165 - Mason Wright’s Run Across Utah & Lessons in Suffering

Mason Wright is not your average ultrarunner. He’s a gym owner, a former 285-pound lineman, and the man behind Worn Legs, a poetic tribute to what it means to suffer on purpose.

In this episode, Mason sits down to unpack the story behind his legendary run across Utah — 421 brutal miles in 9 days — from injuries and windstorms to moments of spiritual clarity with nothing but a headlamp and a horizon.

We cover:

•  How Mason went from zero to ultras after tearing his posterior tib
•  Why doctors told him he’d never run again — and why he ran anyway
•  What it takes to build something meaningful (a gym, a run, a life)
•  •The mental war of endurance and the beauty found in worn-out shoes

Mason’s story will inspire you to keep going when everything in your body tells you to stop. Whether you're chasing your first 5K or planning your own epic, this is a masterclass in suffering well.

• Listen to the song Worn Legs on Spotify
•  Watch the documentary on YouTube
• Visit his gym: Gain Your Movement (Bountiful, Utah)
• Follow Mason on Instagram (@buffrunner)

And as always,
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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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Thanks for for jumping on.
It's it's nice to finally seeyou again.
Last time I saw you, we wereboth in the pain cave, but I
think you a little bit more thanI was.
Um but yeah, that's somethingthat was just surprising to me.
Um I I saw you running that andI was like, I gotta look this
guy up afterwards.
And I think I saw Mad Moodscommented on one of your posts,

(00:21):
and I followed them and you knowthe rest is history.
But um yeah, Mason, thanks forjumping on.
I'm excited to chat with youtoday.
If you don't don't mind, maybejust introducing yourself a
little bit and then we'll kindof go into the conversation.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, of course.
Uh my name's Mason Wright.
Uh thank you for having me on,by the way.
Um, everybody calls me the buffrunner.
Uh just it's a great name.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Great name.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, you know what?
I love it.
I love it.
Um, it was a nickname that wasgiven to me by a buddy.
I used to teach at uh it waslike a cycling studio, but it
was classes that took place ontreadmill, uh like on assault
treadmills.
Uh it was really cool.
Um, and so everybody startedcalling me buff runner.
Uh it's just kind of how itwent.
Uh it works.
And then I changed my Instagramname and the rest is history.

(01:10):
It ended up becoming a wholething.
But uh, I wasn't always arunner.
Uh, I used to weigh 285 pounds.
I was a big defensive linemanand got into Spartan races
because of my wife's family andraced as a pro for a bit.
COVID hit and started ultrarunning and then really started
ultra running when runningacross Utah this year.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
So yeah, that's insane, man.
We'll we'll talk about that.
But um, so it hasn't been toolong of a journey then, like
from the ultra marathonexperience at least.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, no, I um I've been running, I started running
in 2018, 2017?

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
2018.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, okay.
I don't know.
No, it was 2017.
I got married in 2018.
There we go, we got it.
I got married in 2020, so itwas 2017.
Um, so I started running in2017, um, and then started ultra
running in 2020.
Uh, but honestly, like can'teven say I've really been ultra

(02:19):
running since 2020 because uh2021, I had a massive injury and
didn't run an ultra for untilagain until 2024.
Um dang.
What happened during that time?
Yeah, I tore my posterior tip,um which is yeah, they call the
runner's Achilles because ofjust like whether it's
positioned uh in the leg and howit functions and all that

(02:43):
stuff.
But yeah, I tore that runningmy first official ultra.
I'd run a few, you know, like Iran the Grand Canyon and I ran
King's Peak, which is thetallest peak in Utah, and a
couple of different things likethat.
And so uh but my first officialultra was a 90k that turned
into a hundred K because I gotlost.
And uh at mile 20, I tore myposterior tip and ran 40 miles

(03:06):
on a tour and then uh finished.
I got I went from being top 10,uh from likely placing top 10
to getting second to last placeand finishing with 30 seconds
left before the cutoff.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
That is that's brutal, dude.
But holy cow, that was likeokay, so for me, like I've I've
been ultra running for two yearsnow, um, like doing races.
The the highest distance I'vegone is 50k, but um April next
year I'm doing Sedona.
Uh I think it's called theView, uh, but they're they're
hosting it, it's 50 miles.
Um, but I can't like the thosedistances are hard for me to

(03:44):
fathom sometimes because likethey it really is just so much
time on your feet.
And when you're at mile 20 andyou feel that tear, like did you
know immediately there was anissue?
And then how did you just pushthrough that?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, it my leg just started hurting really, really
bad.
And it wasn't like a popbecause it didn't tear
completely.
Um, it was a grade two sprainor strain, whatever the thing
is.
So it was like that instead oflike that.
Um, and so there wasn't like apop, it just like my leg started
burning.
It was like on fire, and I justlike kept running.

(04:24):
And in my mind, I didn't know,dude, I didn't know shit.
The first time I uh for mydude, when I so when I my first
ultra marathon was running theGrand Canyon, um I essentially
ran rim to rim, uh, but I had todo a modified route because it
was in March, so it was thesame, so it was about it was
about 29 miles.
Um and I ran South Rim and thenpart of the way up the north

(04:46):
rim and then back.
And I went into the GrandCanyon with a packet of saltines
and a cliff bar.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
No way, so very little fuel.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Oh, dude, I didn't know what I was doing, I had no
idea what I was doing.
Uh King's Peak, I finally had abetter idea of what I was
doing.
You know, I you know, it was 33miles.
Uh I brought some good, Ibrought some gels, but I brought
like one gel per hour.
Yeah, like I brought, Iliterally brought nine gels with
me.
Like it, you know, I did notbring what I actually needed.

(05:18):
And then this race, I didn'tunderstand what a crew was, I
didn't understand what pacingwas.
I didn't understand any ofthis, or like people pacing me
and stuff.
So we have all that.
I didn't do drop bags, I justshoved everything in my pack and
ran.
Um and so it just like itcompletely blew up in my face.

(05:39):
Um, on top of the fact that Igot injured, you know.
Yeah, like that's insane.
Yeah, that's its own thing withgetting that injured.
But yeah, I uh so I had no ideawhat I was doing.
Uh I start going, and in mymind, I'm like, well, I signed
up for this.
Why the hell would I stop?
Why would I quit?
It doesn't make any sense, youknow?
Yeah.
Like I didn't even understandthe concept of a DNF.

(06:01):
And I thought about quitting,you know, like I got to, I told
I did tell myself because I didunderstand how bad my leg was.
Yeah, understand as much as Icould at that point.
And at mile, I told myself, ifI don't get athletic tape by
mile 40, I have to stop becausethis is just bad.
Mile 48 station, I do and noaid stations had athletic tape.

(06:25):
Um, mile 48 station, they hadit, and I I knew how to tape an
ankle just from years of thatkind of stuff.
And so I taped my ankle up andand kept running.
Just kept going, man.
That's that's insane.
So it was more of like uhignorance is bliss kind of
thing.
Like I had no idea, so I justkept going.

