January 9, 2025 • 42 mins
#125 - In this episode, Mario Valentin, an Army National Guard veteran and founder of the Super Smash Bros racing team, and I discuss overcoming life's obstacles and transforming them into personal growth experiences.
Mario opens up about his past, where responsibilities like starting a family and serving in the military took precedence over sports. Yet, these very experiences instilled in him a discipline and camaraderie that would later ignite his passion for running and obstacle course racing. Having conquered 61 Spartan races, Mario's story is a powerful reminder of the opportunities that fitness can bring into our lives.
Topics Covered:
- Mario’s start into obstacle course racing
- Overcoming the challenges of his first Spartan Beast race
- Coping with and recovering from an Achilles injury
- The importance of community through the Super Smash Bros OCR team
- An emphasis on making fitness a fun and lifelong commitment
Today’s Guest
Mario Valentin
Mario Valentin, a 45-year-old father of four from Waterbury, CT, is a testament to resilience and transformation. Despite not engaging in sports during his youth, Mario found his calling in obstacle course racing (OCR) after serving in the Army National Guard. Since 2014, he has completed 61 Spartan races, including three ultras and 17 Trifectas, alongside events from brands like Bonefrog, Savage Race, and FIT Challenge.
A proud captain of the Super Smash Bros OCR team, Mario has also excelled in hybrid fitness, with achievements in DEKA and plans to tackle HYROX. His journey hasn’t been without challenges, overcoming a ruptured Achilles in 2018 and managing osteoarthritis.
Mario’s determination has earned podium finishes, including a Savage Race AG win and a 2nd place in City Challenge Masters. His mission: to use fitness as a tool for readiness and to inspire others to achieve their best selves.
Follow Mario Valentin:
- Instagram - @supersmashbrosocr
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my friend.
Today you'll hear such aninspiring conversation, as we're
going to talk about someobstacles in life and overcoming
them, but also finding joy inrunning and fitness, along with
some tips to help you get themost out of your experience.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richard.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Conner.
Hi, my friend, welcome toInspire to Run Podcast.
I'm here today with MarioValentin, who is an Army
National Guard veteran, fatherof four, captain of Super Smash
Bros OCR team, and he startedracing in 2014, mainly OCR races
, which includes 61 Spartanraces, which is comprised of
(00:59):
three ultras and 17 trifectas.
Mario is using fitness to keephim ready for life and wants to
inspire others to be their bestself through fitness.
Welcome to the show, mario.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Hey, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, this is exciting to have you here and
talk about your journey.
You know, as I understand it,you didn't really grow up with
fitness and sports when you wereyounger.
It's something you got into alittle bit later on in life.
So I'd love to hear about thatLove to hear about some of
life's obstacles, which is alsoin your bio and, you know, just
learn a little bit about you andyour journey.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Growing up, I did think that I was a good
basketball player.
I mean, that's one of thethings that I would say my
friends and I would get togetherand we would go out play at the
park, and so I would say, whileI wasn't in any kind of
organized sports, basketball wasmy thing.
So there was never any runningor no track or anything like
that, but so I was semi-active,we'll say early on, you know, in
(02:01):
early teens.
And then as you got older,through high school, you know
there were other things thatoccupied my time during that
time of my life.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Let's say yeah, for sure, and I'm definitely envious
, because basketball, baseball,all those sports was not on the
list for me.
So I joined cross country and Idid a little bit of track and
those are kind of my sports inhigh school and the same kind of
thing Like after high schoolinto college, working part-time,
going to school, workingfull-time, going to school
(02:30):
part-time, starting a familyearly, like just sports took a
back seat and then I personallygot back into it.
You know, just about eight, 10years ago.
So you know, love to hear fromyou like what was that driver to
kind of get you back intofitness and sports and where did
that take you?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I would say, you know, going back to the high
school days and you talk aboutstarting a family early, I
started very early, so that youknow, starting very early and
then entering into the NationalGuard to try to, you know, have
a way forward for the family.
That's kind of what occupied myearlier years.
And then also I had aspirationsfor other things non-related to
fitness that we can delve candelve into.
I haven't talked about it in along time, but back then I was a
(03:08):
very different person than I amnow.
Uh, probably around um, I'd say, 35 years old or so is when I
just had this itch to to um likethe army, national guard, when
I was a soldier, uh, doing thoseuh obstacle courses that we did
in training um and then, andbeing a soldier was just
something that I had fondmemories of and the discipline
(03:28):
that it instilled in me.
I just wanted a piece of thatagain in my older years and I
was just looking for a way toachieve that.
And then there was a race heldin Hartford, connecticut.
It was the Down and Dirty MudRun and it was put together by
the I think it was the army thatwas running that and it was put
together by the I think it wasthe army that was running that.
So I said to myself you know,this looks like something
perfect.
That would get me back into youknow, the things that I missed,
(03:49):
the things that I enjoyed.
And I talked to a co-worker ofmine and said you want to try,
sign up for this thing?
And he was like, yeah, sure,let's, let's sign up for it.
I had no idea what obstaclecourse racing was at the time, I
think that.
So it was 2014.
Spartan was already a thing,but I had no idea about it.
There was, no, I had noinformation on it.
So this was my firstintroduction to it.
Um, so that prompted me tostart.
(04:15):
Um, you know, preparing for that, uh, which I had an
understanding was like a threemile race, some obstacles.
So that's, that's what got me.
Like during lunch break, Iwould.
I would do like a walk aroundthe block and escalated to like
a run around the block.
So that's what started trainingand then maybe tracking my
fitness a little bit by, byprogressing and saying, hey, I
was able to run a mile.
You know, because I, prior tothen, aside from the army
(04:36):
training, I never myself wasmotivated to just go out and run
, for I used to think that waslike silly who goes out goes out
to just go out and run, for, no, I, I used to think that was
like silly who's goes out tojust run.
Um, so it's.
It's never something that I did, but preparing for this race is
what got me to to start wantingto say, okay, how fast can I
run this mile?
And um, so that that's how itinitially progressed.
(04:57):
And then doing the race, uh, I,I enjoyed it.
I was like you know what?
This is something I'm going todo every single year.
So that was in 2014.
And then, sure enough, in 2015,there was an excitement that was
built up.
We're going to do this down anddirty mud run again.
It was my friend, john, and Ias a coworker.
He was, I would say, theoriginal super smash bro.
We can talk more about the team, but you know we were all
(05:19):
excited about doing the 2015down and dirty mud run, once
again in Hartford.
And I was saying to myself youknow what?
The first time I did it, Ithink I placed pretty well in my
age group.
I think I was like seventh orsomething in my age group for
the first time.
So I had an itch of you know Ican be good at this and I
trained for the next year, did alot more running.
(05:42):
Uh, during lunch breaks andthen after work I would, I would
get into running.
Uh, we did the 2015 down anddirty, dirty, mother, and had a
blast.
So certainly 2016,.
We were going to do it again,but that company I don't know if
they went out of business orwhat happened, but that event
was no longer in Hartford.
So we had to find something tofulfill that that itch.
(06:02):
Now, you know we've been doingthis for two years.
It's been a yearly tradition.
So what do we do?
And then Spartan kind of cameinto the picture.
I think my friend John might'veintroduced me to Spartan and we
signed up for a beast in NewJersey, which at that time, I
had no idea what this was.
I just know it's like, hey,we're going to try this Spartan
thing and that's where thejourney began in 2016.
(06:25):
Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And when you're talking about the beast in New
Jersey, you just brought backfond memories of when I did my
first trifecta, Probably firstand only at this point.
But yeah, I did the beast whichculminated my season there in
Mountain Creek.
I think it was kind of the sameand I think I left part of my
soul on that.
Mountain Well is kind of thesame and I think I left part of
my soul on that mountain.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Well, I'm happy to be done with that, yeah.
So again, I mean, if thelisteners are familiar, I know
this is inspired to run, but Ithink that you reach a diverse
group of of you know athletes orpeople that that strive for
fitness.
So I'm sure that some of thelisteners out there are familiar
.
So when I say the first thing Ichose was a Spartan beast,
people are like, why would youchoose that?
But we really didn't know.
But when you talk about leavingyour soul there, that's exactly
(07:08):
what happened.
So, leading up to that race inNew Jersey, there was a lot of
you know, I was like, okay,playgrounds and get on the
monkey bars, um, or I I try topractice, um, you know, whatever
strength training I can.
I wasn't in the gym at the time.
(07:31):
I think I ended up signing upfor a gym, uh, planet fitness,
which is, um, you know it was.
It was economical, it was, uh,there was flexibility because I
can go to a local planet fitness.
Or I was traveling back andforth for work, so I can go.
When I was traveling to NewJersey for work, I can go for
the planet fitness there.
But either way, I wasincreasing my runs, so I would
(07:51):
do 5K.
And then I got to a point whereI was even running like six
miles or seeing how far I couldgo, knowing the distance was
going to be 13 miles.
My proud moment at the time wasbeing able to do like a 10 mile
10 mile run at it was a placecalled weekway park in, uh, in
Newark, new Jersey.
It's a beautiful park out thereand just being able to to to
get to a 10 mile run was a hugeachievement for me at the time
(08:14):
and I was like, okay, I'm, I'mready for this Spartan race, I
can't wait.
And then, um, I learned quicklythat you know, road running or
running on flat ground isabsolutely nothing like you know
running on, you knowmountainous terrains and, um,
that that mountain humbled me.
My first Spartan was was, uh, itwas, it was a learning
(08:34):
experience.
I'm not going to call it afailure.
Uh, it was a learningexperience.
It took me, it took me ninehours on my first beast.
So you know, like looking backon it now, I've improved a lot.
But that's what it's all about.
It's about trying something forthe first time and then seeing
how you can improve over time.
But I mean, I set the bar so lowon that first run but I had
(08:55):
some, some um, I had a kneeinjury to deal with, probably
around mile nine, and then justafter that I was hobbling to the
finish line.
And you know that first finishline, my first finish line
experience on the Spartan race,was crossing it and like almost
being in tears with my buddykind of carrying me over the
finish line.
But it was a tremendousachievement and it was very
(09:16):
rewarding.
