Marathon Man

In this raw, explicit podcast, we interview our coworker Beto about his life-changing experience training for and completing the Chicago Marathon. Beto takes us through his journey from the moment a casual invitation planted the seed to him suddenly signing up on a whim to run his first-ever marathon. We get an inside look at the mental and physical rollercoaster of marathon training and race day as someone doing it completely on his own. Beto shares invaluable lessons on overcoming self-doubt, the struggle of commitment, why we sometimes need to lean on others when we feel most alone and how to stay focused in the present moment during an enormously grueling task. His story serves as inspiration that no matter how impossible a goal seems, taking things one step at a time can lead to crossing unimaginable finish lines.

 

Episode Highlights:

[1:18] Beto explains his spontaneous decision to sign up for the Chicago Marathon despite no prior running experience.

[3:30] Beto realizes the months of grueling training required and starts having doubts.

[4:10] Beto begins a 6-month training plan, fitting in solo runs before and after work.

[11:09] Beto opts to train alone instead of joining the marathon group at church.

[12:58] Beto struggles through hot summer 10+ mile training runs, reaching mental and physical breaking points.

[17:28] Beto considers quitting but persists to avoid letting down donors and finish what he started.

[21:08] Beto explains the mistake of doing a 20-mile training run downtown in the blistering heat.

[24:06] Beto’s training partner and support system unexpectedly pulls out of running the marathon.

[25:47] Beto starts the Chicago Marathon surrounded by others but realizes he'll ultimately be alone.

[31:46] On race eve, Beto’s partner confirms he is officially not running, leaving Beto emotionally devastated.

[34:09] Up to 40,000 fans lining Chicago streets contrast Beto's isolated mental state on race day.

[35:01] Beto gets a wave of pre-race adrenaline and bursts off the starting line.

[43:51] Beto remains lost in his thoughts, blocking out fatigue and hitting the wall around mile 13.

[47:42] Beto disassociates around mile 19/20, forcing his mind to focus on positivity.

[50:06] Beto passes struggling runners late in the race but stays motivated to cross the finish line.

[56:25] Beto's constant mental rollercoaster mimicking life's ongoing ups and downs.

[59:29] Beto reflects on the enormity of finishing something he previously thought impossible.

 

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, follow, share, and leave a review. Your support helps more people find this podcast and know they're not alone. Until next time!

Episode Transcript

Nick (00:07):
It's time to get fucking off that. Hello, hello. Well,
just to let you guys know wewere driving down the street and
we saw this guy walking, and wepulled over and rolled down the
window and said, Hey, you wantto be on our fucking podcasts?
So we got this guy with this nowWhat was your name again but

(00:27):
Beto see I don't, man, I knowlike three battles. You want me
to know seriously this dude wasrunning down the thing and I
said, Hey, what the fuck is yourstory? You got a story. He's
like, Yeah, I run marathons andI'm like, Alright, come on the
show. He runs. And he's here.
Yeah. Well, actually, though,record in the most weird places.
Right now we're in a closet. Sowe hope it sounds pretty, pretty

(00:51):
decent. But we're in a closet.
Yeah. Anyway, no, we did notfind you on the street with Beto
actually works with us. I had toask him if he would come on to
the podcast because heaccomplished something that
literally seriously blew meaway. Like I was like, alright,

(01:15):
let's just go into it. You goahead. What did you actually do?

Beto (01:18):
I finished the Chicago Marathon Bank of America
marathon this year. Okay.
So when you say that, what

Nick (01:23):
does that mean to me?
Because.
No what that means. I'll tellyou a little bit what it means
fucking guy this year decides totrain for a marathon. Not any
marathon. We're talking the 26mile or 26.2. This is one of the
biggest one of the bids, almostlike the biggest fucking
marathon

Beto (01:43):
this year, and the beginning of the year. I've
never done one before.

Nancy (01:49):
minute, wait a minute, you decided this year at the
beginning of the year to say Oh,I'm gonna run a 26.2. Please.

Beto (01:57):
Confused in the beginning and it's funny because a lot of
people don't know me. My fiance.
We have friends. A couple doNora for years. We hang out all
the time. They go to a churchwith the kids and all that.
Yeah, they do

Nick (02:12):
it Have you ever listened to this podcast? Okay, so you
didn't that a holy holy? Youdon't want to get the fuck out
of here.

Beto (02:22):
There's a lot of stuff that they do camping as elves
never buddy. But yeah, let's buythe house. And I've seen it
before. I just didn't know whatit was. But I've been on for a
while we traveled together andall that and they're not like,
Hey, you should join or come by.
But one day, they will age checkit out. That was it. I was like,
type of dudes. Like, I don'thave to go to church, right?

(02:43):
Like, do my own thing. In mymind. I speak every day. And
that's what I do. Because when Istarted seeing that events and
all that we didn't, it's notlike we got convinced we were
like, You know what, let's justgo check it out. So we went in a
couple of times in thoseschools, it was like, different
data didn't care for the kids.
Like literally, it was likeschool, like it was cool. You
know, so I said, it's only anhour, whatever. We ended up

(03:04):
going on Sundays. And then mybody was a hey, he actually done
the marathon two years ago,which is 21. And I was like,
damn, dually. That's prettygood. Because not in a bad way.
But he's a little bit older thanme and like, but he is he goes
to the gym and all that. But himand his wife. They both did it.
And I was like, you can say, youknow, in my head. I was like,

(03:27):
damn, they did it. I could doit. That's what I thought.

Nick (03:30):
Because he's an old five.
You can say that because wedidn't say his name so you can

Beto (03:36):
serve it older. No, he did. I've seen him his wife. And
I was like, Man, that's good.
They told me about it. And theysaid, No, it was tough. You got
to prepare for that. I like togo to the gym. I think I'm
eager. I think I take care ofmyself decent. You know, when I
was like 10 That's good. Neverthought about us in our
marathons I would run just totrain. But I'm talking about

(03:56):
running around the park. Sogenerally nothing never thought
about okay, never wanted to doso let's get this straight.
We've worked together obviouslyfor the past five years. But so
I I know you too, you know, sortof want to eat a little better
blah, blah, blah.

Nick (04:10):
But you by no means are like an avid runner. Yes, you
work out but I'm saying this iswhere it blew me away. Because I
know you and I know that. Youknow what I'm saying? It didn't
fit the profile. So did

Unknown (04:27):
you see my face? Oh,

Nick (04:28):
yeah. Like why?

Beto (04:32):
Supposed to do a workout like I said, we're gonna run the
trail and that was a hit ormiss. I never, you know,
whatever. Last year, you gotinjured, and he didn't do it. He
actually got injured a week ortwo prior of the marathon so you
train for like six months.
There's a training plan that youcan get followed by the groups
and all that district around theworld. They come here to run
Yeah, that's a big motherfucker.
It's a big event. I'd not knownso I'll tell you like it was

(04:55):
huge. Last year. I feel badbecause he was training for it
and then he got injured. I seenthat because that's what they
remember I can enter many times,all my legs, my foot broken
twice my ankle snapped at one.
So that's probably anotherreason why I really don't want
to because I'm always tickling.
I don't want to get hurt when Isee that my buddy last year, so
I was like, think about yourtraining and then a week prior

(05:17):
to get injured, sucks, I'm surethe bigger the years when we
started going, you know, he's hechickened out, okay, nothing
about the American marathon.
Forget it was over. I'm not evenin my mind. Well, around that
time, the couple of times thatwe will go on Sundays, they
brought up the topic about themarathon because there's a group
that goes together with thechurch, a lot of guys get
together. You don't have to bepart of the church, but you can

(05:38):
bring people in for the marathongroup guys really have to be you
know, saying like, Yeah, are youonly church members? Oh, no,
it's they just had the groupthat they do so much that
they're known. So for you to getinto a marathon, it's easier
through them because you got toget registered, you gotta get.
It's not like you can just signup. It's like a lottery. So
that's what I kind of know.

