Latest / Adventure Sports Podcast / Ep. 1217: Intentional Travel & Big Races with Tara Young

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Ep. 1217: Intentional Travel & Big Races with Tara Young · Adventure Sports Podcast

0:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast.
0:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We talk with adventurers from around the globe to bring you the inspiration and motivation you need to get started in the outdoors or to keep you moving if you're already there.
0:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Now here's your host, Kurt Lindville.
0:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey friends, can you believe that it's June already?
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Today is June the second.
0:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening in.
0:26
[SPEAKER_01]: You might think that you have a busy life.
0:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And you probably do.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Today's guest is going to show us how that even with a very busy and tense, complicated life you can still get out there and have some fun, not only that, but the fun can benefit you even more, but before we get into all of that, I want to talk about stickers, yes, a lot of you have already sent me a mailing address so that I could send you some free stickers and
0:57
[SPEAKER_01]: The checks in the mail.
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: No, they really are.
0:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I mail them on Friday.
1:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, it took me so long to get around to get in the mall done.
1:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But there were a lot of people that wanted stickers.
1:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And for everyone else, if you would like free adventure sports podcast stickers, it's just a way to help get the word out.
1:15
[SPEAKER_01]: would be happy to send you some email us at info at adventure sportspodcast.com give us a mailing address and I'll send you a few stickers.
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have some sort of an event coming up and you need more stickers then just let me know how many people are going to be at the event, how many stickers you need will send them your way.
1:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for doing your part
1:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi friends, today I have Tara Young with us, and this is going to be a fun episode about endurance, like endurance sports, but not only endurance sports, it's about doing a lot with our lives, getting it all in, and let me explain what this means.
2:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Tara has finished an Iron Man.
2:05
[SPEAKER_01]: She is working on the world marathon majors and I mean that used to be I think six and then it became seven and now it's almost nine Marathons all over the globe so when you complete all the marathons you get a metal it would be the you know the six metal It's seven metal or the nine metal, but here's the fun part, okay you think
2:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That sounds pretty busy.
2:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Tara has five kids.
2:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's been to 40 countries.
2:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And she is visited all 50 states.
2:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's been to all the national parks.
2:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's an attorney on top of all of that.
2:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Sarah, how do you get it all in?
2:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks, Chris.
2:45
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of time management planning and discipline.
2:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I think are the three main factors that allow me to get all that you mentioned
2:57
[SPEAKER_01]: That's great.
2:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we're gonna dive into how you do that because a lot of people just think they're too busy and I'm one of these people who tends to lean into I am so busy I don't know how I could do one more thing
3:09
[SPEAKER_01]: these are personality types.
3:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't criticize these personality types.
3:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I embrace them.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the spontaneity person.
3:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to have my time scheduled.
3:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want it on a calendar.
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to know that that weekend is open.
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can do what I want when I get there.
3:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Other people that drive some nuts.
3:26
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to know what's going to go on.
3:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to plan it so they can be sure that it happens.
3:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And both approaches are golden, I think.
3:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's fair.
3:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And yes, to your point, like both her salaries are definitely valued, and I obviously have the opposite personality where I like everything planned, and spontaneity gives me hives.
3:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I'm not going to be very slow, it's pretty well-planned in advance, but to your point, there's definitely room for both.
4:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think you're living proof that having a really good process for planning can build a really full and rich life and you get to do some amazing things.
4:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to not just talk about scheduling or talk about the things you do, but it just blows my mind that you actually are doing this much all the time.
4:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And my wife and I mentioned just before we hit record.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: my wife and I found out that we don't have the same personality type when it comes to this on our honeymoon and it worked out but I remember a conversation we had maybe 10 days into our honeymoon she looked at me and said this is not a honeymoon so what do you mean it's not a honeymoon she goes well where are we going to be next week I'm like I don't know oh that's the point it's because no no I want to know the hotel we're staying in
4:56
[SPEAKER_01]: What we learned over the years is that I like to take the calendar and put X's through weekends, and I say, I don't know what we're going to do.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That depends on the weather.
5:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It depends on what we would like at the time.
5:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're not going to schedule those weekends for anything else, because then we won't be able to do what I want to do when the time comes.
5:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
5:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And then she takes other weekends and says, okay, this is the weekend we're going to do X, Y, Z, X, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y,
5:28
[SPEAKER_01]: but without the scheduling I don't know how you can get as much in.
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So you said you've been to all 50 states.
5:36
[SPEAKER_01]: That's part of the just one of your accomplishments.
5:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But also all the national parks 60.
5:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, 30.
5:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Is it?
5:42
[SPEAKER_02]: 63 now.
5:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Last couple of years.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: okay so playing to us how it is that you approached this did you make a decision i want to go to all fifty states and i want to visit all sixty three national parks and i want to do it on site it or wasn't more random than that so i think the first few states and the verse for heo national parks were sort of pretty random just part of normal travel and then i did the more the seats that i got to in the more national parks that i saw
6:15
[SPEAKER_02]: became a goal to see all 50 and to see all 360, see all the national parks and so then I went into planning mode and every time I had a chance to travel, it was either...
