November 29, 2024 • 30 mins
Trey and Brian lace up their sneakers and hit the road with inspiring ultramarathoner Ryan Keeping.
Ryan Keeping is a Canadian ultramarathoner who devoted himself to running coast-to-coast across his home country in under 100 days to honor the memory of Terry Fox and raise funds and awareness for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. During his historic and inspiring journey, he not only broke the limits of what he once thought was possible, but raised more than $250,000.
Brian Phelps is an American radio personality, actor, and comedian best known for co-hosting the nationally and globally syndicated Mark & Brian Morning Show in Los Angeles for 25 years. As the co-lead of his own television series, with multiple roles in movies, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Phelps is also an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame.
Trey Callaway is an American film and TV writer and producer who wrote the hit movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and has produced successful TV series like CSI:NY, Supernatural, Rush Hour, Revolution, The Messengers, APB, Station 19 and 9-1-1 LONE STAR. He is also a Professor at USC.
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Ryan Keeping is a Canadian ultramarathoner who devoted himself to running coast-to-coast across his home country in under 100 days to honor the memory of Terry Fox and raise funds and awareness for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. During his historic and inspiring journey, he not only broke the limits of what he once thought was possible, but raised more than $250,000.
Brian Phelps is an American radio personality, actor, and comedian best known for co-hosting the nationally and globally syndicated Mark & Brian Morning Show in Los Angeles for 25 years. As the co-lead of his own television series, with multiple roles in movies, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Phelps is also an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame.
Trey Callaway is an American film and TV writer and producer who wrote the hit movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and has produced successful TV series like CSI:NY, Supernatural, Rush Hour, Revolution, The Messengers, APB, Station 19 and 9-1-1 LONE STAR. He is also a Professor at USC.
___________________________________
Make sure to follow us on social media at:
begoodhumanspodcast.com
instagram.com
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threads.net
facebook.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Humans. Be good humans. Be good humans, or we will
think you sucked humans, or we will think you suck.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know what that was, Brian? That was the USC
fight song. Ah, yes, I know that. You're a big
football fan. Very you're you're you're your moro, you're pro
right so lifelong.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But USC is an important UH team for me because
they were.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Very nice to us.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
They would come down to the show. We had Slash
on one time and we surprised him with the entire
USC marching.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Band out back.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Took Slash out there, had a guitar ready for them,
and they and he played with the US. He loved that.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And you know, they're not just known as the USC
Marching Band. They're known as the Spirit of Troy.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I was actually in a halftime show wearing the band's uniform.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Of course you were.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah. Yeah. They they invited us to do and they
gave us tubas and the great director came up. He
was such a sweet man and he goes, Okay, here's
what we want you to do. Because I used to
be in marching band high school and they haven't taught
us anything. And he goes, I want you guys to
screw up. Okay, we can handle that.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
He gives many people. That's good.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, because they're so insane.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, okay, so I reached up the first thing I
did because we had tubas, and loosened the big bell
on the tube. So during the show they went this way,
we're going that, looking like idiots, and those one time
you know where they kind of oh yeah, I did
that and the bell falls off and I'm trying to
pick it up and screw it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Was just so much fun. That's good comedy.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I was just wondering, what if you're a fan of
the you have season tickets, you come to every game.
What happened? They must have just been so confused.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I love that. I love that. Well, yes, obviously longtime
USC fan, former s colum and current professor, but I've
spent a lot of time in the coliseum. But the
thing I love about the coliseum, hm two Olympics have
been there, and you know, I don't know, have you
got a little bit of Olympic fever here? In twenty
twenty eight, it'll be back here in Los Angeles again.
So we got that to look forward to, and I
(02:40):
know we're kind of both like sports fans. You're you're
a lifelong Chicago Bears.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Fans, and this year we're going to go all the way.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm sure that's true, Brian.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I saw a smirk on his fance.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No, not at all, not even really said something. No,
I no, no. But here's what I want to know,
did you I I have this right? You played foot
ball yourself? Yeah? Growing up?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I played seven years of it. Three years in Pop
Warner wow, and and four years every every year playing
football in high school. And my senior year we were
one game away. We won conference, we won this, we
won that, and we were one game away. If we
would have won that game, we would have played State.
(03:23):
We would have gone to state and played in an
actual field with Astro Church.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was at Illinois State.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It was within grass.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But we lost that game. Yeah yeah, and I went okay,
hold for trace punchline, I went both ways.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm not even gonna touch that.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Okay. Good. Because our school was so small, there were
there were a few of us that played both both
offense and defense. Okay, sure, so I was a wide
receiver tied end and then I was defensive it so,
but that wasn't the end of my very exhausting Friday night.
Because at halftime of our games, right when the rest
(04:05):
of the team is going down to the locker room
to get yelled at by the coach and eat orange wedges,
three of us Dan, who you know, my best friend, Roger,
great friend, and I also played in the band. So
we ran down to the end of the field as
soon as the whistle blew for halftime.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
We take off our helmet, we take off our shoulder pads,
We put on band pants and uniform yes over our
football pants.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
We put on the band jacket, the overlay, the hat,
and spats on our cleaps, and we go out and
do the halftime show. Then we come I played drums,
Dan with sacks, and Roger was trombone, and we after
the show, we put all the football stuff back on
and go out. And usually it was the assistant coast
(04:53):
and said, Okay, here's what we talked about, here's the
changes we want to make. Right before we went out
again and played the second hand.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
This has explained more to me about your status as
a multi tiered talent than any other story I've ever heard. Yeah, okay,
but did you play football in high school? No, I
played soccer, right, I was all about so I played
basketball too, but I was really more about soccer. And
I got to go to a PEPSI training camp for soccer.
Tulsa had a professional team for a short period of time,
(05:21):
the Tulsa Roughnecks in the old NASL night and the
New York Cosmos came to play, and Pele was playing.
Oh my god, Cosmo, Oh my god, and I got
to trade a header with Pele.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Did your class?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That was the height of my soccer experience.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And I too played basketball, and of course a little
league in baseball. One year, yes, it was my sophomore year.
I decided I'm going to go out for track and field, okay,
because kind of keeping shape, sure, you know it's it's
because there's a lot of downtime in between sports. And
so I went out for track and field and I
lasted Trey. I lasted just under three weeks. Apparently in
(06:00):
track and field there's a lot of running. And I'm
cool on a football field running, you know though, but
just like constant long distance running, No, and it just
wasn't for me. There's a great comedian It talks about
how he was getting into exercise and as trainer said,
(06:21):
you know, you really really should do some cardio and run,
and he goes, do you realize that running is the
only thing you can do? Or from start to finish
your brain is going stop this right now, just stop it?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And that's true. That's kind of what it was for me, honest,
the way it feels for me to I mean, I
could never I could never do the track and field thing,
and to this day probably I'm not sure I could
run from here to the end of the block unless
there was a bear chasing me. But the thing that's
interesting to me about running, it's a pretty singular sport.