(06:46):
I didn't know any.
I didn't know what a dealsometimes I mean I didn't know
any of that.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, I think I think with ultra running, you kind of
have to lean on that a littlebit.
Like the the fact thatignorance is bliss.
Like I I know what the painfeels like for a 30-mile race,
but I don't know what it feelslike for a 50.
And I'm just like, yeah, youknow what, I'll just sign up and
just go into it, you know, thesame strategy, but run a little
bit longer before.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Um I always think of the Donald Trump thing of like,
I have no strategy.
There is no strategy.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
There is no strategy, none here.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, a lot of the time it'slike, yeah, your strategy will
get thrown out the window, likeyou'll have issues come up, um,
like tearing your posterior uhrunner's Achilles, whatever,
whatever it's called.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Posterior, posterior tibialis.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Tibialis, there we go.
Um, but yeah, I mean, sometimesyou gotta improvise.
That's that's one thing I loveabout ultra racing, is a lot of
the times you just gotta figureout how you're gonna get through
it.
Um, DNFing, of course, is likesome people need to do it for
health reasons.
Um, I think most of the timeit's like it can be avoided.
So yes, like unless you have asevere injury like me.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Um you should DNF.
Like, don't like it's not worthjeopardizing never being able
to run again.
I got told by three doctors I'dnever run again after that
race.
Um really?
Oh yeah.
It was bad.
It was it was terrible.
Um yeah, so they told me I'dnever run again.
And if I did, I'd be like anold man.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's insane.
What was recovery like?
Like, did they put you underthe knife?
Did you get surgery?

Speaker 3 (08:20):
No, so the reason they call it the runner's
Achilles is because in order toget the surgery, they have to
cut your Achilles tendon.
And so it they have to make itworse, and so they don't really
do surgery on it unless youcompletely tear it.
They won't do surgery becauseit's not uh even though the like

(08:42):
even though a minor tear shouldget surgery, uh it's just it's
so they do more harm than gooddoing the surgery.
Even in complete tears, theysometimes won't do the surgery.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
That's insane.
So was it just lots of PT andlike stressed ice?

Speaker 3 (08:58):
I didn't run I went on one run uh for my birthday.
I ran three miles on mybirthday.
There you go.
Uh and it was like a 15-minutemile.
Um, but it was my only run inlike yeah, it was several
months.
Several months.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's crazy.
What was uh what was goingthrough your head at that point?
Because you know, I know a lotof runners, myself included, um
fear injuries, like worry aboutit, think it's gonna take you
out, and you know, then like thedoctors were telling you, which
isn't very uh reassuring, like,hey, you're never gonna be able
to run again.
Like what was going throughyour head at that point?

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Um honestly, I I just I was just like, all right,
we'll work through it, figure itout.
Like, tell me I can't run,okay.
Like, you know, like I'm gonnarun.
Uh yeah.
And so yeah, it's I I've alwayskind of had that mindset of
like, all right, well, don'ttell me I can't do something

(09:57):
because I'm gonna go do it.
Um and so that's just kind ofthe mindset that I took into it,
if that makes sense.
Um where doctors were tellingme this.
I'm like, okay, no, I'm justgonna I'll figure it out.
Like, yeah, you don't know, youdon't know what I'm capable of,
like you don't know who I am,you don't know what I've done.
And so yeah, I just took thatmindset, did my PT, and got back

(10:22):
to it.
And then coming back, you know,I I went to my bread and
butter.
You know, I didn't just jumpright back into ultras.
I went to my back to my breadand butter of Spartans, won a
couple of Spartan races to getmy mojo back, and yeah, and then
just yeah, kept going.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, that's I think a lot ofthe times like you have to just
learn what, like, like you'resaying exactly, like understand
your body, understand whathurts, understand like if you
can push it, then you shouldlike try and get out of that.
Um, but yeah, I mean, I wastold the same thing by doctors.
I uh back in 2021, I was 135pounds.

(11:00):
Um they had a they found like atumor in my pituitary gland and
all these things.
So my hormones were shot, likeall these things.
Um and this actually got meinto running, but I signed up
for a half marathon and I wastelling my doctors this, and
they're like, you will probablyhave a heart attack because
you're so underweight, like it'snot recommended, do not do it.
And so I didn't.

(11:21):
Um, but then like the racestill sent me my medal and all
these things, and I was like,mom, you can't give that to me
unless I actually do 13.1 miles.
And um, I eventually did it,started getting healthy again.
I'm on like hormone therapystuff, but um, it was that
moment where I was like, screwyou, man.
I'm gonna do this.
Like, I don't care what yousay.
Um, but it was only becauselike I knew my body and knew

(11:44):
that I was like starting to feelbetter.
So I think you just have towhen those things come up, be
like, okay, is that actually thethe result?
Like, or is there somethingelse I could do to push myself
along a little bit more?
Um, so I I love that mindset.
Like just go after it.
Who cares?
That's that's what this podcastis called, you know, getting
after it's it's gettinguncomfortable, trying to you

(12:06):
know push past your limits andall those things.
But um just went on a tangent,my bad.
But um No, it's a good tangent.
Yeah, lots of them, lots ofthem happen in this podcast.
But um I mean, what keeps yourunning?
Like, do you just have a lovefor the sport?
Is there you know, your yourwife's family?

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Okay, no, it well, it's funny because no one like
my wife doesn't really runanymore.
Kind of my fault.
Um, actually fully my fault.
I was an ass when we firststarted running.
Uh I just got so into it.
And like, I'm an athlete.
I've been an athlete my wholelife.
So when I got into running, Igot good at it quick, and so it
frustrated her.
Um, and then like I had wewould did all of our training

(12:49):
runs together, and she wasfaster than me for most of it,
and then eventually I got to apoint where I was faster than
her.
And in my mind, like we'dalways done these runs together,
and so I was just like, Whatthe fuck are you doing?
Like, come on, like it was justand I was such an ass.
I was such an ass.
Um, and then she stoppedrunning, so I take full
accountability for that.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Um I will it's a it's a dangerous slack.
I will cut myself somedangerous slack.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I will cut myself some slack that I was just a
dumb, you know, 19-year-old,20-year-old.
Um but still my totally myfault.
Um her family kind of runs, notreally.
Um, we've like, you know, theydid they've done a like a couple
of Spartan races.
I just like dove.
I don't I don't know what itwas.
I just dove all in, but uh, Ido I do love running.

(13:34):
I think I love the I love thecompetition at first, and now
it's more of like how far can Igo?
Yeah.
It's it's less of like, oh,it's you know, it was a fun
race, let's sign up.
And more of like, okay, how farcan we push?

unknown (13:51):
Right.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Like signing up with this fifty, I signed up for that
50 miles three weeks inadvance, or it was like three
and a half weeks or whatever.
Um, that's insane.
I didn't train for it, youknow.
And so I was like, I can run 50miles, you know.
Like, I know it's not hard, butI can run 50 miles.
Like, I mean, hell, I did itrunning across Utah how many
days in a row, you know?
And that's insane.
So, like, I'm like, I cantotally go run 50 miles.

(14:13):
Um, it's just a matter of likehow dig, how dark, how far do I
have to dig to get there?
Yeah, and and that's that'sjust that honestly is kind of
why I run at this point.
It's like, how far can I go?

