August 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Running is more than exercise, it’s a teacher.
In this episode, I explore the lessons running offers far beyond the trail: how it strengthens the body, sharpens the mind, quiets the noise of the modern world, and reveals truths about discipline, resilience, and perspective.
I share how running has shaped my everyday life and the way I face challenges. Along the way, we’ll reflect on insights from Stoic philosophers, modern endurance athletes, and thinkers like Chris Williamson, Jocko Willink, and Seneca.
This isn’t just an episode for runners, it’s for anyone seeking a way to face discomfort, train resilience, and reconnect with their inner voice. Because whether your “run” is on the road, in your work, or in your relationships, the lessons are the same: keep going, endure, and find freedom through discipline.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the physical benefits of running are just the beginning.
- How chosen suffering prepares you for life’s unchosen suffering.
- The role of silence in finding clarity and perspective.
- Life lessons about discipline, resilience, and pushing beyond imagined limits.
Running is a metaphor for life—and the road is always waiting.
–– Keep Getting After It.
–––––––––––––––––-
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I hope today’s episode sparked something within you to pursue your dreams and unlock your true potential. If you found value in it, consider sharing it with someone who might need that same push.
Getting After It is for those who. want to silence their self-doubt. Refuse to be owned by comfort. Understand their limits are man-made and breakable. We live in a time of constant comparison. Social media drowns us in highlight reels and overnight success stories. But what most people don’t see is the grit behind it all. The reps. The quiet mornings. The sacrifices. The failures.
You are just getting started.
Keep Getting After It.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to the getting after a podcast.
Everybody, thanks for spendingsome time with your friend Brett
.
I know you got a bunch of otherstuff that you could be doing,
and so it means a lot that youwanted to take some time to hang
out with your pal.
So thank you, and if you'relistening on Spotify or Apple
podcasts, if this podcast ishelpful at all to you and you
feel like you want to leave arating, that helps and it goes a
(00:26):
long way.
So thank you for that andexcited about today's topic.
This is something that I amvery passionate about, and I'm
sure there's probably a fewthings that you could guess I'm
going to talk about today andyou'd probably be right, but I
want to talk about somethingthat's been one of my greatest
(00:48):
teachers.
That's running.
And now don't check out ifyou're not a runner.
I don't want you to feel likeyou have to relate to me as a
runner If you're listening tothis podcast.
There's a lot of lessons thatI've learned through running
that you can apply to otherfacets of life, and the reason
being is because running, at itscore, is one of the purest
(01:11):
metaphors for life.
It really is.
You learn a lot about adversity.
You learn a lot about pushingyour limits.
You learn about what it's liketo have runs where you just feel
like you're dying the wholetime and other runs where you're
feeling great, just how like inlife you sometimes you feel
like you're on top of the world.
Sometimes you feel like you'rerock bottom.
Running is almost like lifecondensed into a very short time
(01:36):
, if that makes any sense, andif you're a runner you might
relate to that.
But I've realized that once youlace up and you're about to go
on to a run, if it's in themountains or if it's on the road
, it doesn't matter.
You're not just training yourlegs, you're not training your
body, you train your mind andyou train your spirit.
And if you pay attention, ifyou listen close enough, you
(01:58):
start to hear lessons that gofar beyond the trails.
You have to take the time toponder and think when you're
running, or you don't have to dothat, but for me that is what
makes it such a beneficialpractice in my life.
It gives me great benefits onthe physical side of things, but
(02:22):
also mentally and emotionally.
I feel like it trains me tobecome a better person.
It helps quiet the noise and,like I said, the larger life
lessons that carry into kind ofeverything that I do.
So I want to break it down foryou all.
Not a dance move.
I wish maybe I can throw in aclip right here of me dancing.
There you go.
(02:48):
Didn't think you'd see it inhere, did you?
Anyways, I want to talk aboutsomething very easily understood
when you talk about running,and that's what it does to the
body, because there's a lot.
Since I've started running, myendurance has completely
transformed.
My heart it beats stronger, mylungs have higher capacity and
(03:09):
my body has learned to be ableto carry me further.
What's crazy is this doesn'tjust show up in my runs, it
shows up everywhere.
Like I said, with thoseprinciples of how it ties into
everything I do in my life, likelifting weights.
It's not necessarily easier,but I feel like I'm able to go
at it longer, like my enduranceis higher because I run, because
(03:30):
I test myself in thiscardiovascular way, not, you
know, walking up the stairs.
I don't feel winded.
Uh, chores around the house goa lot smoother and I have more
energy to do those kinds ofthings because I train my body
the way I do, and so that's onething that I would say is very
important about running is itgives me endurance in all things
(03:51):
of life.
And so you know, you might hearthe thing of man.
He's a runner, like he mustjust be so tired all the time.
That might be true, physicallyI might be tired, or mentally I
might be tired, but if I didn'trun, it would be worse.
And because I run, because Itrain my body the way I do, like
I said, I'm able to endurethings longer.
(04:12):
I'm able to be patient.
Uh, running teaches you how tobe patient, and sometimes you
expect these great big resultsto happen and it's not until,
you know, six months down theroad when you finally see it
through.
Uh, we'll talk more about thatin a minute.
But, um, one thing I want totalk about with with the body
and what running does to thebody, is, if you run, if you
(04:36):
decide to run, you will learnvery quickly how to break your
limits.
And let me give an example here.
So when I first ran my firstmarathon, I first ran my first
marathon, when I ran my firstmarathon, I uh hadn't really
trained very long distances tothat point.
Like, I think the furthesttraining run I had was 16 miles,
so an extra 10 was going to beneeded to add onto that.
(04:58):
And I do remember after the 16miles I was beat, like it was
tough and I was like I don'teven know if I want to do the
marathon because I feel trashedright now.
But you got to understand thatthis was the first time I ever
ran 16 miles, so of course I wasgoing to feel trashed.
My body didn't know how torecover, how to process it, and
(05:20):
it wasn't easy.
But once I got to that 16 milemark on race day, it wasn't easy
.
But once I got to that 16-milemark on race day, every step
after that was a new PR formyself in terms of distance that
I've run.
And so I was at 16, and I wasexpecting my body to fully shut
down.
I was like, okay, this is aslong as I've gone before.
I don't know what to expect onthese next 10 miles, so I'm
(05:43):
hoping I'm okay.
And then I made it to mile 17,.
Made it to mile 18.
I had some fueling issues, soaround mile 18, I kind of hit a
wall, but I still finished therace.
I finished that 26.2 miles and,like I said, it was not easy
but it was possible.