Even if you're racing other people, you're still pretty much
(06:59):
solely reliant on yourself to cross that finish line. But
that was one of the.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Things I didn't like about it too, in the long
distance running. Yeah, just like I had a lot of
time just thinking and that's never helped with my thoughts. Yeah,
that's not a good.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Place to be. But that doesn't mean that running is
necessarily selfish, right. In fact, there are some runners who
have done great things by running for a cause that
is much greater than themselves. Do you remember Terry Fox.
Oh yeah, Canadian, Yes, this incredible Canadian distance runner. He
was also a basketball player, by the way, but more
(07:34):
than that, he was a humanitarian and an activist who
back in nineteen eighty I think it was, he had
a leg amputated due to cancer, and he decided to
embark on this unbelievable east to west run across Canada
to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Right, And
(07:56):
he did those things, but more importantly inspired literally millions
of people around the globe before he then finally sadly
succumbed to his disease like a year later.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, you know, you know, it would be really great
if we could talk to someone that he inspired, if
we could only had only had thought of this ahead
of time.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah yes, well maybe we did. Maybeire maybe, just maybe,
when we get back, we're going to meet somebody who
was not only inspired by Terry Fox, but has also
just successfully managed to follow in his footsteps in all
kinds of amazing ways. So do us a favor. Don't
run away.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
We'll be right back after I chastise him.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Of a baker big we will thank.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You, suck, thank you for coming back. Everyone. It is
time to talk to our guest.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yes, and his name is Ryan Keeping. Ryan Keeping is
a Canadian ultra marathon er, because apparently being just a
marathon or isn't enough.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It really doesn't need the word ultra. I had to
look up ultra marathon because I'd never heard that term before. Yes,
to just marathon is enough, you'd.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Think, But Ryan has just successfully devoted himself get this
to running across the entire nation of Canada from Saint John's,
Newfoundland all the way to Victoria, British Columbia. I don't
know if I'm pointing in the right directions, probably not.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Seven three and eighty six kilometers, which, if you're too
stupid like me to know how to do metric things,
that's four thousand, five hundred and eighty nine point four
to five miles.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
All of this to raise funds and awareness for the
Heart and Stroke found But that's not all. He also
challenged himself to do it in less than one hundred days,
and that means, and I'm going to go ahead and
do the metrics map for us, that means he had
to run forty seven miles a day for ninety nine
(10:16):
days straight.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Ninety nine days, which.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Completely pushes the envelope of human endurance.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And it was the challenge that a challenge he brought
on himself. It's his fault. Yes, why did I say
ninety nine? Why under a hunt? Why did I do that? Well,
we're going to find out right now with us. Is
Ryan keeping the Ultra Marathon or Ryan? Thanks thanks for
being here?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yeah, thanks for having me. How's it going today? Guys?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's going fantastic, except that we don't feel worthy to
actually speak with you.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You've mentioned that he did all this for an amazing cost. Yeah,
his goal when he started this idea was to raise
one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well, that's not easy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That is amazing, But he didn't get one hundred thousand dollars.
He got a quarter of a million dollars because all
of Canada. His team was saying, it's like the whole
country is behind us on this, and coverage everywhere he
wins just amazing.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well, can we just stop back for a second, Ryan,
and can you can you explain to us idiot Americans?
What what if I look up Ultra marathon or in
the dictionary. I feel like it's gonna be synonymous with
like ultramasochist. But can you give us a good definition
of what an ultra marathon or really is?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah? Well, really, I like to say anything.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
There's a debate about this kind of like some people
would say it's anything over a marathon, and some people
would say, like a fifty k. I always say it's
technically anything over a marathon. I would consider an ultra marathon.
And I mean two years ago, I had no idea
what the sport was either, right, So I didn't even
early run two years ago.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
It's crazy. Finally, community, Yeah, I started running.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
I mean I played hockey and stuff when I was
a kid, so I could always run like a ten
k or something.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
I never did a marathon until yeah, probably two years ago.
And I think I did my first ultra like a
year and a half ago. And then you just find
this crazy community and yeah, you just keep pushing your limits.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So how did you come up with this idea and
what brought you into wanting to do such a special,
special thing.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah, so kind of for as long as I can remember,
I was always pretty obsessed with like pushing my limits,
especially physically, and I kind of found like, well, once
you're I don't know, into your twenties, you're kind of
out of team sports. Like I played hockey and stuff
like that when I was a kid, but I was
kind of looking for something else, and I didn't even know,
Like I think one day, I was just probably having
like a rough day, and I just decided to go
for a run. And one thing led to another, and
(12:39):
I remember like I did my first fifty, and I
think like three days later I did a sixty, and
like four days later I did a seventy k, and
I just kept pushing it, pushing it, and like the
interesting thing was you'd finish like your longest run ever.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I'd do my first fifty, and I'd be like, could
I have kept going?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Anything?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Is you can always keep going? Right?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So oh no, no.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Not me. Yeah that assumes that I could actually start
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah, no, it's just consistency. Yeah, Like one thing, I'd
do another. And I remember I did my first ultra marathon.
I actually went down to the States and I did
the JFK fifty, so that's a fifty miler, and I
wore Terry Fox shirt and I was kind of surprised
that I found anyone that was like forty and older
knew who Terry was and they'd be like, Oh, I
love your shirt.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
But I found a lot of people my age. I
had people saying like, oh, who's that in your shirt?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Wow?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
So that's kind of how originally I had the idea.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
I'm like, obviously, in Canada, Terry Fox is a hero
and everyone knows him, right, but through social media, I
had the idea of I could do this run, kind
of recreate his run and just talk about him and
put it to an audience all over the world so
people know who Terry Fox is because I believe he's
the greatest Canadian of all time and what he did
and he was only twenty twenty one years old when
he was doing it right with all the adversity. So yeah,
(13:47):
I just want I want to make sure he's not forgot.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
And why the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Why did you
pick that it specifically? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (13:55):
Yeah, So when I was starting this, I was thinking, well,
maybe I could raise money for cancer kind of similar
to what Terry did. Sure, but luckily in my family
no one has really been affected by cancer, like nobody,
not too many people. But the problem is everyone in
my family has heart disease, so we don't really live
long enough to have cancer, right, So I started thinking,
I was like, well that ties into my that's my why, right.
(14:17):
So I had like my dad was driving the van
the whole time for those ninety nine days, and he
has a heart condition. Same thing with my grandfather, and
I have multiple other members of my family. So I'll
just picked the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
I ran with it.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I think I was reading that you've also got family
members that have tested positive for the gene that causes
heart disease, so this is definitely something that you guys
carry as a family.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well, and again I want to put this into perspective
running across the country you had to do to make
that under one hundred days. You had to do a
seventy five kilometers, which, as Trey said, is forty seven
miles a day. Now think of this, people, It's like
running two Boston Marathons every day for ninety nine days
(15:04):
in a row.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And your run was not sponsored in any way, was it.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No?
