Latest / The People Run Podcast / #22: Unstoppable: He Lost 200lbs Twice, Ran a Marathon, and Now He’s Hooked on Ultras - Jeff Humphrey

Transcript

#22: Unstoppable: He Lost 200lbs Twice, Ran a Marathon, and Now He’s Hooked on Ultras - Jeff Humphrey · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: With the weight loss, I ended up running my first mile ever.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've never I had never ran a mile without walking before in my life.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was an emotional guy.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was so emotional about it.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was so happy about it.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's kind of how the running happened in that.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just was like, well, if I could run one mile, I could run two.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: If I could run two, I could run three, five K, you know, and then you're you start setting these goals.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I came home from winter for winter break, and I was with at a with family at a family Christmas party.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And my uncle had been running a bunch at the time, and he was like, We should run a half marathon together.
• 0:38
  unknown: Okay.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, at this point, you know, the winter time, I'm probably running five to six to seven miles at a time, you know, slow and just getting it done and not worried about it, just doing the time.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: So after winter break, I went back to Mississippi, started school, and I was out running one day and I felt great.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I ran 14 miles in a training run.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I texted him and I was like, hmm, I already ran the half.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about doing a full marathon with me?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back everyone to the People Run Podcast.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: Today's a story that you don't hear often, and it's probably one of the craziest stories I've had on the podcast, or you're just gonna hear in general.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I have Jeff with me today who's lost 200 pounds, not just once, but twice.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: How do you lose 200 pounds twice?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, for those of you who've been listening, I've lost my own weight, so I'm curious to ask him how he did it twice.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: And um, not only did he lose the weight, he's uh been dabbling ultra running very successfully, running a lot of ultra, he's an ultra runner, he's a coach.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um without further ado, let's get right into it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, welcome on board to the People Run podcast, man.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for hopping on.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: How you doing today?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Man, thanks for having me.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh doing well today.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Can't complain.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful day out, so it's a good day.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, beautiful day out there.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I can see the sun kind of peeking through your window.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Let's jump right into it, man.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, so you lost 200 pounds, not once, but twice.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Walk me through the first one.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how'd that come about?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um like yourself, I lost the weight.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm assuming you never thought you were gonna lose 200, and then it happens.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: But what inspired you to go, you know what, I'm gonna lose some weight, and then eventually for the first time get up to 200 pounds of weight loss?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, like many people, I um struggled with weight throughout my entire life.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was always a big kid.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um the story I tell frequently on podcasters or to people when they ask this question is I remember vividly weighing in for football when I was a teenager.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I weighed just under 300 pounds, 290-something pounds.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was like probably 14 or 15 years old at that point, and it just continued to rise from there.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, never thought, you know, I would always yo-yo, you know, lose some weight here, get in, and then just come back to eating and binge eating and all of the stuff that comes with that partying through college, everything.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I decided to lose the weight when I met my now ex-wife and met her, and I just decided it was something that I had to do.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a story that we were at a ropes course with younger family members, and everybody's on the ropes course, and I was just standing there with my dad on the side, 23 years old.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Couldn't do that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's weight restrictions for all of those things, and I was just, you know, like, man, if I don't take care of this, I'm never gonna be able to do anything.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, 10 years from now, I'm gonna be on all kinds of medication thinking about death rather than life, for lack of a better explanation.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that July, this was July of 2015, uh, went on my first walk where my parents live, which is in the Adirondacks of upstate New York in the middle of nowhere.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: We went on this walk, and the first mile was all uphill, and I remember how awful I felt.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we stopped so many times and ended up walking like three miles, which is great.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for anybody who has followed me or doesn't follow me.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an all or nothing type of person.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, all in, let's just go walk this walk.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then so I, you know, started doing some research, just really eating uh clean for lack of a better term, and drinking like two gallons of water a day.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you know, everybody's like, you got to drink a ton of water.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um so at that point, about a month later, I was getting ready to move.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: I had finished my bachelor's degree, I was moving down south to Mississippi, where I spent five years um doing my graduate work.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I ended up thinking to myself, well, nobody knows me down here.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, nobody knows me as this party guy who hosted all these crazy house parties through college with all the drinking and all the partying and all this stuff.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I found it as an opportunity to reinvent myself.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the first things I did when I moved there was I got a gym membership to Crunch Fitness, which was up the road.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I my non-negotiable was going to the gym and doing 60 minutes of cardio every single day, no matter what.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up losing the first hundred pounds between July and the beginning of October.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then I rolled through there.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the walking started interval training, 30 seconds of running, um, and 30 seconds of walking.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I would just do 3030s because it's very digestible for an hour.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then in that time, I ended up with the weight loss, ended up running my first mile ever.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've never I had never ran a mile without walking before in my life.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was an emotional, I was so emotional about it, I was so happy about it.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, that's kind of how the running happened in that, and then I just was like, well, if I could run one mile, I could run two.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: If I could run two, I could run three, five K, you know, and then you're you start setting these goals.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I came home from winter for winter break, and I was with at a with family at a family Christmas party, and my uncle had been running a bunch at the time, and he was like, We should run a half marathon together.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and I was like, okay, at this point, you know, the winter time, I'm probably running five to six to seven miles at a time, you know, slow and just getting it done and not worried about it, just doing the time.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, so after winter break, I went back to Mississippi, started school, and I was out running one day and I felt great.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I ran 14 miles in a train run.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I texted him and I was like, hmm, I already ran the half.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about doing a full marathon with me?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we'll do we'll do Buffalo, New York Marathon in the end of May, blah blah blah blah.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Everything says, you know, you need 16 to 20 weeks or whatever it is to do this, and he was like, I'm in.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: So over the course of that year, as we got ready for the marathon, the beginning of May rolled around, and I had lost, I know I was weighing around 220 to 225 at the start of the marathon, and at my heaviest, I was well over 450, 460 pounds.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: So over that course of that 10 months, I had lost probably 210 to 220 pounds.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's wild, man.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Through running and then also through severe calorie restriction, which we can get into because there's no real way to lose that amount of weight without a crazy deficit.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's something I I want to dabble in and ask you for sure.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Cause like in my weight loss journey, right?