And that's when I realized thatour limits a lot of the times
(06:06):
are not physical, they're mental.
We put ourselves in thesesituations where we expect these
certain things to happen.
We go for the worst casescenario when we don't have any
evidence that that's going tohappen in the first place.
But when we try and break thoselimits, when you try and step
outside of them by doing thingslike running further than you've
ever have, or maybe it's you'rea writer and you maybe just
(06:29):
need to sit down and writelonger than you ever have, don't
get afraid of big goals infront of you.
If it's, you know you want tostart a business and you're
going to have to work hardermentally than you ever had.
You can do these things, youcan break these limits.
Just because you haven't doneit yet Doesn't mean you can't do
it in the future or do it today, like those limits are all
(06:52):
mental and once you see that andonce you kind of understand
that you have the power to breakthrough these limits, you
become someone that you didn'tknow you could become.
And it sounds very cliche andself-help like, but there's a
reason why cliches stay aroundit's because there's some truth
(07:12):
to it.
So I want you to try that.
I want you to try and push yourlimits, to try and see how far
you can go.
And I do want to mention reallyquickly, because the body is
taxed a lot during running.
You use a lot of energy, yourmuscles get tired, your joints
get sore, so there's a lot thatyour body is requesting you to
(07:33):
do, and, especially if you'regoing up a mountain, you're
going to be burning a lot ofcalories with elevation,
whatever it is.
And so recovery plays a big rolein running, and I've learned
that listening to your own bodyis a non-negotiable Like.
That is something if I wish Icould go back and tell myself
earlier when I started.
My running journey is not tocompare myself to other people
(07:54):
who have been doing it muchlonger than myself on social
media.
It's to understand that thejourney I'm on is my own unique
journey and with that, my bodyis its own unique body.
No one else out there has abody like Brett Rossell.
I'll tell you that much.
I mean look at this, yeah, sexy.
(08:16):
Anyways, that's the thing is,everyone's recovery needs are
going to be different, and sonow I'm at the point to where I
can run 13 miles or 15 miles andthen the next day I'm running
again and it's not that big of adeal, but it used to be.
I want to make that very clear.
That used to be something thatwas difficult for me, but it's
only because I've beenconsistent and it's only because
(08:37):
I've stayed disciplined thatnow it feels like it's kind of a
little easier to keep going.
So feels like it's kind of alittle easier to keep going.
So that's just one thing I wantto make sure that you
understand is you need to eatwhole foods.
Comparison is poison.
Make sure you're getting a goodratio of protein, carbs and
fats.
Just the basics.
(08:57):
And I will tell you this if youignore your body, it will break
down.
But if you respect it, it willcarry you further than you
thought.
And I came across this quotefrom this guy named Emil Zatopek
.
This is a great quote, but hewas known to be the Czech
locomotive that's what theycalled him.
And this guy trained in armyboots and pushed his body to the
(09:21):
extremes like he was nuts.
But anyways, he has this quotewhere he says if you want to win
something, run 100 meters.
If you want to experiencesomething, run a marathon.
So the body is a doorway, butreal transformation happens
deeper, and I think the reasonwhy marathons are so valuable at
(09:44):
least to myself is because itis a chance for you to really
see what you're made of, for youto push all that negative
self-talk away, to dig deep, tofight when it's hard and to
celebrate when you finish.
Marathons are not easy, butthey're great teachers.
They really do help youunderstand where your weaknesses
(10:06):
are, or, if you're goingthrough something, it helps you
at least take a moment to pauseand think, and that's what we're
talking about.
Next is the mental and emotionalbenefits that come from running
, because for me, running is anoutlet.
It doesn't necessarily eraseyour problems Far from it but
for me, it gives me space toprocess them Out.
(10:27):
On a run, you can ask yourselfwhat do I want to do today?
How do I want to make myselfbetter than I was yesterday?
How can I improve my situation?
If you're going throughsomething, maybe that's a
question you ponder.
But don't just have thatthought.
Really think about it when youask yourself how do I want this
day to go?
Well, think about your day.
(10:47):
Visualize what you're going tobe doing at each hour of the day
really get into it, becausethat's going to help you feel
like it's going to go a lotsmoother through that day
because you already have a planin your head of how you want it
to go.
And running itself just givesyou that chance and that
opportunity to really put thingsaside, because you're not going
(11:08):
to be texting, you're not goingto be scrolling social media on
a run, you're going to be inyour head and I think sometimes
it's good to not run with musicor to run with podcasts or books
that help you think aboutthings.
But I mean, sometimes music isgreat, like sometimes I need
music to get through.
You know, give me that extrapump up to push through.
(11:30):
But I really do think that ifyou treat running as an
opportunity to think, you'llstart to see it differently.
It won't become a chore anymore.
It'll become something that youlook forward to.
At least this is what happenshas happened to me.
It also makes it easier for meto handle the trials of life,
and this is something I'vebrought up before on this
podcast.
But Chris Williamson's idea ofchosen versus unchosen suffering
I love this idea and for merunning is a chosen suffering
(11:55):
Every mile I run on or everymile I do is a voluntary
hardship that I'm willing to putmyself through.
And what has happened to mesince I choose to suffer daily
is I'm a little more preparedwhen unchosen suffering arises.
So when things don't go my wayat work, if something happens in
the family, whatever it is, mycar breaks down, like I'm a
(12:18):
little more able to handle theunchosen suffering.
And if you don't understandwhat I'm trying to say, maybe
you need something like that inyour life.
Maybe you need something thatis going to push your limits, to
test yourself.
That way, when other lifechallenges come up, you know how
to deal with them a little bitbetter.
Because every run I do there'salways a chance for me to quit,
but I tell myself I'm just goingto take a few more steps and if
(12:41):
I feel this way, maybe I willgive into that voice.
But that's never the case,because every time I tell myself
, hey, let's just go anothermile, I'll get that extra mile
and those bad thoughts will beleft a mile behind and I'm just
cruising and then I just try andkeep that going.
I keep the momentum rolling.
That is power, and you canapply that to unchosen suffering
(13:04):
in your life Like if you loseyour job and now your full-time
job is applying to other placesor maybe it's.
You want to start an idea, thenyou need to go hard, like send
a bunch of applications out,research the companies you're
applying to, and then maybe,when you're done, you're tired,
you're exhausted.
You tell yourself I can do onemore because that'll set my odds
(13:24):
.
Just hey, one more in my favor.
So you try and test yourself,you try and push a little bit
further than you did in the pastand that'll get you in a better
place in the future.
And so find something that isdifficult for you to do.
I would also say that runningalmost every time it leaves me
sharper mentally.
