Endurance and Community in Ultra Running with Bo Shelby

Ultra-running enthusiasts, Bo Shelby returns to share his incredible experiences and achievements. From his remarkable 11th place finish at the grueling Leadville 100 to the unexpected impact of a "simple" backyard run, Bo's story is a testament to the power of support and community in pushing the limits of endurance.

We unravel the mental and physical demands of ultra races, where ambition meets well-being in a delicate balance. We'll traverse through Bo's personal challenges, including the sharp pain of the "Behind the Rocks" 50k and the prestigious Laz's Big Dog Backyard Ultra in Tennessee. Bo shares unforgettable moments alongside legendary athletes, revealing what drives ultra-runners to test their limits and make their loved ones proud.

Lastly, as we look toward the future we discuss Bo's aspirations for a 24-hour race and the importance of maintaining health, Bo offers insights into planning a race calendar driven by pure passion. We also celebrate the connections forged through podcasting, highlighting stories of athletic inspiration and the motivational power of shared experiences.

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Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/bo.shelby

Shoutout to:

Bo

The Shelby Family




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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Bo Shelby, how are you man?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Pretty good man.
I'm glad I'm back.
Thanks for having me, nick.
It's third time's the charm, Iguess.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
That's what I was going to say, but you beat me to
it.
You just know, bo knows man.
Bo Shelby Gosh, man, it's goodto have you back, dude.
Like you said, third time's acharm.
Last time you've been on it waslast November.
It was around Thanksgiving,right before Christmas break.
I think it was December 18th or19th.

(00:57):
I put that episode out and wetalked about how good your year
was and upcoming Leadville.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Now, now all that has passed.
Yeah, I, I um around.
That time was actually rightwhen I ran the backyard and and
now it's gotten me.
I didn't know at the time, butit ended up changing how this
year played out.
So yeah, yeah, it was a cooltime to be alive, I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you shared your outstanding year.
I mean, dude, I saw you atTartarus that one year and I was
like dude, who's this guy?
Who's this black sheep?
Who's this up and coming kid?
Was like dude, who's this guy?
Who's this black sheep, who'sthis up-and-coming kid, you know
who's this stud?
Right, and then start falling.
You start seeing you, startseeing you.

(01:55):
You know you're doing some goodright in the races, you know
you do great in life and I'mjust like, okay, this guy is
somebody.
So I was telling everybodyabout you.
Hopefully they reached out.
It's fine.
But what I'm trying to get atis I'm going to ask you this
question and I want you to behonest have you been on any

(02:16):
other podcasts or been on blastby anybody else but me?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
no, I'm true to you, man.
You're tried and true I'm juststicking with you.
I was going to say I actuallyhave been on one of the podcasts
, but it was, um, it was aftermy maybe my second hinge date
with this girl, and now she's mygirlfriend, so like she had a
podcast at the time.
Okay, so that's the only othertime I cheated on you.

(02:42):
I'm sorry about that.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no what?
What I'm trying to get at ishave you been getting the
recognition you deserve?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I'd say more than more than enough.
Uh, you know, I feel like it'snot like necessarily I'm, I
don't feel like I'm blowing upor anything like that and I and
I don't think I should be at all, but um, I just I feel like
people around me have likereally given me positive

(03:16):
encouragement, being like manyou're really doing well and
I've kind of I've tried toembrace it, and not in a not a
cocky way, but in like try toembrace.
Okay, I guess I am feel like Iam making progress in the sport
and doing something and I'm justtrying to believe in that some
more and take that encouragementand apply it to races, cause,
if I think, if other people havebelieved in me, it allows me to

(03:40):
go out and believe in myselfmore whenever the going gets
tough.
Yeah, I've noticed.
So yeah, it's not like I've beenblowing up, but, but just
people that I know have beenencouraging me a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, all right, man, we'll continue being humble
dude.
It's just, it's incredible howhumble you are with you know,
just a list on what you've donein the past year.
You know, and what you continueto do.
So I'm just going to say, like,august we'll get to why you're
on the podcast, but in Augustwe're going to step back.

(04:15):
You did Leadville 100.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
If it, wasn't for your friends.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
No one would know anything about that, but your
friend was quite comical.
But giving us the play-by-playlevville 100 is not a walk in
the park.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
But you came 11th overall right, yeah, uh, yeah, I
did.
And speaking of that, like itwas the probably the race I had
the most, I invited like a lotof my close friends and family
to come and just be a part of itwith me.
So that that was the biggesttakeaway for me is I used to

(04:51):
kind of be secretive about theseraces for some reason, like I
kind of just wanted to go outand do them and not even tell
anyone about it.
But and that was cool it and ithad its own positive things to
having such a private experience.
But I've found that sharing theexperience with people that I

(05:12):
love most has just reallyelevated it for me, and I can
see the joy on their face too.
It's just been so positive allaround.
So to me, leadville is the bestexperience I've ever had in an
ultra.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
But you are known as the guy with the crew.
Man.
You have the best crew, whetherit's your parents, your, you
know family, friends and stufflike that.
You know you've always had thiscrew.
But to say that you broughtmore in says a lot.
So, Leadville, how was thatexperience, man?

(05:48):
How many people you got 11thoverall out of how many people I
?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
think it was like 800 that started.
It was.
It felt like a marathon startline.
Like I'm used to these ultras,you know you show up, uh, it's
just in some like random dirtlot somewhere out in the middle
of nowhere and you know theremight be like 50 people there.
Um, that's kind of how Istarted with ultras and um, it's

(06:12):
always grassroots feeling, butthis one felt like a big city
marathon at the start line.
It starts at 4.00 AM, soeverybody's wearing headlamps.
Um, it's just the the, theirspectators lining the sides of
the street and when the gunfires off, like I think the guy
fires a shotgun to start it offand it just feels electric at

(06:34):
the start line.
And then pretty soon realitysets in, like okay, I'm gonna be
out here a while, so I need tocalm my nerves a bit, but the
start line is pretty electric.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, throughout the whole segment too
.
Right, you know, out in themiddle, yeah, yeah.
So out of 1,100 starters, howmany people finished?
Though?
I mean because it's not a walkin the park.
A lot of people know aboutLeadville, other races, but you
know, this is the big one.
This isn't just some chumpchange.
You know, like easy race, thisis like big dog.

(07:05):
This is a step right belowWestern States.
You know, because Western gotto qualify and everything else.
But dude, leadville is no walkin the park.
So 11th overall out of how manyfinishers?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Gosh, I never actually looked at that, but I
think it was slightly over halfthe field.
So I think there was like 400,some odd like maybe four, 10 or
something.
Uh, yeah, it was.
It was awesome because the raceis, of course, is an outback.
So you actually see, you knowthe majority of those people, um
, and there's this, and theoutback is at the pinnacle of

(07:41):
the race when there is a summitof the mountain called Hope Pass
, where it's like 3000 feetabove, where you're sort of the
average elevation of the race.
So you're hitting people in alot of people's lowest points
and you're getting to see a lotof struggle during that period
and you're struggling yourself.