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: I when I think of the time when you started 2015, um, I'm trying to remember the year I started, but what I'm getting at is there wasn't I'll speak for myself, maybe you have similar.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: There wasn't like a lot of social media at the time.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: There wasn't like, hey, here's uh 20 different diets, and here's this influencer showing you, guiding you the way, or like the stories weren't out there, like hey, this person lost 200, this person lost a hundred.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: You would kind of just uh go on the internet or figure stuff out on the fly, right?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: And you mentioned that like severe calorie restriction.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: I could definitely relate to that because I was just trying to eat clean.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: I had no idea at the time about macrobes and protein, and I would just I just eliminated right like a lot of bad foods and kept that.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: What I didn't realize till very, very later on that I was eating also very lightly in calories, till like a lot of weight had gone, because at that point your body caught up with okay, you need a little bit more fuel, but we don't know any better, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're we're on the journey.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: So um what was that like for you?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what did you eat during that 10 month period?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: What what did you look up that went, okay, this is my quote unquote diet?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really look anything up.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I started getting into you uh that's when I my obsession for YouTube came, where I still love YouTube, and I just started watching every running documentary that I could for motivation.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then the eating side of it, it was I'm a I'm big on habits and like I'm a creature of habit.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I ate pretty much the same thing every single day.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I would rarely eat breakfast, so I was intermittent fasting before it was a thing, like before I knew it was a thing, before you hear all of these.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now we hear it everywhere.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I would eat lunch.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: I would we had a subway um like right on campus and right behind the school of music.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I would go over to Subway and I'd get a six-inch uh flatbread, turkey, whatever, uh, with mustard.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I learned about condiments and drink, you know, like not eat not consuming your calories and dressings and and beverages.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: That was a big thing um for me that I made the change.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I would do that, the six-inch turkey loaded down with veggies, um, and then I would do the apple slices and I would do a Diet Coke.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I love Diet Coke.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't people say whatever they want, but I I love it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so um I would do that, and then for dinner I would end up, I would do like um like chicken, rice, yeah, that type of thing, and that was pretty much it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I was honestly for the better part of eight plus months, I was eating probably 1200 to 1400 calories a day.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay, and never fluctuating, rarely fluctuating.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, and for anybody who knows, that's just not enough to sustain, especially if you're training.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you're training, yeah, even if you're not training, it's still not really enough, you know, and so um I learned a lot of lessons, especially through training, and like I was out for a long run and I ended up passing out on the side of the trail.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay, because I was underfueled and I didn't know anything about intra fueling for these runs or anything, or or carbloating or anything like that.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea what I was doing, and so from there after that happened, I was like, okay, I need to, I need to up, you know, I need to increase here.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and but for my uh my goal was just like I wanted to see seven pounds a week come off.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And for months, I was seeing seven pounds a week come off, and so for weight loss, and I say this to people now that I work with and all types of things, like weight loss itself is rather easy, it's like math.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you know the math, calories in versus calories out, it's gonna work for you.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a matter of sticking through that.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I just had it dialed in in terms of numbers, and so I was getting what I wanted, but it just wasn't a sustainable way to lose weight.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, no, agreed.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I went through the similar process, I think, just back then, and I just now remember the year because I remember I started a long career path with a certain company for 14 years, like right around when I lost the weight.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I lost my weight the year after you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: Because I remember starting this job at the end of like 2016, going into 17, and it it was literally the year anniversary of me losing the 150.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And to your point, you know, as you're saying this, I'm thinking of just the times.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um like, yeah, everything was trial and error.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I didn't we didn't know any better, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: There was no like, hey, you know, you uh gel on mile, whatever.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um I didn't start running, I running came later for me, but it was just all I knew was chicken, protein, fruits, you know, uh get a lot of veggies.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um I definitely can relate to the subway, you know.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Subway at the time was like this big ordeal, like, oh, it's super healthy, this is the place you go to, and man, it was just an easy, like and it was cheap.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it was cheap, yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not more, but uh it was, it was once.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, everything was cheap back then.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's crazy.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh totally it's like twenty dollars one bowl nowadays.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know, yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Forget a lot.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, what did uh I want to ask you because you mentioned the family.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: I want to pivot to like the year after your first weight loss, right?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because something you said kind of made it similar to mine.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Did you did your family see you through this whole process, or did they see you after that's what I thought exactly?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: So for those listening, not on the video, he's shaking his head, but uh they saw you, I'm assuming it was the same for me, like a year, 10 months later.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: What was their reaction from family?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, in your case, they saw you uh it was this big guy, and then it's like, when did you lose 100, 200?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever they saw you, what was their take?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was always like shock, you know what I mean?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Shocking.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um because it I mean, when you live with live it with yourself, and especially like now I deal with this a lot in terms of um body image issues, and you live it with yourself, you don't really see it.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And like I know people talk about it all the time, but it's true.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like you don't see it.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then so when people's reactions are that genuine, it's like, oh wow, okay, this must be, you know.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, it was always like that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I would see them on like breaks, so it was like halfway.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like a hundred, you know, a hundred something, and then another hundred something.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that was yeah, but like for my brother, I hadn't seen him, he's in the military.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then I saw him like post marathon the following summer.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And like, yeah, so it was it was always it's cool.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, it's the people who love you too.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So they want what's best for you, and they know it's it's best for you.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it was always, you know, that's always a good feeling, and then having those conversations and and that kind of stuff.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that had to be very uh emotional, if you will, man.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you put in the work all every day.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: I remember for me, I would only remember like when clothes stop fitting.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like you would buy a new set of clothes and then it's like, wait, I just bought this a couple months ago and it doesn't work.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, then you see a friend or family.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I joke with people.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, mine's kind of been a while ago, but like I used to be able to camouflage and dodge people you don't want to like hang out with no more.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because like I uh I went to Dominican Republic, uh, which is where I'm from for a little bit for a good six months or so while I was losing the weight, just naturally a vacation that ended up being longer.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: My parents were retiring to make a long story short.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I lost like half of the weight over there while I already had lost the first half.