(13:45):
I can think a little bit moreclearly, my emotions, they feel
lighter.
Some people call it a runner'shigh, but I just think it's
satisfaction of my effort reallyFinishing, even if it's at 50%
of my best.
It gives me confidence.
It proves that I can face theday or prove that I can, you
know, push myself when I'm tiredDepends on when I'm running
(14:08):
that day, but either way, it'salways a chance for me to prove
to myself that I can show up forwhat I want, what I'm
passionate about and it's hard.
But when I first startedrunning I would say I probably
ran for the physical benefits ofit.
But somewhere along the way Iunderstood that running was less
(14:28):
about my muscles and myendurance and now it's almost a
way for me to think of peace,like have peace of mind.
Now I run just as much for mymental health as I do my
physical health and it's beenquite a blessing for me.
I do my physical health andit's been quite a blessing for
me.
But bringing in a quote here, Ilove this quote from Dean.
(14:57):
His name is Karnaziz, deanKarnaziz, but I'm sure you've
heard this quote before.
But he says run when you canWalk, if you have to Crawl, if
you must Just never give up.
So for me, running trains mybody, but it strengthens my mind
and that brings us to somethinga little bit deeper, which is
(15:17):
silence, quieting the noise andquieting your inner voice,
especially on a run.
That's when it's going to bethe loudest is when you're out
on the trails and you're goingup a hill and that voice in your
head is saying why are we doingthis?
Let's turn around.
We can easily do a one 80 andrun down this trail, it's a lot
easier, but you have to learn.
(15:37):
If you have goals to hitcertain distances or become the
runner that you want to be, youhave to learn how to push past
those thoughts.
And quieting that voice is verydifficult in today's world.
We have deafening noises fromnotifications, comparisons, from
the demands of our own lives.
It's constant and runningdoesn't erase that noise for me,
(15:59):
but it gives you some distancefrom it to be able to be with
your own thoughts.
And the trails, the mountainshave become kind of a sanctuary
for myself.
Nature has its own quiet.
It's beautiful and the trees,the mountains, the sky, the
(16:21):
little creeks out there runningfeels less like exercise and
it's more like I'm and it's morelike I'm meditating, almost
Because you're out in the quiet,you're with your own thoughts
and sometimes you have to bedisciplined with your thought.
But it's peaceful in a way thatfew things are to me.
There's few places in my lifethat I feel at peace, but one of
(16:44):
them is the mountains.
Even when I'm, I'm huffing andpuffing and I'm I'm struggling
to get up a mountain or get upthe trail, to keep going.
You know there's still a lot ofpeace about it because I'm out
in nature.
It's beautiful and At least I'mjust by myself.
Like that is something that is,uh, really meaningful to me as
(17:06):
being able to have that time toyourself to think, to decompress
in a way like, yes, you areworking out, but it's a way for
you just to emotionallydecompress.
You don't have to think aboutlife's challenges, you don't
have to think about you knowwhat you're going to be doing.
Um, with a certain problem, ofcourse, I think it's.
It's important to think aboutthose things when you're running
, but you don't have to.
It gives you distance from thenoise of the world, which I need
(17:31):
a lot of the times.
Sometimes I bring podcasts,sometimes I bring music, like I
said, or audio books.
But when you are in silence onthe trails even if you don't
choose to do it often like Idon't choose to do it very often
but when it's silent, when youdon't have anything in your ears
, you hear something else.
You hear your breathing, youhear your footsteps, you hear
(17:55):
your heartbeat sometimes and youhear your thoughts unraveling
themselves Like what have younot been thinking about that you
probably should be?
What have you put aside thatyou haven't wanted to think
about because maybe the idea ofit is intimidating.
It gives you a chance to stepaway from life's noises and to
(18:16):
think about what's important toyou.
I wouldn't say that runninggives me clarity to every single
problem that I have in life.
That would be a lie.
But it's given me somethingjust as valuable and it's a
buffer.
Like I was saying, you don'thave to think about the problems
in your life, but at least youhave the chance to not think
about them.
You can be focused a hundredpercent on the trails.
(18:37):
You want to make sure that yourfooting is good.
You want to make sure that youdon't step on a snake or trip
over a log.
You want to make sure thatyou're being intentional with
every step, and thatintentionality brings a sort of
presence that's hard to findsomewhere else.
So I would say, if you strugglewith just comprehending the
challenges that are in life,maybe just lace up some shoes,
(18:59):
leave your phone at home, don'tbring any headphones and just
walk.
If running is not your thing,walking is a great alternative.
Marcus Aurelius, someone who Ialways talk about.
He even he's an emperor of Romeand he would walk around the
palace grounds at dawn, justcarving a little solitude for
the chaos that was going to comeinto his day.
(19:20):
So if you're a mom, if you're adad, a parent, if you have huge
responsibilities at work, maybethis silence in the morning
will become a daily practicethat you didn't know you needed
and it will help.
You see that you can pushyourself, that you can in fact
handle the day's challenges thatare about to come, and it gives
(19:41):
you a sense of meditation firstthing in the morning.
And so I would say, just findways that you can be alone with
your thoughts, to have thatsilence.
Running is a great way to dothat, but there's also other
ways that you can and otherdifferent avenues you can
achieve this thing with.
So silence is important.
(20:02):
You, you should be silent a fewtimes a day and just sit with
your thoughts, and for me,running has given me that
opportunity.
But running has also taught mequite a bit about discipline,
resilience and even perspective.
Running doesn't just make youfitter or calmer.
It teaches you lessons thatspill into every corner of your
(20:24):
life.
So this is where we're going totalk about the more applicable
life lessons that we can takefrom running and put them into
our life.
For example, when I, when I,qualified for Boston.
It was one of the hardest runsI've ever done.
It was bitterly cold, the rainwas pouring down on us, it was
(20:44):
February.
Um, there were moments where Ithought I'd lost the pace, that
I needed to finish the race, butI decided I wasn't going to let
that slip behind, because I putso much work into this moment
that I wanted to go sub threeand I was doing well.
But I was a little bit behindand so I had to dig deep.
In that moment I had to putaside the fact that I was
feeling cold, the fact that Iwas wet, the fact that I was
(21:06):
tired and my legs were startingto shake, but I had to keep
going.
I had to find where that wascoming from, where I could find
that discipline to push myself,and I did.
I decided I wasn't going towaste all that work and so I I
really dug as deep as I couldand I ran as hard as I could for
the remainder of the race.
I came in at around two 56 forthat time.
(21:27):
But that day taught meresilience, because resilience
doesn't wait for perfectpredictions.
Wow, let me retry that.
