BeTempered Episode 61 – Breaking the Walls of Selfishness: Dan’s Rite of Passage Experience - BeTempered

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt.
This is my dad, Dan.
He owns Catron's Glass.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Thanks, allie.
Things like doors and windowsgo into making a house, but when
it's your home you expect morelike the great service and
selection you'll get fromCatron's Glass Final replacement
.
Windows from Catron's come witha lifetime warranty, including
accidental glass breakagereplacement.
Also ask for custom showerdoors and many other products
and services.
Call 962-1636.
Locally owned, with localemployees for nearly 30 years.

(00:26):
Kitchen's best.
The clear choice.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we
explore the art of findingbalance in a chaotic world.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Join us as we delve into insightful conversations,
practical tips and inspiringstories to help you navigate
life's ups and downs with graceand resilience.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr.
Let's embark on a journey tolive our best lives.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
This is Be Tempered.
Welcome to the Be Temperedpodcast.
This is episode number 61.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh good, I'm glad you said that.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
This was going to combo.
I didn't want to switch up toomuch.
Today's a special one.
I'm here with my co-host, Dan,to unpack something that pushed
him physically, mentally andspiritually.
This past weekend, Dan wentdown into the brutal heat and
terrain of Georgia and took onthe Rite of Passage a 24-hour
hike through the mountains, ledby former Navy SEAL and

(01:19):
ultra-endurance athlete, ChadWright.
No electronics, no time, noidea where you are, just you,
your thoughts and the challengein front of you.
Dan, before we dive into thisexperience itself, I want to go
back a little bit and remembertalking to you the week leading
up to this and even just a fewdays before, when you're
wrestling with some doubt andanxiety.

(01:41):
Can you take us through thatmindset and what you're going
through?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
And you know what's going through your head leading
up to it, a lot.
There was a lot of anxiety, alot of stress.
The doubt was, you know, have Idone enough?
What have I done?
Why am I doing this?
There was, there was a lot ofthings going through my mind

(02:09):
leading up to that event and youknow a lot of people might look
at it and think you know, a 24hour walk, not that big of a
deal, and I kind of thought thata little bit.
But when you break it down andyou actually go through it, it
was the most challenging thingI've ever done, physically, but

(02:31):
more so mentally.
I had no idea what it was goingto do to me mentally.
And as we talk, I'm sure someof the questions you'll ask will
bring up the importance of myteammates that I had around me.
And this one's going to be verychallenging for me because I

(02:58):
got hit in the mouth with acouple of things and we'll talk
about it.
But yeah, you know, leading upto it, I think anybody who's
ever had to prepare forsomething that you didn't know
how it was going to gophysically and mentally, you're
always going to have someanxiety, and when I met some of
the guys the night before whenwe were setting up camp.

(03:20):
I found that pretty mucheverybody there all 19 guys that
were together all had similarthoughts and similar feelings,
so I think that's normal.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, I just was wanting to pick your mind on
that for a minute, because it'ssomething I feel like we all
battle with.
No matter what you're goingthrough, you know you always,
leading up to a big event, youalways have the anxiety or the
stresses of it, and it's justfunny, not funny.
But looking at it, you know, asyou're one of my, I view you as
one of my mentors and it's justsomething where I had no doubt
you're going to be able tofinish it, and stuff like that.

(03:54):
But it's not always an anxietyof failure.
Sometimes it's the anxiety ofthe unknown, which I think would
be, you know, one of thebiggest things on that.
So now, with that in mind, takeus into it.
You know, tell us about thejourney of the weekend, just an
overview of what you experienced, before we dive, you know, deep
into the heart of it.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah.
So we went down.
You know, my wife and I, mysecond oldest daughter, leah, my
daughter Mary and my youngestson, ryan, took the trek down on
Thursday and we stopped inKnoxville, tennessee, to do a
college visit for Leah, who'sgoing into her senior year at
the University of Tennessee inKnoxville, right on the river.

(04:38):
Which was nice to kind of breakup the trip, because where we
were headed was essentially Rome, georgia, which is in northwest
Georgia, in the mountains, romeGeorgia, which is in Northwest
Georgia, in the, in themountains, and so it was nice to
, to, to stop and to walk aroundand to take that visit and, you
know, to watch my daughter, youknow, kind of thrive in that

(04:59):
environment and really enjoyseeing that school.
So we went down Thursday.
We had had a house rented in inthe mountains.
It was a beautiful home,beautiful setting.
We were looking right at John's, uh, john's mountain, john's
overlook, where I ended uphaving to, uh, to hike to the
top of Um.
So so we got there Thursdaynight my time to report was was

(05:20):
5 PM on Friday, so got a goodsleep, got a good meal Thursday
night.
Friday, kim and the kids wantedto do some hiking.
I, you know, had some work toget done and I did not want to
be on my feet, which I kind ofregret.
As I kind of tell this story,there'll be some things that'll
come out that you know, I foundout about myself and so they

(05:46):
went hiking and I I stuck aroundand and did some work and did
some stretching and, you know,just tried to hydrate.
I was, I was very deliberate on, um, my nutrition, on my
hydration, because the lastthing in the world I wanted to
have happen was to, you know,have a stomach incident or or
get cramps, was to, you know,have a stomach incident or or
get cramps.
Um, you know, 24 hours is along time and uh, so you know, I

(06:09):
I spent that time doing that, alot of time in prayer, a lot of
time reflecting, but I, Icouldn't, um, I couldn't
overcome the anxiety and thedoubt that I had in my mind.
And so Kim and the kids gotback, had everything packed up
and ready to go and we headedout to the camp and beautiful
setting and I had my tent.

(06:33):
The plan was to be there at 5,5.30.
Chad and his team, with the 3of 7 project, were going to show
up and kind of talk about therules, talk about the
expectations, and then all of us, which ended up being 19 men
sometimes there's women that dothis.
Excuse me, but we had 19 menfrom all over the country that

(06:58):
you know we sat down, welistened to Chad and then we all
got to talk about our why, whywere we there?
Why do we sign up?
Why did we pay money to do this?
And it was pretty powerful andyou know, going into it, my why
was?
I wanted to push myself beyondlimits that I had ever been to,

(07:21):
that I had ever been to, and Iwanted to inspire the people
around me my family, my friends,my community.
Um, but it was, it was moreabout me and um, boy, that
really, that really came tofruition throughout the whole
process.
But that that was my why, in my, in my mind, um, I was hoping

(07:43):
it would strengthen my faith.
Uh, it did way more than thatand, um, it was.
It was really unique andinspiring to hear the other
men's stories.
Um, you know, I'll tell you when, when Kim dropped me off and
they pulled away, I walked upand there was, uh, there was
probably six guys standing there, standing in a circle, talking.

(08:04):
There was some tents set up andwe're on the edge of a lake, a
reservoir, big, tall pine trees.
I mean it was a beautifulsetting.
It was hot, it was, you know,90 degrees, 70% humidity, which
you're not going to get awayfrom.
And we knew that, going into itand you know, instantly went up

(08:25):
and introduced myself andasking everybody where they were
from.
And you know what do you do asa man, you know, as a human,
that you're not supposed to do.
You compare, right, you startmeasuring these guys up and you
start thinking, man, okay, thatguy looks like he's pretty,
pretty fit, and that guy not somuch.

(08:47):
You know, I think I'll be fine.
You know, you start, you startcomparing and, um, man, I, you
know again, there there's somany things that'll that'll come
out as as as we, as we discussthis.
But, um, great men, uh, strongmen, I mean men from Manitoba,
Canada, from Colorado, denver,colorado, from Miami, florida,

(09:11):
from Charlotte, north Carolina,from Indiana.
I was from Ohio, we had Houston, texas, we had a guy that was
from Scotland, we had a guy thatwas from Scotland.
I mean, we just had, there wasmen from all walks of life that
did all kinds of.
You know, whatever we had, ceosof companies, we had, you know,

(09:33):
guys that work for powercompanies, it guy from San
Francisco, just amazing men, andI had no idea how impactful
they would be on me.
And, um, so you know, that wasFriday night.
Uh, chad showed up.
When Chad and, uh, if anybodyknows, the three of seven

(09:54):
project, uh, they, they do apodcast.
Chad has an unbelievable story,um, you know, of becoming a
Navy SEAL and living a very life, of a powerful life of sin, and
but he has a powerful story ofhow he found faith.
And that's what drew me to himwas his story.

(10:16):
He's a ultra marathon guy.
He's run the I think it's thePocadona 250.
He's run, uh, the I think it'sthe poca dona 250.
He's run 250 miles at once.
Uh, he's done tons of ultramarathons.
He's actually leaving next weekto go to the yukon and he is
going to canoe or kayak athousand miles in 10 days with

(10:39):
one of his friends who was aformer seal, who's paralyzed
from the waist down, so he'sgoing to be kayaking with him.
It's an unsupported race, whichmeans that what they put in
that boat when they start, theycan't go get anything else.
They have to support themselvesand they got 10 days to do it,
so that that kind of tells youthe mentality that Chad has.

(11:01):
Chili is one of that's.
Chili I don't know what hisreal name is, but Chili's
somebody that works with Chadwith the three of seven.
He's an ultra marathon guy.
That's how he and Chad met, youknow so, two guys that are very
, very physically fit.
Chad's brother, blake, who youknow, he kind of runs the three
of seven project.
I don't know behind the scenes,but he's.

(11:21):
He's been on mission tripseverywhere and then Cornbread,
and Cornbread was, uh, kind oflike a father figure to Chad.
He's a, he's a he.
He looks like his name sounds uha man of faith, though, and and
there was times during the walkthat, uh, he was it was very uh
instrumental in our teamsuccess.

(11:44):
Um, because we success?
Because we were ROP Team 12,which means we were the 12th
team to do this, and theystarted a couple years ago.
The only other team to finishwith no quitters was ROP Team no
1.
Wow, so our goal, going into itafter Chad left that night, he

(12:04):
gave us some.
He gave us some instructions,some things that we we had to do
that evening to prepare for thepickup, um, Saturday morning
and, um, you know, we.
One of those instructions waswe needed to divide into two
teams and we had to have a teamleader and we needed to discuss

(12:26):
our goals and the things that wewanted to accomplish.
And we did, and we had some,some former military guys there
who were very instrumental in,and again, our success.
And the biggest thing we cameaway with as a group was that we
wanted to complete thistogether.
We didn't want any quitters,and so, whatever that took,

(12:49):
that's what we wanted and thatwas our goal and, uh, as a team,
so it was very uh military,like something I had never been
through before.
So we divided into two teams ofnine.
We had a team leader and as wewent throughout the day, when we
were doing the uh, the training, you know, we were in in file

(13:11):
formation.
We were in dual formation,which means you're in a straight
line.
When you're in dual formation,the guy next to you, you're in
the same line.
You keep that formation thewhole time.
If the trail got skinny, we hadto go into a into file
formation, which meant one teamwent in front of the other and
you, you kept that pace and youonly went as fast as your
slowest guy and that became themost powerful thing.