(06:00):
Yeah. Because of the group.
Since they do it, World Visionis to group they're all over.
They're known in marathons areknown in a lot of charity
events. So

Unknown (06:10):
that was a group that you got, yeah, he was into Yeah,

Beto (06:13):
because there's so many churches and other groups that
get together. We're visuallyit's that's the biggest group,
but they're everywhere. I heardabout it. And it was still
nothing. He didn't even ask meyet or nothing. I was like, I'm
not doing it. Just know whatAlright, so then, I think we got
a week or two and then he askedhim, we were I think cooking out
something he's ain't doing themarathon this year. I was a hell

(06:34):
no. I was like, not that Oh,good. He's like, should do it.
It's like training. Check itall. Try it all. You do good
since you'd like to run orwhatever. I was, uh, yeah. But
I'm a marathon. Well, how longis it because I really do look
into it. And he said, he waslike, twisted for two. Like, I
was like, I'm gonna die. Rachelmarathon is like, she signed up

(06:56):
to the Olympics in a week. Like,do you remember one Sunday that
went normal day, whatever. But Ithink we're, I don't know if
there's something going onpersonally. There are some
people that day, I was morelike, in my head and just
listening to the surface orwhatever. And Morzine. Yeah, I
was just like, chillin. But Iwas in my house thinking a lot

(07:16):
of stuff going on, nothing likethat. But there's times that you
just like, you pay attentioncloser to where people are
talking. And they brought up thething about the marathon. And
the lady that does, she's incharge of the group for a couple
of the pastures there, they domarathons. Like they're like,
they do the Ironman stuff. WhenI seen on Sunday church, these

(07:37):
guys are like, these guys arelike doing like they travel all
over to and I was like, Damn,that's pretty cool. So that
specific Sunday that we weretalking about she they look kind
of went with a lake, you got topush yourself, sometimes there's
things that you want to setgoals, or sometimes you doubt
yourself and all that. In myhead, I didn't feel like there's
something that I want to do justthat I've never done before. And

(07:59):
that Sunday, I was the one whobrought out the end of the
service. They were like, Look,if you feel something, you're
scared, you're nervous. And thiswas like, April, March, April.
And they're like, You go onlessons. Have you gotten
something different to throw youoff in a good way in whatever
bringing it up. I just wasgetting I swear, I promise you.
I was just like, I felt likethey were talking to me. I'm

(08:19):
like, like saying like, like,she was talking like, my body
just asked me and I seen thelast time and I was like, damn,
like, they want you to sign up.
Like in a service that you wantto say no, we're having
questions or just questionsabout the marathon and how the
training plan goes. Just stayoff your service and come talk
to us, right? It was like 10minutes left the service and

(08:41):
then everybody saw him out andguys and girls are walking up to
the front. Now you come upolder, young, all of us mixed.
And then I'm like, No, I'm notgonna do it. And I was gonna
walk out and I saw a girl shewas walking on my normal Hold
on. She's like, gonna do it. I'mlike, I'm just gonna go so let
me see. I'm just gonna go seewhat that what it is. So I

(09:01):
walked to the front. There waslike 15 people 20

Nick (09:05):
minutes a minute you get to the front.

Beto (09:07):
Yeah, you walk there. Once I got there, she gives the paper
and then they're like, it's anOctober and this is a dream
plan.

Unknown (09:14):
You It was March, March, April. And this thing was

Beto (09:20):
the training takes a while. Takes a while he's it

Nick (09:22):
takes a while. That's only like,

Unknown (09:25):
I'm thinking to myself, That's not a wild sweetie.
That's like a couple of months.
Well,

Beto (09:30):
the training plant when I when I opened the thing about it
tells you and honestly, this isweek one week two, like you run
a mile so how many months? Like20 Some weeks, but they already
have started a couple of weeksprior so in my head I will be
honest with you my head I waslike not only

Nick (09:49):
did they started a couple weeks prior everybody's fucking
ran like seven marathons. Yeah.

Beto (09:57):
Yeah, there was people there mountain in church, what I
was mostly honest, because I'mlike, You know what, I'm gonna
push myself. I want to dosomething like for me. And like,
of course, of course at thatmoment, I'm like marathon I'm
gonna get and I honestly, I waslike, four or five months. I'm
like, Yeah, I could do this. SoI signed up, it was that
cockiness that comes I signedup, I was confident I was signed

(10:20):
up, and I was okay, cooltraining plan. Now, when it
started hitting that with thecalendar, that's when it really
hit me because you still got alot of work to get your life
going through and you

Nick (10:30):
start getting that way.
That's all they do for theirlife. So they can fuck yeah. So

Unknown (10:35):
what was the training?
So you're supposed

Beto (10:37):
to do three or four runs a week. Now it starts off like,
you run a minute you walk twominutes. That's what I was
thinking, yeah. It graduallygradually goes up. And then on
Saturday, on the morning, you'resupposed to do a group run, what
are your group members, and thatcould be one mile, there's a
parking thing meet up and thenext week could be two miles.

(10:59):
And then on Sunday, you'resupposed to still work out on
your own. I didn't want to groupto group price because of work.
And then after work, I woulddetermine you're supposed to do
it on your own.

Nick (11:10):
So those these people are like, this kid ain't gonna do
shit that he never told yourfriends No.

Beto (11:16):
And if they suggest you to go, but from the beginning, and
like Nick was talking, like youdidn't know those doing it, I
would have known more because ofthe donation part of it. But
they never really seen mytraining. I was doing it on my
own. He's asked you donations

Unknown (11:32):
and people are like, so he can't even

Beto (11:37):
people were like, are you really going to do it? So I'm
like, Yeah, that was it. Thatwas it. So I have to work like
to get my son and stuff at homeand then go to the port, do
manual training and all that.
But it got to a point that Iwant to hit on, I will miss
them. There's things that yourappointment you have to do. So I
was catching. Yes, it wascatching up. And I will see
people actually hitting theexact plan. But it was also

(11:59):
times when I'm like, I'll makeup for it. I'll run a mile or
like, but then started gettingharder and harder. Summer
started coming. And then I lookat the weather three miles. And
then I'm like, Alright, that wasgetting longer and longer. And
it's just training. And Iremember that week that it was
like three, five, nothing waslike seven miles a week. But it
Saturday. What I did that threemiles, because I never done more

(12:21):
than three months. I've donelike one and a half just on my
own. And there's certain timesthat you want to hit you got to
build them during last gottaYes, you have to keep pushing

Nick (12:32):
him to the end of the marathon shuts down. It's like
10 o'clock at night. He's

Beto (12:38):
like, pick me up when I started into the summer, and
we're gonna start getting to anawesome amount of miles. And
like I said, I'm doing this onmy own. Never done America. So
I'm literally looking at like,What should I wear, like
backpacks or what kind of shoesthere's, I had to get different
shoes, because there's a lot ofstuff that you have to prepare.
And a lot of it also is mental.
That's

Nick (12:58):
where I was gonna go.
Because I want to stop for asecond. So from the beginning of
the of you even just signing upfor this, where's your mind
because this is all about mentalreally saying what kind of shoes
you wear. And that's allaccessories to the fact but your
mind is I'm going to do thismarathon, you're cocky in your
mind. You're young, you feelthat you can do this. This is
not a big deal. Where's yourmind at that point? Because just

(13:21):
to make that decision is a bigthing. The whole idea for me,
and for us even to really haveyou on here and really talk
about this is that, first ofall, there's a few things right?
Commitment is huge. You made acommitment to do something, but
not only did you make thecommitment, but now you got to
actually pull through with that.

(13:41):
Right. So that's huge. And thenjust the fact that you had never
done this before. is amazing.
It's such a big thing. Did yourealize how big it was when you
made that choice? And I want toaccomplish something big.

Beto (13:57):
But did you realize how they didn't until I'm be honest
with you? I think the so theyhad a dinner the big four. So
get you like your gear and getyour stuff that

Nick (14:09):
night for a marathon?
Yeah, I know. It was like lastrites, last rites there.
Actually go to the electric

Beto (14:16):
chair, you get all together. Yeah. So you get all
together, you go to the calmerplace and every group is there
and like, they shut down streetsand all that when I was looking
for parking and doing all that.
I told Nick to it and I will saydo it. That's what I was saying.
There were so many people theywant to show the video of like
the trail. So it was like that'swhat I was. That's when I got

(14:37):
scared.