That day taught me resiliencedoes not wait for perfect
conditions.
It shows up precisely whenthings are not perfect.
So that day there were so manythings that were wrong.
(21:48):
I don't even think I wasfeeling as good as I should have
been on the actual race itself.
But I had to learn how to beresilient, how I was going to
bounce back, and that lesson hasapplied into every aspect of my
life.
Career is obviously one easy onethat we can all probably relate
to a little bit, but beingresilient in my career means
(22:09):
that in sales you have to beresilient.
You're going to be told no alot.
You're going to get told thatthe timing doesn't work or that
they found a competitor thatthey want to go with instead of
you, like.
There's so many things that candemoralize you and really break
down your spirit to want to goout and try and keep selling to
other people, and so you have tolearn how to be resilient, how
to how to bounce back whenthings don't typically go your
(22:32):
way, or when they don't go yourway, because odds are they won't
most of the time, and it'simportant for you to be able to
distinguish between when you'refeeling hopeless and when you're
feeling like you can changeyour situation.
But the work in front of you isintimidating, because a lot of
(22:55):
the times we're not hopeless,we're just afraid of the work
that we need to do.
And that's what running hastaught me is you can push
yourself further than youthought you could.
And so whenever I am in that,that down state where I don't
feel like things are going myway or I maybe I worked hard on
something and it didn't come outto the way that I wanted to,
(23:17):
it's in those times when youhave to say, hey, I'm going to
work as hard as I can to comeback.
I'll come back from this.
I know I can do it.
I'm a human being.
Humans are resilient.
Resilience shows up whenconditions are not perfect.
That's when you have to beresilient.
(23:38):
And running has also redefineddiscomfort for me.
I used to see it as a wall andnow I see it as a conversation.
I talked about this when Aliwas last on the podcast.
But discomfort will ask you doyou have what it takes to keep
on going?
And running has shown me thatthe answer is almost always yes.
(23:58):
Our limits are imagined anddiscipline this really might be
the greatest gift that runninghas taught me, because
discipline in running isn'tisolated.
It seeps into everything.
It seeps into your work.
Like I said, your relationship,your faith, creative projects.
Running has shown me that I amsomeone who can endure, who can
(24:22):
go farther, who can keep gettingafter it when it matters most.
And that requires discipline,and it's been one of the guiding
principles in my life isdiscipline.
If I know that there'ssomething that needs to be done
that's not easy I try and tacklethat thing first.
I just try and get it out ofthe way, try and get it done,
because I know it needs to bedone and that requires
(24:43):
discipline a lot of the times.
But each time you get theopportunity to exercise
discipline and I want to makethat clear you get the
opportunity to exercisediscipline.
Not a lot of people do, but ifyou're deciding to go out on a
run, be very grateful for thatopportunity, because there's
people out there who don't havethat ability, who might be sick,
(25:05):
who might be old, who might nothave a body that works as well
as yours, and so the opportunityto be disciplined is something
you should take and be gratefulthat you have.
Like I said, there's so manyothers out there who don't have
that opportunity and you do, somake the most of it, and I know
it's hard.
But that perspective changewill help you at least
(25:29):
understand that discipline isnot the enemy here.
Discipline is going to get youto where you want to go, but
it's not going to be acomfortable journey.
It almost never is acomfortable journey, and that's
fine.
You should expect that.
But don't expect yourself to beable to go do something once
and have the ability to go do itagain.
(25:51):
No, every time I run itrequires discipline to get
started.
Even on days when I'm tired,you still have to have that
discipline.
But you will quickly learn thatyou can apply that discipline
to every facet of your life andyou'll become a person that you
didn't think you would be.
I'm not saying this because Ithink it's it's a nice thing to
(26:11):
say.
I'm saying this because I thinkit's it's a nice thing to say.
I'm saying it because I thinkit's true, because I think if
you apply yourself in one areaso aggressively and so dedicated
to this pursuit of running orwhatever other thing you can
insert there, you're going tolearn things that can apply to
other areas of your life.
Like that is why getting afteris so important to me, not
(26:32):
because it's some nice thingthat I say getting after it is
not a nice thing that's supposedto be written on t-shirts and
or put on your wall Like,obviously it's a.
It's a nice phrase gettingafter it.
But getting after it is ablessing.
It's an opportunity to be ableto test yourself.
It's an opportunity to be ableto see what you're capable of
doing, what your potential is inthis life.
(26:54):
And it's all through doing small, disciplined decisions every
single day.
And they can be small,disciplined decisions, like it
doesn't have to be some huge,drastic change you make
overnight.
In fact, I would argue thesmaller ones are what make that
lasting, large change, becauseconsistency compounds and the
smaller you can have your habit,or the the most basic way that
(27:16):
you can have your your habit.
Be like, if it's just you'regoing to run a mile a day, if
that's your goal, then you dothat.
You show up every single daybecause you have the opportunity
to run one mile every day andwhen that voice in your head
says, hey, this sucks, this ishard, you need to tell that
voice to shut up.
And you need to tell that voice, hey, this is a gift, this is a
blessing.
I'm going to make the most ofit, you'll be able to see that
(27:40):
perspective switch and thatchange.
And, like Jocko always says,discipline equals freedom.
When you start living it, youwill begin to see it everywhere.
It's not some nice thing thatI'm telling you.
I believe this to be true.
If you're disciplined in allaspects of your life, you will
(28:02):
be free from so many things.
You'll be free from obesity,from financial issues, from
relationships that are damagedby ego.
Take ownership of all thesethings.
You're the one that can controlthem.
It's not your wife, it's notyour husband, it's not your
parents.
It's you.
You have your own destiny inyour own hands and you have the
(28:25):
decision.
You have the opportunity tofigure out what you want to do
with it.
It's all on you.
I want to leave you with this,because running isn't just about
running.
It's about life to me, and itstrengthens your body, it clears
your mind, quiets the noise andit teaches you lessons that
ripple into everything that youdo.
You don't have to be a runnerto take these lessons.
(28:47):
Maybe for you, it's liftingcould be writing, painting,
painting, parenting, building abusiness.
The point is you need to find,whatever your run is, find the
thing that pushes you find thething that humbles you and
teaches you, because in the end,that's really what runner
running is.
For me, it's a teacher, it's amirror, it's guide, and the road
(29:12):
is always waiting for me.
The trails are calling my name.
Whatever that thing is for you,find it and hold on to it,
because that is a gift.
Finding whatever passion youhave is a gift.
It might take someexperimentation, you might have
to get out of your comfort zone,but that's what life's about.
(29:34):
It's not about sitting in yourcomfort zone all the time.