(13:37):
The two guys that we selected asour team leaders, Um, one was
Ray from Manitoba.
Uh, not a very big guy, longhair, tattoos everywhere, very
soft-spoken, uh, very kind.
Uh, he was a tattoo artist.
Um, he was one.

(13:58):
He's not one that you wouldlook at and think of as as a
leader, Um, but he was.
And then the other team leaderwas Casey, and Casey was local,
he was from the area and he haddone jujitsu with, with, with
Blake, and those guys are thethree to seven project, so he
kind of knew him, Um, and Caseywas somebody if you looked at.

(14:22):
If you're judging someone, youwould look at and think well, he
don't look like he could dothat and do this, you know, do
the the ROP and um, but he wasselected as as team two's leader
.
So I was on team one and I had,uh, ray is as our, our team
leader, in case he was on teamtwo.
So that was, uh, that wasFriday night, you know.

(14:43):
So that was Friday night, youknow, and we had to set up camp.
So each of us had our own tentsand it was a thunder and
lightning show that night and itwas loud and it rained, and it
wouldn't have mattered if it wasloud and raining or not.
None of us were getting muchsleep, you know, because we all
felt the same way, those nervesof anxiousness.

(15:05):
And when Chad left, well, youknow, I think Scott from
Colorado asked the question, youknow, what time should we be
ready tomorrow?
And Chad said anytime between 4am and 8 am.
That's four hours.
4 am is pretty early.
So we all or most of us, Ithink went to bed around 9 pm

(15:28):
Friday night and or at leasttried to and laid in our tents
and listened to the thunder andcould see the flashes of
lightning and then listening tothe rain.
And, you know, you're just leftwith your thoughts.
And you know that waschallenging because, you know,
here I was afraid I'm going tomiss my 3 15 AM alarm, which was

(15:50):
crazy because we're in a tentin the middle of the woods, you
can hear everything, uh, andevery single guy there had their
alarm set for 3 15.
So the odds of all of ouralarms not going off were highly
unlikely.
But, um, and that was theanxiety.
So, um, it was.
It was a stressful evening, um,to say the least.

(16:13):
But one of the the other, thecaveats to that was there were
four guys they kind of did aroll call that night, and there
were four guys that, um, thatweren't there and two of those
guys they knew were, they knewwere running late because their
flights were delayed orsomething was going on.
One of them was from SanFrancisco and another was from
Miami, florida.

(16:33):
There was a guy that rolled inabout halfway through when Chad
was kind of going over thingsJamie, he was from North
Carolina, jamie, he is fromNorth Carolina and um, so, um,
alan from Miami ended up showingup towards the end of Chad's
talk, and then we had anotherguy show up after Chad got done

(16:55):
and left, uh, from San Francisco, but we were left with one guy
that we didn't know.
They hadn't heard from him, wedidn't know if he was going to
make it or not.
That was Wesley, from Houston,and so before we all went to bed
, we were talking.
You know, it was ourresponsibility to make sure we
caught those guys up on therules because, if you well, for

(17:18):
one, chad's a prettyintimidating guy.
I mean you, he's all overInstagram and Facebook and
YouTube and he's a.
He's a.
He's a pretty intimidating guy.
I mean, he's all over Instagramand Facebook and YouTube and
he's a big man.
I'm guessing he's 6'4", he'sgot a big red beard and he is
very deliberate when he speaks,he can get very loud and he can

(17:41):
get very angry and he is incontrol of us for 24 hours.
So, you know, none of us wantedto screw up and, uh, which is
remarkable, because if, ifanybody out there's ever been on
vacation with someone or beenat an event with someone who's
just not a good seed, you knowhow quickly things can unravel

(18:04):
and how that person can makeyour life not fun.
And um, so that was a concernof mine with with all these, you
know, all of us men comingtogether from all across the
country, all different walks oflife.
You just don't know what kindof people they are, you know,
are they going to be like me orare they not?
But they were, they were, theywere, they were all like me,

(18:26):
which was, which was amazing,and way better than me, for sure
.
So we had one guy that hadn'tshown up.
Well then you start, you startthinking is this a mental game?
You know, did they just saythere were four guys?
Three of them showed up, as thefourth guy just an imaginary
guy, or is he really going toshow up?
So we talked about keeping guysup throughout the night, that

(18:48):
way, if he showed up, we could.
Hey, we got to be up at four.
You know, we got to be ready togo at 4am because Chad said
when the two white vans show upto pick you up, you got five
minutes to get in dual formationof your teams.
Load the vans and we're gone.
So we knew, whenever theyshowed up, we had five minutes.
That was it, and this ismilitary style.

(19:09):
So there's no, you know, nomessing around and um, so we all
got up three, 15, the fourthguy never showed up through the
night.
We're sitting in the uh, the,the picnic, the shelter house or
whatever at you know, ready togo.
Everybody's ready to go.
At four we got our bags packed,um, all these things, and um

(19:29):
five o'clock comes, five, 30comes, we're all sitting there.
Of course we're exhausted andyou know, we hadn't even started
thinking, holy cow, how are wegoing to do this?
And it was a little before sixand we saw truck lights coming
back, or lights coming back tothe parking area where we were

(19:50):
at, and it was a truck and pullsup, backs up and the guy gets
out, and we all assumed that itwas maybe a cadre, another
somebody who was part of thethree of seven, and um, he gets
out and he starts walking upright then the two vans pull in.
So it's go time.
That was our fourth guy.
That was Wesley.

(20:11):
He drove all the way fromHouston, texas.
He'd worked the day before.
He got in his truck and drovethrough the night, got hung up
in traffic in Louisiana, alldifferent places to get over to
Northwest Georgia, and he justhappened.
He had no idea what time wewere leaving.
He just happened to show upliterally five minutes before

(20:32):
the van show up.
So he was on our team becausewe were short one guy, so that
made our numbers even.
So.
We had nine guys on team oneand nine guys on T2.
And here comes Wesley, so hemakes our ninth guy on team
number one.
We catch him up to speed, youknow.
I mean you can imagine theexhaustion that he felt and we
all thought, holy cow like thisguy paid the same amount of

(20:53):
money that we did to do this.
He drove, you know, he had thefaith and the fortitude just to
keep going, knowing that hecould have showed up and we'd
have been gone and he'd havemade that trek for nothing.
But by the grace of God, hemade it there.
The vans pull in, we get intodual formation.
Chad shows up, starts barkingorders.

(21:15):
You know it's, uh, the heat'son, it's go time, and we load
the vans and, um, you know, bythis time my heart's racing and,
uh, I don't know what's to come.
You know we're, we're, uh, it's, it's dark, it's about six
o'clock and uh, they take off.
And then we've got about a um,it was 30, 35, 40 minute drive

(21:40):
to a trailhead and um, I to atrailhead, and we're not allowed
to disclose the trails that wewere on, but it was we started
off.
It was similar to any trail.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
Maybe anyone's been on at a state park, only this
was in the mountains inNorthwest Georgia, so it was a
pretty good, good climb.
Let me stop you right therereal quick.
I just have one question beforeyou get into the what's the age

(22:13):
gap here?
I don't know if you guys talkedabout your ages.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Oh yeah, we did a lot of talk.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
We had 24 hours Just for our listeners.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
before you do it, it's just so, we had I believe
Casey was the youngest.
Casey was the local guy.
He was Team 2's leader, um, Ithink he was like 27 or 28.
And then I believe our oldestguy was in mid fifties.
A majority of us of the guyswere were in that forties range.

(22:38):
Um, you know, late thirties toyou know, maybe upper forties,
um, so you know, not young byany means.
Um, and and.
To take on a challenge likethis, I think says a lot about
the mentality of the men thatdid it.
Um, and and and I'll.
I'll back up a little bit.

(23:00):
So the three rules for the riteof passage, there's only three.
I mean, it's pretty simple.
You have to move, constantmovement.
You, there was at no time inthat 24 hours where we ever able
to sit down, so we were on ourfeet, moving for 24 hours.
You had to eat.
You had to fuel your body.

(23:21):
You had to eat, even thoughthere were many times when I did
not feel like eating.
You had to eat.
You had to because we wereburning about 300 calories per
hour.
And you had to drink.
If you didn't drink, you werenot going to make it.
If you did those three things,you would make it.
But if one of those went away,there was no way you were going
to make it and we wereinstructed that we would need to

(23:45):
carry roughly three liters ofwater.
So three quarters of a gallonof water is what we carried on
our back.
Any of the food that we had, wecarried on our back.
We had raincoats that wecarried on, you know, in our, in
our backpacks Again, all thesnacks.
I had an extra change of socks.
We had to have headlamps withbattery backups.

(24:06):
I had trekking poles.
Probably half of the guys hadtrekking poles, the other half
didn't.
You know anything that youthought you might need.
There was a mandatory list thatwe had to have.
But then anything beyond thatyou could, you could take it.
So you know I was probablycarrying, I'm guessing, 12
pounds.
You know when, when my waterand everything was.

(24:27):
You know I was probablycarrying, I'm guessing, 12
pounds.
You know when my water andeverything was full, roughly 12
pounds on our back.
I will say this our team oneleader Ray Ray is what we called
him from Canada, his bag.
I think he had the entireprovince of Manitoba in his bag.
I mean it was heavy, and ofManitoba in his bag.
I mean it was heavy and he wasone of the smallest guys and

(24:50):
that will come up here as wekind of talk about this.

Speaker 4 (24:59):
So yeah, that was the age range anywhere from late
20s to mid-50s.
The reason I ask that, beforewe dive in, most of our
listeners are in that gap forthe 20 to 50s range.
So put yourself in thissituation and just imagine going
through it, you know, becauseyou know that's a huge, I mean
it's a pretty big age gap, likeI mean, casey draws you down
there with 28.
So you're talking about from20s to late 50s, I mean mid late

(25:22):
50s.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, mid 50s, yeah, so I mean mid late fifties.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
Yeah, Mid fifties, yeah, so I mean you're talking,
yeah, a lot of our listeners youknow yeah 20, 30 years.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, and really, you know, it wasn't like, uh, you
know, we all, we all laughedabout it.
Uh, there's not a lot ofinformation out on the rite of
passage.
Um, there was recently, I thinka couple months ago, they, uh,
the three of seven project, putout a video of, I think it was
ROP, team 11, I believe Uh, itmay have been a different team

(25:51):
number, but, um, I, we all jokedaround that we all probably
watched that video a hundredtimes each.
You know, trying to pick uplittle tidbits.
You know, even I went as far astrying to watch as they videoed
in the van, the trailheads thatthey, that they left from, and
then listening as the, you knowit got into the evening where

(26:13):
they were at that night, youknow, okay, I know where that's
at, you know, and then try tomap those points and be like, oh
boy, that's a, that's a longways away from one another.
Um, you know, looking at thetimes, what time?
You know I was trying to lookin the van on the video to see
what time it was when they left.
You know we all did thosethings and what the people were

(26:36):
wearing.
What shoes were they wearing,what bags were they carrying,
what kind of shorts or pants ortops, where they were.
You know all those littlethings just to to try to gain
some sort of advantage.
You know that, that maybe youweren't thinking about, and
really some of that stuff didhelp.
You know, your shoes areextremely important, the socks

(26:59):
that you wear are extremelyimportant, how much you're
carrying on your back, I meanall those things over a long
period of time are veryimportant and and it and they
proved to be important, but, uh,that wasn't the most important
thing.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
I think the thing that would help me most with
that video is that, the one thatwhere they, uh, they had a
couple of kids or people dropout with what was it?
How many minutes left or howmany miles left?

