Justin and Robbie: Ultra Marathon Running and Pushing Your Limits

Tune in as we sit down with Robbie and Justin from the Golden Hour Adventures podcast to uncover their personal journeys in running and wellness. Robbie candidly shares his evolving relationship with running, transitioning from a competitive racer to someone who finds peace in the great outdoors. Justin, on the other hand, talks about his dramatic shift from the world of bodybuilding to running, seeking new adventures and challenges. This episode is a deep dive into how running has fundamentally shaped their identities and well-being.

We discuss everything from setting structured fitness goals and the importance of accountability to the contrasting approaches of high-volume and high-intensity training. Robbie and Justin share personal anecdotes from their grueling 100-mile races and offer insights into the often surprising food choices at ultramarathon aid stations. 

Don't miss out on these gripping tales and valuable lessons that will inspire you to appreciate the mental and physical challenges of ultramarathons.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
All right.
So we're back with anotherepisode of feel free, the only
podcast that'll tell you tochase your dreams and call you
out on all your bullshit, myselfincluded.
Today, I am joined by Robbieand Justin over at the Golden
Hour Adventures podcast, here totalk about running and wellness
and, honestly, just having agood-ass time and living life to

(00:38):
the fullest.
So how are you guys doing today?
Good, good.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good, you said, running like that's a bad thing.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
you're like and we're talking about running I mean,
I'll be honest, my brother lovesrunning and my buddy, brandon,
loves running.
He was just here this weekend.
I only like running, as if I'mputting a basketball in a hoop.
Can't really say I'm a big fanoutside, you know, but uh,
that's why I got you guys onhere to talk about it instead.

(01:05):
So I met ravi on the recoverypodcast through the glass
recovery we talked about, uh,you know our take on sobriety
and stuff.
And then when I spoke on thegolden hour adventures, uh,
justin was on that podcast tooand follow him on instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Uh, running, running in stash right with all the uh,
all the funny reels of yououtside and shit, they're pretty
funny yeah, out there freezingmy ass off and, you know,
running in negative 38, negative40 degree weather, though
luckily I'm glad it's over now.
But yeah, so just like to hell.
Yeah, have a good time with it,that's for sure of course, um.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
So I wanted to ask both of you why running is such
an important part of youridentity now, because you guys
both come from differentbackgrounds, but it seems you've
come together to love thisactivity so much, right.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Robbie, I'll let you go.
I'm long-winded go.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm long-winded.
Uh well, I've uh fought thebattle of identifying as a
runner on and off for quite afew years now.
Right now I'm taking a littlebreak.
I haven't ran in three weeks.
The van is the van has beeneverything I've been doing.
It's been keeping me busy andour podcast, of course, course
and work.
I find, when I startedidentifying as a runner, my ego

(02:30):
gets in the way.
So I always have to take a stepback and just take a break.
I love to run an adventure,just to go out and be outside
and find solitude and take inthe views.
In the past, you know, I wasthe guy that always had to be
the top of the hill first orrunning as fast as I could, and

(02:53):
I fell into a little place thatI didn't like.
So I kind of stepped away fromrunning with groups and was
running by myself.
But then I would put thatbattle on myself and it still
just kind of played out, youknow, trying to always run fast
and looking at my time and allthis other stuff.

(03:15):
Then I took a bigger break andstarted doing a lot more hiking
and got on the bike more andthen started going and doing.
I was living in Colorado at thetime, so I would just go climb
mountains and camp and hang out.
So it's been this on and offbattle of identifying as a
runner and you know, last year Istruggled with it quite a bit

(03:41):
and now I just like to callmyself an adventurer.
I haven't ran any races.
I don't have any races planned.
Well, I have one kind of plan,but it's more of a fun thing to
go help out and do some stuff,but I just like to get out in
the mountains and find peace.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, being out in nature like that is is priceless
, honestly I guess it's my turnI was gonna say so.
Robbie's in uh, south dakota,right, and just, justin, you're
in alaska, so you guys have alot of nature out there.
Um, justin, you actually were abodybuilder, is that?

(04:23):
Is that right?
Before you got into the runningthing?

Speaker 2 (04:27):
I was, um, I wouldn't say I was the type of
bodybuilder that got on a stageand, you know, competed, um, I
tried to at one point.
I just never could get the last.
And if you in the bodybuildingworld you understand getting
that last couple pounds off, um,I just couldn't, I couldn't do
it.
Uh, not that understand,getting that last couple pounds
off, I just couldn't, I couldn'tdo it.

(04:48):
Not that I wasn't disciplined,it just I ran out of time and so
that was my only attempt reallywith competing was, you know,
one year I really tried to dropthe weight and try to do it.
But you know, I grew up in highschool lifting weights.
I started lifting weights whenI was young, you know, 14, 15,
16 years old.
You know playing football andI'm originally from Texas, so
playing football in Texas allyou Texans out there will

(05:10):
definitely understand thefootball is life, you know, and
so small town shuts down when,when it's Friday night, and so,
uh, you know, just gettingbigger through through high
school, um, and then, you know,joining the military and
continuing on lifting weights,and it was just something that I
really enjoyed and still doenjoy.
Um, I just I got bored with it,you know, doing it for so many

(05:34):
years, I got bored and I triedto find something, something
that was, you know, different.
Basically, uh, you know, that'skind of when the CrossFit thing
was starting to spin up and,yeah, I jumped into that
bandwagon for about 20 secondsand realized that this is not
for me and so I was kind of offand on, you know, doing the, uh,
the lifting thing and trying toget stronger.

(05:56):
I mean, at my biggest, um,biggest weight, you know, I
probably weigh like 170 now,which is, for a runner, still
kind of a bigger.
You, 5'8, 170 is still kind ofbig.
But at my heaviest, uh, liftingwise, I was, uh, 230 pounds, um
, I was squatting five, 550pounds, dead lifting six

(06:16):
something, and uh, bench pressed, I think, 335, 350, something
like that.
So I was a stud, I was, I washuge, um strong, I loved it, I
loved every bit of it, but Icouldn't bend down to tie my
shoes without being out ofbreath.
So, uh, you know that quicklyuh went away, but um, so, anyway
, I just tried to find somethingthat was that was enjoyable, um

(06:39):
, and I talked to a guy who wasa semi-pro, sub sub-elite
triathlete and they had thishalf marathon coming up and I
was like, hey, man, how quickcould I run this half marathon?
I'm thinking I'd run it thenext year because it's a month
away and he's like, dude, youcan totally run it right now.
So I ran that half marathon andfrom there on out, I was hooked

(07:01):
.
Running is 100% my identity, butI like to have fun with it and
I'm all about having fun.
I don't give a shit about mypace, I don't care.
I don't care to be the last guyup the hill, I don't care about
going out and trying to for forthe group that you're running

(07:25):
with.
I'm all about going to the run,whether it be with people, by
myself, and just having a goodtime out there.
And, and I think that havingthat mentality from the get-go
has, uh, provided me thelongevity of of running, and I
I've probably been running veryconsistently since like 2017.
And so, um, you know, I I'vealways had that mentality.