(08:02):
So it's it's a unique time tobe seeing a lot of people on the
course.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
But, knowing, hearing from your friends and just
knowing the updates that theygave, I mean it seemed like you
had a good day.
You had a great day throughoutthat 100 miles man.
So was there a lowest point and, if so, when was it in the race
?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I'd say the low point actually came sort of at
that turnaround point.
So you summit Hope once and yougo back down the backside of it
to this sort of rolling sevenmile stretch where you kind of
feel a sense of despair becauseyou just did the hardest part of
the course and your legs are atthis point trash and you're
like my gosh, that was so hard.

(08:46):
But guess what?
You got to turn around and doit again.
So at that point you you kindof in a way, lose some hope.
Like I was just rememberinglike I don't feel great and I
got to go climb 3,000 feet againat, uh, at 12,000 feet of
altitude and I just kind of hita very bad mental stretch and I
just remember just tellingmyself like keep moving forward

(09:10):
at a at least a moderate speed,Like you'll get through this.
And it took a couple of hoursbut eventually I got through
that low point.
Um, but that was definitely theworst, the worst mental part of
the race for me.
Just a lot of doubt crept in.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Okay did you run into any uh big names along the
trail?

Speaker 2 (09:29):
oh yeah, like uh, as I was going outside, as soon as
I came back down on the flatterpart of the back side of that
mountain, um, that's when I sawdavid roach running by, I saw
adrian mcdonald coming behindhim and then brian montgomery
was a decent ways back from them, but not too far, like he was
still pressing hot on theirheels.
And actually David Roach saidhe ran every foot of that course

(09:53):
, and I believe him because Isaw him running up the steepest
part of hope, which was justlike I couldn't believe it
because I was hunched over on mypoles hiking up that thing.
So yeah, it was very impressivethose guys over on my poles
hiking up that thing.
It was very impressive.
Those guys are on another tier.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Your splits were perfect too.
You gained so much.
Every update was like you gainon people and then you finish
11th.
Overall outstanding job,Positive experience overall.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
It was such a positive experience.
I actually think I'm going totry and go back next year and,
you know, hopefully I'm going tosee some of my buddies and my
family will go back out with me.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
So I think I can prove upon.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
I would like to maybe do an hour better or so.
So super positive experiencethe best time I've ever had an
ultra did you turn any heads?

Speaker 1 (10:48):
I don't know.
Did anybody like say who thiskid is, who's, who's beau shelby
?

Speaker 2 (10:55):
yeah, I think I I listened to a couple podcasts
and I actually did hear my namementioned, but it was just, like
you know, someone reading offthe top 10, I think.
I think, um I've definitelyearned or I don't know, but I've
definitely um been able to talksome of my friends and and you

(11:15):
know, it's really cool to beable to talk to them, but I
don't think it's necessarilyblowing up, like I said, but
that's totally fine.
I don't think it should withwith where I finish you know, I
don't know, man, I'm dude out ofnowhere.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Like I said, dude, you've come out of nowhere and
you're conquering these feats,dude.
Uh, okay, we'll continue.
We'll continue.
All right, may you did quadrock 50 came seventh overall all
right march behind the rocks,50k, eighth overall.
I mean these are all big races,they're not like small dinky

(11:54):
ones that you know just random.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Uh, locals do correct yeah, that's true, I'd say
behind the rocks was probablythe most local of those races.
But um, I during that race Ithink that was to me I was
disappointed in how that oneturned out.
Just because I came in with a.
I just had a lot of anxiety, Ithink in my life outside of
running at that time and it kindof transferred over into the

(12:18):
race.
I just felt like I couldn't getmy head right and the whole
back half of the course I wasjust really struggling.
So that was a really honestly,out of the all the races I did
this year, that 50k was thetoughest race that I did
mentally of all of them is itbecause?

Speaker 1 (12:34):
it's a faster it's faster race, it's 50k instead of
50 miles to 100 220, which wewill get at.
But yeah, is it, is it, is itjust?

Speaker 2 (12:44):
different.
Yeah, yeah, to me, like the, tome, the worst or the hardest
race in the world is a 5k, likeyou got to sprint that thing.
So the closer you get to to a5k, uh, the harder it gets.
I it's just a completelydifferent type of an experience,
like the pain is very sharp andin your face and just um, you,

(13:08):
gotta, you, you.
It comes on immediately.
It feels like.
And to me, a 50k at this pointbut given the races I've kind of
been leaning towards, feelslike more of a sprint, so I put
a lot of pressure on myself toto hit that.
You know that, that vo2 maxtype effort, whereas opposed to
I'm going a hundred miles.
I feel like it's more of like anumb, numbness, pain, like a

(13:31):
very discomforting thing, butit's not a sharp, abrupt thing.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
If that makes sense.
Yes, I got you my.
My question side question iswhere do you get the drive from
man to just do the things you do?

Speaker 2 (13:48):
that's a good point or a good question.
Um, a lot of it just iscuriosity.
At the end of the day, like I'mvery curious what my body could
do, and I've never thought itwas that.
I've never thought that whatI'm doing is that weird.
I'm just very curious about,like, what is the body capable
of?
Even in other sports, like Iwatch, uh, ufc, and I'm curious

(14:11):
what those guys can do.
Of course, I can't do what theydo, but, like, for me it's a
lot of curiosity on the ultrarunning side.
What can I accomplish with thisbody I was given?
And, um, also, just, I thinksome part of it too is just like
I have always wanted to make myparents and family proud and

(14:31):
and I feel like this is itsounds silly, but this is like
one way I can do that as well,so I think part of it comes from
there.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Okay, all right.
Got some other questions, but Ican wait.
All right, recently, the reasonwhy you're here, dude, you're
big time now, dude, in my bookyou've been big time, but, dude,
all right.
Before getting further,recently ran laz's, barry
cantrell's big dog backyard lastman standing in bell buckle,

(15:05):
tennessee, right, yeah, okay,now they're satellites.
You know, people don't know toomuch about backyards, but
they're satellite races.
You're going against algeria,you're going against 60 other
nations, including belgium,which, dude, no one one could
match those guys.

(15:26):
Dude, they're on a differentlevel, man, I don't know how
they do what they do.
I don't know how you guys dowhat you do.
I mean, I do, but I don't.
But it's like, oh my God,backyard runners qualify for the

(15:49):
Big Dog's backyard, correct?

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yes, yeah, 15 in each country, so same is true for
USA.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yes, yeah, so top 15 runners.
So you were one of the top 15runners.
Backyards to make this Big DogUltra.
Make it happen.
I mean you ran against MattShepard, who's in Canada you
know he does Canada but thenyou're running alongside

(16:19):
freaking Harvey Lewis, the manDude.
How was that, by the way?