6:28
[SPEAKER_02]: to check off a state or check off a national park and sometimes I can find that with a race, sometimes I can find that with taking the kids along and so for the national parks especially because they're kind of hard to get to.
6:43
[SPEAKER_02]: It took literally 20 years of, you know, often on effort and so one thing I would encourage people to think about is if you have a big goal to a
6:54
[SPEAKER_02]: put break it down into smaller pieces and also don't put pressure on yourself that you have to do it all in one fell swoop.
7:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, again, it took me a long time to get to all the national parks, but it remained a consistent goal and over, you know, many years, I was able to accomplish it.
7:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.
7:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a handful of favorites that you would say, if you can't do them all do these?
7:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, yes, but the problem is that my top five are the ones that are really hard to get to.
7:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I would say, if you can do the five,
7:22
[SPEAKER_02]: If you had to pick five within the continental US, I would say the Utah Grand Slam, the five in Utah are amazing.
7:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Also, there's eight in Alaska.
7:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you have the wherewithal to get to Alaska, I would definitely do those eight.
7:37
[SPEAKER_02]: My personal top five are American Samoa, which is,
7:41
[SPEAKER_02]: a five hour plane ride from Hawaii, so that takes some effort, but it's really neat when you're there.
7:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And then Il Royale is off the coast of Minnesota and Michigan and it's an island, so you have to take a boat to get there.
7:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's pretty cool.
7:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And then dry tour two goes is off the coast of Key West.
8:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, it's a three-hour boat ride from Key West, which is, you know, the furthest southern part of the United States to begin with.
8:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I mentioned Alaska, but Lake Clark within Alaska was one of my favorites.
8:17
[SPEAKER_02]: You take a small airplane and you just you plane, you land on the lake and it's just stunningly beautiful.
8:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So that was another favorite, I'd say those are the ones that come to mind immediately.
8:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you just named five national parks that I didn't know were National Park.
8:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.
8:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is an advantage to your approach to this.
8:43
[SPEAKER_01]: If you decided to see all the national parks, I mean, you're going to discover the lesser known ones, and you just listed them as your favorites.
8:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
8:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
8:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I really like the ones that are a little bit harder or less touristy and harder to get to.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
9:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
9:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that's kind of mind blowing.
9:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not even know that those were national parks.
9:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
9:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the advantage to your approach.
9:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people would say Yellowstone, Yosemite, uh, glacier maybe, you know, those are great.
9:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
9:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Fantastic.
9:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But they're busy.
9:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
9:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Very busy.
9:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're very, very busy.
9:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So what is the one in Alaska?
9:31
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a lake that's surrounded by mountains and the water is just this like aquamarine blue that's pristine and like I said, you land on the lake and then there's a little, a very, I wouldn't even call it a town.
9:48
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like a few houses of people that live there full time and from there you can kayak on the lake which we did and you're just sitting in this like
10:01
[SPEAKER_02]: beautiful lake that you can see down into and then you look up and there's just it's ringed by snow cap mountains and it's just otherworldly.
10:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
10:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
10:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So is it something you just do a day trip for or is there lodging and stuff like that?
10:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you can stay there.
10:19
[SPEAKER_02]: We did a day trip from Anchorage.
10:21
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're going to really do all of Alaska in one fell swoop which is what we did
10:29
[SPEAKER_02]: have a few days in Anchorage where you do side day trips to different parks and then go up to fair banks and do the last two from there.
10:37
[SPEAKER_02]: But almost all of them you have to fly into, um, so on the one hand, it creates logistics and on the other hand it makes it easy to do a day trip if you're flying there.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting.
10:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So I visited Alaska, boy, it's been eight to admit this, but nearly 30 years ago.
10:55
[SPEAKER_01]: At the time, wringles me a lot.
10:58
[SPEAKER_01]: was difficult to experience because there was a lot of access.
11:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You drove through and said, oh, I'm here, I guess, but I was like, well, now what do you do?
11:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Have any recommendations for that one?
11:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, so you can drive the road.
11:11
[SPEAKER_02]: It's still open, but I think it's like eight hours from any courage.
11:14
[SPEAKER_02]: So unless you're really looking for an adventure, I would
11:17
[SPEAKER_02]: not necessarily where I'm in that.
11:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So what we did is we drove to Sydney, which is maybe like, I think I might be getting the name of the town around, but it's about two hours north of Anchorage and then we took a little plane, like half an hour, three, five minutes over the past.
11:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe this has changed since you were there, but they have turned the Kenny Cottage into a hotel.
11:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we actually spent the night there and we had an amazing dinner on the, it was June.
11:47
[SPEAKER_02]: We were like outside on the porch with this beautiful view of the mountains having a really nice dinner.
11:53
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a pretty special experience, but I will say the mosquitoes were intense.
11:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So bring a lot of bugs spray if you are playing and going.
12:04
[SPEAKER_01]: and Denali, which people might be calling McKinley these days, but that one, I was really surprised when we got there because I found out that most people that visit the National Park never seen the mountain.
12:20
[SPEAKER_01]: but it's locked in by others so much of the time.
12:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's one of the reasons why it's one of the more dangerous and difficult mountains to climb.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: By weather all the time.
12:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But as we were there, we were one of the few.
12:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like one out of 10 or something.
12:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe worse odds than that.
12:37
[SPEAKER_01]: But we just happened to see the clouds part in frame Denali for five minutes.
12:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I went to Alaska with my mom over, well, an interesting side story as we were there when 9-11 happened, so getting home was very much an adventure unto itself.
12:59
[SPEAKER_02]: But before that happened, we went to Denali and I can't remember offhand if we had good weather or not, that trip was nice unto itself.
13:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when I went back with my husband in two years ago to do the rest of the parks,
13:12
[SPEAKER_02]: We took the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks, and so we went through Denali, but to your point it was sucked in so we didn't see it that time.
13:20
[SPEAKER_02]: As a side note, if you are in Alaska and the airspace closes down all 9-11, there is no getting home.
13:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Fair point, but they did close the Canadian border for a while, so that you couldn't even go, you couldn't even drive if you want to do.
13:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So how long were you stuck there?
13:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Thankfully, only about three days at the time I was living in Seattle, so the main entry point to the continental U.S. from Anchorage is Seattle.
13:57
[SPEAKER_02]: So we were lucky in the sense that we could hop on pretty much any plane that was going south.
14:02
[SPEAKER_02]: We were able to re-book like three days after
14:06
[SPEAKER_01]: nice.
14:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Alaska is amazing.
14:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of people see it on a map that haven't been there and they don't realize how huge it is.
14:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's massive and so flying in Alaska makes a lot of sense.
14:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I don't know how you get to spend years there to see it all in the other way.
14:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think that's an exaggeration.
14:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it might take years.
14:29
[SPEAKER_01]: but amazing.
14:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you were to put Alaska over the continental U.S., it covers a huge chunk of it.
14:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the United States and one state.
14:37
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a bad duration.
14:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is huge.
14:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
14:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's like definitely bigger than Texas and most of the Western U.S. have you waited on top.
14:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
14:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
14:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And it probably covers all of Europe who knows.
14:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah.
14:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move on to other things.
14:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You are an endurance athlete.
14:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to look up the world marathon majors because I haven't been in that circle and then when I saw it, I said, oh, how cool is that?
15:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another list, but it's not, it's not just a list of things you can do.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the biggest marathons, the famous marathons, the, that's why they call them the majors.
15:14
[SPEAKER_01]: They're the classics.
15:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
15:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so originally started off as the six stars, as you said, so it is Newark Boston, Chicago in the US, and then Berlin, Tokyo, and London overseas, and now they've added Sydney for sure, and then I think there's two more that are pending, which I believe are Shanghai and South Africa.
15:38
[SPEAKER_02]: But regardless, if you do the original six, you get the six-star metal, which is like a metal that's quite large and has a little like bias relief of each city on it.
15:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So, who doesn't like a shiny metal, so that's what I mean.
15:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Motivating factors, after I had my last child, I decided to run New York, it's sort of a post-baby goal, and so...
16:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Once I did that, and then I qualified for Boston, I was like, well, I've already got two.
16:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So now I might as well do the other four.
16:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So I just finished Tokyo this spring, and then I'm hoping to get into London for 20 of 27.
16:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And if I do that, then I'll get my six stars.
16:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm also doing Sydney this August.
16:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So,
16:22
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a little wonky how it works, but essentially, if I get to London next year, then I'll get my six star and my seven star.
16:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
16:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Excited about that.
16:33
[SPEAKER_01]: How fun.
16:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to point out something for the listeners, but you obviously know.
16:37
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have a list, not everyone wants a list.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another personality thing.
16:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you have a list, it will take you places you would not have gone otherwise.
16:46
[SPEAKER_01]: and you experience things.
16:49
[SPEAKER_01]: The list just becomes kind of the motivator to get you out the door is the way I see it.
16:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree.
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you're going to some really cool places for these marathons or any of them first time visits you hadn't been there before.
17:03
[SPEAKER_02]: No, well, no, I take that back.
17:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Tokyo was
17:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Tokyo and Japan were my first time there, so that was really neat.
17:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.
17:11
[SPEAKER_01]: What's it like to run a marathon?
17:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go to Tokyo.
17:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's do that specifically.
17:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What was it like to run to Tokyo?
17:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Marathon.
17:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think any big city race obviously is a big event.
17:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And so the nice thing is that it's usually like there's a lot of crowd support and you kind of feed off the energy of the crowd and you have other runners with you and so you have their support.
17:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So that all makes
17:37
[SPEAKER_02]: entertaining and easier to get through than like your long training runs where it's just you and your music and you know, usually not any other people.
17:46
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's it's a nice it's a nice way to cap off your your training cycle that being said every marathon is a long way to go and so by my old.
17:57
[SPEAKER_02]: 21, 22, like regardless of how much fun you're having, like, just everything hurts and you want to be done.