Speaker 3 (27:24):
was it.
It was dark, it was close tothe end, so it at least been
within the last eight hours,right, yeah?

Speaker 4 (27:31):
so you're over halfway through and, yeah, that
had kept me pushing, I think ohyeah seeing that, but yeah, yeah
, so take us into it.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Here we go yeah, so you know, we started off on the
trail and, and chili was thelead for us again, chili's ultra
marathon guy and and ultramarathon is anything over a
marathon, so that could be, youknow, 28 miles, all the way up
to a hundred miles, 300 miles,that's, I mean that's and he
looks like a runner, you knowhe's, uh, so he, he's in our van

(27:59):
.
He says that when we get here,I'm going to take off, you guys
get into your formation and youfollow quickly.
And so you know, we did, andyou can imagine two vans, guys
getting out, nervous, hadn'tslept, you know, for two days or
whatever it was.
It was a little chaotic and um,that's when I, that's when I

(28:19):
realized this is going to be amental battle, because they were
trying to create chaos.
And, uh, they were.
They were also doing a good jobof making sure that we work
together as a team.
And, um, so, so Chile took off,and there's a lot of yelling and
, uh, screaming from Chad and,and you know, we finally got it

(28:43):
all together and took off andcaught up to Chile and, and you
know, and, and the time theclock started.
So you know, I'm we're kind oflooking at the sun like, okay,
it's, we're just past sunrise,so this time tomorrow we'll be,
we'll be finishing up.
So we took off and pretty goodpace, good conversation.
We throughout the throughoutthe 24 hours, they have what

(29:08):
they call resupplies, so weended up having five total
resupplies.
Um so, the first, the firstresupply, I don't again and I
should have said this in thebeginning, but we were not
allowed to have any timetracking device, any GPS device.
No phones, no watches, no,nothing.
We didn't know what time it wasunless you could read the sun.

(29:31):
So in the woods.
Yeah, so you know, the firstresupply, I'm guessing, was
roughly six miles and and so bythe time we got to the first
resupply, it was getting prettywarm.
Uh, you know, it wasn'tterrible in in the, in the woods

(29:52):
, because you had the shade, butyou know the shade doesn't do
anything for the humidity.
So, um, you know, we were alldrenched by the time we got to
resupply.
Number one and the rules, theresupply, you know refill your
water, refill, you know anysnacks that you want.
They had, you know they had all, any and all kinds of granola
bars and honey and applesauce,and you know all the things that

(30:14):
you can think of that you wouldneed.
Uh, you know quick, easycalories that you could, could
eat while you're walking bananas, oranges, uh, all those things.
But we had 10 minutes and wewere, you know, again, we're in
dual formation, you know,standing in a straight line
together, you know, just likeyou would think of in any

(30:34):
military setting.
And Chad started the clock 10minutes.
And you know we had to worktogether as a team, helping each
other refuel your water bottlesor your camel packs or whatever
.
You know.
However, you had your water andthen there was all kinds of
electrolyte stuff you could mixin, which was which was
extremely important in that heat, uh, to get those electrolytes

(30:55):
in, and and that 10 minutes feltlike one minute.
I mean it went that quick, um,but what I found throughout that
that time was those resuppliesbecame very vital because it
gave you something to lookforward to.
Because, even though we weren't, um, moving during that time,
we weren't allowed to sit down,um, you know, we had to, you had

(31:17):
to be very proactive in whatyou did and, uh, being efficient
and helping all the guys andmake sure everybody got the
water that they needed.
Because, again, what was ourgoal?
Our goal was to finish as ateam, and so we did, got back
into dual formation and we linedback up and and took off and it
was an uphill climb and and the, the next terrain that we hit

(31:40):
was very, very, not not super,not super steep, but it was, um,
like a gravel fire road.
So, um, you know, like 57s, uh,gravel, pretty, pretty thick
gravel, walking, uh, somewhatexposed to the sun, and and by
this time, uh, you know, it wasprobably 10, 11 o'clock out,

(32:00):
that, you know, during the day,so the sun was, was high enough
where, where we could feel itand, um, you know, I, I started
About that time, I started tonotice in my mind, when it would
get quiet, you would start todrift a little bit, you would
start to find yourself askingwhy.

(32:22):
You know, why am I—this sucksLike, this is not fun, it's hot.
We just got started.
You know, I mean, we got a longway to go.
Where we just got started, youknow, I mean we got a long way
to go.
And it was about this time wehad Cornbread who was walking
with us, and Chad was in theback with Chili, and Cornbread
was kind of walking besidecertain guys and having

(32:44):
conversations, and a man full offaith and you could hear these
conversations, which were vitalto hear guys talking, even if it
was random conversations, whichthere were, many of those that
were funny and uh, but the manthey were ended up being so
important throughout that timebecause it took your mind off of

(33:04):
yourself and and the pain thatyou felt you were going through.
And I, you know, I, I heardcornbread talking to somebody
about Jesus and about faith andabout how, um, you know, just
just all kinds of differentthings about the Bible, and it
was, it was between resupply oneand resupply two where I

(33:24):
noticed that our team one leader, um Ray Ray, was starting to
struggle.
Ray Ray was starting to struggleand Ray had had told me the
night before, when we were kindof packing up our bags at camp,
that he had an issue with hisknee, with his left knee, that
sometimes it would kind of giveout a little bit when it was

(33:46):
under stress.
And I remember thinking, man,that's probably not a good thing
going into a 24 hour trek, butRay was our leader and you know
you could start to watch.
Not a good thing going into a24 hour track, but Ray was our
leader and you know you couldstart to watch him a little bit
and see him really favor thatknee and it wasn't as bad going
up.
But when we started to comedown you could really really

(34:07):
notice the struggle and the pain.
And so um cornbread had went upto Scott, who was from Colorado
.
He was a mountain of a man,probably six, four, six, five,
just a big guy, super nice guy,and uh.
I heard him mention somethingabout.
Uh, he said do you hear that?
It's kind of like, well, you'rewhat?

(34:29):
And he's like you hear thatsilence?
He said that's not a good thing.
He said when there's silence inthis group, he said it's a bad
thing.
He said guys are starting towonder, starting to question
things.
He said you need to speak upand ask everybody to restate
their why.
You know why they're here, whyare they doing this?
And so Scott did, being theleader that he is, you know he

(34:52):
shouted, know, he shouted outhey, everybody, I want to hear
your why again.
And and so we all at that timewent, you know, man by man.
Again, we're trekking, we'removing, we're climbing a
mountain on this fire road andand we're all, we're all stating
our why.
And so that was a great thing,that was a great thing to hear
everybody's why.
I think mentally it was, it wasdefinitely, definitely needed.

(35:13):
And, um, we, we get close toresupply number two and we're
coming down now we're comingdown a fire road and, um, chad's
wife Brooke would, would showup and take pictures.
So we've got a lot of pictureswhich we'll link uh to to the
end of this podcast so peoplecan see the group and see some

(35:35):
of the pictures during the trekand we saw Brooke and their dog
and so we knew we were gettingclose.
But it was really this time,going downhill, that you could
really see Ray Ray struggling.
And I mean, like I told my wifeKim, I said if you, if you've
ever seen Forrest Gump and thepart where Forrest has the knee

(35:58):
braces on when he's a kid, andthat truck's chasing him and
he's running and he, you know,he just it looks like he's a
robot you know, and it justreally struggling.
That's what.
That's what Ray looked like.
And so, um, again, scott fromColorado, who was uh, he was, I
think he was two guys backbehind Ray Ray he said, ray, let

(36:19):
me take your pack.
And um, and he took his packand he carried it, which was a
big help for Ray, but he wasstill struggling.
So, you know, throughout thatour way down, you know, we kind
of passed Ray's pack around.
We wanted to keep his packclosed so that he had water and
he had food when he needed it.
Because there would be times aswe would go and somebody would

(36:41):
yell hydrate and eat, hydrateand eat.
Everybody would yell hydrateand eat, and you'd take a drink
of water or a drink of yourelectrolyte drink and you'd eat
a granola bar or whatever.
And that was important.
So I was able, I went up rightbehind Ray Ray and carrying his
pack, and that's when I saw thestruggle, I saw how, I mean, I

(37:10):
thought he was going to fall, Ithought I was going to have to
catch him and that's how laboredhis walking was and I said, I
said, ray, you eating in a while, do you need something to eat?
And he could tell that it was adifferent voice.
And uh, when he turned around,he, he, you know, he looked me
in the eyes and uh, I'll uh.

(37:32):
He looked me in the eyes andI'll never forget that look.
It was a look of pain, ofstruggle, of despair.
But he kept going and he saidI'm good.
So I gave him some water.
So we round the corner and wecan see the vans.
We can see that, hey, we're atresupply number two.

(37:54):
I'm not the only one thatthought this cause.
We all talked about itafterwards, but you know it was
in that moment.
I thought there is no way thatRay's going to make it like
there is no way.
I, you know, just watching him.
And we are not 10 hours in, wehaven't even got to the heat of
the day and this guy can barelywalk.

(38:15):
And we know we're getting readyto climb some mountains with
some rocks.
So we're getting close to thevans and Jamie from North
Carolina yells out you're notquitting Ray.
And he kept saying it you'renot quitting Ray, you're not
quitting Ray.
And so we made it to the vansand resupply.
You're not quitting Ray, you'renot quitting, right.
And so we made it to the vansand, uh, resupply, we're all

(38:37):
again filling up our water andour, our food and everything.
And I thought, man, there ain'tno way he's going to keep going
.
But 10 minutes was up, we gotinto dual formation and raise it
the front of the pack and um,you know, we stood there for a
little bit and Chad had hisbrother, blake um, get up and

(38:58):
and and give us a little bit ofa talk, kind of a pep talk, but
he wanted us to think aboutagain why we were there and um,
to really reflect on our livesand all those things.
And he, he quoted a couple ofBible verses and and Chad said,
hey, we're going to, we're goingto take off, and when we do, I
want you to take 30 minutes asyou're walking and not talk.