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe't.
I was so starstruck.
I remember, like knowing thatthis experience is about to
happen to me, like oh my gosh, Igotta play.
It so cool when I meet this guyI can't act like a fan fan boy,
um.
So, uh, I kind of let.
I tried to play cool, you know,the first couple hours, like
okay, I don't need to bechatting with harvey, like
getting up in his face.
But um, after a few hours said,and I just naturally was

(16:47):
running the same pace as him andpretty soon I found myself, you
know, chatting with him for acouple hours straight about this
random stuff like, um, elonmusk and and how he holds his,
his, uh, high school classes andall this stuff.
It was just it felt it was verysurreal to be talking to a guy
I've admired so much and it wasjust such a normal, everyday

(17:09):
kind of conversation.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
He even had you on his page,didn't he?
I believe he did on a video orsomething.
Oh, he did.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, that's right, that was the morning of day
three.
I was just like, oh my God, Ifelt so out of it.
Here he was like doing aFaceTime, like filming all of us
, and he asked us all a questionand no one answered.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
so I I don't even remember what it was, but I just
remember feeling so out of ittrying to answer a question on
his social media so, with allthat said, running with Harvey
Lewis and you know, goingagainst the Belgians and the
rest of the world, 60 othernations, man, how did this come
about?
How did it go?
I remember you putting on aInstagram or Facebook, just like

(17:59):
a little shout out, that youknow you got a call to compete
and you're going to compete.
And I was like what?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
the heck.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I was like, oh dude, that's awesome, have fun you
know just fanboying out, but howdid it feel when you got?

Speaker 2 (18:11):
the call.
Yeah, so going back a year agois whenever I did the silver
ticket race, which, if I wouldhave won that one, I would have
got automatic entry.
So the guy who beat me his nameis greg fall.
Um, he got in automatically forwinning that race, but my
mileage was good enough to getme on the wait list and so I was

(18:32):
, you know, second in line.
I found out about a couple ofmonths ago.
Hey, you know, I did well, Igot 17th for the U?
S, but I'm not quite good orlike going to get on the team.
But as the weeks and weeks gotcloser, one guy dropped out and
bumped me up to first on thewait list and then, you know, I

(18:55):
still didn't think I was goingto get into the race at all, so
I I wasn't even planning on it.
But then, the week before therace actually happened, um, dan
Yovashin, who we've actuallyboth ran with I don't know if
you remember him.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
He actually had to pull out.
I'm not really sure exactly why, but it was some injury related
, I believe.
But that bumped me onto thelist with a week to go and at
the time I was playing golf withmy parents just on a Friday
night.
You know, I was visiting themand just hanging out casually.
Then all of a sudden I'msitting in the golf cart and I'm

(19:31):
just having a mini like notpanic attack, but freak out like
in an excited way, like I can'tbelieve.
I just got this email and Iremember having to contemplate
it for like a couple of hours,cause it really is like a big
thing you're going to step into,like yeah, running 200 miles is
not like a trivial task.

(19:53):
Like I had to really mentallysay do I really want to do this?
So I contemplated for just asecond but I was like of course
I have.
To like when is thisopportunity going to come around
again?
And I can't say, uh, my golfgame was very good, that that
evening I was very distractedand partying up right with the
parents.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Come on, exactly right.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
So, like you got an email from laz himself or his
team so I actually first noticedit off of a Facebook message
from one of the other athletesrunning.
They were like hey bro, checkyour email.
Like uh, are people blowing upyour phone?
And I don't know if youremember this guy named Tracy
outlaw, but he covers the, hecovers the sport backyard.

(20:36):
Yeah, and he does a really goodjob.
He's probably like the, the guythat covers the sport.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Um, and I saw a message from him.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
So I was like I better pay attention.
And um, yeah, pretty soon I sawlaz.
Like laz does type very, he Ifeel like he tells very
interesting stories, butwhenever he just types messages
there you can tell they're veryquickly put together like it
doesn't follow like agrammatical, like how you were
taught in english class.
So I just got like one of thoseshorthand messages from him.
I was like okay, nice, that'sawesome.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Man, laz himself man, he's a pretty interesting guy,
I hear man.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Oh, definitely, yeah, I can't.
I again I was starstruck,coming into me because he's like
this larger than life, likecult than life, like cult cult
figure that you're coming in tomeet, and my first impression I
just like I was like okay, don'tapproach him too soon, like
this, you know, play cool, butdon't embarrass yourself here,

(21:33):
man.
Um, I come up and he he was inhis own element, like he was, uh
, hanging all the flags for thecountries, so I didn't want to
interrupt his process because hewas going one by one into his
house grabbing a flag, walkingall the way out Like it had to
be like 50 yards and he would doit just one at a time, so he

(21:53):
wouldn't.
It was a very inefficientprocess, but it was his process,
you know.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
He does have a weird yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't say weird.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
It's just he's.
He's unique man, he's a uniqueguy.
I mean, he, he's the master ofbackyards but and he smokes.
You know, it's like okay, dude,I don't know how that can work.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
It's, it's awesome yeah, you're in the race with
harvey lewis and other guys youknow and other satellites around
the the world and everythingelse.
And knowing who you're upagainst, I mean, how did you
feel with the big dogs, dude?

Speaker 2 (22:32):
no pun intended literally, yeah, I did feel.
I did feel like I was with thebig dogs.
Uh, um, I would say, to behonest, I felt a little anxious
about the whole experience, likeI just kind of came in, I
wasn't yet, I didn't have myfull block of training Like I

(22:53):
normally would coming into oneof these races, cause I didn't
know I was going to be runningit.
So that took some anxiety andthe realization of like what was
happening was setting in as thefirst few hours unfolded in the
race.
So there was some anxiety there, but mostly it was just
excitement.
I couldn't believe I was giventhe opportunity to run with, in

(23:14):
some instances, my idols likeHarvey Lewis very much look up
to that guy.
Heck, yeah, and even other thanhim, there are other huge
people in the field as well.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, who's Scott Snell, the guy that won it, dude
, who's that guy?
I've never heard of him, andit's just he's from New Jersey,
dude, it's like what the thingis.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
he's such a beast, even though he's relatively
unknown.
I know he has somewhat of afollowing, but he still goes out
and crushes it at bagyards onthe regular, like if you look at
his track record, he's.
He's a beast.
And I actually got to talkingwith Scott very early on in the
race about we just were chattingit up and I was talking about a

(23:58):
book I was reading at the timeand it's called Man's Search for
Meaning.
And it's all about how you'veread it.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Oh yeah, I it.
Oh yeah, I love that book, manyeah it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
It's all about how you find meaning in your
suffering.
And right from the get-go weconnected on that and I just
felt like, oh man, this guy'sgot his head on straight.
I think this guy's got it, like, at least he's got something to
him.
I didn't know if he was goingto win at the time, but you

(24:31):
could tell he was in a goodmental state about what was
about to unfold when it came tosuffering ahead of him.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
When you say you're chatting it up, right, when you
say you're chatting it up andothers are chatting it up, is
that your guys' way of seeingwho has the mental fortitude to
go all the way?
Is that your guys's test, youronly way to get mind games in
and to see if, where they're at,where they're gonna go, how far

(25:00):
is that your guys's way to doit?