Nick (14:38):
So through all the training through all this after
you made the decision throughall of this, your mind is just
focused. Yes, I'm doing onething,

Unknown (14:45):
right you didn't like think of like

Beto (14:48):
this. One point I did. I bought like Nick said, when I
when there was the training partwhen there were certain miles
like for example when I did the10 and I couldn't finish a
struggle. That's when I waslike, I already committed to
this. I have late and then I'mlike, I have to do it. Why do
you have to? Because I feel likeif I started something already,

(15:08):
okay,

Unknown (15:08):
that was your that was my like you had to? You could
just back down. Oh

Beto (15:13):
yeah, but I didn't want to quit. Gotcha that made me push
myself even harder. So Is

Nick (15:17):
that Is that who you are outside of this? Or is this
something you had to prove toyourself that you want to become
another words? You said you madea commitment and you didn't want
to quit? Even? Have you alwaysbeen that way? Or is this
something that this is anotherlevel? You know what I mean?

Beto (15:37):
It's another level, but I think I've always been that way.
It just at this time, it was, Iguess I got tested even more,
because I feel like I've alwaysbeen the type of dude that like,
if I start something like evenif it's a house price or
something like now struggle orlike say I'm working on my
truck, like, and I can't figureit out until I get it done. I
don't like Oh, get pissed off,or whatever. But I'm gonna get
it done.

Nick (15:58):
You have some initial drive to begin with.

Beto (16:02):
But not like you said this was physical. But no, it was
this test in my mental furrow.
Do

Nick (16:07):
you feel that you always had that drive? Or is there
something in your life thatreally growing up or whatever
that really made you say, Man,I'm sort of on my own here. I
need to fucking do this shit. Iwas like, or have you always
just innately sort of just hadthat drive? You think?

Beto (16:24):
I probably had? I probably had that drive. But I don't
think I've really like dug itout myself. In like this
January. Yeah, like that. I saidthere was other personal things
that were going on. And justlike other people that I knew,
and my mind was just like, allover everywhere, and I don't
really, I don't know if that'swhat it called it, but it was

(16:45):
just to me, I literally, I waslike, You know what, I'm gonna
try it. And I'm gonna challengemyself. Let me see what I'm
capable of cool.

Unknown (16:53):
So this this call you?
Yeah, nobody was Yeah, Isaw that. My buddy. Like, just
mentioned it to me. But that daythat I signed up, he wasn't even
there. I could have just walkedout. And now we're gonna like
Ash

Nick (17:03):
street. So there's so many things going on here, like for
me, because I could just sithere and play so so there's
choices. There's commitment,there's dry, there's all kinds
of shit. You're sort of now atthe point, you're already
committed. You made the choice.
You have the drive. But nowyou're sort of hitting a wall.
So this is now where you have toovercome even more in your mind.

(17:25):
Well, this is a bit

Beto (17:28):
because if you know how, like, I'm overthinking like
crazy. I'm the type of dude forshit hits the fan. Like, I'm
trying to analyze everything.
docente nice. No, this book tome. I'm like, I rather prepare
and succeed. Yes, of course.
Like, like just writing cruisealong. I tried to do that. But

(17:51):
I'm also a thing of like, No,you know, if I do this for
myself, like my masters, wrote,what the beginning when you're
talking about mentor? Oh, yes.
If I wrote for 3040 minutes Igot last year in my mind.
Anyway. So this is just gonna goyou know what I mean? But I did
get tested like in the middle.
And I'm gonna like there wastwice that I literally walked
out of the trailer park becauseI was like, I can't do this you

(18:12):
like, I'm like symptom and myother things. Like I started
getting pains heated by my ribs.
So I was never done this. So I'masking certain people, what
should I do? Should I take andI'm like, so pushing away.
There's no way I'm going to dothat. Bring

Nick (18:26):
me back to that point, though. Bring us back to that
point where you're walking offthe trail, like bringing us back
there. So it's sunny, dry, wet.
So it was your day like,

Beto (18:37):
so I went after work?
Because I said pissed. You know,I would love to work because it
wouldn't make sense. Becauseonce I'm like, I go home or so
drive to the city. And there's atrail that I go there that I
found. That is exactly like ifyou do the whole trail back,
unfortunately, five miles. So ithelped me think of the exact
times and whatever. But I was onmy own just people running and

(18:58):
doing their thing and in thesummer, because it's someone
who's supposed to not run whenit's hot. But then again, I
didn't know a lot of thesethings. To me. I'm just like,
oh, sorry. 75 degrees 80. Butyeah, you're running your body's
heating up, you're dehydratedand said like that's the stuff
that I was learning for thatday. I remember exactly that
first of all, my watch wasalready it wasn't working. And I
need to look at the times thatthey had to hit I think was the

(19:20):
10 mile that's when the Iremember because it was like 75
degrees. It was decent weatherand I think it was gonna rain
storm a normal trail. And Istarted doing my miles and
wherever my Washington fuck,whatever. Like at least I know
that once I hit back it'salready five dodges, gotta do
twice, right. That's what'sgoing on man. And I started
getting pain again. I was wasn'tagile was like, I'm trying to

(19:40):
follow all these tips thatthey're telling me but everybody
is different. So I remember Iwas about halfway and I was
like, holy shit. Like, I stillhave to do another lap. So now
in my head, I'm like, You gotanother five miles and I'm like,
How long has it been? I can'teven see my watch. of going back
to those side hustle marks onthe ground. It was like seven
Seven and a half. I was dying. Iwas dying. I couldn't, I started

(20:03):
walking. It's so funny. I waswalking, because I was sweating
so much. And even though it wasdrinking water, but like, my
legs were hurting and all that,and I stopped. But the thing is
like, when your body you're inthat momentum, like when you
slow down, and then he tried togo back up, it's worse. So I
remember I tried to walk and Itried to run and I was like two
miles, four miles, and I'm likeI can't. And then I'm like, I

(20:25):
stopped it again. And I startedrunning. And I knew it was a
fish. I said, I'm never gonna do26.2 There's no way I literally
was like, I'm not doing this. Itook my bag out. And I'm walking
back to the truck because Iparked and other sites are not
have to walk back. And I grabbedmy phone because I'm looking I'm
like, I did like April one. AndI'm like, Dude, if I'm dying
right now, like it's struggling,what I'm what did I do wrong?

(20:45):
And I'm thinking in my head,this whole thing? I'm like,
There's no way and then goes,you already signed up? And then
I was gonna make sure what if Ijust quit? And then I'm gonna,
how can I cook? Well, peopleknowing, you know what I need,
like, people are gonna knowthey're gonna be what did you
finish? The day is gonna, youknow what I mean? So I was like,
I can't do this. I was like, Icannot do this. There's no way
I'm gonna finish this. Let me

Nick (21:08):
ask you a question. Real quick, though. You're doing this
on your own, you get to thepoint where you're hitting walls
training on my own. My buddyended up signing up. So here's
my question. Because this is areally big thing. There's people
out there who feel that they cando everything on their own. And
you're given a basic roadmap,you're given a basic plan. And
that basic plan is based off ofyears of experience from people,

(21:30):
right. But the reality is, weare all different. Yeah, that
basic plan is just a roadmap,you can go on your own, and you
could experience so manydifferent things that are based
off of your body tied your mindyour whatever, right. So that's
number one. Point. Number twois, there's this group that's
created because they know thatas a group, you're better

(21:52):
together, right? But you decidedyou want to just go on your own,
and you wanted to do this onyour own, you really don't not
that you don't need any help.