(39:19):
I just want you to really thinkabout what Blake said.
And so.
So we took off and Ray was stilltrucking, and it was about this
time that Casey, who was thelead at team number two, he was
really struggling too.
I mean he was, and his attitudewasn't wasn't a lot like
everybody else's.
I mean, you'd ask somebody,yell out how's everybody doing?

(39:40):
And they're, you know, good,great.
You know everybody was prettypositive and Casey's, like this
sucks.
I mean he was, he was justbrutally honest, you know.
And uh, so it was.
It was kind of comical to hearhim say that, because that's
really what we were all thinking.
And uh, so we, we take off, andand now we're on a road, uh,
fully exposed.

(40:00):
You know, it'd be like walkingin preble county.
You know there's a alfalfafield on one side and a grass
field on the other, round bales,and and, uh, yeah, the sun's
just blaring.
And so we're walking and we'rethinking and, um, it w, it was
good, it was hot, it was veryhot.
Um, and that was, uh, that was achallenging time, even though

(40:22):
the road was flat and solid.
I wanted to be back in thewoods because the ground was a
little softer on those trails.
Now, it it sucked on those fireroads with the gravel, but, uh,
the trails were good.
So you know, we, we, we make itthrough um that phase and we're
, we're headed to um.
Next stop is resupply, numberthree, which should be

(40:46):
dinnertime, and we knew, basedon again watching that other
video a hundred times, thatthere was going to be some type
of food other than a granola bar.
And so we, we end up duringthat trek.
Somehow we made a wrong turn.
Oh no, now remember, we don'tknow where we're at or where
we're going.

(41:06):
I mean, we're in no electronicsyeah we are in a very remote
area in the mountains and wehappened to be on a fire road.
Well, come to find out that wasplanned.
They knew where we were goingand they didn't count those
miles in our trek.
But it was a very long walk andwe got to a spot and Chad was

(41:30):
like hold up, guys.
He said halt.
And so again, we're in dualformation and we halt.
And he said about face and weturn around.
And when we turn around, youcould look ahead and you could
see this trail of rocks and itwas like a vertical climb.
So we're all looking at thisthing thinking no way, there is

(41:50):
no way we're climbing that.
And he proceeds to tell us thatchili led us in the wrong
direction and we made a wrongturn and what we're looking for
is a blue mark on a tree itshould be on our right side and
blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
That was a bunch of BS.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
And, but regardless, you know, we all maintained a
positive attitude.
I mean, there were times wewere.
You know, somebody said, hey,you need to recite your favorite
movie line, you know.
So each guy went through and aswe're walking, you know you're
reciting your favorite movieline and all this stuff sounds,

(42:27):
you know, inconsequential, likeit doesn't mean anything.
But you know, when you, whenyou're um, when you're on your
feet for that long and your legsare on fire and your feet hurt,
and you know everything hurts,you know you got a 10, 15 pounds
on your back that you'recarrying, it's hot, you're
drenched in sweat, um, you know,those little things, this

(42:50):
comedic relief was, uh, you know, super impactful and just
helped us all get through it.
There were times when we'd talkabout Jamie was big on.
Hey, just around the cornerthere's going to be a grill,
there's going to be a smoker upthere.
What are we putting on thesmoker?
We'd talk about whatever meatyou're going to cook and all
those things.
Again, it didn't seem like muchtalking about it now, but at

(43:15):
the time, when you're in themoment, those, those were vital,
um, distractions that youneeded.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
What was your favorite movie line?
Let's hear it.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Oh, you're killing me , small from the sandlot.
So, um, so, yeah, so we we findour way back to where we missed
, our turn uh again, which wasBS, but that's okay.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
Was there a blue mark on the tree?

Speaker 3 (43:36):
There was a blue mark on the tree and and yeah, it
was, it wasn't obvious at thetime but when we, when we all
reflected back that you know,then the next morning somebody
asked Chad and he was like yeah,that was planned.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
You think I really get lost in the woods?
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
You know how many times we've done this.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
Right.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
And and chili kept saying he knew the woods like
the back of his hand, and so wekinda, we kinda knew, but we
ended up making it to resupplynumber three, and, and that was
dinner, and they had Bojangles,which Bojangles is like KFC.
You know it's it's fried chickenand they have grilled chicken.

(44:17):
No grilled chicken, but they,they, you know.
They said, hey, you need, youneed the protein, you need the
fat, you need thosecarbohydrates and you're going
to need it because you're goinginto the toughest part of the
rite of passage.
And so, you know, ate chickenand and refueled, and they
actually gave us 20 minutes here, which again only felt like
five.
But, um, you know, we were ableto get our packs off, get
everything filled back up againno sitting, you know, getting an
actual food, not a granola baror applesauce or honey or

(44:40):
whatever.
And so we lined back up.
It's starting to get dark, youknow.
The sun's going down and in thewoods it gets really dark, and
so we leave resupply.
Number three and turn thecorner we're in dual formation
and there's a river.
And number three and turn thecorner, we're in dual formation
and there's a river and the roadgoes through the river.
So we walk through the riverand it's about, maybe right to

(45:05):
the bottom of your calf, so yourshoes are fully submerged, you
know, and most of us have twopairs of socks on with hiking
boots or hiking shoes, whateveryou got, and it felt good for a
minute yeah, but then you gotwet feet and you're hiking in
wet feet and and you know, youknow it's not dark yet, so you
know you might be 12 hours in.

(45:27):
So you're halfway throughwalking with wet feet, the sun's
going down and now we're, uh,we're in a Valley and you know,
when you're you're at a Valley,you know what's coming next.
You got a big climb, so I can'tsay that the mountain that we
climbed, but but, um, you know,we started this climb and I am

(45:47):
glad that it was dark, becausethis felt like an incline that
was never going to end, and hecalled it Copperhead road, and
they called it Copperhead road.
It was a fire road again, itwas gravel, um, because of the
Copperhead snakes, and theyusually come out, I guess, at
night because it's cooler and ithad rained.

(46:09):
So, uh, we didn't get rain, butit had rained where we were,
where we were hiking.
So you know it's dark, we allgot headlamps on and, uh, you
know we're we're looking forsnakes, and copperheads, I guess
, are very aggressive.
So, uh, the last thing any ofus wanted was, uh, was to get
bit by a copperhead snake, causethat'd probably been game over.

(46:29):
Yeah, so, um, we did see onecopperhead snake, but luckily
nobody was hurt.
There was also a spot wherethere was a rattler, a
rattlesnake, that somebodyalmost stepped on, but a man
from San Francisco spotted itbefore they stepped on it.
And then we saw a bull snake,which I guess are not aggressive

(46:51):
, walked right by it but it wasa pretty big snake.
So you know we're watching forsnakes.
The terrain was all over theboard.
I may have said that earlier,but you know there were, there
were parts of the trail that youcould barely see in front of
you.
That was like a rainforest.
So poison ivy, poison oak, allthose things, all kinds of

(47:15):
thorns, logs.
I mean it was challenging.
And in between the resupplythree and resupply four, we
pretty much all had figured thatresupply four was going to be
on top of the mountain and itended up being.
But there was a spot that theycalled the wormhole.

(47:42):
So we climbed the gravel road,the um, the copperhead road that
Chad called it, and we get tothis spot where the trail
narrows.
So we all go down into fileformation and we take off and
this is where it truly is like arainforest.
I mean it is um, we're on the,we're on the side of a mountain,
so the the trail is not flat,you know.
So you're walking on unevenground, rocks, stumps, you know

(48:05):
everywhere it's.
This is not a path that's takenby a lot of people and, um, you
know I I'll go back to Ray, um,as, as we kept going throughout
the day, chad put Ray and Caseyand Wesley at the front of our
group, because you can only goas fast as your slowest man.

(48:29):
And that was really hard for mein the beginning until I
noticed the pain that Ray was inbecause I wanted to go faster.
You know, a lot of us wanted togo faster.
You know, we thought there wasa point of time in the beginning
where we had asked Chad, youknow, what's the most miles that
any ROP team's ever done, youknow, and it was like 50 plus

(48:53):
and we thought, well, we canbeat that.
But as we went we realized thatwasn't the point.
You know, the point was whatwas our goal?
Our goal was to finish withevery man that we started with.
And so you know, I know how I'mstruggling going up Copperhead
Road.

(49:13):
I know how I'm strugglingwalking through that water,
walking on the hot asphalt, withthat heat bearing down.
And wet socks and wet socks.
But Ray, you talk about aninspiration and he inspired
every.
You know, all the 18 guys thatwere behind him knew that if Ray

(49:39):
kept going, there was no way inhell we were not going to keep
going.
And he was still walking thesame way, like Forrest Gump,
with them knee braces.
I mean it just looked likeevery step was just excruciating
.
And so, you know, he leads usto the top of of Copperhead
mountain and we get to this spotagain they called the wormhole.

(50:00):
And when we left resupply threeafter we'd eaten our chicken,
uh, blake had said hey, makesure you guys all take an extra
piece of chicken, put it in yourpocket.
Think about that, put it inyour pocket.
I didn't have any pockets, so Iluckily had a Ziploc bag and I
put a uh, a um a leg a chickenleg in my Ziploc bag and put it

(50:22):
in my pack.
But, uh, matt in front of me isfrom Indiana.
Um, he had, he had a wholechicken breast in his pocket
sticking out.
So so the whole time I'mwalking, all I see is this
chicken breast sticking out ofMatt's pocket.
Holy cow, um, and and that's akind of another thing I want to

(50:45):
back up to is, you know, chadtalked about the night before
how you know you, you want tolook ahead, you know, and, and
you may only be able to make itto the top of the next ridge,
but then there's going to be apoint where you're only going to
be able to make it to the nexttree, and then there's going to
be a point where you're onlygoing to be able to make it that

(51:06):
next step.
And I had Matt in front of meand Matt was a couple of years
younger than me, from Indiana,um, super guy, great guy.
And uh, I see the back of hisheels when I go to bed at night,
because that's all I waswatching was his feet.
So, head down, because youreally couldn't look up.
If you looked up, at any pointyou could trip.

(51:27):
You know, with uneven terrainor a rock or a stump or whatever
it was.
And so, uh so, matt's heels areetched in my mind, along with
that chicken breast in hispocket, and uh so, um, you know,
we're going through thewormhole and Chad had given us a
speaker.
It was a Bluetooth speaker.

(51:49):
He called it the turtle and itwas.
It was a pretty decent size andhe said you need to.
You know, the rule of thisthing is it can't hit the ground
.
Anybody can carry it, but thethe speaker side's got to be
facing out.
We're thinking what the heck isthis why are we carrying a
Bluetooth speaker?
Well, we found out we're in thewormhole, which we found out was

(52:10):
about.
We were about three hours inthe wormhole, which is again
like rainforest.
There were trees down, bigtrees down, covered in poison
oak.
We had to climb over it.
Under it and you get to a tree.
And what happens?
You stop because you're tryingto get.
You know, you got to figure outhow to get over.
We got 19 guys in a row.
Well then, the screaming starts.
Boy, you stop.