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, let's like let's do what I'm capable of.
Right.
There's um, you know whoCameron Haynes is?
I assume you probably do.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, he lives freaking up the road from my
gym, basically.
Really?
Man, yeah, that's insane.
Oh, not Cameron, sorry, truittdoes.
Cameron lives.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Um, but yeah, Cameron Haynes,he has this quote where like
someone asked him that sameexact question, like, why are
you running?
He's like, honestly, I'm justtrying to find my breaking
point.
And it's a pretty admirablething to do because you're going
through pain that entire time.
Yeah.
Um and I think it's yeah,something that's just like the

(15:03):
human body is capable of somuch.
And I don't think we giveourselves credit to what we're
able to do a lot of the times,and that can result in not
reaching our potential.
And it's just like runningteaches me those exact things.
It's like every time I reachsomething that I I think is my
limit, I could push it just alittle bit further.
Um, and that's like the lessonthat running's taught me pretty

(15:26):
much everything that's bled intoall aspects of my life.
But um I do want to talk aboutUtah because that sounds insane.
Like I um I saw you guys have adocumentary about it.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh, yeah.
But yeah, documentary onYouTube.
Uh search Run Across Utah, I'llbe the one that pops out.
Uh okay.
Well, it's called Warren Linux,is what the actual documentary
is called.
Um but yeah, Run Across Utah.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, tell me about that.
How'd you guys get this idea?
Um, what was it for?
And all of that.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, so I uh, you know, this was I I just started
my clinicals out in Missouri.
Um had I started them yet?
It was actually right beforeI'd started them.
It was like November.
I started in January of 2024.
Um I'm a dietitian.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Oh, nice, okay.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
I'm a dietitian.
Um, and so but it was likeyeah, no, around November, right
as we'd like moved to Missouri,and I felt kind of lost.
I have lived in California, um,but that's close to Utah.
California is a familiar placejust because that's where you
travel living in Utah, you know.
Yeah.
And so living there wasn't toocrazy.

(16:37):
Uh Linda lived in Utah my wholelife, and now I'm in the
Midwest, the most dangerous cityin America, um, St.
Louis, Missouri.
And I don't want to be here.
I don't like school.
I just it was a means to anend, you know.
And so I think I was liketrying to find purpose.
And you know, I had I'd seenHella Sidibe.
Uh I always forget that's howyou say his last name.

(16:59):
But do you know how Hella Good?
Yeah, I know Hella Good.
Yeah, so Hella Good, uh WilliamGooge, uh, a couple of Robbie
Ballinger, these guys who wouldrun across America.
And they I did it's all it'salways been inspiring to to me
to like, oh, that would be socool to do.
And then William Googe did hisrun, and I was like, I want to

(17:19):
run across America.
But I'm like, this isn'tsomething I can just like do,
you know?
Yeah.
So I go to my wife and I'mlike, hey, what do you want to
do before we have kids?
And because I I like I want tohear what she wants to do first.
And yeah, uh, you know, shegives me her things and I go,
okay, I want to run acrossAmerica.
And she's like, only if I getto live in Miami.

(17:40):
And I was like, sounds good,I'll run to Miami.

unknown (17:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
So I plan this whole route from Seattle to Miami, and
I'd be the first person to everrun that route.
And it was it was a wholething.
And I in the process of myKotta do stuff to prep for this.
So I start coming up with uh Istart coming up with like all
these events, doing an ultramurf.
Um yeah, doing an ultra murf,running for 24 hours around a

(18:07):
track, uh, running across thestate of Utah, uh, running
around Lake Tahoe, like all ofthese like different things,
like just coming up with ideas,knowing that all of them can't
happen, you know, there's yeah,I know that all of them can't
happen, but I also I'm stilllike having to come up with
things and figure it out.
And it's it's so funny becauseyou know, well, before that,

(18:32):
like I the whole point of thiswas just raise money.
I I told myself if I was evergonna run across America, I'd
have a reason for it.
And I can't because it's such aselfish endeavor.
And so I'm like, I'm not goingto do this without a bigger
purpose.
Yeah.
And so I was like, if thatbigger purpose ever comes to me,
then awesome, I'll do, I'llplan this.

(18:54):
But if not, I'm not, I'm, I'mnot going to.
Uh and then I just came to meof like, I'm gonna run for
single parents.
You know, it's it it fits thebackstory.
You know, my mom was a singlemom, raised us, gave us the life
that we have, even though shedidn't really have anything.
And yeah, and so I'm like, letme like I can't give back to my

(19:14):
mom, so let me give back toeveryone else.
And so uh I was like, I'm gonnarun.
I found this organizationcalled the Single Parent
Project.
Little do I know they're basedin Utah.
I had no idea.
I just found this organizationand was like, hey, I want to run
for you.
And so yeah, so I planned thislike whole run across America.
And, you know, I do I plan my24-hour run to kick off Project

(19:36):
3434, is what I called it,because 3,434 miles is the
route.
And so I'm like, I plan this24-hour run.
So in the middle of gradschool, I fly back to Utah, do
my 24-hour run around a track tolike kick off the whole thing
and raise money and all thatstuff, and uh got my ass kicked
in that.
I got super sick and it sucked,only got seven miles in the 24

(19:59):
hours.
Um that's real, man.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
I can't even imagine that.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, it was it was rough.
Um, and then I graduate fromschool and I just said I want to
run across Utah.
I feel I was like, I feel likethis is the next step.
And so I just started planningit.
And I I again it just started,you know, again, this is all in
you know conjunction with thesingle parent project, with all

(20:24):
of this stuff.
And so I just start planningthis run.
I called Jeffrey, he's a buddyof mine.
Um we, you know, we met at wemet here in Utah before you
moved to Denver.
And um, like, hey, I'm doingthis thing, you want to be my
crew chief?
Um, my a good buddy of mine's avideographer, the one that
filmed the whole documentary anddid all the social media.
I'm like, hey, I need a crew,and I'm like, I need a

(20:44):
videographer.
So these guys end up being mycrew, and I go through the whole
six-month process of creating aroute and doing all of this
stuff.
It took me six months of likeworking, trying to find
sponsors, planning the route,working almost 40 hours a week
for six months, plus mytraining.
That doesn't include mytraining.
My training was like 20 to 30hours a week, it was brutal.

(21:05):
Um, and then also work on topof all that.
Um, and so yeah, I do that, anduh and then there, I run across
Utah.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
There we go.
So that is sweet.
How long?
Um couple questions.
Like when you were planning therun across America, how long
did you think that was gonnatake?

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Um to plan or to do the run?
To actually do the run.
Um, I think I set six oh yeah,it was 69 days because I was
gonna start on my one of my bestfriend's birthdays, and my
birthday's 69 days away fromhis.
So I'd start on his birthday,and he lit he just moved from
Seattle, but he lived in Seattleat the time.
Uh yeah, but I would go Seattleto Miami Beach uh 69 days.

(21:51):
It was like 45 miles a day, iswhat it equaled.
Um that's insane.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
But yeah, that was sorry, sorry, going back to to
Utah.
Um, so yeah, what was what wasthat?
Like, where'd you guys startwhen you went on the run?

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Yeah, so I started just north of Logan, Utah, right
at the Idaho border.
Uh there's a little town calledTremont that's just north of
there.
Um, and then ran south.
And yeah, uh ran on the westside of Utah Lake.
Um, because you can't run onthe interstate in Utah, it's a
felony.
Um and I think most states itis.

(22:26):
But uh I think so.
But yeah, so like we had totake these like weird back roads
and um yeah, ran from there,and then I ran just outside of
St.
George, Utah at the Arizonaborder, 421 miles.
That's crazy, man.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
And how long did that take you to complete?

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Nine days and 17 hours.
My record just got beat.
Um my record just got beat whaton Saturday.
Saturday, someone beat myrecord by eight hours.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Jeez.
Yeah.
That's that's mean.
Why would they do that?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I helped him though.
Oh, you know, that's fair then.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, I helped him.
I gave him my route, I gave himall my stuff, and uh, I helped
him navigate along the way.
Like there were a couple pointswhere they almost got lost, and
their crew called me, and I waslike, Yeah, no, you go this
way.
Like, don't go that way.
Uh, the route I know says this,but you need to do this.
And so I helped.
It's it's funny, I probably cutabout eight to ten hours off of
their run.
That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Uh there you go.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
But yeah, it was uh I was really happy to be a part
of Adam's run, and uh we'vewe've become really good friends
from it.
I got a run about 20 miles withhim when he was doing it.
Oh, that's cool.
Um, I wish I could have my wifewas traveling during his run,
so I like couldn't really makeit work to do more.
Um but yeah, no, it was it wascool to watch, it was cool to

(23:47):
watch someone else do it.
Yeah, you know, like I havethis crazy experience, but it's
so niche.
Like, who the hell's done, youknow, like people have done big
runs, and you can talk to peopleabout the big runs, but like
who's running across Utah?
Yeah, you know, and like therehave been there's there have
been a handful of people whohave done it, but it's been like
over, you know, 15 years.