So in the moment was wasmiserable, but then when you
look back on it like I was on ahigh for just saying I completed
that.
Then when you look back on itlike I was on a high for just
saying I completed that.
So that's what some of theseevents offer to me and for a lot
of people is that sense ofachievement and it's attainable.
If you think about somebody whostarts their journey or
(09:37):
whatever it is, a lot of timesthey say, well, I can't do that,
that's 13 miles.
And when I look at the person Iwas when I did that first down
and dirty, that person would,would not, would not think that
they can achieve that.
You know, 13 mile or probably15 or 16 mile beast.
Uh cause, spartan mile weredifferent earlier and you know
when I first started 2016, but Ijust mean, like you know, even
(10:01):
even when I did that down anddirty, there was another option.
I think it was a six mile option, no-transcript.
(10:37):
So that's probably what I wouldsay to people who are looking
at, you know, trying to sign upfor their first big thing either
it's a OCR race or a road raceor a marathon?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, 100%.
Because, like you said, ifsomeone hasn't run a 5k before
or a half marathon or marathonor a beast, it does seem
daunting.
And I could tell you from myown experience, like I didn't
start running really longdistances up until about four
years ago right, when I startedto do these longer Spartan races
.
And then just the other day Iwas talking to somebody.
I was like, yeah, you know, Ihave to go run 15 miles this
(11:08):
Sunday for my long run.
And they're looking at me likeonly 15 miles.
I was like, yeah, it's no bigdeal, because in my mind I just
did 18 miles a week before.
So I'm like, yeah, 15 miles,this is going to be a walk in
the park.
What I'm really worried aboutis 21 miles a week after,
because I haven't done that yet.
So for me, like that's the nextstep, so, like you said, it's
really just taking it step bystep, absolutely so you can get
(11:31):
to.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You know your goal, but I think another thing that's
important for us who are movingforward and we're looking to
get better is always having anunderstanding of where other
people are, and so I'll take anultra, for example.
So I don't like to do theSpartan ultra, you know, and I
and I have reasons for doing itI don't necessarily like that
long distance, but I do it forother other things.
(11:53):
So I had you know I know Italked with you a little bit
earlier about my Achilles injuryI had that Achilles injury
prior to, uh, that injury I did.
I did the Spartan ultra, and itwas just because it was a
bucket list thing.
I wanted to try it and it was aone and done thing.
I was certain I was like I'mnever going to do that again,
but then, after the injury in2018, I at some point wanted to
(12:16):
work back to it.
So it took several years, butdoing the Ultra again was more
of a redemption for you know,recovering from the Achilles,
going through all that work, andthen I was like you know what?
Can I?
Can I do an ultra?
And so I did it for that reason.
But there are people that are,you know, for, for them, a 5k is
their ultra and I respect that.
(12:36):
You know I respect anyone who'slike um.
You know they're not active butthey're saying to themselves
you know what, I want to getmyself to a 5k.
And you know they are takingthat same leap of faith that
that I'm taking when I joined anultra, or that, uh, you know,
person doing a hundred mile raceis taking.
You know they, they're at acertain fitness level and
they're they want to take onsomething bigger.
So my bigger is different thanyour bigger, and so that's we.
(12:59):
We have to respect everybody's.
You know, uh, commitment,commitment and and appreciate
that they're, they're having awillingness to to leap forward
and try something new.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
100 100, so let's talk about.
You know other parts of yourjourney, so we talked a little
bit about your injury, so we can, you know, talk more about that
and also love to hear aboutyour team, the super smash bros
team okay.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So the injury first.
Yeah, let's talk about theinjury.
Um, all right.
So I think think 2018 was ayear where I was 2017.
I had done a whole bunch ofraces.
I tried like.
I tried Savage Race, cityChallenge, I tried Rugged Maniac
, bone Frog.
I was branching out, so itwasn't just Spartan races, we
were just trying differentvenues, really enjoyed the.
(13:40):
You know the vibes that you getat the different start lines,
and I think that might have beenthe year where I started doing
competitive.
So initially we started out inthe open and then I jumped into
the competitive waves justbecause it just I wasn't
necessarily competing against,you know, fellow racers, I was.
I was competing against myprior self, but that atmosphere
(14:01):
was was, you know, it suited meto to be kind of at the start
line with people, um, as I'mrunning, you know everybody
beside you is whether they'rechasing a podium or they're
chasing their own PRS.
It just has a different feelwhen you're in the, in the
competitive wave.
So 2018, I did, you know,several races, um, and I was, I
was feeling good.
I think I was at the height of,you know, of what I thought was
(14:23):
the height of my, my fitnessand um.
It was a year where I was alsolooking to do an endurance.
So I think I did a um, I didthe Spartan ultra and then I did
some hurricane heats, which area different type of event.
Um, but I, my goal was doing anendurance trifecta, meaning I
would do an ultra, uh, uhhourhurricane heat and a 12-hour
(14:44):
hurricane heat.
That's what it was at the time.
Now there's all kinds ofdifferent levels 24-hour.
I'm not interested in that, butyou know.
So I was feeling strong.
And then I also started doingsome ninja courses out in I
think it's in Windsor, inWindsor Locks.
There's a ninja gym out therewhich is still running today.
But they had all these obstaclesand I was and it was fun.
(15:08):
It was a fun thing to do, youknow, branching out and the warp
wall that they have there.
You know I remember tacklingthe smaller wall and then
progressing to the bigger walland then they had like a 15 foot
, you know, warp wall.
That I was like all right, I'mgoing to get that.
Like we did our warmup, then wefocused primarily on upper body
(15:30):
stuff and then, like before Ileft, it was like 10 minutes
left and I was like all right,you know what?
I haven't tried that 15 footwall.
Today, let me give it a shot.
And that's where it happened.
I was running towards the, uh,the work wall, and as I was
running, um, I just heard thisloud sound pop.
It sounded like a like a two byfour.
Somebody just dropped it on theground.
That's what it sounded like.
(15:51):
And, and I remember runningtowards the wall, uh, falling on
my face.
I looked back because there wasa coach that was going to spot
me, like as I run.
He would, you know whatever,he'd spot me.
And I looked back like what youhit me for?
Because I thought somebody hitme.
And then, I think, when you talkto people who have an achilles
injury, they, they have similaruh stories of feeling like they
(16:11):
were just hit with something.
But anyway, that's that's whenit happened, um, and in that
moment, uh, I remember it was.
It was sharp pain at first, butthen there wasn't really a
tremendous amount of pain.
I just couldn't stand up.
Um, you know, went to thedoctor.
They confirmed what happenedand I, I remember sitting there,
um, in the, in the hospital, uh, when one of the doctors was
kind of giving me the news andhe was like yeah, you know it's
(16:34):
an Achilles rupture it's and hewas just feeding me like a lot
of bad news, and I think thatthey um have to be very careful
when they have someone um in thein, in the room there and
they're evaluating it, theydon't crush their hopes and
dreams.
Because it was sounding like,yeah, you know you're, you're
not likely going to get back toto to running the way you were
and, um, I wouldn't expect torebound and and it was just
(16:55):
things that I didn't need tohear at that time.
That really kind of was likeall right, well, spartans are
probably over and running isprobably over, based on what
he's telling me.
Um, but, but then it just was a?
Um a point in my life where I Isaid you know what?
This is one of life's obstaclesthat we talked about, and a lot
of people, I think, would findthemselves in a point where they
(17:15):
would give up completely.
But I was like no, I think thatwhile I'm limited here with my
injury to my leg, I'll juststart focusing on upper body
work and I'll start focusing onthings that I can do, and one of
the things that also is, Iwould say, good advice for
anyone out there is always focuson the things that you can do
when, um, when life gives youchallenges.
(17:36):
So if you have a lower bodyinjury, you can always work on
the upper body.
It's, it's good for you.
You can't, you can't allowyourself to be sedentary, um,
and you can't let a certainmoment in your life define,
define you either.
So, um, I, I learned thatthrough that um experience and
I'm, and I'm, better for it.
Um, it was a, it was a longrecovery process.
I remember, you know, beingworried that, you know, will I
(17:57):
be able to get back to this?
Um, you know where I was and Iwould say that, after you know,
some, some, some, good, uh,recovery time I think it was
about six months I was alreadyback to, you know, doing some
running, getting back, involvedin some races and tackling
obstacles again.
So it was a setback, but again,I think that it was just a
(18:17):
testament to being able toovercome challenges, so life's
challenging.
So you know anybody out therewho's suffering a similar injury
.
It does get better, you know,but I think the only way it gets
better is by, you know, takingcontrol and not letting it.
You know, sid, uh, but I thinkthe only way it gets better is
by, you know, taking control andand, um, not letting it uh, you
know, sideline you completely,cause I don't think does us any
good to, you know, havesomething happen, and then we
(18:39):
just sit back and, you know, letthe couch take over.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, thank you for sharingthat story.
And you know I love what yousaid about like don't let those
specific moments kind of defineyou.
So it's really helpful to kindof think about you know, what
else can I do, even though I'mlimited in one particular area.
What are the other things I cando to kind of keep moving
forward.
So I appreciate that and kindof, as we were talking before, I
(19:02):
personally didn't realize this.
Like I know, injuries are quitecommon.
Like whether you're doingfitness or not, injuries happen
and you have to kind of workthrough them.
But Achilles injuries isactually a little bit more
common than I thought and youknow, I know folks that are
listening have either gonethrough it or maybe going
through it now.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So this is really helpful, you know, to hear your
story and kind of how you workthrough that Just real quick on
the Achilles injury.
It's when I talk to doctorsafterwards it's, you know, you
ask a lot of questions,especially me as an engineer.
I have a lot of questions thatI have for everything in life.
So I'm asking the doctor howcan I have prevented this, what
can I have done?
And when something like thishappens to us, we often beat
(19:41):
ourselves up thinking toourselves you know, what could I
have done better?
Like I always think back to theday it happened, you know, and
I say to myself well, I rememberworking on upper body and maybe
my lower body cooled down and Idecided to just go, you know,
full on with the run and that'swhen it popped.
(20:02):
But but ultimately it's, it'sone of those injuries that you
can't necessarily.
It just it's one of thosethings that happen.
There's not really somethingthat you can do to prevent.