Unknown (22:01):
He decided because he had a choice. At some point.
There was,

Nick (22:05):
but I'm saying that they had all these things where you
can get together. And I canalmost guarantee you that if he
were to call on anybody at anypoint, those people would have
been there to back him upbecause

Beto (22:16):
my buddy was he proceeded to trust me to group. And the

Nick (22:20):
reason why I'm saying this, because because here now I
have a little bit that we canrelate to 100% with each other,
by yourself. This is where thisis where I find the story most
fascinating and where it sort oftouched me the most, because
we're a lot of like, and I knowthat just from working with him
for the past five years. That'sexactly who I feel I am. And I'm

(22:43):
not making this about me. I'mjust saying that this is why I
found this story fascinating isthat I feel I could do
everything. Like there's basicroadmaps, and I think that I'm
so mentally fit and intelligentenough to figure shit out on my
own, that I don't need the helpof anybody else. When you get to
a point like this, where you'rehitting a wall, and you're

(23:04):
struggling, and you're likefuck, and now in even more, so
you didn't say, Fuck me. Maybe Ijust need to, you know, call on
the group and whatever you'resaying in your mind? What did I
do wrong? Like? Yeah, you youfeel that you have the drive in
your mind. But in reality we do.
Sometimes we do need the help ofother people. Right? Sometimes,

(23:25):
we do need to stop being sofucking cocky. Right? And you
did it. You fucking finishedsomething a feat that I? Well,
I'd say I could never, which islimiting myself. That's what
I've never, it's to the pointthat you don't have to do shit
on your own. There are tons offucking resources and people out

(23:49):
there that are willing to helpyou do whatever. And you had
that. And in our mind, whateverit is, whether we're too cocky,
whether we feel embarrassedbecause we have to ask for help,
because so yeah, like what?
Well,

Beto (24:06):
the only person that would make when I was struggling it
was like my girl touches youright? No, you could do it or
you know, take a break the kidsand they're like, you know, you
got to my sisters and I'll setsome 100 Go there we're gonna
have to go I will never likewhen I'm talking to my buddy
here and there. But I did themseveral ways that you should do
a group of the group Yeah, I hada chance to do it. Maybe it was

(24:27):
just more like, you know what?
It's it's I started by myselfyou want to you and I wanted to
prove it to myself. Not that Iwas being like, No, fuck no.
Like, I did not realizeespecially your point about the
group. Mind you that 94Definitely hidden more. That's
when I was nervous. And Iremember I was telling you, my
buddy that I was gonna run withthe one that I signed up with.

(24:51):
He did it. He was my only I havenot seen him. He was your he was
so put like this. We've nevertried together. We signed up
differently, and I didn't seemto the delivers.

Nick (25:04):
Well, but that but no, we'll get to it, we'll get to
it. He gets better than that henever trained to Dempsey until
the day the race, and that wassupposed to be his boy to do
that's gonna run what but we'llget to that. So you hit the
wall. Yeah, you hit the wall.
You're like, Fuck, I ain't gonnado this. So how many times the
training was fucking rigorous totrain. Good. And then you're

(25:26):
like, I'm fucking done with thisshit. You're hot. You're fucking
sweating. It's a hot day. It's acool day. Your fucking mind is
on top of the world. One day,the next day, your fucking
summons, stomping all over yourface, like so it's, it's fucked
up. It's like, it's not goingperfect. It doesn't always go
perfect. Right?

Beto (25:47):
And then next, you know, aside from all that, then it's
like, August, September, Octobercome in, and then it's like
shit. Firstly, as a beginner,I'm like, Oh, I got weeks. How

Nick (25:57):
many hours would you say you

Beto (25:58):
trained? At the beginning, it will take like 30 minutes an
hour. But when my time me, itwill take me about almost two
hours, three hours.

Nick (26:07):
You did two to three hours a day?

Beto (26:10):
Because it depends on your patient. You gotta feel
comfortable. But but when you'redoing a certain amount of
mileage is like five miles ittakes I mean, I'm just gonna say
average for 30 minutes. Wow.

Nick (26:20):
No wonder he was so fucking slow at work. Yeah. No,
it's It's, you're saying so twoto three hours a day. So you'd
say what? At least 40 hours amonth? 50 hours a month? Yeah,
you can say that. Yeah. Well,that's it. Like, just in the
terms of commitment. That's,that's a big

Beto (26:42):
commitment. You still gotta include aside from the
time of your stretching, yougotta year all that gloves on
about two or three hours?
Because you can't just art tostart running. You have to, like
physically do things priorenough to? Because, like the
conditioning in them? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. BecauseI got a lot of tips from people
that the Americans are like,look, the recovery is like your

(27:04):
main, if you don't recoverproperty, things, just wasting
your time. So that's why it willtake longer on my resume. It
could be a couple miles. But atthe end of days, they took three
hours even like shit, they stillgot your errands and stuff to
do. So my day was long. So

Nick (27:19):
we go through the phase of deciding to do it the
commitment, the drug, thestruggle, you're fucking hitting
walls, you're practically dying,as you're doing. When you're
doing this, you got life goingon, you got everything else
going on, you got worse. You gotyour son, you got a young son,

(27:41):
he demands a ton of fuckingattention. You're really sort of
in your mind trying to figurethis out. So you get up to three
miles, five miles, 10 miles,whatever you get up to did you
wind up running 26 miles beforeyou did the marathon, so you had
no clue.

Beto (27:57):
And the way their training plan is, because you go up and
then weeks prior, because yourendurance, they actually go back
down, and then they hit yourreal long training. The longest
one was a 20 mine. That was twoweeks prior and after that you
just go down until the day ofthe race. So nobody gets to 20
Nobody goes past 20 and the 20mile marker until I was truth,

(28:22):
because I told him I'd neverfinished it. I did 18

Nick (28:27):
Also your you failed

Beto (28:29):
on the trigger pad. I never hit my 20 and that date, I
made another mistake also,because I went downtown to the
pier. And there was so much shitthat was also come up was like
dude, you got to do it in themorning. But then I was telling
myself if I pushed waiting withweather like that in my head,
I'm like, then this personeasier me running in October at

(28:50):
your own little I did not knowthat. This is all new. Like say,
well, nobody ever until the dayof America. Nobody hits past 20
miles. So I Yes, I was like, Timonly did a team. I'm gonna you
know what the next day I'm gonnamake me think I'm just making up
and don't be 20 miles straight.
It's tough. But yeah, nobody hit26 If we never did a marathon,
like a lot of people in thatgroup, you don't know up to that

(29:11):
date if you're going to make thetrip six months so unless you
train prior and set up thetraining that I'm just gonna do,
but the way that the train pipeNo, you actually go down before
you start getting closer to therace, but the 20 mile is still
the longest for a train. Andafter that you just now two
weeks prior you go down alsobecause you don't want to get
hurt and you just got to beprepared for the day off.

(29:33):
There's

Nick (29:35):
so many lessons and things here but we're not going to get
into all that we want to getinto the point of it is now the
day before the marathon becauseyou've done this training I've
hit you sorta high you've beenlow you've been all over the
motherfucking place it's the daybefore the race and this is
where I think that I thoughtthat it was even brought the
story together even more. Thisdude you sign up with he's

(29:57):
supposed to be with you up tothe day before the training.
There's this dinner. You do allthat shit. He didn't even go. So
now you don't even have yourbuddy which nobody there.
Because he didn't do thetraining. He didn't run with
people remember he should havebeen running what people were
talking not know like, oh yeah,I know what I'm talking support.
Yeah, this goes back to themindfuck. Right. It's the day

(30:18):
before the race, you reallydon't know anybody, personally
that you're going to run withyour boy doesn't even show up.
He's not even going because he'sstill hurt, right? Well,

Beto (30:28):
he was starting to feel pain, like because of his
previous injury, but he wasstill training with it. He had
like his knee started botheringhim. And all that he was telling
me to get MRI was a Dutchcitizen fracture. Small one, but
it's up to you. I'm like youshouldn't do it. Yes, you

Nick (30:42):
want to do it? If you would have reached out to him in
any of this training. Do youthink he would have trained with
you? Well, yeah,

Beto (30:49):
yeah, of course. He lives like seven minutes away. Oh,
it's

Nick (30:52):
another point. I want to make that. We just assumed that
we could do everything on ourown blah, blah, blah, go back to
that point. But the reality isthat there are people we can
reach out to, and we just choosenot to do that. And do you think
that it would have made it inyour mind, right? Because it's
still your mind, right? You'restill lost in your mind. At the
end of the day, you could trainwith anybody and all kinds of

(31:14):
people. But at the end of theday, when the fucking lights go
out, you're still lost in yourown mind. So it's one thing to
be running and saying, oh, fuck,but if your mind isn't focused
on that, your feet ain't gonnafucking go anywhere. Anyway,
you're lost in your mind. And Ithink that's part of the thing
where this leads up to thisdude, the day of the race and