(24:07):
Yeah.
Um and they just they have suchdifferent experiences than I
did.
I talked to two of the guys anduh like before I started my
run, and just such differentexperiences.
And so Adam and I shared such asimilar experience with the
social media side of things, anduh he ran my exact route.

(24:30):
The exact same route.
I just handed him my route andsaid, run this.
Um and it's funny, like wefound the same things and saw
the same things and felt similarthings and stayed at the same
campsites, like you know, likewe uh had it was so cool just to
like re run it essentiallythrough the mind of someone

(24:52):
else.
It was really, really cool tobe a part of his run because it
just made mine so much morespecial.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, it's it's gotta be something that's like it's
such a like you said, it's aniche experience.
Like, not very many people aregonna be able to know what
that's like, but having someonewho's done something very
similar to you, it's like youget it, you understand.
Yeah.
Um, but what was yourexperience like?
Oh, yeah.
Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Just a random side note with Adam, and I'll I'll
answer that question.
Um speaking of niche, so we arethe only two humans to have
ever had this conversation.
When I was running, I found ashooting target on the side of
the road that was and it was aLego man.
Like the shape of it was a Legoman.
It was like yet big, weighedlike 12 pounds.

(25:36):
It was massive, just a bigsheet of metal that was in the
shape of a Lego man.
Um eyes cut out, like it lookedlike a Lego man.
And uh, I found it and I ranwith it for a minute because I
wanted to keep it.
I was like, oh, it's just socool.
Yeah, it was so heavy, and I'mlike, screw this, drop it on the
side of the road.
Adam, he's I let him use myStarlink so we had internet on

(25:57):
the run.
Adam's dropping off theStarlink.
Uh, this is literally a day anda half after he finished.
Uh, he's dropping off theStarlink, and we're just like we
talked for like two hours thatnight.
Uh, he's like came into myhouse and we were talking, and
he's like, Yeah, dude, I foundthis like Lego man.
And I'm like, dude, the theshooting target thing with like
the handle on the head.
He was like, Yes.

(26:17):
I'm like, dude, this is great.
Like, but it was so funnybecause it's like we're
literally the only two people tohave run across Utah to have
found this thing in the exactsame spot.
And I picked it and I ran.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
No one can say that.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Yeah, that's crazy.
He kept it.
He kept it.
Oh, really?
He took it, he picked it up.
Yeah, because he was like rightnext to his RV.
So it's just so funny, likesuch a niche.
Again, just back to that likeniche.
That's so funny.
That's awesome.
Getting to share these randomthings.
Um, yeah.
What was your question again,though?
Sorry.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
No, that's that's great.
I mean, um, just asking aboutlike what your overall
experience was like, like thingsthat it taught you or anything.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Oh man.
Um, well, this is somethingthat Adam and I you know talked
about.
Is uh like we had we hadobviously we ran the same run,
had similar experiences, butwhere they were also vastly
different.
Um, you know, like I was reallysuffering for most of that run.
Adam paced himself better thanI did.

(27:14):
I came out the gate swingingand I paid for it later.
And I told him, I was like,pace yourself, dude.
That first two days, thosefirst two days are brutal.
They will suck the soul out ofyou before you even start,
really.
Jeez.
Um, and so he paced himselfmuch better than I did.
Um, I did two 50 mile plus daysback to back on the first two
days, and so it just took it outof me.
Took it out of me.

(27:34):
Massive days with 10,000 feetof climbing, like it's just
crazy stuff.
That's brutal.
And so it was like 6,000 feet,but still a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, I mean, that's a lot, yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah.
Um, and so yeah, so I I was ina lot of pain.
I had a really severe Achillesinjury that I had to power
through.
Uh, we thought my leg broke onday six.
Uh so mine was very painful,um, pretty miserable in a good
way, which I know sounds weird.

(28:06):
Uh ultra runners understand.
Uh, but uh yeah, it's thisweird yeah, mine was just so
intense and painful.
And I think also something thatmade mine a little bit more
difficult is I had a crew oftwo.
Uh, so it was just likeJeffrey, and then Taylor was

(28:26):
filming.
So, you know, it's it was thislike you know, small crew, uh,
small van.
And so we had a very differentexperience, but the same
experience where Adam had a bigcrew, you know, lots of
resources.
He paced himself better than Idid.
Um, so he didn't experiencelike that same amount of pain.
Um, I also had some gnarlyweather, um, not precipitation

(28:50):
weather.
Um, it was wind.
I had three days of uh so oneday was like 20 to 30 mile per
hour winds, the next day was 40,and then the next day was like
40 to 60.
Um and we actually had tohunker down and I had to run
through the night that night,and it was still like 40 mile
per hour, all headwinds, by theway.
All headwinds.
Yeah, that's insane.

(29:11):
Even like running up a canyonat 2 a.m.
I had almost 40 mile per hourheadwinds.
Um it sucked, it was hell.
Um yeah, that's brutal.
No, I had I would love to runit back with I would with I'd
love to run it back with theweather that Adam had.
Uh that would be it would beglorious.
Um, but that's what time ofyear did you do it?

(29:33):
I did it in A in April.
Okay.
He somehow had better weatherthan me in November.
I don't understand how.
Uh that's make any sensewhatsoever.
But uh yeah, no, and I meanthat's part of it.
Like I could go run it again, Icould go run it in June and it
rain every day.

unknown (29:51):
Right.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
You know, it just it's that's just how old,
especially multi day events.
You don't get a you don't get achoice in that.
And so uh that's It's notdiscrediting what Adam did at
all.
It's still hard as shit.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, that's insane.
Anything like that conceptitself, you tell someone I'm
running across a state, they'dlook at you like you're crazy.
They'd be like, What the helldid you just say?
You're running across a state.
So yeah, I mean, all thataside, like it's still a
challenge that not many peoplecan complete.
Like that's that's difficult ascan be.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
It it was crazy.
Um, I think like the best wayto explain that run is it really
hurt and it was really hard,but was also so special.
Like getting to run across likemy home state and see it in
such a unique light and a uniquesetting.
Uh it's something that mostpeople most people's an

(30:46):
understatement.
Like people don't get toexperience this.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah like not very many people have run across
their home state.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Not so I I can probably I don't know.
Yeah, there's probably I don'tknow, a hundred maybe that have
done it in the history.
I don't I have no idea.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
But yeah, I don't know either.
But yeah, so it's just a it'sjust a really cool experience.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah.
What did um what did it teachyou about yourself during that
time?
Because obviously it was hard,incredibly difficult, like
everything was going against youwith the weather and stuff.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
Um yeah, I learned that you can push way further
than you think.
Way further than you think.
Like I, you know, again, daysix, we thought my leg was
broken.
I couldn't put any weight on myleg at all.
I I was jumping on one foot, Icould not put weight on my leg.
Um literally, they drove me 20feet from the shower to the van.