So certainly, stretching andmaking sure you have your
mobility that's always key toprevent any injuries.
But this has happened to someof the top elite level athletes,
like, if you're looking at theNFL or NBA or even baseball,
you'll see top Kobe Bryant is aprime example of someone who the
(20:23):
Achilles happened to him andyou know, you know Kobe Bryant's
on top of his training, right.
So if it can happen to theelite level athlete, you know
that likely.
It's not something I did wrong,it's just something that
happens and you just got to moveforward.
Now that's not to say thatthings aren't preventable.
So by all means, in my olderyears, I know that I need to
stretch before I do any kind ofworkout.
(20:44):
I think stretching post-workoutis also beneficial and these
things do help recovery.
I know that you got coach Kevinprobably telling you that
recovery is key and I know I'velistened to, as a matter of fact
, on your podcast recently hetalked about the benefits of
recovery and prioritizing.
So you know and I'm not adoctor and I'm not a physical,
I'm not a trainer or anything somy thoughts on injuries are you
(21:06):
know that you can preventinjuries, but this one in
particular, don't beat yourselfup if it's something that
happened to you.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, for sure, and yeah, I appreciate you sharing
that.
And yeah, coach Kevin doesemphasize, you know, recovery
and he has a lot here, you knowso.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So today we're actually recording in Kevin's
gym, we're in underdog fitnessand we have some of the top
level athletes here todayactually training, so it's
pretty inspiring.
So we talk about inspired torun, right.
I'm inspired to go out and, andand run too, or maybe even do
some wall balls like Alex Alexis doing over there.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Absolutely.
So you know um, so he does, hedoes have a lot of equipment
here for recovery and he doespromote that.
So I know, for me personally, Ihave a massage boots and I've
done you know some other thingsfor recovery and I also try to
do a lot with warmups and youknow a little bit of stretching
and one of the things I need toget better at is mobility.
So I know that's an area that Ineed to get better at.
(21:57):
So I appreciate you sharingthat.
So you know, kind of on thesame theme of life's obstacles,
you know, let's talk about someother obstacles that you kind of
encountered and how'd you workthrough those?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well, I don't know.
There's lots of challenges thatwe have in our life.
I mean we, for example.
We might, you know, losing,losing somebody close to us, is
always one of life's obstacles,you know, and throughout my life
, especially later on, not tobring the show down or anything,
but that's the reality.
Those are some of life'schallenges.
Losing your job can be, youknow, life's obstacles, so I
(22:39):
haven't ever lost my job.
I think I was laid off at onepoint, so it's just something
that happens.
You know, earlier on you'retrying to navigate through life,
pay bills.
You know I've got kids to takecare of, and then you know you
get laid off.
It's like um, but I would saythat you know taking on these
things for ourselves like um.
You know I do obstacle courseracing.
You know, for those that thatare trying to tackle a marathon,
(23:01):
you know having a goal,something that you chase, it, it
it puts you in position for thething you're chasing, but then
it gives you a certain mindsetfor other things in life.
So you know, you talk aboutthose instances that I mentioned
.
You know you learn to trainingand staying prepared and ready
for these activities.
I would say that by and it'snot just obstacle course racing.
(23:38):
It's whatever you decide to do,you know, whatever challenge
you take on, that you say youknow I'm going to do this, I'm
going to work towards this.
It just builds that mindset andit opens doors.
So I would say that this fitnessjourney has opened the doors to
some of the most beautifulplaces in the world for me
personally, because while I'mgetting ready and training for
this, let's just say there's anopportunity that presents itself
(24:00):
where it's like you know, climbthis beautiful mountain that
only your legs can take you to.
You can't drive up there.
If you want to see this, youknow, spectacular view.
You've got to get up there.
And you know being able to sayyes to so many things that that
I'm grateful for.
You know being able to do that.
You know, if I'm out like Itravel for work a lot, so let's
(24:22):
just say if I'm, if I'm out westin Vegas, is one of the things
I plan on tackling when I when Igo for a conference in Las
Vegas.
I've been there a few timesalready and I've looked at the
mountains surrounding the cityand I've said to myself you know
what I need to hit thosemountains.
You know, and just I know thatthat when the time comes, I'll
be ready to do that, and so Ijust I think that there's
(24:49):
something to be said aboutalways being ready to take on,
you know, whatever life presentsitself, whether it be a
challenge, but then also whenit's ready to reward you with
beautiful views.
Uh, times with you know, goodtimes with good people.
So, um, you know, that's just.
I'm not sure how I got intothat direction but um it's just,
it's just kind of talking abouthow you know this.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
This fitness journey prepares you for, you know,
dealing with challenges, butthen also accepting, uh, new
challenges and new opportunitiesand the benefits that come
along with it, and I love thatyou said that, because you know
I'm thinking about this, myfirst marathon that's coming up,
and it's in France.
Yes, and you know I may havetalked about this on the show.
I may not.
I'm not sure.
So I'll just tell a little bitof a story.
My goal this year was to run myfirst marathon, and the picked
(25:27):
is happening tomorrow, right?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It's a New.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
York.
City marathon right, so I didn'tget in.
I tried a whole bunch of ways,I didn't get in.
So I was like I wanted my firstone to be memorable.
So I decided to run a race inFrance that I'm familiar with
because I traveled there a lotfor in my past life, so it's
called the BeaujolaisInternational Marathon.
It's in a beautiful area,region of the country and, just
like you said, you know I I'mgonna be able to run in a
(25:51):
beautiful area.
I'm gonna see friends I haven'tseen in a long time.
I'm gonna, you know, at somepoint enjoy wine while I'm there
and I'm just like reallyexcited just to experience all
that, like I'm not running fortime, I'm not running for medals
, like I'm really just runningmy first marathon with good
friends and just a beautifulplace.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So, yeah, absolutely, and you know, when I look at
people on social media, you kindof see that they take these.
You know, when they travel to arace, they turn those into
opportunities to explore andthey turn into little mini
vacations.
So, you kind of tackle two birdswith one stone, where you're
doing something for yourself,you know something that fulfills
you, but then while you'rethere, you know you're also
seeing, you know the, thebeautiful views that that, um,
(26:31):
you know, that location mighthave to offer.
So, um, you know, and, and youwant to be able to take
advantage of those things.
Uh, last thing I want to do isbe stuck in Waterbury,
connecticut for my entire lifeand you know we laugh.
But you know I know a lot ofpeople, a lot of my friends, um,
that are my that you know.
Fortunately, for work, I'm ableto to do that.
(26:52):
But also, you know, fitness hastaken me to a lot of different
places, um, so that's that's whyI, you know it's it's just
something that's been beneficialfor me.
And then also, uh, uh, havingsomething on the calendar is is
important to me, you know it.
It it's what keeps meaccountable.
So, um, I don't, uh, peopletalk about what, what's a lot of
(27:12):
money to to to do this stuff,and it's, that's a valid point.
You know, uh, racing can beexpensive.
Certainly, you know Spartan,when they get my season pass
money every year, you know it's,it's, it's a big hunk cash, but
it's really an investment.
The way I look at it is aninvestment for myself, because I
don't necessarily spend a lotof money doing anything else.
I don't really party, I don'tdrink, I don't do drugs, and
(27:34):
when I say I don't drink, I mean, you know I drink occasionally
but I'm not, you know, a bigdrinker.
But this is just where my moneygoes.
It doesn't go to other things,it goes into this, it keeps me
active, it keeps me healthy andit keeps me fulfilled.
So, um, you know, I, I, Iimplore everybody to to find
something that they enjoy,especially when, when people say
I'd love to do something likethat, it's like, well, then, do
(27:57):
it Right.
If you, if you truly um meanthose words, then you can do it.
You know, if you want to talkto me, find somebody if you feel
comfortable with, but, um, itcan be done.
So, so don't just say, andthat's, that's I don't want to
say it's a pet peeve, but when,um, a lot of times I'll post my
stuff on social media and peoplewill be like, oh, I wish I
(28:17):
could do something like that.
That's like, don't say that tome, because I'm going to remind
you that you absolutely can ifyou really want to Now.
If you don't want to, then I'mnot.
You know, I'm not looking totry to convert anybody, that's.
You know that.
That's not interested.
You know, if I'm going to goout on a run, that's not your
thing, that's perfectly fine, Idon't judge.
But if you're like I wish Icould do that, then, believe me,
I'm going to remind you thatyou can't.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, and it's interesting that you said that,
because I've had the podcastreally to understand you know
what motivates someone to makethat decision, to go ahead and,
you know, start their fitnessjourney and run and do obstacle
course races and whatever thatyou know brings them.
And you know, some of what Iread was really like around
habits and just kind of aroundmindset.
And it was really interestingbecause something I read was you
know, someone value someone'sreally I don't remember exactly
how they put it, but theythey're not willing to lose
something over the benefit ofgaining something right.
(29:14):
It's harder for someone to letgo of what they have right
versus realizing what they couldhave right.
And again, it's not exactly theway it was put.
But, to your point, someone hasto create space, right, Time,
money, resources, mind share todo this type of thing, which is
a change from what they're doingtoday.
(29:34):
So I don't, I don't, it's noteasy to do and you know they
have to kind of arrive at thatpoint in their own time.
But you know, what I'm hopingfor for the show is that we're
here with these conversations tohelp them with that next step,
once they made the decisionRight.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And and so what you talked about is, uh, one of the
I don't want to say excuses, butpeople, people will say they
don't have time and they don'thave money.
But, realistically, if there'ssomething that you that you
truly want to do, you you don'thave time.
You make time like, like, um,there, and and you talk about
creating habits as well, and, um, hopefully, people get to a
(30:09):
point where this becomes part oftheir, their life, as opposed
to you know.
So, when you talk about workingout or fitness, if you just
look at it as one thing that youdo, that I say, hey, I got to
get this workout.
You know, if you look at it ina negative way, it's going to be
hard to sustain, but if youjust are able to incorporate it
into your life in a way that'smanageable, then it becomes part
of your life and it's justsomething that you do.
(30:30):
So so, um, like, for you, Ithink running is, is, it's not
something that you, like, youhave to do, it's just it's what
you do, not, you have to do itand it's this miserable thing.