(07:46):
I was very like, competitive andin my lifting and I wanted to
get as strong as I possiblycould and, you know, as big as I
possibly could.
But I don't know, somethingflipped when I was, you know,
started running and it's justlike I just want to do this and
just have fun with it.
And so, um, you know, I, I, Ialways say that my claim to fame
is the back of the pack, eventhough I'm maybe a little bit

(08:06):
faster than that.
But, um, but, but it's just,that's where the, you know, it's
the party pace, that's wherethe party pace is at, and so, um
, I just do it for the enjoymentof it and getting out in nature
, and you know, meeting peoplethat also like to enjoy running,
and so, um, yeah, it's neverreally been a serious thing for
me, even though I, you know, Ido serious races and I go out
and do big things.

(08:27):
I just it's, it's never reallybeen serious for me, and I think
that's, you know, part of thereason why I've not gotten bored
yet.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
But though I mean if you're not stressing about
loving something, you know ifyou enjoy every second of it and
you're not worried about it,you know you're more likely to
just do it because you love it,you know.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, for sure I don't love speed work.
I still do it, but I don't lovespeed work, so that's the only
thing.
If I get rid of speed work butstill get faster, I'd be happy.
I don't think that exists,though, so you got to kind of do
both.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
So there is some there's some torture in there, I
guess.
Right, so you go both like kindof specialize in different
types of running.
I'd say I mean, Justin, you dothe ultra marathons.
I know Robbie runs some races.
Sometimes, Robbie, you'remostly into like just hiking and
being out in nature and almostlike challenging yourself, Right
, and as Justin was saying, heuh more just does it because he

(09:27):
enjoys it.
You know it's not too serious,but he loves it.
Um, do you guys traindifferently?
Do you guys have differentworkout routines or wellness
things that you do to help youout there?

Speaker 3 (09:41):
I mean when I, when I train for races, I take the
race pretty serious and you knowI have a training block.
Whatever that may be, dependingon the distance of the race, I
dial in my nutrition.
I'll eat super clean.
I'll usually go very low carbwhile I'm training, eating a lot

(10:04):
of calories.
Then I had a coach at a time,and Justin and I are both now
coaches run coaches.
Having a coach was justaccountability, so he planned
all my workouts and my runs.
He planned all my workouts andmy runs.

(10:26):
It's, you know, anywhere from50 to 60 miles a week of running
, Usually on the weekends.
They were big back-to-backs,like to say, 18 miles one day,
the next could be 12 to 14 miles.
Then it was really whateverrace.

(10:50):
I like mountain races.
So those races you need to do alot of.
We call power hiking hiking asfast as you can, um, because you
can't run all the uphills.
So we I would do a lot of thatum, run the flats, the, and
power hike up as fast as I couldup the ups.
Then I would really get kind ofspiritual too.

(11:14):
I'd do a lot of meditation, alot of breath work and
journaling.
At the time I would journalabout my runs, how I felt, all
that kind of stuff.
But lately, since last year,I've been all over the place.

(11:34):
You know, sobriety has takenover everything.
So I put sobriety first andsobriety has taken over
everything.
So I put sobriety first andwhen you put sobriety first, a
lot of other things just kind ofgo by the wayside.
And for me it's been mynutrition and some other things

(11:57):
like meditation and journaling,even though in the sobriety
world you should be doing that.
But I've found that really hardto do since I've been sober.
I just love being sober, sothat makes me happy and I'm
joyous.
All the time Not all the time,of course, I have some bad days,
but I noticed when I was notsober and during those big

(12:20):
training blocks, everythingwould affect me because of my
substance abuse.
Those big training blocks,everything would affect me
because of my substance abuse.
So I would use the meditationand the journaling kind of to
negate those negative thoughtsor emotions I was having because
I didn't know how to deal withthem.
I would just use to numb thepain for everything.
And now that I'm not usinganything to numb the pain and I

(12:43):
can be present all the time, I'min my head the whole time and
I've learned patience and reallyhow to like just work shit out.
So last two years all over theplace.
Um, I do have some plans laterthis year and I'll dial back my

(13:04):
nutrition and training again,but as for now I'm just living
life.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
It's a good way to do it, though.
I mean, I'm also in recoverytoo, so I know exactly what
you're talking about.
Actually, last year I had someshit go down and has uh, I think
I was calling Justin out forfor the fast food and the sugar
when I was on your guys' podcast, and you know, I went on a
bender in 2023 with you know,with cigars and ice cream and

(13:32):
burritos and stuff.
Granted like, my sobriety alwayscame first.
But you know, I wasn't training, I wasn't worried about
nutrition and the things Ishould have, nutrition and the
things I should have.
So, but as long as you know, wehold our sobriety in a in the
highest standard, you know, lifeis uh way more worth living, I
should say so.

(13:52):
And it seems like you got a new, uh got a new hobby with the
van for more adventures.
So that's always a plus, too,right?

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, it's taken taken up all my time this
morning.
I'm like, oh, I should take thedogs out for a run.
I'm like looked out the windowand saw that van sitting there
and I'm like, nope, I'm gonna goget in that hot box and get
some stuff done putting somework right yeah so, justin,
you're running ultra marathons.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Those are hundred miles.
What are your training blockslike?

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, I, um, I also have a coach.
Um, I recently just did acoaching swap.
I, um, I was with the coach forabout two and a half years and,
um, nothing bad to say, just itwas time to go.

(14:45):
You know, it was just time forhis change.
And so um picked up a new one,um, excited to get kind of dive
deep into this one for the forthe training block for the
summer.
Um, I'm a very goal orientedtype of person.
I need to see a goal in frontof me to not necessarily go do
the things, but I'll get lazyand just be like, oh, I'll go
for a three mile run and go fora four mile run when I know I
should be doing more.
So, um, I like having a coachfor that accountability.

(15:08):
Um, being a coach myself, I cancoach myself, um, but I don't,
I don't like to, and so, cause,if I'm programming my own stuff
and I'm not going to do it right, so like, oh, that my coach is
an idiot, he can.
Just, you know, we can figurethat out later.
So I like having a coach foraccountability.
So I keep one long term andjust, yeah, I enjoy the

(15:32):
structure of having plans andhaving a goal, and so I usually
always have something on thebooks, whether it be a you know,
it's usually an ultram, ultramarathon, um, something in the a
hundred K to a hundred milerange, um, and then, you know, I
build myself up and run therace and then bring myself down

(15:55):
and then probably usually rightback up, because I usually have
another one pretty quickly onthe book.
So, um, this year is kind ofweird, cause I I ran my first
winter ultra, which is um, it'sa self-supported style run, so
you carry everything you need.
It's um, out in the wilderness.
There's no, there's no aid for20 plus miles.

