? speaker-2: That's right. Yeah. speaker-1: Yes, they can visit our website, kylepeats.org. It's P-E-A-S-E. That way they can connect with with our social. They can sign up to be a volunteer. You don't have to be a runner to be a volunteer. And then you can donate. ⁓ If you're listener, you would like to do that as well. So go to the website and internet with us. speaker-0: Awesome. Thank you guys so much for being on the show. We'll make sure we put a link to the website in the show notes. Community get over and support these two for the amazing work they're doing. And thank you both so much for your time and and for coming on the show this week. speaker-2: Yeah, thank you. We appreciate it. speaker-0: 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 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. Hey everybody, if you've been tuning into the On Purpose Podcast, you already know we don't do a lot of fluff. My excellence on the leadership course is built on tactical coaching that transforms how you prepare, connect, and lead. Whether you're building a business, leading a team, or leveling up personally, we focus on deliberate actions, strategic relationships, and decisions that create lasting impact. If you're ready to lead with purpose and precision, book me for a class or a speaking engagement at teamhardy.net. And remember team, life is far too short to live any other way than on purpose. We'll see you all again next week.