Speaker 2 (25:07):
is that your guys's way to do it?
Fill them out, yeah, um, Ithink early on in a in a
backyard.
I think it would be maybefoolish to try to play mind
games the first day, rightbecause, I feel like, really,
you're just going to get yourown head about it.
But I will say, uh, in previousbackyards there definitely is
mind games that happen andchatting it up, like when you're
talking to people, is certainlypositive.

(25:29):
Like trying to act even ifyou're not feeling great.
Trying to act like, hey, I'vegot, I can still speak
coherently, I can form fullthoughts.
A lot of times is enough to toget in the other person's head.
But at this race in particular,um, at this backyard event, we
were really working as a team.
It truly was, um, a team event,even to the point where harvey

(25:52):
was like giving us tips on likehey guys, like if you really
want to go far, you gotta besuper conservative early.
So I'd never been a part of anexperience like that where it
really was a team event and wewere all working together.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
So I I like that aspect of it yeah, yeah, it's,
it's the uh olympics for thebackyard man.
That's how big this thing is itfelt like it.
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome allright, yeah, good, all right.
So Scott Snell, man his mileagealone.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Oh, man, absolutely killed it.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Right.
But then the guys that won it,I mean the Belgian guys, the
Belgian crew man, they knockedit out of the park.
I mean almost 100 miles morethan Scott you know, and when
hearing that did you knowBelgium was that huge when it

(26:47):
came to backyards I didbeforehand, um, definitely.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
but I and even just had my own curiosity was
listening to events or podcastsleading up to the event, and the
belgians and australians werementioned a lot.
But I've seen, uh, I watchedthat one year where, for the
first time ever, runners brokethe a hundred hour threshold in
the event and it was two Belgianguys who just, you know, just

(27:16):
doing their thing, uh right, soI knew that they were.
They were definitely on ourradar for sure.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
So to compete, to compete with them and know that
you're one of the 15, how did itfeel, just going and doing your
thing, doing the miles you did?
Yes, you beat a lot of peoplearound the world and in the
States yes, canada and Mexico.
How were you feeling throughoutthis whole ordeal, man, just

(27:46):
knowing you're here, you're top15.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, I get it.
I think a little early wasanxiety, but that pretty soon I
think it was there under thesurface a little bit, just
because it feels like such a bigdeal.
But yeah, for the most part itwas just excitement and it was
more of like I just want toenjoy this.
I, I think to me I just wantedto soak up the entire experience

(28:12):
, like who knows how many timesI'll get to do this again, if
ever.
So for this one time I'm here,um, I'm going to look around and
pay attention to what'shappening around me and chat
with some of the best runners inthe world.
And pay attention to what'shappening around me and chat
with some of the best runners inthe world and just try to enjoy
it.
But as the miles go along, ofcourse you inevitably get tired

(28:36):
and it becomes a real race atthat point and you have to.
That's when you start having tobe like okay, I got to take
care of myself, I got to makesure I can actually perform for
the team and help the team outget the miles they need.
Um, so it does eventuallybecome not so fun in games.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
it becomes a serious matter at some point yeah yeah
yeah, I notice it starts withwith you and your team, meaning
your crew.
Uh, when you starthallucinating, that's when you
start questioning yourself.
That's the only time you startquestioning yourself and your
ability to go on further.

(29:14):
Is that the worst part of therace for you?

Speaker 2 (29:20):
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a struggle,
because it certainly is astruggle.
But it's weird because when I'min that mental state, it's like
I want to get there, it's likea.
It feels like an accomplishmentto get to that state of
hallucination, because it youonly get to experience that a
few times in life, where you'repushing your body so hard and
you're deprived of sleep, whereit sounds weird but it actually

(29:43):
it does feel like a a cool zoneto be in and in some ways it is,
uh, very unique to be havingthese hallucinations.
But at the same time, um, itcertainly is a struggle because
you're I feel like you'rementally the weakest when you're
tired and you're somethingabout the sun going down and
just being dark outside.
Yeah, um, you're.

(30:04):
I remember it was the mosttired I've ever been, I've
probably ever felt in my life.
All I could think about onthose night laps was I have to
get back as quick as possible sothat I can go to sleep.
That was all I could thinkabout.
So I was just like trying toget them done super quickly, and
then the worst part of it wasyou.

(30:26):
I would fall asleep immediatelyand have like such a deep sleep
there.
At one point I woke up and hadno idea where I was anymore.
I was like, am I in a race orwhat's happening?
And I remember waking up and itwas cold at night it was.
I don't remember what it got, Ithink it was in the high
thirties, but they, uh mybrother was like okay, it's time
to go back out.
You've got like a minute left.

(30:53):
Put your shoes on.
And to me, like this sense ofdread.
I'm not a morning person, solike waking up in the morning is
one of the hardest things I doevery day.
And like getting you know, likegetting out of bed, the out of
it when it's cold outside.
So that was probably one of thehardest experiences was getting
out of that bed, getting to thestart line.
That's honestly the hardestpart is getting back to the
start line.
That's that like sorry, the,the like 20 feet distance, um is

(31:15):
the hardest part what?

Speaker 1 (31:17):
what made you?
What allowed you to go on tothe 20 feet to the start of the
bell?

Speaker 2 (31:23):
um, a lot of it is you.
I told my crew ahead of timelike guys, I'm gonna at some
point I'm gonna get cranky.
I'm gonna get like a little bitunhappy.
You know what.
Like ignore that and just forceme to go to the start line.
Like you're not allowed to letme complain.
So a lot of it was just like onmy crew.

(31:44):
They picked me up and got me inthere Like it was no nonsense.
Like you're getting back on thestart line.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, your crew does a fantastic job on updating
viewers or your fans andeverything else, and I was just
curious do you ever look backand see what they wrote or what
stories they put on for you?

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, I do.
I really find it veryinteresting to see it from their
perspective, because I thinkright afterwards, I feel like I
just need to process theexperience.
I kind of don't like to be onsocial media like right
afterwards in the couple daysafter, but because it just still
feels so overwhelming what Ijust went through.

(32:24):
But, um, pretty soon after thatI'd love to see uh, in this
case, my brother was the onerelaying messages and to see,
like, through his words and hiseyes, you know what was the
experience like and it's uh, Ilove sharing this, these
experiences.
I think, if people that doultras, you should share these
experiences with people you lovemost, because there's something

(32:46):
about it where it's like a veryemotional experience and it
draws people together.
Um, so, yeah, it was a veryspecial experience when you had
to say I'm done.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
What does the crew?
What do you say to the crew?
And like, do you have a, a wordsaying, hey, this is the word
that if I say it, that means I'mdone, or you know a safe word,
or what, what?
How do you tell your crew thatyou're officially done?
How?

Speaker 2 (33:16):
do you go about?

Speaker 1 (33:16):
it.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
I've never thought about that.
Yeah, having a safe word, um, Ifeel like if I did have one of
those, I would start abusing itearly.
Yeah, uh, I okay.
So during this race I had kindof indicated like, oh man, I re
that.
Second night I just kind ofstarted hurting, um, and I had
told them I just all I want todo is make it to 200.