This is what I do, you know.
So, for me, um, I, I trainprobably about four times a week
.
You know it's not, it's notsuper intense, but it's.
It's what suits me and it'sjust what I do.
So and I and I don't sacrificethat.
(30:51):
Um, you know, in the same way,I wouldn't, uh, and I, I I know
people who know me, I bring thisup a lot, but it's like when
you wake up in the morning, youbrush your teeth.
It's not something that you,you decide.
Well, today I'm to brush myteeth, right.
So I know people get tired ofme using that example, but it's
true, it's like you wake up, youbrush your teeth.
There are things that you doregularly and if you can find a
way to incorporate, you know,fitness or just wellbeing into
(31:14):
something that you do regularly,it's part of what you do.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It's just going to benefit you 100% and it's about
building a habit.
Right you your teeth every daygrowing up so you don't really
think about it.
It's almost like breathing atthis point.
So how do you create those samehabits around fitness and how
do you create you know the time,the space, the money to do this
.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That would be.
The catchphrase is you don'thave time.
Make time 100%.
Simple as that 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So I love that.
I love how, you know, wetransitioned from talking about
some of the obstacles andgetting over those things in
life to just making a change andcreating the space to do
fitness and run andobstacle-first races and enjoy
all the benefits that come alongwith that, because it's not
just pain and agony, which it'syou know, some points it could
be, but you get a lot of reallygood benefits.
(31:59):
Um, so love that.
So so let's talk about supersmash bros.
I'm really curious about theteam and how it started and kind
of what you guys are doingthere.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Okay, super Smash Brothers is just something that
I created.
So, as I said, I started in2014 with my buddy, john, and we
were doing races together,probably in 2017, 2018.
We were doing most of our racestogether and he kind of
branched off because I think hehe took a different path in
terms of, um, you know, for work, and you know work can be a
(32:30):
burden on on us and it makes itharder to do some of these
things when your weekends aren'tfree and then when you know you
have children that you have totake care of.
So, um, but super smashbrothers my name is mario, okay,
so growing up it was supermario was always something that
that, um, I played, and then itwas very popular and people
always asked me where my brother, luigi, is.
So it was just something thatwas irritating, but at some
(32:50):
point I learned to embrace it.
You know, especially in my, myolder years.
Um, but you know, super smashbrothers is a game, that's
that's.
The main character is mario,and then there's all these other
different characters in thegame.
So I was like just trying tofind a way to to get my, my guys
, to tag along and and try tofeel like they're part of
something.
So, uh, my guy, jesse, who'spart of the super smash brothers
(33:12):
team you know he picked thecharacter link.
You know his favorite game waszelda he picked, he picked
linked as his character and itjust was a cool way to to get
people to join the team.
You pick a character, you throwit on the back of your shirt
and that's, that's yourcharacter.
You, you get to embody thatcharacter, and that was going to
be my way of creating this bigteam.
It didn't necessarily happen,but there's probably about 10 of
us that each have their owndifferent character on the back
(33:35):
of their shirt.
You know, I've tried to get mymy, my son has a character.
I obviously am Super Mario andyou know so the Super Smash
Brothers team is comprised of acore group of guys that you know
we go work out together.
Um, you might see you mightonly see me and jesse at the
races, but, um, you know, youcome to the workout, you
probably see more of us, uh,participating and it's just a
(33:56):
way of hey, we're going outtraining.
Who wants to come with us?
And you know, you can be, youcan be part of the group and
anybody's included.
Um, so I've run races, and Idon't even want to say honorary
smash rolls, because you knowit's like hey, we're running a
race together, you're, you'repart of the, you're part of the
squad, you know.
So it's, um, that's.
That's essentially in anutshell, what the team is about
and where the name comes from.
(34:17):
It's, it's, it's from the videogame.
I love that, I love that.
So you know, that was mychildhood as well, kind of
growing up with those, thosegames and cartoons and all of
that fun fact.
I am absolutely terrible atsuper smash brothers, the game
like it's that fighting game.
Um, my kids, they they've nevershowed mercy right.
I've made the attempt,especially after creating the
(34:39):
team.
I said you know, I probablyshould get good at this game and
every time I make an effort tolike play super smash brothers,
they have no mercy.
It's similar to when I used toplay Street Fighter as a kid and
anyone would come into my roomlike they would get demolished.
I had no more older brothers,uncles, no mercy, so the same
thing they absolutely destroy me.
So I've never been able to getgood at that game.
(34:59):
I have yet to record a victoryas a player in that game so Well
you've got some work to do well, it all depends.
So, when you say you got work todo, we all have work to do and
it's what you choose to work onthat's not going to be something
I prioritize, so um, it may befor some.
You know I'm actually I'm not agamer, but, um, I used I used to
(35:20):
play games.
That it just it's just notsomething that I I've done and I
don't knock anybody, but um, II prioritize, uh, getting out
there, there and trying to trainwith the time that I have,
because, again, we do havelimited time.
I have a career that I have tofocus on.
You know, I have kids I have tofocus on and we have to carve
out that time for ourselves.
It's extremely important andyou prioritize what you're going
(35:41):
to do with that time.
And as we get older, I know thatsometimes we lose relation, we
lose touch with people that wehave relationships with.
So there's a lot of friendsthat you know.
They say, hey, I haven't seenyou in a long time.
It's like well, you know youcan always come to join me for a
run.
And they're like, well, I don'twant to run.
It's like, ok, well then Iprobably won't see you because
I'm going to go run.
I'm not interested in going tothe bar, you know it's, it's,
(36:04):
it's um, and there's a happymedium too, because obviously
you have good friends.
You have to, you have to findways to, to to keep those
relationships as well.
But you know right now whereI'm at is, um, I enjoy, you know
, doing activities outdoorshiking, you know running, biking
, whatever that is and um,anybody's more than welcome to
join and it's always fun whenit's happens to be friends
that'll come in and join you fora hike.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
It's it's always, it's always a good time 100% and
I love how we hit on each ofthe pillars for Inspire to Run
podcast, where we talked aboutmindset a bit, we talked about
movement and now we're talkingabout motivation and part of
motivation pillar is aroundcommunity, Like how do I stay
motivated to keep moving and howdo I motivate others?
And a lot of that's throughcommunity.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I love how you created this team, like you have
yeah, you know 10 of you thatpick your character and you get
together and you inspire,motivate each other to you know,
stay fit and you know, and, andtalking on motivation, it's, um
, it's I really enjoy when I'mgoing out for a run like um, I
go to sleeping giant right.
So that's where I go to train.
It's.
It's when I want to get someelevation and that's that's
(37:05):
where I go.
So I the trail.
Well, it's about a mile and ahalf up to the tower and there's
times where I'll run up andthen I'll run back down.
And as you go up and down, acouple of times, I kind of like
when people are just like, wow,you're, you're going back up
there again and you know it's atrack or something, and you know
I'm just doing my runs, mymiles, and then maybe I'll do
(37:29):
some hill repeats.
And then you see someone whowill, you know, just come over
and say you know, I'd like toget there someday and you want
to.
I always want to remind themyou can, you know you can do it,
and it's okay to start off slow, Like they'll say I'll never be
able to do something like that.
And sometimes you have toencourage them by saying well,
you're out here right nowwalking and you know you have to
(37:51):
let them know that that'staking a step.
Sometimes people think they haveto do that, you know, three
times up and down, or they haveto do that big thing.
It doesn't always have to bethat big thing.
You know, meet yourself whereyou are.
If you don't walk at all, goingout to the track just for a
walk is beneficial for you.
It's going to help improve yourquality of life.
So, you know, and it'ssomething that that should be
(38:12):
celebrated.
You know, if you're out here onthe track walking with your
family, you know, and kudos toyou, you know.
So, um, you know you talk aboutmotivation.
I'm motivated by now, right now, what I see, I see, uh, I come
to Underdog to get.
I get motivated.
You know it's, it's, it'scoming to the events whenever
they hold the deck, the deck ofstrongs, the community that that
they've built here is, it'smotivational.
I draw from that and it doesn'tstop there, because there's
(38:36):
people who are inspired by me.
There's, there's people who areinspired by you, out there
right now, listening.
You might not think so, butsometimes your actions speak
louder and you don't always getpeople telling you that you
inspire them, but when you put apost out there, you know you've
inspired somebody.
You might not even know it.
So just do the work, stayinspired, you know.
(38:58):
Find your inspirations, butunderstand that you are that
inspiration for somebody,whether you know it or not.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Love it, love it.
Mario, I'm thoroughly enjoyingthis conversation.
You shared a lot of insightswith us and inspiration, and I'd
love to you know.
I remember thinking to myselfwell, I'll never get on a podium
for anything.
It's never been a goal.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
And then this year I've been able to get on two,
which was it's super exciting,and you would think that those
are like the proudest moments,but the reality is just the, I
would say, constantly improving,being able to look back, and I
record a lot of data and I thinkwe all should you know, whether
you have a fitness watch oryou're using Strava.
I think it's important to justkind of record where you are and
(39:57):
and and be able to look backspecific moment.
But just as I, as I progress,looking back and say wow, I've
been able to maintain andcontinually improve and and for
me, I'm, I'm proud of of that,of not having given up, um, and,
and you know, continuing.
So that that's probably theproudest moment is, you know, I
(40:20):
don't know if it's a particularevent, I can't really name one.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
All right, no, that's cool, I love that.
I love that.
So last question here is howcan our listeners find you
follow your incredible journeyonline?
It is at super smash brothersOCR and mostly on Instagram.
Is is where I'm, um, you know,uploading videos, and so if you
go on Instagram, you'll see thatI also put together a lot of
content where we'll do a raceand then I'll record it and put
a montage together, uh, showcasesome races.
But at super smash Rose OCR,for Instagram, I have a Tik TOK,
(40:54):
but it's, you know, I don'treally follow it.
There's usually it's just stuffthat I put on Instagram.
Also, those there, um, I don'treally do Facebook, so Instagram
is the main one, uh, and thenYouTube as well, at super smash
bros OCR, youtube, um, and I, Ishare, um, some content there
where we are doing some races.
One of the coolest things iswhen you go in a typically a
(41:15):
city challenge.