(31:37):
this is why I found the storymost fascinating. And this one
like I'll do we got to get youon here. So the night before the
race at the dinner, afterdinner, so So

Beto (31:46):
the night before the dinner, whatever, they show the
videos and last my tennis, youknow, it was a good crowd and
all that it kind of gotten hypedup and I feel a little bit
better. But when I startedseeing like the trail, I was
like, Holy shit, this is long,but I was like, You know what,
don't think about it. If there'speople here, they've done 1314
marathons. And I'm like,clearly, that's where it goes
with the group. There wererandom people to read the word,

(32:08):
buddy, you could do it. Ipromise you, you're gonna finish
it on it. And my buddy textedme. He says, Hey, I'm not
running marathons. I will say,what? My heart was pounding. I'm
like, I thought it was gonnastart with you. You've done it
just for it. I know, you'regonna run with 1000s of people,
but I thought maybe I wassomebody that he told me that

(32:31):
and I was like, Damn, he's aYeah, dude, with Mike with my
leg and all that. And she'slike, I'm not gonna do it. I was
like, I'm gonna Well, you knowwhat? Whatever you think you
want to do on the side? Andthat's how you'll get some
stuff. Yeah. So now I'm goinghome and I'm gonna hold shift.

Nick (32:46):
So the combination of all this all the training, all the
fucking commitment, everydecision you've ever made, and
the one dude at the end that youfeel okay, at least that's my
little crutch.

Beto (32:57):
And nothing at all. Aside from that, like, I think I would
have been like, training wise,and I've not seen train with him
nothing. Until, until I was

Nick (33:06):
American. Again, nothing against this word. Anybody but
nothing against the Duterte. Andhe's like, I ain't doing this.

Beto (33:13):
So they are so I would go for the morning. The next day, I
got prepared. I mean, there wasso much stuff mentally, you
know? 200 all

Nick (33:20):
night long. No, your mind is fuck. Oh, yeah,

Beto (33:23):
I can't even sleep. I can, you're supposed to get good rest
of sleep. And I'm like, Oh mygosh, what is what it is to just
go do it. You did it. This isyour chance. It did help me with
the dinner the group. Everybodywas like you got everybody's pep
rally know that we get to thething and I got my gear and all
that and myself there andthere's loud people everybody's

(33:43):
prepping, they're doing theirthing and people are working on,
you know, whatever, approachingup, whatever. Everybody's
prepping the way they alwaysdon't do anything. You got to
put your gear and I'm looking atother people how they're doing
their things. Like I put my biband this is new to me. Like I
showed you guys the videos likeit's packed. It was like
graduation day. Everybody'shappy and all that. And it's 530

(34:05):
in the morning, everybody's likeso people are getting,

Nick (34:07):
like 40,000 people here.

Beto (34:09):
Oh yeah, the streets were closed. Like, that's when it hit
me. Even more than this thing.
This event was huge. Like, whenI started selling books, this is
big. But from you being nervous,I was more excited also and then
I'm like, You know what, I wantto get this shit over with you.
No, that's not what I'm gonnado. Let's just go Yeah, and then
my body takes me a 445 I'm doingit. I'm on my way. I will say

(34:32):
fuck it I'll see you here so

Nick (34:38):
But see that's the thing the reason why this is so is
your mind. I'm going back to themind.

Unknown (34:44):
You could have just said fuck it I'm not doing it
right and then all of a suddenthe guy text you

Nick (34:48):
ups and downs and this is again I know I always talked
about your roller coaster offucking emotions in your mind,
on top of what you have toaccomplish. Here It's just
fucking crazy.

Beto (35:01):
That's insane. So he can't He texted me that I okay good. I
was already in the area ofprepping and all that and then
he shows up he screwed up wasthere was something that his
energy was like rainbows he toldyou you got so now for more
like, Alright, you're all pumpedup. I'm cool, you don't say and
I was nervous but then I forgetthat he was there he was they
look this is him to whatever.
This is a group that theytrained with first time. They're

(35:22):
like this is one of the guys.
Sorry.

Nick (35:28):
Oh, you actually you dropped to one. So you

Beto (35:33):
start you know said also like, everybody wants different
United stick with your group,you're gonna lose them at some
point. Yeah, everybody's gonnado their thing. But yeah, that
day we'll we'll get to the gaugethat goes by numbers and all
that and you start coming out,you rent rally all the way to
downtown. It's like, there'sheli coming, it's huge. You get
to the gates, and then you stillgotta wait for other people. So
then now you got to wait like anhour. And then other groups are

(35:55):
going from at that point, I waslike, to when we started, you're
like, oh my god, she's gonnadrain on me. And he's just
going, let's just go to

Nick (36:08):
the ups and downs in your mind, you're pumped and you're
boom, then you're pumped, thenyou're boom, and then the idea
that you are there with a groupof people and that's pumping you
up. But the reality is, you'regonna lose those people, right?
So

Nancy (36:22):
this whole time, you're like, Man, that's great. My
buddies here, I'm doing this,but you're still doing it by
yourself. It's more like apsychic thing. I guess

Nick (36:31):
you realize it in the middle of the race. Okay, we'll
talk about that a little bit.
But again, I want to bring upthe point that the whole idea,
again, being lost in our ownmind, because this is something
that probably way more people gothrough than should go through.
They don't have the strength intheir mind, like you had to go
through this. And maybe notthrough a marathon. But whatever

(36:51):
they're going through in theirlife, they're lost in their
mind, and they have all thesethings that are going on, that
they have to face, that is theirmarathon, right? That's their
thing. And they can't seem tofind the way out. This is a
marathon we're talking about.
But in life, this is the sameway there are ups and downs and
fucking ebbs and flows. And youpeople are in your life and then

(37:14):
they're out of your life. Andthen they're out. Give us a
little like a little bit more ofan insight. Like emotionally, in
your mind. It's it's going onbecause you're pumped, but
emotionally What are yourealizing what's going on? As
it's happening? Yeah, motion.

Beto (37:29):
As it was going, I was like, I wasn't realizing like,
at one point, I was like, Damn,what did I do at the starting
line? And then I'm like, I wastrying to take all the negative
voices in my head. Because my asI said, I struggled. I didn't
finish my 20 then I'm like, no.
So yeah, my head was just like,I was trying to avoid the
negative but don't get me wrong.
The minus that's a wonderfulsneak in there. What if you

(37:51):
don't finish? What are youheard? I'm gonna shut up shut
up. You know what I mean? I'm Idon't think I don't think that I
was nervous. But then I was kindof scared. But then my junior, I
mean, your heart's pounding. Butthen you're like, No, I got
this, I got this. And then youtake in. You see so many people
wanting to do the city and allthat. So they you take that all
in, like this, I trained with myheadphones. Because it's
amazing. Think about so you gotto distract yourself, you really

(38:14):
do. Because if you're justlooking at the watch, or you're
looking at your it's gonna takeforever, because your mind is
just gonna constantly it's likeone of those things like, when
you have to go to the bathroom,the closer you get to the
bathroom, the more you have topee. You know, that's how it is.
So if you started looking like,Oh, I got this. So I don't
trigger an alarm to try to avoidthat. So but that day, aside

(38:34):
from all this going through, mybody's like, you don't need your
headphones. I was like what I'mused to he's like, trust me.
Like you don't need it. There'sso much stuff that's going on. I
just take it all they do and thepeople that were there random
walk into started and they'relike, just take it all in here.
This is gonna be one of thegreatest experiences in your
life when you finish just andthat brought me down like,
alright, relax. Stopoverthinking in your

Unknown (38:57):
zen.

Beto (38:59):
I was trying because I didn't show it. But in my head.
I was like, it was so many Ijust heard

Nick (39:07):
you're learning as you're going to just be Well, part of
your success. will find outobviously, it's just being in
the moment.