18:03
[SPEAKER_02]: So you have to a, push through that and then be the nice, the nice thing is if you've done multiple marathons, like you kind of know that it's coming, so you can, you can say, yes, this sucks, but this will be over in 40 minutes, so let's just hang on until the end and then when you do finish, there's usually like a big arch and like,
18:23
[SPEAKER_02]: lots of people cheering and you get a metal and snacks so you know it's a nice way to to be done.
18:30
[SPEAKER_01]: What I love about it is that you can incorporate something big to do while you travel.
18:36
[SPEAKER_01]: You can think of it that way.
18:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Where you can get about a while I'm going to do a marathon.
18:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I might as well travel while I'm there but I love travel that has a purpose.
18:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
18:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I really like that and does that work for you too?
18:49
[SPEAKER_02]: It does, I mean, I also travel just to, you know, see a new place or go somewhere with my kids and have some bonding time, but I would say travel with a race is one of my favorites because you're combining two different things that I really enjoy.
19:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That's neat.
19:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Back to Marathon's for a minute.
19:08
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it take if someone says, you know, I've always wanted to do that.
19:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no idea.
19:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
19:14
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you, how do you get ready for a marathon?
19:16
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you make that happen?
19:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's important to take it in steps, so if you've never run before, then try a couch to 5K plan and see if you like that and then build up to a 10K and a half.
19:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you're already at a 10K, try a half marathon first.
19:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I see a lot of people, especially like younger people, who sometimes this works, but I would not advise upon doing it, which is they've never run before and they sign up for a marathon.
19:44
[SPEAKER_02]: they don't train well and they sort of either have a debt bad rest day or they don't finish and so if you take a more planned approach and build up even if you've never run before and you do you set your goals in marathon that's fine but just make sure that you're building your training plan to take those incremental steps otherwise you can get bird out you can get injured or you won't be you won't be prepared enough and then
20:10
[SPEAKER_02]: There's lots of training plans online, but I would definitely encourage, especially people who are brand new to running to either get a coach or join a running group and also go to like a good running store and get fitted for like the right kind of shoes because the more miles you put on your body.
20:27
[SPEAKER_02]: If you have shoes that are wrong for your foot, you will feel it without those extra miles.
20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: you know you mentioned discipline along with scheduling when it came to getting a lot into a busy life.
20:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think preparing for marathon probably requires a lot of discipline, do you have any tricks, any hacks for people because it'd be easy to say I'm going to do this and then just not get run to doing it.
20:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, two things, one, maybe three.
20:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Why, if you say you're going to do it, then you've got to do it, and there's no getting around the fact that you need to.
21:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I will say perhaps try to schedule it, you know, like, if you're not a morning person, I guess I'll say it in reverse.
21:11
[SPEAKER_02]: I am a morning person.
21:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I do all day running in the morning.
21:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I would hate the idea of having to do an evening run, so like,
21:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I make, you know, obviously I scheduled my runs for the morning.
21:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Other people are after noon or evening people, so like, don't fight your natural optimum time, because that will give you a better chance at success.
21:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But then once you put it on the calendar, you need to get it done, and I think that's the biggest thing of discipline is like getting out there even if you don't want to.
21:39
[SPEAKER_02]: All that being said.
21:41
[SPEAKER_02]: life happens and if something gets in the way of that particular run, don't beat yourself up over it, but also move it to another time and then make sure that you get it done eventually because the more runs you skip, the less change you'll be in the more you'll feel it on race day, or perhaps not even finish, which would be a bar.
22:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, what are the benefits that you experienced personally for training for and doing their thoughts?
22:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I think all endurance sports, and for me, especially the Iron Man, give me a self-confidence that I use in other parts of my life, for example, you mentioned I'm in attorney, and I'm the lead attorney for renewable energy company and on top of that.
22:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Renewable Energy Company is backed by what's called a private equity firm.
22:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And so when I first started this job, I didn't have a lot of private equity experience.
22:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was really feeling intimidated by the people and the issues that I was facing.
22:43
[SPEAKER_02]: But I leaned into my, especially my Iron Man experience.
22:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And,
22:48
[SPEAKER_02]: said to myself, like, if I can do an Iron Man, then I can conquer this professional challenge that is in front of me.
22:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And because of that, I have a lot more confidence in my role now than I did when I first started.
22:59
[SPEAKER_02]: But I don't think that I would have taken those steps or believed to myself if I didn't have that underlying experience from the endurance sports.
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I love the idea of this world marathon majors.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I had not heard of that before.
23:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's so cool.
23:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and there's a nice little community.
23:20
[SPEAKER_02]: when you do one of the majors you'll see a lot of people who have like a t-shirt or something on their back that has like the races that especially if they're doing their six star and they're going to get their big mental at the end and they'll have like something on their shirts so that's pretty cool I was just thinking about how fun it would be to do a marathon in Cape Town yeah that would be cool
23:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a long way.
23:45
[SPEAKER_01]: It would pull me into an experience that I probably would not have done otherwise, you know, getting this South Africa and experiencing all of that would be cool.
23:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, well, maybe you can add it to your bucket list.
24:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have a list.
24:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I just have a bucket.
24:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, put it in, bucket.
24:06
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm teasing a little bit.
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, Sarah, I think it's important to have a list.