So when we go to city challenge, oftentimes they go to Jesse
and they say, jesse, you're theguy from that video.
Cause, a lot of times, peoplewho are, you know, looking up a
race they might say, Hmm, what'sthis race all about?
And then they'll, they'll seeone of our videos and we just go
through the course and they'rejust like, uh, thanking us, like
I'm glad you put that videotogether.
I wasn't sure what this wasgoing to be about, but you know,
(41:35):
seeing your video, I was ableto see and, and you know, jesse
likes to feel like a celebrityday, but that was the past life,
you know.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
So Very cool, very cool.
Well, I'll put that informationin the show notes for our
listeners to find and follow you.
And Mario, thanks again forcoming on the show, sharing your
fitness journey, sharing yourlife journey and all the
insights with our listeners.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah, and thank you for putting the show together
for us to inspire to run.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That's it for this episode of Inspire to Run
Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
Hi, my friend.
Today you'll hear such aninspiring conversation, as we're
going to talk about someobstacles in life and overcoming
them, but also finding joy inrunning and fitness, along with
some tips to help you get themost out of your experience.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richard.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Conner.
Hi, my friend, welcome toInspire to Run Podcast.
I'm here today with MarioValentin, who is an Army
National Guard veteran, fatherof four, captain of Super Smash
Bros OCR team, and he startedracing in 2014, mainly OCR races
, which includes 61 Spartanraces, which is comprised of
(00:59):
three ultras and 17 trifectas.
Mario is using fitness to keephim ready for life and wants to
inspire others to be their bestself through fitness.
Welcome to the show, mario.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Hey, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, this is exciting to have you here and
talk about your journey.
You know, as I understand it,you didn't really grow up with
fitness and sports when you wereyounger.
It's something you got into alittle bit later on in life.
So I'd love to hear about thatLove to hear about some of
life's obstacles, which is alsoin your bio and, you know, just
learn a little bit about you andyour journey.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Growing up, I did think that I was a good
basketball player.
I mean, that's one of thethings that I would say my
friends and I would get togetherand we would go out play at the
park, and so I would say, whileI wasn't in any kind of
organized sports, basketball wasmy thing.
So there was never any runningor no track or anything like
that, but so I was semi-active,we'll say early on, you know, in
(02:01):
early teens.
And then as you got older,through high school, you know
there were other things thatoccupied my time during that
time of my life.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Let's say yeah, for sure, and I'm definitely envious
, because basketball, baseball,all those sports was not on the
list for me.
So I joined cross country and Idid a little bit of track and
those are kind of my sports inhigh school and the same kind of
thing Like after high schoolinto college, working part-time,
going to school, workingfull-time, going to school
(02:30):
part-time, starting a familyearly, like just sports took a
back seat and then I personallygot back into it.
You know, just about eight, 10years ago.
So you know, love to hear fromyou like what was that driver to
kind of get you back intofitness and sports and where did
that take you?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I would say, you know, going back to the high
school days and you talk aboutstarting a family early, I
started very early, so that youknow, starting very early and
then entering into the NationalGuard to try to, you know, have
a way forward for the family.
That's kind of what occupied myearlier years.
And then also I had aspirationsfor other things non-related to
fitness that we can delve candelve into.
I haven't talked about it in along time, but back then I was a
(03:08):
very different person than I amnow.
Uh, probably around um, I'd say, 35 years old or so is when I
just had this itch to to um likethe army, national guard, when
I was a soldier, uh, doing thoseuh obstacle courses that we did
in training um and then, andbeing a soldier was just
something that I had fondmemories of and the discipline
(03:28):
that it instilled in me.
I just wanted a piece of thatagain in my older years and I
was just looking for a way toachieve that.
And then there was a race heldin Hartford, connecticut.
It was the Down and Dirty MudRun and it was put together by
the I think it was the army thatwas running that and it was put
together by the I think it wasthe army that was running that.
So I said to myself you know,this looks like something
perfect.
That would get me back into youknow, the things that I missed,
(03:49):
the things that I enjoyed.
And I talked to a co-worker ofmine and said you want to try,
sign up for this thing?
And he was like, yeah, sure,let's, let's sign up for it.
I had no idea what obstaclecourse racing was at the time, I
think that.
So it was 2014.
Spartan was already a thing,but I had no idea about it.
There was, no, I had noinformation on it.
So this was my firstintroduction to it.
Um, so that prompted me tostart.
(04:15):
Um, you know, preparing for that, uh, which I had an
understanding was like a threemile race, some obstacles.
So that's, that's what got me.
Like during lunch break, Iwould.
I would do like a walk aroundthe block and escalated to like
a run around the block.
So that's what started trainingand then maybe tracking my
fitness a little bit by, byprogressing and saying, hey, I
was able to run a mile.
You know, because I, prior tothen, aside from the army
(04:36):
training, I never myself wasmotivated to just go out and run
, for I used to think that waslike silly who goes out goes out
to just go out and run, for, no, I, I used to think that was
like silly who's goes out tojust run.
Um, so it's.
It's never something that I did, but preparing for this race is
what got me to to start wantingto say, okay, how fast can I
run this mile?
And um, so that that's how itinitially progressed.
(04:57):
And then doing the race, uh, I,I enjoyed it.
I was like you know what?
This is something I'm going todo every single year.
So that was in 2014.
And then, sure enough, in 2015,there was an excitement that was
built up.
We're going to do this down anddirty mud run again.
It was my friend, john, and Ias a coworker.
He was, I would say, theoriginal super smash bro.
We can talk more about the team, but you know we were all
(05:19):
excited about doing the 2015down and dirty mud run, once
again in Hartford.
And I was saying to myself youknow what?
The first time I did it, Ithink I placed pretty well in my
age group.
I think I was like seventh orsomething in my age group for
the first time.
So I had an itch of you know Ican be good at this and I
trained for the next year, did alot more running.
(05:42):
Uh, during lunch breaks andthen after work I would, I would
get into running.
Uh, we did the 2015 down anddirty, dirty, mother, and had a
blast.
So certainly 2016,.
We were going to do it again,but that company I don't know if
they went out of business orwhat happened, but that event
was no longer in Hartford.
So we had to find something tofulfill that that itch.
(06:02):
Now, you know we've been doingthis for two years.
It's been a yearly tradition.
So what do we do?
And then Spartan kind of cameinto the picture.
I think my friend John might'veintroduced me to Spartan and we
signed up for a beast in NewJersey, which at that time, I
had no idea what this was.
I just know it's like, hey,we're going to try this Spartan
thing and that's where thejourney began in 2016.
(06:25):
Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And when you're talking about the beast in New
Jersey, you just brought backfond memories of when I did my
first trifecta, Probably firstand only at this point.
But yeah, I did the beast whichculminated my season there in
Mountain Creek.
I think it was kind of the sameand I think I left part of my
soul on that.
Mountain Well is kind of thesame and I think I left part of
my soul on that mountain.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Well, I'm happy to be done with that, yeah.
So again, I mean, if thelisteners are familiar, I know
this is inspired to run, but Ithink that you reach a diverse
group of of you know athletes orpeople that that strive for
fitness.
So I'm sure that some of thelisteners out there are familiar
.
So when I say the first thing Ichose was a Spartan beast,
people are like, why would youchoose that?
But we really didn't know.
But when you talk about leavingyour soul there, that's exactly
(07:08):
what happened.
So, leading up to that race inNew Jersey, there was a lot of
you know, I was like, okay,playgrounds and get on the
monkey bars, um, or I I try topractice, um, you know, whatever
strength training I can.
I wasn't in the gym at the time.
(07:31):
I think I ended up signing upfor a gym, uh, planet fitness,
which is, um, you know it was.
It was economical, it was, uh,there was flexibility because I
can go to a local planet fitness.
Or I was traveling back andforth for work, so I can go.
When I was traveling to NewJersey for work, I can go for
the planet fitness there.
But either way, I wasincreasing my runs, so I would
(07:51):
do 5K.
And then I got to a point whereI was even running like six
miles or seeing how far I couldgo, knowing the distance was
going to be 13 miles.
My proud moment at the time wasbeing able to do like a 10 mile
10 mile run at it was a placecalled weekway park in, uh, in
Newark, new Jersey.
It's a beautiful park out thereand just being able to to to
get to a 10 mile run was a hugeachievement for me at the time
(08:14):
and I was like, okay, I'm, I'mready for this Spartan race, I
can't wait.
And then, um, I learned quicklythat you know, road running or
running on flat ground isabsolutely nothing like you know
running on, you knowmountainous terrains and, um,
that that mountain humbled me.
My first Spartan was was, uh, itwas, it was a learning
(08:34):
experience.
I'm not going to call it afailure.
Uh, it was a learningexperience.
It took me, it took me ninehours on my first beast.
So you know, like looking backon it now, I've improved a lot.
But that's what it's all about.
It's about trying something forthe first time and then seeing
how you can improve over time.
But I mean, I set the bar so lowon that first run but I had
(08:55):
some, some um, I had a kneeinjury to deal with, probably
around mile nine, and then justafter that I was hobbling to the
finish line.
And you know that first finishline, my first finish line
experience on the Spartan race,was crossing it and like almost
being in tears with my buddykind of carrying me over the
finish line.
But it was a tremendousachievement and it was very
(09:16):
rewarding.
So in the moment was wasmiserable, but then when you
look back on it like I was on ahigh for just saying I completed
that.
Then when you look back on itlike I was on a high for just
saying I completed that.
So that's what some of theseevents offer to me and for a lot
of people is that sense ofachievement and it's attainable.
If you think about somebody whostarts their journey or
(09:37):
whatever it is, a lot of timesthey say, well, I can't do that,
that's 13 miles.
And when I look at the person Iwas when I did that first down
and dirty, that person would,would not, would not think that
they can achieve that.
You know, 13 mile or probably15 or 16 mile beast.
Uh cause, spartan mile weredifferent earlier and you know
when I first started 2016, but Ijust mean, like you know, even
(10:01):
even when I did that down anddirty, there was another option.
I think it was a six mile option, no-transcript.
(10:37):
So that's probably what I wouldsay to people who are looking
at, you know, trying to sign upfor their first big thing either
it's a OCR race or a road raceor a marathon?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, 100%.