(16:17):
Um, you're, you, typically inan ultra marathon you can have a
crew that goes with you.
Usually that's my wife.
She wasn't allowed on thecourse.
Typically you can have someonewho runs with you.
After about 50 miles you canhave someone that runs with you.
You weren't able to have thaton this race, so it was totally

(16:37):
a different style of ultra.
I had run three 100-milers priorto this one and this one was
also a 100-miler.
But I wanted to test my mindand see where my mind was, and
so this was a big you know, bigmind test, I guess, uh, to see
where I'm mentally strong enoughto be able to do this by myself
, essentially so, um, and so I,I did that and now I'm flipping

(16:57):
around and I'm not runninganother one, um, for quite a
while.
So, um, I do have one on thebooks, but it's it's a little
bit, a little bit of ways out,so um.
So I kind of got a down summer,I guess, just to kind of chill,
but also, you know, get somegood miles in and stuff like
that.
But yeah, um, I would say youknow, for the most part any
ultra marathoner myself andRobbie when once we have

(17:19):
something on the books, our, ourplans are pretty structured.
Some people may go like highervolume, lower intensity, or
higher intensity, lower volume.
It just kind of depends on whatworks for the right person, and

(17:43):
so I typically work better whenI do a higher volume and lower
intensity.
That usually typically worksbetter for me.
But it's kind of all in theperson with what works better.
I mean, you can run a hundredmile or a 40 mile weeks, but
you're going to be limping atthe end.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Right.
I mean, we are only human.
You got to take your body intoconsideration.
Um, my brother, uh, is trainingfor the 800 meter right now.
Um, cause, he, he, he?
He was training as a milerunner.
He got his mile time down tolike four minutes and five
seconds and now he's switchingup to go to the 800.
Yeah, he's hauling ass rightnow.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
It's crazy I run like 30 hours and you know, and
thinking about running a fourminute mile just disgusts me.
Me too, like you're only outthere for four minutes, but it's
like that's pure hell for fourminutes, like not good I've.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
I've seen his his races and to watch I mean, it's
only four times around the tracktoo and you're just like
watching him go by and you'relike, holy shit, he's going so
fast, what the hell.
But yeah, he had a coach tohelp him with his training
blocks as well.
I personally I don't doanything too seriously, but I've

(18:54):
had to take my training moreseriously because as we get
older, we get hurt more often,you know.
So just necessary precautionswith stretching and certain
things like that when you guysare running.
I wanted to ask do you guyshave a favorite type of food
that you eat on the trail?

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Well, during a race, like the aid stations,
especially in the longerdistances, you could say 50 to
100 miles, they're like buffets.
You could say 50 to 100 miles,they're like buffets and
depending on the, the race andthe organization, um, there'll
be hot food, cold food, like thestandard food, and aid stations
like potato chips, m&ms,pretzels, water, then whoever

(19:39):
the sponsor is for their sportsdrink, um, there'll be a few
other things, but when, when youget into the longer distances
and you're going through thenight, you know they'll have
warm food.
A lot of time there's bacon,yeah, hot soups, ramen stuff
like that Pancakes.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Sausage.
I don't know why.
When they're out there, that'sthe most amazing thing ever.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah, you take a piece of bacon, then you put
syrup on it, then you wrap thepancake around.
It eat that.
So I guess my favorite type ofcandy that I use on my long
adventures is gummy candy.
So Swedish Fish, gummy Bearsthose are probably my go-to's

(20:29):
for my favorite food.
And the longer stuff Reallysalty like bacon it's awesome
Sausage.
What else do I like?
I don't know.
I like for me I got a rock so Ican pretty much eat anything.
Other people have to really payattention to what they're

(20:50):
eating.
Luckily I can eat anything, butI would just say my go-to is
candy like gummy candy.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Hell yeah, I'm the direct opposite.
I can't eat candy.
I can for like a shorter runlet's call it 10 miles and under
.
I can eat candy and stuff likethat.
But when I start going long,that sugar starts to play with
me.
I can't do it.
I have to be really structuredin my run nutrition, and so I

(21:22):
eat a lot, but I have to be verycareful of what I eat.
I do more liquid nutrition andI've moved to that probably
within the last year.
Moving to liquid nutrition, it'sthis stuff called Cluster
Dextrin.
It's a mixture of sugars, butit's weird.
I say sugar, you would thinkit'd be real sweet, but it's
this stuff called clusterdextrin.
It's just a.
It's a, a mixture of sugars,but it's it's weird.
I say sugar, you would thinkit'd be real sweet, but it's not

(21:44):
.
It's just kind of a.
I don't know.
I don't actually know what itis, but I it was just I was told
to get it by somebody who Iextreme, you know, I trust a lot
, and so I tried it and itworked and I, once something
works, I stick with it.
Um, I also use gels.
Um, I use um spring energy gels, which is you know some brand,

(22:07):
but they're pretty high carb andthey're they're pretty tasty
and and I can live off of themwhen nothing else is working.
And so, um, you know there'sthere's different tricks when
your stomach starts to turn to.
You know, play around andfigure stuff out, but, um, I
have to be real careful in whatI put in, because I have been
known to throw up at miles 30.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
yeah, I bet that sucks, though.
Yeah, you just gotta keepmoving once you haven't thrown
enough yeah, just.
Oh, it's not good I actuallyrolled my ankle two weeks ago in
the gym while I'm hooping and,uh, I don't know, I knew it was
coming too, because I hadliterally ate.
So I ate two full bowls oframen that, uh, my fiance made.

(22:55):
I just slammed them and thenI'm like I'm gonna go play
basketball and I don't know.
I'm just out on the court andI'm feeling super sluggish.
I'm like, damn dude,something's fucked up right now,
you know.
And then, of course, like I'mlike trailing back to get a ball
and my energy just wasn't rightand I just I rolled my ankle
over somebody who was standingbehind me.
I'm like, yeah, I shouldn'thave ate that much before going

(23:17):
out there, you know.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
I love ramen.
That's like a big go-to for meis ramen.
I have lived off ramen forplenty of miles because that was
all that was working.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, it's got the carbs and the sugar in it too,
right?
Yeah, the salts for sure.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, a lot of salt For me.
Ramen's one of the the ones I Ican't do.
I can drink the broth, but forsome reason I can't do ramen.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I can do it didn't you, didn't you get sick?

Speaker 3 (23:50):
at the last one we were at together and eating
ramen yeah, I was eating ramenevery eight miles and yeah, it
wasn't.
Uh, at one point I was like Ican't do any more ramen
switching over to the candystomach.
Yeah, mostly I'll do gels too,and I also use that clustered

(24:10):
extra um for me.
I've always, when I've, when Irun, I always started, so I just
wake up and go.
I don't like anything in mystomach when I start running.
Then I like to figure out as Igo.
A lot of people don't like todo that because there's this

(24:32):
thing called bonking.
It's when you run out of sugar.
Your stored sugar, depending onthe person.
You know it's anywhere from 90minutes to a little over up to
two hours and it really dependson the intensity.
If you're not using fat forfuel, you're using sugar or

(24:52):
you're using both, then yourmuscles only store so much.
So a lot of people don't liketo play that game.
So they'll eat before.
But I've always just been thetype to just go out fasted and,
especially if I'm in a trainingblock, I always do my runs in
the morning, so as soon as I getup I'll pound some coffee, then
I'll go, then I'll just.

(25:14):
A lot of people in the ultraworld.
We have like a time limit whenwe need to eat.
People in the ultra world.
We have a time limit when weneed to eat, depending it's
either a half hour or an houryou take a gel or you drink
something, but with this ClusterDexion we can just sip on it.
Justin and I both mix twoscoops in our flask.