(33:38):
All I want to do is make it 200.
And at the time, you know, Ithought that might be my limit,
um, for what I could do.
So at the time I was having amoment of weakness, you know, um
.
So so it's hard to say exactlywhat the communication looks
like.
But, um, at the end of the day,whenever I dropped, this time

(34:02):
it was more, uh, I was reallystruggling just to complete the
lap on time, I was havingtrouble with my Achilles and
just a really tough mentalbattle all combined at once.
Um it just if you have a lapse,a mental lapse, even for an
hour, you know it can kick youout of the race.
It's pretty brutal.
So, uh, it's just kind of aculmination of things that ended
up having to drop all at once.

(34:22):
Kind of a culmination of thingsthat ended up having to drop
all at once.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Did you drop during the four miles or did you drop
after the four miles, like rightbefore start?

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, I ended up dropping during, so I went out
for the lap.
So I or sorry to back up I wentout the lap before um, and it
came in with literally like aminute to spare, because the
course is kind of hard, and soeven when I was felt like I was
running the entire course, Istill came in with only a minute
left.
I was like how did that happen?
And so I was kind of already ina pretty low mental state, sent

(34:59):
me back out on the lap and myAchilles was really bothering me
.
I couldn't hardly flex my footand push off of my toes, so I
was struggling to push up theheels there's a lot of heels on
the course and, um, at a certainpoint in the middle of the lap
I sat down to like try and fixmy compression socks and sleeves

(35:21):
.
So I took all that off and Itried to put my socks back on
and shoes and start runningagain and something about just
like sitting down in that middleof the lap.
Um, I just like I can't goanymore.
So I think ultimately I hit areally low mental state, uh, a
mental point in the lap whichultimately did me in because you
can push through.

(35:42):
I've learned that you can pushthrough pain and even yeah, even
bodily, almost like pushing toofar at some points.
You can still push through itif you really want to, but I
didn't know if I wanted to pushto the point of injury on this
one.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
So how's your Achilles now?
It's doing much better.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I feel like if I would have kept going, it could
be in a much worse state.
So, ultimately, if I had togive a reason for why I ended up
dropping, I would say mentallywas probably the biggest reason,
but I'm thankful at the sametime that I don't have any
injuries at this point.
It's a weird balance you got tostrike.
You got to know what's best foryou.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah exactly, exactly , and this is the furthest
you've ever been or gone, right.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
No, I actually came up literally just four hours
short of my PR.
It was so close and that waslike on my mind like I got to
just hit this mark and it justit.
It was kind of crazy how muchharder it got.
Like, once it gets hard, theit's like an exponential chart
it gets way harder, um, veryquickly.

(36:53):
Yeah, it was my experience atleast, and and I I thought I
could make it and it just didn'thappen that day.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
So I, I snickered, not out of, uh, disrespect, but
I snickered because just fourhours, just four hours, dude.
Four hours equals what?
17 miles, dude, you know.
And so to tell the people howmany, how many hours were you
out there this last time at bigdogs?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
I was out there 53 hours and so at the time you
know, four hours seems like ohmy gosh, that's such a brief
period of time.
You have to remind yourselfduring races like this.
This is temporary, it's not mylife.
Eventually, this experiencewill end.
You just have to remindyourself of that.
Four hours at a time feltshorter.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
You're shy of 221 miles, dude, you did 220.83
miles, dude.
Fantastic job, dude, fabulousjob.
Fantastic job, dude, fabulous,outstanding job.
Man, four hours more.
I mean you could have been what?
Probably old, uh or or anachilles, and been maybe what?

(38:04):
230 something, 34 miles ininjury and everything.
So I don't know, man, you didit smart and dude.
I'm proud of you, man, and I'mpretty sure your brother and
everybody else is proud of you.
You can do anything.
Thank you, you can do anymore.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Oh man, I think for now I'm going to take a break,
just for a little bit.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
You say that every year Exactly.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
See, you know, but in my head right now I'm going to
take a break for a bit and focusmore on I've got some things
I'm excited to do.
I want to do some 100 milersand then I also want to try this
like 24-hour track race format.
So I got some other goals, butI don't think the backyard.

(38:49):
I don't think I'm done with thebackyard yet, but I'm done for
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah, well, what?
What if Harvey calls you andsay, hey, join me, you'll.
You'll do it.
Right, you'll do it.
Yeah, I can't remember.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
You can't say no to Harvey.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Right, I can't believe you had a conversation
with the guy man.
I mean dude, I've followed thatguy for years and just to know
what he does, what he, what hemeans to the community, what he
means to the sport, dude, it'sum, no one lives that life like
he does.
And you know, running to work,running after.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
He does it the right way.
I mean, he's just yeah, andhe's like very sincere, yeah,
yeah, I like that guy a lot.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, well, that's that's awesome, man.
That that's awesome that you,you were able to take this
moment and just have fun, makeit your own and still be top dog
, not in my book, but ineverybody's book, because, dude,
you, you knocked it out of thepark, you beat a lot of people
that did, you know, in othernations by a lot.

(39:52):
So, dude, something to be proudof.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I appreciate it, it was.
It was just cool to be outthere, you know, even like
running with the guy I ran withlast year again I didn't really
get to talk guy I ran with lastyear again I I didn't really get
to talk to greg much um in lastyear's race because it was all
of a sudden it was just me andhim and we were at that point so
tired and and just barely ableto grunt.

(40:19):
It was like all that we couldcommunicate later in the race.
But this year, you know, justgetting to chat with him about
what we went through the yearbefore, there were just so many
like little aspects, yeah, ofthis year's race that that were
just such a positive experience.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Okay when you weren't chatting it up, man, what were
you listening to?
Were you listening to music,books?
What?

Speaker 2 (40:42):
so, yeah, I'm, I am someone who likes to zone out to
stuff like that.
Um, so the first day after afew hours we're out there, we
get to know everybody.
I wanted to listen to my.
I went to the University ofOklahoma and they were playing a
football game, so I wanted tolisten to that while I was
running.
So I put on my headphones, turnon the game and all of a sudden

(41:04):
I find out it's 28 to zero inthe first quarter.
I'm like, and we're gettingbeat, our door's blown in.
I'm like I can't be listeningto this while I'm running there.
This is not worth worth eventuning into.
And at the same time I foundout we're not allowed to listen
to stuff during the day.
So apparently that that was arule I wasn't aware of.
So I immediately like, okay, Ican't have these headphones on,

(41:26):
but at nighttime, um, I had thevoice of Matthew McConaughey in
my ears.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
Oh, his book.
Yeah, all right, all right, itwas very soothing, very, very
soothing, and uh just kind oftook me out.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Um, let me transport to a different place for a while
, while I was having a hard time.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Man who transport to a different place for a while
while I was having a hard time.
Man who who would have thoughta boomer sooner, would be
listening to a longhorn.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Okay, all right man.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, don't tell anybody well, hey, hey, boomer
center, here too, man.
So, yeah, here we go, yeah,yeah.
So, uh, let's, let's bring backjust a tad bit, man.
Why the distance, the distance,why the range and distance,
especially throughout the year?
You started with the 50K.
I know a lot of people like tostart off something small and

(42:14):
warm up, but then you go 50,then you go up to 100.
Nothing easy, 100 mountainousrace and then you go 220 miles.
Is that the flow from now on?
Is that you're just your 50, isyour warm-up, and then do, or

(42:36):
why?
Why are you doing the distanceyou do?