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: So when I came back home to the States in New York, if you were to see me and see the old me like and you were like a friend, or or unless it was family, they didn't know who I was.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: I had to literally like look at people and be like, look at my face.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, Holy crap, who is this?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: What happened?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I remember I would walk in New York, um, because I was still in the same place I grew up, and I would walk past people, and some people they know, and if I didn't want to interact, I could just keep walking.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't know who I was, which was hilarious, man.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, so that's what inspired me to ask you that question is like, you know, you don't see people for a while, and even your own family, they're like, is this the same person?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and really you're not really you're not the same person, you know.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, so uh yeah, so that was that year, and yeah, that and ran Buffalo Marathon.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: That was my first marathon.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so it's kind of like a cool bow to put on that part of the story, you know.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: What was that experience like for you running the Buffalo Marathon?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the first one, you know.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Again, we're talking about emotions, you lose all this weight, then you do another lifetime achievement, if you will, and go run a marathon 26.2.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I can only imagine crossing that finish line thinking like, hey, my name is Jeff, and I'm no longer the old Jeff from two years ago.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm a different person entirely, and you just prove it to yourself, you know?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, the experience was good um until it got really hot that year.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was like record-setting heat, and it was like in the 90s, and anybody who runs know that knows that that's not great.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we got into Delaware Park in Buffalo and it's just all exposed, like mile 18, and it was just like a slug fest from there on out.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you learn I learned a lot about running and you know, electrolytes, had no idea what electrolytes were before that.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Again, just uh, you know, I trained for it.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't that I was undertrained, I just didn't know anything about fuel link.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: But we finished, and that's that's all I cared about.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't care about anything else, and and uh yeah, we finished and it it was great, it was an awesome experience.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing uh to go through the weight loss, run the marathon, run a hot one, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: It and it still didn't deter you because we'll get into your running in a bit, but the man continues to run after to have your first one be so hot, man.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh did the transformation just drive you like, man, I'm not stopping.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: If I have to walk all through this, I'm just gonna go through it.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I didn't there was never a question in terms of like pulling the plug or anything like that.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're still it wasn't any I don't think it was anything great.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was over five hours, but it was whatever.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: We walked a bunch.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: The last 5k was good though, because we came back to life with via bananas and Gatorade.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: So no, I there was never a question, especially about like what that year had imposed, like the challenges that have been brought to me throughout that year, and it was like, you know, so by then you were probably so mentally strong, just up there, just going through everything you go through, you know.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'll ask you in a bit here, but there's definitely some mental challenges maybe you can relate for sure when you go through that transformation.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um to use the gaga's code, your mind was callous beyond uh callous mind.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_03: Walk me through the second time.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, how does that come about?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: You lose 200 something pounds, and then here we are go back again.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta re-lose it like uh you gained the weight back.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: What what was that?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: What what happened there?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um old habits die hard.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So like I said, I moved down south as a Mississippi, and at that point I was coming into the final year of my master's degree and needed to make a decision about what I wanted to do, and I ended up choosing to stay and continue my doctoral studies.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and with that, obviously, comes a lot more coursework.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then on top of it, you're trying to build a resume to get out into the real world of music, which like teaching my goal was to teach university level music.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: That was my goal, um, which is a very competitive place to be.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so, as I said before, I'm an all or nothing type of person, so my focus shifted to that again, 110%.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I just yeah, I stopped, you know, really training and running, and I would do it here and there again, and then the weight just came back, you know, like it it it can just it can just happen if you lose focus, like if you you know, you've built up years and years and years of bad habits, and so those that one day turned into two, turned into three.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so um over the course of the next four years, I had uh yeah, I was pro by the time we moved to Pennsylvania where I am now, I was probably close to 400 pounds again.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: Got it.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, if not a little bit more than that.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, no, that makes sense.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: You put all your energy into schooling and and and following a passion.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um how did you I guess you had some confidence though this time around that you can lose uh the weight again?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: Is that how that happened?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so, but that's also ignorance and arrogance, too, where you're just kept making excuses.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just kept making excuses and and the only way to get to be that fat is to make excuses.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just continue to make excuses, man.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I lost it once, I could lose it again.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and then it just Never happened.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then, um, so COVID shut the world down in 2020.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: We moved to Pennsylvania, and I was just super depressed and laying in bed trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with my life and all of this stuff.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And over the I would say 2021 more so that first year I sulked and whatever and continued to make excuses.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then 2021, I really was like, I need to get my shit back together.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just was like, I need to start running again.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I started working with a personal trainer for the first time ever in July of that year.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess July is just the time for me.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Time when you start, right?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And now thinking about that.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it was good, and we were doing a bunch of weightlifting and that kind of stuff, which was great.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: And he kind of helped jumpstart me back on that path.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, man, I just really miss running.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And like so I started from ground zero again from zero and just started running and started training.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was working at a um a resort up here in the Polconos that had I had free access to the to the gym when I finished.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of that's where I found my new path, my newfound passion for treadmill training, I guess, um, because that's just what I do now for the most part.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I started training, I started running again, and I just set another audacious goal.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a running festival here called the Two Rivers Running Festival.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's on uh right up right down the road from the Delaware River, beautiful spot, and they do a weekend of running, so 5k, 10k, half full, two days in a row.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, okay.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I told my family at that point that I was like, I'm gonna do the double.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: And they were like, okay, and so I registered.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's an option to register for the double, they give me a discounted price, you get two medals, all that stuff.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I just started training, and I gave myself 14, 12 or 14 weeks to train, and I was and I in March of 2022, I ran back-to-back marathons, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, and that kind of just like sparked my you know that trajectory again, but this time doing it in a more sustainable way, like understanding that it's gonna take time, like probably did a lot of damage to my body the first time losing the weight the way I did, and muscle uh losing muscle, and it really does mess with your um like your hormones and stuff too, like losing weight like that.