(31:44):
Like our van, so you have thebathroom, van, bathroom doors.
Dang.
And that like van buildingbathroom doors, and they picked
me up and drove me back.
It's in the documentary, it'shilarious.
Um but I was in so much pain,and you know, it was just like I

(32:05):
wanted to quit, and I have togive huge kudos.
A buddy of mine, uh, twofriends of mine.
Um, Nate, his name's NateWilliams.
He uh is an unknown man in theultra world.
He has beat Goggins, he hasbeat McKnight, dude has podium
at all all the 200-mile races.
Dude's a beast.
He's a beast.
He just he doesn't have socialmedia, so no one knows who he

(32:27):
is.
He shows up, beats these guys,and leaves.
It's it's crazy.
It's absolutely crazy.
He fuels on freaking Coke andFritos.
I don't understand it.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
But that's insane.
Really?
That's his diet when he runs.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Pretty much, pretty much, yeah.
Um, but he, big inspiration ofmine, obviously.
He's a really, really goodfriend of mine, big inspiration.
And him and his girlfriend,who's also a big ultra runner,
um, came out and ran like a dayand a half with me, roughly.
Um, and that night, he I was,dude, I was gonna quit.

(32:59):
I was in so much pain.
I cannot explain to you theamount of pain I was in.
I've never experienced thatkind of pain.
It was 10 times worse thantearing my posterior tip.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Oh, probably your entire legs, yeah.
Like it feels you feel it.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
It shot all the way up like into my hip and like
back.
Dude, it was a mess.
Um and so I'm I'm I'm likethinking about quitting.
Jeffrey has fully planned forme to quit.
Tanner is filming all of my, Ihad like obligations for brands
that I had to meet.
And so Tanner is like handingme stuff like here, do this, do

(33:34):
this, like you need to filmthis.
So I'm like in the van in a tonof pain filming like brand
stuff because I have to meetthese obligations and do this
stuff.
And so, like, we have I Ihadn't like my my mind was
telling me to quit, but it waslike that, like behind the
scenes, like, dude, why?
Or what is the reason for this?

(33:55):
Like, yeah, you are inunexplainable amounts of pain.
Why stop?
It wasn't like like, oh, I'mtired, I want to quit.
Like, it was a genuine, like mymind telling me, like, bro, we
are screaming at you for areason.
Yeah, like stop.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, things are wrong, you're running in the
red.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Yes, Jeffrey and Tanner fully preparing to leave.
Jeffrey, like, starts workingon like accommodations and all
the different things, and yeah,um, Jeffrey's also fighting his
own demons.
Freaking, he got food poisoningthat night.
And so he's freaking justunload unleashing hell in the
bathroom.
Yeah.
Um, and so it was a roughnight.

(34:36):
It was a rough night.
Yeah, it sounds like it.
Yeah, so but I just Nate tellsme, he's like, Don't make a
decision in the dark.
And I was like, all right,sounds good.
We'll just do this againtomorrow.
Yeah, wait.
Yeah, and in the morning it wasstill dark, so I can't make a
decision then.
So I'm like, you know what?
One day, one day, I can go oneday.

(34:57):
I don't even if it's 10 miles,I can go one day.
So I was like, we're gonna getthis one more day and we're
gonna see how this goes.
And so I wake up and I startmoving in insane amounts of
pain.
And it just the day just keptgoing and kept going.

(35:18):
And that day was windy as hell,super windy that day.
And I just kept pushing andkept trucking, and Nate and Ana
left about halfway through thatday.
And again, just I just keptmoving one step at a time.
Like it's that was the wholemantra of the whole day.
Like, I can take one more step.
Can I take one more step?

(35:38):
Can I take one more step?
And I just continue to go andgo and go, but I I also set a
goal for myself.
It was like, if I'm gonna dothis day, we gotta hit 40 miles.
Gotta hit 40 miles.
Um, you know, and I had the Ihad the goal of like, I just
need to finish the day, but itwas also like I can hit I can do
this, I can hit 40 miles.
Yeah, so we had a lot of 5kleft, and I I wanted to do it in

(36:01):
my time allotment, and um, Ihad 28 minutes left in the day
of when Jeffrey and Tanner cutme off, like every day cut me
off.
Um I think it was 13 hours thatday.
Because yeah, they gave me anextra hour of sleep, so it was
13 hours that day.
And um, but I like at thispoint, I'm like, no, I gotta I

(36:22):
have to hit 40 miles, so I don'tgive a shit.
Let's go.
Yeah.
So I picked up my poles and Ijust started running as fast as
I could and ran that final 5k in23 minutes.
No way.
And then after that, dude, justcrushed the rest of the run.
Um and I I don't I don't evenknow if that answered the
initial question, but like thatwas absolutely what what you

(36:45):
just like what you just heardwas the experience of pain and
continuing to push andcontinuing to put everything out
there, and I it just yeah, it Itold myself that I had to leave

(37:06):
everything out there becauseyou don't know what's gonna
happen.
I got hit by a goddamn car onday th on day four.
Like, did you really?
Yeah, and so you don't knowwhat's gonna happen.
Yeah, you don't know if you'regonna get hit by a car, you
don't know if your leg's gonnabreak, you don't know what's
gonna happen.
And so I promised myself thatevery single day I would leave
my soul on that road because inthe event that I couldn't

(37:28):
continue, I had to know that Igave absolutely everything.
And so that night it was thesame thing.
It was, I have more in thetank.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, and I ran.
That's amazing.
It's freaking inspiring, man.
I feel like I need to go runright now.
Yeah, like that is awesome.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
I that I don't know if anything will ever top that
moment because that morning,Jeffrey and Tanner had to leave
me because we didn't prep forthe day because they thought I
was done.
Yeah, and so that morning theythey had to leave me for like an
hour or something.
They had to go into town, theyhad to get gas, they had to get
water.
Our water tank broke, so we hadto like have just like 15

(38:08):
gallons of water on the groundat all times in the van.
Um, because I was going throughlike four to seven gallons a
day.
Um so we just had always had tohave a ton of water, and so
they had to go, and so I hadthis just unbelievable
experience that morning where Ijust got to see the sunrise.
There's nothing, no one I lovedit because it was for me and

(38:28):
only me.
There's no cameras.
That whole thing, I had acamera in my face, you know,
right, which is great.
I'm so happy I have this wholething captured, but I'm happy I
have this one moment that's justmine, no one else, no one else
in the entire world got toexperience what I experienced.
It's like it is my experience,and it was so special.

(38:50):
And then to end the day with afast 5k, especially considering
um, and the amount of pain thatI was in, like we all just sat
there in silence.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Like, just like there's no way that just
happened.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, we just sat there in silence, and Tanner was
like chasing me with hiscamera, trying to like keep up,
and like you hear in the video,you just hear him like in the
background of a camera.
And because that's all andJeffrey's just standing there,
and we're all just like standingthere, why like just like what

(39:26):
just happened?
That is so cool.
It was such that that was therun.
Yeah, that is the best way tosum up that run.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I mean, that's exactly what you said.
Um, you know, it just you learnhow to push your body way
further than you ever expect to.
Yeah, and I hope to be able todo something like that in the
future.
Like, I would love to be ableto, you know, raise some
awareness about you know cancer.
My father-in-law passed fromthat, and that's a big thing
that we do in our family.

(39:56):
Yeah, um, but you know, it'sjust like also the small
moments, like what you said, yougot that sunrise just to
yourself.
And um I think that's why Ilove running so much because you
do get little experiences likethat, you know, when you're in
the mountains by yourself or youknow, on a trail in the desert,
like it doesn't matter whereyou are.
You just have these littlemoments where you're like, you
know what, this is this is forme.