Speaker 2 (42:39):
yeah, I would say it's not necessarily going to be
my flow going forward, but Igenerally believe who knows if
this is entirely true I thinkthere's some truth to this.
But, um, the best type, thebest way to perform well and
like, get better, is to bewell-rounded.
I think, um, to me, my leastfavorite part of, like, least

(43:01):
favorite thing to train andrunning is the speed aspect,
because to me it it just reallywhenever you're having a hard
workout, it's is the speedaspect, cause to me it it just
really whenever you're having ahard workout, it's it really is
brutal sometimes when you'retraining, that speed Um.
So to me, I wanted to, you know, force myself to hey, I need to
have a block where I'm focusingon getting faster and that's
going to make the longer races,um, at a slower speed, feel

(43:24):
easier, because I know I can hitthis upper gear where I'm
running whatever pace.
But during the 100 mile race Imight only have to run a pace
that's two to three minutesslower than that so it can feel
it can make the longer distancesfeel way easier.
And then, on the other extreme,on the, on the the very long the

(43:45):
races like the one I just did,the 220 miler.
There's something about itwhere it helps your mental game
a lot, because whenever I goback to that 100 mile distance
when I did leadville, leadvillefelt like a sprint in a lot of
ways, like it felt like a racewhere you got to be on it the
entire time, no breaks, stay,stay engaged and and I think it

(44:06):
helped just frame thatexperience differently because
it's all perception at the endof the day.
So if you can have the widerange of experiences, then it
can make.
For me, the 100-mile distanceis my main focus at this point
and it can make that experienceeasier in a lot of different

(44:27):
ways, just because you'rebroadening your perception of
what's possible.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
But yeah, yeah, well, yeah, ledville is no breaks at
all, man, it's all pedal to themetal man.
So what?
11 out?
Of 800 starter.
Come on, uh what.
What was your time in ledville?

Speaker 2 (44:47):
uh, 18 hours and 35 minutes in ledville.
Yes, I was trying to go over my.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
I'm just saying in ledville under 20, you dude.
You did a 24 hour ledville,okay, less than 24 hour dude
yeah, I still think I noticed.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I was like, and as soon as the race was over, I was
like okay, I could cut sometime off here.
I think I could do this betterand like I'm already thinking
about like what can I do better?

Speaker 1 (45:15):
okay, well, I'm just trying to, you know, let the
listeners know and put things inperspective.
Dude, especially, it's likejust knowing that you can do
better.
At Leadville you did 18 hours.
A lot of people do a hundredhours and 30 something, a
hundred miles and 30 somethinghours.
You know what I mean.
And it's just like, oh my God,this guy it's unbelievable man

(45:38):
Running, running.
Why run?
Why run and how did it start?
I'm telling you I believe Iasked you this and we never get
to the answer Like, please, yeah, fill me in.

(46:02):
Why running, dude?
I know you, your parents, youwant to make them proud, but
there's other ways of doing it.
But why running?
Because you've mastered it,you've conquered it and you
continue to conquer it.
So what about?
Running brings you to continueto run the way you're running,
if it makes sense yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Um gosh, that's, that's, uh, that is a loaded
question in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah well, I was going question after question
after question but, like I'vebeen trying to get you to answer
that yeah.
And then I'm just like how didthis all start, man, you know?

Speaker 2 (46:41):
so yeah I'll maybe answer the I think I'm going to
discover this the the why, asI'm talking through it.
But, uh, I'll answer the how Igot into it and kind of, okay, I
can tie it to the, tie it tothe why.
Um, if not, it's okay, but it'sjust I want.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I've been wanting to know and needing to know, just
because, dude, it's like, bro,do you understand how good you
are?
And I'm just like, how do youknow?
How do you know you're, youknow, able to do Leadville the
time?
You did?
You know, go team USA, you knowso?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
I just want to.
It's something that I thinkwe're all trying to figure out
too, and we we find different.
The thing is like I think youfind different answers to the
questions at different points inyour life.
Like, but just to explain kindof where I came from, I don't
think I gave that backstorynecessarily before raised in a

(47:40):
small town and my dad was intorunning, like I've told, I've
relayed and um, something aboutit.
Like I just started going outwith on runs with him and pretty
quickly I realized like hey, Iwant to train for the Olympics,
like that I.
That realization hit me when Iwas five years old.
Something was just naturallyingrained in me and.

(48:01):
I think part of it was because Iwas watching the behavior of my
dad, but also something wasjust with my personality just
had me drawn towards that.
So even at the age of five Igave up soda, I started training
, thinking I was going to tryand get to the Olympics one day,
and that that kind of instincthas just never died in me.

(48:25):
I've always.
I know that I'm not going tomake the Olympics, but I still
have big ambitions, just insports in general.
I think there's something tosports about the struggle of the
experience, no matter whatsport you play, and there's
something um very, very realabout it.
You can't avoid it, somethingum very, very real about it.

(48:47):
You can't avoid it, like in alot of our daily lives.
You can, you can seek comfortin a lot of areas, but it's very
rare that we seek discomfortand struggle, and so this is one
area where you can press intothat discomfort.
You can press into thatstruggle.
You can meet it head on and youknow, you can feel you can push
through it and come out on theother side and find like a new

(49:10):
respect for yourself and find uma lot of power in the
experience, because it it.
It's something you, we don'texperience a lot of day, a lot
of times in modern life is thatis, meeting that struggle head
on, and it just makes to me, itmakes me feel more alive than
anything else in the world.

(49:32):
Like you, you have to be sopresent in those experiences
because you have no other option.
It's you're just totally awareof what's happening to you and
you're choosing to press intothat experience even more so to
me, it just it invigorates me,it makes me feel more alive than

(49:55):
anything else I've ever doneand that's why I keep coming
back is it's hard but it's worthit?
Yeah, okay, and it pays off inthe long run.
Mentally, emotionally,physically yeah, I'd say there's

(50:16):
definitely still struggles inmy day-to-day life and there's
areas I want to improve and insome regards like maybe if I
backed off running, I would beable to address those more.
But at the same time, I thinkthe benefits I get from running
and the benefits I get from um,really going to these, these
depths, is is going to serve mewell through any experience in
life, because I know thatstruggle is temporary and if you

(50:38):
find a purpose in your struggle, then then um, there's, you
know, you'll be able to pushthrough it and come out on the
other side stronger.
So I think running has has justmade me feel more confident in
in approaching life in general.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Okay, and you're running too, hopefully.
Oh, and in running, yeah, yeah,I'm just saying like I've
noticed your confidence level,man ever you know.
Third time's a charm, I startnoticing dude your confidence
and the way dude you'reapproaching these races is he

(51:16):
and and definitely got it dialedin.
So how long do you think you'llbe doing this for man like you?
Run until the day you die.
Compete the way you are.
For how long?
What man?