(25:36):
That's about 64-ish, I think itis grams of carbohydrates.
So we'll just try to drink oneof those an hour, then
supplement if we need more orhowever we're feeling.
So.
I'm a little opposite of a lotof people.
I run faster than figure it outas I go.
Sometimes it it doesn't work,justin will get the famous text

(26:01):
message I'm epic bonk going onright now.
Yeah, those are the best.
You know I forgot to mention onething that we had a lady on our
podcast and this is kind ofit's been around for a while,
but Pop-Tarts, those are likeone of my go-tos.
I always have a couple ofPop-Tarts in my race pack with
me, but now I usually just usethose for emergencies, Because

(26:25):
they'll bring you back from abonk within minutes and you're
feeling somewhat normal again.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Wait, wait, wait wait .

Speaker 3 (26:39):
What's a bonk?
So it's when you run out ofyour stored glycogen and you
have no sugar left.
Then it depends how bad thatbonk gets.
Of course your brain runs offsugar, right, your body will
start saving its sugar for yourbrain and, depending how long
it's been without sugar, you cango into what's called a

(27:00):
neurological bonk, where yourbody has shut all the sugar down
and is only letting your brainget sugar.
That means you're like bad andyou have no energy.
Your stomach lots of throwingup.
Usually you can barely moveCramping if you're low on on
electrolytes.
They usually go hand in handand it gets to the point where

(27:23):
have you ever seen like thosetriathlons or marathons where,
like the guys are crawling tothe finish?
yeah, is that they're bonking.
So those are like that's theneurological, where they just
fall down and their body's justsaving the last bit of sugar for
their brain.
You lose all control of yourmuscles, your bladder, your
intestines.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, it'll, usually will just come out both ends,
depending how bad it is but yeahtypically it's not typically
that bad like you can feel itcoming on and you know that it's
coming and you can.
You can pull yourself out of it.
I mean by eating a pop tartwe'll pull you out of it.
It's not like you need to go tothe emergency room.
I mean, if it got that bad,yeah, maybe you'd need to go to

(28:07):
the emergency room, but you cantypically feel it coming on, um
and prevent it.
And prevent it.
Yeah, and so it's very easy toprevent, it's very easy to pull
yourself out of.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
But the main.
The main symptom is we callthem low points, like you'll
just start feeling like completeshit, like everything in the
world is bad.
You don't want to take anotherstep.
You hate your life.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
You hate your family, yeah you just it's, it's.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's weird and that's usually if you start having a
down point.
You know that like, oh, I'm lowon sugar, so you'll take a gel
or eat a pop tart or whateveryou got with you, especially on
these longer distances.
Um, when the aid stationsometimes in 100 miles, you know
they're 10 miles apart and ifyou're in the middle of the

(28:59):
mountains there's no one comingto rescue you like either a
helicopter or you sit there andyou figure it out.
So in the ultras a lot ofpeople will carry their food,
especially if you have.
Like you know, justin uses aspring, so he always has enough
spring with him to make sure hemakes it to the next aid station

(29:20):
.
A lot of beginners don't knowwhere to play that game, so
they're figuring it out.
Then they might get stuck atmile five and they got another
five miles to go and they don'thave any food on them or the
food.
We like to make jokes becausegels After a while as soon as
you taste, taste the gel, you'llstart wanting to throw up.

(29:42):
I don't know if you've ever hada gel.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
They're like consistency of glue oh god, no,
that sounds terrible some ofthem aren't that like, the ones
that I use, aren't that bad, butsome of the goo brand of jail,
which is by far, in my opinion,the worst.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, hammer is still there, but see, and I like the
goo brand, but there's nothingworse pulling a warm gel out of
your race vest and it soundsfucking nasty.
That's why I like the gummycandy, cause it always tastes
good.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
You just got gotta chew on it yeah, that's true so
you guys got any funny or scarystories on the trail or on a run
I got a hilarious one.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Um, my first hundred miler.
Um, I had hit the 52 mileturnaround.
So, turning around, probablyabout mile, let's call it mile
60, so it's at.
It's at night, it's probably, Idon't know call it midnight 2
am, something like that.
I gotta shit bad.
Um, I'm a mile from the aidstation where there's bathrooms,

(30:58):
but I'm not gonna be able tomake it.
There's bathrooms, but I'm notgoing to be able to make it.
There's no way I have a pacer.
I told you earlier pacers aresomeone who just jumps in with
you and runs with you to kind ofkeep you alive through the
night and through the rest ofthe race, cause you know, those
glycogen stores get harder andharder to feel as you've been
running for that much, that longof period.
Right, and so you're.

(31:24):
You're not wanting to eat asmuch, so it's, it's.
It's kind of a nice thing tohave a pacer there with you just
to help you out, remind you toeat, because you become a
toddler at after mile 50, youbecome a toddler, and so
reminding you to eat, remindingyou to drink, to keep running,
you know that pacer just has areally valuable uh role early on
in your ultra career.
Anyway, I have my pacer justhas a really valuable role early
on in your ultra career.
Anyway, I have my pacer with meand I'm like dude, I gotta tell
you shit, this is, this is notgoing to be good, and so it's

(31:48):
night.
So I'm, I'm good, right, I findthis tree.
I take my pack off cause I havemy toilet paper in my pack,
something that all trail runnersshould carry on them, if they
don't already.
So I got my toilet paper, Itook my pack off, I lay it to
the side, you know, I grab mytoilet paper, lay it to the side
, do my business and and I, I uh, you know, take care of

(32:10):
whatever I need to take care ofput my pack back on and I'm, you
know, running down the trail.
I'm like damn, what does?
Well, I thought that I had putmy pack far enough away.
I totally had not.
And I literally just shit allover my pack and this is mile 60
, right?
So for 40 more miles and we're40 miles in a hundred miler is a

(32:35):
long time, especially yourfirst one.
I smelled shit for that longperiod of time, and we're
talking 12, 18 hours of smellingyour own shit, and, and there's
only so much that you can cleanoff.
Right, because, right like wecleaned it off when I got to the
aid station, but at the sametime it's like dude, it's still

(32:56):
there, holy shit.
So yeah, my first 100 miler, Ishit on my pack.
So, yeah, I'll never forgetthat?

Speaker 1 (33:06):
how long does it take to run the the last 40 miles?

Speaker 2 (33:19):
usually.
Well, they tell you that therace, I was pretty trashed by
mile 70.
And so I really, I kind of likedeath, marched it in, which is,
uh, we were talking about powerhiking earlier, so that that
power hiking, um, usually isabout a, you know, anywhere
between a 15 to 20 minute mile,just like fast hiking, right.
And so, um, I had, I practicedthat because there's a point in

(33:42):
the race where your feet don'twant it, your legs don't want to
move anymore and you can relyback onto that power hiking.
And so I power hiked for thelast 30 miles.
So I think it was an 11 hourtimeframe that it took me to go
30 miles, but I still had I mean, mean, this was mile 60 ish
that I did that.
So you know, I still had to getto mile 70, so that probably

(34:03):
took another couple hours, soprobably 15 hours I would say
that that took.
But I mean, yeah, it was, uh,it was a disaster.
It's a smelly 15 hours rightthere.
But I've been, uh, you, you knowas far as scary, I've been
screamed at by mountain lions inthe middle of the night, you
know, knowing that they're veryclose.