You're meant to grow, you'remeant to become better, you're
meant to become stronger andyou're meant to get after life.
I firmly believe that If today'sepisode resonated with you at
all, I'd encourage you not justto listen to it, but to apply it
.
Lace up your shoes, go out on arun, test what I'm talking
(29:57):
about.
See if it resonates with you atall.
If it's not running, maybe it'sgo for a bike ride.
Whatever it is, do somethingthat's uncomfortable to you,
because the lessons are outthere and they're waiting for
you to claim them.
So I appreciate you guys forlistening to today's episode.
Running is very important to me.
It's taught me a lot.
(30:17):
It's made me a better person,and I know I can do the same for
you.
Start slow, but get after itand, as always, keep getting
after it.
Thanks, guys.
Welcome back to the getting after a podcast.
Everybody, thanks for spendingsome time with your friend Brett
.
I know you got a bunch of otherstuff that you could be doing,
and so it means a lot that youwanted to take some time to hang
out with your pal.
So thank you, and if you'relistening on Spotify or Apple
podcasts, if this podcast ishelpful at all to you and you
feel like you want to leave arating, that helps and it goes a
(00:26):
long way.
So thank you for that andexcited about today's topic.
This is something that I amvery passionate about, and I'm
sure there's probably a fewthings that you could guess I'm
going to talk about today andyou'd probably be right, but I
want to talk about somethingthat's been one of my greatest
(00:48):
teachers.
That's running.
And now don't check out ifyou're not a runner.
I don't want you to feel likeyou have to relate to me as a
runner If you're listening tothis podcast.
There's a lot of lessons thatI've learned through running
that you can apply to otherfacets of life, and the reason
being is because running, at itscore, is one of the purest
(01:11):
metaphors for life.
It really is.
You learn a lot about adversity.
You learn a lot about pushingyour limits.
You learn about what it's liketo have runs where you just feel
like you're dying the wholetime and other runs where you're
feeling great, just how like inlife you sometimes you feel
like you're on top of the world.
Sometimes you feel like you'rerock bottom.
Running is almost like lifecondensed into a very short time
(01:36):
, if that makes any sense, andif you're a runner you might
relate to that.
But I've realized that once youlace up and you're about to go
on to a run, if it's in themountains or if it's on the road
, it doesn't matter.
You're not just training yourlegs, you're not training your
body, you train your mind andyou train your spirit.
And if you pay attention, ifyou listen close enough, you
(01:58):
start to hear lessons that gofar beyond the trails.
You have to take the time toponder and think when you're
running, or you don't have to dothat, but for me that is what
makes it such a beneficialpractice in my life.
It gives me great benefits onthe physical side of things, but
(02:22):
also mentally and emotionally.
I feel like it trains me tobecome a better person.
It helps quiet the noise and,like I said, the larger life
lessons that carry into kind ofeverything that I do.
So I want to break it down foryou all.
Not a dance move.
I wish maybe I can throw in aclip right here of me dancing.
There you go.
(02:48):
Didn't think you'd see it inhere, did you?
Anyways, I want to talk aboutsomething very easily understood
when you talk about running,and that's what it does to the
body, because there's a lot.
Since I've started running, myendurance has completely
transformed.
My heart it beats stronger, mylungs have higher capacity and
(03:09):
my body has learned to be ableto carry me further.
What's crazy is this doesn'tjust show up in my runs, it
shows up everywhere.
Like I said, with thoseprinciples of how it ties into
everything I do in my life, likelifting weights.
It's not necessarily easier,but I feel like I'm able to go
at it longer, like my enduranceis higher because I run, because
(03:30):
I test myself in thiscardiovascular way, not, you
know, walking up the stairs.
I don't feel winded.
Uh, chores around the house goa lot smoother and I have more
energy to do those kinds ofthings because I train my body
the way I do, and so that's onething that I would say is very
important about running is itgives me endurance in all things
(03:51):
of life.
And so you know, you might hearthe thing of man.
He's a runner, like he mustjust be so tired all the time.
That might be true, physicallyI might be tired, or mentally I
might be tired, but if I didn'trun, it would be worse.
And because I run, because Itrain my body the way I do, like
I said, I'm able to endurethings longer.
(04:12):
I'm able to be patient.
Uh, running teaches you how tobe patient, and sometimes you
expect these great big resultsto happen and it's not until,
you know, six months down theroad when you finally see it
through.
Uh, we'll talk more about thatin a minute.
But, um, one thing I want totalk about with with the body
and what running does to thebody, is, if you run, if you
(04:36):
decide to run, you will learnvery quickly how to break your
limits.
And let me give an example here.
So when I first ran my firstmarathon, I first ran my first
marathon, when I ran my firstmarathon, I uh hadn't really
trained very long distances tothat point.
Like, I think the furthesttraining run I had was 16 miles,
so an extra 10 was going to beneeded to add onto that.
(04:58):
And I do remember after the 16miles I was beat, like it was
tough and I was like I don'teven know if I want to do the
marathon because I feel trashedright now.
But you got to understand thatthis was the first time I ever
ran 16 miles, so of course I wasgoing to feel trashed.
My body didn't know how torecover, how to process it, and
(05:20):
it wasn't easy.
But once I got to that 16 milemark on race day, it wasn't easy
.
But once I got to that 16-milemark on race day, every step
after that was a new PR formyself in terms of distance that
I've run.
And so I was at 16, and I wasexpecting my body to fully shut
down.
I was like, okay, this is aslong as I've gone before.
I don't know what to expect onthese next 10 miles, so I'm
(05:43):
hoping I'm okay.
And then I made it to mile 17,.
Made it to mile 18.
I had some fueling issues, soaround mile 18, I kind of hit a
wall, but I still finished therace.
I finished that 26.2 miles and,like I said, it was not easy
but it was possible.
And that's when I realized thatour limits a lot of the times
(06:06):
are not physical, they're mental.
We put ourselves in thesesituations where we expect these
certain things to happen.
We go for the worst casescenario when we don't have any
evidence that that's going tohappen in the first place.
But when we try and break thoselimits, when you try and step
outside of them by doing thingslike running further than you've
ever have, or maybe it's you'rea writer and you maybe just
(06:29):
need to sit down and writelonger than you ever have, don't
get afraid of big goals infront of you.
If it's, you know you want tostart a business and you're
going to have to work hardermentally than you ever had.
You can do these things, youcan break these limits.
Just because you haven't doneit yet Doesn't mean you can't do
it in the future or do it today, like those limits are all
(06:52):
mental and once you see that andonce you kind of understand
that you have the power to breakthrough these limits, you
become someone that you didn'tknow you could become.