Because, like you said, ifsomeone hasn't run a 5k before
or a half marathon or marathonor a beast, it does seem
daunting.
And I could tell you from myown experience, like I didn't
start running really longdistances up until about four
years ago right, when I startedto do these longer Spartan races
.
And then just the other day Iwas talking to somebody.
I was like, yeah, you know, Ihave to go run 15 miles this
(11:08):
Sunday for my long run.
And they're looking at me likeonly 15 miles.
I was like, yeah, it's no bigdeal, because in my mind I just
did 18 miles a week before.
So I'm like, yeah, 15 miles,this is going to be a walk in
the park.
What I'm really worried aboutis 21 miles a week after,
because I haven't done that yet.
So for me, like that's the nextstep, so, like you said, it's
really just taking it step bystep, absolutely so you can get
(11:31):
to.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You know your goal, but I think another thing that's
important for us who are movingforward and we're looking to
get better is always having anunderstanding of where other
people are, and so I'll take anultra, for example.
So I don't like to do theSpartan ultra, you know, and I
and I have reasons for doing itI don't necessarily like that
long distance, but I do it forother other things.
(11:53):
So I had you know I know Italked with you a little bit
earlier about my Achilles injuryI had that Achilles injury
prior to, uh, that injury I did.
I did the Spartan ultra, and itwas just because it was a
bucket list thing.
I wanted to try it and it was aone and done thing.
I was certain I was like I'mnever going to do that again,
but then, after the injury in2018, I at some point wanted to
(12:16):
work back to it.
So it took several years, butdoing the Ultra again was more
of a redemption for you know,recovering from the Achilles,
going through all that work, andthen I was like you know what?
Can I?
Can I do an ultra?
And so I did it for that reason.
But there are people that are,you know, for, for them, a 5k is
their ultra and I respect that.
(12:36):
You know I respect anyone who'slike um.
You know they're not active butthey're saying to themselves
you know what, I want to getmyself to a 5k.
And you know they are takingthat same leap of faith that
that I'm taking when I joined anultra, or that, uh, you know,
person doing a hundred mile raceis taking.
You know they, they're at acertain fitness level and
they're they want to take onsomething bigger.
So my bigger is different thanyour bigger, and so that's we.
(12:59):
We have to respect everybody's.
You know, uh, commitment,commitment and and appreciate
that they're, they're having awillingness to to leap forward
and try something new.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
100 100, so let's talk about.
You know other parts of yourjourney, so we talked a little
bit about your injury, so we can, you know, talk more about that
and also love to hear aboutyour team, the super smash bros
team okay.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So the injury first.
Yeah, let's talk about theinjury.
Um, all right.
So I think think 2018 was ayear where I was 2017.
I had done a whole bunch ofraces.
I tried like.
I tried Savage Race, cityChallenge, I tried Rugged Maniac
, bone Frog.
I was branching out, so itwasn't just Spartan races, we
were just trying differentvenues, really enjoyed the.
(13:40):
You know the vibes that you getat the different start lines,
and I think that might have beenthe year where I started doing
competitive.
So initially we started out inthe open and then I jumped into
the competitive waves justbecause it just I wasn't
necessarily competing against,you know, fellow racers, I was.
I was competing against myprior self, but that atmosphere
(14:01):
was was, you know, it suited meto to be kind of at the start
line with people, um, as I'mrunning, you know everybody
beside you is whether they'rechasing a podium or they're
chasing their own PRS.
It just has a different feelwhen you're in the, in the
competitive wave.
So 2018, I did, you know,several races, um, and I was, I
was feeling good.
I think I was at the height of,you know, of what I thought was
(14:23):
the height of my, my fitnessand um.
It was a year where I was alsolooking to do an endurance.
So I think I did a um, I didthe Spartan ultra and then I did
some hurricane heats, which area different type of event.
Um, but I, my goal was doing anendurance trifecta, meaning I
would do an ultra, uh, uhhourhurricane heat and a 12-hour
(14:44):
hurricane heat.
That's what it was at the time.
Now there's all kinds ofdifferent levels 24-hour.
I'm not interested in that, butyou know.
So I was feeling strong.
And then I also started doingsome ninja courses out in I
think it's in Windsor, inWindsor Locks.
There's a ninja gym out therewhich is still running today.
But they had all these obstaclesand I was and it was fun.
(15:08):
It was a fun thing to do, youknow, branching out and the warp
wall that they have there.
You know I remember tacklingthe smaller wall and then
progressing to the bigger walland then they had like a 15 foot
, you know, warp wall.
That I was like all right, I'mgoing to get that.
Like we did our warmup, then wefocused primarily on upper body
(15:30):
stuff and then, like before Ileft, it was like 10 minutes
left and I was like all right,you know what?
I haven't tried that 15 footwall.
Today, let me give it a shot.
And that's where it happened.
I was running towards the, uh,the work wall, and as I was
running, um, I just heard thisloud sound pop.
It sounded like a like a two byfour.
Somebody just dropped it on theground.
That's what it sounded like.
(15:51):
And, and I remember runningtowards the wall, uh, falling on
my face.
I looked back because there wasa coach that was going to spot
me, like as I run.
He would, you know whatever,he'd spot me.
And I looked back like what youhit me for?
Because I thought somebody hitme.
And then, I think, when you talkto people who have an achilles
injury, they, they have similaruh stories of feeling like they
(16:11):
were just hit with something.
But anyway, that's that's whenit happened, um, and in that
moment, uh, I remember it was.
It was sharp pain at first, butthen there wasn't really a
tremendous amount of pain.
I just couldn't stand up.
Um, you know, went to thedoctor.
They confirmed what happenedand I, I remember sitting there,
um, in the, in the hospital, uh, when one of the doctors was
kind of giving me the news andhe was like yeah, you know it's
(16:34):
an Achilles rupture it's and hewas just feeding me like a lot
of bad news, and I think thatthey um have to be very careful
when they have someone um in thein, in the room there and
they're evaluating it, theydon't crush their hopes and
dreams.
Because it was sounding like,yeah, you know you're, you're
not likely going to get back toto to running the way you were
and, um, I wouldn't expect torebound and and it was just
(16:55):
things that I didn't need tohear at that time.
That really kind of was likeall right, well, spartans are
probably over and running isprobably over, based on what
he's telling me.
Um, but, but then it just was a?
Um a point in my life where I Isaid you know what?
This is one of life's obstaclesthat we talked about, and a lot
of people, I think, would findthemselves in a point where they
(17:15):
would give up completely.
But I was like no, I think thatwhile I'm limited here with my
injury to my leg, I'll juststart focusing on upper body
work and I'll start focusing onthings that I can do, and one of
the things that also is, Iwould say, good advice for
anyone out there is always focuson the things that you can do
when, um, when life gives youchallenges.
(17:36):
So if you have a lower bodyinjury, you can always work on
the upper body.
It's, it's good for you.
You can't, you can't allowyourself to be sedentary, um,
and you can't let a certainmoment in your life define,
define you either.
So, um, I, I learned thatthrough that um experience and
I'm, and I'm, better for it.
Um, it was a, it was a longrecovery process.
I remember, you know, beingworried that, you know, will I
(17:57):
be able to get back to this?
Um, you know where I was and Iwould say that, after you know,
some, some, some, good, uh,recovery time I think it was
about six months I was alreadyback to, you know, doing some
running, getting back, involvedin some races and tackling
obstacles again.
So it was a setback, but again,I think that it was just a
(18:17):
testament to being able toovercome challenges, so life's
challenging.
So you know anybody out therewho's suffering a similar injury
.
It does get better, you know,but I think the only way it gets
better is by, you know, takingcontrol and not letting it.
You know, sid, uh, but I thinkthe only way it gets better is
by, you know, taking control andand, um, not letting it uh, you
know, sideline you completely,cause I don't think does us any
good to, you know, havesomething happen, and then we
(18:39):
just sit back and, you know, letthe couch take over.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, thank you for sharingthat story.
And you know I love what yousaid about like don't let those
specific moments kind of defineyou.
So it's really helpful to kindof think about you know, what
else can I do, even though I'mlimited in one particular area.
What are the other things I cando to kind of keep moving
forward.
So I appreciate that and kindof, as we were talking before, I
(19:02):
personally didn't realize this.
Like I know, injuries are quitecommon.
Like whether you're doingfitness or not, injuries happen
and you have to kind of workthrough them.
But Achilles injuries isactually a little bit more
common than I thought and youknow, I know folks that are
listening have either gonethrough it or maybe going
through it now.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So this is really helpful, you know, to hear your
story and kind of how you workthrough that Just real quick on
the Achilles injury.
It's when I talk to doctorsafterwards it's, you know, you
ask a lot of questions,especially me as an engineer.
I have a lot of questions thatI have for everything in life.
So I'm asking the doctor howcan I have prevented this, what
can I have done?
And when something like thishappens to us, we often beat
(19:41):
ourselves up thinking toourselves you know, what could I
have done better?
Like I always think back to theday it happened, you know, and
I say to myself well, I rememberworking on upper body and maybe
my lower body cooled down and Idecided to just go, you know,
full on with the run and that'swhen it popped.
(20:02):
But but ultimately it's, it'sone of those injuries that you
can't necessarily.
It just it's one of thosethings that happen.
There's not really somethingthat you can do to prevent.
So certainly, stretching andmaking sure you have your
mobility that's always key toprevent any injuries.
But this has happened to someof the top elite level athletes,
like, if you're looking at theNFL or NBA or even baseball,
you'll see top Kobe Bryant is aprime example of someone who the
(20:23):
Achilles happened to him andyou know, you know Kobe Bryant's
on top of his training, right.
So if it can happen to theelite level athlete, you know
that likely.
It's not something I did wrong,it's just something that
happens and you just got to moveforward.
Now that's not to say thatthings aren't preventable.
So by all means, in my olderyears, I know that I need to
stretch before I do any kind ofworkout.
(20:44):
I think stretching post-workoutis also beneficial and these
things do help recovery.
I know that you got coach Kevinprobably telling you that
recovery is key and I know I'velistened to, as a matter of fact
, on your podcast recently hetalked about the benefits of
recovery and prioritizing.