(40:17):
Like the lessons I'm learning,the place I am, like it is this
is meant for me.
Um and I I just love that.
But so after that day, how manymore did you have to go until
you were finished?

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Um technically three.
Um it was like a little lessthan three.
Um yeah, yeah, because that wasout towards like Milford, Utah.
Um yeah, and then the next daywas when we had to run through
the night.
Was that next day?
Um, because we had like 40 mileper hour.

(40:50):
It was actually 60 that day.
Um, it was dangerous, it wasvery dangerous.
Um, I was getting like sprayedwith fertilizer from like farm
fields and like dude was so bad.
Um literally was like rockingin the wind, so we just had to
stop.
Um and so mile 20 that day,which was actually the mile 300
mark.
Um, we stopped, took some naps,and then kept on running uh

(41:15):
through the through the night.
We ran until about 1-2 a.m.
that night.
Um and yeah, it was uh it wasbrutal.
I fully lost it that I totallycrashed out that night.
Uh dude, it was 40 mile perhour headwinds in the middle of
the night running up this can't.

(41:36):
It was a it was with thesteepest climb of the whole run.
Yeah, and I'm just likefighting for my damn life going
up this freaking hill and justclimbing this mountain pass.
And we got to you know, we hitmile 40, and I was just like, I
threw my poles on the ground, Idid my push-ups.
It's in the documentary.
I like freaked out.

(41:57):
Uh I was so pissed.
And Tanner, my videographer,Jeffrey knows.
Jeffrey's Jeffrey's an ultraguy, he knows.
Tanner has no experience, he'snever even he's never
experienced an ultra marathon.
So this was his first exposureto ultra running, and so he's
like freaked out.
Uh, because I I mean I I'm abig guy, so like I'm not I'm not

(42:20):
not the scariest dude, youknow.
Like it's yeah, no, dude,you're a big guy.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
When I saw you running, I was like, this guy's
running an uh ultra, that's animpressive.
Like, yeah, it's hard.
But anyway, sorry.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
But yeah, so like I'm freaking out, like yeah, fully.
I'm not gonna say these thingson on here, so you can go watch
a documentary if you want to seeit.
Um, but yeah, and so Tanner'slike, oh, like, what is
happening?
Jeffrey's just like going withthe flow, picking out my poles,
like you know, like he's he'slike, I know what's going on.

(42:53):
Yeah, he knew what was goingon, and um, but then the next
day, um, my legs were prettyheavy and I mentally struggled
on day nine.
Um, just it's the day beforethe last day, that climb took it
out of me, running into allthese winds.
Um, so day nine was like daynine was honestly like the
blurriest day.
It was just kind of like weirdterrain, weird location, um, and

(43:20):
just like weird feelings.
And then day 10.
Day 10 was uh day seven's themost special, without a doubt.
But day 10 was epic.
It was epic.
56 miles, the final day.
Ran for almost 18 hours thatday.
Um 17 hours and some change.
And uh yeah, 56 miles, and itit was intense.

(43:45):
Uh, we got lost.
Um, it added a handful of milesto the day.
The day was only supposed to beabout 50.
So uh yeah, I got this is whatI this is what I helped Adam
navigate through was like, nope,don't go this way, you go this
way, run down this road, hopthis fence, and you'll be there.
Um I ended up having to run onI-15.
I had no other choice.

(44:06):
Um really super scary.
Um about three and a half mileson I-15.
It was legal.
Um, and so because there was noother option, I could legally
run on I-15.
Um, so if I'd gotten pulledover, they might have drove me,
which would have been a hugebummer.
Um, yeah, that would havesucked.

(44:27):
But I thankfully a cop did passme, didn't stop.
So um, yeah, I was able then Iwas able to get off I-15 and
continue on my way.
Um but yeah, that was just solike that push, man.
When I had like 10 miles left,um, I was sitting in the van at
like about mile 46.
I had my feet, I'd sit therewith my feet propped up on the

(44:50):
thing and elevated and all that.
And it's just me and Jeffrey.
Tanner had to leave becausethis run took me longer than it
was supposed to, and so Tannerhad to go back to work.
He tried to get it off, and hisboss wouldn't let him, and it
was a whole thing.
So it's just me and Jeffreyjust soloing it together that
day.
And we're both just sittingthere and we're just like, dude,
this is almost over.

(45:11):
Yeah, this is crazy.
And it's funny because Adam hadalmost this exact same
experience in this exact samespot on the run.
It was at the top of uh RiverRoad, um uh in St.
George, Utah.
So really everyone knows theroad.
If you've driven in St.
George, it goes down and kindof wraps around uh top of River
Road, and it's about 10 milesfrom the border, uh mostly

(45:33):
residential.
And uh yeah, we were just like,dude, like we're here.
It's crazy.
Like, this is this is wild.
We got 10 miles left, and uhand then finish the day.
And that is crazy.
I ended up dropping the finalmile.

(45:53):
Um, it was pitch black becausethere's no lights for the last
two miles because it goes outinto the absolute middle of
nowhere.
It's BFE.
And two miles left, and we'remaking our way to the top of the
hill, and then it was alldownhill.
The red, the final mile was alldownhill, and it was like a you
know, a slight grid.
It wasn't like crazy, you know,it's just like a slight grade,

(46:14):
but you could like you couldalmost see it from the top of
this hill about a mile away.
It was pitch black, so youcould like kind of see the
lights of the cars of like thepeople that were the finish
line.
And um, I wrote a poem that abuddy of mine helped compose
into a song, uh, and he sang it.
And I I'm the backgroundsinger, but I'm not a singer.
Um that's cool.

(46:34):
But uh, but yeah, so I listenedto that um because it it's a
very mean, like it's a very Iwrote it while I was in school
of just like how what runningdoes for me.
And um I turn it into like alittle shanty.
Um, it's based off of I wasinspired by you ever played, do
you play video games?

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Uh yes, a lot.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
Or I used to a lot, but I love I love video games.
So you know Betheticism, likeSkyrim, Oblivion, that kind of
stuff.
More familiar than you probablyknow.
Yes, I love those games.
Skyrim is my favorite game ofall time.
I've put thousands of hoursinto that game, anyways.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Oh, yeah.
I've been every class, all thatstuff, anyways.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, hell yeah.
So Starfield, then you knowStarfield.
So of course, so in Starfield,when you're flying around, um,
you come across a guy whoseship's broken down and you can
give him parts.
And uh, but when you get intothe solar system, you listen to
him sing the shanty, they callit the Starfield shanty, and um
it's about him lost out inspace.

(47:33):
And I love that they did itbecause like that's what these
like it's essentially like theseare the original explorers,
just like people out in theocean.
You had all the sea shantiesbecause that's how you told your
that's how they told theirstories, and so it was cool to
like they added this to thegame, but I took that shanty and
I wrote it into running ofeverything is based around

(47:53):
running, and so I listened tothis before I ran that final
mile and I dropped my poles inthe van.
Uh, and I was like, let'sfucking send it.
Uh, I ran a five, I ran a 550mile, the final mile.
Um no way, dude.
Yeah, Jeffrey almost didn'tmake it to the finish line.
Like he was so used to havinglike 15 minutes between like 15

(48:15):
and 20 minutes that he wassitting there, and then someone
calls him and it's like, dude,he's coming down the hill.
So Jeffrey, I'm like here, andjust so like the finish line,
you know, the finish line'shere, and Jeffrey like did this
as I was crossing the finishline, like hurries and like in
motion, like parks the van,grabs this camera, and gets out
of the car.
That's okay.
And like got the footage of mecrossing it like the last

(48:37):
second.
Um, it was dude, it was so coolto finish in that fashion.
And like everyone told me,like, dude, just like split it
into two days, it's okay.
And I'm like, no, I didn't dothis for the final day to be
easy.
Like, right, I don't give ashit if I have to run until 6
a.m.
We're going until this is done.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yeah, then you just send it and do a 550 mile.
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
And it just comes down to you can go so much
further than you think.
Yeah.
420 miles deep into this run.
I ran a 550 mile.
That's insane, man.
Because my mind, I was like, Idon't have to do this again
tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
So what am I holding back for?