(34:25):
Luckily, I've always been withpeople, so I wasn't too worried
about it.
But yeah, I've been screamed atby mountain lions up here in
Alaska.
I haven't had a bear encounterknock on some wood but I've had
plenty of moose encounters whichI I think are, uh, worse than a
bear.
Like see a bear.
Usually they probably just takeoff and go there do their own

(34:45):
thing, but moose want to standtheir ground and you know, I've
had to turn around on a trailand go back the way I came
because there's moose juststanding in the trail and they
were not moving and I'm notgoing to challenge them no, you
don't fight, you don't fuck withmoose man, holy shit.
So you know.
I've seen tons of snakes.
Robbie actually only almoststepped on a snake one time when
we were running together and itlike four people ran by it and

(35:08):
it didn't do anything.
And then when robbie runs by it, it starts rattling.
I don't know, did it strike atyou too, robbie, or what?

Speaker 3 (35:14):
no I just almost stepped on the damn thing that
thing was a monster.
It was a monster.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
But yeah, you name it animal encounters, and then we
can go into hallucinations tooif you want to go down that
route.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
I was actually interested in asking about some
hallucination stories, honestly.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Yeah, I had in that same race.
I was bonking, but I was at alivable bonk, if that makes
sense.
I was taking enough sugar tokeep me going, but not enough of
where I should have had.
I was looking for this aidstation.
It was about a six miles fromone aid station to the other and
I was.
I was in search of it and thisis in the middle of the day,

(35:55):
right Probably noon, and I'mlike there's the aid station and
my pace was like, uh, I don'tsee anything.
I'm like, dude, do you not seethat nissan exterra right there?
That's the aid station.
And then when we got up to it,of course it was just a rock.
But to this day I swear to youthat there was a nissan exterra
right there.
Um, that's, that's my only one'skind of like that's a huge

(36:19):
hallucination.
You'll be running and you'llsee a stick or a log that kind
of looks like something andyou'll like get scared, like
damn, what was that?
But uh, you know, like a rockwill look like a, a, a, I don't
know, a bear or something.
It just kind of scares you,freaks you out.
But I'm sure Robbie's Robbie'sbeen running ultra since 2011,
so I know he's got a bunch morehallucinations, but your brain

(36:43):
does some fascinating thingsafter 24 hours of running.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
We were going to climb.
It was in Colorado and we weregoing to go climb a couple 14ers
.
And the 14ers they're like ahalf mile apart.
You just have to go downthrough a saddle, then go back
up to the next one.
So it was me, this lady and ourfour dogs.
She had two, I had my two, shehad a Belgian Malinois and a
German Shepherd, then I had myAustralian Kettle Dog and some

(37:11):
kind of crazy mutt high-energydog.
That was ridiculous.
So we left the trailhead, weget up to the summit.
It was a full moon left thetrailhead, we get up to the
summit.
It was a full moon.
That's why we were out there.
This is a night too, so let meput that out there.
We started about nine o'clock atnight, got up to the summit, um

(37:31):
, decided not to go.
Hit the other summit.
Uh, we're coming back down tothe trailhead and like we're
close enough to see the car.
That's how close we are.
Then the lady I was with likewhere did my dog go?
I'm like I don't know.
And this was her Belgian.
I'm like I don't know.

(37:52):
So we started looking for a dogand at this point I'm like I'm
just going to go put my stuffdown at the car, then I'll come
back and help you.
So I go put my stuff down atthe car.
Then we're wandering aroundlooking for the dog and there
was this cattle guard that wehad to go over and her dogs were

(38:14):
scared to go over cattle guard.
So we thought that at thispoint the dog was just scared to
go over the cattle guard, sowho knows where it was.
So about 30 minutes later shefinally comes back with her dog.
I'm just back at camp hangingout at the truck.
I'm like oh, found your dog.
She was like all freaked outabout it and I had a rooftop
tent on top of my Tacoma and onmy Tacoma had a shell.

(38:38):
So all the dogs were in the bedof the truck in the shell.
So we're asleep.
Then I get woken up by the dogslike making this weird, like
crazy noise I've never heard mydogs make.
Her dogs were doing the samething.
They were like barking andwhining and you can imagine four

(38:59):
dogs in the bed of a Tacoma.
Dogs make.
Her dogs were doing the samething.
They're like barking andwhining and you could imagine
four dogs in the bed of a tacoma.
The tent was just like rockingback and forth and it was a
little.
It was pretty crazy.
So I had my.
I always sleep with the gun upthere in the mountain.
So I grabbed my gun because Iwas like I didn't know if it was

(39:19):
a person, because thiscampground's pretty heavily
populated with.
It's right on the ColoradoTrail so you'll get like a lot
of through hikers.
It's a nice grassy place tocamp.
So I was like what the hell isgoing on Then?
Plus, you never know whereyou're going to run into a
trailhead in Colorado.
So I sit up, grab my gun andthen I hear the screaming.

(39:43):
I'm like what is going on?
Dogs, just like they're scared,like at this point they're like
doing the scared whine and abunch of commotion.
I hear the scream and it'sright next to my truck and I'm
like what the heck is this?
Then it keeps going, it keepsgoing.

(40:04):
Then finally I realize it's amountain lion.
So I'm like so I open thezipper a little bit on the thing
and I start shining a light onthere.
I never saw the mountain lion,but it was definitely right at
my truck trying to get to thedogs.
Then we finally realized thather dog had smelt that mountain

(40:26):
lion somewhere close by and wasgoing looking for the mountain
lion, because the mountain lionsin Colorado they're at the
trailheads up at the 14ersThey'll kind of hang around.
They're not as scared as peopleas probably in Alaska and here
in South Dakota where they don'tsee people often Up there at

(40:48):
the mountain lions see peopleevery single day, if not all day
long.
They'll see people out on thetrails, especially if they're in
their area and they won't movefrom their area because there's
so many mountain lions that youknow they have their little area
and they're not going to gointo another mountain lion area
to take over that area.
So we didn't sleep for the restof the night.