(52:31):
And what you know?
Keep going, figure it out.
You know.
And we, I think there werethree down trees throughout that
track, that three hour track.
Well then, all of a sudden, thisvoice starts playing out of the
music box and it was likepropaganda from the early 1900s,
and it was this guy.
Uh, and I've got it, um, and itwent on for about five minutes

(52:57):
and what it was trying to do wasmake us crazy.
The mental and this wholeprocess was what was the most
difficult thing again that you,you cannot prepare for, and I'd
never been through anything likethat, where where someone was
trying to deliberately changeyour mind, to make you quit.

(53:19):
That.
That played over and over andover and over again for three
hours, and it was like being ata concert.
That's how loud it was.
So what they were trying to dowas to get us to go crazy, to
get us to not be able tocommunicate.
You know, because we, you know,we keep saying hydrate neat,

(53:41):
hydrate, neat.
Well, you couldn't hear.
It was so loud.
Uh, to me, it just annoyed me,you know.
So I started whistling the AndyGriffith song as loud as I
could, and then everybody wouldyell different things here or
there, but you couldn't avoid it.
Like it was, it was justconstant annoying, over and over
and over.
And uh so, luckily, we made itout of the wormhole and then

(54:02):
made a climb to the top of themountain and made it to resupply
number four.
So by this time we're trying toguess.
You know what time is it?
We've been, we've been trackingpretty far in the dark, so we
were guessing it was probablyone, two o'clock and uh.
So now you're getting, you'retired, you know, your, your legs
hurt.
I can feel, um, I can feel someblisters on my feet.

(54:25):
Um, you know, your ankles arehurting, your legs are hurting.
You know, there's numerous times, you know there was, there was
a couple of times where Matt infront of me, I could, I could
see him, you know, start to swaya little bit, you know, and you
could tell he was struggling,you know, and I'd hand him a
pack of honey, you know, and itwas amazing what honey can do

(54:48):
for you, that, that, that boltof sugar, and you know he
straightened back up and make it, but it was struggling.
You'd either carry their packor you'd hey, have you eaten?
When's the last time you drankhere?
Take this, take that.
You know, um, the electrolyte.
I had some some electrolytechews that you could take.
We had some caffeine chews thatyou could take to try to help
keep you awake.
But the harder it got, thestronger we got as a team.

(55:11):
And that was so vital.
And you know who kept going?
Ray Ray Kept going.
Man, it was amazing and againhe was that inspiration for all
of us that he just kept takingthat step and that's what all I
thought is I'm just going tokeep watching Matt's heels and
I'm going to keep taking thatstep and physically I felt

(55:32):
pretty good.
I mean, my feet hurt but Icould deal with that.
You know I it was uh, we hadsome some great conversations.
Uh, you know, chad and Chilithey were, they were great.
You know there'd be timesthey'd come up and have
conversations and these guys arepretty famous really in the
world of podcasting and ultramarathon running and and, uh,

(55:56):
public speaking and all thosethings.
But man, they are just down toearth, good old boys from
Georgia, just, you know, justSouthern twang and so great
conversations just about lifeand faith and everything in
general.
So we made it to resupply numberfour and in my mind I'm
thinking that's the lastresupply.
Like we're at the top of themountain, we're going to, we're

(56:18):
going to head to the bottom andit's going to be close to
sunrise.
And so we go, you know,resupply four.
We get all our stuff ready togo and, uh, you know, chad says,
hey, this is what you came herefor.
Like, this is the rite ofpassage and this will be the

(56:39):
most technical, difficult trailyou've been on yet.
Keep in mind, we've been awakefor 48 hours.
I mean, the last really goodsleep that I had was Thursday
night.
Here it is Saturday night atyou know, I don't know, two
o'clock in the morning.
I've been on my feet for, uh,you know, 16, 17 hours, whatever

(57:01):
it had been.
And so Chili takes off and, uh,I don't even know how he knew
where he was going, because Idid not see any trail whatsoever
.
There were boulders everywhere,you know, you're drenched in
sweat.
You'd already went through whoknows how much poison ivy and
poison oak and thorns andthistles and all those things.

(57:23):
And then, if anybody thinksabout, you know what bugs do.
When there's a light and it'sdark outside and you got a light
on your head, you can imaginethe bugs flying in your mouth
and your nose and your face.
So you were, you know,constantly just swatting at the
bugs, trying to keep your headdown, to make sure you know each
step, that you didn't roll yourankle or fall on on rocks,

(57:47):
because, um, these were some bigboulders that we were going
across and there'd be there'd betimes where we'd we'd get into
a path, and it was a prettytight trail and there were times
when you could tell there was abig cliff to your right, and so
it was.
It was very technical.
We got to the bottom and andthere was, um, there was a spot
where we trekked down and wentkind of behind a waterfall slick

(58:11):
, pretty pretty, um, seriousterrain.
But you know who kept going?
Right, right, ray kept going,and, man, that that that was
tough for me and I felt prettygood.
Um, there's a funny story.
Billy, he's a, an ex Marine, um, from Indiana, and, uh, he was
struggling as, as we weregetting down towards the bottom

(58:35):
of the mountain and uh, uh Ithink it was Scott from Colorado
had a five hour energy and hegave.
He gave it to Billy and it waslike somebody gave him Ritalin.
I mean he just like startedtalking about.
He was like woo, you know, hewas going crazy talking about
this and that, and and, uh, itwas great for Billy and it was
great for for all of us.

(58:56):
And I was like whoo, you know,he was going crazy talking about
this and that and it was greatfor Billy and it was great for
all of us.
And I was thinking man, thatthing wears off.
I hope he's going to be okay.
But again, it was one of thosethings where we're tired.
You know the steps are tough.
It's getting real, realchallenging.
You're exhausted and you knowBilly's just chatty Kathy, you

(59:18):
know, just letting her, lettingher go.
So it was, it was it was neededat the time for all of us to
hear him talking about justrandom stuff.
And so you know, we come out ofthe bottom and we're making our
trek up and, um, we're climbinganother, another fire road and
I see the vans and we're allunder the whole night.
We're like looking at the sky,like we're climbing another,
another fire road and I see thevans and we're all under the
whole night.
We're like looking at the sky,like we're just waiting for the
sky to change, which you can'treally see in the woods.

(59:40):
And we make it to the vans andthe two vans are there and they
got all the stuff out there, allthe granola bars and the water
and everything's out.
And I'm thinking, reason apply,number five, like we have got
to be, like it has got to be soclose.
But you know they're playingmind games with us and you know
the a lot of the guys did reallygood and we'd say, hey, what

(01:00:00):
time is it?
And they'd say, oh, it's six,30 at night, you know.
So you just weren't, you know,you just knew it didn't matter,
24 hours was 24 hours.
Whether we went 20 miles or wewent 60 miles didn't matter.
And so we resupply same thing10 minutes.
Here we go and we take off intothe woods and Chad's leading us
and we go, I don't know, maybe30 minutes into the woods and

(01:00:23):
Chad says halt, and he saysabout face.
And so we all turn around andface him and he said and
throughout this time you couldstart to hear the birds singing.
And he said, and throughoutthis time you could start to
hear the birds singing, you know.
So I told Matt I was like, hey,yeah, we're here, those birds
don't sing in the dark, and thenyou could start to see the sky
change.
And so we did an about face andChad said congratulations, you

(01:00:47):
know.
You finished.
And man, matt, let out a big,you know, yeehaw, big yelp
scared the crap out of me and wewere all.
I mean, it was just a sigh ofrelief.
And so we walked back a certaindistance and then Chad talked a
little bit about faith and aboutwhat we had just done and told

(01:01:09):
us.
He said I want you to reflect,I'm going to release each one of
you individually to head backthe path towards the vans and
we'll load up.
Uh, you know, keep it at whenyou get back to the van, keep it
in in dual formation.
I mean, we're still on amission, right?
Uh, you know, the mission isnot complete.
And so he released, you know,each one of us individually
where we were kind of alone withour thoughts and, um, you know,

(01:01:30):
that was a.
That was a interesting time toreally kind of reflect back on
what we had just done as a team.
And you know, one of the guysactually passed out at that time
.
Yeah, he passed out three times, you know, I think just from
exhaustion.
And you know, you, just, youjust keep going.

(01:01:51):
I mean, it's amazing, the powerof the mind.
You know what you can perseverethrough when you truly just
don't stop.
And that's what I learned fromRay, that's what I learned from
Casey, from Wesley.
You know, here here Wes drivesall the way from Houston, shows

(01:02:12):
up right before we leave.
You know he's probably going onthree days of no sleep.
At least he got out of a car,jumps in a van and we've been
tracking for 24 hours.
I mean I had been able to rest,you know, and I mean just
amazing men, amazing strength,amazing leadership.

(01:02:36):
I mean the power of a positiveattitude was, was came to the
forefront and um, it was.
It was a life-changing eventfor me and, um, it didn't really
hit me until yesterday morningbut you know, we made it back,

(01:02:59):
we all loaded in the van and Idon't know, it was maybe a
30-minute drive back to campwhere our tents and everything
were, and that's kind of when ithit me.
As far as the exhaustion, youknow we're all kind of our heads
are like bobbleheads becausewe're falling and it's hard to
stay awake.
Um, you know some of the stats.
I guess that was kind notcounting the little turn that we

(01:03:19):
made, that we missed.
So Chili said he thought it was46 miles.

(01:03:41):
Regardless, it was a lot ofmiles and you know you may look
at that listeners and think,okay, that's a little over.
You know two miles an hour.
You know that's nothing, I cando that and maybe you can, you
know, I know you can actually uh, if I can do it, anybody can do
it.
But you got to remember whatour goal was and our goal was to

(01:04:05):
finish as a team and you'reonly as strong as your weakest
link.
And so, whether Chili was goingto or not Chili, whether Ray
Ray was going to walk one milean hour or three miles an hour,
that's what we were going to do.
We were, we were not going toleave him behind and he was not
going to quit and um, so youknow we did.

(01:04:27):
I'm saying we did 46 miles and,uh, one of the guys did his
steps uh, cause we have a grouptext now and and, uh, he had
127,000 steps.
Um, you know we burn roughly300 calories per hour, so you
can do that math.
Uh, I drank uh, there was acouple in between the resupply

(01:04:50):
stations um, most at least drankthree liters of water each time
, or a couple of times I drank agallon, um, you know so, four
and a half, five gallons in 24hours, that's a lot of water, uh
there, but it was needed, um,and so I don't know how many
calories we took, but that wasone of the things I wanted to

(01:05:11):
make sure of is that I, I, I didnot want cramping or stomach
issues to be a factor, so wemade it, you know, and that, um,
that was, um, that was afeeling of accomplishment, a
feeling of exhaustion, but, um,things really didn't hit me
until until yesterday.
But I'll stop there.