Speaker 5 (15:08):
So really, the crazy thing with this is like I
quit my job, I took out a line of credit,
I bought a van. At the beginning, I didn't really
even have anyone that was gonna come with me other
than my dad for Newfoundland, and yeah, we just took off,
and luckily I got through Newfoundland, it started exploding. I
went from probably ten thousand followers on Instagram to like,
I don't know, forty fifty thousand within the first couple weeks. Sure, Yeah,
(15:30):
Luckily I got my dad to stay on the whole
time and ended up bringing my camera guy, Josh Pinfull,
that brought him with me, so I had my whole
team with me. But at the beginning, it was like
my plan was I was just gonna run and if
there was nobody there with me, I'd run probably ten
kilometers ahead, ten back and move the van. But I
kind of knew I just had to get this start it.
If I got it started, I knew that it would
pick up some momentum, and it wants to pick up momentum.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It is.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
The whole country came behind him. Is It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
Everywhere I went there was people running with me and
people sending me messages, and it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
The support.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I wanted to talk about that because you say that
some of the most memorable moments for you in this
adventure or the big cities where you would encourage others,
oh yeah to run with you. How did you do that?
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Yeah, so I had never really like, there's been a
lot of people run across countries, but I'd never really
seen it done where every big city I went to,
what I would do is I would run seventy yilometers
and then the last five k my day, I would
pick like a park or just some area downtown.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Okay, and I get a huge group run.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
So I'd promote it for like all weeks and weeks
leading up to it, and it was crazy, Like in Toronto,
I think we had a thousand people. In Calgary we
had like six hundred. My hometown Halifax, we had like
four hundred. So we were doing these huge group runs
and that was awesome because so many people come, so
many people. I start following you from that and then
you raise more money. So yeah, I just I thought
it was a great idea to do, and people seem
(16:50):
to love it, so yeah, it was awesome, and it's
just a great way to meet all these people.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Of course, and inspire people and be inspired by those people. Now,
let me ask you this, because Canada is just one
one of the most beautiful places I've ever been When
you're making that run across, had you already previously traveled
across a lot of your country? No, no, no, okay.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
The farthest west I'd ever been was like Ontario, So okay, okay,
everything out west was all new for me.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
All right, So you're seeing a lot of it for
the first time. What are some of the memories that
stick with you of just some of the most beautiful
things that you saw along the way.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Oh, I'd probably have to be out west, like the
rocky mountains and stuff. But it's kind of weird when
I'm doing this, Like it's probably twelve to fourteen hours
a day of running was what it was normally taking me,
plus my breaks, plus the time to drive to a
hotel and do this and do that, and media obligations.
So it's weird, like you don't truly get to appreciate it,
Like I know, like there were some spots like we
(17:45):
went to like Lake Louise and I was there for
five minutes, we did a video and I was back
on the road.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, so it's a crazy way to see the country.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
But yeah, it definitely makes me want to go back
to a bunch of other places in the country really
enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
What was your daily schedule, primarily how many hours did
you run before a break or before you had lunch?
What did you have for lunch, meat, lover's, pizza, and beer.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Well, we kind of realized we were a little underprepared
on the food. So my daily schedule, I'd wake up
around five, I'd start running at six am, and really
I would do three twenty five k runs a day,
so I'd be running normally. My day would probably wrap
up around nine o'clock at night. So we take a
couple of little breaks there. But with the food, like
it was me, my camera guy, my dad in a
(18:31):
van and none of us really know how to cook,
and some of the times you're completely in the middle
of nowhere. So there was like a two week stretch
where I basically ate like raffoli and like tuna sandwiches, kind.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Of whatever we could.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Because it's like you're one hundred and fifty two hundred
klometers even from like a gas station, right, so you're
in the like a lot of Canada. When you do
this run, you realize there's a lot of nothing. There's
a lot of areas of just trees.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
When you're on the road doing this and are you
are you listening to music or I don't know, say
the Be Good Humans podcast.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Perhaps I should have.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I should have been listening to you guys, but you
really should have if you want me to be honest,
I listen to a lot of kid Rock.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
I like kid Rock.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
There.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I listen to a lot of songs by kid Rock
on repeat, over and over and over again.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Do you find it like inspiring, like, uh, you know,
get you in the mood to keep running too?
Speaker 5 (19:25):
It's weird like when you do something big like this,
you almost you have to have fun with it everything
you're doing, right, So it's almost like you find some
songs and it just hilariously becomes like the theme song
of your trip. Yeah yeah, so I know, like every morning,
every night we listen to Picture by kid Rock and
Cheryl Crow, Okay, and we'd all sing it. It would be
it would be me, my camera guy, my dad, just
having a good time, right, just joking around because you're
(19:47):
half going you're half going crazy when you're out there, right,
like I'm running twelve hours a day, right.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, And that's what I want to ask you about too,
is like I know the like in reading because I'm
always fascinated by these people, these stories of people who
push the limits of human and endurance. And I remember
reading recently a story of a guy who kayakeed across
the Pacific right from Japan to Seattle or whatever, and
it always seems to be there is a point for him.
It was the halfway point where you you start to
(20:12):
lose yourself a little bit and you and or you
start to feel the pain of what you have gotten
yourself into. Now you're obviously a young and very fit runner,
but like, was there ever a point where you were like,
can I do this? Or am I gonna be able
to pull this off? Or you start to feel this
tweak or that pain, or you're losing your mind a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
There was never a point like from the time I
set out to do this, literally from the time I
went live on Instagram said I was gonna do it,
I knew it was already done.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
So there was never a point like by the line
people always ask me this, I go. I have supreme
self confidence and I'll get it done at whatever it takes.
I knew it's seventy five k like say it was
a horrible day. I could walk it in fifteen sixteen hours.
So luckily we didn't have any of those days where
I had to walk, and every day we got done
faster than that time. But yeah, I knew I'd be
able to do it for but definitely the mental aspect, like, well,
(21:02):
for me, I was lucky because I had.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
People running with me most of the time.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
So I would imagine to be a bit different if
like I didn't have a crew or if I was
doing this by myself, But I mean I had my
crew with me, and really, like there was days where
we would be in northern Ontario and someone would drive
twelve hours to come run with me, or someone would
drive fifteen hours. So probably seventy five percent of the
time I was with people, So that definitely really helped.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
It helped. It helps you keep saying Chuo prong.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Question for you, Ryan, what kind of running shoes do
you wear? And are you sponsored honestly by a major
shoe company? Because this is pretty so why not you
should be?
Speaker 5 (21:35):
The thing is, right, when I started, I didn't really
have any following. I kind of just set out to
do this. A lot of people probably thought I was nuts,
I said, I'm going to run across the country. I'm
going to raise one hundred thousand dollars, Like, oh, it's
all just going to work out, But yeah, no, it's
if you don't really have any sponsors currently.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
But what a billboard you are?
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. But really I've decided in
doing this. This is what I want to do with
my life.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I want to do I want to do the con.
I'm obviously run across the States, run across Canada again.