And it sounds very cliche andself-help like, but there's a
reason why cliches stay aroundit's because there's some truth
(07:12):
to it.
So I want you to try that.
I want you to try and push yourlimits, to try and see how far
you can go.
And I do want to mention reallyquickly, because the body is
taxed a lot during running.
You use a lot of energy, yourmuscles get tired, your joints
get sore, so there's a lot thatyour body is requesting you to
(07:33):
do, and, especially if you'regoing up a mountain, you're
going to be burning a lot ofcalories with elevation,
whatever it is.
And so recovery plays a big rolein running, and I've learned
that listening to your own bodyis a non-negotiable Like.
That is something if I wish Icould go back and tell myself
earlier when I started.
My running journey is not tocompare myself to other people
(07:54):
who have been doing it muchlonger than myself on social
media.
It's to understand that thejourney I'm on is my own unique
journey and with that, my bodyis its own unique body.
No one else out there has abody like Brett Rossell.
I'll tell you that much.
I mean look at this, yeah, sexy.
(08:16):
Anyways, that's the thing is,everyone's recovery needs are
going to be different, and sonow I'm at the point to where I
can run 13 miles or 15 miles andthen the next day I'm running
again and it's not that big of adeal, but it used to be.
I want to make that very clear.
That used to be something thatwas difficult for me, but it's
only because I've beenconsistent and it's only because
(08:37):
I've stayed disciplined thatnow it feels like it's kind of a
little easier to keep going.
So feels like it's kind of alittle easier to keep going.
So that's just one thing I wantto make sure that you
understand is you need to eatwhole foods.
Comparison is poison.
Make sure you're getting a goodratio of protein, carbs and
fats.
Just the basics.
(08:57):
And I will tell you this if youignore your body, it will break
down.
But if you respect it, it willcarry you further than you
thought.
And I came across this quotefrom this guy named Emil Zatopek
.
This is a great quote, but hewas known to be the Czech
locomotive that's what theycalled him.
And this guy trained in armyboots and pushed his body to the
(09:21):
extremes like he was nuts.
But anyways, he has this quotewhere he says if you want to win
something, run 100 meters.
If you want to experiencesomething, run a marathon.
So the body is a doorway, butreal transformation happens
deeper, and I think the reasonwhy marathons are so valuable at
(09:44):
least to myself is because itis a chance for you to really
see what you're made of, for youto push all that negative
self-talk away, to dig deep, tofight when it's hard and to
celebrate when you finish.
Marathons are not easy, butthey're great teachers.
They really do help youunderstand where your weaknesses
(10:06):
are, or, if you're goingthrough something, it helps you
at least take a moment to pauseand think, and that's what we're
talking about.
Next is the mental and emotionalbenefits that come from running
, because for me, running is anoutlet.
It doesn't necessarily eraseyour problems Far from it but
for me, it gives me space toprocess them Out.
(10:27):
On a run, you can ask yourselfwhat do I want to do today?
How do I want to make myselfbetter than I was yesterday?
How can I improve my situation?
If you're going throughsomething, maybe that's a
question you ponder.
But don't just have thatthought.
Really think about it when youask yourself how do I want this
day to go?
Well, think about your day.
(10:47):
Visualize what you're going tobe doing at each hour of the day
really get into it, becausethat's going to help you feel
like it's going to go a lotsmoother through that day
because you already have a planin your head of how you want it
to go.
And running itself just givesyou that chance and that
opportunity to really put thingsaside, because you're not going
(11:08):
to be texting, you're not goingto be scrolling social media on
a run, you're going to be inyour head and I think sometimes
it's good to not run with musicor to run with podcasts or books
that help you think aboutthings.
But I mean, sometimes music isgreat, like sometimes I need
music to get through.
You know, give me that extrapump up to push through.
(11:30):
But I really do think that ifyou treat running as an
opportunity to think, you'llstart to see it differently.
It won't become a chore anymore.
It'll become something that youlook forward to.
At least this is what happenshas happened to me.
It also makes it easier for meto handle the trials of life,
and this is something I'vebrought up before on this
podcast.
But Chris Williamson's idea ofchosen versus unchosen suffering
I love this idea and for merunning is a chosen suffering
(11:55):
Every mile I run on or everymile I do is a voluntary
hardship that I'm willing to putmyself through.
And what has happened to mesince I choose to suffer daily
is I'm a little more preparedwhen unchosen suffering arises.
So when things don't go my wayat work, if something happens in
the family, whatever it is, mycar breaks down, like I'm a
(12:18):
little more able to handle theunchosen suffering.
And if you don't understandwhat I'm trying to say, maybe
you need something like that inyour life.
Maybe you need something thatis going to push your limits, to
test yourself.
That way, when other lifechallenges come up, you know how
to deal with them a little bitbetter.
Because every run I do there'salways a chance for me to quit,
but I tell myself I'm just goingto take a few more steps and if
(12:41):
I feel this way, maybe I willgive into that voice.
But that's never the case,because every time I tell myself
, hey, let's just go anothermile, I'll get that extra mile
and those bad thoughts will beleft a mile behind and I'm just
cruising and then I just try andkeep that going.
I keep the momentum rolling.
That is power, and you canapply that to unchosen suffering
(13:04):
in your life Like if you loseyour job and now your full-time
job is applying to other placesor maybe it's.
You want to start an idea, thenyou need to go hard, like send
a bunch of applications out,research the companies you're
applying to, and then maybe,when you're done, you're tired,
you're exhausted.
You tell yourself I can do onemore because that'll set my odds
(13:24):
.
Just hey, one more in my favor.
So you try and test yourself,you try and push a little bit
further than you did in the pastand that'll get you in a better
place in the future.
And so find something that isdifficult for you to do.
I would also say that runningalmost every time it leaves me
sharper mentally.
(13:45):
I can think a little bit moreclearly, my emotions, they feel
lighter.
Some people call it a runner'shigh, but I just think it's
satisfaction of my effort reallyFinishing, even if it's at 50%
of my best.
It gives me confidence.
It proves that I can face theday or prove that I can, you
know, push myself when I'm tiredDepends on when I'm running
(14:08):
that day, but either way, it'salways a chance for me to prove
to myself that I can show up forwhat I want, what I'm
passionate about and it's hard.
But when I first startedrunning I would say I probably
ran for the physical benefits ofit.
But somewhere along the way Iunderstood that running was less
(14:28):
about my muscles and myendurance and now it's almost a
way for me to think of peace,like have peace of mind.
Now I run just as much for mymental health as I do my
physical health and it's beenquite a blessing for me.