(01:05:31):
You can ask me what you wantnow.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
Biggest question I got right now what's a raised?
Why, when they're saying thewise what was raised, why so?

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Ray, um, ray was a tattoo artist, or Ray is a
tattoo artist up in Manitoba inCanada and he had just recently
found Christ.
Uh, I don't know the wholestory about that.
Uh, I don't know the wholestory about that, but, um, you

(01:06:00):
know, when we sat down back atcamp and changed our clothes and
Chad's dad and some of thefamily uh, cornbread's family
was there, they'd made breakfastfor us and, um, you know, we
all that's kind of when it allhit us, that you know, we all
that's kind of when it all hitus.
That not hit us.
I mean, we all knew that Raywas.
The reason that we were able tofinish was by him continuing to

(01:06:21):
take those steps.
But you know, we all got tokind of say, give a short
reflection.
And Ray talked about that timethat I, you know, I mentioned
where we were in betweenresupply one and resupply two,
walking down that fire road andand, and I was standing behind

(01:06:42):
him and Jamie yelled out you'renot quitting, you're not
quitting.
And he said in that moment heknew that he had to just give it
up to the Lord that he had to,you know, say, hey, give me the
strength to continue to go onand uh, and he did, uh, it was

(01:07:03):
obvious and, um, you know it wasman, it was so powerful and it
hit me like a ton of bricks.
Yesterday morning, you know wewas fortunate enough where we
rented the house and Kim cameand picked me up and the kids,
and you know we got to say ourgoodbyes to all the all my

(01:07:25):
brothers.
You know that we had just spentsome blood, sweat and tears
with and made it back to thehouse so, obviously exhausted,
took a shower and laid down.
I think I slept for seven hours, you know, on on Sunday and was
able to have have dinner withmy cousin and her husband that
live in Atlanta.
They came up and met us and haddinner, so it was nice to kind

(01:07:47):
of get up and move around alittle bit hurt.
I was a little sore my feet hurta little bit, um, but wasn't,
wasn't terrible, and then wentback and went to bed.
And then, um, yesterday morning, uh, woke up and again the
house that we were were blessedto rent looked right at the

(01:08:10):
mountain that I was on top ofthe night before, you know, in
the dark, and so, uh, so I satthere and something told me that
I needed to grab a pen and apaper and I needed to write down
some things, and so this isgoing to be difficult for me,

(01:08:31):
but this is what I wrote downyesterday at 6 am in the morning
, I was sitting outside.
It was a little foggy, and it'sremember the purpose.
It says I signed up, I trainedhard, I told people what I
signed up for, I did everythingI thought needed to be done, I
prayed, I I signed up for, I dideverything I thought needed to

(01:08:51):
be done.
I prayed, I trusted in the Lord.
But what was the purpose?
The purpose was not about me.
The purpose was for God to showme how selfish I am.
The purpose was to be shown how, if a group of men can let go
of all their me attitudes andcome together as one unit with

(01:09:14):
Christ, at the front of the line, which was Ray.
Jesus was Ray.
God showed a group of 18 menfrom all over the country what
he could do in one man for ourROP Team 12.
I thought I could do it, butcould I have done it without Ray

(01:09:39):
?
Could I have done it withoutseeing his pain, his struggle?
When I didn't believe he coulddo it, I didn't believe, I
didn't believe.
I didn't believe, I didn'tbelieve.
Ray made me believe Because Isaw Jesus in Ray.
I am selfish that's all I kepthearing.

(01:10:02):
In my mind the day after washow selfish I was and I I think
that's human nature.
Right, we're all selfish people.
Uh, whether you believe it ornot, you are.
You know, when I, when I signedup for this thing, I did it
because, you know, I thoughtmaybe I'd be an inspiration to

(01:10:24):
others to show, show them that,uh, you know, if a 46 year old
father of five business ownercan do this, that you can.
Anybody can do it and they can.
But it was.
It was so much more about me.
It was so much about me beingfulfilled by hearing other

(01:10:44):
people tell me how awesome itwas, how crazy it was.
Why would you do that?
You know the encouraging textsand phone calls I got last week
and the day before.
You know the videos that Ireceived from, from you, your
family, you know all, all youknow my, some of my best friends
, that made me feel good.

(01:11:06):
Right, but it was about me andthis life ain't about me.
Right, but it was about me andthis life ain't about me.
And so, you know, when I backup to where I was, I was
standing behind Ray.
Before we got to that, um, that, that resupply, number two, and
, uh, I said something to Rayabout hey, when's the last time

(01:11:28):
you've eaten and drank?
And he turned around, you knowcause?
He heard that, that differentvoice.
And I said to Ray about, hey,when's the last time you've
eaten and drank?
And he turned around, you know,because he heard that different
voice.
And I said, you know, he lookedme in the eyes as he struggled
to walk.
I'm telling you right now thatwas Jesus.
I mean, he didn't hit me atthat time, but boy, does it hit
me now.
It hit me yesterday.

(01:11:49):
How, how you can do anything ifyou have the faith to do it.
You just have to let go.
And so I encourage any of youout there who haven't taken that
step.
You know you're holding backfrom doing something, for
whatever reason.
You're sitting on the couch,you know you.

(01:12:09):
You thought about doing a 5k,you thought about just even
getting up and going for a walk.
Just do it.
Right, if I can go for 24 hourson my feet moving, not stopping
, you guys can do anything.
I mean, the human mind is sucha powerful thing, but you got to
use it and so that's, um, youknow, that's what I learned.

(01:12:37):
I learned that I'm a selfish manand, uh, I'm very selfish and
I'm I'm going to do my very bestto not be selfish and and try
to continue to see the good inpeople, to continue to encourage
people, but not for myself, youknow, for Jesus because, uh,

(01:12:57):
you know, without him being inRay, um, you know, if Ray would
have quit, I mean, who knowswhat would happen?
Who knows what?
The snowball of events of ofother guys quitting, who knows
if I could have made it?
I can tell you right now,there's no way I could have done
this on my own.
Like there is a zero chance.
I could go out in the woods,follow that same path for 24

(01:13:20):
hours by myself.
No chance at all.
No chance, but the power of ateam is what got us all through
it.
The power of a team is what gotus all through it and, more
importantly, the power of Ray.
He's a special man and here'ssomeone who's a tattoo artist

(01:13:40):
that you would look at and neverin a million years think he
would.
If you're judging someone whichI did because I'm selfish you
would never think that he couldget through that, and here he's
the reason I got through it, soI'm so.
You would never think that hecould get through that, and here
he's the reason I got throughit.
So I'm I'm so grateful for Ray.
I'm so grateful for, for, um,you know those, those 19 men
that I got to do that with.

(01:14:01):
Uh, it was very powerful for meand I hope maybe somebody
gained something from from me metelling my journey.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
So a couple of things to bounce off.
That first one before you doveinto that.
The only thing I kept thinkingthe whole entire story is is I
was wondering when you talked toat the beginning about kind of
judging and you know Ray, when Ithink about that you guys put
them up front and he was, youwould imagine, would he be the

(01:14:33):
weakest link?
Is that what you would thinkwhen you started?
Oh yeah, a hundred percent,that's what I thought.
So, and he was the one that ifyou didn't have Ray and maybe
you're going shorter distance ormaybe you had your watch and
everything and you know you canhike those miles Would you have
gone a faster time?
Like, do you feel like he pacedyou guys?
Right when you say that youcould?

(01:14:57):
And the only thing I keep goingback to is, um, he was probably
your strongest link in thewhole mission.

Speaker 3 (01:15:01):
A hundred percent, a hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (01:15:04):
So, a you would look at him as like a weaker link.
B he probably could have slowedyou down.
See, he taught you the most.
Oh yeah, and he was thestrongest link.
Absolutely and that's justamazing to me.
I will say I probably shouldhave started with this, but Dan
texted me and told me you knowvery little about the trip to
begin with, but I wasn't goingto read it because I wanted this

(01:15:25):
to be very raw.
And when you tell me the story,just you know my first thoughts
, my first impressions I wantedto be able to share on the
podcast.
But the one thing that I keptpraying about when you went on
your trip, and what I texted youtoo, is I know you'll do great
and you'll finish, but prayingGod talks to you out there, that

(01:15:46):
he breaks through the walls.
I'm sure once you finish you'llfeel invincible.
Remember to stay in the momentout there.
Enjoy it.
It's what you train for.
So many times you worry aboutthe end goal and not enough
about the process, which iswhere the memories come from.
Enjoy every second of it theviews, the pains, the
conversations.
What a blessing this is.
Have a blast.
We are proud of you.

(01:16:06):
Can't wait to hear the storiesCome back.
And it feels like jesus.
You know he did that out there.
You know you.
You enjoyed the process.
Yeah, it doesn't seem likeyou're worried about the end or
when it was going to come.
You just enjoyed it and I'm sothankful for that.
I do want to dive into some ofthese.

Speaker 3 (01:16:22):
We had go ahead so I mean, I'm thankful for you, I'm
thankful for you know, everybodythat reached out.
I, you know, I went back to theY this morning and my buddy
Murph, you know, was there.
And, man, as soon as I saw him,you know, I just like got
emotional again.
I'm like good Lord Dan, what isgoing on?

(01:16:42):
Like I'm like a baby.
I mean, I spent two hoursyesterday morning with Kim, you
know just, I just couldn'tcontrol it.
I've never, ever, ever felt likethat, um, and, and you know, I
didn't even get into some ofthese guys stories that, uh,
that they shared with me, youknow, as, as we were, as we were

(01:17:05):
walking, I mean there's again,what do we do the podcast?
Everybody's got a story right.
Again, when we do the podcast,everybody's got a story right.
And, uh, I mean, there was justsome stories that were just, I
mean I'm blown away.
That I'll never forget, um.
And yeah, I don't know, man, II've never, I've never felt like
this before, um, and again, my,my, yeah, I'm sore, I got

(01:17:29):
blisters, um, but it's thatnever, uh, that never came to my
mind, especially when it gotdark, because all my focus was
on Ray.
You know, my focus was on, man,if Ray keeps taking that step.
You know, there's blisters, Ican feel them, but it don't,

(01:17:50):
they're not, they don't hurt.
You know I'll, I'll heal andrecover from that.
You know we we're going tofinish together as a team and um
yeah, and we're in the selfishpart.

Speaker 4 (01:18:00):
I mean we're all selfish, we know that.
And then it talks about in theBible, about you know we're all
sinners and and you know how Ifelt the other day with Tim
during that podcast it took me awhile to try to shake that and
I got very emotional about that.
So you know, I get it, Iabsolutely get it, and I feel
like when we get emotional andwhen you go through stuff like
this, it's the Holy Spiritspeaking in you.

(01:18:22):
I mean, that's honestly what Ifeel.