(41:11):
pretty much can tell you thatbecause but, I've heard mountain
lions scream before, but thisone right next to the truck and
the dogs and everything else wasjust, it was crazy.
I've done tons of tent campingin that area too.
I can only imagine having mydogs in the tent and that

(41:35):
mountain lion right there, butthat didn't happen.
Hallucinations.
I've had some that mountainlion right there, but that
didn't happen.
Hallucinations I've had somegood ones, and mine was like
Justin's.
I thought there was an aidstation there.
It was in the middle of thenight and I kept seeing this
light and I'm like there's theaid station, there's the aid

(41:55):
station, we're almost there.
And we kept going and the lightnever got closer.
I finally realized it was astar, but I was just
hallucinating that it was an aidstation.
And a lot of times in these100-mile races, if you're at a
pretty popular one or a good onewhere they've got a good aid

(42:17):
station going, they're playingmusic, so you can hear the music
from a long time, far, know,far away, and I was like I can
hear music.
There's the aid station.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
And the person was with like no, there's, there's
nothing there never found theaid station then, some weird
stuff out in the mountains whenyou're uh, when you're out there
for a long period of time.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Then I was pacing a guy at the same rate.
Justin was talking about hishallucination and there's a
section where you get down bythe river and the river, if it's
raging, is really loud Like youcan't have a conversation in
the river.
It's so loud, it's a pretty bigriver and we were in that
section and it's really rockyand it's pretty nasty terrain

(43:03):
right there.
It's the middle of the nightand we're going and the guy I
was pacing was like seeing allkinds of stuff, like seeing
people in the trees, ninjas, youname.
It was just seeing weird stuffin the trees and he was like
when you're having thosehallucinations, like Justin was

(43:25):
saying, you're like, you reallythink they're there, Like you
see it.
So he kept seeing this stuffand a lot of times pacers will
just laugh or at some pointthey're just like whatever man,
you're not seeing anything andjust keep going.
Right, well, we, at some pointthey're just like whatever man,

(43:48):
you're not seeing anything andjust keep going.
Right, well, we, we were comingaround this bed bend and there
was this guy laying on theground taking a nap.
Sometimes people during thesehundreds will just take a dirt
nap.
They get tired and take a five,ten minute nap, maybe a minute,
whatever.
So he's laying down on theground, he's off the trail and,
uh, the guy was pacing, runs upto him, was like are you all
right, man?
You okay, do you need?
Do you need help out here?
And he woke the guy up and I'mlike, hey, he's taking a nap.

(44:11):
No, he's, he's, there'ssomething wrong with him.
And he's over, standing overthe guy like asking him all
these questions because he'sbeen seeing people in the trees,
right, so he, he actually seessomeone.
So he thinks there's like anemergency.
And after a couple minutes theguy's like no, I'm just taking a
nap.
He's like, no, you need help,I'm gonna go get help.
And we're in the middle ofnowhere.

(44:32):
There's like no help around,even if he didn't need help.
Then finally the guy's like satup and got kind of angry.
He's like I'm taking a nap.
And then I grabbed my runner,like we gotta go, like this
guy's okay.
Then we left and he wouldn'tstop talking about how the guy

(44:52):
needed help for I don't know acouple miles and I kept telling
him like the guy was just takinga nap and it was just this,
since he'd been seeing peoplesin the trees, I don't know.
I kept trying to ask him likewhat's your problem?
But he was at that point beinga toddler.
Then I was like let's just keepgoing.
That's funny Justin says atoddler, because we do turn into

(45:15):
toddlers Like you forget to eat.
Like you'll just be walkingdown the trail A lot of time
you'll be sleepwalking, you'rewalking but you're asleep and,
depending on the course, itcould be pretty bad.
That's why it's prettyimportant to have pacers on some
of these.
But I know Jess and I both havedone probably miles of

(45:36):
sleepwalking or then you go.
I don't remember the last mile.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
I don't even know where I'm at.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Then you wake up, then you'll go right back to
sleep again, then you'll justkeep on walking.
It gets kind of weird if yourpacer's in front of you and all
you can see is their shining oftheir headlamp.
I know for me I will justfollow that headlamp, then it
just puts me to sleep.

(46:03):
So usually I like to have mypacers behind me.
If I do have a pacer, that wayI'm leading the way and I'm I'm
trying to stay awake, butthey're behind me, so if
something does happen they cankeep me on the course.
Anything funny, I'll have tothink about that one.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
I've had quite a few funny things, but not as good as
justin's poop story I'm justgonna say that y'all are fucking
nuts and I love it for thosestories jesus it's great I was.
actually.
I took a week off of work a fewweeks ago.
My family has a cabin up in theupper peninsula of Michigan, in

(46:48):
Iron Mountain, and I'm up theretwo weeks ago and there's a
national park up there calledPiers Gorge, which I usually do
some hiking up there.
I think there's like I thinkit's like a four to six mile
trail and I'll go up there andI'll wear like a weighted vest,
you know, just to make the hikea little more difficult and more

(47:10):
of a workout.
So I pull in there.
You know there's nobody there,it's fucking dead.
Like it just snowed like sixinches in the middle of march.
And it's like a Tuesday, rightCause I'm up here on break, so
everyone's at work and there'sno Rangers, there's no other
people, whatever.
I parked the car and I startwalking.
I'm like 20 minutes into thewalk and then I like look down,
or I'm looking around.

(47:31):
I'm like, damn, it's beautifulup here, man, this is really
nice, you know.
Then I looked down and I'm like, oh, that is a full bear print
right there.
And then I started lookingaround and I'm like oh those are
cub prints too.
And I'm like oh shit, and Ifucking turned around
immediately.
I get back in the car text myfiance.

(47:51):
I'm like oh my God, I just sawa fucking bear print.
She goes, did you snap apicture?
And I'm like no, I got the fuckout of there.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
What do you mean?
There was a it's like the SuperBowl of 100 mile races, it's
called Western States.
One year the guy that was inthe lead came down and there was
a mom with her cubs in a treeand I can't remember how long
you waited.
Do you remember Justin 10, 15minutes?
Yeah, it was a long time.
He's in the lead trying to setthe course record of this race
and he can't go past this momand this cub because they're

(48:31):
right there.
You know pretty much on thetrail in this tree type thing
and I don't remember whathappened if he went around or,
but it was just pretty funnybecause he was just after.
He's like I just had to sitthere and wait because I
couldn't do anything.
I've run into uh, moose oncourse, uh, in utah on the trail

(48:52):
, and usually the you know racedirector be like hey, there's
moose on the course.
Uh, if you got to go off courseto go around them, that's okay,
because a lot of times if youleave the course you have to
come back where you left thecourse to finish the course.
But he was like if they're onthe trail, you can go around
them.
If you can go around them, andthere's been a couple times

(49:13):
where we turn a corner andthere's big mom moose just
standing there on the on thetrail and usually we'll just
wander off 10, 20 feet off thecourse, then get back on the
course after we pass.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
But that's my extent with those sometimes you just
can't fuck with nature, man geezyeah they don't, don't play
around.
No, hell, no so you guys saidthat you guys are oh what, what
were you going to say, Robbie?

Speaker 3 (49:41):
I was going to say I got a good story about
rattlesnakes.
We were we're on this trail.
Then we got off the trail andwe were just we call it
bushwhacking when there's notrail and you're just walking on
the side of the hill.
This was here in South Dakotaand the black hills.
I mean this other guy we'retrying to get back to the trail
and we know we just got to go up.

(50:02):
So we're going up and he'swalking and then all of a sudden
he turns around and he's flyingat me.
He is off the ground and he hadpoles in his hands and his
poles are coming at me and he'sscreaming and I'm like what is
going on?
Then when he hit the ground, thehill was so steep he just kept

(50:23):
sliding down the hill and thenhe finally stopped.
Then he was trying to muttersnakes, but I couldn't
understand what he was saying.
So I help him get back up andmake sure he's okay and he's
like there's a bunch ofrattlesnakes up there.
I'm like what?
So we like go up there.