Beto (39:18):
Just enjoy, like as you're going just just enjoy the

Nick (39:21):
fuck out. Because you could have thought back already
to the past that you didn't dothe 20 you could think to the
future while there's onlythere's 26 more miles. So being
in the moment. And this isanother point that just hit so
much home with me because wetalk about all the time of being
in the moment is that what youjust said is I don't even think
you realize again, that'sunbelievably powerful to that

(39:48):
somebody even told you that. Butthat was to be successful to run
a race. And again, that goes tothe idea of your mind and just
being there and being in themoment and experience orienting.
Yeah, what is going on with youright now? And that's people out
there is just you have tounderstand that is what it is.

(40:09):
Yeah.

Beto (40:11):
Like that. That was a call it a physical proof of that.
And, like, I didn't realize it,too. I really didn't realize it
how big it was or what I didlike even when actually do you
realize like what you know, Ididn't know like my ghostly
dude, you should be probablylook at what you did you know?
But yeah, especially when thestrength of the person told me
about that. Because you right,he could think about I have to

(40:33):
go back when I never finish or Icould be like, what if I don't
finish? I even thought aboutokay, if I'm finished, like,
what are we going to bring?
You're like, What the fuck do Ido?

Nick (40:48):
Because you never showed up at the fuck yeah.

Beto (40:50):
I was thinking backwards and then they'll stick and hit
but then I'm like, no, justright here. Just focus on what's
going on you start and you justrun so when to start. And he put
my headphones on at all, which Ithink helped because it goes
back to the support in thegroup. You see Chicago was
downtown, you know how it is.
And there's it's bigger thanthere's people like a festival
so everybody's cheering you on.

(41:12):
Everybody's wearing things likethe noise there's, you go to all
the towns and there's likepeople putting music like they
pump you up. There's one sizemotivates there's kids with late
so you see, like the beginningme and my body start we're just
like, oh my god, it's just cool.
You don't like st was to trainpaisa he's like He slowly pays.
There's a lot of things that gointo it that we're wanting and

(41:34):
we're going through we're doingour first thing and like the
first mile or two which is it'stechnically it's almost like
jogging. Every mile they putthere's a big official one mile
two mile. So we try not to

Nick (41:48):
pay to me that would always be worse. Because you
know, my watch.

Beto (41:52):
On my watch. My wife gave up. I'm right next to him. My
watch was like three milesahead. My watch was tripping. So
I'm like, You know what, I'mjust gonna run with my buddy
and, and I was telling him ateight How do you feel he had his
brace and like he did not okay,like, I mean, look, if you
wanted to let me know, and I'llslow down with you. But he told
me he's like, No, if I slow downyou keep going. So we're running

(42:14):
out so we're taking it on and helike he told me what I was gonna
be like people cheering like themotivation posts on people's
banners like the kids you'veseen like a tap here for power
up like it is critical. So thatkeeps you going. So you're going
to have enough oranges but thatlike snacks that they're keeping
you like hoping you go which itwas a good thing for me because

(42:34):
since I trained by myself, thatwas like better and it's true. I
wonder how it would have been ifI would have tried to do so it
makes sense. What they'retelling you that you do need
that no matter what like yeah,you could do it on your own
which you can but sometimes youdo need that fucking right like
you got it you know so not thatI didn't get it from like my
kids and my girls over a Texanor tell me but it's different

(42:55):
when you're there Yeah. So oncewe're going and it's like a
festival you see you got togreet Tony with the regular view
and there's people out therehanging out beer like it's crazy
it's like a party but they tryto keep you going to keep you
hydrated and it's fun it isthat's what the people said at
the beginning. It's crazy it'sgonna be a great time but you

(43:16):
just enjoy it. So we're goingthrough it and going through
different sounds and obviouslyyou start six miles seven you
start feeling okay but then itgets to a point that you see
that fucking marker and thenit's hard to avoid it but you do
see your watch beeps everyminute or whatever we set up and
then you see it heard of whatwhat they tried to manipulate
Okay, damn, I got a team I gottaat love just keep going my gym

(43:38):
Nutrena to stop because I'vebeen through it in the training
that I stopped once and it waspitch go back so

Nick (43:44):
no matter what no matter what mile you're at, no matter
what from start to fuckingfinish your mind is still
fucking what you Oh yeah,

Beto (43:52):
it's still going it's still going aside from you
taking everything in but there'sparts of the run that you go
into courage and all thestudents nobody's really there
so it gets really quiet. And areyou here? Are you here soothe
people just running? Are youpeople breathing? Everybody's

(44:12):
like military rolls type style.
And then you got to note on thatyou hear the cheering and all
that sort of thing. You need tobackup you need to record now
when you get to the physicalpart of it. You start getting
tired now what I think workedout perfect that fucking Sunday
was like 4550 degrees comparedto the weather knows like, for
me I was like because I get hotquick and I've been training

(44:33):
like that's perfect and it waschilly. I put myself I didn't
wear no like sweater oranything. I'm like I need to saw
that. I was glad that it wasthat kind of weather. So that
really was a plus for me.
There's parts of the trill therundown like say gets quiet and
then the economy goes down. Sonow you start getting like a
1011 and then you're talking toyou boy, this was a you just run

(44:56):
next to them like oh shit.
You're also losing your breaths.
If you can talk how's it going?
So, now you're everybody'sfocused. So it's not like
everybody's just focused.

Nick (45:03):
You're sort of running on autopilot. Yes, you're just sort
of fucking going. And then

Beto (45:07):
1011. And customers actually my buddy like, and I
see him, he walked a little bit,and then he will get back up.
And I would like, kind of helphim catch up with me. Because we
had a different running style.
And he's done before but mymiles kind of different time
away. And then my girl bring thekids and they were actually
which also helped us they werebringing us in like, three times
like different mountain markers.

(45:27):
What that tells you the mapwhere they can be able to see
them. So when I see my kids andall that my, my son, he was
like, he thought I was like,super, he really seen it. He was
like, What is he doing at thefirst one that gave me a booster
12 and that his wife was theretoo. And then we see the kids
and then that goes anotherbooster ball after like, I was
telling Nick at the 30 mile,technically, you're by halfway.

(45:51):
And then my buddy saw down hesay I think I'm gonna walk a
little bit. So I was likerunning backwards slowing down
and you got to slow down yourpace, because you gotta last, it
will take off, you're gonnayou're gonna burst. For sure.
Like it's people that runmarathons. done it many times,
it's almost impossible not tounless you're Honduran

Nick (46:09):
unless you

Beto (46:10):
run into someone hours, unless you know what I mean. But
it's there certain tips thatthey tell you, like, slow it
down. So I was like slowingdown. I'm like, don't you good.
He's like, No, I'm gonna walkagain, like, I'll catch up to
you. And then he's, he literallywent, it was just fucking go. I
slept at 13. And once again,I've never seen him again. So at
that point, like, I have myphone here, I was checking it

(46:32):
and my girls they should ignoreif he's not that far behind you.
He said, Just go. But then letme know if he feels like he gets
heard that. I might have tostop. But he told me dude, I
don't care if you see me backout of here and go. So I left at
the 13th now I'm back. You wantto sit by myself again, which
I'm not I'm with other people bynormal my own on the race 1314

(46:56):
And then doesn't start hittingthe more that there's a certain
point that you like you kind ofrun or run out of stuff to think
about. So you have to like findto keep yourself distracted. And
I still didn't want to put myheadphones on because I didn't
want to listen. Then we got tothose pockets again, where it
was just dead quiet. You hearpeople shoes, and there's people
that are stopping and as towhere to go to get on. So you're
like, Okay, shit, okay. 1314.
And then there's a part, youliterally forget that you even

(47:20):
fucking running. Because youknow, you're doing this so much
that you just your body's almostfeel like it's doing it on its
own.