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: I found and your your um metabolism.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: So like learning my way through that and like what I needed to do and what works.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just been on that like path of just continuing to lose the weight over the now, it's been what three years since then, and just like not allowing the weight loss to define me, but also knowing that I could still go out and run and you know, bigger guy, blah blah it doesn't matter, you know what I mean?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Moving is moving and and just kind of taking a different approach to it.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, um, that's kind of how that happened, and then I just continued to sign up for races and do these like hard things and um started a coaching company in 2022 shortly thereafter, and have been coaching people successfully for the last three years now.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's been awesome because I never thought I was gonna do that, but it's kind of funny being a former teacher, it's like very similar um in helping people, and so yeah, so I ran that.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was probably still right around 300 pounds when I did the two marathons in two days, too.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's insane, man.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one, because you did it and you lost the weight twice, and also, you know, being able to relate, like when you run, like for example, when I was losing my weight, I started to walk running.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: I thought I could run, and you know, the life lessons, the real teacher.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: And my shins were just so in pain that I couldn't do it back to back.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, like I would have to take a day off, and I learned it by trial and error.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: I would try to walk run.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I started walking, walk turn into walk running, etc.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: etc.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I started with lifting first, but the first foray was at a local park.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, mine was I just happened to be Prospect Park.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I live near it.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh that's kind of why, and you mentioned you did three miles.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: I went half around the park.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: I lived there for 20 plus years at this time, and I had no idea because I wasn't active that that park looped.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so far into the park that I'm like, man, I don't know if I can turn back because I'm already afraid of 20 minutes, right?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: 20 minutes felt so daunting back then to turn back.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, I'm gonna just keep going the park, and I that's how I found out it looped.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: But um, I said it to say, man, for you to run 26.2 back to back, 300 pounds, like for those, like that's really hard to move.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like I'm sure you had some muscle from building running, and but you also have some of the weight, like that's very hard for those who, you know, maybe you're a big guy, you lift, or or or lady, um, but it's a lot to move that weight, and then to do it back to back, man, that's uh drive talent.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and man, amazing to you to be able to do that.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was my first like dabble into like ultra.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you essentially did.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it essentially is, right?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like staged differently.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's honestly, I think it's harder to do that because you go home and you snuggle in bed and you get comfortable, and then you have to wake up when your alarm goes off and go do it again the next morning.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like so where it's like you you lose the momentum and then you have to go do it again, you know.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, you essentially shut down like your adrenaline, you get sleep, the body starts doing its thing to recover, and then you're like, no, psych.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: So what what did you find um when you look back, what's been harder, like the physical side or the mental side of losing the weight twice?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely the mental side.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: I struggle with that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and any um any time that life lifes and it gets hard, it's like always want to hide and go back to, you know, and and um yeah, and I've been really uh digging into the mental health side of things for myself this year, um, and being open about it as a almost 35-year-old man.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um this has been this year has been the most challenging year of my life.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Got divorced, living on my own, and then kind of I stopped training again last year.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: I ran a bunch of races last year, and then as things happen and those conversations start to happen um in your relationship, uh you know, you're focused on that.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I was focused on that.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: I had just started a job on top of it, and I was focused on that, and I just stopped running.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I pretty much didn't run from November until February of this year.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: So again, starting over and doing that and just um really digging into the long-term mindset of like how to not allow myself to get to that point again where you just kind of stop and then you have to start over because now, you know, and just continue with momentum.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: No, I get that.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and one of the things you said is is obviously you're doing it, and I feel is the key is those habits, right?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned turning those bad habits into good.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um you're on the path of the good, right?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: Because now you've done it twice and and you bounce back from that, you're running again in a shorter gap than last time, if you will.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so the good habits is taking over.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: If I could draw here over there, definitely that's what happens.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: You get that momentum, man, and and you're crushing it.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we'll talk about the running here in a sec, but like um, that side is definitely taking over.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, what have you faced with uh you know, I figure we could talk a little bit about this because I I used to a lot more as well.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: But you mentioned body image, like what have you experienced after losing the weight, and probably even currently now where you probably still think about it.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_03: I know every now and then I still do to be honest and transparent.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all the time for me.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um still.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm still I'm still a bigger guy.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still 200 and probably 245 to 255, somewhere in that range.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't have a I I don't have a scale in my apartment because I have because of my fixation with the numbers and like I said about the story and that kind of stuff.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I base all of my weight loss off of like my fitness and then uh what you were talking about, like clothing, like you could tell in your clothing.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's been a good thing for me too.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of getting away from that.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: But the body image issues is some days you look at yourself and you're like, Oh yeah, I feel good, and then other days you look at yourself and you're like, Oh no, or um what's the quote, comparison is the thief of joy.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: So like you're lining up at these races or these things, and you see these people, and you're like, I don't look like these people, and you start to have that conversation, and you you you have that conversation with yourself, and it's like that you know, the biggest thing for me this year hasn't just been like the confidence side of it, like it doesn't matter, like I've proved to myself over and over and over again that I'm strong enough that I can do whatever I put my mind to, you know what I mean, in terms of running, um in terms of battling, you know, whatever the pain is or whatever it is, and um and it doesn't matter, you know, like um if somebody's 160 pounds or you're 240 pounds or 300 pounds or whatever it is, moving is moving, and that's kind of a lesson that I live by and I coach by, and it's easy to get caught up now because, like we were saying, the social media for all the good that social media is, there's a ton of bad where you just see and you're comparing, like, oh well, this person ran 100 miles in 20 hours or whatever it is, and you have this expectation, but you just have you have to remember that you are you.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's been a big thing for me, is just like it doesn't it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing, it doesn't matter if somebody thinks that running on the treadmill for all these miles is not as beneficial for what running is running is running and walk running and all of this stuff, whatever your plan is, whatever your trajectory is, it's all the same.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what anybody else believes or what anybody else is doing um as you're doing it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of a body image issue route I've taken for myself.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I know I'm moving in in the good direction, you know, like my workout today tells me I'm moving in a good direction.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be running this pay these paces if I wasn't moving in the positive direction, or my clothes fitting a certain way or fitting into new button-downs for work that I wasn't able to fit into at the beginning of the year, and all of these things.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that for anybody listening who's trying to lose weight, just weigh your non-scale victories more than anything else.