So you know and I'm not adoctor and I'm not a physical,
I'm not a trainer or anything somy thoughts on injuries are you
(21:06):
know that you can preventinjuries, but this one in
particular, don't beat yourselfup if it's something that
happened to you.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, for sure, and yeah, I appreciate you sharing
that.
And yeah, coach Kevin doesemphasize, you know, recovery
and he has a lot here, you knowso.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So today we're actually recording in Kevin's
gym, we're in underdog fitnessand we have some of the top
level athletes here todayactually training, so it's
pretty inspiring.
So we talk about inspired torun, right.
I'm inspired to go out and, andand run too, or maybe even do
some wall balls like Alex Alexis doing over there.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Absolutely.
So you know um, so he does, hedoes have a lot of equipment
here for recovery and he doespromote that.
So I know, for me personally, Ihave a massage boots and I've
done you know some other thingsfor recovery and I also try to
do a lot with warmups and youknow a little bit of stretching
and one of the things I need toget better at is mobility.
So I know that's an area that Ineed to get better at.
(21:57):
So I appreciate you sharingthat.
So you know, kind of on thesame theme of life's obstacles,
you know, let's talk about someother obstacles that you kind of
encountered and how'd you workthrough those?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well, I don't know.
There's lots of challenges thatwe have in our life.
I mean we, for example.
We might, you know, losing,losing somebody close to us, is
always one of life's obstacles,you know, and throughout my life
, especially later on, not tobring the show down or anything,
but that's the reality.
Those are some of life'schallenges.
Losing your job can be, youknow, life's obstacles, so I
(22:39):
haven't ever lost my job.
I think I was laid off at onepoint, so it's just something
that happens.
You know, earlier on you'retrying to navigate through life,
pay bills.
You know I've got kids to takecare of, and then you know you
get laid off.
It's like um, but I would saythat you know taking on these
things for ourselves like um.
You know I do obstacle courseracing.
You know, for those that thatare trying to tackle a marathon,
(23:01):
you know having a goal,something that you chase, it, it
it puts you in position for thething you're chasing, but then
it gives you a certain mindsetfor other things in life.
So you know, you talk aboutthose instances that I mentioned
.
You know you learn to trainingand staying prepared and ready
for these activities.
I would say that by and it'snot just obstacle course racing.
(23:38):
It's whatever you decide to do,you know, whatever challenge
you take on, that you say youknow I'm going to do this, I'm
going to work towards this.
It just builds that mindset andit opens doors.
So I would say that this fitnessjourney has opened the doors to
some of the most beautifulplaces in the world for me
personally, because while I'mgetting ready and training for
this, let's just say there's anopportunity that presents itself
(24:00):
where it's like you know, climbthis beautiful mountain that
only your legs can take you to.
You can't drive up there.
If you want to see this, youknow, spectacular view.
You've got to get up there.
And you know being able to sayyes to so many things that that
I'm grateful for.
You know being able to do that.
You know, if I'm out like Itravel for work a lot, so let's
(24:22):
just say if I'm, if I'm out westin Vegas, is one of the things
I plan on tackling when I when Igo for a conference in Las
Vegas.
I've been there a few timesalready and I've looked at the
mountains surrounding the cityand I've said to myself you know
what I need to hit thosemountains.
You know, and just I know thatthat when the time comes, I'll
be ready to do that, and so Ijust I think that there's
(24:49):
something to be said aboutalways being ready to take on,
you know, whatever life presentsitself, whether it be a
challenge, but then also whenit's ready to reward you with
beautiful views.
Uh, times with you know, goodtimes with good people.
So, um, you know, that's just.
I'm not sure how I got intothat direction but um it's just,
it's just kind of talking abouthow you know this.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
This fitness journey prepares you for, you know,
dealing with challenges, butthen also accepting, uh, new
challenges and new opportunitiesand the benefits that come
along with it, and I love thatyou said that, because you know
I'm thinking about this, myfirst marathon that's coming up,
and it's in France.
Yes, and you know I may havetalked about this on the show.
I may not.
I'm not sure.
So I'll just tell a little bitof a story.
My goal this year was to run myfirst marathon, and the picked
(25:27):
is happening tomorrow, right?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It's a New.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
York.
City marathon right, so I didn'tget in.
I tried a whole bunch of ways,I didn't get in.
So I was like I wanted my firstone to be memorable.
So I decided to run a race inFrance that I'm familiar with
because I traveled there a lotfor in my past life, so it's
called the BeaujolaisInternational Marathon.
It's in a beautiful area,region of the country and, just
like you said, you know I I'mgonna be able to run in a
(25:51):
beautiful area.
I'm gonna see friends I haven'tseen in a long time.
I'm gonna, you know, at somepoint enjoy wine while I'm there
and I'm just like reallyexcited just to experience all
that, like I'm not running fortime, I'm not running for medals
, like I'm really just runningmy first marathon with good
friends and just a beautifulplace.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So, yeah, absolutely, and you know, when I look at
people on social media, you kindof see that they take these.
You know, when they travel to arace, they turn those into
opportunities to explore andthey turn into little mini
vacations.
So, you kind of tackle two birdswith one stone, where you're
doing something for yourself,you know something that fulfills
you, but then while you'rethere, you know you're also
seeing, you know the, thebeautiful views that that, um,
(26:31):
you know, that location mighthave to offer.
So, um, you know, and, and youwant to be able to take
advantage of those things.
Uh, last thing I want to do isbe stuck in Waterbury,
connecticut for my entire lifeand you know we laugh.
But you know I know a lot ofpeople, a lot of my friends, um,
that are my that you know.
Fortunately, for work, I'm ableto to do that.
(26:52):
But also, you know, fitness hastaken me to a lot of different
places, um, so that's that's whyI, you know it's it's just
something that's been beneficialfor me.
And then also, uh, uh, havingsomething on the calendar is is
important to me, you know it.
It it's what keeps meaccountable.
So, um, I don't, uh, peopletalk about what, what's a lot of
(27:12):
money to to to do this stuff,and it's, that's a valid point.
You know, uh, racing can beexpensive.
Certainly, you know Spartan,when they get my season pass
money every year, you know it's,it's, it's a big hunk cash, but
it's really an investment.
The way I look at it is aninvestment for myself, because I
don't necessarily spend a lotof money doing anything else.
I don't really party, I don'tdrink, I don't do drugs, and
(27:34):
when I say I don't drink, I mean, you know I drink occasionally
but I'm not, you know, a bigdrinker.
But this is just where my moneygoes.
It doesn't go to other things,it goes into this, it keeps me
active, it keeps me healthy andit keeps me fulfilled.
So, um, you know, I, I, Iimplore everybody to to find
something that they enjoy,especially when, when people say
I'd love to do something likethat, it's like, well, then, do
(27:57):
it Right.
If you, if you truly um meanthose words, then you can do it.
You know, if you want to talkto me, find somebody if you feel
comfortable with, but, um, itcan be done.
So, so don't just say, andthat's, that's I don't want to
say it's a pet peeve, but when,um, a lot of times I'll post my
stuff on social media and peoplewill be like, oh, I wish I
(28:17):
could do something like that.
That's like, don't say that tome, because I'm going to remind
you that you absolutely can ifyou really want to Now.
If you don't want to, then I'mnot.
You know, I'm not looking totry to convert anybody, that's.
You know that.
That's not interested.
You know, if I'm going to goout on a run, that's not your
thing, that's perfectly fine, Idon't judge.
But if you're like I wish Icould do that, then, believe me,
I'm going to remind you thatyou can't.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, and it's interesting that you said that,
because I've had the podcastreally to understand you know
what motivates someone to makethat decision, to go ahead and,
you know, start their fitnessjourney and run and do obstacle
course races and whatever thatyou know brings them.
And you know, some of what Iread was really like around
habits and just kind of aroundmindset.
And it was really interestingbecause something I read was you
know, someone value someone'sreally I don't remember exactly
how they put it, but theythey're not willing to lose
something over the benefit ofgaining something right.
(29:14):
It's harder for someone to letgo of what they have right
versus realizing what they couldhave right.
And again, it's not exactly theway it was put.
But, to your point, someone hasto create space, right, Time,
money, resources, mind share todo this type of thing, which is
a change from what they're doingtoday.
(29:34):
So I don't, I don't, it's noteasy to do and you know they
have to kind of arrive at thatpoint in their own time.
But you know, what I'm hopingfor for the show is that we're
here with these conversations tohelp them with that next step,
once they made the decisionRight.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And and so what you talked about is, uh, one of the
I don't want to say excuses, butpeople, people will say they
don't have time and they don'thave money.
But, realistically, if there'ssomething that you that you
truly want to do, you you don'thave time.
You make time like, like, um,there, and and you talk about
creating habits as well, and, um, hopefully, people get to a
(30:09):
point where this becomes part oftheir, their life, as opposed
to you know.
So, when you talk about workingout or fitness, if you just
look at it as one thing that youdo, that I say, hey, I got to
get this workout.
You know, if you look at it ina negative way, it's going to be
hard to sustain, but if youjust are able to incorporate it
into your life in a way that'smanageable, then it becomes part
of your life and it's justsomething that you do.
(30:30):
So so, um, like, for you, Ithink running is, is, it's not
something that you, like, youhave to do, it's just it's what
you do, not, you have to do itand it's this miserable thing.
This is what I do, you know.
So, for me, um, I, I trainprobably about four times a week
.
You know it's not, it's notsuper intense, but it's.
It's what suits me and it'sjust what I do.
So and I and I don't sacrificethat.
(30:51):
Um, you know, in the same way,I wouldn't, uh, and I, I I know
people who know me, I bring thisup a lot, but it's like when
you wake up in the morning, youbrush your teeth.
It's not something that you,you decide.
Well, today I'm to brush myteeth, right.
So I know people get tired ofme using that example, but it's
true, it's like you wake up, youbrush your teeth.
There are things that you doregularly and if you can find a
way to incorporate, you know,fitness or just wellbeing into
(31:14):
something that you do regularly,it's part of what you do.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It's just going to benefit you 100% and it's about
building a habit.
Right you your teeth every daygrowing up so you don't really
think about it.
It's almost like breathing atthis point.