I do my physical health andit's been quite a blessing for
me.
But bringing in a quote here, Ilove this quote from Dean.
(14:57):
His name is Karnaziz, deanKarnaziz, but I'm sure you've
heard this quote before.
But he says run when you canWalk, if you have to Crawl, if
you must Just never give up.
So for me, running trains mybody, but it strengthens my mind
and that brings us to somethinga little bit deeper, which is
(15:17):
silence, quieting the noise andquieting your inner voice,
especially on a run.
That's when it's going to bethe loudest is when you're out
on the trails and you're goingup a hill and that voice in your
head is saying why are we doingthis?
Let's turn around.
We can easily do a one 80 andrun down this trail, it's a lot
easier, but you have to learn.
(15:37):
If you have goals to hitcertain distances or become the
runner that you want to be, youhave to learn how to push past
those thoughts.
And quieting that voice is verydifficult in today's world.
We have deafening noises fromnotifications, comparisons, from
the demands of our own lives.
It's constant and runningdoesn't erase that noise for me,
(15:59):
but it gives you some distancefrom it to be able to be with
your own thoughts.
And the trails, the mountainshave become kind of a sanctuary
for myself.
Nature has its own quiet.
It's beautiful and the trees,the mountains, the sky, the
(16:21):
little creeks out there runningfeels less like exercise and
it's more like I'm and it's morelike I'm meditating, almost
Because you're out in the quiet,you're with your own thoughts
and sometimes you have to bedisciplined with your thought.
But it's peaceful in a way thatfew things are to me.
There's few places in my lifethat I feel at peace, but one of
(16:44):
them is the mountains.
Even when I'm, I'm huffing andpuffing and I'm I'm struggling
to get up a mountain or get upthe trail, to keep going.
You know there's still a lot ofpeace about it because I'm out
in nature.
It's beautiful and At least I'mjust by myself.
Like that is something that is,uh, really meaningful to me as
(17:06):
being able to have that time toyourself to think, to decompress
in a way like, yes, you areworking out, but it's a way for
you just to emotionallydecompress.
You don't have to think aboutlife's challenges, you don't
have to think about you knowwhat you're going to be doing.
Um, with a certain problem, ofcourse, I think it's.
It's important to think aboutthose things when you're running
, but you don't have to.
It gives you distance from thenoise of the world, which I need
(17:31):
a lot of the times.
Sometimes I bring podcasts,sometimes I bring music, like I
said, or audio books.
But when you are in silence onthe trails even if you don't
choose to do it often like Idon't choose to do it very often
but when it's silent, when youdon't have anything in your ears
, you hear something else.
You hear your breathing, youhear your footsteps, you hear
(17:55):
your heartbeat sometimes and youhear your thoughts unraveling
themselves Like what have younot been thinking about that you
probably should be?
What have you put aside thatyou haven't wanted to think
about because maybe the idea ofit is intimidating.
It gives you a chance to stepaway from life's noises and to
(18:16):
think about what's important toyou.
I wouldn't say that runninggives me clarity to every single
problem that I have in life.
That would be a lie.
But it's given me somethingjust as valuable and it's a
buffer.
Like I was saying, you don'thave to think about the problems
in your life, but at least youhave the chance to not think
about them.
You can be focused a hundredpercent on the trails.
(18:37):
You want to make sure that yourfooting is good.
You want to make sure that youdon't step on a snake or trip
over a log.
You want to make sure thatyou're being intentional with
every step, and thatintentionality brings a sort of
presence that's hard to findsomewhere else.
So I would say, if you strugglewith just comprehending the
challenges that are in life,maybe just lace up some shoes,
(18:59):
leave your phone at home, don'tbring any headphones and just
walk.
If running is not your thing,walking is a great alternative.
Marcus Aurelius, someone who Ialways talk about.
He even he's an emperor of Romeand he would walk around the
palace grounds at dawn, justcarving a little solitude for
the chaos that was going to comeinto his day.
(19:20):
So if you're a mom, if you're adad, a parent, if you have huge
responsibilities at work, maybethis silence in the morning
will become a daily practicethat you didn't know you needed
and it will help.
You see that you can pushyourself, that you can in fact
handle the day's challenges thatare about to come, and it gives
(19:41):
you a sense of meditation firstthing in the morning.
And so I would say, just findways that you can be alone with
your thoughts, to have thatsilence.
Running is a great way to dothat, but there's also other
ways that you can and otherdifferent avenues you can
achieve this thing with.
So silence is important.
(20:02):
You, you should be silent a fewtimes a day and just sit with
your thoughts, and for me,running has given me that
opportunity.
But running has also taught mequite a bit about discipline,
resilience and even perspective.
Running doesn't just make youfitter or calmer.
It teaches you lessons thatspill into every corner of your
(20:24):
life.
So this is where we're going totalk about the more applicable
life lessons that we can takefrom running and put them into
our life.
For example, when I, when I,qualified for Boston.
It was one of the hardest runsI've ever done.
It was bitterly cold, the rainwas pouring down on us, it was
(20:44):
February.
Um, there were moments where Ithought I'd lost the pace, that
I needed to finish the race, butI decided I wasn't going to let
that slip behind, because I putso much work into this moment
that I wanted to go sub threeand I was doing well.
But I was a little bit behindand so I had to dig deep.
In that moment I had to putaside the fact that I was
feeling cold, the fact that Iwas wet, the fact that I was
(21:06):
tired and my legs were startingto shake, but I had to keep
going.
I had to find where that wascoming from, where I could find
that discipline to push myself,and I did.
I decided I wasn't going towaste all that work and so I I
really dug as deep as I couldand I ran as hard as I could for
the remainder of the race.
I came in at around two 56 forthat time.
(21:27):
But that day taught meresilience, because resilience
doesn't wait for perfectpredictions.
Wow, let me retry that.
That day taught me resiliencedoes not wait for perfect
conditions.
It shows up precisely whenthings are not perfect.
So that day there were so manythings that were wrong.
(21:48):
I don't even think I wasfeeling as good as I should have
been on the actual race itself.
But I had to learn how to beresilient, how I was going to
bounce back, and that lesson hasapplied into every aspect of my
life.
Career is obviously one easy onethat we can all probably relate
to a little bit, but beingresilient in my career means
(22:09):
that in sales you have to beresilient.
You're going to be told no alot.
You're going to get told thatthe timing doesn't work or that
they found a competitor thatthey want to go with instead of
you, like.