• 33:47
  unknown: Yeah.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: So man, I I couldn't have said it any better there than everything you just shared, right?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and I think it's something you said very early on as we started this.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's m basically like not being defined by it and just working day in and day out, the habits, the process.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, it's kind of hard to what I like to say is ignore the noise nowadays, but you you have to in in order for the goal, right?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, you got social media as well, you're posting out there and sharing your story.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um at the end of the day, the body just knows you're working, right?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: The heart rate goes up and down.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so uh no, that's amazing, man.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and like Jeff said, for those listening, man, just take those small wins and and and use that as your measure of success.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: One thing I found for myself is nowadays for quite a time now, I kind of detach myself from outcomes, if you will, which kind of sounds crazy in this day and age, but it's kind of like people love to talk discipline nowadays, you know, talking about social media and Instagram and and and all that fun stuff.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: But discipline is great.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: And and to me it is the answer.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: But when you delve deeper, it's we can probably talk about this even on the weight loss is like it's the the habits, the uh the processes you do, right?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: So, like if you want to lose weight, what's in your fridge?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what how close is your gym?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: I think one thing that works for you, which are when I like talk to people is like, hey, but make it easy, right?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: You had the gym with work, boom, that's gonna make up less chances that you don't go to the gym because your gym just happens to be right there.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: So the process, right?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: And if you show up three, four times a week, that's process versus like oh, I want to lose 40, 50 pounds.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's gonna take some time, you know, but focus on the process.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, and I have those conversations frequently with people who I wanna, you know, I want to run a marathon.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, okay, great, I love it, you know what I mean.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But then they start setting these goals, and it's like, well, what have you done before?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or you know, what's the process process again looked like before to you?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because we look at people's Instagrams or YouTube and they're just going and throwing down marathons all the time, it's like, but you don't see anything before that, what they've done.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I think that the running boom is amazing.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love it that people are out there and they're doing this, and so many people running Marine Corps marathon that I knew today, and like all of this stuff.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, this is amazing, but just getting through a marathon in itself, we've it's almost like we've lost the respect for that distance.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I just coached somebody through their first marathon at Chicago, and she was just disappointed because like it got it got warm and those types of things, and those factors that you can't control, and it is it is what it is, but it's like you just finished your first marathon, it doesn't matter if it was five plus hours or whatever the time is, and so I think it's a dangerous place to be too, where you forget about where we we don't reflect on the journey, and it's all about the outcome.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was thinking about this over the last couple of weeks because I set this goal to finally run 100 miles this year and and it didn't happen again, third time it didn't happen again.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: There were factors that went into that and all of these things, but like I felt disappointed for some time, and I was disappointed, and then I reflected, I was like, and it happened so fast, like it was I was disappointed in the middle of the night because you see your bowl slipping further and further away, and it's easy to be like, oh man, and you get down on yourself, and then as the sun came up, and like all of these things, and I was just like 500-pound Jeff could have never imagined moving for 24 hours, and now you're mad that you didn't get to the cutoff to run a hundred miles.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, you're still I'm still better than I was in like just that journey of a a decade now.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this whole journey of a decade and these these ups and downs and these undulations and all of these things are yeah, yeah, take some time to reflect and then set the new goal and just keep hammering forward, keep pushing forward, you know.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, yeah, that's that's how I feel about that a little bit.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_03: No, I wholeheartedly agree, man.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_03: I I mean that could be a whole different show podcast in itself.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one, the distance, you know, and how people feel like disappointed and outcomes.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's some people do their best to share it and whatnot, but that's a whole rabbit in itself, a rabbit hole in itself.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: But uh you know, let's talk about that hundred mile uh attempt.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that was very recent.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: So you you went for a hundred mile uh race, which is still a goal of yours.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think you defined it as 24 hours of pain.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh walk me through what the reflect later on and and and look up to it, and uh, you know, you're gonna still go for it.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: But what was that like, you know, to line up, hey man, five years ago Jeff wouldn't have done.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: Now I'm here at the start line, and and it didn't go to plan, but walk me through what that was like and and seeing the sunrise and all that fun stuff.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you set the goal, you go out for the goal, and then sometimes things, life just has different plans for you.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: The day has different plans for you.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh the weather wasn't ideal, so it started, it was raining a little bit, and then it was humid, and so you're sweating a lot and all of this stuff.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so probably about four hours into the race, I started feeling my first blisters on my feet happening.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we started taking care of those, doing what we can, tape up the feet, all of that stuff that happens in the and um running in general, and um and then around the marathon 50k, my periformis muscle in my left hip started bothering me, and then later on it just started seizing.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the combination of those two things um just really slowed down the day and lots of time stretching the hip out, fixing the feet, changing socks, changing shoes, all of this stuff.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then yeah, so I mean, it was essentially I think it's probably 16 hours of just like painful running and blisters and and hip muscle that was seizing in the middle of the night, so we'd have to stop, gun it, stretch it out, and some loops were getting 20, 25, 30 minutes, and um it's just part of the game, it's part of the the process, like we're talking about.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Of sometimes you just you can only do what you can only do, and I will tell you that I did want to quit.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm over this.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was like 43, 44 miles into this endeavor, and time is probably out the window at this point, and I'm like sitting in the chair sulking, and and my coach was he it he was just like I understand, but I'm not we don't quit in the chair, and that's what he said to me.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: We don't quit in the chair, and like you just move until you can't move anymore, and like that was um that was a I'm grateful for him for that because I would have quit.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: I know I would have.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: I would have just stopped because the goal was out the window, and I didn't, and that was probably nine nine p.m.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: at nine or nine or p.m.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: at night, and you have to go in another 12 hours in that mindset, and so we just didn't quit.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Just kept doing what we were doing and stretching and eating and all of the stuff that comes with ultra running, and and um was able to run a little bit here and there, and then by the time 2 or 3 a.m.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: came around, I just couldn't run anymore, so I just walked as much as I could, as hard as I could, and then was able to just kind of reflect and just be like, you know, this is the first time that I'm moving for 24 hours, the sun's gonna come up.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: I got to see the sun come up and just like was super grateful um for this year as a whole.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it's been a really it was a really tough year um for me, and so uh it was kind of just kind of a cool experience.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not gonna let this define me.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's we're gonna move.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: And my parents were there, it was amazing.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: The sun came up, and I was grateful for that, and all of just another day, like you're grateful for another day, and just kind of taking a gratitude approach to it, which I honestly um have been horrible about, you know.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: You get so we get so goal driven, and I'm a driven person, I'm determined, and all of these things, but sometimes we forget just to be grateful that we're able to do these things, and so um yeah, the the goal didn't come to fruition, um, but I know that it will because we're uh moving in the right direction.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: All of the all of the runs and leading up to it were were good and telling and all of that stuff.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: Two things I want to delve into that.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: First and foremost, you said during the race, you know, coach goes, Hey, we don't quit in the chair.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: You run essentially a whole nother eight plus hours, you see the sunrise, the whole networks.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, I I've run fools, I've never done ultra.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: And for those listening, some have run ultras.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we've had ultra people on here, some run marathons, hell, even a 510K, right?