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yeah, it's like I this is it.
Go all out.
Yeah.
Um, I'm curious if you canshare just a couple lines from
the the shanty.
I'd love to to hear that.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Um I kind of have a song memorized, but when you ask
me on the spot.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Hey, that's okay.
That's how I work too.
I live in my Apple notes.
Yeah.
It's on Spotify.
Oh, really?
Okay.
What's it called?

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Worn legs.
There we go.
Worn legs.
Yeah, all right.
Um yeah, so Oh, like lyricsaren't on here.
Well, good thing I have it inmy notes.
Yeah, so um, yeah, I wrote thislike a little poem.
Where is it?
Um Yeah, there's a lot thatgoes into this song.

(50:10):
Um where is it?
We'll find it, don't worry.
No, I'm not worried.
But there's there is a lot thatgoes into this.
It's yeah.
Um it's very emotional, it'svery and it's very much for like

(50:30):
myself.
Um yeah, it's very much it'svery much for myself.
And but I also feel like a lotof people relate to it.
Um where's the whole thing?

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Um I mean, while you're pulling that up, I I do
the same thing.
Like I I will I write a lot.
Typically I try and write everyday.
Um, but whenever I write aboutrunning, it's like I'm not
trying to write that to inspireother people to go do things.
Like I don't share my journalwith others, and it's mainly
just for me to be like, what doI think about running?

(51:06):
Like what's important to meabout it.
And um, yeah, anyways, did youuh yeah?

Speaker 3 (51:12):
You know, I almost wonder how I wonder because I'm
using this mic.
You could probably put it onthere.

Speaker (51:22):
You tell me how this sounds I feel the old black top
beneath my feet as I trudge onall day till I'm done in meat.

(51:43):
My shoes are in racks,tattered, torn up and bare, but
I trust my heart not to scarefor flare.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
That is awesome.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Yeah, so it my buddy is an amazing singer.
Um, I don't know what thatrandom song was that started
playing next, but um but he's anamazing singer, he's been
making music for a long time.
Um, and it's funny because Icame to him to like make it into
like almost a shanty.
Yeah, and we were singing itlike almost shanty, like, you

(53:47):
know, much more like upbeat.
And I was like, this isn't thisisn't what this is, and all of
a sudden it just turned intothat.
And uh it was really cool, butlike it's it's all about like
you know, for myself, like in2023 I had a big cardiac event,
and my like I I we didn't knowlike it happened from running,

(54:11):
and we didn't know if I'd beable to run anymore.
And so it was like this wholething that happened in 2023, and
it was a really big deal.
So like there's a line in itthat's like I trust my heart not
to skip or flare.
And you know, like that's a bigthing for me of like, yeah, you
know, like I'm like I'mtrusting my body, I'm trusting
that it will continue to bringme forward.

(54:32):
Um, and then you know, pleasekeep me on running as far as my
worn legs can go.
And it's like the you know,this, you know, there's a lot of
pain that a lot of us areexperiencing with running, not
just physical, but mental.
And you know, there's thesaying that you know, you're
either running for fromsomething or towards something.
And it's that line is kind ofbehind that of like, just keep

(54:56):
me on running as far as my wornlegs can go.
I don't care how tired my legsare, I just want to keep
running.
Yeah, I don't want to stop.
I want to chase that thing,that feeling.
I want to escape that thatthought, that feeling.
Uh, and so it's like, pleasejust like keep me running.
I don't want to stop.

(55:17):
Just like let me keep running.
Um, it's uh my shoes are inrags, all tattered and uh torn,
torn up, tattered, whatever theline is.
Um, you know, and uh again, myweary feet aching still carry
me.
You know, we all haveexperienced that.
We've all experienced that painand that that suffering that we

(55:38):
feel physically, and you yourfeet hurt and your legs ache,
and you just keep going.
Uh they keep carrying youforward.
Um, and I and then again thisline goes kind of into the same
thing of like, as far as my wornlegs can go, the final line of
the second verse is uh I'll keepmy stride till I feel no pain.

(56:00):
And you'll never not.
And so it's that say it's thatsame thing of like, I'm just
gonna keep going.
I'm why I'm not gonna stop.
Um and that's like this, this,this, this song mean this song
has very deep meanings, um,especially for myself.
And I think something that Ilove about this is that you can

(56:22):
interpret it in your own way.
Like, that's my interpretationof it.
But your interpretation mightbe something different, and
that's why I think this is socool.
And this wasn't my intent.
My intent wasn't to ever turnit into anything, but then with
the documentary, I was like, Ineed to make something out of
this.
Yeah, I have to share this withthe world somehow.
And so we sat down and we madethis.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
I think it's it's it's beautiful, man.
And it it really does like sumup what running is.
And I think, you know, it's alot of the times many of the
runners are like, yeah, I hope Ican keep going.
Um, so I think it's probablysomething that we all could use
during uh an ultra run oranything difficult, you know, is
listen back to the shanty.

(57:03):
But um, you know, I I I reallylove that kind of stuff just
because it's one, it's verypersonal, but two, it also it
shows that there are deepermeanings.
And um I don't know.
I I think I commented on one ofyour posts just saying how
running's a great metaphor forlife.
And you know, that was thattoday?

Speaker 3 (57:24):
That might have been today.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Today or yesterday, yeah.
Either another one.
Um, but that song is like agreat example of that because
you said it, like it could takea different meaning.
It can be about running, but itcan also be about life.
Like people who are goingthrough hard times, like I just
don't let my heart give out, youknow?
And yeah, I think it's umsomething that I've I've learned

(57:46):
from money that you can applyto really everything, and that's
why I do it, is to like teachmyself that I can do more.
And seems like you know, you'rein the same boat, and um I just
think it's really reallyinspirational what you're doing,
like everything from the Utahrun to you know, not training
very much for the 50 miler, butstill going to be a little bit

(58:07):
more than a little bit.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
It was so much more than that.
Not training.
Like I was building this gym, Iwas building all the equipment,
dude.
I came into that run so sore.
I was exhausted.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
Imagine, yeah, I was exhausted.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
I mean, imagine imagine doing seven extremely
heavy 12-hour workouts, yeah,and then running insane and then
running and and then running 50miles.
That's what that was.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
But no, and I was sick.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
Dude, I woke up so sick.
I could not breathe at all.
I could not breathe out of mynose.
I was coughing.
I was dude, I was an awful, Iit was awful, I was so sick.
It was my Jordan flu game.
That's why I made the joke thatthis was my Jordan flu game
because I was so goddamn sick.
Um and the only thing I wasn'tdoing was puking.

(58:58):
I had a fever, I hadeverything.
Um and and I I crushed it.
You know, 12 hours.
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
It's amazing.
I do remember I had a I had amemory of you when we got to
that aid station um where theywere cooking quesadillas and all
those things.
And I think we were bothfilling up our waters or
something, but you were like,I'm gonna come back around the
second loop and get some ofthose fries.
And I was like, I respect them,man.
There we go.
Yep.
Yep.
Nope.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
I I came back around and got those fries.
They were cold at that point,but they were amazing.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Anything tastes good when you're doing that stuff.
So yeah.
Um, but yeah, I think honestly,it's it's amazing.
And and yeah, talk a little bitabout your gym.
Um, that's awesome.
When you I mean you launched itlast week, right?