24:11
[SPEAKER_01]: My list might be shorter than some, but I think it's very important to have two goals, two dreams, two vacations, two trips, two adventures that you're planning at the same time.
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's interesting.
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That's important because when you finish one, you don't feel the let down of, oh no, now what?
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no practice.
24:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh hey, I've got this other one coming up, and then you have to add another.
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So always have two, you can also have a lot more than two if you want.
24:35
[UNKNOWN]: Mm-hmm.
24:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
24:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I like that idea.
24:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, 40 countries.
24:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
24:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
24:43
[SPEAKER_01]: What kind of a traveler were you to hit 40 countries?
24:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this business travel?
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this family travel?
24:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it backpacking the world?
24:50
[SPEAKER_01]: How did you do it?
24:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so it's morphed over time.
24:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I was in Xi'ing shooting in, well, I got the bug in high school when I went to France with my French.
24:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess to back up, you know, I was suddenly middle class growing up and so we did not go on international vacations, but I was in French in high school and we went to France through the school, which was cool, gave me the bug for travel.
25:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Randy reinforced that I wanted to see where the rest of the world, like I'm a big reader and so I had been, you know, read all these books about different places in the, in the world, so that kind of got me started and then I was an international relations major in college.
25:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So I did a year abroad in Germany and so because I was right in the middle of Europe, I was able to go to a lot of basically see all of Europe when I was in college.
25:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when I was in college, I met my still to this day, best friend who also was very into travel.
25:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And so then after college, before either of us got married or had kids, we would make it a point to go to a country together, and then which we still do to this day.
25:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And then as our family grew, I was lucky that my in-laws, through our first few kids, my in-laws were very, very gracious.
26:06
[SPEAKER_02]: and would take the kids for one week every year and my husband and I would travel international during that week and then as the kids got older and my in-laws got a little more as they got older too and couldn't help as much.
26:18
[SPEAKER_02]: We started incorporating the kids into our international travels and so now they're ages 20 to six so we can pretty much take them wherever
26:29
[SPEAKER_02]: When I was thinking about this episode, something that came to my mind is like, in the process of planning, like, to know where you are in your season of life, and there's some trips that are easier.
26:40
[SPEAKER_02]: More manageable with little kids and some that are not, and some you don't ever want to take kids, and so making sure that you're thinking through, like, where you want to go, and whether that needs to be a solo trip, solo trip with friends.
26:54
[SPEAKER_02]: with your spouse, with kids, like I think that that's important to do up front or else you'll be trying to see museums with a toddler that's, you know, no one's happy about.
27:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, here's a question that I'm really curious about.
27:09
[SPEAKER_01]: do you ever return to places you've already visited because you like it so much or are you like no I have a list of 60 countries that I'm going to hit and we're sticking to the list.
27:20
[SPEAKER_02]: A blend I definitely trend 10 to not return places because I want to see other places however when I did the Berlin marathon
27:28
[SPEAKER_02]: which was part of the six stars.
27:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I had obviously been to Berlin when I was in college so I would say I don't go back if it's required for some other reason, but if I have my brothers I lean more towards seeing any place.
27:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Where you always someone who wanted to do, I guess take the road less traveled.
27:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You talked about how much experience impacted you and then you went to school in Germany and a lot of people were like that sounds hard.
27:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
27:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So
27:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I definitely like, I like seeing places with adventurous like mine did.
28:04
[SPEAKER_02]: people.
28:06
[SPEAKER_02]: But I don't really enjoy places that are just overrun with tourists, especially like the the quintessential obnoxious American, which I do try to seek out the lesser known less traveled if I can.
28:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So you prefer to be a traveler instead of a tourist.
28:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I hear you say.
28:26
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a good way to put it.
28:28
[SPEAKER_01]: For those who are listening or saying what is he talking
28:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You're experiencing the place, but not as a tourist.
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: A tourist wants to go see and do the touristy things, and there's a stereotype associated with that.
28:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, a being a traveler is a matter of being more, I would say subtly, in meshed in the culture, maybe.
28:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know.
28:52
[SPEAKER_02]: At least try and understand, and meet people.
28:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
28:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
28:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So travel has been a big part of your life.
28:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Now has that contributed to who you are.
29:03
[SPEAKER_02]: So that also goes into the self-confidence, like, when I live in Las Vegas, it's very suburban.
29:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I literally drive in many bands, like, there's not a lot, it's very much my comfort zone and there's not a lot of challenge or my day-to-day life.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But when we're in Tokyo, you have to, and it's kind of a lot easier with technology.
29:25
[SPEAKER_02]: You need to go everywhere on the subway, so you've got to figure out the app and how do I get it to get it?
29:31
[SPEAKER_02]: get from pointy to point B and navigating all that, especially if I'm traveling alone, and successful, then again, it's that like, okay, I can figure this out, I can do new things, I can do hard things, just it adds to that self-confidence.
29:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember, so I grew up in a small town.
29:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a town that a lot of people never leave.
29:56
[SPEAKER_01]: matter of fact, my grandparents.
29:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess I am trying not to over overstate this.
30:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe my grandmother had not been out of this state.
30:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
30:07
[SPEAKER_01]: As a grandmother.
30:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
30:09
[SPEAKER_01]: My grandfather had because he did some trucking.
30:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But rarely did they ever leave the county.
30:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
30:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what?
30:18
[SPEAKER_01]: They loved it.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: They loved where they were.
30:20
[SPEAKER_01]: They loved the community.
30:21
[SPEAKER_01]: They loved lifestyle that they had.
30:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't have any criticism.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But that kind of exemplifies the way the small town worked.
30:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And matter of fact, I dated a gallon of high school and her dad told me the story.
30:33
[SPEAKER_01]: They decided they were going to go to Colorado.
30:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So they got in the car and they drove to Colorado.
30:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Because everyone talked about seeing Colorado from Oklahoma.
30:42
[SPEAKER_01]: they made it to Colorado and couldn't find a hotel room in Colorado Springs and decided it wasn't worth the effort and they drove all the way back home same day.
30:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that sounds like a crazy story, but that's where I grew up, right?
30:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But there were people in our small town, Tara, who did what you did, graduated from high school and said, I'm going to France for a year, bye.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And the rest of us would stand there where their mouths hanging open.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you do that?
31:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that possible?
31:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that safe?
31:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Rain.
31:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the spirit of adventure.
31:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
31:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
31:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And definitely you have it.
31:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
31:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, do you think there was something in your life that contributed to that?
31:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That built that in you?
31:28
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of it is nature versus nurture.
31:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I will say that although we didn't travel internationally, my dad is from Massachusetts and so I did grow up flying from the west coast of the east coast and seeing that variation within the United States and also, you know.
31:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Navigating the airports and the airplanes and whatnot.
31:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that definitely got it going when I was younger.
31:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I adore my life, I adore my kids, but as I mentioned, like I live in the suburbs, I drive in many vans.
32:00
[SPEAKER_02]: That thing that feeds my soul is going on, a trip, an adventure, even if it's a weekend thing.
32:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can appreciate both.
32:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I like, you say, I love my life, but you get to go recharge your batteries.
32:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I do have a story about a trip you took alone, where maybe there was a moment where you said, yes, this is why I'm here.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.
32:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I wasn't alone, but I was with a girlfriend that I travel with frequently, and we went to El Salvador.
32:32
[SPEAKER_02]: The thing that pulled the trigger from me is that they started to direct flight from Vegas to El Salvador, and I was like, well, I got to check this out.
32:39
[SPEAKER_02]: But as you know, especially given both of our ages, El Salvador was not always a safe place to go.
32:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, although it's changed in the past few years, I was extremely nervous.
32:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was meeting her in El Salvador because she lives in a different state.
32:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So I flew alone from Vegas to El Salvador.
33:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I was getting in late at night and I had a car like pre-range to get to the hotel, but all of that.
33:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I had some anxiety, so thankfully everything went smoothly, I got to the hotel, I met up with her when straight to bed, and then the hotel was on the beach, but because it was dark, I hadn't seen it coming in, so I woke up in the morning and there was this beautiful sunrise over the beach, and then our hotel had like a...
33:28
[SPEAKER_02]: like the restaurant was open air overlooking the beach and I was having breakfast like this beautiful fruit tray and coffee and then you know this beautiful view of the ocean and it's known for its surfing like all the surfers are out there and I was like this is what made all that anxiety and stress worth it you know to get to this place and the rest of the trip was great too so it was worth kind of getting over that fear to go there.
33:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I love what you just described of getting the plate, getting to a place in the dark.
34:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And then realizing where you are in the morning, I love that experience.
34:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that I plan for it, but when it happens, I get excited and like, oh, when this one comes up.
34:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
34:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, what is this going to be?
34:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
34:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for sure.
34:17
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I put out an episode that was kind of a silly one about a big footing counter.
34:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh-huh.
34:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was one of those scenarios, my son and I ended up in the woods in the middle of the night and camped and had amazing experiences as the sun came up.
34:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a whole episode on that.
34:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't bore everyone with it.
34:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But that was one of the biggest times in my life.
34:38
[SPEAKER_01]: where we woke up to realize where we were and what was going on around us was not at all while we expected.
34:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So we didn't actually see Bigfoot.
34:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I was going to ask, did you see Bigfoot?
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We did not.
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's the fun thing.
34:53
[SPEAKER_01]: The fun thing is we ended up from about three o'clock in the morning until noon trying to solve the mystery of what we experienced and how you can through the woods looking at things discovering things and there were some aspects of the experience that
35:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, I'll leave it as that.
35:09
[SPEAKER_01]: There's okay.
35:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll have to go listen to that.
35:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got to talk about doing an Iron Man.
35:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I want to hear that story.
35:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Where was your Iron Man?
35:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was in Arizona, which is the closest one to Vegas, and also well known for being a good first timer, Iron Man, the other ones in Florida, if anyone cares.
35:35
[SPEAKER_02]: But when I first got into triathlon, when I was about 30, I said that I was gonna do a full by the time I turned 40, and then I was like, coming up on my 39th birthday, and like, you need a good year to train for a full, so I was like, ah, turning to, I guess I have to do this.