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there comes a point in every race where the mental kicks in and you're like, Why am I doing this?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: Should I continue?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: Do I stop?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: But you're in an ultra, is what I'm getting.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Getting at you're uh 16, 20 hours in.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how are you able to uh reflect in that moment?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: You're way past the mental and pain cave and the wall, like you you're deep in it where like willpower comes way down, and the mental just your fatigue, you know, the body is stressed up to a probably new heights, right?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's the first hundred.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um what do you attribute that to to be able to still 20 plus hours sunrise coming in to still think of because coach said that at mile 40 something?
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know specifically what what that moment was or why, um other than you know, like I could still walk.
• 44:45
  unknown: Okay.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if I can still walk, we could we're we're gonna walk, you know, and and um, and there's just lessons to be learned, and again, just being like I I was just thinking, you just have a lot of time to think.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: All of my headphones are dead at this point, pretty much.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're like charging my phone, so you're just walk-running loops, and you're just like, you have all of this time to reflect, and I just wanted to think about like I was just thinking about how um far I've come.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it was the honestly the first time that I've I've been in that headspace where I was like, it wasn't a negative place, sometimes it's a negative place that you're digging this out of, and I just didn't want it to be a negative experience, and so I just chose I was just like, Well, I'm still able to walk.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: We started walking, that's how I started this whole journey, and so this is crazy that I'm 60 something miles into this, and we're I'm still able to walk.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not you know, it wasn't the goal, but it's like this is still amazing, and so um, and like earlier this year I had a I had a great experience where I ran um you know an event, and so I know it's there too.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's like that pushed me through too.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, this is it just wasn't the it wasn't the day, you know, and and so um and so yeah, but that's kind of where I'm at.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like a cool moment, you know, you're deep in the race, and instead of being clouded by like wrong thoughts, like it just came to you like, man, how far you've come and the gratitude.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: That that's an amazing feeling.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes races go that way.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: You're deep in it, may not go your way, and like all the good feelings come out.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: We want that all the time, right?
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: And it just happened to happen for you on that day.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: What was uh having the family like there for it meant to you?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you had a crew, right?
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's an ultra, you gotta have a crew and support family, friends.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, rough year, and you're doing this endeavor for a hundred mile.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_03: What was the support like?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: What's it been, you know, even now?
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_03: You're running a lot, doing a lot of ultras, um, having family and friends there.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's it's everything.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like uh I was very excited for my parents to come down.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they'd spent like five hours in the car to get there, and um you know, and and when you go through these massive life changes, weight loss, divorce, changing careers, all of this, all of this stuff, like there's those are the people who are always with you.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so like I feel like this year in particular, they've been on this journey with me because I've talked to them more than anybody else.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I talk to I call my mom every single day, and and so like you're sharing that experience of like, oh, we're yeah, we got through this year, like you know, and and so um, and just like seeing them sitting there, like they're the ones responsible for you.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're sitting under this tent, and every time you come around, like they see that you're in pain and agony and all of this stuff, and you're just like, no, like I'm uh in a way, you're doing uh, you know, in a way sometimes I'm thinking about doing it for them, like you know what I mean, and that and that kind of thing.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: So uh super, super grateful for them.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a couple, you know, other people that I knew were there, and and so it's just it was it was a good experience, like a positive experience in general, um, to have those types of people.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's always good to have people who love you around when you're doing hard things too, because um that just that seeing them and feeling them and all of those things is gonna help it can help to push you along too.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_03: No, for sure.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_03: That that's awesome, man.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like a great time, you know, with family and friends and then showing up.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um parents were probably like, what's he doing?
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_03: But but they're also proud of you at the same time.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: So you've dabbled in ultras for quite a while now, right?
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: You've you've done several races.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_03: What has been some of your favorite races you've done so far?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I like the I like the timed um races.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I've done a few 12-hour um races um because it's just you versus you.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if for any I I also um for anybody who's looking to jump into ultra running, that's I would highly recommend that, like six hour, twelve hour, something like that, because again, you it's just about what you can do and what you want to do.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there is no distance.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, myself, I prefer training to time rather than distance because sometimes it just gets very overwhelming to think, oh my god, I gotta go run 20 miles, and you're like, oh, I feel this way five miles in, and I still have to do 15 more rather than you know, oh, I'm gonna go run for three hours.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you can kind of chunk up and you can break up that time a little bit differently in your mind almost, if that makes sense.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit to me, anyways, it's a little bit less um nerve-wracking, you know.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I've done a few 12-hour races.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I did 12 hours on the treadmill in June for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, so a fundraiser for local Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh so the time thing again.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a couple uh 50K's and stuff like that as well.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, I'm I don't not too too many, um, but I hopefully I think in the next year I'll probably start doing some more like events or like going, traveling maybe to some races and doing stuff like that.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, so but 12 hours is always like I enjoy that for the most part.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: So and the one in June went really, really well.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was working, um, my coach who I was talking about was actually Dan Marcese, who was on your podcast, and he was he's been amazing this year, um, and and helped me immensely, just digging me out of everything that I was dealing with and really helping me restructure everything and successfully.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, that was a huge PR day for me.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: So like I know that I have it in me to get this done, and that's what I'm really looking forward to, you know, is getting it done.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_03: So you're all in the ultra.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I am, I am, but I mean, I like I do I love marathons too, so yeah, you know, yeah.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh what is it about the time since time's your favorite?
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: What is it you like the the challenge of hey, I'm gonna go for 12 hours?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it's just um like we were talking about before, it's just more about it's more personal almost when there's just an open-ended amount of time, um it becomes more personal, it becomes more about what you set out to do rather than what anybody else is doing.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, like what we're talking about before, like the sub three-hour marathon benchmark or 255 now, because that's what Boston is, right?