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Yeah, we we just opened.
Uh we're still likepreliminarily not open because
we last second needed to get apermit for our fire system.
Uh just didn't realize weneeded it.
It was just a mistake.
Um, so we're like half open,half not.
Um There's like certainservices we can't offer.
So we're in this like weirdlimbo.
It'll get figured out.

(01:00:04):
It'll sort it out.
I'm not too worried about it.
We already have 20 plusmembers, so we signed up a few
more today.
So I can't remember exactlywhere we're at.
So I that's awesome.
We're already doing great,already making money.
Um, it's an amazing space.
Um, I'm sitting in my officeright now, which isn't fully
decorated, but like I've gotthis wall all set up.
Um, this wall has nothing rightnow.

(01:00:26):
But uh you'll get there.
Yeah, we'll get there.
Um, I'm gonna do some coolstuff with that wall.
Um, I still need to finish.
Like, I got my big asscalendar.
There you go.
The the big ass calendar.
Jesse, Jesse Isler.
Yep, I've got my big asscalendar that I'm gonna hang up
right here.
Um, I obviously have mylicense, not all these aren't
all the license plates.

(01:00:47):
So a lot of people, I've hadpeople ask me because I actually
auctioned this off for charity.
Um and it it sold for 500 bucksfor charity, and then the guy
who bought it gave it to me.
Oh, that's pretty cool.
So it's really cool.
I gotta have it.
He's actually one, he'sactually one of the owners of
the gym as well.
Um, nice.

(01:01:07):
And yeah, he bought it and thenhe gave it to me to hang up in
here.
So that's so cool.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
What yeah, what is the story behind the license
plates?
I don't even think I asked youthat.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Dude, I found so day one, I found 13 license plates,
and so it became a thing.
Like it became a bit.
Um, like the whole run.
It became like literally, Iwould write these journals.
I'd used Instagram as myjournal every night.
That was just like it allowedus to have a post.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, it was like a thirdpost for the day.
It was a carousel, so you guyscould see all the photos.

(01:01:35):
And but then I also was I Iacted like it wasn't an
Instagram post.
I acted like I was writing inmy journal so that you guys
could genuinely see and feelwhat I was seeing and feeling.
Um and so, but in that journalentry at the beginning, I would
put how many miles I ran and howmany license plates I found,
and then I would go into thejournal entry.

(01:01:56):
And it became like a bit like Iwould say, you know, we posted
three times a day, every day forthe whole run.
Uh, and I think like four orfive, no, I think it was six of
the posts were about thefreaking license plates.
Uh because it became just howlike I found a I found a baker's
dozen on day one.
Like that's crazy.
Yeah, not even looking thathard.

(01:02:16):
Not even looking that hard.
So uh ended up becoming athing.
And so what I did, this isn'tall of them.
I still have some others athome that just didn't make it
into this.
Um but what I did is I turnedit into the shape of Utah.
I don't know if you'll post avideo of this, but um it's into
the shape of Utah.
Yeah, that's some trade, yeah.
Um, okay.
Well then I'm gonna carry mycomputer over there.
Um wait, no, I can carry thecamera over there, which is even

(01:02:39):
better.
Let's go.
Um, that is sick.
So, yeah.
Okay, there we go.
That is so cool.
So, yeah, so this is the muralright here.
Uh, I know it's trying to fallon my face right now.
Um, but this is it right here.
It's not quite all of them, butyou can see.
Oh, no.
Sorry, my camera is a littlebit different view than there.
Um, but yeah, you can see it'sgot some of the like motorcycle

(01:03:00):
license plates.
That one right there, the rustyone, is from the 1960s.
Uh, I had to do a bunch ofresearch to figure out like what
it was.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Um, dude, I thought that was a piece of cardboard
for a second.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
No, no, this is a rusty uh license plate.
That is cool, man.
That is way cool.
Yeah, rusty license plate.
Dang.
Um, but yeah, so it's uh setback up.
Um but yeah, no, it's uh it'sreally cool, and it's in the
shape of Utah.
Um, actually, on the ground,I'm I'm gonna hang them up on my

(01:03:32):
wall.
I have my poles, um, whichthese are the poles from the
run.
Um, this one's broken.
This is the broken pole, theone that broke on day uh or day
nine, whatever day it was.
But yeah, the pole snapped.
Um, you can see on the shelfright there, those are my shoes
that I ran in.

(01:03:53):
Um there's uh railroad spikethat's from uh I had someone
like kind of authenticate it,uh, but this railroad spike is
from uh they think it's from theUnion Pacific Railroad from the
1800s.
Yep.
Holy cow, man.
I found that.
Um there's this is like one ofthe headbands that I wore, and

(01:04:14):
then just some like random signthat's back there that I found
as well.
Um I have a bunch of this stuffhanging up in here just because
it's obviously you know a hugeaccomplishment.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Yeah, uh what a great, what a great way to
remember it too, just with allthe little things that you find
along the journey.
Like that's what makes itthat's what's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:04:30):
Oh no, so cool.
But yes, that's the storybehind the license plates, and I
did you a little show and tellthere as well.
Um But yeah, the the licenseplates just kind of became a
bit, and so I had to auctionthem off and make it into an art
piece, and uh that's cool.
That's so cool.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Yeah, man, I think everything that you're doing is
pretty awesome.
Like you're literally gettingafter it, you're living it, and
um super inspiring talking toyou today.
Like, I I love that shanty.
I'll probably add it to myrunning list, even though you
know it's it's yours, but it I'dget pumped up to say that
thing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Yeah, it resonates to people.
It's and it's yeah, it's likeis it the most well-produced
song in the world?
No, but that doesn't matter.
It's it's the story behind it.
Yeah, right.
It's called Warn Legs, it's onSpotify.
Um and the artist that like theproducing artist is Tanner the
Hylian.
Um because he's the one that uhhe's uh he's the one that's

(01:05:28):
singing, so we put it on hisprofile.
Um Tanner the Hylian onSpotify.
It's also the name of mydocumentary on YouTube.
You can also just search RunAcross Utah and it'll come up.
Um right on.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
And what's your um like time to plug it?
What's what's your handle?
All that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
Buff Runner.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Buff Runner.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
Okay, across the board, Buff Runner.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
And if people wanted to come check out your gym.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
It's in Bountiful, Utah.
It's called Gain Your Movement.
Um, yeah, it's a Bountiful,Utah.
So if you live in Utah and youlive up here, come check it out.
Uh there you go.
And you can come work out forfree and check it out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Yeah, you'll be in good hands.
But yeah, seriously, man, I Ireally appreciate your time
coming on tonight and justsharing your experience.
Thanks for having me.
It's been one of my favoritepodcasts.
Just listen to you, share yourstory.
And I mean, you were likerunning is hard, and having you
tell the story about going foralmost 10 days in Utah, like

(01:06:29):
that is that's what it's allabout, though.
It's like learning that you canpush your limits.
And I just you're setting agreat example, so I appreciate
it, man.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
Hey, thank you.
Hey, you know the saying likedouble it and give it to the
next person.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
Yeah.

unknown (01:06:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Well, the next challenge is double it and give
it to myself.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
So Hey, there you go.
Hey, I'll run some miles withyou if that's the case.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
We got a thousand miles loading right now.
I'm not going to tell.