I want to do all the big ultra marathons. So
kind of we're just getting started, and I mean this
really opened a lot of doors.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Do you have a favorite shoe to be honest.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Like right now I'm wearing Sacconi. I was wearing an
on Cloud before that.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
But there's no no, Like, there's no I'm still new
to running, right so there's still shoes I'm trying and
other things.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So new to running, I just run across the country.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Yeah, well it was it was an ongoing joke. We said,
like what's the best way to train and to run across
the country. You run across the country for me? Is
true for me, Like I want to do this again
and when I do it again, we'll have a bigger
RV and we'll have a big team.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah. But for me, this is just.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Trial and error.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I just went out there and I knew I could
do it, and I went out and did it, and
here we are.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Well, when you do it again, maybe train and I
can join you for the ninety nine day run.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I would be happy to join you by the side
of the road and clap as you run past.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Hold your water at least one day.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, and I'll be happy to also say be good
humans and Ryan keeping your sponsored by Socony. Let me
just say this, or let me ask you this is
it true? Because I thought this was a kind of
cool little bit. Is it's true that you actually carried
water from the Atlantic and poured it into the Pacific?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Yeah, so, uh, when we were by the Terry Fox
monument in Saint John's, I got my dad to go down.
We had a big jar similar to what Terry Fox used,
and he filled that up and then yeah, we kept
that in the van.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Luckily we didn't lose it or displaced or break or
break the glass or anything.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
But we took it all the way. And yeah, if
you watch my last YouTube video. It's my dad pouring
the water into the into the ocean.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
He walked into the ocean. It was super emotional moment, right, yeah,
it was. It was incredible.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Brian in a CBC interview, and this is just less
than forty eight hours after you finished. The first question
was how are you feeling after running for ninety nine
days straight? And your response, I feel amazing physically. Of course,
I'm a little bit sore maybe, right, a little bit sore.
(23:52):
I get a little bit sore taking out the trash. Yeah, man,
a little bit sore. Maybe it's the maybe that makes
it poetry.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
No, Well see, I believe everything we say and everything
we think is going to come true.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
So obviously what I'm doing this, well, of course I'm
in pain. But when I'm in that moment, I'll never I'll.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Never actually admit it, Okay, And I just keep moving
forward and I keep being positive, and just like, how
couldn't that be positive?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Thugh?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
I got kids coming out to see me, I got
raising so much money, so yeah, I just don't ever
when I'm done, I could admit, yeah, I was in pain,
but when I'm doing it, you got to be in
that mindset and you just keep going.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, that's what I was going to say too. You're
also running for a very important cause, which again is
the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars you have been able to give to that organization.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the
Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, and it's actually I think it's two hundred and
eighty six.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yeah, so we had some offline donations, so yeah, we're
actually currently making the donation now. But yeah, the Heartstroke Foundation,
it's great. They have a lot of money going to
research and they're researching for different part conditions and ways
to prevent and stuff. And yeah, so I was like,
my dad's got hypertropic cardiomyopathy and I know, like the
Heart and Stroke Foundation they've researched that along with a
(25:07):
bunch of other heart conditions. So yeah, just a wow,
great organization to give money too. And I mean I
always say the two big ones would be cancer and
heart disease, because somebody knows, like in everybody's family there's
someone that's experienced cancer or heart disease.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So that's right, and that's why if you're watching or
listening right now and you want to know more about
the Heart and Stroke Foundation, you should absolutely go to
Heartenstroke dot Ca. We're also going to link it on
our Begod Humans podcast site. What's next for you? You've hinted
at some other ultra marathons, but are you zeroing in
on what the next specific challenge is going to be?
Speaker 5 (25:38):
So we're kind of just chatting with my team kind
of figured it out our next plays here. But I mean,
all obviously, I'd love to do all the major marathons.
I'd love to do all the major ultra marathons. I'd
love to run across other countries, and really, for me,
what's next is to just grow the content and try
to continue to grow my following because really I believe
the more people that see my message, the more people
I can inspire, the more I can really change the
world and just help people get active or at least
(26:01):
just get out and chase down whatever their passion is.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So, and the more money you raise, yeah, yeah, So it's.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Just such a win win, right, Like, I'm pushing my
limits raising money. So definitely I'm gonna be going down
to the States. I'll be going over to Europe, and yeah,
just growing the content and really just one step at
a time and playing a couple of big goals.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You quit your job decided, I mean, that's just like
I've decided I'm going to quit my job and do
this Now. That's pretty amazing and brave.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
It's my purpose in life to do this.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
It's as soon as I started doing this, as soon
as I started to seeing I could actually change people's lives. Yeah,
and there's so many people around me, Like I see
them getting into running or I get messages every day.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
I'm like, I don't really care.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
About money as long as I have enough money just
to get by. And same thing, like I'm young, I
don't have a family, I don't have too many, Like
there's no crazy responsibilities for me.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So this is the time to do it.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
And I really believe if I chase this with everything
I have inside me, there's no way it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Well, I mean it started off great with Canada. I
mean just the support that just a groundswell. Yeah, like
your team said, I mentioned it earlier. They said it
was like the whole country was behind you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Well, you've given the nation of Canada so much to
be proud of. You've also greatly honored the spirit of
Terry Fox. Not to mention how proud I'm sure your
family must be of you. You're an absolute inspiration. Your
confidence is quite frankly infectious. I'm just wondering if you're
willing to give me any advice on how I can
(27:21):
accomplish running to the mailbox and back.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Well, the best advice I give someone, especially if they're
a non runner they're trying to get into it, just
get out and move, whether that's a walk, whether that's
a run.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Don't worry about your pace, and really just try to
have fun.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Like if you could find somebody to run with, or
a run club or anything, just any ways you can
make it actually enjoyable. And same thing like if you
say I don't know what's your goal, you're on a
five k or something, don't worry about the time.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Just get out and do it.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Once you do it, like the first time you do
anything is gonna be the worst time, not cound be
very good at it. Every time you keep going, you'll
get better and better and better. And that goes back
to the same with me, like what's the best way
to run across the country. You run across the country,
and I'm sure next time I do it, I'll be
even better.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So is a situational kind of like working out when
you first start, when you're training to.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Towards the mail model box.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
When you first start, don't do too much because you're
it's gonna be a real drag for you. It's like,
oh no, I'm not gonna do that anymore. You can
just kind of just the small increments going further and further.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yeah, I would say for most like I'm a hard
person to ask because everything I do, I end up
doing too much. Yeah, But like for the average person, yes,
just definitely stay within your comfort zone and just make
sure you start doing it, don't overthink it, and just
get into it and start moving.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Really, you get better the more you do it.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
And everybody's body is so different too, right, That's why
I'll never give really like personal trainer advice. I can
give mental toughness coaching or mental toughness advice, but everybody's
so different. I mean, like, my body clearly can handle
this very well, and I think probably some of its
genetics or genetically I don't really seem to get hurt.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I can do this. I can keep pushing, but everybody's
so different. You got to listen to your body.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Well, listen on, behalf of my partner. We we both
thank you so much and for being on the show,
but for for what you're doing. It's as the word
tray use was correct, it's so inspiring.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Inspiring in the literal definition of extraordinary and for our
purposes here, you are absolutely a good human. So thank
you so much for taking the time to join us. Ryan,
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me on.