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's like like everybody's trying to do that, and it becomes this thing versus like it you lose the personal side of running, um, almost if you're all you know, everybody's chasing this goal, this distance, this time.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and instead you're like, I'm just gonna go, I think I could run 50 miles in 12 hours, you know what I mean, or whatever it is, or 100k or whatever, whatever that goal is.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want to set that goal, if not, then you just go out and you go do what you're like, I'm I'm gonna run further than I ever have, anyways.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it just becomes a little bit more personal um to me, anyway.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: So no, I can see that based off of everything you shared.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_03: I like how you put that there, you know.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Boston, you're going for a 255 and you're doing it essentially for the Boston so that you can claim you're doing Boston versus like technically a PR stands for personal record, right?
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't stand for Boston record.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it doesn't stand for like, you know, it's exciting.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm one of the people that want to do a major, but you know, it's important to do it for your own uh personal benefit, joy, and your actual personal record.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um I want to ask you, you know, so you got these races um for those listening.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: You shared already you had the hundred and and you got uh you got close, but we still have that target of wanting to hit a hundred.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_03: You're doing a hundred on a treadmill coming up here.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_03: How's the training look like now, now that you're more experienced, and how's the nutrition also looking like now that you're also more experienced and and also a coach?
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so training-wise, specifically, like moving in you mean over the next couple of months towards this hundred-mile effort, or you're training for an ultra now, and I'm assuming it's pretty consistent with how you train in today in 2025, if you will, and and eat as well.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um training-wise, typically five, six running five, six days a week, strength training a couple days a week, um, two to three days a week, and then um it's honestly not um super high volume, but really just getting like those long runs in um when they need to happen.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so just like periodization in terms of that, in terms of ultra running, and that was something that I was lacking, and I credit that to working with Dan actually um for myself was that like before when I was doing these things, I would do I would run anywhere from seven to ten miles a day, and then I was doing like back-to-back long runs on the weekends, so 15, 20 mile back-to-backs.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then then he shifted me to getting into like the four to six hour long runs, those longer runs on the weekends, and that helps with the mindset side of things in ultrarunning, I think, more so where you're really learning how to deal with some of these things that are happening and uh strategize real time um and adjust if you're not feeling the greatest.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then nutrition, nutrition-wise, is ultrarunning is an eating competition.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's you gotta get a ton of calories in and you can't be scared to eat.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so being okay with that as somebody who's lost an immense amount of weight um is a hurdle sometimes too, especially in training, as it you're trying to lose weight to be better suited to do these events.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, like balancing calorie deficit versus surplus and maintenance and all of these things um has been something that I've been focused on.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, like usually during the week, my cal I'm in a deficit.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then as we move into the weekend towards these longer efforts, I'll ramp it up and I'll do you know more carbs and of course, you know, picking the right gels, uh like shoes and socks and all of these things, gels are very personal too.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, agree.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: So finding a gel that works for you and experimenting with that with enough time, you know, in training, utilizing them in training and then just not making any changes.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then ultra running eating eating real food, eating whole food, you know what I mean?
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as well as gels and all of that stuff too.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um, like the 12 hour we did in June, I was eating McDonald's on the treadmill and plant of fitness, which I'll do, which I'll do during this hundred, because there's a McDonald's right across the parking lot, so it's kind of perfect, actually.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like really getting used to like consuming food while you're moving and like you practicing that because your stomach needs to be able to handle all of that stuff too, and uh, so yeah, that's kind of the the approach there.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just a more like I eat to train now, yeah, more so than like eating to lose weight, if that makes sense.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, yeah, so it depends on like how I'm training.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so now the next 40, I guess it's probably I think it's like 48 days.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do I have the whole month of December to choose when I want to get this hundred miles done, and you just pick the date and you just do it.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a virtual challenge, and they send you the buckle in the mail.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, and uh so I picked December 14th, so it's a Sunday because the gym has to be open for at least 24 hours.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: So Sunday into Monday, and uh so I guess over the next 40 something days, I'm just gonna ramp up over the next probably I'll probably spend five weeks building again and then take a couple, a week and a half kind of down taper and then get it done.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, thankfully I have a strong base beneath me.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: I ran just about 1500 miles this year, so I have a strong base underneath me in terms of feeling confident.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to get a couple more you know key long runs in that give me the confidence going into it again.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to pause on that because you said, hey, I don't really do long runs, and then for the listener, Jeff just said he's had 1500 miles already.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_03: Just about I say that jokingly, but to also cement that the man's got some fitness, obviously, and endurance already, you know, and coming right off training for 100 to into another, obviously you're gonna be able to carry a lot of that that good fitness into this one.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: So how's how's the injury coming?
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_03: The one you had at the 100, like you're all good and healed up now?
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that I I don't think I mean it was rough.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: I live on the third floor too, and our elevators broken.
• 58:40
  unknown: Yeah.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it took me, I think it took me all of five plus minutes to get upstairs, and I just didn't I didn't leave my apartment for like two days.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: I really just rested, and then I it was really painful the first week.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't yeah, I don't we definitely weren't like it wasn't, it was probably on the verge of injury versus like in that realm.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so thankfully um I was able to start running.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I started running again on Friday last week, uh the week of like after, and I ran three days, and then I like I said, I traveled some this week for work, and then I took the five days off this week and just could did a couple runs this weekend, and then we'll start back, you know, to full full-time training um this tomorrow.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know now that you've you've kind of got a good lock on training and and how you eat and eating to fuel and and fitness and loss, weight loss, your strength training now consistently all that good stuff.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: I want to ask a kind of joking question.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_03: So for me, right, when I lost the weight, there's a couple foods that never left from the bad days.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh maybe you have some.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_03: So for me, that's ice cream.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have any food that you still just like uh I'm just still gonna eat this?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: And because you train so much, it kind of doesn't matter anymore.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what what stuck from back then to Jeff now?
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um oh man, there's probably a few things like going home to visit my mom and my dad, because my mom's an incredible cook.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: So there's foods like she sent me home with a bunch of she sent me home with so much food from the race.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: She like basically brought enough food for the entire event.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so there was foods there, like they're not bad, bad foods, but just like childhood foods.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um her homemade meatballs and chicken and dumpling soup and like that kind of stuff.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then if anything, like if I'm like black, I love boneless wings.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: So those stay with me, uh, you know, like here and there, once a week, maybe.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um pizza, stuff like that, like um that I'm not I'm just not scared of it anymore because I know it doesn't define tomorrow, if that makes sense.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, like for you, you know what I mean?