(50:43):
And it was like there's bigrock.
Then there was like this littleflat spot on the bottom of the
rock.
Then I get closer and I canjust hear a bunch of rattles and
we get up there and it was arattlesnake den and there was
like eight rattlesnakes gettingready to den for the fall and he

(51:05):
was less than a foot from beingin that den.
That's why he turned around andjumped at me Then then we we
got to continue bushwhacking toget back to the trail Right.
So now we're just super scared,like don't want to step on any
logs or we're looking underrocks.
But that was that's probablythe scariest I've been was

(51:26):
rattlesnakes.
That was we're like, can we justget back to the trail when we
know there may be rattlesnakes?
That was uh.
We're like, can we just getback to the trail when we know
there may be rattlesnakes, butwe'll be okay.
So there was.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
I think there was eight big uh I actually used to
have like snakes and lizardsgrowing up and stuff, but just
like you know, ball pythons andother things, I didn't have
anything like fucking dangerous,like a rattlesnake, jeez, uh.
So you guys have coaches tohelp you with your running, and

(52:04):
I was doing some snooping andyou guys also said so you guys
are also coaches for otherpeople, right?
Yeah, nice, how is thatexperience?
Well, first I want to askRobbie how has being in recovery
also helped with coaching, withrunning too?

Speaker 3 (52:26):
So I got my personal training certificate back in
2010, and I was doing personaltraining.
I was doing in-home personaltraining where I traveled to the
client's house.
Then I was also working for acollege and running the gym
where students and faculty couldcome into the gym and get free

(52:46):
personal training.
So at that point I had rightaround 10 clients that I was
dealing with.
Then I just realized there wasnot Like in-home personal
training.
You can make a lot of money butit's really hard to get clients
.
It's like a special type ofclientele that are willing to

(53:07):
pay you that money to travel andall that stuff.
So I kind of realized that Ididn't want to work for a big
box gym where they take all yourmoney, really essentially as a
personal trainer and that's kindof.
When I got into ultra running,so I had some friends that were

(53:29):
wanting to get into running youknow, five Ks, 10 Ks have
marathons, marathons so Istarted working with them Then.
Um, when I was using it was, itwas pretty.
It was different from now.

(53:51):
The biggest takeaway now with myclients is I'm a lot more
present.
I understand their needs a lotmore.
I pay attention to more aboutwhat they're doing and setting
them up for success instead offailure.
As a personal trainer,depending what their goal is.
If they're looking for weightloss, there's a lot more that

(54:16):
goes into that with nutritionand everything else.
I can't control what they eat.
I can only control the time I'mwith them.
So it was totally differentdifferent.
But when you're an you know anonline run coach, you set up the

(54:37):
plan depending if you do weeksor two weeks.
I always used to do two weeks.
Now I like to just do one weekto have better check-in.
I talk with clients a lot more,asking them how they're doing,
if there's any issues.
Uh, when before recovery Icould care less, tell you the
truth, um, I would do my best,but I was always trying to fight

(54:58):
that my own issues by numbingthe pain.
So, if you know, I got high.
That was the last thing Iwanted to do was work with a
client while I was high.
It was just a buzzkill typething, unless they used to.
Then it was a little differentstory.
Then it became we were justboth using.

(55:20):
So there was that.
There was that connection there.
But then I knew I wasn't givingmy best coaching at that time
because we were just connectedthrough our use.
Yeah, now it's just a lot morepresent, a lot more patience, a

(55:42):
lot more of understanding themas a human being.
In the past I didn't do that.
It was just like here's yourprogram, email me next week, let
me know how you did.
Now it's more check-ins, moretalking about goals, trying to
structure goals better.

(56:03):
A lot of people in the run worldhave these goals and they'll
set this goal that they reallycan't meet because they're
trying to do something that theywant to get.
But you have to tell them hey,this is a little outside your
wheelhouse.
You need to set a goal that youcan actually reach and if you

(56:25):
do reach this goal, we can workon getting you to wherever you
want to go.
I know in the past people tellme their goals.
I just write it down.
Okay, they want to do, you know, sub 24 hour, a hundred, a
hundred miler, and I'm likeyou've never had a hundred
before.
Um, your goal should be firstis finishing.

(56:46):
So, yeah, just a lot, a lot morepatience, presence, treating
them as a human, a lot morecheck-ins, working.
One thing I've learned inrecovery is we're all human, we
all have stuff going on and themental side of running is a

(57:08):
pretty big deal to some people.
If you give them a workout andthey don't hit their workout,
they'll be really hard onthemselves and then that will
just lead to future destructionif they keep doing that.
So now it's a lot more of thatmental game like, hey, it's okay

(57:30):
you didn't meet that, let'swork on it from here.
But talking them back intotheir normal selves and not let
everything run away from themwhen they don't do what they
want to do nice, yeah, that's agood answer.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Um justin, how is your coaching going for you?

Speaker 2 (57:55):
yeah, mine's not as good as robbie's.
Robbie hit on a point that II'd like to bring up further.
Um, running is a verycomparison sport.
So you, you see a lot of whatother people are doing and you
want to imitate or do whatthey're doing.

(58:15):
And it's a hard, it's a I'msure that happens in every sport
but it's a.
Running is a is is a solo sport,right?
I mean you have people thathelp you out along the way, but
in the end you're the oneputting one foot in front of the
other.
Help you out along the way, butin the end you're the one
putting one foot in front of theother.
And so you always see peoplewanting to do this and do that

(58:38):
because someone else did thisand did that.
And so you know, running ahundred miler is, it's a huge
achievement, right?
And everybody who is an up andcoming ultra marathoner wants to
run a hundred miler becausethat's what you know, so done,
and you know you've ran thismany, you've run that many.
Anybody can do a type thingit's like.
But we need to take, we need totake baby steps, because
running 100 miler is a huge,it's a big achievement, but it's

(59:01):
also a huge undertaking and inthe amount of time that it takes
to train for it and the amountof sacrifice that you have to
give to your job well, notnecessarily your job, but you
have to give to your job.
Well, not necessarily your job,but you have to give sacrifices
to your family.
And there's a lot that you haveto sacrifice to be able to
train and perform at the levelthat you need to to complete a
hundred miler.
And so, in saying that, like Ido the same thing as Robbie,

(59:24):
like hey, you know, you've nevereven run a 50 K like, let's,
let's slow down a little bit,let's get you, let's, let's
build you up to where you needto be.
But, um, I, I believe in incommunication.
So I'm an online coachessentially.
But you know, all my athleteshave my cell phone number.
I, I'm there for them 24 7.
Um, you know, they text me allthe time and we, we set up calls

(59:48):
, whether it be quarterly ormonthly.
You know, it's likecommunication is huge and that's
really the only way that theonline coaching thing works.
Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm a I wouldsay a different style of coach
because, uh, I mean, if you lookat my, my records.
I'm not fast, I don't claim tobe fast.
I am what I've told you in thepast the being an ultra

(01:00:11):
marathoner.
And you know, someone who worksfull time, who has a family,