35:54
[SPEAKER_02]: to your point goes to the discipline because a lot of people would say, oh, never mind, but I was like, I really felt like I had to do it.
36:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So I got a coach and got a pull-year training plan and then something I'll mention, you know, for those who have a family,
36:12
[SPEAKER_02]: or just something else that you're committed to time-wise.
36:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I built out my schedules that I did my long bike rides.
36:19
[SPEAKER_02]: I took PTO on Fridays, not every Friday, but certain Fridays I took PTO, and I did my long bike ride so that I could get my long run done on Saturday, and then I still had time for the family on Sunday, because if I had put everything into the weekend,
36:35
[SPEAKER_02]: then it wasn't fair to them for like training schedule and but through that process obviously you build the physical capability but I think the most important part is building the mental which is like learning how to be bored learning how to be uncomfortable learning how to fix your bike if it breaks having the confidence that if something something is going to go haywire and making just having that mental 42 that like you will figure it out
37:04
[SPEAKER_02]: keep going and finish.
37:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And at the end of the Iron Man, there's a particular announcement I forget his name, but he goes to every Iron Man and when you cross, he says, you know, Terry Young, you are an Iron Man and like it is quite special to hear that announcement when you go over the finish line.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't hardly imagine what that would be like.
37:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's the Iron Man is so hard.
37:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're talking about correct me here.
37:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The swim is what?
37:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Five miles?
37:33
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's only 2.4, and then the mic is 112, and then it's a full marathon after that.
37:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And a full marathon.
37:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, with the swim bike run, you kept running, you do marathons, what about the swimming and the biking, do you love those two, or is that just part of it?
37:51
[SPEAKER_02]: swimming.
37:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I swam in high school and I swam masters so that the physicality of swimming wasn't a problem for me but I have a deep fear of open water and so I really had to work hard to get over that.
38:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Thankfully the Arizona one is in like they called a river.
38:07
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really a drainage ditch in the middle of the town.
38:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh it is Arizona after all.
38:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah so you're not swimming in an ocean
38:18
[SPEAKER_02]: sides that you can touch if you get into trouble and then for me the biggest the hardest thing was the bike because I'm not very fast and they have internal cut-off times so even if you you have 17 hours through the whole race but you have to be off the bike by hour 10.
38:36
[SPEAKER_02]: which kind of annoyed me because I'm a fast runner.
38:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, can I just have an hour front of the run into the bike?
38:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I had to work, especially hard on getting my bike time up.
38:46
[SPEAKER_02]: But I was able to finish with an hour disparage, so that was good.
38:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yay.
38:50
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So the biking was the bigger challenge for you.
38:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.
38:54
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't have music on the course.
38:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And so going back to what I said earlier is like, by the time I hit the running, I was just like, I was so tired of talking to myself.
39:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that biggest challenge was not the physical part.
39:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It was the mental.
39:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Like just to keep knowing you had another four hours to like, Ruminate was almost crushing, but made it, made it through.
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll bet you learned something from that as well.
39:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they obviously you can do it and push through.
39:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was just thinking about people that go on silent retreats if you heard of these things.
39:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a ton of terrific.
39:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that?
39:34
[SPEAKER_02]: It sounds horrific.
39:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's something about it, though, that how much I...
39:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a talker, obvious.
39:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
39:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, wow, I don't know if I even want to try, but...
39:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
39:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I have found...
39:49
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a solace, a recharging, something deep that happens in silence.
39:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
39:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've interviewed a lot of people about hiking long distances, or running long distances, and how it gives them time to think that they don't get otherwise.
40:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And they learn things about themselves that were totally unanticipated.
40:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
40:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, and that's one of the beauty of big events, I think.
40:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, how else are you going to have time, especially with five kids?
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: How else are you going to have time for yourself to actually process what's going on in your world?
40:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
40:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I agree.
40:26
[SPEAKER_02]: My morning run is definitely my morning meditation, like to your point, it gives you time to think and work out problems and I'm a Christian, so I get a lot of my prayers, done during that time too.
40:36
[SPEAKER_02]: So it is a mental, definitely that mental break that is needed for the rest of the day.
40:43
[SPEAKER_01]: How have these, these big events, marathons, training for these sorts of things, even travel?
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: How has that impacted your spiritual life?
40:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I think.
40:55
[SPEAKER_02]: seeing the world to me to three enforces, especially seeing the beauty in some of these like far-flung places, to me points to the creator and how he created these beautiful parts of the world for us to enjoy.
41:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So definitely reinforces my faith in God.
41:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Also, like
41:15
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I mentioned having some anxiety about going to El Salvador, like I'd always pray for that, I will be safe, traveling mercies, and, you know, I've seen God protect me multiple times, and so I'm obviously thankful to Him for that, and, you know, continues to build my faith that that He will protect me going forward.
41:38
[SPEAKER_01]: This is also impacted your children.
41:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
41:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, I've mentioned like, you know, we live in the suburbs and my kids sort of a private school.
41:53
[SPEAKER_02]: They could very in my opinion.
41:54
[SPEAKER_02]: They could very easily fall into a bubble, a privileged bubble.
41:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And so in traveling, I hope to expose them not only to other parts of the world, but that.
42:06
[SPEAKER_02]: a lot of people in this world don't have the things that we have and that a we should be grateful for what we do have and be a part of our life is an obligation to help those in need and to make the world a better place.
42:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, don't take it for granted.
42:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
42:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Who much has given much is required exactly.
42:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
42:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Those sorts of things.
42:27
[SPEAKER_01]: What about it might be a harder question to answer, but they have seen your discipline.
42:34
[SPEAKER_01]: in training for an Iron Man or a marathon, they've seen your discipline in planning big trips and accomplishing big goals.
42:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
42:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a story that illustrates how that may have impacted them?
42:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you see your example in their lives?
42:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't have a direct example of a particular trip or anything, but I think to your points sort of,
42:58
[SPEAKER_02]: growing up with me, and then my son, I think, got a lot of my personality traits, but he is very dedicated to football and played football the way through high school, and then he ended up getting a football scholarship to the South Dakota School of Minds, and is also a mechanical engineering major like my husband.
43:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And so now he has both football, college level
43:25
[SPEAKER_02]: heavy mechanical engineering course load, but he is a sophomore now and so far he has played first string in football and he's getting all passing grades in his engineering classes and he has an internship lined up for the summer, the engineering firm.
43:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think doing that all that as a 20 year old kid is especially in this day and age is pretty impressive.
43:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That is impressive, absolutely.
43:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Tera, I want to talk about one aspect of what you just said.
43:55
[SPEAKER_01]: My son graduates next, I guess in a month and a half, with his mechanical engineering degree.
44:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's right.
44:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You have that in common.
44:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
44:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And my wife is an academic advisor at the University.
44:08
[SPEAKER_01]: in an engineering program.
44:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm putting this out there as a public service gift.
44:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you can be able to consider.
44:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So many of the students entered the program, not realizing the amount of discipline and scheduling and tenacity that would be required to get a difficult rewarding degree like a mechanical engineering degree.
44:31
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife sees that constantly.
44:33
[SPEAKER_01]: so many young people that didn't learn the lessons that you're son obviously learned.
44:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm.
44:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
44:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
44:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We rarely talk about this kind of stuff on the Adventure Sports podcast, but learning to do the hard thing.
44:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The stick to it ofness of it, the planning for it.
44:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you've got kids and you think I want them to learn to do the hard thing and also be responsible.
44:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you have a 10-year-old and you say, guess what?
44:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Buddy, guess what?
45:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you're going to plan a family backpacking trip for three days.
45:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
45:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to tell us where we go.
45:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The distance we're going to do.
45:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:11
[SPEAKER_01]: The, your, your, your in charge of the food.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Make sure we have everything we need and I'll help you.
45:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is your trip to plan.
45:20
[SPEAKER_01]: What and experience for a young person to get to learn how to do big things like that.
45:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
45:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And it, the impact that that can have later in life.
45:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that adventure sports can help people to succeed in challenging circumstances.
45:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like you've explained more than once as we visited here today, but, you know, if you, if you give your children that gift, then maybe they will be one of the kids who, you know, gets through the tough program and has a rewarding career path, right?
45:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
45:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think that that's valuable and it doesn't mean they have to.
45:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they may choose a different path, and that's okay too.
46:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
46:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of people that listen to the Adventure Sports podcast, are people that said, no, I am not interested in that career.
46:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm interested in exploring what it means to experience life to the fullest, and you know, they chose another paths.
46:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's fantastic too.
46:19
[SPEAKER_01]: But doing the hard thing is what I'm talking about.
46:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you give us an example as we finish up here, Tara, of doing a hard thing?
46:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I mean, obviously there was the Iron Man and the Marathons, but I do have an Iron Man tattoo on my leg.
46:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And it is to remind me on a daily basis that I can do the hard things.
46:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
46:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
46:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So what's next?
46:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I mentioned Sydney and London for the World Marathons, and then I have, we are going to Antarctica for my 50th birthday at the end of 2027, so.
46:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
46:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so that's there's some upcoming exciting adventures.
47:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.
47:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So is that mean you're going to also check the seven continents?
47:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I will.
47:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
47:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fantastic.
47:09
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you going to do in it?
47:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you going to jump in the one here?
47:13
[SPEAKER_02]: We're flying to Drake Passage.
47:14
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going with another couple and it's like an eight-day cruise by you get to jump in the ocean literally and then there's like
47:22
[SPEAKER_02]: kayaking and I believe that you get off the boat and walk around at some point as well.
47:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So, nice.
47:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
47:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's fantastic.
47:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Tara, for sharing with us today.
47:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I think what you shared, I mean, so many people would say you can't have five kids and do Iron Man Marathon.
47:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:41
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you can't.
47:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You've proven it.
47:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:43
[SPEAKER_01]: You've proven it.
47:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank you for sharing that with us.
47:47
[SPEAKER_02]: My pleasure.
47:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
47:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And for all the listeners out there.
47:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
47:52
[SPEAKER_01]: you can do it.
47:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's quit making excuses and get out there and have some fun.
47:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I agree.
47:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.