So how do you create those samehabits around fitness and how
do you create you know the time,the space, the money to do this
.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That would be.
The catchphrase is you don'thave time.
Make time 100%.
Simple as that 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So I love that.
I love how, you know, wetransitioned from talking about
some of the obstacles andgetting over those things in
life to just making a change andcreating the space to do
fitness and run andobstacle-first races and enjoy
all the benefits that come alongwith that, because it's not
just pain and agony, which it'syou know, some points it could
be, but you get a lot of reallygood benefits.
(31:59):
Um, so love that.
So so let's talk about supersmash bros.
I'm really curious about theteam and how it started and kind
of what you guys are doingthere.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Okay, super Smash Brothers is just something that
I created.
So, as I said, I started in2014 with my buddy, john, and we
were doing races together,probably in 2017, 2018.
We were doing most of our racestogether and he kind of
branched off because I think hehe took a different path in
terms of, um, you know, for work, and you know work can be a
(32:30):
burden on on us and it makes itharder to do some of these
things when your weekends aren'tfree and then when you know you
have children that you have totake care of.
So, um, but super smashbrothers my name is mario, okay,
so growing up it was supermario was always something that
that, um, I played, and then itwas very popular and people
always asked me where my brother, luigi, is.
So it was just something thatwas irritating, but at some
(32:50):
point I learned to embrace it.
You know, especially in my, myolder years.
Um, but you know, super smashbrothers is a game, that's
that's.
The main character is mario,and then there's all these other
different characters in thegame.
So I was like just trying tofind a way to to get my, my guys
, to tag along and and try tofeel like they're part of
something.
So, uh, my guy, jesse, who'spart of the super smash brothers
(33:12):
team you know he picked thecharacter link.
You know his favorite game waszelda he picked, he picked
linked as his character and itjust was a cool way to to get
people to join the team.
You pick a character, you throwit on the back of your shirt
and that's, that's yourcharacter.
You, you get to embody thatcharacter, and that was going to
be my way of creating this bigteam.
It didn't necessarily happen,but there's probably about 10 of
us that each have their owndifferent character on the back
(33:35):
of their shirt.
You know, I've tried to get mymy, my son has a character.
I obviously am Super Mario andyou know so the Super Smash
Brothers team is comprised of acore group of guys that you know
we go work out together.
Um, you might see you mightonly see me and jesse at the
races, but, um, you know, youcome to the workout, you
probably see more of us, uh,participating and it's just a
(33:56):
way of hey, we're going outtraining.
Who wants to come with us?
And you know, you can be, youcan be part of the group and
anybody's included.
Um, so I've run races, and Idon't even want to say honorary
smash rolls, because you knowit's like hey, we're running a
race together, you're, you'repart of the, you're part of the
squad, you know.
So it's, um, that's.
That's essentially in anutshell, what the team is about
and where the name comes from.
(34:17):
It's, it's, it's from the videogame.
I love that, I love that.
So you know, that was mychildhood as well, kind of
growing up with those, thosegames and cartoons and all of
that fun fact.
I am absolutely terrible atsuper smash brothers, the game
like it's that fighting game.
Um, my kids, they they've nevershowed mercy right.
I've made the attempt,especially after creating the
(34:39):
team.
I said you know, I probablyshould get good at this game and
every time I make an effort tolike play super smash brothers,
they have no mercy.
It's similar to when I used toplay Street Fighter as a kid and
anyone would come into my roomlike they would get demolished.
I had no more older brothers,uncles, no mercy, so the same
thing they absolutely destroy me.
So I've never been able to getgood at that game.
(34:59):
I have yet to record a victoryas a player in that game so Well
you've got some work to do well, it all depends.
So, when you say you got work todo, we all have work to do and
it's what you choose to work onthat's not going to be something
I prioritize, so um, it may befor some.
You know I'm actually I'm not agamer, but, um, I used I used to
(35:20):
play games.
That it just it's just notsomething that I I've done and I
don't knock anybody, but um, II prioritize, uh, getting out
there, there and trying to trainwith the time that I have,
because, again, we do havelimited time.
I have a career that I have tofocus on.
You know, I have kids I have tofocus on and we have to carve
out that time for ourselves.
It's extremely important andyou prioritize what you're going
(35:41):
to do with that time.
And as we get older, I know thatsometimes we lose relation, we
lose touch with people that wehave relationships with.
So there's a lot of friendsthat you know.
They say, hey, I haven't seenyou in a long time.
It's like well, you know youcan always come to join me for a
run.
And they're like, well, I don'twant to run.
It's like, ok, well then Iprobably won't see you because
I'm going to go run.
I'm not interested in going tothe bar, you know it's, it's,
(36:04):
it's um, and there's a happymedium too, because obviously
you have good friends.
You have to, you have to findways to, to to keep those
relationships as well.
But you know right now whereI'm at is, um, I enjoy, you know
, doing activities outdoorshiking, you know running, biking
, whatever that is and um,anybody's more than welcome to
join and it's always fun whenit's happens to be friends
that'll come in and join you fora hike.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
It's it's always, it's always a good time 100% and
I love how we hit on each ofthe pillars for Inspire to Run
podcast, where we talked aboutmindset a bit, we talked about
movement and now we're talkingabout motivation and part of
motivation pillar is aroundcommunity, Like how do I stay
motivated to keep moving and howdo I motivate others?
And a lot of that's throughcommunity.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I love how you created this team, like you have
yeah, you know 10 of you thatpick your character and you get
together and you inspire,motivate each other to you know,
stay fit and you know, and, andtalking on motivation, it's, um
, it's I really enjoy when I'mgoing out for a run like um, I
go to sleeping giant right.
So that's where I go to train.
It's.
It's when I want to get someelevation and that's that's
(37:05):
where I go.
So I the trail.
Well, it's about a mile and ahalf up to the tower and there's
times where I'll run up andthen I'll run back down.
And as you go up and down, acouple of times, I kind of like
when people are just like, wow,you're, you're going back up
there again and you know it's atrack or something, and you know
I'm just doing my runs, mymiles, and then maybe I'll do
(37:29):
some hill repeats.
And then you see someone whowill, you know, just come over
and say you know, I'd like toget there someday and you want
to.
I always want to remind themyou can, you know you can do it,
and it's okay to start off slow, Like they'll say I'll never be
able to do something like that.
And sometimes you have toencourage them by saying well,
you're out here right nowwalking and you know you have to
(37:51):
let them know that that'staking a step.
Sometimes people think they haveto do that, you know, three
times up and down, or they haveto do that big thing.
It doesn't always have to bethat big thing.
You know, meet yourself whereyou are.
If you don't walk at all, goingout to the track just for a
walk is beneficial for you.
It's going to help improve yourquality of life.
So, you know, and it'ssomething that that should be
(38:12):
celebrated.
You know, if you're out here onthe track walking with your
family, you know, and kudos toyou, you know.
So, um, you know you talk aboutmotivation.
I'm motivated by now, right now, what I see, I see, uh, I come
to Underdog to get.
I get motivated.
You know it's, it's, it'scoming to the events whenever
they hold the deck, the deck ofstrongs, the community that that
they've built here is, it'smotivational.
I draw from that and it doesn'tstop there, because there's
(38:36):
people who are inspired by me.
There's, there's people who areinspired by you, out there
right now, listening.
You might not think so, butsometimes your actions speak
louder and you don't always getpeople telling you that you
inspire them, but when you put apost out there, you know you've
inspired somebody.
You might not even know it.
So just do the work, stayinspired, you know.
(38:58):
Find your inspirations, butunderstand that you are that
inspiration for somebody,whether you know it or not.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Love it, love it.
Mario, I'm thoroughly enjoyingthis conversation.
You shared a lot of insightswith us and inspiration, and I'd
love to you know.
I remember thinking to myselfwell, I'll never get on a podium
for anything.
It's never been a goal.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
And then this year I've been able to get on two,
which was it's super exciting,and you would think that those
are like the proudest moments,but the reality is just the, I
would say, constantly improving,being able to look back, and I
record a lot of data and I thinkwe all should you know, whether
you have a fitness watch oryou're using Strava.
I think it's important to justkind of record where you are and
(39:57):
and and be able to look backspecific moment.
But just as I, as I progress,looking back and say wow, I've
been able to maintain andcontinually improve and and for
me, I'm, I'm proud of of that,of not having given up, um, and,
and you know, continuing.
So that that's probably theproudest moment is, you know, I
(40:20):
don't know if it's a particularevent, I can't really name one.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
All right, no, that's cool, I love that.
I love that.
So last question here is howcan our listeners find you
follow your incredible journeyonline?
It is at super smash brothersOCR and mostly on Instagram.
Is is where I'm, um, you know,uploading videos, and so if you
go on Instagram, you'll see thatI also put together a lot of
content where we'll do a raceand then I'll record it and put
a montage together, uh, showcasesome races.
But at super smash Rose OCR,for Instagram, I have a Tik TOK,
(40:54):
but it's, you know, I don'treally follow it.
There's usually it's just stuffthat I put on Instagram.
Also, those there, um, I don'treally do Facebook, so Instagram
is the main one, uh, and thenYouTube as well, at super smash
bros OCR, youtube, um, and I, Ishare, um, some content there
where we are doing some races.
One of the coolest things iswhen you go in a typically a
(41:15):
city challenge.
So when we go to city challenge, oftentimes they go to Jesse
and they say, jesse, you're theguy from that video.
Cause, a lot of times, peoplewho are, you know, looking up a
race they might say, Hmm, what'sthis race all about?
And then they'll, they'll seeone of our videos and we just go
through the course and they'rejust like, uh, thanking us, like
I'm glad you put that videotogether.
I wasn't sure what this wasgoing to be about, but you know,
(41:35):
seeing your video, I was ableto see and, and you know, jesse
likes to feel like a celebrityday, but that was the past life,
you know.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
So Very cool, very cool.
Well, I'll put that informationin the show notes for our
listeners to find and follow you.
And Mario, thanks again forcoming on the show, sharing your
fitness journey, sharing yourlife journey and all the
insights with our listeners.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah, and thank you for putting the show together
for us to inspire to run.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That's it for this episode of Inspire to Run
Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
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