Unknown (47:27):
It's like life, right?
You drive Yes, in the morning,you're just

Nick (47:31):
so used to going well, something becomes new in the
beginning, and then it becomesold. And then it just becomes
the same thing over and overagain, then your body used to

Beto (47:42):
my body was just like, alright, I was trying to think
of my injuries were hurting meat all. But I was just trying to
literally like, it's not, youcan feel your legs, but you're
just up here, you're up here.
And they literally tell youDon't look down. Because when
you train go like this, likelook up or look up, like, look
straight, just take it on,because you're gonna need that
you're gonna need it. Mybuddies, I don't know where he's
at. So I'm trying to check, butI'm not trying to check my

(48:03):
phone. And then I got girls andeverybody's different going,
keep going because we'rewatching it live, right? Because
you can track by your number,where you're at, like, it's
crazy how the technology will belike, every time you hit up,
Mom, it triggers them to justcross. So then we're like, I'm
gonna fast forward to likealmost a 1920. So I'm tired.
This member I never hit thepoint. Right? Right, right. But
I was like, Damn, I'm about tohit the 20 with the rest of the

(48:26):
people. And at that point, also,like, you got all ages. Not to
sound like, in a way that's kindof me, but they're like, there's
people like Hunter, Hell do themarathons. But they've been
doing a soul long that theirbodies are weighed in endurance
compared to you. Becauseremember, I just started
training. And so then I'm likefalling on them. And then you
move on the next struggle.

(48:47):
Everybody's you can see it inthe face in the beginning.
Everybody's like, yeah, and thenmidway, everybody's like,
sweating and just life likestraight and like, I got to,
like, I got to finish the shit.
So at that point, my golden kidsmade me up to 20 some and it was
like, one and it was like toTrenton it was like the rally of
like, I remember my graph andthey cut my son, and she has a
video of it. And then my sonstarted following me like you

(49:09):
wanted to run. So I'm at the 21So I'm like, okay, I'm okay,
this still means I have anotherfive and a half miles, but I'm
like, damn, at least I hit my 20and at one point, I was like,
You know what, at least I couldtell you that was like another
goal that I'm like, fuck, I'mpast 20 I'd never done a twin.
So I'm gonna account that thelast five we're going to Lake
Michigan it was like a longstretch. And then it was like

(49:30):
that's when I got my footprintthere. Like the media, their
streets on the Lake Michigan onboth sides on Michigan Avenue.
And it had 22 mile marker onthis side. So I'm like, are 23
and only Okay, and it has tolook rough obviously because I
see the other side are goingback at this point. It's a shit
show. Like there's there'sfucking garbage everywhere and

(49:50):
there's people going through thebathrooms and all that and then
you start seeing people thereare just when the first one I
seen it was this chick that shewas laying down. She was
sticking off her socks, I thinkshe got blisters on her feet and
she was crying. And then youkind of looking just a ship.
Like,

Unknown (50:07):
you kind of want to fucking battle you're gonna want

Beto (50:09):
to tell him like because it's almost at the end. And this
is when your body naturally isgoing to want to cramp up or
dehydrate or whatever. So I seenher in that kind of feel better
on the shit, you know what Imean? Like, it's kind of stuck
in another level hit on a girland you're almost done. Fuck it,
drag yourself over. Even if youwalk, you're gonna finish it
with time, you know, we're gonnabe away for almost four and a
half hours. You know what Imean? You don't realize how time

(50:32):
flies by but at the same time,it's like, it's a slow thing.
Listen, you're four and a halfhours, like running, you will
like them. I'm capable of doingthat shit. So I seen that then.
When I seen that the market onthis side, we're winning. And
then I see 23 I know it was 24I'm sorry. But it was for the

(50:54):
other fucking side. So when Ipass that and they see 23 O's,
and oh my god, I thought it wasa 24 Well, that was the other
side. So then I'm like, shit,mind. And so then I'm like, you
get like, I want to finish, youknow, but then I'm like, no, no,
no, like, just bring it up.
Because anything can happen. Youstill need another 30 minutes or
running to still get hurt. Youcan fall you could walk so many
things. So when I hit and I seenit, it was very 23 not 24. I was

(51:16):
like, oh my god, like am I gobackwards since two. So when I
ran

Nick (51:22):
around, I'm sorry, this fucking woman here and he's
doing his thing. This woman hereis shaking and talking back and
forth. Like she's literally inthe race herself. Go ahead, do

Beto (51:33):
we go back and then go back around and dance when you
finally hit the 24. But this isthe point where everybody's just
quiet. Everybody's doing theirthing. At that moment. Like, I
started feeling more emotional,because I was like, fuck, I'm at
the 24 Like, and in my body. Iwas like, I could still go. Like
I'm gonna, I already told myselfI'm going to finish this. I

(51:55):
know, I'm going to finish it.
But then also also relax.
Because what if somethinghappens, and then I see another
person that was just like, Ithink she was like growing up.
Because if I didn't, then I'mlike, fuck. So I'm like, Okay,
I'm not even looking at it. AndI remember this dude, it was in
front of an older guy. Because alot of people put custom stuff
like the shirt or Cooper right.
For their birthday, there was achick running there, she was
pretty much pregnant that wasdoing and she was like running

(52:17):
for two, like, so you see allthese stories you like, share,
like, there's a lot of reasonspeople were there doing it. And
then the student was in front ofme. He had a picture of him as
buddy, they were like older andI'm doing this from my doing
this for you, my first bestfriend and it was his buddy. So
you start seeing this thing, orour rip monitors do that his mom
just passed away two weeksprior. So I'm looking at that.

(52:37):
And I'm 24 and then like, I didget a little bit emotional that
I'm like, Dude, there's peopleout there that are running. I
didn't say that. I didn't have areason to run. But there's
people that are doing it forlike, like their mom passed away
or this dude with his bestfriend doing it for him or for
that casserole like that chickwas like her kid like, so then
I'm like, you realize that, sopeople do get it worse, right?

(53:01):
So I was like, I'm not saying mylife is perfect. But then I'm
like, damn, I don't, it's notthat bad. So I'm like, I'm doing
this for myself. But I give itto them for doing it for you
know, so I was getting a littlebit like shit, that's crazy.
Like, you don't know whatthey're going through or what
they're feeling. This is just amic and I'm gonna you're like,

(53:22):
oh shoot the crap up of distancelike no, I gotta finish for my
brother or for my mom and allthat. So when you see all that
it's hard not to like getemotional about it at that
point. So I max two miles youwere just 24 and then I'm like,
it was funny because I did andit tripped me up a little bit
especially with the best friendlike so then I'm like money and
I'm 24 and the moisture startsgetting louder and there was

(53:44):
dude like hanging out bureausaid fuck it give me one fucking
ticket because I was thehydrosol take whatever so keep
me that shit. I'm 25 And then Iremember I grabbed my phone and
I was like, I'm gonna go I'mgonna record this live on my
phone. So I recorded the wholelast stretch and at that point,
like I thought it looked crapbut I was like no, I'm just
gonna You can literally watchyour mind you can kind of listen

(54:07):
to it say like, if you don't payattention to this ship it will
just go like yeah if you keepfocusing on it you believe oh my
god crappy but I thought and Iwas like No dude, I'm already at
25 and then I see my kids andeverybody's like yelling for me
so that was like driving I waslike I'm almost finished last to
have a mouthful to um I'm justgonna go and then you see my
video I just took off and I waslike, cut it everybody so I got

(54:28):
to the finish line once Icrossed that finish line it was
like the best thing and where Iwas at first I was like
conditions finding fucking donefinding you walk out and then
you get your medal and all thatand then you're because this is
the first time we're showingdown completely then just want
to hit you like something you'remuch already like oh my god, I

(54:49):
finished proud of yourself andlike I actually did a me I was
like, Shit, I think I was gonnamake puzzle 20 transfer the 20
got out and that's when you'refiscally is just like Everybody
Joselyn like I literally went tothe ground and holy shit.
They've been running foridentify point, five hours and
seven minutes or something. Icouldn't get back up. Then I was

(55:11):
like, I don't give a fuck atthat point. I was like, I'll be
hurting tomorrow. I don't care.
I did it. And I remember layingdown a youth on site, got to
build it. And I was looking uplike, holy shit. Like, this is
all like, you don't say like,Yes, I think like everything
that went through, and then ledme to this. And it was worth it
to me, because I'm like, Ipushed through it. I committed

(55:34):
to it. I could have quit, thatthere's tons that you know that
I was like, I doubted myself.
But then once I crossed thefinish line, I'm like, Man, I
didn't know what I've seen. Andit kind of helped me like, tell
myself that like, if I reallyknow or not. People like, you
really push yourself to dothings. Even if you're
struggling in the middle of itwith other things in life. Yeah,
you can still get a gun. There'sgonna be sure like me the day

(55:56):
before the day of my bodytelling me not him. Not me, but
we joke about it. I left him atthere to make it so that when I
get up, I didn't make it worse.
He finished 25 minutes after me.
Wow. And I was like, damn, bro,you didn't he's like I know. And
he was hurting with withinjuries. So that was like, it
felt great. And then I hadpictures and all that, but my

(56:18):
girlfriend and do like thatshe's creepy. We're like, they
do that. In the marathon bro.
Like, serious. I feel like

Nancy (56:26):
it went through this whole life of roller coaster
just in those 26 Miles likealmost shit that just kept going
on. Because nobody ever givenoff and never see

Beto (56:35):
another share. They like said at some point, it's quiet.
And then your mind's like, Okay,what do I think about right now
you have to, it's hard not toavoid it.