That was awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
We will take you suck inspired, yes, and also a
little exhausted. Oh my god, a combination of that. Just
by listening to that, guys.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I'm just thinking about going up and down the stairs
outside our studio here, like I ache after that, like
I forget it.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I was a little sore.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Maybe maybe exactly all right.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Reminder visit our website be Good Humans podcast dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Please do that where you can tell us about the
good humans in your lives and give some pointers on
how to be good humans. Follow us on the socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
and like and subscribe if you're watching us right now,
just right before you finish, like and subscribe, that would
be helpful to us.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Mike or Adore? Is there an ador bike? Let's just
say this an adore adore and subscribe up bye.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
I love them, but most importantly, Ray is. Most importantly,
that's Calf.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Be good humans, good humans.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Be good humans. Be good humans, or we will thank
you suck.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Be Good Humans is executive produced by Brian Phelps, Trey Callaway,
and Grant Anderson, with associate producers Sean Fitzgerald and Clementine
Callaway and partnership with straw Hut Media. Please like, follow,
and subscribe, and remember, be good humans.
Humans. Be good humans. Be good humans, or we will
think you sucked humans, or we will think you suck.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know what that was, Brian? That was the USC
fight song. Ah, yes, I know that. You're a big
football fan. Very you're you're you're your moro, you're pro
right so lifelong.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But USC is an important UH team for me because
they were.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Very nice to us.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
They would come down to the show. We had Slash
on one time and we surprised him with the entire
USC marching.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Band out back.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Took Slash out there, had a guitar ready for them,
and they and he played with the US. He loved that.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And you know, they're not just known as the USC
Marching Band. They're known as the Spirit of Troy.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I was actually in a halftime show wearing the band's uniform.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Of course you were.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah. Yeah. They they invited us to do and they
gave us tubas and the great director came up. He
was such a sweet man and he goes, Okay, here's
what we want you to do. Because I used to
be in marching band high school and they haven't taught
us anything. And he goes, I want you guys to
screw up. Okay, we can handle that.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
He gives many people. That's good.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, because they're so insane.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, okay, so I reached up the first thing I
did because we had tubas, and loosened the big bell
on the tube. So during the show they went this way,
we're going that, looking like idiots, and those one time
you know where they kind of oh yeah, I did
that and the bell falls off and I'm trying to
pick it up and screw it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Was just so much fun. That's good comedy.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I was just wondering, what if you're a fan of
the you have season tickets, you come to every game.
What happened? They must have just been so confused.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I love that. I love that. Well, yes, obviously longtime
USC fan, former s colum and current professor, but I've
spent a lot of time in the coliseum. But the
thing I love about the coliseum, hm two Olympics have
been there, and you know, I don't know, have you
got a little bit of Olympic fever here? In twenty
twenty eight, it'll be back here in Los Angeles again.
So we got that to look forward to, and I
(02:40):
know we're kind of both like sports fans. You're you're
a lifelong Chicago Bears.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Fans, and this year we're going to go all the way.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm sure that's true, Brian.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I saw a smirk on his fance.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No, not at all, not even really said something. No,
I no, no. But here's what I want to know,
did you I I have this right? You played foot
ball yourself? Yeah? Growing up?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I played seven years of it. Three years in Pop
Warner wow, and and four years every every year playing
football in high school. And my senior year we were
one game away. We won conference, we won this, we
won that, and we were one game away. If we
would have won that game, we would have played State.
(03:23):
We would have gone to state and played in an
actual field with Astro Church.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was at Illinois State.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It was within grass.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But we lost that game. Yeah yeah, and I went okay,
hold for trace punchline, I went both ways.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm not even gonna touch that.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Okay. Good. Because our school was so small, there were
there were a few of us that played both both
offense and defense. Okay, sure, so I was a wide
receiver tied end and then I was defensive it so,
but that wasn't the end of my very exhausting Friday night.
Because at halftime of our games, right when the rest
(04:05):
of the team is going down to the locker room
to get yelled at by the coach and eat orange wedges,
three of us Dan, who you know, my best friend, Roger,
great friend, and I also played in the band. So
we ran down to the end of the field as
soon as the whistle blew for halftime.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
We take off our helmet, we take off our shoulder pads,
We put on band pants and uniform yes over our
football pants.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
We put on the band jacket, the overlay, the hat,
and spats on our cleaps, and we go out and
do the halftime show. Then we come I played drums,
Dan with sacks, and Roger was trombone, and we after
the show, we put all the football stuff back on
and go out. And usually it was the assistant coast
(04:53):
and said, Okay, here's what we talked about, here's the
changes we want to make. Right before we went out
again and played the second hand.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
This has explained more to me about your status as
a multi tiered talent than any other story I've ever heard. Yeah, okay,
but did you play football in high school? No, I
played soccer, right, I was all about so I played
basketball too, but I was really more about soccer. And
I got to go to a PEPSI training camp for soccer.
Tulsa had a professional team for a short period of time,
(05:21):
the Tulsa Roughnecks in the old NASL night and the
New York Cosmos came to play, and Pele was playing.
Oh my god, Cosmo, Oh my god, and I got
to trade a header with Pele.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Did your class?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That was the height of my soccer experience.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And I too played basketball, and of course a little
league in baseball. One year, yes, it was my sophomore year.
I decided I'm going to go out for track and field, okay,
because kind of keeping shape, sure, you know it's it's
because there's a lot of downtime in between sports. And
so I went out for track and field and I
lasted Trey. I lasted just under three weeks. Apparently in
(06:00):
track and field there's a lot of running. And I'm
cool on a football field running, you know though, but
just like constant long distance running, No, and it just
wasn't for me. There's a great comedian It talks about
how he was getting into exercise and as trainer said,
(06:21):
you know, you really really should do some cardio and run,
and he goes, do you realize that running is the
only thing you can do? Or from start to finish
your brain is going stop this right now, just stop it?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And that's true. That's kind of what it was for me, honest,
the way it feels for me to I mean, I
could never I could never do the track and field thing,
and to this day probably I'm not sure I could
run from here to the end of the block unless
there was a bear chasing me. But the thing that's
interesting to me about running, it's a pretty singular sport.
Even if you're racing other people, you're still pretty much
(06:59):
solely reliant on yourself to cross that finish line. But
that was one of the.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Things I didn't like about it too, in the long
distance running. Yeah, just like I had a lot of
time just thinking and that's never helped with my thoughts. Yeah,
that's not a good.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Place to be. But that doesn't mean that running is
necessarily selfish, right. In fact, there are some runners who
have done great things by running for a cause that
is much greater than themselves. Do you remember Terry Fox.