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you've dealt with that, but for anybody listening, is like that's the biggest takeaway.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you're on a weight loss journey, like going out and having a couple drinks with friends at the bar or whatever you're choosing to do, or eating boneless wings and pizza one night, as long as it doesn't roll into tomorrow, then you're good to, you know, you're good to go.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: And and allow yourself to feel that and allow yourself to do that because that's real life.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: And anybody who tells you different is lying to you.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh allow those real life, you know, things to enjoy, and then just you get up the next day and you put your shoes on and you go do what you're gonna do because you said you were gonna do it.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_03: No, for sure.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: You have to, man.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, you touched on something there that definitely I can relate to, and for those listening as well, right?
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's important to put have a good when you're first starting out, get a base, get a foundation, good habits.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_03: But once you've lost some weight to what Jeff is saying right now, like uh don't feel guilty about in that pizza or whatever it is, right?
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_03: If you've been at it for eight, nine months straight, you've lost a bunch of weight, you've run a marathon, you've run a 5K, you did something you didn't think you could do, you're gonna be okay that one night.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like Jeff said, you know, it's it's more when you do it repeatedly for months and on months, and that really hurts you.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, one bad pizza ice cream, whatever it is, drink is not gonna kill you if you're gonna run the next day or vice versa, live.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, touching on that, what's one thing if you could uh roll the time back that you would tell your older self versus now?
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good question.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's probably a lot of things.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know if I would change anything or say anything, uh, because it's all part of life story.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I've people ask me that question all the time, because I like I touched on earlier, I went to school for music, I have a doctor in music, you know, did a doctoral course study coursework for music, and now I sell insurance.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so people ask me all the time.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do you do you regret, you know, do you have do you have regrets or something?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, no, I don't, because I wouldn't be sitting where I am having this conversation with you if anything was different.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, I'm a firm believer in that, even through the tough times in life.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's there's lessons to be learned.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um, if anything, I would just say to stay patient to my old self, like stay the course.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, it would have changed things differently, and I wouldn't be sitting where I am.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: On that say note, it might be the same answer, but someone listening to this who's probably in their let's say perceived uh rock bottom right now, they want to go through a weight loss transformation.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_03: They've tried three, four times, no luck.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um they want to get in shape, maybe it's running, right?
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_03: If they're listening, it's probably running.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's the people run podcasts, but what would you say to that person you know who's just now starting their journey?
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_01: Just start.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just start and don't look for the easy way out.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_01: In a world where there's an answer for everything, it's different for every single person, and there is no easy way to do what you want to do.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so if it's running, left foot, right foot, you start, do intervals, do what you need to do.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_01: If it's weight loss, just make one decision.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_01: Change this drink to this drink, just that one decision, and hold on to that for 30 days, and then make another adjustment.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you implement these little things over the course of time, and all of a sudden, six months from now, a year from now, you're a completely different person.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but my biggest thing in the world that we live in today is there is no easy answer, and there is no easy process to take a pill or a shot or whatever it is, sorry, that's gonna help you long term to get to where you want to go.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm a firm believer in that because I didn't, you know what I mean, and and so that's how I feel about that.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, you're you're it's meant to be hard, and it's nobody's fault but our own.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody else is to blame.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody else in my life was to blame for me getting to where I was, so I had to take responsibility for me, and I continually have to take responsibility for me and my actions and my choices in life in general, and then just one day at a time choose the right things to do, you know?
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_03: So well said, couldn't have said it better.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh love, love that.
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, for those listening, take that in.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_03: That that was an amazing uh message and direct, if you will, in a good way, right?
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, you mentioned the race coming up.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: uh in December here, but what what else is next for you or or you're just focused on the race right now?
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have some early plans for next year?
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um could be life general running races.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I mean dreadmill is the first thing because it's it's there and I I would I set the goal this year to run 100 miles successfully and I'm not leaving 2025 without a buckle.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna get that buckle and it's gonna be on the treadmill and planet fitness.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: So people are going to think they're that I'm cra they already think I'm crazy anyways because I go there all the time.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that's fine.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_01: But and next year possibly a 24 hour race in May April May somewhere in there.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then I have I have a very I have a big dream goal of running across the state of New York on the Empire State Trail.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_01: Whoa okay so that's like my long-term like goal uh being from New York growing up I was born in Connecticut but I was I grew up in upstate New York yeah and when I found out that they developed the Empire State Trail from end to end I was like that's kind of cool.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's 550 miles I think from end to end whichever way you choose I would probably go Buffalo to Manhattan um and I'd have this goal of of of running the entire distance breaking it up of course uh you know 50 miles a day something like that and uh with the whole crew the whole thing and uh raising money for I would like to raise money for childhood like childhood obesity awareness through that whole thing and like programs towards that so just that's what one of my long-term thoughts of how to how to uh get to that point and build to that point so no that's gonna be awesome man um and and I love the the charity you know for for kids in obesity that's gonna be an amazing journey uh you know also as a fellow New Yorker running to New York that's gonna be fun seeing it from a different angle um man I'm looking forward to you getting your buckle here in uh less than two months are we two months out what's the way it's less than two months it's like 49 days if we're counting I have a countdown on my phone just to know I'm looking that buckle's going down in 2025.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's happening yeah there's no there's no way that it's not so you know no matter what so no that's awesome well Jeff man I want to appreciate you for hopping on the People Run podcast um this story man and thank you for sharing has been amazing um for those listening you know um powerful reminder that we can to use a cliche do hard things um you can go through it and and it's all about the journey and process I mean Jeff would say this and he has shared on here that the person he was five ten years ago is is a beast monster right now in a good way um that buckle's coming down soon um I'll tag it on here in the notes but check out Jeffree's um Instagram and and see his coming races and everything he's done man um Jeff amazing man I appreciate you and um looking forward to that next race and those to come man 2025 2026 almost there which is crazy hey everyone this has been the people run podcasts uh wherever you listen to your podcast we're there to check us out um until next time many