Speaker 2 (51:31):
gosh, I sure would like to run till till the day I
die.
You know, I envision I lookinto the future and the one
thing that doesn't I I don'tthink I'm generally sad about
growing older.
Um, I, I look forward to theday whenever I'm like this
hunchback white-haired man, youknow, just slugging along like
at a very slow pace but juststill getting it done, like I.

(51:52):
I look forward to being able todo that.
So I'm hoping that one day Ican.
Um, and yeah, and especially inultra running, like you, you
don't hit your prime a lot oftimes till you're closer to 40.
So so I'm, I'm looking forwardto trying to improve up until
that point and maybe, if you'rebeyond, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah, look at Max King.
I mean dude's ageless wonderbro Killing.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Oh, is he that old?
I had no idea.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yeah, he's older than I am like 40 yeah, 40, 4, 45, I
think something like that.
That is wildly impressive.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
I'm just so impressed by those guys.
It just makes me want to see ifthat's possible too.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
So see, I don't know if you're messing with us or
what, man, but dude, it's likeyou know, you're impressive, bro
, like seriously the stuff thatyou're doing, man.
So so, with running with thebig guys, doing what you did in
Labville, seeing the game, as isman, the recognition it's
coming.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
You know, I think I'll let that come where it may.
Yeah, I did get a sponsorshipthis past year, so in that way
I'd ask you yeah, I did get myfirst sponsorship, which was
awesome.
I never actually thought itwould happen, but someone in the
Golden is just staying healthy.

(53:13):
I've been able to not have totake long periods off to try and
recover, um, so I owe a lot ofcredit, I think, to to golden

(53:36):
endurance physical therapy for,you know, keeping me, keeping me
ready and healthy to run, notoverdoing it a lot.
You know, with a lot of runnersand with a lot of my friends, I
see a lot of people gettingreally gung ho about the sport
which is so exciting, but youcan push too hard and you burn
yourself out or get injured, andit's nice to have someone with

(53:59):
some their brains, you know,pulling you back.
So that's what I've got in mycorner now.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Sponsors.
Man, that's awesome dude.
So so he flips the bill?
Yes, no, you don't.
Just I just asked that question.
So what's next man?
What's next for you?
What?
You're taking a break, we knowit's winter time, you take a
break, but you don't.
But you do.
So.
Next race on the calendar?
Which one?
Yeah what do?

Speaker 2 (54:29):
you have, where I always just these, these kind of
almost like obsessions willjust pop up for me, where I'm
like I start learning about anew race and I'm like I gotta
try this.
So my latest obsession is the24-hour race.
I really me.
It's a nice amalgamation of the100-mile distance like that

(54:50):
pushing that you get from thatwhere you're really feeling like
you're racing, and then thebackyard where you're feeling
like you're just out there goinginto the deep, dark despair of
unknown mileage.
I think there's just this nicecrossover in the 24 hour race
where you're trying to rack upas many miles as you can, um,

(55:12):
and it's in that time period.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Yeah, and in a fixed course.
And a fixed course, yes, yes,yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Yeah, and the monotonous, uh, the lap.
The laps will be even shorterthan the backyard.
It's going to be a quarter mile.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Oh, I know, I know, know.
Do they, do they switch it onyou, like at night time?
Do you go to the opposite way,or are you going the same same
way the whole?

Speaker 2 (55:34):
time.
Yeah, I've heard they switch it.
I guess each race might do itdifferently, but yeah, I heard
they switch it roughly likeevery four hours yeah, because
it could be dangerous on thelegs man yeah, seriously, you
gotta like start doingone-legged squats on the right
leg if you're gonna go aroundthe serious counterclockwise
track.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
So uh, who?
You do your calendar right, noone else does.
Parents don't say, hey, youshould do this, I'll give it a
shot.
Or who does a calendar man?

Speaker 2 (56:02):
I'd say I do it, um, it's and it's not even.
Sometimes I'll even not make itout for the entire year and
just kind of make it up as I gothroughout the year.
But I've been running it by mycoach and he's like, yeah,
honestly, just whatever you'remost passionate about, is the
the thing that you're.
That's where you're going toperform the best.
So find out where your passionis and then build your calendar

(56:23):
around that.
So that's what I but you'regoing to perform the best.
So find out where your passionis and then build your calendar
around that.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
So that's what I but you're very precise too, man,
you're very precise.
You don't do a race once amonth, you don't do it twice a
month, you do it every othermonth.
You're very selected and, dude,it seems like you're not
getting burned out.
It seems like you're takingeach race and dude it's.
It seems like you know you'renot getting burned out, seems
like you know you're taking eachrace and owning it.

(56:49):
You know you don't have to winit to.
You know to be in it, butyou're owning it, dude.
And that's the thing that I'venoticed about you, man you're
consistent, dude you're just ago-getter man, you're a're a
go-getter and I and I love thefact that.
you know you're my buddy, myfriend.
You know I ran with you.

(57:09):
You know I didn't run with youbecause I did the pack, but just
knowing, just seeing you outthere, knowing what you're
capable of doing and and callingyou as is being the dark horse
that race, dude, you'recontinued to be a dark horse.
You continue to.
You know, blow my mind, I'mpretty sure you blow your
parents' minds.
And just knowing what your bodyis capable of doing, dude, it's

(57:32):
just a unbelievable feat, dude.
And um, you should neverquestion on your parents being
proud of you, dude, for real,they're, they're proud of you
man and um, them crewing you isa sure sign of them being proud
of you, dude.
So just know you don't alwaysyou don't have to show them,

(57:52):
dude, you're showing yourself,you're showing the world what Bo
Shelby is capable of doing,dude.
And I know people are like dude, you fan boy, the hell out of
him.
I don't care, dude, bo is a agood guy, he's a great guy and
man, he's just quite the athlete.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
so, bo, take it, dude I appreciate you saying all
that nick.
Um, yeah, I just, I, I reallyappreciate you.
Uh, who knew that we would be,you know, staying in touch and
and keeping this friendshipafter we just met in spokane,
when you were lugging aroundwhat 50 pounds on your back a

(58:26):
lot because we were both runningin circles because my body mass
index is a little bigger thanthe 100, and I think it's 150.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
165.
People put 25 on there, but ifyou're over that you have to do
35, so yeah, 35 pounds, dude, soyeah I felt bad for you guys.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Y'all were like carrying these huge backpacks
like oh, yeah, oh yeah that's awhole nother kind of thing.
I that's a nice crossover of,uh, strength and endurance.
It hurts.
Yeah, I can imagine it looksvery challenging.
I've done a backpacking tripand 15 miles was like, oh my

(59:09):
gosh, like it felt like an ultramarathon just to carry around
that kind of weight.
So that's a warm-up for me.
Yeah, I believe you were.
You were chugging right alongso did we get everything.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Do you want to add anything, man, did I um?