Oh yeah, Canadian, Yes, this incredible Canadian distance runner. He
was also a basketball player, by the way, but more
(07:34):
than that, he was a humanitarian and an activist who
back in nineteen eighty I think it was, he had
a leg amputated due to cancer, and he decided to
embark on this unbelievable east to west run across Canada
to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Right, And
(07:56):
he did those things, but more importantly inspired literally millions
of people around the globe before he then finally sadly
succumbed to his disease like a year later.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, you know, you know, it would be really great
if we could talk to someone that he inspired, if
we could only had only had thought of this ahead
of time.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah yes, well maybe we did. Maybeire maybe, just maybe,
when we get back, we're going to meet somebody who
was not only inspired by Terry Fox, but has also
just successfully managed to follow in his footsteps in all
kinds of amazing ways. So do us a favor. Don't
run away.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
We'll be right back after I chastise him.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Of a baker big we will thank.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You, suck, thank you for coming back. Everyone. It is
time to talk to our guest.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yes, and his name is Ryan Keeping. Ryan Keeping is
a Canadian ultra marathon er, because apparently being just a
marathon or isn't enough.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It really doesn't need the word ultra. I had to
look up ultra marathon because I'd never heard that term before. Yes,
to just marathon is enough, you'd.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Think, But Ryan has just successfully devoted himself get this
to running across the entire nation of Canada from Saint John's,
Newfoundland all the way to Victoria, British Columbia. I don't
know if I'm pointing in the right directions, probably not.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Seven three and eighty six kilometers, which, if you're too
stupid like me to know how to do metric things,
that's four thousand, five hundred and eighty nine point four
to five miles.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
All of this to raise funds and awareness for the
Heart and Stroke found But that's not all. He also
challenged himself to do it in less than one hundred days,
and that means, and I'm going to go ahead and
do the metrics map for us, that means he had
to run forty seven miles a day for ninety nine
(10:16):
days straight.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Ninety nine days, which.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Completely pushes the envelope of human endurance.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And it was the challenge that a challenge he brought
on himself. It's his fault. Yes, why did I say
ninety nine? Why under a hunt? Why did I do that? Well,
we're going to find out right now with us. Is
Ryan keeping the Ultra Marathon or Ryan? Thanks thanks for
being here?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yeah, thanks for having me. How's it going today? Guys?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's going fantastic, except that we don't feel worthy to
actually speak with you.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You've mentioned that he did all this for an amazing cost. Yeah,
his goal when he started this idea was to raise
one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well, that's not easy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That is amazing, But he didn't get one hundred thousand dollars.
He got a quarter of a million dollars because all
of Canada. His team was saying, it's like the whole
country is behind us on this, and coverage everywhere he
wins just amazing.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well, can we just stop back for a second, Ryan,
and can you can you explain to us idiot Americans?
What what if I look up Ultra marathon or in
the dictionary. I feel like it's gonna be synonymous with
like ultramasochist. But can you give us a good definition
of what an ultra marathon or really is?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah? Well, really, I like to say anything.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
There's a debate about this kind of like some people
would say it's anything over a marathon, and some people
would say, like a fifty k. I always say it's
technically anything over a marathon. I would consider an ultra marathon.
And I mean two years ago, I had no idea
what the sport was either, right, So I didn't even
early run two years ago.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
It's crazy. Finally, community, Yeah, I started running.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
I mean I played hockey and stuff when I was
a kid, so I could always run like a ten
k or something.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
I never did a marathon until yeah, probably two years ago.
And I think I did my first ultra like a
year and a half ago. And then you just find
this crazy community and yeah, you just keep pushing your limits.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So how did you come up with this idea and
what brought you into wanting to do such a special,
special thing.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah, so kind of for as long as I can remember,
I was always pretty obsessed with like pushing my limits,
especially physically, and I kind of found like, well, once
you're I don't know, into your twenties, you're kind of
out of team sports. Like I played hockey and stuff
like that when I was a kid, but I was
kind of looking for something else, and I didn't even know,
Like I think one day, I was just probably having
like a rough day, and I just decided to go
for a run. And one thing led to another, and
(12:39):
I remember like I did my first fifty, and I
think like three days later I did a sixty, and
like four days later I did a seventy k, and
I just kept pushing it, pushing it, and like the
interesting thing was you'd finish like your longest run ever.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I'd do my first fifty, and I'd be like, could
I have kept going?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Anything?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Is you can always keep going? Right?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So oh no, no.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Not me. Yeah that assumes that I could actually start
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah, no, it's just consistency. Yeah, Like one thing, I'd
do another. And I remember I did my first ultra marathon.
I actually went down to the States and I did
the JFK fifty, so that's a fifty miler, and I
wore Terry Fox shirt and I was kind of surprised
that I found anyone that was like forty and older
knew who Terry was and they'd be like, Oh, I
love your shirt.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
But I found a lot of people my age. I
had people saying like, oh, who's that in your shirt?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Wow?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
So that's kind of how originally I had the idea.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
I'm like, obviously, in Canada, Terry Fox is a hero
and everyone knows him, right, but through social media, I
had the idea of I could do this run, kind
of recreate his run and just talk about him and
put it to an audience all over the world so
people know who Terry Fox is because I believe he's
the greatest Canadian of all time and what he did
and he was only twenty twenty one years old when
he was doing it right with all the adversity. So yeah,
(13:47):
I just want I want to make sure he's not forgot.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
And why the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Why did you
pick that it specifically? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (13:55):
Yeah, So when I was starting this, I was thinking, well,
maybe I could raise money for cancer kind of similar
to what Terry did. Sure, but luckily in my family
no one has really been affected by cancer, like nobody,
not too many people. But the problem is everyone in
my family has heart disease, so we don't really live
long enough to have cancer, right, So I started thinking,
I was like, well that ties into my that's my why, right.
(14:17):
So I had like my dad was driving the van
the whole time for those ninety nine days, and he
has a heart condition. Same thing with my grandfather, and
I have multiple other members of my family. So I'll
just picked the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
I ran with it.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I think I was reading that you've also got family
members that have tested positive for the gene that causes
heart disease, so this is definitely something that you guys
carry as a family.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well, and again I want to put this into perspective
running across the country you had to do to make
that under one hundred days. You had to do a
seventy five kilometers, which, as Trey said, is forty seven
miles a day. Now think of this, people, It's like
running two Boston Marathons every day for ninety nine days
(15:04):
in a row.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And your run was not sponsored in any way, was it.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No?
Speaker 5 (15:08):
So really, the crazy thing with this is like I
quit my job, I took out a line of credit,
I bought a van. At the beginning, I didn't really
even have anyone that was gonna come with me other
than my dad for Newfoundland, and yeah, we just took off,
and luckily I got through Newfoundland, it started exploding. I
went from probably ten thousand followers on Instagram to like,
I don't know, forty fifty thousand within the first couple weeks. Sure, Yeah,
(15:30):
Luckily I got my dad to stay on the whole
time and ended up bringing my camera guy, Josh Pinfull,
that brought him with me, so I had my whole
team with me. But at the beginning, it was like
my plan was I was just gonna run and if
there was nobody there with me, I'd run probably ten
kilometers ahead, ten back and move the van. But I
kind of knew I just had to get this start it.
If I got it started, I knew that it would
pick up some momentum, and it wants to pick up momentum.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It is.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
The whole country came behind him. Is It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
Everywhere I went there was people running with me and
people sending me messages, and it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
The support.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I wanted to talk about that because you say that
some of the most memorable moments for you in this
adventure or the big cities where you would encourage others,
oh yeah to run with you. How did you do that?