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
But some of the questions I had for you what was
the hardest moment of the 24hours, whether it was physically
, mentally, emotionally, whatwas the?
What was the hardest so earlyon for me was really hard.
Um, I don't remember where wewere at, it was still it was.
It was hot, um, it was duringthe day and, um, my mind had

(01:18:46):
started to wander, my legs werehurting, you know.
It got to the point to where andI think probably everybody has
been there where, whether you'reworking out or you're doing
something, and you get to thatpoint where you're just like,
okay, that's enough, I'm done.
Um, there there was a pointthat and again, it was early on,

(01:19:07):
it may have even been beforethe first resupply where I was
like, okay, like my mind waswandering, I was racing, I was
just, you know, questioningeverything and um, but I just
kept, you know, I I think atthat time I'd never had honey,
pure honey before, and so I hada honey packet in my, in my bag,

(01:19:29):
and I took that out and andtook it and uh, man, it was like
within 30 seconds, my wholemental, everything changed.
Just that shot of sugar, uh, youknow, really kind of woke me up
.
So that was a sign for me, that, um, you know, hey, it is very
important to make sure that youcontinue to eat throughout this

(01:19:51):
thing, because you're burning somany calories so fast that you
need that fuel so early on forme was probably harder than
later physically, but the mentalwas challenging throughout the
whole thing.

Speaker 4 (01:20:07):
Yeah, was there a point where you ever truly
thought about quitting?
Knowing you, I don't know ifthere would be a point where you
really thought about quitting.
I understand the thinking aboutwhy, like why am I doing this?
Like I get that point where youtalk about that, but was there
ever a point when you thoughtlike man, maybe I should just
stop?

Speaker 3 (01:20:23):
No, I don't ever quitting.
Never really crossed my mindAgain seeing Ray up there
struggle to walk Um, you know,that was just like when I
noticed it for the first time.
That was like if he makes it,there's, there's no chance I'm

(01:20:43):
quitting.
So I really tried to not thinkabout quitting Um, and there was
not really a point where I Ithought, yeah, I'm, I'm done.

Speaker 4 (01:20:53):
I figured you didn't know what's something that
surprised you the most duringthe experience the mental
challenge you know and probablya different mental challenge
than you thought it would beRight.
I mean when you think mentalchallenge about a 24 hour walk,
I would think the quitting part,but it's not that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:11):
No, no it was just the mental of it's hot.
I mean it was 90, I don't know95 degrees, 90 degrees, 70%
humidity.
It was hot.

Speaker 4 (01:21:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:21:22):
Um, it was challenging.
So anything you can think ofcomplaining about you could
complain about.
I mean, it hurt, drenched sweatagain.
Bugs, thistles, thorns, briarpatches, gravel you know
somebody yelling at you to stayin line.
I didn't even talk about when,if somebody had to go to the

(01:21:43):
bathroom.

Speaker 4 (01:21:44):
Oh yeah, let's hear this.

Speaker 3 (01:21:45):
Yeah, if somebody had to go to the bathroom, so if
you had to pee, only one teamcould stop to pee and you
stopped as a team.
The other team had to keepmoving, so there had to be one
team moving at all times.
And so, you know, team one gota piece, so we, we turned to the
right and pee, and team twowould take off, and then we'd

(01:22:06):
have to get back into formation.
We'd have, we'd each have, wegave ourselves numbers, so we
were always in the same line andthe same order.
So I was number five and teamnumber one.
So, you know, ray, ray wouldsay hey, uh one, and then two,
three, all the way back down tonumber nine.
Once we got everybody, then wetook off and then we would yell
up ahead hey, team one is on themove.

(01:22:28):
And uh, that way team two couldstop and pee and we could catch
back up.
So we did learn as we went howto work that you know to where.
Um, you know, if one guy had topee, we all went ahead and peed
.
And you may think dehydrationand all that stuff.
We were drinking so much thatwe had to pee, which was a good
thing.

(01:22:48):
Um, now, if you had to gonumber two uh, which only a
couple of guys did and I amgrateful I was not one of those
guys.

Speaker 4 (01:22:57):
I was curious.

Speaker 3 (01:22:58):
I was going to ask y'all fair, there was a lot of
gas and, matt, if you'relistening to this, you know what
I mean, cause I was behind youthe whole time Um, but if you
had to go number two, you wentinto the woods again.
Your team would stop and youwent into the woods and then you

(01:23:19):
had to pack out your wipingmaterials.
You couldn't leave that.
So we all had Ziploc bags incase that happened, and so,
luckily, I did not have topartake in that, um, but a
couple of guys did.
So, uh, yeah, it was, uh, butstill that other team had to
keep moving or somebody has gotto go number two.

(01:23:41):
That takes a little bit of time,right?
So then you had to catch up.
You had to, you know, pick upthe pace and, uh, you know, we
got Ray Ray, you know, and he,but he man, he persevered, he
pushed through, he was, he wasthe rock, um, you know to, to
get us caught back up.
And, and Chad wasn't easy onhim, you know, there was a lot
of times where he was, he was,you know, he was pushing and he

(01:24:03):
wasn't, he wasn't trying to getanybody to quit, but, um, it was
definitely not encouragingwords that you would expect to
hear from your youth basketballcoach.

Speaker 4 (01:24:14):
Right.
So when, when you said you werecarrying Ray Ray's pack and you
guys would try to stay up closeto him, did you guys switch
numbers then?

Speaker 3 (01:24:22):
Well, we would switch .
We would switch numbers, but weweren't stopping to pee or
anything.
So as long as we were in thatline, we were good Um so
otherwise we would still stay inour regular formation.
But at that time, you know, likewhen I went up to number two,
um, you know we would still, ifwe would have had to have

(01:24:42):
stopped, we still would have setour regular numbers even if we
weren't in that rank.
So, um, you, you learn realquick, uh, about how important
it was as a team, because, again, you think about, you know that
seems so inconsequential whereyou're, you're numbered and
you're in lines.
But as you go throughout theday and you get into the night,

(01:25:05):
it's so important that you'vegot that man in front of you
that you've been looking at hisheels, you know, for for 13
hours or whatever it is, thatyou've got that regiment, you
know, and that's all militarystuff that I'm not familiar with
.
So that was.
You know what they're.
What they're trying to do is toget you to if, if Chad or Chili

(01:25:27):
or somebody's yelling at you, Iwant you to be like, give me a
break.
You know they want to.
They want to put plant thatseed in there of of dissension,
uh, you know, of doubt, to whereyou maybe start talking bad
about.
You know one of them, to one ofyour buddies.
Well, what's that do, that's acancer, right?
And uh, you know, man, our teamwas so strong where it was just

(01:25:48):
positive, like, hey guys,embrace that yelling, you know,
embrace it, that wakes us up,you know.
And there was, you know,luckily for us, there was
probably only two or three timeswhere we really got ripped and,
um, I think the last time was awas a pee break and, uh, team
two.
It was when we were off courseand and team two stopped to pee.

(01:26:08):
We made, uh, we kept goingaround the bend and we thought
they were moving.
Well, they were getting yelledat because they hadn't got back
into formation and casey, orwhat the team lead didn't call
out the numbers and make sureyou had to count for every
single guy every single time,like there was no man left
behind.
We thought they were walking andthey weren't.
Well, here ch Chad sees a stopto pee and, oh man, I mean, it

(01:26:34):
was a ripping.
It was one of those where youwere, like you know, because he
said boys, I can make your lifea living hell.
And uh, that was not somethingwe wanted, because I felt like
we were already there yeah, so.

Speaker 4 (01:26:47):
So this isn't all my thing, but how, how did you guys
pick the leaders?
Because obviously it wasn't youguys didn't know each other,
you.
But how?
How did you guys pick theleaders?
Because obviously it wasn't.
You guys didn't know each other, you didn't.
Um, I'd imagine you guysprobably didn't have a speech
together about how you're goingto try to you know a speech to
become a leader.
How did those leaders comeforward?
How'd you guys decide on those?

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
So after Chad left the night before, we divided up
into our teams, you know um,just kind of randomly, and again
we didn't have all the guysthere yet, but um, uh, so we
divided up in our teams, we kindof went one direction, you know
, team one went one direction,team two went another.
We talked amongst ourselves andthen we kind of came back
together and uh said, all right,who who wants to be the team

(01:27:25):
lead for each group.
And I don't remember exactly,it wasn't like Ray jumped out.
I think somebody may have haverecommended him and recommended
Casey and again two guys thatyou would.
If you were judging which I was, you wouldn't expect that they
would be your, your leaders.
But it couldn't have have beenmore right.

Speaker 4 (01:27:50):
Well, that's what I'm trying to picture in my mind,
because you said Casey struggledas well.
Quite a bit right, oh yeah yeah.
So it seemed like two guys thatstruggled, probably maybe the
most.
I don't know if I can say it, Imean, I wasn't there, obviously
, but I wonder if they were inthe back of the pack and you
guys didn't see that struggle.

Speaker 3 (01:28:07):
Yeah, it could have went very bad.

Speaker 4 (01:28:10):
Exactly, and you guys didn't see that struggle.
Yeah, you know, you know itcould have went very bad Exactly
, cause it didn't seem like Raywas complaining about it.
You guys saw it more than hesaid it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:15):
I didn't hear Ray complain once.

Speaker 4 (01:28:17):
Right, so you think about that.
What if he was in the back ofthe pack?

Speaker 3 (01:28:20):
Yeah, it would have been bad because.

Speaker 4 (01:28:22):
Why aren't?

Speaker 3 (01:28:23):
you moving.
You know what I mean.
Were in the back you know kindof falling pretty far behind and
you know they would have seenit right.

Speaker 4 (01:28:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:28:33):
We wouldn't have.
You know, my focus is on Matt'sheels, so that's all.
I'm looking at is his heelsjust taking that step taking
that step taking that step.
So yeah, I thought about thaton the ride home yesterday.
I thought, man, if Ray andCasey would have been in the
back, that could have been.

Speaker 4 (01:28:51):
And in the back that that could have been, and your,
your team in particular, I meanfor what it?
Meant to you.
Yeah, seeing him struggle if hewas in the back and we.

Speaker 3 (01:28:55):
It's just the way that little things like that
some people call a coincidence,some people, yeah, I think when
I think you know, chad probablyrecognized um, maybe that and
maybe it was to put him up thereto get him to quit you know or
to try to try to push him alittle more.
Whatever the reasoning is, I'mnot sure.

Speaker 4 (01:29:12):
Or break your team.

Speaker 3 (01:29:13):
Yeah, yeah and, um, you know, because again there
were times when I thought, man,we should be moving faster.
I know Alan from Miami.
He's done a couple of ultramarathons, big guy mountain of a
man.
Um, you know he talked about inthe reflection time how at the
beginning he was like man, thisis a slow pace, like we need to
we need to pick it up, we needto go faster, get something out

(01:29:34):
of this and and then I think itprobably all clicked for all of
us.
Uh, about the time it clickedfor me when we were coming into
that resupply number two and uh,you know, just seeing ray ray's
struggle, uh, to where it waslike, okay, this ain't about how
many miles we do, this is aboutmaking sure that Ray finishes.