Speaker 2 (59:28):
I'm trying to try to, I tried to jot down some like
thoughts on the uh experience.
Yeah, just just to see, Ithought I I will say just like
with a tidbit um, one thing thatI can't believe I didn't
mention at this point that waspretty hilarious during the

(59:48):
event was Laz.
So Laz was the one ringing thebell each hour, sending us off
on our way, and every hour hewould say the same words.
He would say happy times arehere again.
Happy times.
That was what we had to send usoff into the unknown um, and at

(01:00:11):
first it was very comical andit soon became like almost
haunting in a way, as he wouldlike scream it at us at like 3
am in the morning yeah but, um,I knew I wanted to tell that
experience just because it's soangry.
I could so vividly picture it inmy my head.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
But that's the only like him if you guys, uh, watch
barkley, you know that marathon,the barkley marathon, you, you
can hear, yeah, the way youdescribe it, yeah, I could see
it.
And it can be haunting too,because not only was it in
October, near Halloween, but youknow it's an old guy who smokes

(01:00:53):
chain smokes and just happytime very unique person one of a
kind yeah, alright, man, so wegonna meet up again or shoot.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
I sure would like to keep the train rolling because
I'm still gonna do podcasting.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I just got a few things to take care of as I get
a wink yeah, I appreciate, Iappreciate you know you, you
getting me like I've had quite afunk, I have had quite a year,
man, and you asking me and alsoreminding me on putting you on
the podcast, dude, it means alot.
It means more than you thinkand know and feel, dude, and I

(01:01:36):
was looking forward to this,this episode today, when you
reminded me and I'm just like,dude, I can't fail, I can't fail
, I got it, I got a show bow.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
I can do it.
You like, dude, I can't fail, Ican't fail, I got it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
I got to show Bo.
I can do it.
You know I have to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
I have to.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
I don't know if he if he heard the news.
But I, you know, I told you thenews and you respected that and
I respect you, man, and uh, I Ihope episode didn't fail you at
all.
And man, it just it's great toknow that people want to come

(01:02:09):
back praise me for what I do,even though I don't think I do
it.
I just conversationalist wholikes to ramble and ask question
after question.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
So no, I, I, uh, I love hearing what you do Like,
and I've actually met somepeople through your podcast just
cause you.
You know you have just easyconversations and are able to
just um meet a wide array ofpeople and you've connected me
with, with people back home.
So, um, nice, I reallyappreciate you and what you do

(01:02:37):
and I think you do a great jobof it.
So I don't think there's anyfailure, failure to be had here
on this.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
All right, good you know what I'm gonna.
I'm gonna talk to somebody else, dude, I'm gonna talk to
somebody else.
He does sub ultras anyways.
But I'm gonna be like, dude,I'm gonna hit him up.
He started the podcast apodcast, uh, because I was in
his inspiration.
But I'm gonna hit him up andsay, hey, dude, are you willing
to give bo bo, no shelby a calland see what's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
is it matt laroe.
By chance, is it?
Yeah, yeah, lariello, yeah,yeah you, yeah, you, uh, you,
you that's one of the guys I'mtalking about you connected me
with him.
We, uh, we chatted for a secondnice, but nothing ever came of
it.
But it's just nice to, like youknow, make those connections in
the community.
So that's really cool whatyou're doing and and having

(01:03:29):
people that come onto yourpodcast and are inspired to
start their own.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Yeah, dude, it's quite yeah, and also a lot of
the rodeo guys too started theirown.
It's so it's so weird.
But yeah, larry, all was theguy man and dude.
Dude, he's been kicking butt,taking it and made it his own.
And dude, he has conquered thatsub ultra podcasting world.
Dude for real.
Yeah, I'm proud of that kid man.

(01:03:54):
So that's.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
That's super cool that you have the rodeo guys on
too, because that's to me likethat's another level of mental
toughness.
To be able to sit on this wildbeast oh yeah, on top of it and
as it tries to throw you offwith giant horns on its head,
like that, requires some courageand all sorts of things that
that I would love to be able todo, but you know, it's just like

(01:04:19):
another world.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Yeah, it is, but.
But when talking to them, theysay the same thing about us.
Man, they say the same about us.
They can't believe it.
Well, I'm like dude, the onlything difference is the animal.
I don't understand that.
But they say, yeah, I don'tknow how you do it, nick, but
you do it.
And I'm like, well, I don'tknow.

(01:04:42):
But they think we're crazy.
We think they're crazy, butthey're a hell of an athlete as
well, dude, on their own.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
All we have to do is ride our shoes.
We're very predictable.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
Weather.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Yeah, not as predictable as a bull.
I know at one point you had aUFC guy on too.
The median UFC guy, yeah, as abull.
No, I know you, at one pointyou had a ufc guy on to that.
Uh, comedian ufc guy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Yeah, that to me that's to me like I'm one of the
one of my favorite sports isufc, so I hearing someone's
journey like that is that'sawesome oh yeah, yeah, he was a
good guy and you know, he uh didall that and then he's, he's
sober and clean and he, you knowhe's a comedian out of vegas
and he does his whole lines ofbeing sober and yeah, it's, it's

(01:05:33):
, it's uplifting stuff, man, theguy, he's a, he's a monster in
the the gym himself and doesyoga non-stop and yeah, dude,
he's, he's made it as well.
So, so, when, when's the nexttime you want to be on man?

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Whenever you'll have me.
Um, okay, I guess I got to signup for another backyard.
You don't have to.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
How about this?
How about this?
You tell me when your next raceis and I'll have you on, please
.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Okay, yeah, deal For sure.
Yeah, um, races I'll have youon, please.
Okay, yeah, deal for sure.
Yeah, um, I'd love to introduceyou to either my parents or, or
, uh, my friend ty, or justwhoever's on my crew too, if
you're interested, yeah, okayit's ty around.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
Is he listening or no ?

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
he popped his head in just a second ago.
They're, they're off doingsomething, I don't know,
probably like hey man, it's timeto party, it's time to.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
It's time to do this, it's time to do that.
Let's go, it's friday, fridayso yeah, exactly we're.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
We're having a little college reunion, like college
buddy get together.
So nice.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun hanging out with everybody
well, well, don't let me stopyou, man, but, bo, it's been a
pleasure.
Man, I appreciate you dude, youdude, I really do, and uh, keep
keep chugging along and, um,taking butt, taking names, man.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
I appreciate it, nick , and I can't wait for our next
chat.
Let's make it.
Make it sooner, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
Sooner than later.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Sooner than later.
You know I might, I might dothat.
You know I might take you up onthat because, yeah, I'm
fighting the good fight.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Sound good.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Yep Sounds good.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Till next time bro.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Till next time.
Thanks for having me.
We'll see you next time.