There's so many things that candemoralize you and really break
down your spirit to want to goout and try and keep selling to
other people, and so you have tolearn how to be resilient, how
to how to bounce back whenthings don't typically go your
(22:32):
way, or when they don't go yourway, because odds are they won't
most of the time, and it'simportant for you to be able to
distinguish between when you'refeeling hopeless and when you're
feeling like you can changeyour situation.
But the work in front of you isintimidating, because a lot of
(22:55):
the times we're not hopeless,we're just afraid of the work
that we need to do.
And that's what running hastaught me is you can push
yourself further than youthought you could.
And so whenever I am in that,that down state where I don't
feel like things are going myway or I maybe I worked hard on
something and it didn't come outto the way that I wanted to,
(23:17):
it's in those times when youhave to say, hey, I'm going to
work as hard as I can to comeback.
I'll come back from this.
I know I can do it.
I'm a human being.
Humans are resilient.
Resilience shows up whenconditions are not perfect.
That's when you have to beresilient.
(23:38):
And running has also redefineddiscomfort for me.
I used to see it as a wall andnow I see it as a conversation.
I talked about this when Aliwas last on the podcast.
But discomfort will ask you doyou have what it takes to keep
on going?
And running has shown me thatthe answer is almost always yes.
(23:58):
Our limits are imagined anddiscipline this really might be
the greatest gift that runninghas taught me, because
discipline in running isn'tisolated.
It seeps into everything.
It seeps into your work.
Like I said, your relationship,your faith, creative projects.
Running has shown me that I amsomeone who can endure, who can
(24:22):
go farther, who can keep gettingafter it when it matters most.
And that requires discipline,and it's been one of the guiding
principles in my life isdiscipline.
If I know that there'ssomething that needs to be done
that's not easy I try and tacklethat thing first.
I just try and get it out ofthe way, try and get it done,
because I know it needs to bedone and that requires
(24:43):
discipline a lot of the times.
But each time you get theopportunity to exercise
discipline and I want to makethat clear you get the
opportunity to exercisediscipline.
Not a lot of people do, but ifyou're deciding to go out on a
run, be very grateful for thatopportunity, because there's
people out there who don't havethat ability, who might be sick,
(25:05):
who might be old, who might nothave a body that works as well
as yours, and so the opportunityto be disciplined is something
you should take and be gratefulthat you have.
Like I said, there's so manyothers out there who don't have
that opportunity and you do, somake the most of it, and I know
it's hard.
But that perspective changewill help you at least
(25:29):
understand that discipline isnot the enemy here.
Discipline is going to get youto where you want to go, but
it's not going to be acomfortable journey.
It almost never is acomfortable journey, and that's
fine.
You should expect that.
But don't expect yourself to beable to go do something once
and have the ability to go do itagain.
(25:51):
No, every time I run itrequires discipline to get
started.
Even on days when I'm tired,you still have to have that
discipline.
But you will quickly learn thatyou can apply that discipline
to every facet of your life andyou'll become a person that you
didn't think you would be.
I'm not saying this because Ithink it's it's a nice thing to
(26:11):
say.
I'm saying this because I thinkit's it's a nice thing to say.
I'm saying it because I thinkit's true, because I think if
you apply yourself in one areaso aggressively and so dedicated
to this pursuit of running orwhatever other thing you can
insert there, you're going tolearn things that can apply to
other areas of your life.
Like that is why getting afteris so important to me, not
(26:32):
because it's some nice thingthat I say getting after it is
not a nice thing that's supposedto be written on t-shirts and
or put on your wall Like,obviously it's a.
It's a nice phrase gettingafter it.
But getting after it is ablessing.
It's an opportunity to be ableto test yourself.
It's an opportunity to be ableto see what you're capable of
doing, what your potential is inthis life.
(26:54):
And it's all through doing small, disciplined decisions every
single day.
And they can be small,disciplined decisions, like it
doesn't have to be some huge,drastic change you make
overnight.
In fact, I would argue thesmaller ones are what make that
lasting, large change, becauseconsistency compounds and the
smaller you can have your habit,or the the most basic way that
(27:16):
you can have your your habit.
Be like, if it's just you'regoing to run a mile a day, if
that's your goal, then you dothat.
You show up every single daybecause you have the opportunity
to run one mile every day andwhen that voice in your head
says, hey, this sucks, this ishard, you need to tell that
voice to shut up.
And you need to tell that voice, hey, this is a gift, this is a
blessing.
I'm going to make the most ofit, you'll be able to see that
(27:40):
perspective switch and thatchange.
And, like Jocko always says,discipline equals freedom.
When you start living it, youwill begin to see it everywhere.
It's not some nice thing thatI'm telling you.
I believe this to be true.
If you're disciplined in allaspects of your life, you will
(28:02):
be free from so many things.
You'll be free from obesity,from financial issues, from
relationships that are damagedby ego.
Take ownership of all thesethings.
You're the one that can controlthem.
It's not your wife, it's notyour husband, it's not your
parents.
It's you.
You have your own destiny inyour own hands and you have the
(28:25):
decision.
You have the opportunity tofigure out what you want to do
with it.
It's all on you.
I want to leave you with this,because running isn't just about
running.
It's about life to me, and itstrengthens your body, it clears
your mind, quiets the noise andit teaches you lessons that
ripple into everything that youdo.
You don't have to be a runnerto take these lessons.
(28:47):
Maybe for you, it's liftingcould be writing, painting,
painting, parenting, building abusiness.
The point is you need to find,whatever your run is, find the
thing that pushes you find thething that humbles you and
teaches you, because in the end,that's really what runner
running is.
For me, it's a teacher, it's amirror, it's guide, and the road
(29:12):
is always waiting for me.
The trails are calling my name.
Whatever that thing is for you,find it and hold on to it,
because that is a gift.
Finding whatever passion youhave is a gift.
It might take someexperimentation, you might have
to get out of your comfort zone,but that's what life's about.
(29:34):
It's not about sitting in yourcomfort zone all the time.
You're meant to grow, you'remeant to become better, you're
meant to become stronger andyou're meant to get after life.
I firmly believe that If today'sepisode resonated with you at
all, I'd encourage you not justto listen to it, but to apply it
.
Lace up your shoes, go out on arun, test what I'm talking
(29:57):
about.
See if it resonates with you atall.
If it's not running, maybe it'sgo for a bike ride.
Whatever it is, do somethingthat's uncomfortable to you,
because the lessons are outthere and they're waiting for
you to claim them.
So I appreciate you guys forlistening to today's episode.
Running is very important to me.
It's taught me a lot.
(30:17):
It's made me a better person,and I know I can do the same for
you.
Start slow, but get after itand, as always, keep getting
after it.
Thanks, guys.
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