Speaker 4 (01:29:53):
Yeah, so you were totally disconnected no phone,
no watch, no clue where you wereor what time it was.
How was that like for you?
Was that a mental challenge aswell, or did it feel good to be
disconnected and not have anyother worries except just a
mission?

Speaker 3 (01:30:07):
Yeah, that didn't bother me.
You know it'd been nice totrack my steps.
Yeah, it would have been nice todo that, but it wasn't a
challenge.
It wasn't a challenge for meand in fact I I think I got like
68 text messages and so if Ihaven't gotten back to you, I
will um, coming back to the realworld today, um so um no that

(01:30:29):
wasn't't.
I thought maybe that'd be tough, but it it wasn't.
We had such great leaders andmen in our team that we had
distractions to not think aboutprobably felt good being
disconnected.
It did it really did.
In fact, yesterday, you know,driving home, I I mean you see
my, my notes here, I spent, youknow, three hours just
essentially most of the stuffthat I just talked about just

(01:30:51):
writing down, because Kim said,you know, my wife said you need
to, you need to get this onpaper.
So you remember this feeling,you remember the struggle, um,
because she could tell how muchthat it had had impacted me,
which is awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:31:07):
Yeah, awesome.
So talk about the leadership ofChad right, what his presence
bring to the challenge.

Speaker 3 (01:31:13):
Uh, it was, it was a little surreal, um, you know,
when you, when you followsomebody on social media, watch
videos, watch documentaries onthem, and you know their story,
you know, you feel like you knowthem Right, and um.
So when they pulled up thatfirst time, it was almost like,
wow, there's Chad, you know, andum, but he was just as down to

(01:31:37):
earth as you and I are.
You know, he was, uh, he wasintimidating, uh, I mean, he's
not, he's not thick and big, buthe's tall and he's a burly
looking guy.
I mean you look him up, uh,look up the three of seven
project, look up chad, right, um, again, he's, he's got a huge
uh challenge coming up here,going down the yukon river a
thousand miles and, um, it was asurreal thing.

(01:32:00):
But man, there's just just adown-to-earth guy.
You know he likes hunting, helikes fishing, he's a runner,
he's, you know, he's driving oldDodge pickup trucks, you know.
I mean he's just, uh, justnormal, just like we are.
Was he a drill sergeant type thewhole entire time, or was there
times that no, no there weretimes where he was just like you

(01:32:21):
and I having a conversation andthat was, you know, that was
probably the most refreshingthing was um, was that to have
Chad and chili and cornbread?
You know, as we're trekking,you know those guys would just
be random spots throughout ourgroup just having conversations,
asking questions, you knowwhatever.

(01:32:43):
And it was a good conversationand that was, yeah, that was
very refreshing.

Speaker 4 (01:32:51):
So, looking back to where you started, at nearly 300
pounds, could you ever imaginedoing something like this?

Speaker 3 (01:32:57):
Absolutely not yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:32:58):
Yeah, no way.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
Um, you know, I was that person that may be
listening.
Where you know you, you look atwhere you want to be, but you
don't know how to get there.
Where you want to be, but youdon't know how to get there.
And, uh, you know, hopefully,what our ROP team 12 did maybe
can inspire someone just to getoff the couch and go for a walk

(01:33:25):
and and just remember, all yougot to do is take that step.
You don't have to go do 40 plusmiles, you don't have to go do
something for 24 hours.
Just get up and go for a 20minute walk because, um, when
you do, your mind will be opened, your body, your blood will be
flowing and it'll help you.

(01:33:46):
And then you can just slowlyincrease and you have to have
patience and you have torecognize that it takes time.
You know I didn't go fromalmost 300 pounds and in the
fall of 2022 to where I'm attoday, um, quickly.
You know it took time and, uh,when I finally recognized that

(01:34:10):
that once you start stackingthose little wins over and over
and over and over, thatcompounds that you'll, you'll
get to where you want to be.
And, um, you just got to startby taking that step and, uh,
that first step is the hardestpart and, and you know, for me,

(01:34:31):
probably the hardest partthroughout this whole thing was
that night before.
I mean, if I, if I'm honestwith myself, I was struggling so
bad mentally because of thedoubt and the anxiety and the
unknown of what's going to come.
Uh, you know, last week'spodcast, we talked about it.

(01:34:53):
I was very nervous, right, andI talked about that and and
that's okay, right, but I hope,as, as you know, whatever the
next thing I do, um, down theroad, I hope that I recognize
that you can't focus on thethings you can't control, right,
I wasn't going to control thatcourse.

(01:35:14):
I wasn't going to control, youknow, all those things that were
100% out of my control, but Iwas trying.
And that's where faith comes in, and you know my faith journey
is growing, and you know myfaith journey is growing.

(01:35:39):
This rite of passage for me wasa big step in the right
direction of getting closer toJesus and learning more about
faith and what it can do forpeople, and so, but I know I'm
not done, you know.
I know that there's going to besomething else that I'm going
to do, that I'm going tocontinue to push myself and
continue to surround myself withwith like-minded people who
want to get better.
And, uh, that doesn't mean thatyou aren't 300 pounds, that

(01:36:03):
doesn't mean that you're themost physically fit person in
the world.
It means that you have themindset to where you want to get
better every single day, just alittle bit.
And I think, if, if everybodycan take that mentality every
day and just do something tomake yourself better, even if
it's just as simple as reading abook, um, you know this, this

(01:36:24):
world would be a better place,which is what I want.

Speaker 4 (01:36:26):
So I don't know if you'd be able to answer this one
, but how does this reshape howyou view challenges ahead?

Speaker 3 (01:36:33):
Well, I can tell you this it really makes me think I
can do anything.
I don't know what that means asfar as what, what the next
challenge is, but I know I'mgoing to start looking.
I know I'm going to startlooking.

(01:36:54):
Uh, my, my goal is every yearis to push myself to have that
feeling that I had Friday nightbefore the event, um, of that
anxiety, of that doubt, oftrying to overcome those fears,
because that's where growthhappens.
You know, growth doesn't happenwatching Netflix.
You know growth.
Growth doesn't happen eating acheeseburger.

(01:37:14):
You know growth happens throughstruggle, it happens through
pain, it happens throughdifficulty.
That's where we get stronger,we get better, that's where we
learn things.
You know, I've never learnedanything by um, learned anything
by um.

(01:37:35):
You know, being ultrasuccessful, uh, I, I learned so
much throughout this struggleabout me and about how selfish I
am, and and you know that'swhat they they talked about Take
one thing from this.
Don't try to take 10 things.
Take one thing from this, andthat's the thing that I've taken
away is how selfish I am andhow I'm going to do my best to
not be that selfish person.

Speaker 4 (01:37:57):
What would you say to someone stuck in their own
battle right now, just take astep.

Speaker 3 (01:38:02):
You got to take a step.
You know you, um, you can sitaround and you can worry about
it.
You can think about it, you cantalk about it, complain about
it.
But if you don't, you can talkabout it, complain about it.
But if you don't take that stepand get out of whatever
situation that you're in I mean,your home can be a trap.
Your mind can be a trap.
It can be a very powerful thing, but it can also be a very

(01:38:23):
dangerous thing.
So if you're stuck in something, you have to take the step.
You have to take a step outsideof whatever it is that you are
stuck in.
Do something different.
Push yourself, challengeyourself.
Sign up for a 5K, go walk inthe woods, Go do something that

(01:38:44):
will get you out of that rutthat you're in.
If you don't, you're going togo crazy and you're never going
to get out of it.
You have to push yourself.

Speaker 4 (01:38:50):
And that rut gets deeper and deeper.

Speaker 3 (01:38:51):
It does.

Speaker 4 (01:38:52):
And the big thing is, like you've said it before,
keep it small.
Yeah, and one thing that Ialways struggled with was don't
say when I wake up tomorrow I'mgoing to do it, and then, all of
a sudden, what happens the nextday?
You know what?
When I wake up tomorrow,tomorrow is when it starts
tomorrow.
No, like start now and theycontinue and build on it

(01:39:12):
tomorrow.
Is there anything else you wantto add that you can think of?

Speaker 3 (01:39:16):
No, I, you know, I'm grateful for anybody who's made
it this far.
Uh, listening, we're we'regoing pretty long here and I
apologize for that, but, uh,this was very powerful for me.
Um, you know, I hope, I hopesome of my brothers that, um,
you know, are part of ROP team12, get to listen to this and
can reflect on, maybe, what itmeant for me and maybe similar
to them, uh, you know, they're,they're amazing men, um, leaders

(01:39:41):
, I know, in their communitiesand their work and all that they
do.
Uh, no doubt, and I am, I'mgrateful for the opportunity to
be able to, um, to sweat withthem, to struggle with them, to,
uh, you know, to face all thosedifficulties.
So, um, you know, I love thoseguys and you know it'll be.
I'm excited to, to maybe get totrain with, with some of them

(01:40:02):
again.
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:40:04):
I uh Galatians.
That's my favorite verse inGalatians is you know, share
each other's burdens.
If you think you're tooimportant, well, guess what?
You're not.
I just it seems like that'syour trip.
Man, like you, share eachother's burdens.
You got through it together,and now there's two rock teams
that got through it.
Yeah.
And you're one of them.
That's right, so that's amazing.
So, dan, with this story, whatyou did out there in Georgia

(01:40:36):
wasn't just a physical feat.
It was a defining momentdiscipline, suffering and
transformation.
It reminded us all that growthdoesn't happen in comfort.
It happens in the fire.
I want to leave our listenerswith two quotes captured the
spirit of this episode.
Every transformation beginswith a choice to start.
What feels impossible at thebeginning becomes unshakable
strength in the end.
Discipline carries you throughthe fire and the fire changes
you.
And then, from former Navy SEALand ultra endurance athlete,
david Goggins and one of myfavorite quotes, the only way we

(01:41:00):
can change is to be real withourselves.
If you lie to yourself, how canyou grow?
You have to be willing tosuffer to find the real you.
And until next time, guys likeshare, share and go out and be
tempered hi, my name is alischmidt.

Speaker 1 (01:41:15):
This is my dad, dan he owns catron's glass thanks,
ali.

Speaker 2 (01:41:19):
Things like doors and windows go into making a house,
but when it's your home youexpect more like the great
service and selection you'll getfrom catron's.
Glass vinyl replacement windowsfrom catron's come with a
lifetime warranty, includingaccidental glass breakage
replacement.
Also ask for custom showerdoors and many other products
and services.
Call 962-1636.
Locally owned, with localemployees for nearly 30 years.

(01:41:40):
Catron's Glass the clear choice.

All Episodes

BeTempered Episode 61 – Breaking the Walls of Selfishness: Dan’s Rite of Passage Experience

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

The Breakfast Club

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}BeTempered Episode 61 – Breaking the Walls of Selfishness: Dan’s Rite of Passage Experience