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Yeah, so I had never really like, there's been a
lot of people run across countries, but I'd never really
seen it done where every big city I went to,
what I would do is I would run seventy yilometers
and then the last five k my day, I would
pick like a park or just some area downtown.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Okay, and I get a huge group run.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
So I'd promote it for like all weeks and weeks
leading up to it, and it was crazy, Like in Toronto,
I think we had a thousand people. In Calgary we
had like six hundred. My hometown Halifax, we had like
four hundred. So we were doing these huge group runs
and that was awesome because so many people come, so
many people. I start following you from that and then
you raise more money. So yeah, I just I thought
it was a great idea to do, and people seem
(16:50):
to love it, so yeah, it was awesome, and it's
just a great way to meet all these people.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Of course, and inspire people and be inspired by those people. Now,
let me ask you this, because Canada is just one
one of the most beautiful places I've ever been When
you're making that run across, had you already previously traveled
across a lot of your country? No, no, no, okay.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
The farthest west I'd ever been was like Ontario, So okay, okay,
everything out west was all new for me.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
All right, So you're seeing a lot of it for
the first time. What are some of the memories that
stick with you of just some of the most beautiful
things that you saw along the way.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Oh, I'd probably have to be out west, like the
rocky mountains and stuff. But it's kind of weird when
I'm doing this, Like it's probably twelve to fourteen hours
a day of running was what it was normally taking me,
plus my breaks, plus the time to drive to a
hotel and do this and do that, and media obligations.
So it's weird, like you don't truly get to appreciate it,
Like I know, like there were some spots like we
(17:45):
went to like Lake Louise and I was there for
five minutes, we did a video and I was back
on the road.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, so it's a crazy way to see the country.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
But yeah, it definitely makes me want to go back
to a bunch of other places in the country really
enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
What was your daily schedule, primarily how many hours did
you run before a break or before you had lunch?
What did you have for lunch, meat, lover's, pizza, and beer.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Well, we kind of realized we were a little underprepared
on the food. So my daily schedule, I'd wake up
around five, I'd start running at six am, and really
I would do three twenty five k runs a day,
so I'd be running normally. My day would probably wrap
up around nine o'clock at night. So we take a
couple of little breaks there. But with the food, like
it was me, my camera guy, my dad in a
(18:31):
van and none of us really know how to cook,
and some of the times you're completely in the middle
of nowhere. So there was like a two week stretch
where I basically ate like raffoli and like tuna sandwiches, kind.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Of whatever we could.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Because it's like you're one hundred and fifty two hundred
klometers even from like a gas station, right, so you're
in the like a lot of Canada. When you do
this run, you realize there's a lot of nothing. There's
a lot of areas of just trees.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
When you're on the road doing this and are you
are you listening to music or I don't know, say
the Be Good Humans podcast.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Perhaps I should have.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I should have been listening to you guys, but you
really should have if you want me to be honest,
I listen to a lot of kid Rock.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
I like kid Rock.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
There.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I listen to a lot of songs by kid Rock
on repeat, over and over and over again.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Do you find it like inspiring, like, uh, you know,
get you in the mood to keep running too?
Speaker 5 (19:25):
It's weird like when you do something big like this,
you almost you have to have fun with it everything
you're doing, right, So it's almost like you find some
songs and it just hilariously becomes like the theme song
of your trip. Yeah yeah, so I know, like every morning,
every night we listen to Picture by kid Rock and
Cheryl Crow, Okay, and we'd all sing it. It would be
it would be me, my camera guy, my dad, just
having a good time, right, just joking around because you're
(19:47):
half going you're half going crazy when you're out there, right,
like I'm running twelve hours a day, right.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, And that's what I want to ask you about too,
is like I know the like in reading because I'm
always fascinated by these people, these stories of people who
push the limits of human and endurance. And I remember
reading recently a story of a guy who kayakeed across
the Pacific right from Japan to Seattle or whatever, and
it always seems to be there is a point for him.
It was the halfway point where you you start to
(20:12):
lose yourself a little bit and you and or you
start to feel the pain of what you have gotten
yourself into. Now you're obviously a young and very fit runner,
but like, was there ever a point where you were like,
can I do this? Or am I gonna be able
to pull this off? Or you start to feel this
tweak or that pain, or you're losing your mind a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
There was never a point like from the time I
set out to do this, literally from the time I
went live on Instagram said I was gonna do it,
I knew it was already done.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
So there was never a point like by the line
people always ask me this, I go. I have supreme
self confidence and I'll get it done at whatever it takes.
I knew it's seventy five k like say it was
a horrible day. I could walk it in fifteen sixteen hours.
So luckily we didn't have any of those days where
I had to walk, and every day we got done
faster than that time. But yeah, I knew I'd be
able to do it for but definitely the mental aspect, like, well,
(21:02):
for me, I was lucky because I had.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
People running with me most of the time.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
So I would imagine to be a bit different if
like I didn't have a crew or if I was
doing this by myself, But I mean I had my
crew with me, and really, like there was days where
we would be in northern Ontario and someone would drive
twelve hours to come run with me, or someone would
drive fifteen hours. So probably seventy five percent of the
time I was with people, So that definitely really helped.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
It helped. It helps you keep saying Chuo prong.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Question for you, Ryan, what kind of running shoes do
you wear? And are you sponsored honestly by a major
shoe company? Because this is pretty so why not you
should be?
Speaker 5 (21:35):
The thing is, right, when I started, I didn't really
have any following. I kind of just set out to
do this. A lot of people probably thought I was nuts,
I said, I'm going to run across the country. I'm
going to raise one hundred thousand dollars, Like, oh, it's
all just going to work out, But yeah, no, it's
if you don't really have any sponsors currently.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
But what a billboard you are?
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. But really I've decided in
doing this. This is what I want to do with
my life.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I want to do I want to do the con.
I'm obviously run across the States, run across Canada again.
I want to do all the big ultra marathons. So
kind of we're just getting started, and I mean this
really opened a lot of doors.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Do you have a favorite shoe to be honest.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Like right now I'm wearing Sacconi. I was wearing an
on Cloud before that.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
But there's no no, Like, there's no I'm still new
to running, right so there's still shoes I'm trying and
other things.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So new to running, I just run across the country.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Yeah, well it was it was an ongoing joke. We said,
like what's the best way to train and to run across
the country. You run across the country for me? Is
true for me, Like I want to do this again
and when I do it again, we'll have a bigger
RV and we'll have a big team.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah. But for me, this is just.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Trial and error.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I just went out there and I knew I could
do it, and I went out and did it, and
here we are.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Well, when you do it again, maybe train and I
can join you for the ninety nine day run.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I would be happy to join you by the side
of the road and clap as you run past.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Hold your water at least one day.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, and I'll be happy to also say be good
humans and Ryan keeping your sponsored by Socony. Let me
just say this, or let me ask you this is
it true? Because I thought this was a kind of
cool little bit. Is it's true that you actually carried
water from the Atlantic and poured it into the Pacific?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Yeah, so, uh, when we were by the Terry Fox
monument in Saint John's, I got my dad to go down.