(01:00:38):
can help them get there, and sothat that's my approach to it's,
like I understand if you can'tmake that run this weekend
because your son's playing abaseball tournament, I get it.
You know things come up likedon't sacrifice your life to run
this race, we can get around it, we can mold around it, and so
you know the communication ishuge.
Um, but yeah, I, I do it cause Ilove seeing people finish their

(01:01:02):
um, their goals, and set theirmind to something and complete
it, and that's the coolest thingto me, and I've actually had
the pleasure of being at acouple races where my athletes
have finished, and so that'sreally cool to me.
But yeah, that's why I do it.
I care less about anything else, you know, as far as coaching,
it's a lot of fun to see yourathletes achieve their goals

(01:01:31):
yeah, being a part of somethinglike that is, uh, it's a crazy
experience to see other peopleachieve their goals.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
It's uh, yeah, it's a .
It's a beautiful moment,honestly, you know, because I
think we also like put ourselvesin their shoes too, because we
remember when we hadn't donesomething, and the first time we
completed something, we're like, wow, this feels great.
And then you help other peopledo that exact same thing.
You, you vicariously livethrough them.
You're like, oh, I'm doing itagain, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
It's fucking awesome, for sure.
So I think we had a really goodconversation.
We've touched on a lot ofpoints.
You guys have made me laughespecially, and I know my
listeners are going to laughtheir ass off as well.
So that's fucking awesome.
Do you guys want to talk aboutyour podcast for a little bit?

(01:02:15):
Do a little ad.
Tell us what to look forward toin that, for anyone who listens
to it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Yeah, absolutely Always down to plug Golden Hour
Adventures.
So Robbie and I came togetherand just on a run one day we're
talking about podcasting and Isaid that I'd always wanted to
do a podcast, and he was like,yeah, me too.
And so in my kitchen, at thetable, we, we wrote down what we
wanted to have as our slogan,with I'll go ahead and say it

(01:02:42):
with the help of my wife Um, uh,but yeah, we, we set up our
slogan.
We had some people do some artfor us and some songs and we
started recording this guy.
We've been going about a yearand a half and we drop a podcast
every single week.

(01:03:14):
Different types of genres ofadventuring.
So we've had hikers, hunters um.
Authors uh.
Professional bronc riders um.
What else am I missing, robbie?
There's a bunch of differentstuff, but our, our goal was to
feature the everyday athlete,and so you know we have.
I think we've had like maybeone or two elite runners on, but
for for the most part, they'vebeen just everyday people with a
family that get out and docrazy cool things, and so, yeah,

(01:03:37):
it's been a lot of fun and Ican't wait to see where it goes.
To be honest with you, Hellyeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Yeah, when Jess and I thought about this.
The golden hour is the lasthour of an ultra marathon.
It's called the golden hour, sousually during the golden hour
not to be confused with goldenshower especially on the 100

(01:04:13):
mile and farther distance races,everyone comes and shows up to
watch the last people come in.
Those people have been outthere the longest.
There's a race in Coloradocalled Hard Rock and it's got a
48-hour cutoff.
So if you could imagine beingout there for 47 hours, coming
back into town, town and thewhole town is waiting for you to

(01:04:35):
come back and finish yourjourney is pretty amazing.
And Justin was like.
Justin and I were both like,well, we just want adventure
people.
So we tried with the hunters,the bronc rider, other people,
but both of us being ultrarunners, once we started putting

(01:04:57):
episodes out, we just kind ofgot a little traction with the
runners.
So our first thing was justfeaturing, you know, people
doing cool stuff.
But now we're more of a, moreof a running.
Doing cool stuff, but now moreand more of a running.
I mean we had a guy on the BeatCancer runs with a colostomy
bag and still races and theguy's a beast, 100 milers, like

(01:05:22):
big races.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
So yeah, geez.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Yeah, we have a guest coming on next week that she's
a adaptive athlete, so she she'sin a wheelchair but nothing
stops her.
She skis, um, she backpacks,like she's got one of those
wheelchairs with the I don'teven know what they're called,
but the.
She can pull the levers and herwheelchair will go and she's

(01:05:48):
got like big old 29 knobby tireson it and the stuff she can't
go up.
People will pull her wheelchairup so she can go backpack with
them.
So we want to hear aboutpeople's story because, like
Justin was saying, everyone'sgot a story and everyone's
different, and where it's goneis unbelievable really.

(01:06:09):
Where it's gone is unbelievablereally, from the time we sat
down and recorded our intro injustin's kitchen as we were
drinking beer and now I don'tdrink anymore um I think our
first episode, we even did anamazing adventure we were like
what kind of beer are wedrinking?

(01:06:31):
yeah, yeah, yeah yeah that'sdope.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
I uh, yeah, I think my episode is dropping, dropping
tomorrow for you guys, so I'mexcited to listen to that too.
Uh, you also have one of mybuddies, I think, coming on.
I think you guys are gonna.
He is an absolute riot, soyou're going to love having him
on.
He?
He actually just finished hisfirst Ironman last year too, so

(01:06:58):
he actually likes running,unlike me, so he'll like that, I
think he's next week.
I think he's next Sunday, hell,yeah, well, I, yeah, I really
appreciate you guys coming ontalking.
It was a great episode, and Iloved hearing about anything
that's inspiring or anythingwellness and health based, like

(01:07:20):
running a hundred fucking miles.
I think it's super awesome whatyou guys are doing, especially
with the podcast too.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
Is there anything that you wanted to tell anybody
out there my listeners aboutmaybe pushing their limits and
any advice on how to do that.
I'll say the human body is anamazing tool.
Put it that way If you don'tthink you can do it, you can
With any type of movementactivity.

(01:07:58):
You put in the effort, the work, the consistency and you can do
it.
That's what I've learnedthrough a lot of my stuff,
especially ultra running.
You know we always get the 100miles.
I don't even like to drive thatfar.

(01:08:20):
I would rather run it thandrive it.
To tell you the truth, get tosee a lot more and a lot more
stuff to deal with.
But what it's really taught meis that I can do anything that I
put my mind out to do.
I may not have the funnest timethe whole time, but you learn a
hell of a lot about yourselfwhen you do accomplish that, um,

(01:08:42):
that a longer distance even.
You know it doesn't matter whatsport is.
If you don't push yourself andjust stay comfortable, you're
not going to grow.
And sometimes you have to stepout and push yourself to see the
benefits of that.

(01:09:02):
Yeah, you may not like it atthe time when you're doing it,
but you keep doing it and you'llsee some growth, I think,
mentally, physically and thenyou'll start to set up some more
goals and become more drivenand keep pushing harder.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Dope, I think a ultramarathon, because that's
what I know is 50% physical and90% mental.
So, uh, you can do the math onthat one.
Um, yeah, that's pretty much it.
Yeah, that's it's.
It's a mental game.
You know, making your mindstrong by going out and doing

(01:09:43):
crazy things.
Um, keeps your mind strong whenyou know everyday crap comes up
, it's like, whatever, we'll getthrough it.
Go build some care.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Oh, yeah, go go build some fucking character.
I love it well, uh, with thatyou heard it.
Folks go build some fuckingcharacter and appreciate y'all
listening.
You know the drill Stay up andfeel free.