Nick (56:42):
There's so many fucking lessons here. There's two things
that stand out. For me,especially towards the end of
the story. The first thing iswhen your buddy, you were faced,
again, to have to do this onyour own. And I think that's
huge, again, for a lot ofpeople, because I think there
are a lot of people out therewho feel alone, and like they,

(57:03):
they just can't do it, they wantto give up, they feel that they
can't do it. And that's wheneven the person that was there
with you is telling you nofucking gonna do. I'll take care
of you, you have that? Again, Isay, people that are lost in
their mind. It's not necessarilya marathon, it's life. And

(57:23):
they're lost in their mind. Andthey have to face it alone. And
unfortunately, that's the waylife is we are alone, we do have
people around us that aresupporting us and blah, blah,
blah. But we are alone, that'sreally important that you were
able to just stay focused and dothat number one. And then the

(57:43):
other thing for me is thatyou're you said, you're running
and you're towards the end ofthis race. And you see this dude
about doing it for someone else.
And there's all these peoplethat are doing it for someone
else. And I'm going to speak tothis just for me, and actually,
Nancy, that the journey thatwe're on right now is that we've
always done it our lives forsomeone else. And we've never

(58:04):
like taken care of ourselves.
Even together, we've never we'vebeen together more always
together, right? We worktogether, we sleep together, we
fucking talk together, we eattogether, we don't have a lot of
friends we hang out with andit's like, we've never really
taken time for ourselves. Sotheir solace in having their

(58:27):
solace and being able to takecare of yourself. For me,
although it's very noble, andit's very rewarding, I'm sure
for those people to do it. Andyour lesson was, what pushed you
by yourself was the fact thatthese people were doing it for
someone else. That was like,wow, they have it worse than me.
And that's what your mind wassaying at the time. And I say

(58:50):
that, in your mind. You'resaying they had worse than you.
But in their mind, they couldhave been saying, Wow, dude, you
never did the marathon. But thisis where I think that life is so
awesome. We don't we don'trealize that. We're all going
through. So yeah. Nobody's worsethan others, right? I mean, we
could say that and we can feelthat. But people hear our story

(59:11):
and say, Wow, you're Wow, youdid that. And you're still this
person. Just like, Wow, you didthat. Now, what's the lesson?
When I first asked you thisquestion when I wanted to get
you on here. Do you even realizeI

Beto (59:26):
didn't, but I didn't especially around the time. I
did. I really

Unknown (59:29):
did. Yeah, that's awesome. It's

Nick (59:31):
huge. And what you don't realize is that even more so
what you did, and the fact thatyou agreed to even come on here
and talk about it, because it's,we didn't even get into your
life. No, this is one moment inyour life that I think is
fucking unbelievable. Thatchanged your life forever. And
it's something that you can takewith you, man, your son and your

(59:53):
girl and your daughters are allsitting there and they're just,
that's you're seeing thataccomplishment as well. And just
that, to see that accomplishmentis massive, and just people that
are going to hear this.

Nancy (01:00:07):
Anytime I'll see a race now like, wow, what it takes to
do that. That's like, huge. Sothank you for sharing your
story.

Nick (01:00:16):
So besides all of that, what is the biggest takeaway for
you? That you could and I'mputting you on the spot. So you
can say whatever, but notsomeone who's going to run a
marathon? Because this isn'tthere might be people who are
thinking about that. But I'msaying just, there's so many
life lessons in this, like, whatdo you think is the biggest
takeaway that you experienced inyour mind that you can sort of

(01:00:41):
tell other people like ifthey're just feel like, Oh, I
can't do that, or I'm not goingto be able to do it anymore. I
can't go on anymore. What'ssomething that you can tell
them?

Beto (01:00:50):
I think I took a lot of lessons for this. But I think
the biggest one was, I want toknow, I guess, like the finish
line, that feeling that was inmy head. So throw struggles
through in the middle. There'slike the times that I wanted to
quit and all that it was stilllike, I want to feel that finish
line. I think that's what helpedme and I'm talking about just in

(01:01:13):
general, like say, I want tohelp people, I want to be
successful in a company orwhatever they want to do. Like,
if you keep putting yourselflike that goal. In the end. I
think it would help you outmore. So I learned to almost
what helped me was like tocontrol my my emotions, with the
negative thoughts and try tomake it positive. People say
that that is tough, but I thinkI did. That was one things that

(01:01:35):
I would struggle with. But thishelped me more to like, there's
gonna be bad shit is gonnafucking happen. Regardless, you
know, either you're gonna letthat set you back, and just be
like, fuck it, I'm done. Or thatcan I use that as like not fuck
it, I can do the five milestomorrow, I'm gonna do the
seven. Because my goal was Iwant to finish and I want to
experience that. And I know alot of people that do that, that

(01:01:56):
I've done it myself that whensomething negative happens, or
something bad happens in theirlife, or wherever it works. Some
people just do it for me. And Ifeel like people should kind of
realize, like, I know, it'stough it is but like you can do
it, you know what I'm saying?
Like, if you really pushyourself and you tell yourself
and you constantly remindyourself, that not you can do
it, you can do it, you can doit, you really can't. And it's

(01:02:17):
gonna be tough. And it's gonna,I'm telling you, it's gonna,
especially when you're young,but you do need that support
that sometimes like, you needsome type people to tell you a
man, you're doing a good job, oryou got it, or even heroes, like
all you can do it from your son,or even if you're doing shit on
your own, that does help you outa lot. And I know sometimes
people feel like, Oh, they're ontheir own and all that. But

(01:02:39):
you're really not, you know whatI mean? Like Nick said, but I
think just taking that negative,and going through it. And even
though it hurts, and it sucksthat it was worth it, even
though you might not see itright away. But once you get
there, that's where you're goingto be like, Fuck,

Nick (01:02:57):
you're definitely looking at the outcome and what you
want, which in your mind, theysay you have to picture exactly
what you want. And that's whereyour mind goes. Number one. And
another thing though, and we'regoing to finish up with this is
that you took one step at atime, right? You didn't just go
out there one day and say, Well,I'm gonna run 20 Miles No.

(01:03:20):
Literally had take one fuckingstep at a time. And you started
with 30 minutes or one mile orhalf a mile or whatever, to
create this fucking unbelievablefeat and to overcome this
massive thing. You just did itone thing at a time and not to
just died like fucking crazy.
You're gonna set yourself up forfailure. Yeah, and you

Beto (01:03:41):
have to, you have to accept and realize at the
beginning that you aren't goingto maybe fail so that you aren't
going to fuck up. Because if youstart thinking that I know this
is gonna go smooth, then you'realready losing, you know, and
you have to be mentally preparedfor that. Not gonna crash
everybody, but as long as youdon't quit. When you get that

(01:04:03):
reward, it's gonna feel like thebest thing in the world. Because
you gotta remember everythingthat you've been through prior.
That's awesome,

Nick (01:04:10):
dude, I appreciate it.
It's been awesome. I lovehearing stories like this. When
I first heard it. I was like,Dude, you got to just talk about
this because it's it has so manyfucking

Beto (01:04:20):
and I realized he told me they do it for real man. It's
crazy.

Nick (01:04:26):
All right, cool. So everybody. Yeah, listen, thanks,

Unknown (01:04:29):
guys. Hit that subscribe.

Nick (01:04:33):
This should be like, put people over the edge.

Unknown (01:04:35):
Thanks a lot, guys for listening.