We had a big jar similar to what Terry Fox used,
and he filled that up and then yeah, we kept
that in the van.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Luckily we didn't lose it or displaced or break or
break the glass or anything.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
But we took it all the way. And yeah, if
you watch my last YouTube video. It's my dad pouring
the water into the into the ocean.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
He walked into the ocean. It was super emotional moment, right, yeah,
it was. It was incredible.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Brian in a CBC interview, and this is just less
than forty eight hours after you finished. The first question
was how are you feeling after running for ninety nine
days straight? And your response, I feel amazing physically. Of course,
I'm a little bit sore maybe, right, a little bit sore.
(23:52):
I get a little bit sore taking out the trash. Yeah, man,
a little bit sore. Maybe it's the maybe that makes
it poetry.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
No, Well see, I believe everything we say and everything
we think is going to come true.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
So obviously what I'm doing this, well, of course I'm
in pain. But when I'm in that moment, I'll never I'll.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Never actually admit it, Okay, And I just keep moving
forward and I keep being positive, and just like, how
couldn't that be positive?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Thugh?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
I got kids coming out to see me, I got
raising so much money, so yeah, I just don't ever
when I'm done, I could admit, yeah, I was in pain,
but when I'm doing it, you got to be in
that mindset and you just keep going.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, that's what I was going to say too. You're
also running for a very important cause, which again is
the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars you have been able to give to that organization.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the
Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, and it's actually I think it's two hundred and
eighty six.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yeah, so we had some offline donations, so yeah, we're
actually currently making the donation now. But yeah, the Heartstroke Foundation,
it's great. They have a lot of money going to
research and they're researching for different part conditions and ways
to prevent and stuff. And yeah, so I was like,
my dad's got hypertropic cardiomyopathy and I know, like the
Heart and Stroke Foundation they've researched that along with a
(25:07):
bunch of other heart conditions. So yeah, just a wow,
great organization to give money too. And I mean I
always say the two big ones would be cancer and
heart disease, because somebody knows, like in everybody's family there's
someone that's experienced cancer or heart disease.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So that's right, and that's why if you're watching or
listening right now and you want to know more about
the Heart and Stroke Foundation, you should absolutely go to
Heartenstroke dot Ca. We're also going to link it on
our Begod Humans podcast site. What's next for you? You've hinted
at some other ultra marathons, but are you zeroing in
on what the next specific challenge is going to be?
Speaker 5 (25:38):
So we're kind of just chatting with my team kind
of figured it out our next plays here. But I mean,
all obviously, I'd love to do all the major marathons.
I'd love to do all the major ultra marathons. I'd
love to run across other countries, and really, for me,
what's next is to just grow the content and try
to continue to grow my following because really I believe
the more people that see my message, the more people
I can inspire, the more I can really change the
world and just help people get active or at least
(26:01):
just get out and chase down whatever their passion is.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So, and the more money you raise, yeah, yeah, So it's.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Just such a win win, right, Like, I'm pushing my
limits raising money. So definitely I'm gonna be going down
to the States. I'll be going over to Europe, and yeah,
just growing the content and really just one step at
a time and playing a couple of big goals.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You quit your job decided, I mean, that's just like
I've decided I'm going to quit my job and do
this Now. That's pretty amazing and brave.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
It's my purpose in life to do this.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
It's as soon as I started doing this, as soon
as I started to seeing I could actually change people's lives. Yeah,
and there's so many people around me, Like I see
them getting into running or I get messages every day.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
I'm like, I don't really care.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
About money as long as I have enough money just
to get by. And same thing, like I'm young, I
don't have a family, I don't have too many, Like
there's no crazy responsibilities for me.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So this is the time to do it.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
And I really believe if I chase this with everything
I have inside me, there's no way it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Well, I mean it started off great with Canada. I
mean just the support that just a groundswell. Yeah, like
your team said, I mentioned it earlier. They said it
was like the whole country was behind you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Well, you've given the nation of Canada so much to
be proud of. You've also greatly honored the spirit of
Terry Fox. Not to mention how proud I'm sure your
family must be of you. You're an absolute inspiration. Your
confidence is quite frankly infectious. I'm just wondering if you're
willing to give me any advice on how I can
(27:21):
accomplish running to the mailbox and back.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Well, the best advice I give someone, especially if they're
a non runner they're trying to get into it, just
get out and move, whether that's a walk, whether that's
a run.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Don't worry about your pace, and really just try to
have fun.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Like if you could find somebody to run with, or
a run club or anything, just any ways you can
make it actually enjoyable. And same thing like if you
say I don't know what's your goal, you're on a
five k or something, don't worry about the time.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Just get out and do it.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Once you do it, like the first time you do
anything is gonna be the worst time, not cound be
very good at it. Every time you keep going, you'll
get better and better and better. And that goes back
to the same with me, like what's the best way
to run across the country. You run across the country,
and I'm sure next time I do it, I'll be
even better.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So is a situational kind of like working out when
you first start, when you're training to.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Towards the mail model box.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
When you first start, don't do too much because you're
it's gonna be a real drag for you. It's like,
oh no, I'm not gonna do that anymore. You can
just kind of just the small increments going further and further.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yeah, I would say for most like I'm a hard
person to ask because everything I do, I end up
doing too much. Yeah, But like for the average person, yes,
just definitely stay within your comfort zone and just make
sure you start doing it, don't overthink it, and just
get into it and start moving.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Really, you get better the more you do it.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
And everybody's body is so different too, right, That's why
I'll never give really like personal trainer advice. I can
give mental toughness coaching or mental toughness advice, but everybody's
so different. I mean, like, my body clearly can handle
this very well, and I think probably some of its
genetics or genetically I don't really seem to get hurt.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I can do this. I can keep pushing, but everybody's
so different. You got to listen to your body.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Well, listen on, behalf of my partner. We we both
thank you so much and for being on the show,
but for for what you're doing. It's as the word
tray use was correct, it's so inspiring.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Inspiring in the literal definition of extraordinary and for our
purposes here, you are absolutely a good human. So thank
you so much for taking the time to join us. Ryan,
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me on.
That was awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
We will take you suck inspired, yes, and also a
little exhausted. Oh my god, a combination of that. Just
by listening to that, guys.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I'm just thinking about going up and down the stairs
outside our studio here, like I ache after that, like
I forget it.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I was a little sore.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Maybe maybe exactly all right.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Reminder visit our website be Good Humans podcast dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Please do that where you can tell us about the
good humans in your lives and give some pointers on
how to be good humans. Follow us on the socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
and like and subscribe if you're watching us right now,
just right before you finish, like and subscribe, that would
be helpful to us.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Mike or Adore? Is there an ador bike? Let's just
say this an adore adore and subscribe up bye.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
I love them, but most importantly, Ray is. Most importantly,
that's Calf.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Be good humans, good humans.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Be good humans. Be good humans, or we will thank
you suck.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Be Good Humans is executive produced by Brian Phelps, Trey Callaway,
and Grant Anderson, with associate producers Sean Fitzgerald and Clementine
Callaway and partnership with straw Hut Media. Please like, follow,
and subscribe, and remember, be good humans.
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